In a very famous episode of Maratha history, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s daughter-in-law, Queen Tarabai single handedly ruled the Maratha kingdom as a regent for nearly a decade, in peace. It was a tumultuous phase for the Marathas, wherein they just lost their supreme leader Shivaji, and his elder son Sambhaji died, Sambhaji’s son Shahu was held hostage by the Mughals and Shivaji’s younger son Rajaram also died, leaving a big vacuum in the leadership and their rival Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb was penetrating its roots in the Deccan. Now imagine a widowed woman in the 17th century with an infant, sitting on a throne surrounded by enemies and managing to rule peacefully for 9 long years. But my question here is how much have you read about Tarabai in your history books? More than 9 years of reign and she wasn’t even worth mentioning in our school textbooks? Another brave heroine of Indian history is Rudrama Devi, the Kakatiya Queen who ruled the parts of Telangana for four decades with fairly good administration compared to her counterparts. She too ruled single-handedly and managed to ensure stability and prosperity in the kingdom. Similarly, there is another inspirational character Queen Durgavati of Gondwana who waged war against Mughal Emperor Akbar. Sadly, most of us are unaware of these mighty women because history books are written in a manner that glorifies the foreign power who invaded us, rather than those native figures that died or lost defending our land. Forget the books on history, even children’s story books, comics or even Indian movies and web series hardly touch these stories of our history. Perhaps these stories are not so popular or widely adopted because neither is there any prince to save the princess nor does it have that so-called ‘happily ever after’ ending.
The history textbook on Medieval Indian History, for standard 12th by the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT), extensively covers the details of 'Akbar Nama' by Abu Fazl while ignoring the other important medieval episodes of Indian history. More than a textbook on medieval history, the book gives the feeling of being a commentary on „Akbar Nama‟. We have associated Indian Medieval History with Mughal History. It seems as if this phase of history is being viewed through the lens of the Mughal era. For example, in the south, the mighty Vijaynagar Kingdom existed for more than 200 years but very little is mentioned about the rulers and dynasty. The Vijaynagar Kingdom was the flag bearer of Hindu culture in the south, especially in Kannada. There was exceptionally great progress in language, culture, literature, science and architecture. More than the Mughals, this empire holds more significance in southern India, so much so that mere one chapter or few paragraphs cannot justify the might of this empire. James Mill attempted to divide Indian history into the Hindu phase, Islamic phase and British phase, not only it was vaguely understood, but it was also factually incorrect. Ancient India was nowhere predominately Hindu it was the phase when maximum religious diversity existed and so did religious tolerance. Indian history is considered to be one of the most biased histories in the world with nothing „Indianness‟ in it. Most of the history is a British interpretation of how things might have happened. A lot of episodes are willfully ignored because either were not important enough or they couldn’t serve the British propaganda.
Let me put it straight here, how much do our history textbooks teach us about North East India? How much do we know about their past, their kingdoms and their dynasties? Almost nothing! We wish to mainstream our North East while ignoring their roots, and their histories in school education. Some exceptionally great inspirational figures exist in some of the most remarkable episodes of their history. We have heard about the mighty Ahom Kingdom that existed in North East, but very few know that it was founded in the 13th century by King Chaolung Sukapha, which established an empire that lasted for more than six centuries. Every year, December 2nd, is celebrated as ‘Asom Divas’ in Assam in memory of King Chaolung, but it is hardly known by the rest of India. Another great personality in the history of North East India is Kiang Nangbah, a freedom fighter from Meghalaya who led a revolt in his region during the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. It is so strange that since our childhood, we are being taught that Sepoy Mutiny was confined to Northern and Central India, while such an important revolt happened in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya too. Nangbah was publicly hanged by the British but the Government of India in 2001 issued a postage stamp to commemorate him. There are other notable figures too, like Lachit Barphukan, Maniram Dewan, Rani Gaidinliu, etc. whose contributions have faded with time because we choose not to talk about them.
Has it ever occurred to you what is the historical background of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the most strategically important islands of our country? The Aborigines of the Andaman Islands consist of the following four tribes- Great Andamanese, Onges, Jarwas and Sentinelese. The islands host the world’s only living Paleolithic tribes- the Sentinelese, which indicates the existing long history of the islands. The Nicobar Islands are home to two 'Mongoloid' tribes – the Shompen and Nicobarese. Moreover, as per paleontology research, the aboriginal populations of the Nicobar archipelago, exhibit distinct „Mongoloid‟ features in addition to the Shompen exhibiting a darker phenotype suggesting remote „Negrito‟ or „Dravidian‟ admixture. There is so much that an average Indian must know about these islands but most of our knowledge is limited to Indira Point being the southernmost point of Indian Territory, or Kalapani Jail being the most infamous prison during the Raj days. Even very little is known about our Lakshadweep Islands as well. The islands find mention in the records of ancient Greek travellers but before its conversion to Islam, nothing is known about its history. In this case, not only rewriting but full-fledged research is needed to uncover the real history of these coral islands.
There is an old saying, 'many mouths and so many stories', it fits well in this case. For long the debate to rewrite our history has been in the air, and more than debate it is a battle of opinions. Being it 'poetic exaggeration' of bloodshed during the Islamic Conquest as argued by Leftist Secularist Historians or 'Hindu Civilization' and 'Hindu Revivalism' as argued by Hindu Rightist, we have come a very long seventy years of inaction in this domain. The debate is also marred by unnecessary jingoism which seriously undermines the greatness of the empires which existed on the land we are living today. We cannot just praise the marvellous Kailashnath Temple of Ellora without writing about its history in our texts. If it is a national pride, authorities like NCERT have to ensure that every school-going kid and every adult in this country must know about this temple. Our historical narrative should have considerably more on great rulers like Krishnadeva Raya of the Vijaynagar Empire, at par with Mauryan Ashoka and Mughal Akbar, or Raja Raja Chola, under whose rule the cultural influence of India spread vastly beyond its boundaries.
It is often doubted if rewriting the entire history will maintain credibility, but to quote here David Clarke’s phrase, “History is an 'indisciplined' discipline”. History changes or rather are updated with frequent discoveries and research and writing of history involves not only facts but also the political, social, economic and other kinds of ideological agendas of historians. History is simply a form of storytelling and it shouldn’t be a wrong statement to say, a historian’s job is to answer a child’s curiosity- 'What happened next?' Here the child is a more than seven-decade-old nation which is asking, 'What really happened next!'
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