‘Eminent Distorians’ rebels against the trick mirror view of history where the colonial agenda sets its course.
NEW DELHI: The novelist Robert Louis Stevenson said, “I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” Utpal Kumar has done better. He has an enormous appetite for books, name any and he has already read it. It is not just a matter of turning pages, he is also blessed with a phenomenal memory. And it shows in his writing, be it in his columns or in the books that he has written.a
His latest, “Eminent Distorians” follows this pattern. It is a remarkable work of scholarship that is elegantly styled to appeal to the general reader and the expert. All through he is conscious of the charge that history is sometimes an embroidered version. It is partly due to human failing and in part because of prejudice. His effort, instead, is to write on a clean slate and present facts as they were, not as they should be. This is one reason why his cri de coeur is against versions that colour the past to the cost of India. He feels strongly that our age, and the coming generations, must be given a correct record of history that presents events as they were; without embellishment, unadorned and unvarnished.
He sets about doing so with passion and energy because the canvas he has chosen is large, covering India’s journey from ancient times till now. It is only natural that a civilization as old as ours should have its moments of glory as also periods of decline.
An important explanation for how countries end up in the category of a risen or rising state is ideas. In this respect the contrast of Chinese great power ambitions and Indian reticence is an example of why some nations rise while others linger in the sidelines. Alas, India’s ideological chaos restrains its rise.
While critical inquiry and debate is the essence of democracy, the past should not be distorted to become self-harm. “Eminent Distorians” rebels against the trick mirror view of history where the colonial agenda sets its course. That the white historian should put on paper a biased record is only to be expected. But it hurts to find that post-colonial Indian experts became unquestioning cheer-leaders of their version. They, more than the colonials, have failed the Indian people. Kumar’s complaint is essentially against those in India who continue to seek approving nod from the white expert.
Moreover to those who say that India was not a united whole in the past, Kumar cites the evidence that as early as the third century BC, Mauryas were the first historically recorded empire that brought the entire subcontinent under one flag.
Indian kings had ventured out too. For instance, between 985 and 1044 AD the Cholas were able to extend their empire to Ceylon and the Maldives. This was also the period when the Cholas extended their reach into South-East Asia, resulting in a swift attack that conquered the Malay Peninsula.
As for the civilizational aspects, India’s greatness is grounded in the fact that debate was rooted in its society. A country that humanizes gods and questions kings, a society that deliberates, discusses and engages, and a society where a housewife takes argument with Shankra has to be inherently progressive.
To those who sing praises of the so called silk route from China to Europe, there is compelling geographical evidence that points to a rethink. The silk route passed through Taklamakan desert and high mountains making it a formidable prospect for large scale trade. In contrast Indian traders had a relatively trouble free and smooth passage to Europe through the oceans. In exchange for Indian exports like silk and spices, European countries paid in gold and silver. It worried them enough for Pliny the Elder to complain in 77AD, “Not a year passed in which India did not take 50 million sesterces from Rome.” Regardless of Pliny’s complaint, this huge, one sided trade continued. As French physician Francois Bernier noted in 17th century, “gold and silver, after circulating in every quarter of the globe, come at length to be absorbed in Hindostan.”
Despite evidence that it was the Indian route which was immense in scope, our historical accounts continue to be under the spell of the silk route.
Utpal’s book is therefore driven by the desire that the story of India needs to be rewritten and told from Bharat’s perspective,
We also have to stop being obsessed with Delhi centric historiography. In celebrating this larger India, Utpal makes the point that even as the Gupta period stood out for its affluence and prosperity, there were others like the Cholas, Pallavas, the Vijaynagar empire, Satavahanas and Ahoms which too achieved all round excellence.
There is also a need for remembering the important timelines of history. China’s propaganda has made people believe that Tibet belongs to it. It reinforces its case by repeatedly asserting that historical evidence supports its claim. But is that really the whole truth? Kumar digs deep into history to recall that in 7th century AD the ruler of Kashmir, Lalitaditya, defeated the Tibetans. On another occasion he took his military deep into Xinjiang. This was the time when the Tibetan troops were putting pressure on China.
In terms of a stand-out period for India he mentions the age between 600 and 1000 AD as the flowering of every aspect of life—political, economic and culture.
Sadly, it did not take long thereafter for misfortunes to overwhelm India. In the 13th century, Balban led his soldiers to Katehar and ordered them to “burn it down and slay every man…Their blood ran in streams, heaps of stain could be seen near every village and jungle and the stench of the dead reached as far as Ganga”.
A century later Firuz Shah Tughlaq first sacked the temples in Orissa, including the famous Jagannath temple and then turned his sword to Kangra. There he “broke the idols of Jwalamukhi, mixed their fragments with the flesh of cows and hung them in nosebags round the necks of Brahmins”.
The story of rapacity does not end there. Another century
As for the British, the stories of their loot and atrocities are many, still one statistic must be quoted to illustrate the point. During the Bengal famine of 1770, a third of the region’s population, about 10 million people perished. Overall, in the 120 years of British rule there were 31 famines compared to only 17 famines in the previous two millennia.
These are the painful realities of our past. But we have preferred to put a veil over them in a mistaken case of large heartedness. Utpal feels bygones must not be forgotten, otherwise we risk repeating them. Kumar does not set out to control historical expression, his plea is against the distortion of truth; that it should not result in self-harm.
This desire leads him to term India as Bharat, perhaps because his quest for the glory that this land was begins from the time of King Bharat. All through he has followed India’s odyssey with a sharp eye and placed the results with the commitment of a believer. It makes “Eminent Distorians” an interesting read for the curious and a useful reference for the expert.
* Rajiv Dogra is a former diplomat.