Rewriting history: Why seculars must embrace the effort

In our perception, history presents the past, and the perception is, of course, true. What often escapes our mind is the known limits of the past are pushed further by new archaeological discoveries, which demand the rewriting of history, especially of ancient civilisations, like India's.

For example, a hundred years ago, the limits of the understanding of our past extended only to about 3,500 years ago. Then, Harappa and Mohenjodaro were discovered in the early 1920s, and it was pushed back to a very significant extent, giving a peep into an altogether new dimension.

Now, after another hundred years, we have evidence that the Indian civilisation sprouted more than nine thousand years ago in places spread thousands of miles apart, from Mehrgarh in Balochistan to Bhirrana in Haryana to Lahuradewa in eastern Uttar Pradesh. So, if the Indian civilisation did not precede, it was at least contemporaneous to the two other ancient civilisations —Chinese and West Asian-Egyptian.

Enough evidence has emerged that points to the fact that though this civilisation suffered innumerable invasions throughout these millennia, and Indians also invaded others in the east, west and north-west, it developed without any major break. Current-day India is a direct socio-cultural-spiritual continuation of and evolution from its ancient roots. But how should we weigh different times, for example ancient, medieval and modern and which facets - philosophical, cultural, economic, political - of the past.

More than a century ago, Rabindranath Tagore in a long article titled, Bharatbarsher Itihas (History of Bharat), demanded a rewriting of our history as it did not depict the true spirit of India coming down from ancient times. Tagore described history textbooks as nightmarish, lamenting that “from somewhere some people came, fights and bloodbaths occurred…and when one group somehow left, another came — Pathan, Mughal, Portuguese, French, British” and occupied the entire space of Indian history.

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For Tagore, from Muhammad Ghori to Aurangzeb, all were "foreign" rulers, while during their regimes, the real India was manifested in Kabir, Nanak, Chaitanya and Tukaram. Explaining it further, he wrote: “It was not that there existed only Delhi and Agra then. There were also Kashi and Nabadweep.”

While our history textbooks have been drafted many times, they never reflected the glory and significance of Kashi and Nabadwip that spread the secular teachings of dharma and karma. This dharma is not religion; it denotes the forces and principles that hold together an individual, society, planet and the universe. Moreover, our history books put give less weight to our ancient sages and scientists, to the great Deccan empires, and more importantly, to our fabulous economic achievements spread over thousands of years.

So, it is only natural that with the new, strong India emerging out of the shell of its recent past of colonialism and lack of self-confidence, demand for rewriting history textbooks will arise. It is intriguing why it was not done for so long. It was a secular liberal demand raised by Tagore, the tallest liberal poet, philosopher and educator of modern India, but was not followed up by the post-independence liberal nationalists.

Consequently, the agenda is now being hijacked by the Hindutvawadis. In January 2020, after dedicating to the nation four refurbished heritage buildings of Kolkata, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the aforementioned article by Tagore.

Now two and a half years later, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has bragged that no one can stop them from rewriting history. A more pertinent question is why would anyone try to stop redrafting history textbooks. I am sure that is what Shah meant since otherwise the statement becomes meaningless as everyone is free to research and write on any period of history.

The seculars must understand that this is their last chance to join this effort and debate on how much weightage should be given to which age and what facets of our history. The seculars must also see through the trap being laid. The latest wave of cultural revivalism will force such redrafting of texts, and if the seculars do not join the effort, it will be done exclusively by Hindutvawadi historians and history teachers who may incorporate things that are more from the realm of faith than products of evidence.

A rigid stand against rewriting history, or an obsession with the Mughal era or Aurangzeb as an instrument of opposing the Hindutvawadis or cultural revivalism, is bound to fail. We must be respectful of our glorious past, and as a secular nation must not look at the religion of the ruler; but we must also make our history texts true reflections of our 9000 year long journey.

It is time to follow Tagore’s vision, and great minds from all ideological arenas should join the effort.

(Diptendra Raychaudhuri is a journalist and author based in Kolkata)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.