The Future in the Past: Essays and Reflections

The Future in the Past brings together essays by Romila Thapar on issues and ideas that have preoccupied her throughout her career. These are subjects that surfaced frequently in discussions over the last six decades as they do even more so at present. Among them are the use and misuse of history, the myths surrounding the coming of the Aryans, religious fundamentalism in the study of society, the overt and the insidious attempts by right-wing elements to pervert Indian culture, variants of the Ramayana, the importance of museums, why dissent is important to democracy, the role of the public intellectual, and much more. Central to the arguments in these essays (versions of which first appeared in Seminar magazine) is an analysis of how the past permeates the present and influences the future. Half-Title Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Preface I: HISTORY 1. In Defence of History 2. The Perennial Aryans 3. Which of Us Are Aryans? 4. Why Did Ancient India’s Matriarchy Disappear? 5. In History: Sati II: CONTEMPORARY TIMES 6. Religion, Culture, and Nation 7. Continuous Beginnings 8. Historical Realities 9. The Politics of Religious Communities III: EPICS 10. The Ramayana Syndrome 11. The Epic of the Bharatas 12. Back in Time IV: RENUNCIATION AND DISSENT 13. Renunciation, Dissent, and Satyagraha 14. Syndicated Moksha? V: MUSEUMS 15. Museums in India: Past and Future 16. Early Forms of Patronage VI: EDUCATION 17. The Academic Professional 18. Searching for the Public Intellectual 19. The Past of Language 20. The Search for a Social Ethic Further Reading