Book Review: The Past as Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History by Romila Thapar
Publisher: Aleph Book Company
Originally Published: 2014
Book Blurb: Understanding our past is of vital importance to our present. Many popularly held views about the past need to be critically enquired into before they can be taken as historical.
Recommended For: South Asians or anyone who likes reading non-fiction.
This book is a collection of essays by Prof Romila Thapar encompassing her lifetime of scholarship. It is divided into four parts and has a total of nineteen chapters.
The book is a long list of questions like, “What was the aftermath of the raid on the Somanatha temple? Which of us is Aryan or Dravidian? Why is it important for Indian society to be secular? When did communalism as an ideology gain a foothold in the country? How and when did our patriarchal mindset begin to support a culture of violence against women? Why are the fundamentalists so keen to rewrite history textbooks?
The answers to these and similar questions have been disputed and argued about ever since they were first posed.”
Historian Romila Thapar has interrogated, examined and interpreted the history that contextualises such questions in her research which has been put together in this book, through a series of insightful essays she contends that our past has to be studied meticulously for our present to be understood truthfully. This is especially relevant given the attempts by corrupt politicians, religious fundamentalists and like-minded people to try and misrepresent and shamelessly manipulate the past to serve them.
Prof Romila Thapar provides the reader with glimpses into her own experiences as she narrates anecdotes behind her work. The tribulations she and others faced while writing the NCERT textbooks in the 70s and how it has been revised over the decades. How and what causes a layperson to be suspicious of a Marxist historian? Religious fundamentalists and their hatred for a secular attempt at history. The issues of nationalism and the structuralised marginalization of minorities as a consequence. The historical issues of women that are common across caste and religion.
Book Review: Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals (1206-1526) by Satish Chandra
Romila Thapar is a Professor Emerita of History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has been the General President of the Indian History Congress. Her primary area of study is ancient India. She has worked extensively to understand the socio-historical developments from the early times to the end of the first millennium. Her recent works include a historical study of Somnath.
Is history truly history when the story can be moulded in accordance with who is narrating it? This book is a simple yet deep answer to some of the crucial questions that we as a society can witness concerning how history is being weaponised to fit our identity.
If you hear the word history and wonder how it has become so relevant in your day-to-day conversations or how your ancient civilization is important for who you are, this book is for you. Happy Reading!
