Past Returns with a Vengeance

How archaeology can be harnessed to establish the historicity of the Bible and spread Christianity is deliberated elaborately in one of the recent articles published in Christianity Today. Archaeology and history were powerful weapons in the arsenals of colonial masters and Christian evangelicals.

Alexander Cunningham, an official with East India Company, who, in 1857, became the first Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, had made it clear that his motivations in digging up Bharat’s past were not entirely academic, but ideological. In the article, “An Account of the Ruins of the Buddhist City of Samkassa”, published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1843 (pp. 241-47), Cunningham states that his motive was to “show that Brahmanism… was of comparatively modern origin, and had been constantly receiving additions and alterations; facts which prove that the establishment of the Christian religion in India must ultimately succeed.”

The same motivations continue to guide the Christian Church even today, which, in its bid to Christianise South India, has been promoting dubious NGOs and individuals to undertake archaeological excavations in certain places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu to establish the hoax of St Thomas’ visit to Bharat in the first century CE. Another aim of all these exercises, aided by legions of foreign ‘experts’, institutional collaborations, and foreign funds, is to churn out stuff to spawn separatism and social schism.

Truth is Getting Revealed

The truth of our buried history is slowly being revealed to the world. At present, the disputes over Qutub Minar, Gyanvapi Majid, and Taj Mahal dominate the headlines. These three places have been associated with Hinduism in the past. Many important facts related to this have come to light. Apart from these three institutions, there are many other such temples across the country that have been demolished and made into mosques. I have written in my book Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History how mosques were built by demolishing Hindu temples. It is clearly seen in Qutub Minar that sculptures of God Ganesh and many symbols related to the Hindu religion are found there. Apart from this, it is also written that Qutub Minar was a temple in the past, which was demolished and a mosque was built. The Shivling found in the Gyanvapi Mosque also makes it clear that it has been a place associated with Hinduism. It has also come to the fore that the Taj Mahal belonged to the Jaipur Gharana which was taken over by Shah Jahan. All these three places belonged to Hindus.

(As told to Mahendra Kumar)

While archaeology was used in the pre-Independence era by the British to colonise our minds and culturally subdue us, the same tool was used by the Christian missionaries to alienate North-Eastern people from mainland Bharat by hiding cultural links that existed from time immemorial. To convert the locals, the missionaries propagated the idea of separatism among the people of North East. “Though the entire region abounds in archaeological and cultural wealth, very little has been done so far to unearth the glorious past of the area. If proper attention would have been paid earlier, as was done in the case of other parts of the country, the feeling of aloofness and alienation that was deliberately inculcated by the enemies of the country could have been avoided,” writes author Michel Danino.

In the last seven decades, in the guise of secularism, all efforts were done by Marxist historians to distort history. Taking a leaf out of the colonial historians, the Marxist historians distorted the history to show Hindus in poor light, airbrushed history textbooks and brushed the problematic parts of our past under the carpet. Tormentors and barbaric invaders were made heroes in their grand narrative in their bid to superimpose a foreign idea called secularism upon Bharat. Experience shows that it has not worked and the ghosts of the past are returning with a vengeance.

The best way to resolve issues left behind by history is to enter into a dialogue with each other. Claiming the legacy and inheritance of barbaric Mughal rulers like Aurangazeb and denying the facts of history by a section of the Muslim leadership, egged on by secular politicians, will not do any good for reconciliation. Whatever way the Marxist historians might try to airbrush history and portray Mughal emperors as Indians, their own proclamations show that they treated themselves to be foreigners and descendants of Turkic brute Taimur.

As suggested by some Muslim leaders, handing over Kashi and Mathura to Hindus is the best way forward, as such measures would go a long way in cementing the relationship between the two communities and bringing down the feeling of hurt. Also, the best way to reach reconciliation is to present history as it is. It is the duty of each one of us, as well as the historians, not to let history be forgotten.