There has been a lot of debates over the last two decades in my state and subsequently, in entire India about the re-writing of History text books. I recently read some chilling facts about our history. I am saying 'some facts' since they have been attributed to some notable historians and historians have in general been very honest in their recording of history - yeah, all right, history is written by the victors. But, there are also some historians who in spite of being official historians of an era bygone, have recorded accurate account (sometimes tastelessly boastful) of what was done by whom and how.
Our politicians have shown a tremendous aversion to denting the sentiments of Muslims and Christians over the entire post-independence era in India. And, sometimes with good reasoning. But, mostly, for votebanks! Sadly, this is the truth that we were, are and will remain, business people. We know only convenience. Recently, a great artist, Shri Prabhakar Kolte remarked in an interview with a lot of anger that we are not a nation and that we were never a nation. I got terribly angry over his comments. But, I do think he has a point. And only a nation-loving person can come to such frustration.
Let's sample some historical facts. India is a land of civilisation for centuries. It was at some point of time influenced by teachings of Bhagwan Buddha and Jain tirthankars. We have had a rich tradition of people devoted to the service of mankind and to guide people on the righteous path. This was in stark contrast to what was happening to the west of our civilisation. We had Judaism coming out of Zorastrianism (which was a civilisation like Hinduism), then Christianity from it and then Islam from Christianity. Most of them, political in nature after the demise of their founders. Most of them, aggressively propagating their religions unlike Zorastrianism and Hinduism - which practise worshipping mother nature and harmonial coexistence. Also, Christianity and Islam have engaged in bloody conflicts for capture of newer people in their sects. Though, neither Prophet Muhammad nor Lord Jesus, the son of God, ever asked their followers to do so. These messengers of peace taught what was right. What was correct. Yet, the politicians who ascended the seats vacated by the end of the teachers of these small sects at those times, completely twisted their teachings on their head.
Now, the Hindu civilisation extending from Afghanistan to as far as South East Asia was a tremendously calm and wonderfully harmonious place to be. We had small kingdoms and people were in general 'business minded' and leading a life of serenity and at peace with their surroundings. At this point, entered the Muslim invaders, first from Turkey and then from Central Asia. The conquests of these so-called future rulers of India have been probably the bloodiest in entire history of mankind. Even Hitler cannot match them. They tried to ruin an entire civilisation. In fact, they succeeded to a certain extent. Today, entire Afghanistan is Muslim. Most of Malaysia and Indonesia are Muslims. So is Central Asia. Pakistan is. But, then, Pakistan is an unnatural country whose sole existence and reason for existence is it being an anti-India entity. Beyond it, the country really has no meaning being a country with all the ingredients pulling in different directions. The Muslim invaders went on such a massive killing spree that similar to Auschwitz, we also got Hindu Kush. A mountain range dedicated to the memory of massacre of Hindus in the valley and around. The name literally means the death of Hindu. This is truth across all the Muslim rulers, the Turks, the Afghans and the Central Asia rulers. The way they tried to kill the civilisation is recorded by their own court historians as a matter of pride. And this includes, Jalaluddin Akbar - the only monarch in Delhi who is supposed to be a lover of people of all religions and all. I found from the readings that I did, that this is not so and that even he engaged in bloody propagation of Islam!
Also, the tortures of the Portugese in India and Goa, in particular are legendary. It was worse treatment a human can inflict on another human being. It would have been better had they simply killed the people like the Muslim invaders. But, to inflict such horrendous tortures would qualify them to be history's worst torturers. They also, similar to their Muslim counterparts, have tried their best to destroy the Hindu civilisation in all its facets. The temples, people, culture, music, everything! Again, we are well aware of the ways in which other Christian missionaries used tricks over gullibles and converted them...
This is also the history that we are never taught in school. I beg to know why. Why should we not know who inflicted pain on us? Why should we not know how our forefathers had to constantly live under the threat of being barbarically killed? Why do we not mention how well organised our earlier kingdoms were and the policies practised by them? Why are we not taught that the Maratha kingdom (the most righteous kingdom ever in the modern Indian history) which spanned from Afhganistan to Travancore in South, was the one which brought every religion and caste and creed in the India under the real umbrella of being Indian! We are taught only sparingly from that. But, we are still taught 'British' Indian history in a lot more detail than we should learn - at least thats what I think.
History has an importance in the life of a nation. It has a knack of repeating itself. Unless, we are vigilant. Unless, we learn from it. History has been repeating itself now - at least starkly enough for last two decades - in all of India in the form of Muslim terror. Politicians allowed riots. Since that allows them to say minorities are threatened and then, by giving more concessions to them and more 'protection' from actually their own agents, they try to win their votes. We are still a nation of people who do "business" and are happy and at peace with that notion of calm which business of convenience brings. But, Shivaji Maharaj, Peshwa Bajirao, Maharana Ranjit Singh all showed, business is not the profession of those who want to lead a nation. Their profession is to walk a path of righteousness, of assuring protection to all those whose profession is business. Their profession is to quash - and this is the right word - any descent to the order of things or any threat to the existence of their nation. And we have examples from our own history for the same too.
By not teaching the 'right' history, we are discarding the unilateral thread that binds us all - and I mean all the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, everyone! We are a nation today and an average Indian Muslim and Christian is equally proud of this heritage. Let's not allow these politicians to play dirty games with us. Let's learn our real history and let's pledge that now that we a nation, we develop this idea of India further. Let us not keep the room for grudging acceptance of what is facts. Fact is, our civilisation has faced a holocaust of its own and for centuries. Billions have lost lives in that. There is also, a Hindukush signifying the extent to which we have been persecuted. Let us learn from our history and behave like a nation... Let us learn our REAL HISTORY!
