New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) Historian Vikram Sampath brings to the fore stories of courage, resistance and bravery of 15 unsung heroes and heroines of India from varied time spans in his new book.
“Bravehearts of Bharat: Vignettes from Indian History” profiles lost heroes who fought to uphold the tradition and culture of their land including Rajarshi Bhagyachandra Jai Singh (Manipur), Lalitaditya Muktapida (Kashmir), Chand Bibi (Ahmednagar) and Lachit Barphukan (Assam).
The book, published by Penguin India, also talks about Begum Hazrat Mahal (Awadh), Rani Abbakka Chowta (Ullal), Martanda Varma (Travancore), Rani Rudrama Devi (Warangal), Rani Naiki Devi (Gujarat) and Banda Singh Bahadur among others who not only donned an armour and burst into the battlefield but also kept the flame of hope alive under adverse circumstances.
According to Sampath, a “glaring loophole in the way popular Indian historiography exists, especially the one that is taught to our future generations in schools and colleges, is that it is heavily tilted towards Delhi”.
The popular historical narratives about ‘regional history’ terming the stories coming from different parts of India as being ‘regional’ alludes to there being a mainstream, central theme and everything that does not fall within that rubric is merely ‘regional’, he says.
“Vast swathes of this land seem to have been completely ignored even as a child learns about the most obsolete and short-lived dynasties that ruled in and around Delhi – the Tughlaqs, or Lodhis or Khiljis, whose substantial and lasting contribution to this country, beyond a few pieces of architecture, could well be considered as largely minimal,” he writes.
Sampath, however, hastens to add that it is not his argument to “excise anyone from the historical narrative of the country as we cannot wish away our past; the coverage needs to be inclusive of all regions and commensurate with the importance and contribution of individual dynasties and rulers to the story of Bharat”.
Bharat, therefore, needs to snatch back the narrative of her history from Delhi, reclaim it and narrate the stories of large parts of the country that have largely remained untold and therefore unknown for a long time, he writes.
Bengaluru-based Sampath has authored books like “Splendours of Royal Mysore: The Untold Story of the Wodeyars”; “My Name Is Gauhar Jaan: The Life and Times of a Musician”; “Voice of the Veena: S Balachander: A Biography”; “Women of the Records” and “Indian Classical Music and the Gramophone: 1900-1930” among others.
The author rues that there are only fleeting references to the dynasties of the southern part of India like the Rashtrakutas, the Chalukyas, the Satavahanas, the mighty Cholas, the Pandyas, the prosperous Vijayanagara Empire, the Adil Shahis of the Deccan, the Wodeyars of Mysore or the rulers of Travancore, among others.
The eastern belts of Odisha and Bengal – the Gajapati Empire of the Bhoi dynasty, the Palas, the Senas or the Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad, or their histories, seldom feature. Similarly, and sadly, the history of the north-east of India is a forgotten and therefore, a mostly ignored blackhole, he writes.
Sampath asserts that the history of India is not merely a long litany of dynasties that have ruled various regions and across time spans but encompasses several aspects of social and cultural life and the voice of the subaltern.
“If such an argument holds, then we must altogether do away with the narration of kingly tales and confine ourselves to people’s stories alone.
“But when we selectively portray in detail the deeds and exploits of certain dynasties confined to limited geographical expanses of the country, quite incommensurate to their importance in history, much to the detriment of several others from other regions, the argument of ‘people’s history’ automatically falls flat,” he writes.
The stories of rulers and the ruled from all parts of this vast nation need to find a rightful place in a chronicle that goes by the name of the ‘history of India’, he says. PTI ZMN RB RB
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