Q / The notion of India being the 'mother of democracy' gained currency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi began speaking about it. Is there sufficient historical and archaeological evidence to back it?
A/ What the prime minister has drawn attention to is the approach to decolonise the process of historical narrative that prevailed in this country.
To give you an example, the British were in India for just about 200 years. Now, for a country like India, with history of thousands of years, 200 years should have been inconsequential. But it was not so. The British delinked us from our legacies: our spiritual and cultural legacies. Basically, the idea is to have a decolonised approach to understanding issues.
Q/As you said, this is not a recent construct. Historians referred to it at the turn of 20th century. But it seems we lost it along the way.
A/ This is one of the big ironies of Indian history writing. I have been teaching history since 1977, and I remember that the books I read in 1975 or 1976 to take it up as a profession were [written by] R.C. Majumdar, Jadunath Sarkar, Radhu Kumud Mukherjee. There were 11 volumes of Majumdar's History and Culture of Indian People, a profoundly important narrative based on solid sources. Gradually, these volumes disappeared and you had a new set of writings.
Esta historia es de la edición August 20, 2023 de THE WEEK India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August 20, 2023 de THE WEEK India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
