Tags:
Journalism of Courage
All those who value scholarship, and the free exchange of ideas that it entails, will be shocked and shamed by the fate that visited India8217;s premier institute of oriental studies on Monday. Pune8217;s Bhandarkar Oriental Institute, founded in 1917 to commemorate the great contribution made by Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar to Indian orientology, houses some of the most invaluable manuscripts in this field. It was this institution that a bunch of hoodlums, calling themselves the Sambhaji Brigade of the Maratha Seva Sangh, chose to target in their politically calibrated anger against British historian James W. Laine8217;s book, Shivaji: Hindu king in Islamic India.
The book, they claim, dishonours the Maratha warrior king, Shivaji. The Bhandarkar institute come in their range of fire because one of the scholars cited by Laine happens to be a member of the institute8217;s managing committee. The sheer outrage and ignorance of it all! By vandalising the Bhandarkar institute, these cultural zealots were destroying their own history that an institution like this one had painstakingly endeavoured to preserve. This monkeying around with history for political dividends must be put an end to, once and for all, if India is to be taken seriously in the academic world. To start with, the authorities must ensure that those who perpetrated Monday8217;s attack meet with swift punishment so that others who are tempted to 8220;correct8221; the writing of history are made conscious of the dire consequences that follow and deterred from doing so.
