WRITE HISTORY BUT DO NOT PAINT MYTHS ANY MORE EITHER WAY

WRITE HISTORY BUT DO NOT PAINT MYTHS ANY MORE EITHER WAY

We often hear that leftist historians have distorted Indian history. But what is going on as rightist history is its aberration in a worse form as ignoramuses speak volumes of gibberish which find no resonance in historical fact or substance. Preaching myths in the name of history does the nation no good. History must be founded on fact and its analysis and understanding have a scientific basis instead of wishful mythological thinking.

Myths are myths and cannot become history which is why Swami Vivekananda had wanted the emerging historians of future India to take up the study of the nation's past and highlight what has been suppressed by European historians deliberately to paint India as a 'less than' civilisation which in modern times needed the Europeans to rule and civilise. But Swamiji never wanted Indians to project myths that would be laughable in the world at large, vain imaginings that would never be accepted by men of learning and light the world over. Swamiji had emphasised that Indian history must be written from the Indian perspective and not from the perspective of the European of scant understanding of India's culture and traditions, its heritage and civilisation. But Swamiji was always wary of this Oriental tendency to hyperbolism and vain ornamentation which he knew could not be deemed historical in the strictest sense of its chronicling. It is thus of utmost moment that instead of painting history as per one's preferences and predilections, one must diligently do the job with rational rigour. Only then may we arrive at the analytic and synthetic comprehensive understanding of our nation's past, its civilisational core and content.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : Dr. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, one of our foremost historians of modern times.