04-21-2004, 08:56 PM
Pradeep & Rhytha, you are both right. The purpose of remembering history is not to blame the current day citizens of India for something that happened centuries ago. But that iis not what the discussion is about (at least for me). Every citizen has the full rights and responsibilities as any other. Unfortunately the matter does not end there.
The problem is that the history of India that is being taught today in the schools is almost completely false. There are several examples of this in India. Almost every well read person in the west is proud of his/her knowledge of greek and Latin classics (The Illiad and the Odyssey, and the works of Virgil etc). It is rare to see them being denigrated or the belittlement of those that are scholars in these texts. But such is not the case in India. Knowledge of the ancient texts is suppressed and belittled and and in most instances is not even taught in schools. We are one of the few countries in the world where the history we are taught in schools has been almost entirely revised by our erstwhile colonial masters. And when we have the guts to correct such a false history we are told that we are being fundamentalist.
Further much of indian history is being slowly falsified . The AIT is a good case ijn point. So brainwashed have we become that we ask for proof that it did not happen, instead of asking for proof that the AIT did happen. Further , the Indian has been so indoctrinated by years of English medium schooling, that he is even reluctant to talk about the true history for fear that he will be ridiculed as being a fundamentalist or being not certifiably secular or that it will hurt the sentiments of the minority community. But there is a fallacy in such a argument. If we do not hold the present day citizens responsiblefor what happened 5 centuries ago then surely they should not feel hurt by something they did not participate in and should really condemn it if it is wrong But such is not the case. Tt is a rare case where the Indian Muslim leadership condemns these destructions, while at the same time he does not wish to be blamed for them.
The current NCERT history books seek to justify(and in some instances negate) the slaughter and rationalize it away. if such justifications become acceptable, then surely one cannot blame the goondas in the streets for starting riots, because in their view such behavior has been acceptable in the past. IOW, the truth will never hurt anybody and as long as one does not participate in violent actions oneself, there is no reason to be defensive about what happened 5 centuries ago. Unpleasant facts should never be swept under the rug just because they may cause discord. The answer lies in understanding what happened so that such occurrences do not happen again. read the latest sulekha column by R. Malhotra in the library section. he goes into it in some detail and seeks to understand why we Indians are ashamed even to bring out the true hisory of our country.
The problem is that the history of India that is being taught today in the schools is almost completely false. There are several examples of this in India. Almost every well read person in the west is proud of his/her knowledge of greek and Latin classics (The Illiad and the Odyssey, and the works of Virgil etc). It is rare to see them being denigrated or the belittlement of those that are scholars in these texts. But such is not the case in India. Knowledge of the ancient texts is suppressed and belittled and and in most instances is not even taught in schools. We are one of the few countries in the world where the history we are taught in schools has been almost entirely revised by our erstwhile colonial masters. And when we have the guts to correct such a false history we are told that we are being fundamentalist.
Further much of indian history is being slowly falsified . The AIT is a good case ijn point. So brainwashed have we become that we ask for proof that it did not happen, instead of asking for proof that the AIT did happen. Further , the Indian has been so indoctrinated by years of English medium schooling, that he is even reluctant to talk about the true history for fear that he will be ridiculed as being a fundamentalist or being not certifiably secular or that it will hurt the sentiments of the minority community. But there is a fallacy in such a argument. If we do not hold the present day citizens responsiblefor what happened 5 centuries ago then surely they should not feel hurt by something they did not participate in and should really condemn it if it is wrong But such is not the case. Tt is a rare case where the Indian Muslim leadership condemns these destructions, while at the same time he does not wish to be blamed for them.
The current NCERT history books seek to justify(and in some instances negate) the slaughter and rationalize it away. if such justifications become acceptable, then surely one cannot blame the goondas in the streets for starting riots, because in their view such behavior has been acceptable in the past. IOW, the truth will never hurt anybody and as long as one does not participate in violent actions oneself, there is no reason to be defensive about what happened 5 centuries ago. Unpleasant facts should never be swept under the rug just because they may cause discord. The answer lies in understanding what happened so that such occurrences do not happen again. read the latest sulekha column by R. Malhotra in the library section. he goes into it in some detail and seeks to understand why we Indians are ashamed even to bring out the true hisory of our country.