Is history subject losing its importance? (2)

Is history subject losing its importance? (2)

How history divided Telangana and Andhra (failure of linguistic model state): This example is given to show how even such division of a state could play havoc in the case of history subject. The news appeared in 2015-2016 about the “history war” raging between the two states speaking the same language, but, try to be separate with two-Telugu-Tallis (Mothers), songs etc. ironically, Andhra was the first state to be formed based on the language after the introduction of the Indian Constitution. The Telangana government wanted all chapters related to Andhra history or culture to be deleted from school textbooks[1], thus, “Telangana-centric”. The government has formed two committees to review the syllabus for social studies and Telugu and add Telangana centric chapters[2]. Officials said this would not affect students in examinations since each state prepares its own question papers[3]. The existing curriculum also has very little reference to other states in the country and many Telangana writers and poets say that it is loaded with literature from Andhra region, while that from Telangana has been stamped upon and completely eliminated[4]. It is learnt that education minister G. Jagdish Reddy has already told the committees to remove Andhra-related material and said that anything related to the history of Andhra or literature by writers and poets from Andhra should not be present in the curriculum. “Instructions are very clear. Nothing related to Andhra’s culture or history should be there. Everything should be from Telangana’s perspective. Obviously, references will be there in some parts but anything exclusively about Andhra region is to be removed,” a senior official said. 

How poets, poetry, literatue can be divided – is not known: S. Jagannath Reddy, director, State Council of Educational Research and Training said, “For instance, if there is a chapter related to some poet from Andhra, it will be removed and Telangana related coursework will be added. The government also does not want the curriculum to be inflated to include aspects related to both states. TRS election manifesto also promised that the history and culture of Telangana will be included in school text books. “We can expand that course work but exactly what to delete and what to add will be decided once the committees meets. Really, it is a wonder how the people speaking the same language with the same literature, culture, tradition, heritage etc., could divide “history” separately. In fact, historians should have taken serious concern about this, but, because of politics, politicized academics, commercialized education, state-owned interests etc., the academicians work with the politicians.

Formation of Telangana History Council: To focus on the history of Telangana and to remove alleged bias and prejudice from history textbooks, a clutch of former officials and civilians formed the Telangana Council of Historical Research (TCHR). Over concerns that facts pertaining to Telangana history and culture are distorted heavily, the Telangana Council of Historical Research (TCHR) was established on Thursday, 08-02-2019. “History is being written based on hearsay, lore and people’s memories. We want an authentic history of the region based on evidence like numismatics and documents. We will focus on research just like the Indian Council of Historical Research,” said L. Pandu Ranga Reddy of TCHR at the presser organised on Thursday afternoon[5]. “The TCHR has scholars of history, students and citizens interested in knowing the past. Only if we know our history can we create history. There is a lot of ignorance and agenda in the way history is being taught and reported,”said T. Vivek of TCHR[6]. “We intend to rectify the distortion by promoting studies on India and the Deccan in general and Telangana in particular, co-ordinate with similar organisations, serve as a forum for exchange of views through sessions and help in locating and preserving sources of information of historical nature,” TCHR president G Venkatram Reddy and secretary T Vivek said on Thursday[7]. TCHR comprises history scholars, students and aficionados interested in knowing the past and concerned about the present of the state[8].

Divided by all means- How?: “History as a discipline of social science has receded in priority in academic pursuits due to overemphasis on technical education,” the president added. “The TCHR has scholars of history, students and citizens interested in knowing the past. Only if we know our history can we create history. There is a lot of ignorance and agenda in the way history is being taught and reported,” said T. Vivek of TCHR. Members of the organisation recently submitted a memorandum to the Governor about the mistakes in a history book The Telangana Movement — State Formation . “Here is a list of mistakes. If all the mistakes are compiled it will become another book. How can a government organisation bring out a book like this?” said Mr. Vivek questioning the low standards of the book. “We will bring out books and put our research in public domain so that citizens of the region can have a better understanding of their glorious history,” said Kolluri Chiranjeevi of TCHR.

Regional history versus national history: Regional history could be interesting for a researcher, as it could be studied in a focused way. But, politicized and regionalized history poses another challenge like Telugu speaking try to have two different histories. Tamilnadu has already been displaying separatist tendencies with “dravidian” ideology

 Since the early days. The “dravidian” connotation has always been race-oriented, racist and racialist also. Such propagandists propagate “histories” beyond limits. It is not known, if each state follows the suit. It is said that there were 56 small states / kingdoms in “Bharat” including present Pakistan, Afghanistan,  Burma, Sri Lanka etc. Whether jobs are provided to history students or not, much fuss is made about “state,” “nation,” “nation-state,” “country,” “sub-continent,” “union of states,” and so on. Thus, it is evident that history is ideologized, politicized and  subjected linguistic, racial and other propagandas to divide people.

History is for all of us: In fact, for Indians, the “historical consciousness” has been more going back to millions of years and therefore, they had / have their own way of recording their “historical events.” The British or most of the European “history experts” evidently could not understand such “historical memory,” as they were having such “historical stupor” and “historical bias” against the Indians. Indian history has been interwoven with the mountains, trees, rivers, waters, animals, birds and of course fellow human-beings.  They have been interacting with living and non-living things together and hence the outcome evidences have been living in the form of material and non-material culture forever. In short, all are coming out of “panha-bhutas” and going back to them. The archaeologists, anthropologists, geologists and others may call such processes as global warming and cooling, ice age, glaciations etc. Indians have round te year, month-wise, week-wise, day-wise functions, rituals, rites, sacraments, celebrations etc., in which the whole Indian population participates in one way or the other.

Indian historians, history writers and others also follow imported methodologies and work as slaves: Every Indian history reader easily finds out that that something is wrong with it. The more the Indians know about the histories of others, the more they come to know that Indian history has not been treated properly. When the so-called, Babylonian, Assyrian, Akkadian, Chinese, Egyptian, Persian, Roman, Greek or and other civilization, Indian had always been contemporary, how is that the other civilizations were great, but India was nor great and even prehistoric, without any history, script etc. when all those civilizations disappeared except China, how is that India could be insignificant, useless and always borrowing from others. That Indian and China had and have been only the two continuously living civilizations proves that the glorified other civilizations were lacking something. In the modern, present-day and historiographical context, the Chinese have developed their own history, whereas, for India, tere is no such history or historiography. As noted for the last 70 years, the Marxist and leftist historians have been dominating and they even condemned the monuments works of Romesh Chandra Dutt, Jadunath Sircar, S. R. Rao etc., as “nationalistic” oriented. When they have been non-Indian oriented actually following borrowed ideology and interpret Indian history, how can they dub others as so. In fact, they themselves can be branded as the Marxist and leftist historians not doing any justice to Indian history in the right perspective. Ironically, they never had dealt with the history of science and technology of Indian civilization of various periods comparing with the other contemporary civilizations.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

03-09-2022

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[1] DECCAN CHRONICLE, Telangana to erase Andhra Pradesh history from school text books, DC CORRESPONDENT, Published: Sep 12, 2014, 6:56 am IST: Updated” Mar 31, 2019, 5:22 am IST.

[2] https://www.deccanchronicle.com/140912/education/article/telangana-erase-andhra-history-school-text-books

[3] Career India, Telangana to remove history of Andhra Pradesh from school textbooks, By Adarsha St, Published: Friday, September 12, 2014, 12:19 [IST].

[4] https://www.careerindia.com/news/telangana-remove-history-andhra-pradesh-from-school-textbooks-012119.html – :~:text=On%20a%20serious%20note%2C%20Telangana,for%20the%20schools%20in%20Telangana.

[5] The Hindu, Efforts to depict history without bias, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, HYDERABAD: FEBRUARY 08, 2019 00:24 IST; UPDATED: FEBRUARY 08, 2019 00:24 IST.

[6] https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/telangana-council-of-historical-research-formed/article26207862.ece

[7] Times of India, Council set to save Telangana history of ‘distortions’, TNN / Updated: Feb 8, 2019, 09:25 IST.

[8] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/council-set-to-save-t-history-of-distortions/articleshow/67891547.cms