Tilting at Windmills

TILTING AT WINDMILLS
Welcome स व ा ग त म
Bien Venue Herzliche Willkomen
Dr. Jagmohan, Professor Braj Bhasi Lal, Chairman Shivaji

Singh, Distinguished Delegates to the ICIH 2009 from the
subcontinent and other continents, my Bharateeya mitr, and
those who could not be with us today , I extend a hearty
welcome to you on behalf of all the volunteer members of
the ICIH 2009, and the ISF . I greet you in the same manner
as we have done from time immemorial with a
Namaste
It is indeed a privilege and a signal honor to welcome you all

to the International Conference on Indian History (ICIH 2009)
the first of what we hope to be many future conferences that
will allow us to discuss issues freely and fearlessly, and
explore the rich and varied tapestry that forms the major
part of the Indic History and Civilization. There is clearly
buried within my innermost self the desire to tilt at
windmills, just as the hero Don Quixote de la Mancha, in the
classic tale by Miguel de Cervantes’ felt the need to do just
that. The reason I say that is, our goal remains the changing
the content of the text books worldwide and especially in the
English speaking countries, that deal with the Indic
civilization in so cavalier a fashion. Our estimation is that a
significant proportion of the Indic Diaspora has experienced,
the demeaning condescension that many English historians
have bestowed on India and the Indics, starting from James
Mills to Sir Penderel Moon. I mention this to emphasize that
this is a problem, not just of a particular geography, but a
large part of the World.
There are some, I concede, that feel our Civilizational History,

provided that it is correctly depicted, is indeed a closed book
and nothing more needs to be said about Indian History and
that for a host of reasons, any attempt to correct it is futile
and would lead nowhere. I beg to disagree. Even a cursory
look at the current History books would disabuse us of such a
notion. A typical book of Indian history would deal with the
entire history of India prior to the Common Era within the
space of 20 to 100 pages, and would spend the next 100
pages for the less than 200 years of Mughal rule, and another
100 pages on the British colonial period which lasted just a
tad under 200 years. If my remarks suggest that such a
cavalier treatment is only extended the ancient era , that is
clearly not the case. The Vijayanagar empire which is a
relatively recent occurrence is vouchsafed the same degree
of neglect, even though it lasted longer than the Mughal
empire, see for instance, the book by John Keay 1 which
devotes a scant 3 pages to the Vijayanagar empire.
Assuming such weight-age results from lack of knowledge of
our past, this merely reinforces my point that much work is
yet to be done in deciphering the Indic past. But if such
neglect of our Ancient era has been a deliberate act to
minimize the contributions of the ancient Indic, it is a far
more serious matter indicating lack of integrity
This pattern is strikingly similar in a large number of books.
If we make the generalization that this applies only to books
written by Englishmen, a quick look at what is there in other
countries reveal to us that, alas the picture is no better,
such as for example when one looks at a book written for
German readers by Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund.
Clearly, notwithstanding the great rivalry that the Germans
exhibited towards the British during much of the 19th
century, the overwhelming feeling you get when you read
Kulke and Rothermund is one of empathy for the British for
assuming the burden of civilizing the natives of India. There
is the customary obfuscation and omission of many
egregious acts committed by the Colonial Overlord during
their tenure as a self appointed guardian of the Indic
peoples. To those millions who died in the seventy famines
that occurred during the Colonial era, such a sanitized
narrative is not only a mockery of the truth but a grotesque
perversion of history. There are exceptions to be sure, such
as the monumental work done by Will and Ariel Durant but
they are rare. To be charitable, and this is not an instance
where charity is warranted, we will assume Napoleon’s
dictum to be true, that we should attribute not to malice that
which is more easily attributable to incompetence.
Even the most painstaking effort at the Historical narration
1
John Keay, “India – a history”, Grove Press, New York,2000
of a people is a process which often reduces the multifaceted
civilization to a much lower dimension, where if care is not
taken, we come away with the feeling that the only important
feature of a land was the chronology of the Kings and the
buildings and monuments that they left behind. We do not
experience the vibrancy of events as they first unfolded and
the fact we are almost certainly witnessing a large scale
titanic shift in paradigms, and values, that is the essential
ingredient of the Shiva Tandava, the quintessential Hindu
metaphor that represents the daily rhythms of birth , life and
of death. Why is this ? In my view this is so because for the
most part the modern treatment of Indian history in the
hands of the occidentals and their parampara in India is so
banal and is often reduced to the prevailing mores of political
correctness. This is the case, even when the narration is free
from egregious errors. When there is little attempt at
authenticity, and every issue becomes a test of loyalty to a
political dogma, the situation is far more dire. All pretence at
maintaining the accuracy of the narrative is abandoned, and
the sole criterion is preserving this extraordinary degree of
political correctness. There are exceptions to this vast ocean
of banality , as exemplified by the work of a few, among
whom we count the Chairman and the inaugural speaker.
We will begin at the beginning and ask ourselves why we

would study history at all .
Why study history at all
The traditional discipline of History is one that tries to

answer the following question
What was said
What was written
What was physically preserved
The earliest oral record of a history is that of the Veda (the
terminus ante quem we believe is 4000 BCE) and the earliest
written record is the Cuneiform of 3400 BCE.
Why study history? The answer is because we virtually must,

to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When
we study it reasonably well, we acquire some usable habits of
mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect
our own lives and as a result emerge with relevant skills and
an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical
thinking, and simple awareness. In short the history of a
people is akin to the DNA of the human species. It contains
within it all the collective experiences and wisdom of a
people. People who ignore their own history, do so at their
own peril and will often be forced to repeat it
We are pleased to present to you in the next 2.5 days a

cross section of the rich intellectual tradition that forms the
tapestry of Indian civilization . It is indeed a humbling
experience when one is confronted by the grand panoply of
Indian literary tradition to realize how little we know of the
Indic past. I would consider the conference a success if we
come away with the feeling that we have lot to learn.
We hope that the conference will once again release, the

creative impulses of the Indic people. These will in turn
initiate an era of scholarship in order to give rise to a new
generation of historians who will do justice to this narrative,
the History of the Indic Peoples and their civilization.
Ending remarks of welcome speech here

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TILTING AT WINDMILLS

Dr. Jagmohan, Professor Braj Bhasi Lal, Chairman Shivaji

It is indeed a privilege and a signal honor to welcome you all

There are some, I concede, that feel our Civilizational History,

We will begin at the beginning and ask ourselves why we

Why study history at all

The traditional discipline of History is one that tries to

Why study history? The answer is because we virtually must,

We are pleased to present to you in the next 2.5 days a

We hope that the conference will once again release, the

Ending remarks of welcome speech here

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