My Life As A Chick Magnet

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2001

THE TIMES OF INDIA NEWS







LEADER ARTICLE

History vs Propaganda





ROMILA THAPAR





HAT is really at stake in the current row over history textbooks is the right of the professional historian to assert the pre-eminence of history over myth and fantasy. History in India has been regarded as a soft option: The popular belief is that anyone who has read a few books on a subject can claim to be a historian.

What is not generally understood is that in the last half century the writing and research on history has become far more professional.

We do now have to observe a historical method; ways of reading and interpreting sources. Reading a text alone is not sufficient to draw historical conclusions, it is equally important to know the context of the text — the purpose, the function, the audience and the patron, all go towards the making of a text.

Reading, therefore, means an analytical activity that draws on logical reasoning, and the priorities of causation. There is also the input of other disciplines in the social sciences — in ancient history, for example, both archaeology and linguistics make contributions.

In other words, writing history is a complicated process. This is not understood very often at the popular level, and certainly not by the politicians who are currently criticising the history we write.

This then raises the question of who judges what is valid history? The validity has to be judged by professional historians who may criticise these books and whose criticism we would take seriously (provided they are professional historians).

Politicians and heads of religious organisations would have views on the politics of what is included in a textbook, but one cannot take their judgments on the correctness or otherwise of the historical content of the books, with any seriousness.

The NCERT is not willing to reveal the names of the so-called historians whom it claims to have consulted. So the debate is not among historians but between historians and politicians. The real issues are not issues of historical accuracy.

What our critics are saying in effect is that: “We neither need to know your methods nor are we interested in knowing them. That is irrelevant. What we are interested in is the political message, a political exploitation of a particular historical view that we endorse’’.

The real concerns are to provide propaganda for the elections in UP and Punjab, and to facilitate the imposition of the RSS version of history on state schools.

It is curious too that some of our books have been used for almost 40 years — mine on Ancient India has been prescribed since 1966 and I revised it in 1987 — and have not created pedagogic problems. But we are suddenly told that there are 50,000 complaints against them and that certain communities are feeling offended by them.

One of the attitudes that we have to grow out of as a society is the insistence that anything a historian or a social scientist might say must have the consent of the community to which it relates.

If one reads the chronicles and historical biographies of earlier times, all manner of remarks — sometimes outrageous — were made about various communities.

Yet there was accommodation. Sooner or later we shall have to come to terms with the notion of a critical evaluation of social groups, and this may bring about the maturity that we need in present times.

Beyond the immediate politics of the action, there is an attempt to falsify history in order to prove the theories on which the Hindutva ideology is based. For example, the historical primacy of a distinctive Aryan people is maintained.

This is unacceptable, because Aryan is a linguistic label, refers to the Aryan-speaking peoples and is not the name of a single people or a race.

There were many who lived in the subcontinent prior to the Aryans. The claim is made that the Aryans were indigenous to India, which most scholars reject in favour of arguing for migrations of Aryan-speakers into India.

The latter argument is supported by linguistic data, but in the Hindutva reconstruction of the early past, the linguistic evidence is ignored.

Another assertion — that the Harappan civilisation was created by the Aryans — is not taken seriously by most scholars, nevertheless we now have Murli Manohar Joshi pronouncing on what he calls the Sarasvati civilisation, and which he claims is prior even to the Harappan. Yet the evidence for this is so far invisible. The Rigveda is also being taken back in time, and quite arbitrarily from millennium to millennium.

What is happening is that there is a building up of a fantasy that is being thrust upon students in the guise of historical knowledge. This is doubly objectionable because the fantasy is attempting to prove that the caste Hindu has an unbroken, lineal descent of 5,000 years.

The thesis of Savarkar that those who can claim Indian ancestry and India as the land of their religion, can claim to be Indian, the others being foreigners, is sought to be vindicated.

A further element in their theory is that Indian civilisation, encapsulated in Vedic Aryanism, was entirely indigenous and was the first to invent all manner of sophisticated technologies, none of which was derived from other cultures.

They argue simultaneously that India virtually civilised the world. The notion of civilisation in this theory is a 19th century, colonial concept, now discarded by historians.

The other area of dispute arises yet again from their endorsing the colonial interpretation — the interpretation of Mill and Macaulay — that Indian history should be seen as the Hindu and the Muslim civilisations and the British period.

This views Hindu and Muslim communities as being monolithic and uniform, as well as permanently in conflict. Muslim rule, therefore, meant the oppression of Hindus.

If one looks at the medieval scene without the blinkers of Hindu and Muslim communalism, it is fascinating to see the interface between what we call the Hindus and the Muslims and between them and many others. An example of this is Eknath’s, Hindu-Turk Samvad, that speaks freely and even critically of differences, but the context is one of living life together. What is also fascinating is that the medieval period is the time when many present-day rituals, practices and mythologies, were being formulated as a part of Hinduism. They drew from the interface of varying ways of life and beliefs, modulated over time. To say, therefore, that all Hindus religious practices derive from the Vedas, is an artificial imposition of uniformity on a religion whose strength lies in its plurality.

(As told to Mahesh Daga)

…finally, a break from the usual india-pak/terrorism/obl is my hero drivel….good job, anand….you sound so much like one of my best friends (but minus the...er...pink-checked shirt:))…..and trust me guys like you are rarer than the crown jewels…don’t change…:)

Jeez, what a great article. Well, my friend, all I can say is ``Join the Club``. Guess, next time RSaxena, YLH and I go drinking in NYC, you can join us as well.

Good yarn. I don`t believe this is autobiographical tho.

Great read, Anoop, keep them coming.

And boss, himmath math harna...upar vala aisa cheez apun ko test karne ko bhejtha. (Test? Test for what, you ask...)

re: ylh

``Narcissism has no limits. BORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!``

...arrey ylh, cut the fella some slack..unlike you, most guys can`t attract throngs of women by quoting jinnah everywhere ;)

RSaxena Reply #: 21

``hey, don`t be knockin pink checked shirts...maybe you`re not getting the right kind...

check these out: http://www.thomaspink.co.uk/``

Dear RSaxena

I don`t want to sound mean or anything... but please don`t tell me that you`re wearing Thomas Pink --- $150 shirts with $100 ties and $50 cufflinks --- to classes, while your countrymen (at my college atleast) tend to even take a shower biennially and come to classes so absolutely stinking that the professor makes it clear to all south asians that she would not let anyone not wearing deodrant sit in her class in future. Very frankly, they are not bad kids at all but the way Indians dress up and carry themselves around puts all of us south asians to shame. Not that they should start wearing Thomas Pink or anything but even if they could be kind enough to put on some on sale GAP stuff like the rest of us ``faqeer`` internationals do...!

No offense.

No one but the Lord can offer true advice in matters of sex, and even He will face his fears when faced with ``the woman of his choice.``

But why all this role playing? Be emotionally honest with the woman you want. Show her all your facets: tender and cruel, generous and cussed, intellectual and physical. That way, you are more likely to find the woman who is truly made for you, no matter which corner of the earth she has been hiding.

Once you get the girl who is for you, she will know it, for she will not be able to get away no matter how hard she tries. Nor will she want you to call her your sister.

Good luck.

re: 12-head retard/nanga

``Some smarta$$ kid ,trying to pretend Sharukh Khan with MBA to show & chiputzah to compare himself to ``putting Clint Eastwood `` to shame.``

hehe...dude, your posts have gone from being stupid and irritating to just downright hilarious, in a perverse kind of way...

nice...given my spotty track record with this stuff, i`m in no position to offer advice, but maybe you should get out of the behenji circles and hang with the bad kids...

``Nobody I know seems to be reacting to my new avatar any differently than when I wore pink checked shirts and kept a Mickey Mouse Rolodex.``

hey, don`t be knockin pink checked shirts...maybe you`re not getting the right kind...

check these out: http://www.thomaspink.co.uk/

Annop,

Your article was hilarious. I have never been in a situation to appreciate being left out by the fairer sex. I was something of a nerd in medical school, studying all the time and not noticing the existence of the other sex until i got married.

The scene in most schools in India is that boys are attracted and want to make a move but girls are scared of a scandal. Rakhee always comes in handy to them! College however is different and is all fun.

I hope your luck will change soon. All i can say is : keep trying. The good Lord has made a girl just for you and it is only a matter of time.

Sridhar

Re:Reply #: 15

Dr PoonawaIIa,

I too firmly believe no Aryans ever invaded India from outside. If they did, would they not be writing about the country they left behind. There is indeed no mention of that in any of the old texts (so i am told though i confess i have not read those texts). This whole myth of AIT was created to discredit the Indus valley civilisation. Seals from excavation sites have been recently deciphered to contain sanskrit texts. This puts sanskrit as the oldest of all Indo-European languages and Indus Valley as the cradle of all civilisations. Please read the well researched book by Gidwani ``Return of Aryans`` and you will appreciate why there are people who seriously doubt the AIT.

Regards,

Sridhar

apart from the fact that this made me snigger, it`s really well written. more more...

shandana

Anoop mate,

It`s quite simple and I would have expected you to have known the answer since you have an MBA: you`re going into the wrong market!!!

Spread you wings and go for the white women, damnit. They aren`t fussy (don`t take this the wrong way- you`re a gay man in a straight-jacket) because they`ve lived in a man`s world. All they want is a bit of fidelity. Treat them as your equals and they`ll be your best friends.

You`ve heard it here first. Ha ha haaaarr.

Howdy Anoop,

you know what the all The Jedis say, mate...

Treat `em mean,

Keep `em keen

Brilliant stuff!!!

Anoop Bhat

Our Kahmiri Pundit ,Mumbai wannabe romeo hero is also a staunch sanghi supporter of Mr.Kak,the Kashmiri Pundit who thinksAGAINST the Aryan Invasion Theory ,believed by most of the world. Except Hindu Brahmins who lose ownership of India by this theory .

This is Mr.Anoops real softer side of Brahmin racist sangh parivar romantic love.

Frpm Sulekha:

`` Anoop Bhat Comments on Indology and Racism Posted on 3/22/2001 7:12:00 AM

Keep up the good work Dr. Kak. I was amazed when I was told of the Anti-invasionist school of thought, after all isn`t that the stuff drilled into our heads in 5th grade history? But I read a substantial portion of Srikant Talageri`s book debunking the Aryan Invasion Theory and have to admit it was pretty convincing. . . ``Aryan`` and indeed its variant ``brahmin`` have become dirty words almost, much bandied about by our enlightened politicans for their own dirty means. If you ask me (an utter layman in matters historical) the biggest proof of the Aryans never invading India would be in the nature of their descendants. You would expect an invading race to be bloodthirsty and barbaric, not erudite and progressive! But hey, Romila Thapar would probably disagree! ``Apney mia Mitthu ``