'Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History is back, and how. Without any cuts, barely 20 months after it was withdrawn - not banned - from the market by its original publishers Penguin India.
'The chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, has quit the post just 16 months into his term. Although the reason for his resignation is not clear, government sources attributed the move to the chairman’s unhappiness over being denied an honorarium of Rs 1.5 lakh per month. When contacted, Rao confirmed that he put in his papers on November 24, but denied that the move was linked to the honorarium. “I am waiting for the communication from the government. I have nothing to say at the moment.
'The Karnataka government’s decision to celebrate Tipu Sultan Jayanti has triggered opposition among the detractors of the 18th century ruler of Mysore, who had challenged British supremacy. But experts have described such opposition as being clouded by communal view devoid of knowledge of history, according to the Hindu newspaper. This is the second time in the recent past that the enigmatic ruler had evoked strong sentiments more than 200 years after his death, when he fell fighting the British on May 4, 1799 at Srirangapatna.
'...Historian Dilip Menon was aghast by this portrayal of Tipu Sultan. "Why does the BJP oppose the celebration of Tipu Sultan's birthday by the Karnataka government? Historically, Tipu is a complex figure: supporter of the French revolution; anti-colonial warrior dying in battle against the East India Company forces at Seringapatam; enlightened monarch and supporter of scholarship. In short, one of the best of the 18th-century monarchs in India.
'After writers, artists, filmmakers and scientists, over 50 historians Thursday came out strongly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not making any reassuring statement following concerns over “highly vitiated atmosphere” prevailing in the country, reports Press Trust of India. A total of 53 historians including leading names like Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, KN Pannikar and Mridula Mukherjee have in a joint statement released by Sahmat raised their serious concerns over recent developments.
The plan: Vasudev Devnani, Raje's RSS minister, is rewriting textbooks; In: More of Vedic aircraft, ancient scholars, Hindu warlords; Out: Akbar, Mandela; works of Newton, WWE Ross, Wordsworth... The aim: To rid the textbooks of 'misplaced emphasis on foreigners'; To instil patriotism and value in the young minds; The new books will be introduced from the next session...
'The British historian Eric Hobsbawm once remarked, “Historians are to nationalism what poppy-growers in Pakistan are to the heroin-addicts: we supply the essential raw material for the market." At a seminar on Vedic Chronology organised by the Sanskrit Department of the University of Delhi this week, however, it was Sanskritists who were attempting to push a little dope to afford Hindutva supporters some momentary bliss.
"As Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed on his latest foreign mission to spread the word about Digital India in Silicon Valley, I embarked on a more nostalgic excursion to visit Rabindra Bhavan, one of the landmarks of Nehruvian modernism in New Delhi. My intended mission was one of architectural curiosity but I stumbled instead into the wormhole of an exhibit recently inaugurated by the Minister of Culture, Mahesh Sharma in Rabindra Bhavan’s art galleries. It was entitled Cultural Continuity from Rig Veda to Robotics.
"On Friday, on the 99th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, Sangh Parivar leaders will predictably lavish praise on him for creating the concept of Integral Humanism. They will hail him for his stellar contribution to the Indian intellectual tradition, and blame the lack of recognition for him on the dominance of Nehruvian ideas.
"The exit of Mahesh Rangarajan as director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) raises uncomfortable questions about the government’s role in appointments at the highest level in institutions that have been central to the intellectual life of the nation. The loudest question is: Why now? If the minister for culture finds the permanent appointment of Rangarajan by the previous regime “unethical and illegal” today, it must have been just as questionable when the Narendra Modi government took office in May 2014.
