There was a time when the only access to history was textbooks in school unless you were a voracious reader and were interested in knowing what has happened in the world and your country. The history books were always approved and published by the ruling parties and had the content that suited them. Recollect the history you read in school and compare it with what the reality is. Nobody cared to do that till now. History was underrated, unwanted and assumed to be an unimportant kind of subject for the longest time. It was treated like a burden that needs to be offloaded soon. Many would be happy that there is no compulsory history after 10th Grade. Today they must be wondering what people are talking about and what the reality is amongst the many news pieces they hear. And the ones who read history only for marks are debating on topics they have no clue about. Our history has created our present and our present is going to build our future. That is the whole truth.
There has been an absolute contradiction in the minds of students since they always studied tampered history. They know how India was invaded by the Mughals, how people were tortured, and temples were broken down, yet many roads in north India have the names of oppressors given to them. We were told the Taj Mahal is the monument of love made by Shah Jahan for his beautiful beloved wife Mumtaz. Nobody told us she was one of the three wives and had died in suspicious situations as quoted by some historians. Francois Bernier, a French physician who visited India from 1659 to 1668, recorded that the relationship of Shah Jahan with his daughter, Jahanara Begum exceeded basic decency as it was rumoured that they were in an incestuous relationship. Similar claims are also alleged by De laet, Peter Mundy and Tavernier. Also, we are not informed that Our textbooks have stated how Akbar was a lover of art but never clarified how he was also a part of the Mughals looking for spreading his empire and Islam. While we can hardly know history from the history curriculum fixed by the Congress party for decades, we also cannot depend on the young you tubers who have millions of fans but have hardly read any scriptures or researched anything.
Reality and fake narratives have been around for ages. Promoting garbage and condemning the most precious diamonds through convenient presentations and marketing strategies is very easy in the times of social media. Run a fake video with a boost and people will believe it when they see it repeatedly. YouTube has got in a revolution in our system. We have self-proclaimed detectives, scientists, historians, doctors, mind experts and many more, who share half-baked, copy-paste information without any verification. Instead of verifying the content they glorify it for more followers and online earnings. Many talks like experts on all topics. But what they do is parroting.
The so-called renowned left-leaning historian Romila Thapar has done more harm to the real history and culture of India than anyone else in history. She dictated the major points of the official version of Nehruvian Indian history to advance her own hidden goal due to her influence over institutional-academic positions and control over the official history of India with her coterie. To advance a specific ideology, the historical past and historical facts were perverted, avoided, manipulated, distorted, and falsified. Her definition of history is the study and interpretation of the past. This knowledge of the past shouldn’t be based on current viewpoints, presumptions, or frameworks. She is accurate. A historian’s objective in the classroom is to present historical findings, discoveries, and facts-based proof. The current approach to historical study entails gathering information that supports theories. Research is the process of looking for facts in the context of fresh data, which has the potential to overturn accepted theories.
In line with the Marxist worldview, in which nation-states and nationalism are modern capitalist concepts, it is believed that India was never united in the past and that national sentiment only emerged after and as a reaction to the British Raj. So, according to them, before the British came to India, there was no “Indian idea” or Indian country. It distorts the fact that great Indian empires like Mauryan Kanishka, Gupta, Chalkath, Cholas and Vijaynagar once unified India. The present-day “most part” of India was united under various empires long before Britain came to our country. According to Marxism, the concept of the capitalist nation-state must exist before the feeling of nationalism emerges, and is likely to be oppressed by the concept of the capitalist nation-state, and it too withers, becomes stateless and classless. create a society without Her colour blindness to left-wing ideologies prevented her from distinguishing between the modern state (country) and the people. The concept of India as a geographic state is inherent in Indian culture and religious ethos. Four Math were established by the seer Shankaracharya in the four extreme corners of Bharat in the 1st millennium AD consisting of Badrinath (North), Dwarka (West), Puri (East) and Rameswaram (South), this isn’t a coincidence. All Hindus are obligated to make a pilgrimage to these four mathematics. Even the Vishnu Puran mentions the unified geographical concept of Bharat, stating that the land north of the sea and south of the Himalayas is Bharat. Bharatvasha’s sentiments may have changed over time for political reasons, but they have been written heavily in our history.
She has an ingrained bias against Hindus, and to her, only upper-caste Hindus are considered Hindus. She paints a romanticised picture of Hindu-Muslim unity during the Mughal period in her zeal to please her master and advance the idea of “Secularism” So much so that even the Hindu monarchs engaged in atrocities and destroyed temples, the Mughal invaders’ atrocities were seen as acceptable. Arun Shorie’s book does a good job of exposing how she and other “Eminent Historians” pick and choose the “evidence” to highlight the facts and advance their points of view that are motivated by their agendas.
Textbooks must have real researched history. Any person distorting reality should be summoned. History is not a meal order you can have A-la-carte as per mood. It is factual and fixed. Undo the textbook history you have learnt earlier, open your eyes and read the right journals and research to understand politics today and where you are heading socially. Do not trust random YouTube videos or statements made by people. If you care, research. Find evidence and traces of reality in everything that you wish to believe and profess to your next generation. If you say I’m not interested in History and Politics, you are indirectly saying I am not interested in knowing what is going to happen to my life in the next 10 years.