Why history should not be whitewashed…
I recently heard a debate on whether history should be whitewashed. I am no expert on the subject. I just recently started following it and was quite surprised regarding the historical turn of events.
I understand that there is a lot of resentment and anger that a lot of people have when it comes to our civilizational narrative and how it was systematically destroyed over the years and also how it continues to the present day with certain fractions acting against the interests of our own country.
However, there are some things that don’t appeal to my logic. India was invaded first by the Mughals who ruled over us for many a century followed by the Brits. They plundered the country, destroyed all evidence of our prosperity and the wealth of knowledge that we possessed and replaced it with edifices and monuments that glorified themselves, sometimes building it over the destroyed remains of our identity. It was a way of them asserting their supremacy and mocking us at the same time.
Today, when the dilemma arises whether we should go back and reclaim what is ours, I would say rather build more of what is ours. Instead of demolishing the monuments erected by our foreign occupiers, maybe build more infrastructure that scream loudly about our civilizational history. That is how the course of history transpires. People come, conquer, destroy, loot and leave their stamp. Well, we conquered it back. Let us not destroy but let us leave our stamp too in an exemplary fashion.
Tomorrow when our kids investigate our history and ask us for evidence of centuries of foreign occupation, let us point out to our Taj Mahals and Quitab Minars and the British Colonial Architecture. It is indeed proof that we struggled and fought it out and everything wasn’t hunky dory to begin with. Let the Kalapani prison in the Andamans stand to remind our youngsters about the sacrifice of our forefathers. Let the good/bad and even the ugly remain. It is all a part of our history. To me, they are not a symbolism of defeat rather of what we had to struggle and triumph against.
When people ask whether that statue of Shivaji Maharaj should be built or should we focus more on infrastructure? I would say, we need both. If there ain’t enough to leave memories of our rich civilization for our kids, let us build a few or a lot more today, so that 200 years later those edifices and monuments become architectural marvels. Let us celebrate the heroes of our past who weren’t given their due all these years, so that when the generations to come see one of their effigies, it ignites in them a sense of enquiry to find out more about who they were and what their contributions were.
Whether statues of politicians should be built, I would say that is for the future generations to decide depending on what contributions our present politicians make. History isn’t about politics, it is much deeper and more profound. We cannot ever bring us to compare ourselves with those who came before us, before we were independent. They deserve their honor and let us work on that first. Our politicians meanwhile can make amazing infrastructure and leave their stamps on those.
You cannot reverse the course of history. I do not mean any offense to anyone but when today countries fight over who should occupy the space from the river to the sea or how somebody else wants to recreate the Ottoman empire or how other powers wish they could expand and reclaim what was historically theirs or some others wish to expand only because they can, I would say it is in everybody’s best interest to accept the historical course of events and safeguard what they have now, be less expansionist and live in mutual peace and cooperation.
As dad says, if you so want to go back into history and reclaim everything that is yours, then go back some more and then some more and retrace your steps genetically and you will finally reach the ‘Out of Africa’ migration theory. That is where humanity began. None of it that we fight for today truly belongs to any of us. I may sound sissy for saying this aloud, but I would prefer the world less at war. War sounds fun for the ones not on the battlefield.
Also, let us talk about history the way it happened. It is not just our books but also of many other countries that have conveniently whitewashed their histories. If somebody else distorted it, let us correct it and not whitewash it going further.
