One man takes Hindu view of history

Here are some samples of the entries he has compiled:

Abacus: Ancient Chinese non-electronic calculator. Hindus learnt arithmetical tables by heart and hardly needed any gadget for making speedy calculations (see Shakuntala Devi and Vedic Mathematics).

Going through hundreds of books, and virtually living in his two-room study, the 69-year-old doctor has managed to finish only the `A’ volume, running into 800 pages, in the last 10 years or so. Reading, writing, editing — he does it all on his own.

Swami Chinmayananda, whom he calls the second Swami Vivekananda, inspired Dr Nene to take up the magnum opus. Impressed by Dr Nene’s background, especially his interest in politics and history, the Swami had asked him to “rewrite history from a Hindu’s perspective and rid it of deliberate distortions and sophistry, used by the British to obscure truth.”

Dr Nene admits he found the task daunting. This, despite having a voracious appetite for reading, owning hundreds of books, including 60 encyclopaedias on different subjects.

“I can’t imagine doing it in my lifetime,” was his answer when the Swami mooted the idea. The encyclopaedia will cover defence, religion, politics, political-history, languages, VIPs and authors, among other things.

“My work will be lucid and readable, unlike Western encyclopaedias that tend to be dry. Moreover, why should we copy the West, for they have learnt the art from us,” he says, and informs that the first encyclopaedia in India was compiled in Sanskrit about 1,000 years ago to the West’s first about 400 years later.

Will he survive to complete the magnum opus? “Longevity runs in my family,” he jokes. On a more serious note, he says that once the `A’ volume is out, he could hire assistants. “And now that I know the nitty-gritty of the task, I can churn out the other volumes faster, say at the rate of two alphabets a year. I expect the work to run into at least 20 volumes.”

When asked how the encyclopaedia will be free of error when he is sourcing information from the very books and encylopaedias whose viewpoint he is trying to set right, he says: “It’s easy to spot purposeful error. I know I will be accused of being a rightist. But the truth has to be told. They may brand me anti-Muslim, anti-Marxist and anti-Macaulay but it’s true that they helped the British cause.”