This news report can serve as a primer on true Indian history:
‘Set right distortions in history curriculum’
Staff Reporter
Still being taught in schools as facts, says former chief of ASI B.B. Lal
NEW DELHI: Pointing out that “there is absolutely no proof that the Vedas were written around 1200 BC and that the invading Aryans massacred the people of the Indus Valley”, former Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India B. B. Lal on Friday lamented that “unfortunately, these malicious distortions are still being taught in our schools as facts”.
Addressing the International Conference on Indian History, Civilisation and Geopolitics-2009 (ICIH-2009) that began here, Prof. Lal cautioned that new distortions in Indian history were being introduced even today. In his paper presented at the conference, he said it was the duty of Indian historians to set these distortions right through cogent evidence and sustainable arguments.
“Though the perception and mind-set of historians plays a dominant role in history-writing, it is important for Indians to identify and challenge the distortions that have been deliberately introduced over the centuries,” he said.
Shivaji Singh, former Head of the Department of Ancient History, Gorakhpur University, rejected the oft-repeated charge that Indians have no sense of history. “Ancient Indians had a robust historical tradition that originated during the Rig Vedic times and continued to develop and proliferate till the end of the medieval period. This tradition has created a rich and huge mass of historical literature that is unparalleled in the world,” he said. Prof. Singh explained that the indigenous Indian sense of history was unique because its main purpose was man’s self-fulfilment and self-realisation instead of vague objective such as furtherance of freedom, rationalism and individualism that are prevalent in the West.
Kosla Vepa, Director of the US-based Indic Studies Foundation that has organised the three-day conference, spoke about the demeaning condescension that many Western historians have bestowed upon India. “Books on Indian history sold abroad deliberately neglect our ancient history so as to minimise and sideline its contributions. At the same time, they try to whitewash the horrors that the British rule inflicted on India. Changing the content of the textbooks worldwide to correct these distortions should be our goal.”
The Hindu : New Delhi News : ‘Set right distortions in history curriculum’
‘Set right distortions in history curriculum’
Staff Reporter
Still being taught in schools as facts, says former chief of ASI B.B. Lal
NEW DELHI: Pointing out that “there is absolutely no proof that the Vedas were written around 1200 BC and that the invading Aryans massacred the people of the Indus Valley”, former Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India B. B. Lal on Friday lamented that “unfortunately, these malicious distortions are still being taught in our schools as facts”.
Addressing the International Conference on Indian History, Civilisation and Geopolitics-2009 (ICIH-2009) that began here, Prof. Lal cautioned that new distortions in Indian history were being introduced even today. In his paper presented at the conference, he said it was the duty of Indian historians to set these distortions right through cogent evidence and sustainable arguments.
“Though the perception and mind-set of historians plays a dominant role in history-writing, it is important for Indians to identify and challenge the distortions that have been deliberately introduced over the centuries,” he said.
Shivaji Singh, former Head of the Department of Ancient History, Gorakhpur University, rejected the oft-repeated charge that Indians have no sense of history. “Ancient Indians had a robust historical tradition that originated during the Rig Vedic times and continued to develop and proliferate till the end of the medieval period. This tradition has created a rich and huge mass of historical literature that is unparalleled in the world,” he said. Prof. Singh explained that the indigenous Indian sense of history was unique because its main purpose was man’s self-fulfilment and self-realisation instead of vague objective such as furtherance of freedom, rationalism and individualism that are prevalent in the West.
Kosla Vepa, Director of the US-based Indic Studies Foundation that has organised the three-day conference, spoke about the demeaning condescension that many Western historians have bestowed upon India. “Books on Indian history sold abroad deliberately neglect our ancient history so as to minimise and sideline its contributions. At the same time, they try to whitewash the horrors that the British rule inflicted on India. Changing the content of the textbooks worldwide to correct these distortions should be our goal.”
The Hindu : New Delhi News : ‘Set right distortions in history curriculum’