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an unprecedented trend has taken place in indian historiography when romila thapar
has come out with an opinion in "the hindu" under the caption, "where fusion
cannot work � faith and history" (the hindu, dated september 28, 2007).
ironically, there have been dubious connections among the three. and if the "the
hindu" is included, the combination becomes four. yes, romila thapar has been the
favorite historian of "the hindu". karunanidhi used to call this pet-paper as
"mount road maha vishnu". of course, just like romila, karunanidhi too have
connection with "the hindu". his daughter, kanimozhi worked in editorial board.
his trade union has been strong in "the hindu" and the trade union leader n. p.
"ramajayam" has now become a minister. and above all, karunanidhi has a brahmin
girl as in-law from ram's family! all the four have connection with ram in one way
or the other!
she starts with the concepts of "faith" and "history". history is not what has
been written or being written, but it is exactly what had happened the past. "what
has been written" varies with "what is being written" not only by the same
historian but also by others at time and space. for example, romila's stand on
ait. about what exactly had happened, the present historians may not know 100%.
according to the percentage of "knowing the past" or "known past", they start
writing history or histories. if we analyze carefully a book written by historian,
he / she would have contradicted himself / herself many times. particularly, the
historians with ideology err many times because of their in-built bias, prejudice
and pre-conditioned mind-set.
particularly, the one para is atrocious and it fully exposes the mind-set of
romila. "this does not happen with the biographies of those who were known to be
historical figures and who founded belief systems: the buddha, jesus christ,
mohammad. their biographies adhere largely to a single story-line and this helps
to endorse the `official' narrative of their life. their existence is recorded in
other sources as well that are not just narratives of their lives but have diverse
associations. the historicity of the buddha, for example, is established, among
other things, by the fact that a couple of centuries after he died, the emperor
ashoka on a visit to lumbini had a pillar erected to commemorate the buddha's
place of birth. this is recorded in an inscription on the pillar".
how can a responsible historian lie like this? it is not one lie but bundle of
lies put in camouflaged falsity.
historians know about the historicity of all the mentioned. i do not want to
mention all details. anyway, she has deliberately suppressed the historical facts
to fool the indians. it is unbecoming for her and none can forget this.
many c-14 and other tests proved that most of the christian relics were
manufactured during 13th-24th centuries.
ibn warraq and others have dealt with the related issues of islam.
about relics manufacture for buddhism, the case of alois anton fuhrer has been
very famous. incidentally, he was associated with epigraphica indica, asi north-
west frontier etc. ironically, he forged the lumpini casket with relics and was
removed from the service. his associate buhler disappeared without trace! about
stealing of buddha relics from bihar and their appearance in sri lanka, the role
of asi, a disappearance buddha statue from madras museum etc., tell the stories of
fraudulent activities connected.
"this does not happen with the biographies of those who were known to be
historical figures and who founded belief systems: the buddha, jesus christ,
mohammad. their biographies adhere largely to a single story-line and this helps
to endorse the `official' narrative of their life. anyway, if romila has been
generous enough to give such biographies, all believers would be so happy.
i know what suvira jaiwal spoke at calicut: "rama cult arose in the south, says
historian" (march 12, 2007 the hindu) the "special correspondent" of "the hindu"
made others to believe by his biased reporting. first of, it was shame on the
organizers to politicize the ihc and postpone the conference by shifting the venue
from kurukshetra to calicut by making thousands of delegates to loose lakhs of
rupees and waste their valuable time. of course changing of venue and postponing
conference has been plaguing ihc, ever since one coterie of ihc has started
resorting to politicize and communalize it (earlier glaring instances ujjaini,
warangal, new delhi, calcutta etc). she argued that rama cult arose in the south,
the "dravida" country and later got assimilated into religious psyche of the
north! how then, you write differently about the location of lanka etc.
if rama could not have built a bridge without engineering college degree, mohammed
could not have flown to heavens on a horse, jesus could not have born and
resurrected etc. (i do not want to elaborate, as all are sensitive issues).
as a life member of indian history congress (ihc) since 1987, i have observed,
listened to and question romila thapar, many times. of course, not only romila
thapar, even other eminent historians always used to avoid answering and went away
hurriedly giving some excuse! but, i could find the cast difference between them
as i perceived by reading their books and what they talk in the forums. and when
they come to "the hindu", they used to change completely, as if they become
"politicians" . i have noted r. s. sharma, ifran habib, barun de, m. g. s.
narayanan, k. m. srimali, chempakalakshmi, t. k. venkatasubramaniam, k. n.
panikkar and others inside and outside ihc.
really, as we have now on the globalization process, our historians too have had
enough expertise to lie and become "history's greatest liars"! better, historians
stick to their work instead of becoming marxist, dravidologist, etc., depending
upon the power-brokers at the centre. karunanidhi may invite romila thapar to
inaugurate next world tamil conference!
from k. v. ramakrishna rao.
to
the editor,
the hindu,
madras � 600 002.