What kind of history is being taught to our children in schools? Who are the groups left out of historical narratives? Is the subject plagued by too much Euro-centrism? The session, ‘The Battleground of Indian History’, held on the second day of The Hindu Lit for Life, raised these questions.
The panel was made up of biographer and historian Dr. Rajmohan Gandhi, history-writer John Keay, author Ira Mukhoty, and historian Audrey Truschke, who were in conversation with historian Aditya Mukherjee.
They discussed the distortion of history by political establishments in the country. The speakers expressed worry over confused and distorted histories being taught to school children. Speaking of her experience of teaching history to students who have completed high school in India, Truschke said, “The students need to unlearn a lot of what they have been taught as part of their preliminary education. There is a need to rid them of the communal reading of history.”
Keay pointed out that it isn’t just political establishments, but also historians who are guilty of making history inaccessible to people. He said, “Too much history is written by historians for historians.” He reminded the audience that history ought to be for everyone.
Gandhi discussed variations of the idea of ‘let’s take our country back.’ He said that it implied a precarious notion that the country belongs more to some groups than to others. Referring to Article 5 of the Constitution, he pointed out how the Article does not specify any criterion of gender, sect or caste for citizenship. He also drew attention to the fact that the latest Citizenship Amendment Bill is in contradiction to Article 5.
Ira Mukhoty, on her part, said that in all of recorded Indian history (dating back to approximately 5000 BC), the representation of women has been 0.5%. Linking this to contemporary happenings in the country, she remarked how the number of roads in Delhi named after women is “less than half a dozen.”
Truschke cautioned against entirely dismissing all European sources of history as biased, saying that would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There is the need to look carefully at European sources in order to get different perspectives on a historical event, she said.
The session concluded with the panellists agreeing on the need to view and understand the world objectively.
