Title: The Past As Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History
Author: Romila Thapar
Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Anthology
Published: 2014
BookMarks
History is a dialogue between the past and the present.
“The Past As Present” is a collection of essays by Romila Thapar on the study of history, how it has evolved, and how it is being interpreted in the present times and by different groups of people. The essays also cover the interpretation of history in creating a national identity and how that it has evolved from kings and dates to the study of wider society at different points in time. From purely political, history has also become
Some of the key takes/notes from the book:
On the subject of history
- The past is constructed by putting together a variety of evidence. All societies over the centuries have constructed their past, often in accordance with contemporary theories about the meaning of the past.
- The past does not remain static. The facts may not change, although sometimes they do as a result of fresh information or new ways of analyzing old information, but the interpretation of these facts can change. History is not just a directory of information; it also involves analyzing and interpreting this information.
- Knowledge does not consist of a body of information to be memorized and passed on. A modern education demands questioning, skepticism and an ability to think independently and to link information.
- Tribe refers to a community of people claiming descent from a common ancestor.
On History of India
- James Mill divided Indian history into the Hindu, Muslim and British periods, a periodization which is still the basis of Indian studies. Mill’s argument and that of many other colonial historians was that the Hindus and Muslims formed two distinct communities and that they were perpetually in conflict.
- Nations need identities. These are created from perceptions of how societies have evolved. In this, history plays a central role.
- Key function of nationalist history was to establish an Indian identity. This had to draw on the unity and uniformity of India throughout history.
On Civilization & Religion
- The hallmark of a civilization is not its rigid boundaries but its porosity, and that civilizations can only thrive when there is an inter-connectedness between them that enhances the communication of ideas and practices.
- Dharma became central to an understanding of the religion. It referred to the duties regarded as sacred which had to be performed in accordance with one’s varna/jati and sect and which were not identical for all. The constituents of dharma were conformity to ritual duties, to social obligations and to the social norms of family and caste as stipulated in the Dharmashastras.
On Interpretation of history
- Life is not governed by an either/or choice in everything. There is always something else - the variant.
- Collective memories have to be deliberately constructed by a group of people consciously referring back to a particular event and remembering it in a particular way.
- Context is of central importance: who is narrating the story of the event and why; who constitutes the audience or the readership that the narrative is addressed to, and what is the purpose and meaning of the narrative.
On Mythology
- What leads to problems is when the mythology associated with the history is claimed as history.
- Epic literature cannot be precisely dated for events merge into events and narrative slowly gets welded with commentary.
- In classical Sanskrit dramas, the women characters irrespective of whether their status was high or low, uniformly spoke the commonly used Prakrit, whilst the men spoke Sanskrit—the language of the educated.
Interestingly, the book was published in 2014. A decade down the line, the book’s interpretations seem more prescient.
Previously on BookMarks: Liar’s Poker
