The History of History: Politics and Scholarship in Modern India (Oxford India Paperbacks)

This Scholarly But Extremely Readable Study Will Appeal To Students And Scholars Of Post-colonial And Cultural Studies, Historians, And Specialists In Indian Studies As Well As Informed General Readers Interested In The Increasingly Important Question Of The Role Of History In The Public Domain.--book Jacket. Introduction: History In The Ascendant Mode -- 1. The History Of Ahistoricity: The Indian Tradition, Colonialism, And The Advent Of Historical Thinking -- 2. Contours Of The Past, Shape Of The Future: The Politics Of History In Independent India -- 3. History As Holocaust: Ayodhya And The Historians -- 4. Subalterns In The Academy: The Hegemony Of History -- 5. Aryavarta And Silicon Valley: Indian History On The Net In The Age Of Cyber Hinduism. Vinay Lal. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [274]-294) And Index. 00 01 Title Pages Vinay Lal Title Pages (p.i) The History of History (p.ii) (p.iii) The History of History Title Pages 02 Dedication Vinay Lal Dedication 03 (p.ix) Acknowledgements Vinay Lal (p.ix) Acknowledgements (p.ix) Acknowledgements (p.ix) Acknowledgements 04 Introduction Vinay Lal Introduction History in the Ascendant Mode Vinay Lal Abstract and Keywords Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Notes: Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction 05 The History of Ahistoricity Vinay Lal The History of Ahistoricity The Indian Tradition, Colonialism, and the Advent of Historical Thinking1 Vinay Lal Abstract and Keywords I The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity II The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity III The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity IV The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity V The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity VI The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity Notes: The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity The History of Ahistoricity 06 Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Vinay Lal Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future The Politics of History in Independent India Vinay Lal Abstract and Keywords Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future (p.81) Independence and Historical Projects of the State Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Nation-Building and Making of Indian History Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Communalism as an Emerging Force in Indian History Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Aryans as Beef-Eaters, Mughals as Foreigners: Iconic Debates in Indian History Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Disputes Over Monuments: Historians in the Nation-State Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Babri Masjid: The Ruin(s) of History Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future History in the Nation-State, Myth in the Civilization Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Notes: Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future Contours of the Past, Shape of the Future 07 History as Holocaust Vinay Lal History as Holocaust Ayodhya and the Historians Vinay Lal Abstract and Keywords I History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust II History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust III History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust IV History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust Notes: History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust History as Holocaust 08 Subalterns in the Academy Vinay Lal Subalterns in the Academy The Hegemony of History Vinay Lal Abstract and Keywords Footnotes to a History Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy (p.192) Backdrop to a History Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy The Moment of Arrival: The Birth of the Subaltern in Negation Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy The Journey: The Practice of Subaltern History Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Accessing the Past, and the Subalternity of History Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Notes: Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy Subalterns in the Academy 09 Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Vinay Lal Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Indian History on the Net in the Age of Cyber Hinduism Vinay Lal Abstract and Keywords Democracy and Authoritarianism in Cyberspace Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley The Post-Industrial Vedic Diaspora: Hindus in the United States Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Cyber-Diasporic Hindu Militancy and Revisionst Indian Histories Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Notes: Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley Aryavarta and Silicon Valley 10 Postscript Vinay Lal Postscript Vinay Lal Abstract and Keywords Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript Notes: Postscript Postscript Postscript Postscript 11 (p.290) Select Bibliography Vinay Lal (p.290) Select Bibliography Historiography and Reflections on History (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography Indian History (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography General Works (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography (p.290) Select Bibliography 12 (p.311) Index Vinay Lal (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index (p.311) Index History and historians in India have gained prominence in the public sphere in recent years. The undisputed ascendancy of history in modern India may be briefly gauged by two developments. The first was Amartya Sen's keynote address at the annual meeting of the Indian History Congress in early January 2001. Sen warned against the manipulation of history in the service of sectarian political interests, and the diminishing of India's ‘magnificently multireligious and heterodox history’ at the hands of bigots. The second was the controversy over the overt politicization of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), a national body created to promote historical thinking and research. In its public aspect, the study of Indian history appears to revolve mainly around the polarity of Hindutva history and the history associated with left, secular historians. This book explores the politics of history-writing in modern India, narrativizing the engagement of a civilization with historical sensibility and modality. It examines how the discipline of history began to assume importance in colonial and independent India. It offers an account of the nationalist obsession with history in the nineteenth century, the relationship between nation-building and the making of Indian history, the effort to render Hinduism into a faith akin to the monotheistic religions, an interpretive history and critique of the subaltern school, and Indian history in cyberspace

a Radical Contribution To The Understanding Of Indian History As A Discipline, This Book Explores The Politics Of History-writing In Modern India. It Narrativizes The Engagement Of A Civilization With The Historical Sensibility And Modality. In Doing So, It Asserts That History, In Order To Be Understood Better, Has To Deploy The Language Of The Layperson In India, And Interact With The Mythic, The Ahistorical, And The Folk. The Endeavor Is Not To Offer A Comprehensive Account Over The Last Two Centuries, But Rather To Explore The Manner In Which Historical Thinking Inserted Itself Into The Public Domain.

One day in 1838, a number of forward-looking Bengali men constituted themselves into a 'Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge.'