Scholar of modern Indian as well as world history. Received his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and attended the University of Ottawa as a doctoral fellow during the course of his research. Taught history at Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat and continues to teach courses there as an Honorary Adjunct Professor. Currently, Joint Director of Prime Ministers Museum and Library, New Delhi; Visiting Professor of Modern Indian History (Honorary) at Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur.
Research interests include the intellectual history of modern India, French-Canadian colonial history, the history of India-China relations, Gandhi and religion, Islam in Indian history, and literature and society.
This paper argues that contrary to some popular perceptions, the ideological shift in Iqbal dates... more This paper argues that contrary to some popular perceptions, the ideological shift in Iqbal dates not from 1930 (when he apparently moved towards the acceptance of the two-nation theory at the Allahabad Session of the Muslim League) but to his stay in Europe from 1905 to 1908 (after which he made a complete and abrupt shift from Indian nationalism to revivalism and Pan-Islamism). This shift is powerfully expressed in the political and cultural imaginings of both his Urdu and Persian poetry. His poetry becomes suffused with the ideas of revivalism and Pan-Islamism in counter-position to those of composite nationhood and territorial nationalism on which the Indian national movement was premised. The shift is embodied in poetic imagery and metaphor incompatible with the modern idea of nationalism, especially the dominant idea of Indian nationalism. Iqbal's later thoughts concerning Islam's relations with non-Muslims in India and elsewhere promote an adversarial historical and cultural narrative of Islam. Though triggered by a passionate rejection of the West and its modernity, the shift manifested not just in a critique of the West but also of all non-Islamic cultures and civilizations. Iqbal's narrative of Islam is teleological and triumphalist. Far from being defensive about the charges of intolerance and aggression levelled against Islam by its critics, he proudly invokes imagery of the sword and the conquest in the history of Islam, while bemoaning the decline of its political power in the modern era. Iqbal's quest is for a supposedly pure Islam of the past and its revival in the twentieth century in the form of a redefined, reconstituted and revitalized Umma which cuts across boundaries of nations, continents and ethnicities. Few poets in the history of the modern world have had such influence as Allama Iqbal, and fewer still have made such fundamental shifts.
As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of colo... more As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of colonial provenance. The elaborate network of ancient routes originating in the fourth millennium bc and linking various parts of the Eurasian landmass through Central Asia was re-imagined and reinvented in the late nineteenth century as a ‘Silk Road’ connecting China with the Roman Empire, thereby undermining the role of the steppe with its various nomadic and oasis cultures which had always been at the heart of this Eurasian system of trade and other exchange. Ever since, historiography has focussed on the role of sedentary civilisations in this system of exchange, with a particular emphasis on China and the West, thus undermining the role of other sedentary civilisations such as India. Contrary to the dominant narrative, the antiquity of the Eurasian trade network goes back to several millennia before the rise of either the Han Empire or Rome. Whereas this network did connect the agrarian...
Allama Iqbal’s presidential speech at the Allahabad Session
of the Muslim League in 1930 is gener... more Allama Iqbal’s presidential speech at the Allahabad Session of the Muslim League in 1930 is generally regarded as the turning point in his commitment to the two-nation theory when he supported a state consisting of the Muslim-majority provinces of northwestern India. There is considerable debate on Iqbal’s intention as to whether it was the creation of a sovereign state for the Muslims of northwestern India or merely a consolidated state within a loose Indian federation or confederation. However, irrespective of the nuances of his proposed scheme, what needs recognition is that it was not in 1930 in his Allahabad speech that Iqbal suddenly came to reject territorial nationalism on which the Indian national movement was based. Rather, it was some 20 years earlier, soon after his return from Europe in 1908, that he made an abrupt and complete ideological shift from Indian nationalism to Pan-Islamism, a shift that was clearly expressed in his poetry written during the period, especially Shikwa, his monumental poem written in 1909. Composed as a historical metanarrative of Islam, Shikwa contains all the elements of his political and cultural beliefs that guided his writings and activities for the rest of his life, but has arguably not been subjected to adequate critical evaluation from a historical perspective. The marked ideological shift in Iqbal in the aftermath of his return from Europe is embodied in poetic imagery and metaphor that were highly incompatible with the modern idea of nationalism, in as much as they underpin a historical and cultural narrative of Islam deriving primarily from adversarial relations with non-Muslims in India and other parts of the world.
French travellers Modave and Dieu have so far been among the least represented figures in the exi... more French travellers Modave and Dieu have so far been among the least represented figures in the existing historiography on eighteenth-century north India. Owing to the French language constraints and excessive reliance on English sources, the accounts of these two travelers-which remain untranslated-have been on the margins. However, our understanding of the second half of eighteenth-century north India will remain incomplete until the writings of Modave and Dieu are explored. Written extensively on multiple facets of Indian lives, the French eyes go deep into the minutiae of details and thus unravel many unreported facts. The memoirs of Modave and Dieu not only expand the academic canvas of travel writings but also function as important correctives. The treatment of subjects in these works reveals that virtually nothing escaped the eyes of these Frenchmen. If the information provided in their writings on Mughal life, polity, court, and the decline of the empire is revealing, their quest to know more about socio-religious and cultural life is enriching. Thus, these memoirs are seminal in their scope, extent, and reach.
Presidential Address at the 52nd Session of Punjab History Conference (28-29 February and 1st March, 2020), 2020
Brutality and repression had been the hallmark of British rule in India. Next to the great Revolt... more Brutality and repression had been the hallmark of British rule in India. Next to the great Revolt of 1857 which was suppressed in the most violent, brutal, and uncivilized manner, the JalIianwala Bagh arguably represents the most terrifying example of the fundamentally oppressive nature of the colonial regime. Adding insult to injury, in the aftermath of Jallianwala Bagb massacre, the British response was particularly callous and 'inhumane, upholding imperial prestige over humanitarian considerations when it came to evaluation of the causes and consequences of the barbaric act performed by General Dyer and his troops on 13 April, 1919. Stories of ignominious treatment and humiliation meted out to Indians accompany the nerve-racking saga of Jallianwala Bagb where perhaps as many as a thousand innocent people lost their lives. The events at Jallianwala Bagh evoked highly poignant, emotional responses from a wide range of people both at home and abroad, and therefore, must be investigated afresh from an emotional history perspective which has not been employed extensively so far. This lecture is an attempt at understanding the emotional responses to the Jallianwala Bagb and their connection with the construction of the nationalist narrative about the tragedy. In order to achieve that end, the lecture shall revisit official as well as non-official historical sources - amongst which the Hunter Committee Report and the Congress Punjab Inquiry Report occupy a central position - within an analytical framework that seeks to underline the process as well as outcome of the efforts put in by the Congress in digging out the truth behind the British excesses during the imposition of the Martial Law in Punjab culminating in the tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh.
Faultlines are created by spilling blood, and it draws a line which distinguishes one historical period from another. As we are told by history, Gandhi was recruiting soldiers for the British during the First World War with a sense of loyalty which was a part of the constitutionalist nationalism Which was prevalent at the time. This nationalism was underpinned by a strong emotion of loyalty to the British Empire. It was the Indian blood spilt at Jallianwala Bagh which created a deep sense of betrayal and. ended for good the era of emotional loyalty to the British. Thus it was created the faultlines between the Empire and the Indian people, imbuing them with a deep sense of racial humiliation and insult which continued to fuel the emotional subtext of the Indian nationalism for the remaining period of the British Raj, just as it continues to reverberate even today.
As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of
colo... more As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of colonial provenance. The elaborate network of ancient routes originating in the fourth millennium bc and linking various parts of the Eurasian landmass through Central Asia was re-imagined and reinvented in the late nineteenth century as a ‘Silk Road’ connecting China with the Roman Empire, thereby undermining the role of the steppe with its various nomadic and oasis cultures which had always been at the heart of this Eurasian system of trade and other exchange. Ever since, historiography has focussed on the role of sedentary civilisations in this system of exchange, with a particular emphasis on China and the West, thus undermining the role of other sedentary civilisations such as India. Contrary to the dominant narrative, the antiquity of the Eurasian trade network goes back to several millennia before the rise of either the Han Empire or Rome. Whereas this network did connect the agrarian civilisations, this happened primarily through the agency of central Asian intermediaries whose culmination is represented by the rise of the vast Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century. The idea of the ‘Silk Road(s)’ is thus anachronistic in the sense that it is a backward projection of present into the historical past, especially in view of the fact that silk was only one among several important items of exchange, such as horses, cotton, precious stones, and furs.
Of all the important leaders of the modern world, Gandhi was arguably the most concerned with rel... more Of all the important leaders of the modern world, Gandhi was arguably the most concerned with religion, defining it and engaging with it in multiple ways, from the particular to the universal. A deeply devout man, he engaged with all major religions in the long course of his life. His formulation of Hinduism is often understood without taking into account its peculiarities and nuances and his use of symbols derived from Hinduism is often held responsible for giving a religious colour to the freedom struggle. Similarly, Gandhi's lifelong engagement with Islam and Christianity is generally sought to be incorporated in a contemporary framework of universalism and pluralism that fails to fully grapple with the complexities and ambiguities of his approaches towards religions other than his own. This paper seeks to bring out the relatively neglected aspects of Gandhi's engagement with Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity and argues that in its philosophical underpinnings as well as its sense of ethics and morality Gandhi's universal religion was derived largely from Hinduism, even though he often presented it in broader terms. It further argues that Gandhi was throughout informed by the idea of equality of all religions which not only made him work for unity between religions but also caused many controversies and conflicts with the followers of Islam and Christianity and occasionally with his own co-religionists.
India remained a favourite destination for foreign travellers since ancient
times. We find that t... more India remained a favourite destination for foreign travellers since ancient times. We find that travellers from China, Arab, and European countries visited India in different epochs. Travellers and their accounts have a special place in our attempts to understand the past. As we see, travellers emerge as pivotal figures in historical narratives. More importantly, their writings help us not only in supplementing and augmenting our understanding of the past, but they also, in crucial ways, historicize the past. What may appear to an insider as an accepted and nothing different, from the established norms, would be found strange and worth noting by a foreign traveller. Furthermore, the information provided by them fill important historical interstices and help in building a comprehensive understanding of the past. Despite the fact that they all were travellers to a foreign land, their writings cannot be graded as same even if they ventured into the same region. Their own background, predilections, and motivations certainly influenced the textualisation of their observations. However, the voyagers’ accounts form an important body of literature in reconstructing the past, for they provide perspectives. Notwithstanding that such texts were not free from fallibility; they are at least reflective of the general ethos of the time they were written in. Those writings become even more insightful where the travellers became part of the State apparatus in various ways. Narrativized from various vantage points, travelogues also help us in comparing different societies, cities, and even state systems. The accounts of Bernier, Tavernier, Francisco Pelsaert, Barbosa, Nikitin, Nuniz, Nicolo Conti, and Abdur Razzak are relevant in this regard. Thus, travel literature are certainly important in widening our historical canvas to understand the past, even if they are not infallible.
The life, ideas, and achievements of Swami Vivekananda have been at
the centre of considerable hi... more The life, ideas, and achievements of Swami Vivekananda have been at the centre of considerable historiographical inquiry.1 His formulation of Hinduism, especially his reform agenda for the Hindu society, has also been the subject of much scholarly analysis.2 What is not so well covered by historians and other scholars is his interface with Christianity in general and Christian missionaries in particular. This paper focuses on these relatively neglected aspects of Vivekananda’s work. It argues that Vivekananda firmly believed in the equality of all religions inasmuch as they preach similar morals and lead to the same truth, irrespective of their external forms. Though he had a very positive opinion of Christianity as it was preached by Jesus Christ as also of the character of Jesus as a prophet, he was quite critical of the historical Christianity as it had existed in Europe for close to two millennia and in North America for a few centuries. He was especially critical of the attitudes and the activities of Christian missionaries in India because not only did he reject conversion from one religion to another as a matter of principle – since all religions are equal and lead to the same truth – but he was also highly critical of the methods adopted by the missionaries to gain converts. The paper argues that this was a typically Indian approach to the religious question and to the issue of proselytization. Led by this approach, Vivekananda asserted that though Hinduism, as it existed in his own times, needed a lot of reform, there was no need of conversion to Christianity which itself, he asserted, needed considerable reform. The paper discusses Vivekananda’s formulation of religion as such in the first part; in the second part, it dwells upon Vivekananda’s views on prophethood, Christ and Christianity. The final part of the article deals with Vivekananda’s critique of Christian missionaries’ activities in India, especially their proselytizing work.
Gandhi's relationship with Hinduism and other religio-cultural traditions has generally been unde... more Gandhi's relationship with Hinduism and other religio-cultural traditions has generally been understood as part of a narrative of uniformity in which there is little scope for internal variations and ambiguities. One of the most important consequences of this uniformity is that the complexities and subtleties of Gandhi's approaches to the questions of religious and cultural spheres as well as identities are often not given the attention they deserve. Whereas Gandhi carried on a lifelong campaign for the reform of the Hindu society, his self-description as an orthodox or sanatani Hindu also holds important meanings for our understanding of him, especially in view of the fact that he was among the few leaders and thinkers of modern India who accepted and defended what may be described as popular Hinduism. The idea of the equality of all religions implying that all religions are equally true provided the template for his interface with Islam, Christianity and other traditions, without, however, denying the existence and relevance of difference in forms between various religions. Approaching politics as a deeply religious man, he had a lifelong engagement with Hindu leaders and organisations wherein the complexities of his perspective are clearly expressed.
The 2018 Karnataka Assembly Election brought a hung
verdict between the ruling Congress, BJP and ... more The 2018 Karnataka Assembly Election brought a hung verdict between the ruling Congress, BJP and JD(S). BJP emerged as the single largest party in the 224 member House while congress emerged as the second largest party. The JD(S) appeared as the kingmaker with having the say to who would govern Karnataka for the current term. The Karnataka verdict reveals the centrality and fusion of dominant castes when they face a pressure from below. In fact, notwithstanding their traditional rivalry, the Vokkaligas, Lingayats, Bunts and other upper castes came together to respond to Siddharamaiah led Congress government’s attempt to privilege the AHINDA, i.e., the lower caste and class vis a vis the dominant social section in the state. In the final moment, it is this feature that went against the Congress in terms of attaining the majority, in spite of the grand old party getting more votes than BJP or JD(S).
In the first ever direct electoral contest between Left and
the Right in independent India, BJP r... more In the first ever direct electoral contest between Left and the Right in independent India, BJP registered a spectacular victory over incumbent CPI (M) government. The electoral verdict into this politically polarized state rewarded BJP with 43 seats out of 59, while incumbent CPI(M) had to contend with mere 16 seats, a fall of 34 seats from the last election. On the other hand, Congress, which has been the main opposition party since 1993, had won 10 seats and 44% votes along with its ally INPT in the last assembly election 2013, witnessed a humiliating defeat by not winning a single seat this time. For BJP, it was a journey from zero to zenith wherein the party that had got zero seats and mere 1.54% vote in the last assembly election was able to reinvent itself and capture the popular imagination of the majority of the electorates in the state. While the saffron party did well in other election bound North-Eastern states too, what differentiated Tripura election from rest of the states was the intense ideological dimension involved in the electoral battle. Therefore, any inference to declare BJP’s victory in Tripura as an outcome of mere brilliant electoral arithmetic would be misleading and gross misreading of the verdict. The success of the saffron party in the red citadel was as much a victory of its dedicated effort in the last 3 years as of the failures of the Left to reinvent itself and of the complacency of the Congress to be a mute spectator to the en-masse alienation of its support base that shifted to BJP. In fact, Tripura verdict could be understood by locating the complex interplay of the strategic part of BJP along with the ironical reception of CPI(M) - a factor that got compounded with the tribal question in the state - and finally the apathy of Congress party with its traditional voters
Gandhi’s understanding of the relationship between Hinduism and other
traditions like Christianit... more Gandhi’s understanding of the relationship between Hinduism and other traditions like Christianity and Islam was at the heart of his approaches to religion and politics. One of the most important features of Gandhi’s Hinduism was that it did not depend upon a strong notion of an ‘other’ which had to be opposed and contested. Nevertheless, it is evident that Gandhi’s Hinduism evolved largely in a process of constant dialogue with religious and cultural traditions within as well as outside the Hindu fold over a set of issues and concerns which were regarded by him as central to Hinduism. This paper deals mainly with some of the issues involved in his understanding of the Hindu-Muslim relations, such as his approach to Muslim leaders, his responses to Islam in general and to pan-Islamism in particular, and to the issue of cow-protection. It needs to be noted that the paper does not attempt a comprehensive review of the Hindu-Muslim relations in pre-Independence era and Gandhi’s role therein.
The rise of China signifies far-reaching changes for India and the world. Whereas the rise had be... more The rise of China signifies far-reaching changes for India and the world. Whereas the rise had been described as 'peaceful' by China, and was long seen to be as such by the rest of the world, the aggressive conduct of Chinese foreign policy in the last decade has belied the hope that China would integrate itself in the liberal world order. The Chinese assertion regarding territory and boundaries, both land and maritime, emanates primarily from a distorted view of history which projects China as the most powerful country during much of history, a position which China seeks to 'regain' now. In fact, China was only one among several countries and regions that occupied the centre stage in world history, India being one of them. Though the growth of the Chinese economy in the last forty years has been exceptional, it is unlikely to enable China to override the concerns and interests of India or to relegate it permanently to an inferior status, as India too has done reasonably well in the last few decades and has now started catching up with China.
The paper explores French attempts to procure, study, and evaluate
Indian literature in the eight... more The paper explores French attempts to procure, study, and evaluate Indian literature in the eighteenth century. The paper deals with famous French personages and their engagement with Indian literature at various levels. Anquetil Duperron, Gentil, Polier, De Boigne, and Perron were some of the leading French figures whose intellectual engagements with Indian literature opened a new facet of the ‘oriental’ learning to the Occident. But the credit for this effort is generally attributed to the British ‘Indologists.’ Relatively less known is that a significant procurement of Indian textual material was the work of these French ‘cultural’ enthusiasts. The British ‘Indologists’ were heavily dependent upon these procurements for their study. But, these French ‘cultural’ enthusiasts are still on the margins while others have received much attention
Constituting an important aspect of the history of modern India, the activities of Christian miss... more Constituting an important aspect of the history of modern India, the activities of Christian missionaries owing allegiance to the Catholic Church, as well as various Protestant churches, drew a variety of responses in the public sphere of colonial India. In the postcolonial period, the debate on religious conversions among the intelligentsia has, by and large, treated it as a question of freedom of conscience, as an aspect of individual agency to propagate or accept a faith. The Indian Constitution has, through Article 25, offered people the right to profess, practise and propagate their faith, with the Supreme Court later adding the caveat that this does not mean recourse to force, fraud or allurement. The dominant discourse, thus, sees it in line with this qualified acceptance of it. However, this was by no means the only discourse on conversion in modern India, with an alternative discoursepowerfully articulated by Mahatma Gandhi-offering a plurality of ways by which conversion can be seen, by rejecting it with a set of coherent arguments. While Gandhi did not unequivocally call for a ban on conversions-thus not focusing much on the legal aspect of them-he saw them as militating against his fundamental belief in the equality of all religions, perhaps owing to his attachment to Indic cultures of lived and philosophical plurality. Both in the pre-and post-Independence periods, missionary activities pertaining to conversion to Christianity have led to the strongest and the most diverse set of responses and interventions from those who might appropriately be described as the leaders of Hindu as also Muslim religious and cultural worlds. Arguably, the most important of all responses to the missionaries was that
The message from Himachal Pradesh is clear that BJP has
,~ , emerged as the dominant party vis a... more The message from Himachal Pradesh is clear that BJP has
,~ , emerged as the dominant party vis a vis its rivals across
India barring the southern states. The perception that BJP
is on the winning slope due to its politics of Hindutva may
not explain the totality of its strength as Himachal Pradesh
proves. This was the best performance of BJP in Himachal
since 1990. Rather, it is the positive interplay of the
concrete issues and the perception as to who could deliver
them better than their rivals along with the ability of the
central leadership to harmonize at the best and minimize
at the least the intra-party factionalism that would emerge
as an important factor in enhancing the winnability
quotient of a party for the coming general election of 201 9.
UP has been at the receiving end through the identitarian tum in the decades of 1990s and it was ... more UP has been at the receiving end through the identitarian tum in the decades of 1990s and it was expected that the decline of the same in 2000s would mark the development and governance taking a centre state in the state. However, the grand disappointment of electorates with the thr~e dominant players in the state, namely, BSP (2001-2012), SP (2102-present) and BJP (2014 onwards) and the lack of any imaginative strategy for post-identity politics by the dominant political players in the state indicates that at a time when the popular aspiration of the countrymen revolves around the issues like, growth, development and law and order, in UP in the coming elections primordial politics of caste and community would reoccupy the centre stage embedded into a language of 'development and governance' that is inherently divisive and exclusionary.
The spectacular rise of China in the last few decades is first and foremost the story of its unpa... more The spectacular rise of China in the last few decades is first and foremost the story of its unparalleled economic growth and development. It is the economic might of China that underpins its national strength. It is thus crucial to have a dispassionate look at China's rise as an economic power in comparison with India. We all know how India had a higher per capita income than China in 1978. What we often don't know is that despite its license-permit raj India was at this time still ahead of China in manufacturing, innovation, higher education, science, and technology. China was ahead of India mainly in terms of social indicators, such as literacy, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), life expectancy at birth, etc. The divergence between India and China in terms of their per capita income and GDP started only from about 1990.
This paper argues that contrary to some popular perceptions, the ideological shift in Iqbal dates... more This paper argues that contrary to some popular perceptions, the ideological shift in Iqbal dates not from 1930 (when he apparently moved towards the acceptance of the two-nation theory at the Allahabad Session of the Muslim League) but to his stay in Europe from 1905 to 1908 (after which he made a complete and abrupt shift from Indian nationalism to revivalism and Pan-Islamism). This shift is powerfully expressed in the political and cultural imaginings of both his Urdu and Persian poetry. His poetry becomes suffused with the ideas of revivalism and Pan-Islamism in counter-position to those of composite nationhood and territorial nationalism on which the Indian national movement was premised. The shift is embodied in poetic imagery and metaphor incompatible with the modern idea of nationalism, especially the dominant idea of Indian nationalism. Iqbal's later thoughts concerning Islam's relations with non-Muslims in India and elsewhere promote an adversarial historical and cultural narrative of Islam. Though triggered by a passionate rejection of the West and its modernity, the shift manifested not just in a critique of the West but also of all non-Islamic cultures and civilizations. Iqbal's narrative of Islam is teleological and triumphalist. Far from being defensive about the charges of intolerance and aggression levelled against Islam by its critics, he proudly invokes imagery of the sword and the conquest in the history of Islam, while bemoaning the decline of its political power in the modern era. Iqbal's quest is for a supposedly pure Islam of the past and its revival in the twentieth century in the form of a redefined, reconstituted and revitalized Umma which cuts across boundaries of nations, continents and ethnicities. Few poets in the history of the modern world have had such influence as Allama Iqbal, and fewer still have made such fundamental shifts.
As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of colo... more As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of colonial provenance. The elaborate network of ancient routes originating in the fourth millennium bc and linking various parts of the Eurasian landmass through Central Asia was re-imagined and reinvented in the late nineteenth century as a ‘Silk Road’ connecting China with the Roman Empire, thereby undermining the role of the steppe with its various nomadic and oasis cultures which had always been at the heart of this Eurasian system of trade and other exchange. Ever since, historiography has focussed on the role of sedentary civilisations in this system of exchange, with a particular emphasis on China and the West, thus undermining the role of other sedentary civilisations such as India. Contrary to the dominant narrative, the antiquity of the Eurasian trade network goes back to several millennia before the rise of either the Han Empire or Rome. Whereas this network did connect the agrarian...
Allama Iqbal’s presidential speech at the Allahabad Session
of the Muslim League in 1930 is gener... more Allama Iqbal’s presidential speech at the Allahabad Session of the Muslim League in 1930 is generally regarded as the turning point in his commitment to the two-nation theory when he supported a state consisting of the Muslim-majority provinces of northwestern India. There is considerable debate on Iqbal’s intention as to whether it was the creation of a sovereign state for the Muslims of northwestern India or merely a consolidated state within a loose Indian federation or confederation. However, irrespective of the nuances of his proposed scheme, what needs recognition is that it was not in 1930 in his Allahabad speech that Iqbal suddenly came to reject territorial nationalism on which the Indian national movement was based. Rather, it was some 20 years earlier, soon after his return from Europe in 1908, that he made an abrupt and complete ideological shift from Indian nationalism to Pan-Islamism, a shift that was clearly expressed in his poetry written during the period, especially Shikwa, his monumental poem written in 1909. Composed as a historical metanarrative of Islam, Shikwa contains all the elements of his political and cultural beliefs that guided his writings and activities for the rest of his life, but has arguably not been subjected to adequate critical evaluation from a historical perspective. The marked ideological shift in Iqbal in the aftermath of his return from Europe is embodied in poetic imagery and metaphor that were highly incompatible with the modern idea of nationalism, in as much as they underpin a historical and cultural narrative of Islam deriving primarily from adversarial relations with non-Muslims in India and other parts of the world.
French travellers Modave and Dieu have so far been among the least represented figures in the exi... more French travellers Modave and Dieu have so far been among the least represented figures in the existing historiography on eighteenth-century north India. Owing to the French language constraints and excessive reliance on English sources, the accounts of these two travelers-which remain untranslated-have been on the margins. However, our understanding of the second half of eighteenth-century north India will remain incomplete until the writings of Modave and Dieu are explored. Written extensively on multiple facets of Indian lives, the French eyes go deep into the minutiae of details and thus unravel many unreported facts. The memoirs of Modave and Dieu not only expand the academic canvas of travel writings but also function as important correctives. The treatment of subjects in these works reveals that virtually nothing escaped the eyes of these Frenchmen. If the information provided in their writings on Mughal life, polity, court, and the decline of the empire is revealing, their quest to know more about socio-religious and cultural life is enriching. Thus, these memoirs are seminal in their scope, extent, and reach.
Presidential Address at the 52nd Session of Punjab History Conference (28-29 February and 1st March, 2020), 2020
Brutality and repression had been the hallmark of British rule in India. Next to the great Revolt... more Brutality and repression had been the hallmark of British rule in India. Next to the great Revolt of 1857 which was suppressed in the most violent, brutal, and uncivilized manner, the JalIianwala Bagh arguably represents the most terrifying example of the fundamentally oppressive nature of the colonial regime. Adding insult to injury, in the aftermath of Jallianwala Bagb massacre, the British response was particularly callous and 'inhumane, upholding imperial prestige over humanitarian considerations when it came to evaluation of the causes and consequences of the barbaric act performed by General Dyer and his troops on 13 April, 1919. Stories of ignominious treatment and humiliation meted out to Indians accompany the nerve-racking saga of Jallianwala Bagb where perhaps as many as a thousand innocent people lost their lives. The events at Jallianwala Bagh evoked highly poignant, emotional responses from a wide range of people both at home and abroad, and therefore, must be investigated afresh from an emotional history perspective which has not been employed extensively so far. This lecture is an attempt at understanding the emotional responses to the Jallianwala Bagb and their connection with the construction of the nationalist narrative about the tragedy. In order to achieve that end, the lecture shall revisit official as well as non-official historical sources - amongst which the Hunter Committee Report and the Congress Punjab Inquiry Report occupy a central position - within an analytical framework that seeks to underline the process as well as outcome of the efforts put in by the Congress in digging out the truth behind the British excesses during the imposition of the Martial Law in Punjab culminating in the tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh.
Faultlines are created by spilling blood, and it draws a line which distinguishes one historical period from another. As we are told by history, Gandhi was recruiting soldiers for the British during the First World War with a sense of loyalty which was a part of the constitutionalist nationalism Which was prevalent at the time. This nationalism was underpinned by a strong emotion of loyalty to the British Empire. It was the Indian blood spilt at Jallianwala Bagh which created a deep sense of betrayal and. ended for good the era of emotional loyalty to the British. Thus it was created the faultlines between the Empire and the Indian people, imbuing them with a deep sense of racial humiliation and insult which continued to fuel the emotional subtext of the Indian nationalism for the remaining period of the British Raj, just as it continues to reverberate even today.
As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of
colo... more As it is frequently the case in the modern world, the term ‘Silk Road’ or ‘Silk Roads’ is of colonial provenance. The elaborate network of ancient routes originating in the fourth millennium bc and linking various parts of the Eurasian landmass through Central Asia was re-imagined and reinvented in the late nineteenth century as a ‘Silk Road’ connecting China with the Roman Empire, thereby undermining the role of the steppe with its various nomadic and oasis cultures which had always been at the heart of this Eurasian system of trade and other exchange. Ever since, historiography has focussed on the role of sedentary civilisations in this system of exchange, with a particular emphasis on China and the West, thus undermining the role of other sedentary civilisations such as India. Contrary to the dominant narrative, the antiquity of the Eurasian trade network goes back to several millennia before the rise of either the Han Empire or Rome. Whereas this network did connect the agrarian civilisations, this happened primarily through the agency of central Asian intermediaries whose culmination is represented by the rise of the vast Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century. The idea of the ‘Silk Road(s)’ is thus anachronistic in the sense that it is a backward projection of present into the historical past, especially in view of the fact that silk was only one among several important items of exchange, such as horses, cotton, precious stones, and furs.
Of all the important leaders of the modern world, Gandhi was arguably the most concerned with rel... more Of all the important leaders of the modern world, Gandhi was arguably the most concerned with religion, defining it and engaging with it in multiple ways, from the particular to the universal. A deeply devout man, he engaged with all major religions in the long course of his life. His formulation of Hinduism is often understood without taking into account its peculiarities and nuances and his use of symbols derived from Hinduism is often held responsible for giving a religious colour to the freedom struggle. Similarly, Gandhi's lifelong engagement with Islam and Christianity is generally sought to be incorporated in a contemporary framework of universalism and pluralism that fails to fully grapple with the complexities and ambiguities of his approaches towards religions other than his own. This paper seeks to bring out the relatively neglected aspects of Gandhi's engagement with Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity and argues that in its philosophical underpinnings as well as its sense of ethics and morality Gandhi's universal religion was derived largely from Hinduism, even though he often presented it in broader terms. It further argues that Gandhi was throughout informed by the idea of equality of all religions which not only made him work for unity between religions but also caused many controversies and conflicts with the followers of Islam and Christianity and occasionally with his own co-religionists.
India remained a favourite destination for foreign travellers since ancient
times. We find that t... more India remained a favourite destination for foreign travellers since ancient times. We find that travellers from China, Arab, and European countries visited India in different epochs. Travellers and their accounts have a special place in our attempts to understand the past. As we see, travellers emerge as pivotal figures in historical narratives. More importantly, their writings help us not only in supplementing and augmenting our understanding of the past, but they also, in crucial ways, historicize the past. What may appear to an insider as an accepted and nothing different, from the established norms, would be found strange and worth noting by a foreign traveller. Furthermore, the information provided by them fill important historical interstices and help in building a comprehensive understanding of the past. Despite the fact that they all were travellers to a foreign land, their writings cannot be graded as same even if they ventured into the same region. Their own background, predilections, and motivations certainly influenced the textualisation of their observations. However, the voyagers’ accounts form an important body of literature in reconstructing the past, for they provide perspectives. Notwithstanding that such texts were not free from fallibility; they are at least reflective of the general ethos of the time they were written in. Those writings become even more insightful where the travellers became part of the State apparatus in various ways. Narrativized from various vantage points, travelogues also help us in comparing different societies, cities, and even state systems. The accounts of Bernier, Tavernier, Francisco Pelsaert, Barbosa, Nikitin, Nuniz, Nicolo Conti, and Abdur Razzak are relevant in this regard. Thus, travel literature are certainly important in widening our historical canvas to understand the past, even if they are not infallible.
The life, ideas, and achievements of Swami Vivekananda have been at
the centre of considerable hi... more The life, ideas, and achievements of Swami Vivekananda have been at the centre of considerable historiographical inquiry.1 His formulation of Hinduism, especially his reform agenda for the Hindu society, has also been the subject of much scholarly analysis.2 What is not so well covered by historians and other scholars is his interface with Christianity in general and Christian missionaries in particular. This paper focuses on these relatively neglected aspects of Vivekananda’s work. It argues that Vivekananda firmly believed in the equality of all religions inasmuch as they preach similar morals and lead to the same truth, irrespective of their external forms. Though he had a very positive opinion of Christianity as it was preached by Jesus Christ as also of the character of Jesus as a prophet, he was quite critical of the historical Christianity as it had existed in Europe for close to two millennia and in North America for a few centuries. He was especially critical of the attitudes and the activities of Christian missionaries in India because not only did he reject conversion from one religion to another as a matter of principle – since all religions are equal and lead to the same truth – but he was also highly critical of the methods adopted by the missionaries to gain converts. The paper argues that this was a typically Indian approach to the religious question and to the issue of proselytization. Led by this approach, Vivekananda asserted that though Hinduism, as it existed in his own times, needed a lot of reform, there was no need of conversion to Christianity which itself, he asserted, needed considerable reform. The paper discusses Vivekananda’s formulation of religion as such in the first part; in the second part, it dwells upon Vivekananda’s views on prophethood, Christ and Christianity. The final part of the article deals with Vivekananda’s critique of Christian missionaries’ activities in India, especially their proselytizing work.
Gandhi's relationship with Hinduism and other religio-cultural traditions has generally been unde... more Gandhi's relationship with Hinduism and other religio-cultural traditions has generally been understood as part of a narrative of uniformity in which there is little scope for internal variations and ambiguities. One of the most important consequences of this uniformity is that the complexities and subtleties of Gandhi's approaches to the questions of religious and cultural spheres as well as identities are often not given the attention they deserve. Whereas Gandhi carried on a lifelong campaign for the reform of the Hindu society, his self-description as an orthodox or sanatani Hindu also holds important meanings for our understanding of him, especially in view of the fact that he was among the few leaders and thinkers of modern India who accepted and defended what may be described as popular Hinduism. The idea of the equality of all religions implying that all religions are equally true provided the template for his interface with Islam, Christianity and other traditions, without, however, denying the existence and relevance of difference in forms between various religions. Approaching politics as a deeply religious man, he had a lifelong engagement with Hindu leaders and organisations wherein the complexities of his perspective are clearly expressed.
The 2018 Karnataka Assembly Election brought a hung
verdict between the ruling Congress, BJP and ... more The 2018 Karnataka Assembly Election brought a hung verdict between the ruling Congress, BJP and JD(S). BJP emerged as the single largest party in the 224 member House while congress emerged as the second largest party. The JD(S) appeared as the kingmaker with having the say to who would govern Karnataka for the current term. The Karnataka verdict reveals the centrality and fusion of dominant castes when they face a pressure from below. In fact, notwithstanding their traditional rivalry, the Vokkaligas, Lingayats, Bunts and other upper castes came together to respond to Siddharamaiah led Congress government’s attempt to privilege the AHINDA, i.e., the lower caste and class vis a vis the dominant social section in the state. In the final moment, it is this feature that went against the Congress in terms of attaining the majority, in spite of the grand old party getting more votes than BJP or JD(S).
In the first ever direct electoral contest between Left and
the Right in independent India, BJP r... more In the first ever direct electoral contest between Left and the Right in independent India, BJP registered a spectacular victory over incumbent CPI (M) government. The electoral verdict into this politically polarized state rewarded BJP with 43 seats out of 59, while incumbent CPI(M) had to contend with mere 16 seats, a fall of 34 seats from the last election. On the other hand, Congress, which has been the main opposition party since 1993, had won 10 seats and 44% votes along with its ally INPT in the last assembly election 2013, witnessed a humiliating defeat by not winning a single seat this time. For BJP, it was a journey from zero to zenith wherein the party that had got zero seats and mere 1.54% vote in the last assembly election was able to reinvent itself and capture the popular imagination of the majority of the electorates in the state. While the saffron party did well in other election bound North-Eastern states too, what differentiated Tripura election from rest of the states was the intense ideological dimension involved in the electoral battle. Therefore, any inference to declare BJP’s victory in Tripura as an outcome of mere brilliant electoral arithmetic would be misleading and gross misreading of the verdict. The success of the saffron party in the red citadel was as much a victory of its dedicated effort in the last 3 years as of the failures of the Left to reinvent itself and of the complacency of the Congress to be a mute spectator to the en-masse alienation of its support base that shifted to BJP. In fact, Tripura verdict could be understood by locating the complex interplay of the strategic part of BJP along with the ironical reception of CPI(M) - a factor that got compounded with the tribal question in the state - and finally the apathy of Congress party with its traditional voters
Gandhi’s understanding of the relationship between Hinduism and other
traditions like Christianit... more Gandhi’s understanding of the relationship between Hinduism and other traditions like Christianity and Islam was at the heart of his approaches to religion and politics. One of the most important features of Gandhi’s Hinduism was that it did not depend upon a strong notion of an ‘other’ which had to be opposed and contested. Nevertheless, it is evident that Gandhi’s Hinduism evolved largely in a process of constant dialogue with religious and cultural traditions within as well as outside the Hindu fold over a set of issues and concerns which were regarded by him as central to Hinduism. This paper deals mainly with some of the issues involved in his understanding of the Hindu-Muslim relations, such as his approach to Muslim leaders, his responses to Islam in general and to pan-Islamism in particular, and to the issue of cow-protection. It needs to be noted that the paper does not attempt a comprehensive review of the Hindu-Muslim relations in pre-Independence era and Gandhi’s role therein.
The rise of China signifies far-reaching changes for India and the world. Whereas the rise had be... more The rise of China signifies far-reaching changes for India and the world. Whereas the rise had been described as 'peaceful' by China, and was long seen to be as such by the rest of the world, the aggressive conduct of Chinese foreign policy in the last decade has belied the hope that China would integrate itself in the liberal world order. The Chinese assertion regarding territory and boundaries, both land and maritime, emanates primarily from a distorted view of history which projects China as the most powerful country during much of history, a position which China seeks to 'regain' now. In fact, China was only one among several countries and regions that occupied the centre stage in world history, India being one of them. Though the growth of the Chinese economy in the last forty years has been exceptional, it is unlikely to enable China to override the concerns and interests of India or to relegate it permanently to an inferior status, as India too has done reasonably well in the last few decades and has now started catching up with China.
The paper explores French attempts to procure, study, and evaluate
Indian literature in the eight... more The paper explores French attempts to procure, study, and evaluate Indian literature in the eighteenth century. The paper deals with famous French personages and their engagement with Indian literature at various levels. Anquetil Duperron, Gentil, Polier, De Boigne, and Perron were some of the leading French figures whose intellectual engagements with Indian literature opened a new facet of the ‘oriental’ learning to the Occident. But the credit for this effort is generally attributed to the British ‘Indologists.’ Relatively less known is that a significant procurement of Indian textual material was the work of these French ‘cultural’ enthusiasts. The British ‘Indologists’ were heavily dependent upon these procurements for their study. But, these French ‘cultural’ enthusiasts are still on the margins while others have received much attention
Constituting an important aspect of the history of modern India, the activities of Christian miss... more Constituting an important aspect of the history of modern India, the activities of Christian missionaries owing allegiance to the Catholic Church, as well as various Protestant churches, drew a variety of responses in the public sphere of colonial India. In the postcolonial period, the debate on religious conversions among the intelligentsia has, by and large, treated it as a question of freedom of conscience, as an aspect of individual agency to propagate or accept a faith. The Indian Constitution has, through Article 25, offered people the right to profess, practise and propagate their faith, with the Supreme Court later adding the caveat that this does not mean recourse to force, fraud or allurement. The dominant discourse, thus, sees it in line with this qualified acceptance of it. However, this was by no means the only discourse on conversion in modern India, with an alternative discoursepowerfully articulated by Mahatma Gandhi-offering a plurality of ways by which conversion can be seen, by rejecting it with a set of coherent arguments. While Gandhi did not unequivocally call for a ban on conversions-thus not focusing much on the legal aspect of them-he saw them as militating against his fundamental belief in the equality of all religions, perhaps owing to his attachment to Indic cultures of lived and philosophical plurality. Both in the pre-and post-Independence periods, missionary activities pertaining to conversion to Christianity have led to the strongest and the most diverse set of responses and interventions from those who might appropriately be described as the leaders of Hindu as also Muslim religious and cultural worlds. Arguably, the most important of all responses to the missionaries was that
The message from Himachal Pradesh is clear that BJP has
,~ , emerged as the dominant party vis a... more The message from Himachal Pradesh is clear that BJP has
,~ , emerged as the dominant party vis a vis its rivals across
India barring the southern states. The perception that BJP
is on the winning slope due to its politics of Hindutva may
not explain the totality of its strength as Himachal Pradesh
proves. This was the best performance of BJP in Himachal
since 1990. Rather, it is the positive interplay of the
concrete issues and the perception as to who could deliver
them better than their rivals along with the ability of the
central leadership to harmonize at the best and minimize
at the least the intra-party factionalism that would emerge
as an important factor in enhancing the winnability
quotient of a party for the coming general election of 201 9.
UP has been at the receiving end through the identitarian tum in the decades of 1990s and it was ... more UP has been at the receiving end through the identitarian tum in the decades of 1990s and it was expected that the decline of the same in 2000s would mark the development and governance taking a centre state in the state. However, the grand disappointment of electorates with the thr~e dominant players in the state, namely, BSP (2001-2012), SP (2102-present) and BJP (2014 onwards) and the lack of any imaginative strategy for post-identity politics by the dominant political players in the state indicates that at a time when the popular aspiration of the countrymen revolves around the issues like, growth, development and law and order, in UP in the coming elections primordial politics of caste and community would reoccupy the centre stage embedded into a language of 'development and governance' that is inherently divisive and exclusionary.
The spectacular rise of China in the last few decades is first and foremost the story of its unpa... more The spectacular rise of China in the last few decades is first and foremost the story of its unparalleled economic growth and development. It is the economic might of China that underpins its national strength. It is thus crucial to have a dispassionate look at China's rise as an economic power in comparison with India. We all know how India had a higher per capita income than China in 1978. What we often don't know is that despite its license-permit raj India was at this time still ahead of China in manufacturing, innovation, higher education, science, and technology. China was ahead of India mainly in terms of social indicators, such as literacy, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), life expectancy at birth, etc. The divergence between India and China in terms of their per capita income and GDP started only from about 1990.
Uploads
of the Muslim League in 1930 is generally regarded as the
turning point in his commitment to the two-nation theory
when he supported a state consisting of the Muslim-majority
provinces of northwestern India. There is considerable debate on
Iqbal’s intention as to whether it was the creation of a sovereign state
for the Muslims of northwestern India or merely a consolidated
state within a loose Indian federation or confederation. However,
irrespective of the nuances of his proposed scheme, what needs
recognition is that it was not in 1930 in his Allahabad speech that
Iqbal suddenly came to reject territorial nationalism on which the
Indian national movement was based. Rather, it was some 20 years
earlier, soon after his return from Europe in 1908, that he made
an abrupt and complete ideological shift from Indian nationalism
to Pan-Islamism, a shift that was clearly expressed in his poetry
written during the period, especially Shikwa, his monumental
poem written in 1909. Composed as a historical metanarrative of
Islam, Shikwa contains all the elements of his political and cultural
beliefs that guided his writings and activities for the rest of his life,
but has arguably not been subjected to adequate critical evaluation
from a historical perspective. The marked ideological shift in
Iqbal in the aftermath of his return from Europe is embodied in
poetic imagery and metaphor that were highly incompatible with
the modern idea of nationalism, in as much as they underpin a
historical and cultural narrative of Islam deriving primarily from
adversarial relations with non-Muslims in India and other parts of
the world.
Faultlines are created by spilling blood, and it draws a line which distinguishes one historical period from another. As we are told by history, Gandhi was recruiting soldiers for the British during the First World War with a sense of loyalty which was a part of the constitutionalist nationalism Which was prevalent at the time. This nationalism was underpinned by a strong emotion of loyalty to the British Empire. It was the Indian blood spilt at Jallianwala Bagh which created a deep sense of betrayal and. ended for good the era of emotional loyalty to the British. Thus it was created the faultlines between the Empire and the Indian people, imbuing them with a deep sense of racial humiliation and insult which continued to fuel the emotional subtext of the Indian nationalism for the remaining period of the British Raj, just as it continues to reverberate even today.
colonial provenance. The elaborate network of ancient routes originating in the fourth
millennium bc and linking various parts of the Eurasian landmass through Central Asia
was re-imagined and reinvented in the late nineteenth century as a ‘Silk Road’ connecting
China with the Roman Empire, thereby undermining the role of the steppe with its
various nomadic and oasis cultures which had always been at the heart of this Eurasian
system of trade and other exchange. Ever since, historiography has focussed on the role
of sedentary civilisations in this system of exchange, with a particular emphasis on China
and the West, thus undermining the role of other sedentary civilisations such as India.
Contrary to the dominant narrative, the antiquity of the Eurasian trade network goes
back to several millennia before the rise of either the Han Empire or Rome. Whereas
this network did connect the agrarian civilisations, this happened primarily through the
agency of central Asian intermediaries whose culmination is represented by the rise of
the vast Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century. The idea of the ‘Silk Road(s)’ is thus
anachronistic in the sense that it is a backward projection of present into the historical
past, especially in view of the fact that silk was only one among several important items
of exchange, such as horses, cotton, precious stones, and furs.
times. We find that travellers from China, Arab, and European countries
visited India in different epochs. Travellers and their accounts have a
special place in our attempts to understand the past. As we see, travellers
emerge as pivotal figures in historical narratives. More importantly,
their writings help us not only in supplementing and augmenting our
understanding of the past, but they also, in crucial ways, historicize the
past. What may appear to an insider as an accepted and nothing different,
from the established norms, would be found strange and worth noting
by a foreign traveller. Furthermore, the information provided by them
fill important historical interstices and help in building a comprehensive
understanding of the past. Despite the fact that they all were travellers
to a foreign land, their writings cannot be graded as same even if they
ventured into the same region. Their own background, predilections,
and motivations certainly influenced the textualisation of their
observations. However, the voyagers’ accounts form an important body
of literature in reconstructing the past, for they provide perspectives.
Notwithstanding that such texts were not free from fallibility; they are
at least reflective of the general ethos of the time they were written in.
Those writings become even more insightful where the travellers became
part of the State apparatus in various ways. Narrativized from various
vantage points, travelogues also help us in comparing different societies,
cities, and even state systems. The accounts of Bernier, Tavernier, Francisco Pelsaert, Barbosa, Nikitin, Nuniz, Nicolo Conti, and Abdur
Razzak are relevant in this regard. Thus, travel literature are certainly
important in widening our historical canvas to understand the past,
even if they are not infallible.
the centre of considerable historiographical inquiry.1 His formulation
of Hinduism, especially his reform agenda for the Hindu society, has
also been the subject of much scholarly analysis.2 What is not so well
covered by historians and other scholars is his interface with Christianity
in general and Christian missionaries in particular. This paper focuses
on these relatively neglected aspects of Vivekananda’s work. It argues
that Vivekananda firmly believed in the equality of all religions inasmuch
as they preach similar morals and lead to the same truth, irrespective
of their external forms. Though he had a very positive opinion of
Christianity as it was preached by Jesus Christ as also of the character
of Jesus as a prophet, he was quite critical of the historical Christianity
as it had existed in Europe for close to two millennia and in North
America for a few centuries. He was especially critical of the attitudes
and the activities of Christian missionaries in India because not only
did he reject conversion from one religion to another as a matter of
principle – since all religions are equal and lead to the same truth – but
he was also highly critical of the methods adopted by the missionaries
to gain converts. The paper argues that this was a typically Indian
approach to the religious question and to the issue of proselytization.
Led by this approach, Vivekananda asserted that though Hinduism, as
it existed in his own times, needed a lot of reform, there was no need
of conversion to Christianity which itself, he asserted, needed
considerable reform.
The paper discusses Vivekananda’s formulation of religion as such
in the first part; in the second part, it dwells upon Vivekananda’s views on prophethood, Christ and Christianity. The final part of the article
deals with Vivekananda’s critique of Christian missionaries’ activities
in India, especially their proselytizing work.
verdict between the ruling Congress, BJP and JD(S). BJP
emerged as the single largest party in the 224 member
House while congress emerged as the second largest party.
The JD(S) appeared as the kingmaker with having the say
to who would govern Karnataka for the current term. The
Karnataka verdict reveals the centrality and fusion of
dominant castes when they face a pressure from below.
In fact, notwithstanding their traditional rivalry, the
Vokkaligas, Lingayats, Bunts and other upper castes came
together to respond to Siddharamaiah led Congress
government’s attempt to privilege the AHINDA, i.e., the lower
caste and class vis a vis the dominant social section in the
state. In the final moment, it is this feature that went against
the Congress in terms of attaining the majority, in spite of
the grand old party getting more votes than BJP or JD(S).
the Right in independent India, BJP registered a
spectacular victory over incumbent CPI (M) government.
The electoral verdict into this politically polarized state
rewarded BJP with 43 seats out of 59, while incumbent
CPI(M) had to contend with mere 16 seats, a fall of 34
seats from the last election. On the other hand, Congress,
which has been the main opposition party since 1993, had
won 10 seats and 44% votes along with its ally INPT in
the last assembly election 2013, witnessed a humiliating
defeat by not winning a single seat this time. For BJP, it
was a journey from zero to zenith wherein the party that
had got zero seats and mere 1.54% vote in the last assembly
election was able to reinvent itself and capture the popular
imagination of the majority of the electorates in the state.
While the saffron party did well in other election bound
North-Eastern states too, what differentiated Tripura
election from rest of the states was the intense ideological
dimension involved in the electoral battle. Therefore, any
inference to declare BJP’s victory in Tripura as an outcome
of mere brilliant electoral arithmetic would be misleading
and gross misreading of the verdict. The success of the
saffron party in the red citadel was as much a victory of
its dedicated effort in the last 3 years as of the failures
of the Left to reinvent itself and of the complacency of the
Congress to be a mute spectator to the en-masse alienation
of its support base that shifted to BJP. In fact, Tripura
verdict could be understood by locating the complex
interplay of the strategic part of BJP along with the ironical
reception of CPI(M) - a factor that got compounded with
the tribal question in the state - and finally the apathy of
Congress party with its traditional voters
traditions like Christianity and Islam was at the heart of his approaches
to religion and politics. One of the most important features of Gandhi’s
Hinduism was that it did not depend upon a strong notion of an ‘other’
which had to be opposed and contested. Nevertheless, it is evident that
Gandhi’s Hinduism evolved largely in a process of constant dialogue
with religious and cultural traditions within as well as outside the Hindu
fold over a set of issues and concerns which were regarded by him as
central to Hinduism. This paper deals mainly with some of the issues
involved in his understanding of the Hindu-Muslim relations, such as
his approach to Muslim leaders, his responses to Islam in general and
to pan-Islamism in particular, and to the issue of cow-protection. It
needs to be noted that the paper does not attempt a comprehensive
review of the Hindu-Muslim relations in pre-Independence era and
Gandhi’s role therein.
Indian literature in the eighteenth century. The paper deals with famous
French personages and their engagement with Indian literature at various
levels. Anquetil Duperron, Gentil, Polier, De Boigne, and Perron were
some of the leading French figures whose intellectual engagements
with Indian literature opened a new facet of the ‘oriental’ learning to
the Occident. But the credit for this effort is generally attributed to the
British ‘Indologists.’ Relatively less known is that a significant
procurement of Indian textual material was the work of these French
‘cultural’ enthusiasts. The British ‘Indologists’ were heavily dependent
upon these procurements for their study. But, these French ‘cultural’
enthusiasts are still on the margins while others have received much
attention
,~ , emerged as the dominant party vis a vis its rivals across
India barring the southern states. The perception that BJP
is on the winning slope due to its politics of Hindutva may
not explain the totality of its strength as Himachal Pradesh
proves. This was the best performance of BJP in Himachal
since 1990. Rather, it is the positive interplay of the
concrete issues and the perception as to who could deliver
them better than their rivals along with the ability of the
central leadership to harmonize at the best and minimize
at the least the intra-party factionalism that would emerge
as an important factor in enhancing the winnability
quotient of a party for the coming general election of 201 9.
We all know how India had a higher per capita income than China in 1978. What we often don't know is that despite its license-permit raj India was at this time still ahead of China in manufacturing, innovation, higher education, science, and technology. China was ahead of India mainly in terms of social indicators, such as literacy, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), life expectancy at birth, etc. The divergence between India and China in terms of their per capita income and GDP started only from about 1990.
of the Muslim League in 1930 is generally regarded as the
turning point in his commitment to the two-nation theory
when he supported a state consisting of the Muslim-majority
provinces of northwestern India. There is considerable debate on
Iqbal’s intention as to whether it was the creation of a sovereign state
for the Muslims of northwestern India or merely a consolidated
state within a loose Indian federation or confederation. However,
irrespective of the nuances of his proposed scheme, what needs
recognition is that it was not in 1930 in his Allahabad speech that
Iqbal suddenly came to reject territorial nationalism on which the
Indian national movement was based. Rather, it was some 20 years
earlier, soon after his return from Europe in 1908, that he made
an abrupt and complete ideological shift from Indian nationalism
to Pan-Islamism, a shift that was clearly expressed in his poetry
written during the period, especially Shikwa, his monumental
poem written in 1909. Composed as a historical metanarrative of
Islam, Shikwa contains all the elements of his political and cultural
beliefs that guided his writings and activities for the rest of his life,
but has arguably not been subjected to adequate critical evaluation
from a historical perspective. The marked ideological shift in
Iqbal in the aftermath of his return from Europe is embodied in
poetic imagery and metaphor that were highly incompatible with
the modern idea of nationalism, in as much as they underpin a
historical and cultural narrative of Islam deriving primarily from
adversarial relations with non-Muslims in India and other parts of
the world.
Faultlines are created by spilling blood, and it draws a line which distinguishes one historical period from another. As we are told by history, Gandhi was recruiting soldiers for the British during the First World War with a sense of loyalty which was a part of the constitutionalist nationalism Which was prevalent at the time. This nationalism was underpinned by a strong emotion of loyalty to the British Empire. It was the Indian blood spilt at Jallianwala Bagh which created a deep sense of betrayal and. ended for good the era of emotional loyalty to the British. Thus it was created the faultlines between the Empire and the Indian people, imbuing them with a deep sense of racial humiliation and insult which continued to fuel the emotional subtext of the Indian nationalism for the remaining period of the British Raj, just as it continues to reverberate even today.
colonial provenance. The elaborate network of ancient routes originating in the fourth
millennium bc and linking various parts of the Eurasian landmass through Central Asia
was re-imagined and reinvented in the late nineteenth century as a ‘Silk Road’ connecting
China with the Roman Empire, thereby undermining the role of the steppe with its
various nomadic and oasis cultures which had always been at the heart of this Eurasian
system of trade and other exchange. Ever since, historiography has focussed on the role
of sedentary civilisations in this system of exchange, with a particular emphasis on China
and the West, thus undermining the role of other sedentary civilisations such as India.
Contrary to the dominant narrative, the antiquity of the Eurasian trade network goes
back to several millennia before the rise of either the Han Empire or Rome. Whereas
this network did connect the agrarian civilisations, this happened primarily through the
agency of central Asian intermediaries whose culmination is represented by the rise of
the vast Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century. The idea of the ‘Silk Road(s)’ is thus
anachronistic in the sense that it is a backward projection of present into the historical
past, especially in view of the fact that silk was only one among several important items
of exchange, such as horses, cotton, precious stones, and furs.
times. We find that travellers from China, Arab, and European countries
visited India in different epochs. Travellers and their accounts have a
special place in our attempts to understand the past. As we see, travellers
emerge as pivotal figures in historical narratives. More importantly,
their writings help us not only in supplementing and augmenting our
understanding of the past, but they also, in crucial ways, historicize the
past. What may appear to an insider as an accepted and nothing different,
from the established norms, would be found strange and worth noting
by a foreign traveller. Furthermore, the information provided by them
fill important historical interstices and help in building a comprehensive
understanding of the past. Despite the fact that they all were travellers
to a foreign land, their writings cannot be graded as same even if they
ventured into the same region. Their own background, predilections,
and motivations certainly influenced the textualisation of their
observations. However, the voyagers’ accounts form an important body
of literature in reconstructing the past, for they provide perspectives.
Notwithstanding that such texts were not free from fallibility; they are
at least reflective of the general ethos of the time they were written in.
Those writings become even more insightful where the travellers became
part of the State apparatus in various ways. Narrativized from various
vantage points, travelogues also help us in comparing different societies,
cities, and even state systems. The accounts of Bernier, Tavernier, Francisco Pelsaert, Barbosa, Nikitin, Nuniz, Nicolo Conti, and Abdur
Razzak are relevant in this regard. Thus, travel literature are certainly
important in widening our historical canvas to understand the past,
even if they are not infallible.
the centre of considerable historiographical inquiry.1 His formulation
of Hinduism, especially his reform agenda for the Hindu society, has
also been the subject of much scholarly analysis.2 What is not so well
covered by historians and other scholars is his interface with Christianity
in general and Christian missionaries in particular. This paper focuses
on these relatively neglected aspects of Vivekananda’s work. It argues
that Vivekananda firmly believed in the equality of all religions inasmuch
as they preach similar morals and lead to the same truth, irrespective
of their external forms. Though he had a very positive opinion of
Christianity as it was preached by Jesus Christ as also of the character
of Jesus as a prophet, he was quite critical of the historical Christianity
as it had existed in Europe for close to two millennia and in North
America for a few centuries. He was especially critical of the attitudes
and the activities of Christian missionaries in India because not only
did he reject conversion from one religion to another as a matter of
principle – since all religions are equal and lead to the same truth – but
he was also highly critical of the methods adopted by the missionaries
to gain converts. The paper argues that this was a typically Indian
approach to the religious question and to the issue of proselytization.
Led by this approach, Vivekananda asserted that though Hinduism, as
it existed in his own times, needed a lot of reform, there was no need
of conversion to Christianity which itself, he asserted, needed
considerable reform.
The paper discusses Vivekananda’s formulation of religion as such
in the first part; in the second part, it dwells upon Vivekananda’s views on prophethood, Christ and Christianity. The final part of the article
deals with Vivekananda’s critique of Christian missionaries’ activities
in India, especially their proselytizing work.
verdict between the ruling Congress, BJP and JD(S). BJP
emerged as the single largest party in the 224 member
House while congress emerged as the second largest party.
The JD(S) appeared as the kingmaker with having the say
to who would govern Karnataka for the current term. The
Karnataka verdict reveals the centrality and fusion of
dominant castes when they face a pressure from below.
In fact, notwithstanding their traditional rivalry, the
Vokkaligas, Lingayats, Bunts and other upper castes came
together to respond to Siddharamaiah led Congress
government’s attempt to privilege the AHINDA, i.e., the lower
caste and class vis a vis the dominant social section in the
state. In the final moment, it is this feature that went against
the Congress in terms of attaining the majority, in spite of
the grand old party getting more votes than BJP or JD(S).
the Right in independent India, BJP registered a
spectacular victory over incumbent CPI (M) government.
The electoral verdict into this politically polarized state
rewarded BJP with 43 seats out of 59, while incumbent
CPI(M) had to contend with mere 16 seats, a fall of 34
seats from the last election. On the other hand, Congress,
which has been the main opposition party since 1993, had
won 10 seats and 44% votes along with its ally INPT in
the last assembly election 2013, witnessed a humiliating
defeat by not winning a single seat this time. For BJP, it
was a journey from zero to zenith wherein the party that
had got zero seats and mere 1.54% vote in the last assembly
election was able to reinvent itself and capture the popular
imagination of the majority of the electorates in the state.
While the saffron party did well in other election bound
North-Eastern states too, what differentiated Tripura
election from rest of the states was the intense ideological
dimension involved in the electoral battle. Therefore, any
inference to declare BJP’s victory in Tripura as an outcome
of mere brilliant electoral arithmetic would be misleading
and gross misreading of the verdict. The success of the
saffron party in the red citadel was as much a victory of
its dedicated effort in the last 3 years as of the failures
of the Left to reinvent itself and of the complacency of the
Congress to be a mute spectator to the en-masse alienation
of its support base that shifted to BJP. In fact, Tripura
verdict could be understood by locating the complex
interplay of the strategic part of BJP along with the ironical
reception of CPI(M) - a factor that got compounded with
the tribal question in the state - and finally the apathy of
Congress party with its traditional voters
traditions like Christianity and Islam was at the heart of his approaches
to religion and politics. One of the most important features of Gandhi’s
Hinduism was that it did not depend upon a strong notion of an ‘other’
which had to be opposed and contested. Nevertheless, it is evident that
Gandhi’s Hinduism evolved largely in a process of constant dialogue
with religious and cultural traditions within as well as outside the Hindu
fold over a set of issues and concerns which were regarded by him as
central to Hinduism. This paper deals mainly with some of the issues
involved in his understanding of the Hindu-Muslim relations, such as
his approach to Muslim leaders, his responses to Islam in general and
to pan-Islamism in particular, and to the issue of cow-protection. It
needs to be noted that the paper does not attempt a comprehensive
review of the Hindu-Muslim relations in pre-Independence era and
Gandhi’s role therein.
Indian literature in the eighteenth century. The paper deals with famous
French personages and their engagement with Indian literature at various
levels. Anquetil Duperron, Gentil, Polier, De Boigne, and Perron were
some of the leading French figures whose intellectual engagements
with Indian literature opened a new facet of the ‘oriental’ learning to
the Occident. But the credit for this effort is generally attributed to the
British ‘Indologists.’ Relatively less known is that a significant
procurement of Indian textual material was the work of these French
‘cultural’ enthusiasts. The British ‘Indologists’ were heavily dependent
upon these procurements for their study. But, these French ‘cultural’
enthusiasts are still on the margins while others have received much
attention
,~ , emerged as the dominant party vis a vis its rivals across
India barring the southern states. The perception that BJP
is on the winning slope due to its politics of Hindutva may
not explain the totality of its strength as Himachal Pradesh
proves. This was the best performance of BJP in Himachal
since 1990. Rather, it is the positive interplay of the
concrete issues and the perception as to who could deliver
them better than their rivals along with the ability of the
central leadership to harmonize at the best and minimize
at the least the intra-party factionalism that would emerge
as an important factor in enhancing the winnability
quotient of a party for the coming general election of 201 9.
We all know how India had a higher per capita income than China in 1978. What we often don't know is that despite its license-permit raj India was at this time still ahead of China in manufacturing, innovation, higher education, science, and technology. China was ahead of India mainly in terms of social indicators, such as literacy, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), life expectancy at birth, etc. The divergence between India and China in terms of their per capita income and GDP started only from about 1990.