History must explain society, not serve politics, says Romila Thapar

The brief in 6 cards

1. Note1 / 6

   WHY IN NEWS?

   • Historian Romila Thapar delivered the Second Sitaram Yechury Memorial Lecture in New Delhi on 25 October 2026. Her subject was "Historiography and Early Indian History".
   • She argued that historical inquiry must be evidence-based, pluralistic and open to reinterpretation.
   • She said a Hindutva reading of Indian history cannot be "single and fixed".
   • She criticised colonial-era religious periodisation and the use of history for present-day political ends.
   • She said history should explain India's social, economic and cultural evolution while upholding secularism and democracy.
2. Note2 / 6

   KEY CONCEPTS

   1. What is historiography?

   It is the study of how history is researched, interpreted and written. It asks who wrote a history, using which sources, and with what assumptions.

   2. What is religious periodisation?

   James Mill's History of British India (1817) divided India's past into Hindu, Muslim and British periods. Historians say this oversimplified India's diversity by labelling eras by the ruler's religion.

   3. What are the main schools of Indian historiography?

   Colonial historians wrote from an imperial viewpoint. Nationalist historians answered them. Marxist historians, such as D.D. Kosambi, focused on economic structures. Feminist and subaltern historians recover the experiences of women and marginalised groups.

3. Note3 / 6

   HOW INDIAN SOCIETY EVOLVED

   Thapar's approach treats history as the study of changing structures. The table gives examples from the note.

   Dimension	Change	Example
   Political	From chiefships and gana-sanghas to kingdoms, empires and democracy	The Vajji confederacy and the Mauryan Empire
   Economic	Land, taxation and trade shaped political power	Gupta-period copper-plate land grants
   Social	Caste, kinship and occupations changed across regions and periods	Vakataka queen Prabhavati Gupta's land-grant inscriptions show women's role in property and authority
   Regional	Civilisation developed through distinct regional traditions	The Ahom kingdom's administrative institutions in Assam

4. Note4 / 6

   PLURALISM AND EVIDENCE

   India's heritage developed through many traditions, and historians reconstruct it from varied evidence.

   • Religious diversity: Traditions evolved through many sects and regional practices, such as Jagannath worship in Odisha and Vitthala worship in Maharashtra.
   • Dissent: Buddhism, Jainism and the Charvaka school questioned Vedic ritual and religious authority.
   • Interaction: Figures such as Kabir and Nizamuddin Auliya shaped inclusive devotional traditions.
   • Subaltern history: The Santhal rebellion (1855–56) and the Munda Ulgulan (1899–1900) recover tribal voices.
   • Source criticism: Harisena's Allahabad Pillar inscription praises Samudragupta and must be read as royal eulogy.
   • Other disciplines: Archaeology, numismatics, linguistics and environmental studies add evidence. Dholavira shows Harappan town planning and water management.
   • Decolonisation: Colonial assumptions should be re-examined without replacing them with another rigid narrative.
5. Note5 / 6

   CHALLENGES IN WRITING HISTORY TODAY

   The note identifies several concerns, as Thapar and like-minded historians frame them.

   • Communalisation: Presenting medieval history only as Hindu-Muslim conflict ignores alliances and cultural exchange.
   • Political use: Glorifying or demonising figures such as Aurangzeb and Shivaji ignores their political and regional contexts.
   • Exclusion: Elite-centred accounts leave out ordinary people, including women in peasant and tribal movements.
   • Digital misinformation: Fabricated historical claims and manipulated images spread through social media and AI tools.
   • Academic freedom: Ideological pressure can discourage independent research, as debates over textbook revisions show.

   Other scholars argue that Marxist and Left historiography long dominated Indian institutions. They say this sidelined Indian knowledge traditions and needs correcting. Supporters of recent textbook revisions call them rationalisation, not distortion.

   This card sets out documented positions. It does not adjudicate between them.

6. Note6 / 6

   WAY FORWARD

   These are suggested measures, not approved policy.

   • Include regional, tribal and women's histories, such as those of Rani Gaidinliu and Rani Durgavati.
   • Support archaeological, epigraphic and interdisciplinary research, including ASI work on Harappan sites.
   • Protect historians' freedom to question established interpretations.
   • Strengthen digitisation and manuscript conservation through the National Mission for Manuscripts.
   • Teach source-based history from multiple perspectives, as UNESCO recommends for democratic citizenship.

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