Romila Thapar resisted ‘distortion’ of history: Kerala CM lauds PG National Award recipient

Secondly, “she is a fierce critic of the colonial segmentation of the study of Indian history into Hindu, Islamic and British periods”, he said. Third, she “disagrees with the view that the origin of Hindus can be traced back to the Aryans and the Indus Valley Civilisation,” he said, adding India’s history should be preserved by historians who oppose such attempts to “saffronise” history. Vijayan applauded Thapar for “coming out openly against”…“attempts to rewrite history”.

The PG award is a tribute to Marxist philosopher and writer P Govinda Pillai who died in 2012. The award was presented by PG Sanskriti Kendra, which was established in 2019.

In 2023, writer and social activist Arundhati Roy was the recipient of the award for her contribution to the field of writing and advocacy. Advocate Prashant Bhushan and journalist N Ram were also honoured with the PG National Award in the past.

Professor Thapar is a renowned historian, known for her research on ancient Indian history. She has been writing books on the social and cultural history of early India since the 1960s.

Thapar was born in 1931. She graduated from Panjab University and finished her PhD from the University of London. Thapar taught ancient Indian history in Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. She retired from JNU in 1991.