Celebrating over 4000 years of fiction ?

No other nation has allowed such a free run on its History by Linguists and Communists

A week was too long in Indian politics but the events of the week gone by have shown us that 48 hours are too long in Indian Politics. Here you were commentator after commentator was singing paeans of Sonia Gandhi for her political management and how the Congress had the next elections all sewn up and how allies like the DMK were solidly behind her. Well all it took was a bridge that isnt really a bridge anymore to expose the fault lines within the Congress, the utter lack of political management at its very top and the wide gulf with its so called “solid” allies. The events of the past week not just exposed fault lines but also gave a rare glimpse into how realpolitik plays in the heartland with a Lalu Yadav doing a LK Advani.

Offstumped will not get into the merits demerits of the Sethusamudram project. Much has been written and said. Nitin and Rohit have examined different aspects of the project. Given the contentious economics of the project if there is one lesson one must take is there is a serious need to institutionalize consensus building for projects of this nature that outlive governments and legislative tenures. Such consensus building must strive to balance economic aspirations of local communities, pressure from vocal lobbies cultural or otherwise and long term strategic and economic considerations.

Offstumped is instead focusing its attention on the myth versus reality debate.

Starting with William Jones’ Asiatic Society to the ICHR run by the JNU bred Communist Cabal, Indian History has become a field ground for dubious sciences like Linguistics and motivated agendas of Communism. The damage this has done to popular perception of Indian History can be best appreciated with these two examples.

The first example Offstumped has chosen is this op-ed by Vir Sanghvi in the Hindustan Times where he makes this assertion to expose his ignorance

There are also many similarities between the gods of early Hinduism and the gods of Greek and Roman mythology. Perhaps, this is because the religion evolved before migrations at some place where Aryan-type people lived.

If Sanghvi had been tutored Indian History un-doctored by the Communist Cabal he would not be making vague references to Greek and Roman gods from many centuries later to make his point. Instead he would have highlighted the specific reference to Rig Vedic Gods Mitra, Varuna, Indira and Nasatya twins in a Treaty between the Hurrite and the Mittani from 1500 B.C. in a region spanning present day Turkey and Syria. In fact the only reference to this nugget in Government of India maintained history education material on the Internet  is deep inside a University Education Commission Report from 1948.

The second example Offstumped has chosen is this ludicrous claim by DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi

Ram is a myth – an Aryan God imposed on Dravidians

For far too long the Karunanidhi brand of Tamil Nadu politics has been allowed to thrive on the basis of an artificial Aryan Dravidian ethnic divide without being challenged. In fact one must read the book “Aryans and British India” by Thomas Trautmann to appreciate how competitive efforts to reconstruct Indian History between the Calcutta Presidency and Madras Presidency sponsored scholars during the British era resulted in the manufacturing of the Aryan Dravidian divide. For those who cant access the book Trautmann expands on this subject in this excellent monograph “Discovering Aryan and Dravidian in British India – A Tale of two Cities“.

Offstumped will spare you the detailed analysis by Trautmann but leave you with these closing remarks to appreciate how anachronistic and racist Karunanidhi’s views are.

What was established by the Orientalists in the latter half of the 19th century as the master narrative of the origin of Indian civilization from a clash of light and dark races is no more than the back projection ofWestern notions of the supposedly instinctive race feelings of whites toward blacks underpinning the world of racial segregation following the abolition of slavery.

The racial theory of Indian civilization can now be seen for the time-bound construct that it is, and the time has long since come to abolish it.

The politics of Aryan Dravidian ethnic divide is a sad commentary on how Linguistics has been allowed to fill the vacuum in reconstructing Indian History where archaeology and documented proof came a cropper. Between the ruins of Harappa (3300 BC to 1600 BC) and Ashoka’s Pillars (300 BC) lies a blackhole in the reconstruction of the history of the sub-continent that not only has left Rama a mythical character but has left us uncertain about the time of birth and death of Buddha as well.

While a Frankenstein Nation in Pakistan can afford the luxury of treating its more than 4000 year old diverse past as fiction to reconcile its narrow sectarian identity, India on the other hand as a responsibility to be the custodian of this more than 4000 year old heritage.

Offstumped Bottomline: A narrative of Indian History that is the least common denominator of Linguistics that passes for a science and Communists who pass for unbiased custodians of History cannot be allowed to perpetuate without being challenged. The Indian Government instead of playing final arbiter of Indian History must encourage alternate narratives to be explored without denying them the benefit of the doubt.

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