Bhagat Singh was not only a great patriot and revolutionary socialist, but also one of India's early Marxist thinkers and ideologues. A voracious reader right from his boyhood, he brought upon his thinking and writings the tremendous influence of his varied reading. His several statements before courts, his passionate letters to his father and other comrades, insights on revolution and communalism and his atheistic faith, all reveal a mind that is at once original and mature in understanding.