Title: Eminent Distorians: Twists and Truths in Bharat’s History , Author: Utpal Kumar , Publisher: BLUONE INK PVT. LTD., Pp 335 , Rs 484.00
Bharat is the only living civilisation that doesn’t find itself in a museum today. It has a long history, but when one reads the dominant historiography of the country, all one gets to know is a series of invasions starting from the Aryans (the theory of the Aryan invasion has now been dropped even by the most ardent of Leftist historians, including Romila Thapar), followed by those of the West Asian tribes like Shakas, Kushanas and Huns, and culminating with Islamic as well as European invasions. Such has been the sorry state of Bharatiya historiography that even after more than seven decades since Independence, the country has failed to come up with a history that truly reflects Bharat’s perspective.
It’s not that no effort has been made in this regard. In fact, as early as in 1948, a year after the country attained Independence, noted historian RC Majumdar reached out to the then Education Ministry, led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, with the proposal to write Bharat’s true history. But the historian was too independent minded for the Government to tolerate him, and the board which was formed to accomplish the task was soon dissolved. Thereafter, especially since the late 1960s, the Leftist stranglehold became so absolute and paramount that it became both unfashionable and undesirable to rewrite Bharat’s history from the Indic perspective.
In the last couple of decades, Marxist historiography has been seriously challenged. There have been some credible efforts, especially in the past one decade, to write the history of Bharat from non-Leftist, non-colonial angle. This endeavour has largely been individual-led, and not governmental or institutional. In this line of work, a new book, Eminent Distorians: Twists and Truths in Bharat’s History, has just hit the bookstores. The book not just exposes the hypocrisy and doublespeak of the country’s mainstream historians, but also, more positively, provides an Indic framework according to which Bharat’s history should be written and told.
The book also exposes other Marxist historians such as Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra, Harbans Mukhia, Irfan Habib and DN Jha, among others, especially how they not only downplayed the violence and vandalism resorted to by Muslim invaders and rulers in India, going to the extent of giving a secular nature to their propensity to destroy Hindu temples
Eminent Distorians starts with a time capsule saga, which saw the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi bury “a history” of Bharat written in just 3,000 words on the premises of the Red Fort on August 15, 1973—another version puts the date in 1975. Today there’s no official record of this incident, except two books—one in Hindi by Harishankar Parsai and another in English by Shankar Saran. Prof S Gopal, a well-known historian, spearheaded the project of writing this history capsule which only talked about Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Even Mahatma Gandhi’s name was missing.
The book also exposes other Marxist historians such as Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra, Harbans Mukhia, Irfan Habib and DN Jha, among others, especially how they not only downplayed the violence and vandalism resorted to by Muslim invaders and rulers in India, going to the extent of giving a secular nature to their propensity to destroy Hindu temples. But also, more ludicrously, hurling the charge at Hindu rulers, often based on dubious records or selective quotations, for resorting to destruction of Hindu temples and Buddhist viharas. Prof DN Jha, for instance, blames “Hindu fanatics” led by Brahmins for the destruction of the Nalanda Mahavihar, relying himself on a dubious 18th century work, even when contemporary records unanimously blame Bakhtiyar Khilji for the same. The line of Leftist argument was: If Muslim rulers destroyed temples, so did their Hindu counterparts!
Eminent Distorians’ biggest strength, however, is its attempt to create an Indic framework of history writing. The book starts with the Chapter ‘Saraswati Sutra’, which tells us how Harappan and Vedic cultures were “two sides of the same coin”. With literary, archaeological and even philological records, it makes a strong case for giving the much misused Aryan invasion/migration theory a burial. This theory defies common sense, the author says.
The book explains how the Gupta period was a golden era in Bharat’s history, but unlike what many nationalist and even Leftist historians believe, author Utpal Kumar makes a strong case for Bharat’s golden era not ending with the invasion of Huns in the sixth century AD. According to the author, the Huns was largely a north-western phenomenon, and that too a momentary one.
The period between 600 and 1000 AD saw Bharat witnessing a series of golden eras across the country, from the Karkotas in the north to the Palas in the east, and from Rashtrakutas in the Deccan to Pallavas and Cholas in the south. In fact, the opulence and prosperity witnessed during the rule of the Cholas matched, if not excelled, the grandeur of the Guptas.
The book also debunks the notion of Muslim victory in Bharat being a case of “they came, they saw, they conquered”. The reality was that while it took the forces of Islam to reach as far as France within a century of the death of Prophet Mohammed, it took them more than 550 years to get a foothold in the heart of Bharat. And even thereafter, the situation of a Sultanate ruler remained precarious with each new ruler forced to win territories afresh.
This game of cat and mouse continued till Akbar ascended the throne in 1556 AD. Akbar understood he wouldn’t be able to control the country, and the empire won’t be a durable one without the support of Hindus, at least a section of them.
However, Aurangzeb went back to the old ways and re-imposed jizya and restarted temple destruction. At the time of his death, Aurangzeb realised his mistake, but by then it was too late. The Marathas under Shivaji, and later the Pehshwas, became the most powerful empire of the country. The author is right when he says that the British took over Bharat from the Marathas and not the Mughals.
Eminent Distorians is a well-researched book with detailed reference notes. In that way, the book is as academic in nature as it is journalistic. It’s a must-read for not just knowing the disservice and doublespeak of our eminent distorians but also presents the history of Bharat that is truly Bharatiya in perspective.
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