INDIAN HISTORY : WILL IT END UP AS A TRAGEDY
INDIAN HISTORY : WILL IT END UP AS A TRAGEDY
Government To Rewrite IndIa's History: News Report.
Historical research is a commendable activity and must be done. All governments representing people of great civilizations spend considerable time and other resources in understanding thier past .
Indian history is unique. There has been a astounding lack of written material of any of the times prior to 1900 BC or so. A period spanning over 6000 years or more. This is unlike all the great civilizations of the world which was fortunate to have had written material and more definitive archaeological evidences . Our civilization, the oldest and in some areas more advanced , had to be researched and studied only through few archaeological evidences , reports from Chinese travelers often commissioned by domestic rulers to spread their fame , Greek ,Persian invaders , totally unreliable hymns and poems of the vedas and the far too many versions of the epics. The Vedas are a collection of hymns in exaggerated praise of several gods and that too mostly in versions of Sanskrit that is not easily decipherable as per numerous historians who have tried their best and got frustrated. They offer very few historical references and evidence as such. Similarly, the epics have been rewritten several times and incidences inserted over many centuries, resulting in it being not of much help to a discerning , unbiased and well trained historian.
In spite of all these limitations and probably because of it, we have a vast treasure of research data and interpretation made available to us by many renowned international historians over the ages, as well as some exceptionally brilliant Indian ones. It is this rich material that was used to fill our text books and what was taught to us by many endearing history teachers.
Many leaders during the freedom struggle, including Nehru and Gandhi, gave their versions, adding a more relevant interpretation of the pre independence times.
There is still a vast scope to continue the research and gather more evidences. In so doing if we unearth some more glory of our past and learn from its follies and its strengths so much the better.
But if the process is aimed at glorifying our past to pamper certain segments and induce a misplaced sense of nationalism among a generally innocent and majorly unsuspecting young citizens , then we are making it into a farse.
If the end result is already decided and the objective is to use a combination of isolated incidences, interpret archaeological evidence to fit ones own version , confuse mythological stories as evidences and use such means to glofify one belief over other faiths, then it also becomes a tragedy. A tragedy not unlike the numerous ones this ancient nation had to endure over the ages.
Hope enlightened opinion and sound democratic institutions or what ever is left of it will prevent this from playing its course.
Government To Rewrite IndIa's History: News Report.
Historical research is a commendable activity and must be done. All governments representing people of great civilizations spend considerable time and other resources in understanding thier past .
Indian history is unique. There has been a astounding lack of written material of any of the times prior to 1900 BC or so. A period spanning over 6000 years or more. This is unlike all the great civilizations of the world which was fortunate to have had written material and more definitive archaeological evidences . Our civilization, the oldest and in some areas more advanced , had to be researched and studied only through few archaeological evidences , reports from Chinese travelers often commissioned by domestic rulers to spread their fame , Greek ,Persian invaders , totally unreliable hymns and poems of the vedas and the far too many versions of the epics. The Vedas are a collection of hymns in exaggerated praise of several gods and that too mostly in versions of Sanskrit that is not easily decipherable as per numerous historians who have tried their best and got frustrated. They offer very few historical references and evidence as such. Similarly, the epics have been rewritten several times and incidences inserted over many centuries, resulting in it being not of much help to a discerning , unbiased and well trained historian.
In spite of all these limitations and probably because of it, we have a vast treasure of research data and interpretation made available to us by many renowned international historians over the ages, as well as some exceptionally brilliant Indian ones. It is this rich material that was used to fill our text books and what was taught to us by many endearing history teachers.
Many leaders during the freedom struggle, including Nehru and Gandhi, gave their versions, adding a more relevant interpretation of the pre independence times.
There is still a vast scope to continue the research and gather more evidences. In so doing if we unearth some more glory of our past and learn from its follies and its strengths so much the better.
But if the process is aimed at glorifying our past to pamper certain segments and induce a misplaced sense of nationalism among a generally innocent and majorly unsuspecting young citizens , then we are making it into a farse.
If the end result is already decided and the objective is to use a combination of isolated incidences, interpret archaeological evidence to fit ones own version , confuse mythological stories as evidences and use such means to glofify one belief over other faiths, then it also becomes a tragedy. A tragedy not unlike the numerous ones this ancient nation had to endure over the ages.
Hope enlightened opinion and sound democratic institutions or what ever is left of it will prevent this from playing its course.
Comments
Post a Comment