Bharat needs to snatch her story back from Delhi: Author Vikram Sampath

During his session, the author spoke about the need for training our spotlight on history that is not Delhi-centric
Vikram Sampath at ThinkEdu2023 | Pic: Satish Babu
Vikram Sampath at ThinkEdu2023 | Pic: Satish Babu

Speaking at a session titled One Nation, Many Histories: The Paradox of Uniformity, author and historian Vikram Sampath said that outside voices are being strangled inside the arena of history. He observed that in the decades following independence, the stranglehold of ideology in one kind of group has destroyed the careers of many in the academic arena. 

Talking about pushback from the conventional establishment over the reluctance of including academic historians, he stated that history is too important to be left only to the care of historians. “Many like me, have a PhD in History, but we have opted to not be part of the academic set-up because there are people who still think I am not good enough to be on the inside.”

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“There is this constant division of people who come from the outside and this dog in the manger attitude that only I have the key to knowledge and nobody else can is what is disallowing alternate voices to flourish. Unfortunately, these are the people that speak of Brahminical patriarchy,” the author lamented. 

On the issue of focussing excessively on the negative aspects of society, Sampath said that a sense of self-loathing has been drilled into people. He quoted Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe who said that until the lions have their historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. “Every society has positives and negatives, but we over-emphasise so much on the negative aspects of our society and our failures, that it almost makes us feel inferior and gives a sense of self-loathing,” Sampath said.

During his session, the author spoke about the need for training our spotlight on history that is not Delhi-centric. He opined that there is a dire need for India and Indians to stay acquainted with the enlightened royal dynasties from Southern and Eastern India. “It is only after a Tamil film named Ponniyin Selvan was released that many were aware of the great Chola Dynasty. A number of royal houses don't even feature in this larger narrative that we call the history of India. The Ahom ruled for 600 long years (North East India), but how much of their story forms a part of the history?” he asked. 

Sampath urged many to remove themselves from the ostensibly high-value centric Delhi history even if it were the makings of the media and mainstream narrative. “Bharat needs to snatch back her story from Delhi,” he powerfully stated.

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