Indira Priyadarshini was born on November 19, 1917, she was the only child of Jawaharal Nehru and his wife Kamala in the city of Allahabad in Northern India. The second part of her name Priyadarshini, means"dear to behold." In the Indian tradition, theirs was a joint family, headed by Indira"s grandfather, Motilal Nehru, a man with a powerful personality and an enormous passion for life. Allahabad was an upper class town, and Motilal, a self-made man, was one of the most successful barristers in his time. With success came wealth, and the Nehru family lived in a sprawling whitewashed villa, surrounded by lawns, tennis courts, and a swimming pool, and attended by numerous servants. Being the only child in this huge household, Indira was pampered and was the center of her grandfather"s attention. Then, when Indira was barely three, the Indian freedom movement entered the Nehru house, changing Indira"s life and the course of Indian history (Currimbhoy 25-26).

             Jawaharal Nehru had come into contact with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who became the leader of India"s freedom struggle. Both Jawaharal and Motilal were drawn to Gandhi. They believed in Gandhi"s nonviolent noncooperation. The family also supported Gandhi"s policy of promoting domestic cottage industries by boycotting all foreign goods(Jayakar 67-68).

             Motilal"s involvement with the Congress made his home the hub of the freedom movement. It became the place where earnest, khadi-clad men came and went at all hours of the day and night; it became a place that rang with drafts, declarations, and debates. Indira absorbed the tension and excitement of those days and became a quiet, serious child, fired by a sense of mission she did not quite understand(Currimbhoy 31). .

             Even the games Indira played had to do with politics. Her dolls were divided into freedom fighters. who formed picket lines, and British soldiers, who clubbed them on the head and ragged them to off to jail.