Why is Tipu relevant now? Should we bother about historic personalities who are long dead and gone?
That is almost like asking whether history is relevant at all as the discipline deals with characters long dead and gone! In the case of people like Tipu Sultan they become relevant because they are made into a political football by the acrimonious politics of our times. Ever since the Congress Government started the Tipu Jayanthi in 2014 to commemorate his birth anniversary, it caused great angst to several communities in Karnataka, whose ancestors had suffered his brutalities. The BJP did its share of ridiculous myth-making as a counter, talking about Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda as his killers—all with an eye to target the Vokkaliga vote bank. In all of this, I felt that it was truly a historian's responsibility to set the record straight, bring the facts on the table and present the unvarnished truth of Tipu Sultan, as he was, with warts and all.
While growing up in Kerala, there was a dichotomy in the narrative we heard about Tipu Sultan. The textbooks, the Doordarshan series and the academic narrative of that time portrayed him as a great hero who fought against the East India Company and a secular icon, while the collective memory talked about a different picture. Which is the truth?
Esta historia es de la edición December 15, 2024 de The New Indian Express Thiruvananthapuram.
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 December 15, 2024 de The New Indian Express Thiruvananthapuram.
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
Beat the SADness
LAST week, during an online video consultation with my patient 'S' from the UK who has been undergoing treatment for depressive disorder with mood swings, I recognised that she was in a helpless state.
Chelsea's Mudryk fails drugs test: Club
CHELSEA forward Mykhailo Mudryk has failed a doping test, the Premier League club said on Tuesday, as reports stated the Ukraine international has been provisionally suspended.
With an eye on elections, UDF to focus on ways to address people's issues
CONTRARY to current tactics of highlighting the ruling front's failures on different issues, the UDF will adopt a different line now: Convincing voters how it proposes to resolve their issues if voted to power.
2 held for dragging tribal man along road
POLICE have arrested two youngsters in connection with the incident in which a tribal man, Mathan, was dragged alongside a car for around 400m near Mananthavady in Wayanad.
Drive responsibly or face the music, MVD tells pvt bus operators
APPARENTLY identifying reckless driving by private bus drivers as a major cause of the alarming rise in the number of road accidents in the state, the motor vehicle department (MVD) has come out with a slew of deterrent measures like geotagging the carriers using GPS and suspending the permit of vehicles that cause serious accidents.
A POIGNANT TALE THAT DISMANTLES SUPERSTITION
The film, which premiered at the 29th IFFK, blends love and loss to critique regressive thoughts while exploring the emotional toll of mental health struggles
Wicked Part 2 gets title & release date
THE second part of the Wicked film, helmed by Jon M Chu, has now been titled Wicked: For Good.
YOUNGEST-AT-IFFK TAG SERVES AS A COOL ICEBREAKER
In a conversation with TNIE, filmmaker Cyril Abraham Dennis speaks about his maiden feature film, Watusi Zombie, and his aspirations
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO USHER IN CHANGE
AMPONG Bras Basah in the Malay language movie La Luna might be several thousand miles away from Soorajmukhi in the interiors of North India in the Hindi film Laapataa Ladies, but the two quaint fictional villages share quite a lot in common even as both the films have themselves been among the 85 vying in the Best International Feature category at the Oscars.
'BANGLADESH WILL MOVE TOWARDS LIGHT'
Bangladeshi filmmaker Ahsan Kabir Liton opens up on the turmoil his country's cultural space is going through
