History A Fascinating Subject

The word history generates so many images that come to mind, to name a few kingdoms, queens and kings, great wars, architecture and culture, literature and historians who pen down snapshots of a bygone era. If we look at human history in general, it is often broken down into ages driven by pursuits of man in a given age or era. Historical events also translate into books and films that help keep the narrative alive. However there are some fundamental questions that come to mind, whose history is it anyway? Past historic events are often debated by scholars who interpret them differently based on their own perspectives, mindsets and prejudices. What strikes me as a clear pattern, is the official narrative of history is largely driven by a state's view of events (state implies a country, a kingdom or smaller unit depending of the geographic location and point in time). The problem with an official narrative is it is unchallenged version and is often debated when other scholars with deep knowledge of the region to which such events are related, challenge the documented version with a counter view of events. If we look at Indian History especially, what is taught in schools and colleges is a very limited and myopic view of our History. Why do i say so? Because we don't read about regional history, most of the text is dedicated to history of Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, Cholas or the Gupta's. What about the naval capabilities of Marthanda Verma or the trading links India has had over the centuries. If we look at Indus Valley civilisation as well, our history books postulated that Aryan invasions brought it to an end. Recent studies have shown this is completely a viewpoint with not an iota of evidence.

So how did things come to this. Sadly our history has been largely written from a colonial lens and needs to be revisited. We now have all the scientific and technological aids to decipher history from a multi-disciplinary view covering History, Geography, Geology and Physics. Historical problems need dedicated research with site visits, collection of samples, lab investigations and even deep sea diving as well ! The way history is taught in our education system, reflects the scant respect we have given to this fascinating subject. We need a completely new approach to the way we decipher history as well as way we right and teach it as a subject. Another issue that we see with ancient Indian History is the prevalence of Sanskrit manuscripts (by some estimates 30 million manuscripts). Very few have actually been studied and analysed as Sanskrit is not taught in most schools and most modern day historians are unable to read Sanskrit. This is a huge challenge that needs to be overcome with missionary zeal and a clear objective. To do justice to our rich civilisation and unearth the knowledge that lies in these manuscripts, governments must focus on teaching Sanskrit as a subject as well as translate these works to other Indian languages. As the saying goes, to progress as a nation we must know our past and where we came from. Our historical research is clearly lacking both in skills as well as focus. Time to set the records right !