CHALLENGING COLONIAL HISTORIOGRAPHY :THE INDIAN SCENERIO

--KAPIL KUMAR CHAIRPERSON AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCIENCE , MYTHOLOGY AND HISTORIANS

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One may find difficult to agree with the maxim that all history is ‟biased”. Yet there is no denying the fact that each generation looks at it’s history through contemporary realities.

History is not just a study of the dead for it informs us how the present has developed and by analyzing the two we can plan for the future. Thus, history is a vibrant, dynamic  area of investigation, analysis and interpretation which at times has been twisted, transmitted and used by dominant ruling groups and powers to justify their domination of the subjugated  and  to maintain their hold over people, societies or nations.

Hence, the advent of Colonial Historiography was not just an accident  in Indian History and the entire process was deliberate and intentional in order to  not only sustain and justify the colonial rule but to establish and strengthen European Supremacy.

It was ,what I would term as the “Colonial Psyche” at work in its most brutal forms to construct a Colonial society. This could be possible only by denying ,denouncing and degrading the history ,cultural heritage, religions, value systems, science, etc., etc. of the subjugated.

The Colonial Historiography was enacted at the edifice of this Colonial Psyche.

PROPAGATE!

Colonial Psyche

Racism

Western Supremacy

White Man’s Burden

THE PLAYERS !

Stake-holders of the EMPIRE

Missionaries

Soldiers

British Intellectuals

Colonial Administrator

s

AND WHY !

Denounce

Divide Demolish

Exploit and Subjugate

Loot PlunderTo

Rule Dominate

PROPAGANDA !Orienta

l Despoti

sm

No History

No Nation

Slaves

Divided

Uncultured Incompetent

to Rule

Obscurantist Religions

Stagnant Society

and Economy

THE SUBSIDIARY CONTRIBUTING FACTORS !

The need to understand, explore and analyze the societies over which the Colonial master ruled.

To offer interpretations that suited the Colonial political and economic interests and facilitated social and cultural domination.

THE RESULT ! Orientalists, Utilitarians, Indologists– All combine to construct the Colonial Psyche. From Charles Grant (1792),James Mill (1806-1818) and a host of others till 1947 what India faced was the one sided biased and distorted historiography.

Best Articulated in the words of John Strachey (1880); “This is the first and foremost thing to learn about India that there is not, and never was an India, or even any country of India possessing, according to European ideas, any sort of unity- physical, social and religious, no Indian nation, no ‘people of India’, of which we hear so much.”

KARL MARX, NO EXCEPTION !

Based on British Sources.

Part of European Psyche, yet opposed

to Colonial Exploitation.

Asiatic mode of Production. Stagnant Society.

Stagnation broken by Colonialism.

His words from a write-up of July 22, 1853 reflect a clear picture of his thoughts: “Indian society has no history at all, at least no known history. What we call its history, is but the history of the successive intruders who founded their empires on the passive basis of the unresisting and unchanging society. The question, therefore is not whether the English had a right to conquer India, but whether we are to prefer India conquered by the Turk, by the Persian, by the Russian, to India conquered by the Briton. England had to fulfill a double mission in India; one destructive, the other regenerating—the annihilation of old Asiatic society, and the laying of the material foundations of Western society in Asia.”

HIS ATTRIBUTES TO INDIA (25.6.1853)

Oriental Despotism

Unresisting tools of superstiti

ons

Barbarian Egotism

Undignified,

stagnant and

vegetative life

Brutalizing worship

Passive existence

Wild, aimless, unbounded forces of destructio

n Distinctio

ns of caste and slavery

Never changing natural destiny

So successful had been the Colonial psyche at work that this great revolutionary thinker went to the extent of writing;“…..and thus brought about a brutalizing worship of nature, exhibiting its degradation in the fact that man, the sovereign of nature, fell down on his knees in adoration of Hanuman, the monkey, and Sabbala, the cow.”

And yet, the Marxist methodology became an interesting tool for historical research that generated both positive as well as negative constructions in the evolution of Indian Historiography. The Dogmatic Marxists, even today ,tow this line where as the liberals have developed alternate models with vital interpretations and analysis (I’ll come to this a little later).

THE RESISTANCE ! The challenge to Colonial Psyche, that formed the basis of Colonial Historiography was always present in the Indian Psyche as can be seen from the resistance and revolts faced by the British in India, the first massive one being the Sanyasi and Fakir rebellion of 1770’s and 1780’s. This challenge took various forms and shapes at different intervals and was instrumental in the emergence of Nationalist and Marxist Schools at later date.

In fact, the challenges came from the social reformers, rural intelligentsia, writers and poets, urban elite and many others much before the Indian historian emerged on the scene, a fact often underplayed by the professional historians.

LITERARY RENAISSANCE ! Neel Darpan (1862), a play by Dinbandhu Mitra which exposed that colonial exploitation of poor peasants: their revolt in a historical setting.

Anand Math, Devi Chaudhrani and Durgesh Nandini by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee regarded as Historical thrillers by reviewers but soon two of Bankim’s novel were based on actual ‘historical events and themes’. In 1882 he came out with Anandmath that was based in surrounding the Sanyasis and Fakir rebellion against the British in the 1870’s. It was from this that later on Rabindranath Tagore gave music to Vande Mataram a song that became the symbol of fight against Imperialism during the National Movement. Bankims’ other novel Devi Chaudhrani published in 1884 was again constructed around a real historical character who led peasants against the British in late 18th Century.

This novel impact added another dimension to Indian historicity that the Indian women could not be treated as docile and submissive or sufferers of patriarchy and male domination.

This resistance was soon followed by writers in other languages with works like Jhansi Ki Rani being written by Vrindavan Lal Verma in Hindi and soon many more instances were cited from history that depicted the revolutionary role played by the women of India.

It was Bankim and not any professional historian who advocated the writing of history from the Bengal perspective. “When are we going to have our own history?” and stated “None of the books written on Bengal by British authors contain a true history of Bengal.”

It was he who gave the awakening “But who will write it? You will write it, I will write it, everyone will write this history. Whosoever is Bengali will write it.” (the beginnings of Subaltern)

Bhartendu Harishchandra’s plays, poetry and write-ups (1875-85) like; Bharat Durdasha, Neel Devi, Andher Nagari, Baraga Purdahs.

And, there was no going back. In all vernacular languages of India the stereotypes of Indian history were questioned and at times even ridiculed. A wave of Nationalism is witnessed in novels, poetry, articles, and there is no dearth of names that can be cited in this regard. Subramamian Bharti, Maithli Sharan Gupt, Premchand, and many others not only challenged the Colonial Psyche but gave impetus to Nationalist feelings and these literary trends continued till the overthrow of Colonialism. Premchand, being the foremost.

THE SOCIAL REFORMERS ! The 19th century social reformers while combating the inner contradictions and social evils within the Indian society also responded to the Colonial Psyche challenging the very basis of the Colonial reconstruction of the Indian society, history and cultural heritage.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Ramkrishna Paramhans, Swami Vivekanand, Jyotiba Phule and a host of others not only restrengthened and restored the confidence of Indians in their history and heritage but also took it outside the borders of India. Swami Vivekanand’s address at the World Religions Conference (1893) in the USA is one important example to be cited here.

THE INDIAN PSYCHE ! In sharp contrast and in strong retaliation to the Colonial Psyche there emerged what I would term as “The Indian Psyche”. Emerging from Bengal it gradually got a Nationalist reflection that ultimately contributed to the development of Nationalist Historiography wherein, the Indian historian started making its presence felt.

Many vested educated Indians/Indians in the service of the British and intellectuals ushered the debates on India’s exploitation with Dadabhai Naoroji making the mark with his publications “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India” or R.C.Dutt’s “Economic History of India”.

Most of the Nationalist Historiography confined itself to ancient and medieval periods basing their arguments on

available literary resources and soon new discoveries of ancient texts gave a boost to the Indian Psyche. The discovery of Kautilya’s Arthashastra demolished the Colonial reconstructions of ancient Indian governance, taxation, revenue systems, trade and commerce.

It was natural justice that many among those who graduated from the European education system made full use of the European knowledge and learning to search for Indian parallels in the past thus adding to the Indian Psyche.

Thus, it was this Indian Psyche that paved the way for the historian to emerge on the scene and no less was the contribution of the rural intelligentsia in preparing that environment.

NATIONALIST HISTORIANS ! The Nationalist Historiography was a direct result of the Colonial distortions and as a consequence the entire thrust was geared towards demonstrating that all the greatness that Europe stands for was present in India’s past. In this process, no doubt many of the internal contradictions of the Indian society were underplayed or intentionally ignored. However, this did bring a major paradigm shift in the writing and teaching of history in India.

Yet, the Colonial critique of British rule in India developed during the 19th century by Nationalist Indians though, largely impacted upon the National Movement and the Anti-Colonial struggles was hardly to have any reflection in the teaching of history. Nor did this develop as a Nationalist School of history. In fact the country had to wait till its independence to write the history of India under Colonialism.

Few exceptions like “1857” by Vir Savarkar or R.P.Dutt’s “India Today”.

The liberation of India ushered in a new phase of Nationalist Historiography with a host of historians led by R.C.Majumdar, Tara Chand, Pattabhi Sitaramaiyaa, and many others who are now clubbed together as a part of the Nationalist School. The emphasis of National Historiography highlighted the achievements of the Nationalist Movement, the Indian Renaissance overlooking the critique of the National Movement. This in fact was a history from the top, a history of the dominant trends, and a history of the dominant social groups.

THE MARXIST SCHOOL ! Like the early Nationalists it were the early Communists who in their struggle against Colonialism attempted Marxist interpretations of Indian history. However, the references to history were made in relation to the theoretical debates and understandings of Colonialism and the forms of struggle to be adopted. M.N. Roy can be cited in this regard.

Two major works that ushered the era of Marxist Historiography in India were Rajni Pam Dutt’s “India Today” in 1940 and A.R. Desai’s “Social Background of Indian Nationalism” in 1948, both of them presented a critique of Imperialism, Colonialism and the Gandhian led National Movement from a Marxist analysis based on class distinctions.

A major paradigm shift in Marxist Historiography of India came with the writings of D.D. Kosambi who not only distanced himself from “the Asiatic Mode of Production” but asserted that Marxism was a methodology and its adoption does not mean to blindly follow his conclusions. He used comparative methods with a flexible Marxist approach with interdisciplinary techniques and considering the study and interpretation of myths essential to understand ancient cultures. He also discarded many of the simplistic interpretations offered by Max Muller and his approach is best described by Romila Thapar (1992; p.100) as thus “A few among the more intellectually gifted realized that what Koshambi was doing was not forcing the facts to fit the received Marxist methodology to investigate a possible pattern and suggest a new framework; that in fact he was using the method creatively. As he himself states elsewhere, Marxism was not being “proved” or “justified”, but simply being used as a tool of professional investigation.”

Since 1960’s the Indian Historiography was dominated by Marxist historians that offered a critique of both the Colonial Psyche as well as the Nationalist Historiography. However, most of these historians could not liberate themselves like Kosambi from the political line given from time to time by the two leading Communist parties of India.

The result being that though the workers and peasants struggles came to the forefront of historical investigation, the approach towards India’s past and particularly about ancient India remained extremely dogmatic, very often ignoring hard historical facts and sources in order to suit the contemporary political agenda. To cite just one example is the case of Dwarka in Indian history.

History of Ancient & Medieval India – Still a

VICTIM of: Imperialist and Colonial Interpretations Marxist Interpretations Communal Interpretations Political Interpretations & Misuse Particularly, in the area of Science and Technology

RESULT ? Compartmentalization of History and Creation of Historians Ghetto’s

No Scope for Meaningful Dialogue Ideological Dominance Setback to Scientific Investigation in History

Reality and Truth Suffer Instead of Investigation outright Rejection of Ancient Science and Technologies

WHAT WE LOST ? AND KEEP LOOSING ? Our Understanding of the Ancient Sciences and Technologies

Our Usage of them for the Present , and

Their Usage for Future Development in Tune with the Present

DWARKA ! Always considered as a mythological city by Marxist historians who vehemently opposed the Marine excavations as wastage of money and time. However, the continuous excavations of the this submerged city, the finds, and scientific dating placed the history of this city to around 10,000 B.C. This has been a major breakthrough in de-colonizing the interpretations of early India with a total silence now from the Marxist historians. The same can be said about the myth of Saraswati river, with the ISRO and NASA satellite imagery proving the existence.

It is amazing that if Needham writes volumes on the history of science and technology in ancient China or the Chinese government publishes the history of science and technology in ancient China the Indian Marxists applaud that and rightly so.

But, the moment you start proving the same in relation to ancient India immediately political and communal attributes are there proving that the Colonial Psyche which had influenced Karl Marx Approach to India’s ancient past is very much alive and active.

The living together, assimilation of cultures, multi-culturalism and the cordial relationship between the Hindus and Muslims were also conveniently ignored in history writings.

Similarly, in relation to the partition of India what was cited by all shades of historian was communalism, violence and hatred. No historian even referred to the instances of the communities standing together, struggling together and even at the height of violence neighbours defending neighbours. This was also history- history of humanism that needs to be transmitted to the younger generation.

UNDER –WATER EXCAVATIONS When started Historians make a mockery of it!

And Now After Excavations?

They are Silent!

DWARKA- CITY , A REALITY NOW !

AND THE RIVER SARASWATI TOO !

WHAT IS THE HISTORIAN’S ANSWER TO THE FINDS OF THE FOLLOWING SCIENCE INSTITUTIONS?

Rajasthan Ground Water Board,

Remote Sensing Services Centre, Jodhpur

NASAINDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION (ISRO)

IS IT STILL MYTHOLOGY ?

There are about 60 references to Saraswati in Rig Veda---The Best of The Rivers

NASA and ISRO Images through Satellites prove that the River existed

And our leading historian of Medieval India shuns it as a Myth and a waste of money. The Ancient Indian expert belonging to the same ideological group identifies it with an Afghan river

A political and ideological issue, Reality suffers

ANCIENT MYTHS TODAY’S REALITY ! Vimans-------------- Aeroplanes, Rockets !

Laxman Rekha------------ Mine-field !

Sanjay to Drithrashtra--------- Live Telecast !

Bahurupa!-------------- Cloning !

Ram Setu ,Saraswati River, Agni-Astra, etc; etc.

All Through Literary References

History of Ideas is a Specialized Area Today!

Those who still consider them as MYTHS can at least acknowledge that if nothing else, these IDEAS were given to the World many many years back which is no less a contribution to human development

TOYS IN GOLD : COLUMBIA

ARCHITECTURE MIRACLE !

EGYPTIAN !

How many countries have the Space Shuttle today ? Or Rockets and missiles ? Or Nuclear bombs ? How many can make them ?or how many have the means to make them ?

If they are lost who will believe Thousands of years hence?

It was a few elite and rich in the ancient times and same now in 21st Century !

WHAT DO WE DO? Reject Them Outright ? Accept Them as Reality? Investigate and Probe ? Any Scientific Mind Will Go for the Third Option and This is What the Historian Should be Doing, Particularly Like the Astronomical Knowledge was tested and in many cases proved to be true—For Example. Planetary Distances………….!

IMAGINATION! MYTHS ! SCIENCE !NATURAL PHENOMENON !ALL ARE INTER-LINKED

THE DIFFERENCE? The natural phenomenon which we are able to understand and explain is Science and Imagination leads to Discovery

The ones we are unable to understand are considered as Mythological

This understanding process is not static. The vibrant enquiring human mind has proved many myths as reality!

Hence , there is a very thin dividing line between myth and reality!

AND THE LIVE ONESBUT THE FORMULAS LOSTThe Polish on Mauryan Sculptures and Pillars

THE METAL PILLAR AT MEHRAULI !

BOGHAZKOI INSCRIPTION:1500 B.C.CENTRAL ASIA; INDRA, VARUN,MITRA,NA- SATYA

SCIENTISTS HAVE PROVED Aryabhatt’s Theories like the Earth Rotates, Moon eclipses the Sun,

Brahmagupta’s Concept of Zero The ancient Indian calculations almost similar to Modern One’s in areas of Speed of Light (280,755 kms per sec [ancient], 299,792 km per sec [modern]Units of Weight (0.123mg) Time (about 30 microseconds) and Unit of Atom (70 nanometers)

All these hundreds of years before the Modern Scientific Revolution.

How many countries have the Space Shuttle today ? Or Rockets and missiles ? Or Nuclear bombs ? How many can make them ?or how many have the means to make them ?

If they are lost who will believe Thousands of years hence?

It was a few elite and rich in the ancient times and same now in 21st Century !

WHY WE LOST ? Many Explanations are there! Search for Peace; Destruction of Weaponry

Religious Dogmatism & Fusion with Science

Casteism ; Hindrance to investigative Mind

Self-sufficient Economy and Prosperity- The Golden Bird!

Invasions after Invasions: Destruction of Centre’s of Learning and Universities , etc.

EVEN IN 21ST CENTURY THERE IS A BIG GAP IN SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF

DIFFERENT SOCIETIESDIFFERENT LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT CO-EXIST AND SAME WAS THE STATUS IN

ANCIENT SOCIETIES IT WAS A FEW ELITE AND RICH IN THE ANCIENT TIMES AND SAME NOW IN 21ST

CENTURY !

1857 ! Researching 1857 was never on the agenda of Marxist historiography in spite of P.C. Joshi, a veteran communist having called it “The First War of Independence” and also Vir Savarkar considered a “communal historian”.

The Marxist historians governed by the dictum that it was the last attempt of feudal order to restore its dominance in India forgot that the events of 1857 brought about the biggest paradigm shift as far as the Colonial administrative policies and historiography were concerned. The taking of Indian Empire by the Crown; the support of British Capitalists to the feudal Indian lended aristocracy; the throwing of the peasant to feudal exploitation; the introduction of the martial races, criminal tribes and criminal castes; the communal divide, communalization of history, divide and rule, partisan policies and a host of other trends became a part of the Colonial Psyche as a result of 1857.

And yet, the Marxist historians put a curtain on researching this great uprising against the British. It would surprise you that there has not been a single Ph.D. from the history departments of J.N.U., Aligarh Muslim University and Delhi University- considered as the bastions of Marxist historiography.

Whereas, the moment the Indian government started celebrating its 150th (2007) year as the first was of Independence all Marxist historians jumped in the bandwagon to share the funds allocated for the celebrations and those who specialized in ancient or medieval history were now delivering lectures on 1857.

1970’S AND 80’S: PARADIGM SHIFTS By the 1970’s most of the history writing, teaching and research was governed by political ideologies and the politics of the day. Historical battles were fought through media, appointments were politicized in history departments with students and history being the victims (Kapil Kumar: “History And Historians In The Age Of Marketing: Some Reflections From India”, 2008).

And yet, a paradigm shift was taking place i.e. history from below- The Grass Roots History. Quite a few young scholars produced excellent research and these works were aptly summed up by Sumit Sarkar in his path breaking textbook “Modern India” (1982).

THE TRENDS THAT EMERGED…… Emphasis on Micro Studies, Local Histories, Regional Histories.

Micro-Macro linkages from the point of view of the common people and their perceptions of Colonialism and Nationalism.

Redefining cultural identities and interpretations along with the role played by the popular cultures in challenging cultural hegemony of the dominant social groups.

Re-examining the role of religion in political mobilization and challenging communal stereotypes of the violent divide and partition.

Comparative historical analysis for development in the areas of science and technology, environment, gender issues, health and medicine forestry, agriculture, handicrafts, businesses, and so on.

NEO-NATIONALISTS CHALLENGED ! Different interpretations and critique offered of the National Movement and the Anti-Colonial struggle with the “eminent” historians like Bipin Chandra propounding theories like “pressure compromise pressure” and “struggle truce struggle” as conscious strategies adopted by Gandhi and the Congress based on an understanding of primary and secondary contradictions- Colonialism as primary and all else as secondary.

Such theoretical hypothesises were immediately put to challenge by questioning: whether it was class adjustment or submission? And historians like Sumit Sarkar and if I could say myself questioned the Neo Nationalists agenda of historical research and analysis.

THE SUBALTERNS ! The paradigm shift that was developing from the mid 1970’s got a boost with the coming together of some scholars led by Ranajit Guha what came to be known as the Subaltern School.

Ranajit Guha’s “Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency” was a major breakthrough for 19th century Indian Historiography that reinvented the Indian Psyche of resistance as perceived and demonstrated by the down trodden and marginalized social groups. This placed their struggles in a meaningful historical process, ushered in fresh historical debates and a new enthusiasm in historical research.

Of course, the history from below has its own critique as no history can be studied in isolation.

The history of the dominated has to take into account the history of those who dominate in order to understand both the dynamics of domination and the resistance to domination.

Moreover, in the Indian context those categorized as Subalterns could be both Subaltern as well as Dominant in varied contexts. For example, the Pattidaar Subaltern peasant or David Hardiman vis a vis the British Rule was a Dominant peasant vis a vis the Dublas- the Agricultural labourers.

Yet, the Subalterns greatly influenced historiographic development in India by opening new vistas of research that challenged all, the Colonial, the Nationalists, the Marxists and also the Cambridge School- the modern replica of Colonial Psyche.

And so continues the march of history.

?????....... A big question today is; Have we completed the circle of challenging the Colonial Psyche and Colonial historiography?

Are we in the mid way? Or, are we getting trapped and falling prey to the webs of Neo Colonialism that is trying to dominate once again in the name of globalization governed by the ideology of Marketism?

To what extent is the Colonial Psyche of supremacy of the 19th century Europe re-emerging under the garb of globalization?

Are the historians taking note of this imposing paradigm or just interested in their own fellowships and foreign assignments?

It is time to address these questions.

WHAT DISTURBS ME…… A prominent historian in Trinidad and Tobago is romanticizing the experiences of the indentured labour as for him Colonialism did great favour to them by bringing them to the colonies for those who decided to stay back still lead a wretched life in India; He romanticizes the Jahaji Basta as a great adventure undertaken and one is at a loss as to what he is transmitting as history to the present day generation. No more statements of the planters exploitation, destruction of cultural and social life; betrayal of promises made; denouncing of even social customary rights and so on. And then, making uncalled for comparisons ignoring the historical context and processes.

Of course, we should not live in the past or live with the past, but at the same time we have to analyze the past and use that experience for contemporary and future developments.

THE ONWARD MARCH There is a big onus on the historian to analyze the past, compare it with the present and pass this analysis for future planning and development.

So, we are researching more and more into areas like history of health and medicine; environment; traditional knowledge and sciences; gender issues; traditional architecture and art forms; traditional forestry, agriculture and irrigation; heritage studies, Diaspora studies etc. etc.

Such investigations no doubt are leading to the emergence of alternate models of development that are based on the local historical experiences and environment rather than a blind imposition of the European/Colonial Psyche in its new forms.

CAN THE HISTORIANS COME OUT OF: Ideological Ghettos and Colonial Psyche,

Political Ghettos,

? Communal Mindset, and

Political Flattery

I HOPE The Indian Historians will Liberate Themselves from Ideological ,Political and Colonial Bonds to Research and Investigate for Finding the Reality !

History of Science and Technology would Emerge as an Independent Discipline and we Reject or Accept on the basis of Investigation not just at the Whims and Fancies of the closed Minds !

THANK YOU