|
[Revised and Updated on June 12, 2003]
|
Hindu
Supremacist Right is now attacking Dr. Romila Thapar one of India's
most distinguished and well known historians. The Library of Congress,
Washington recently named Romila Thapar as First Holder of the Kluge
Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South. Activists of the Hindu
Right have since been running a petition against her appointment.
Romila Thapar like many of her colleagues from Indian intelligentsia
has written and spoken against the systematic onslaught on the secular
foundations of the educational systemin India by the forces of the
Hindu right. The information and background material below is for those
who may want to take this issue up and write about the implications of
the ongoing cabal by Hindutva propagandists against India's well known
historians and intellectuals. |
|
|
Statements & Petitions: Romila Thapar and the honour of Indian historians' profession a Statement by Aligarh Historians Society and SAHMAT [May 26, 2003]  Protest Letter by Academics and intellectuals against the attack on Romila Thapar [17 May 2003] On Line Petition Defending the Library of Congress appointment of Dr Romila Thapar to the Kluge Chair Correspondence: Letter received by SACW from the initiator of the petition against Romila Thapar and the Response from SACW
|
|
#1.
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2003/03-068.html
News from the Library of Congress
Public Affairs Office
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC
20540-1610
tel (202) 707-2905
fax (202) 707-9199
e-mail pao@loc.gov
April 17, 2003
Contact:
Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940
Robert Saladini (202) 707-2692
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Romila Thapar Named as First Holder of the
Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at Library of
Congress
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Romila Thapar
as the first holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the
South at the Library of Congress. The holder of this chair, which is
located in the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, pursues
research on the regions of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East,
South and Southeast Asia, or the islands of the Pacific including
Australia and New Zealand, using the immense foreign language
collections in the specialized reading rooms of the Library of Congress.
As occupant of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South,
Thapar will spend ten months at the John W. Kluge Center pursuing
ìHistorical Consciousness in Early Indiaî as her area of
research.
Romila Thapar, emeritus professor of Ancient Indian History at
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Dehli, who has served as visiting
professor at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, is
a recognized authority on Indian history. The author of many seminal
works on the history of ancient India, her volume of the Penguin
History of India has been continuously in print since 1966. Her latest
publication is ìEarly India: From the Origins to AD 1300.î
Other recent works are ìHistory and Beyond,î
ìCultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History,î and
ìHistory and Beyond.î In her published works, Thapar has
pioneered both the study of early Indian texts as history and the
integration of the critical use of archaeology with written sources.
During her illustrious career, Thapar has held many visiting posts in
Europe, the United States and Japan. She is an Honorary Fellow at Lady
Margaret Hall, Oxford, and at the School of Oriental and African
Studies (SOAS), University of London. She has honorary doctorates from
the University of Chicago, the Institut National des Langues et
Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the University of Oxford and the
University of Calcutta.
Through a generous endowment from its namesake, the Library of Congress
established the John W. Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the
worldís best thinkers to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom
from the Libraryís rich resources and to interact with
policymakers in Washington, D.C. The Kluge Center houses five senior
Kluge Chairs (American Law and Governance, Countries and Cultures of
the North, Countries and Cultures of the South, Technology and Society,
and Modern Culture); other senior-level chairs (Henry A. Kissinger
Chair, Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics, and
the Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education); and nearly 25
post-doctoral fellows.
For more information about the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of
the South or any of the other fellowships and grants offered by the
John W. Kluge Center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs, Library
of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E, Washington, DC 20540-4860;
telephone (202) 707-3302, fax 202-707-3595, web:
http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/.
# # #
PR 03-68
04/17/03
ISSN 0731-3527
Rediff.com (India) 25 Apr 2003
http://www.rediff.com/us/2003/apr/25us1.htm
Romila Thapar's appointment to Library of Congress opposed
April 25, 2003 05:33 IST
A petition is circulating on the Internet against the appointment of
Professor Romila Thapar as First Holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries
and Cultures of the South at the Library of Congress.
The petitioners allege that she is a Marxist and anti-Hindu and it is a waste of US money to support a Leftist.
The Librarian of Congress, James H Billington, appointed Thapar last
week and she has already started work, Robert Saladini, a spokesperson
for the library, said. He said he has no information on the
petition.
The petition can be viewed at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/108india/petition.html
The holder of the chair, which is located in the John W Kluge Center of
the Library of Congress, pursues research on the regions of Africa,
Latin America, West Asia, South and Southeast Asia, or the islands of
the Pacific including Australia and New Zealand, using the immense
foreign language collections in the specialised reading rooms of the
Library of Congress.
Thapar will spend ten months at the John W Kluge Center pursuing
'Historical Consciousness in Early India' as her area of research.
Thapar, emeritus professor of Ancient Indian History at Jawaharlal
Nehru University in New Delhi, who has served as visiting professor at
Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, is an authority
on Indian history.
The author of many seminal works on the history of ancient India, her
volume of the 'Penguin History of India' has been continuously in print
since 1966. Her latest publication is 'Early India: From the Origins to
AD 1300'. Other recent works are 'History and Beyond' and 'Cultural
Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History'.
She has held many visiting posts in Europe, the United States and
Japan. She is an Honorary Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and at
the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She
has honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago, the Institute
National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the
University of Oxford and the University of Calcutta.
Through a generous endowment from John W Kluge, the Library of Congress
established the center in 2000 to bring together the world's best
thinkers to stimulate, energise, and distil wisdom from the library's
rich resources and to interact with policy makers in Washington, DC.
The center houses five senior Kluge Chairs.
The petitioners say: "It is a great travesty that Romila Thapar has been appointed the first holder of the Kluge Chair.
"In regards to India, she is an avowed antagonist of India's Hindu
civilization as a well-known Marxist. She represents a completely
Euro-centric worldview. I fail to see how she can be the correct choice
to represent India's ancient history and civilization.
"She completely disavows that India ever had a history. The ongoing
campaign by Romila Thapar and others to discredit Hindu civilization is
a war of cultural genocide. By your unfortunate selection of Thapar,
America is now aiding and abetting this effort."
The petition has 133 signatures already. One of the signatories, Hari
Singh, said: "The comments from Ms Thapar are disgusting and are
reflection of her ignorance of Indian History."
Venkatesh, another signatory, commented, "It's a shame to the USA &
Indian govt. that a Communist like Romila Thapar is having a free run."
o o o
#3.
[TEXT OF THE PETITION BY HINDU
FUNDAMENTALISTS AGAINST DR. ROMILA THAPAR]
Located at: http://www.petitiononline.com/108india/petition.html
o o o
Protest US Supported Marxist Assault Against Hindus
To: US Library of Congress
It is a great travesty that Romila Thapar has been appointed the first
holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the
Library of Congress.
In regards to India, she is an avowed antagonist of India's Hindu
civilization. As a well-known Marxist, she represents a completely
Euro-centric world view. I fail to see how she can be the correct
choice to represent India's ancient history and civilization. She
completely disavows that India ever had a history.
Just as the Europeans discredited the American Indian's land claims by
ignoring that they represented a unique civilization with a wholesome
variety of distinct linguistic and cultural traits, Thapar has long
expounded the same ignorant view of India's unique history and
civilization.
The ongoing campaign by Romila Thapar and others to discredit Hindu
civilization is a war of cultural genocide. By your unfortunate
selection of R.Thapar for the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of
the South at the Library of Congress, America is now aiding and
abbeting this effort.
The result of her "Historical Consciousness in Early India" is already
a foregone conclusion. She will of course attempt to show that Early
India had no historical consciousness.
Why waste our American resources on a Marxist idealogical assault on
Hindu civilization?Hinduism is the world's most ancient, ongoing and
largest cultural phenonmenon. Such a long lived civilization surely has
alot to teach the world.
So why support its denigration? As a Friend of India, I protest this appointment.
Sincerely,
_____
[Related Material:
Text of Petition urging that Koenraad Elst be appointed
the Kluge Chair!
(http://www.petitiononline.com/elst1959/petition.html)
_____
#4.
Official Statement by Library of Congress on Protest
Petition re R. Thapar Appointment
[29 April 2003]
_____
#5.
[Writings by Dr. Romila Thapar are too
numerous to list, but most of her well known books are listed below:]
- Cultural Pasts - Essays in Early Indian History
by Romila Thapar (Oxford University Press) 2003
- The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD
1300
by Romila Thapar
- Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories
by Romila Thapar (Kali for Women, 1999 / 2000)
- Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas
With a New Afterword Bibliography and Index
by Romila Thapar (Oxford University Press, May 1998)
- Recent perspectives of early Indian history. Thapar Romila. (ed).
(Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1995)
- Interpreting Early India
by Romila Thapar (Oxford University Press 1994)
- Ancient Indian Social History.by Romila Thapar
(New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1979)
- History of India, Vol. 2
by Percival George Spear and Romila Thapar
(Penguin)
- A History of India, Vol. 1
by Romila Thapar (Penguin, 1966)
_____
#6.
[ 2 Recent Book Reviews of 'Early India:
From the Origins to AD 1300' ]
The Hindu (India) Sunday, Apr 06, 2003
Literary Review
http://www.hinduonnet.com/lr/stories/2003040600110200.htm
Monumental history
In Early India, Romila Thapar attempts the grand sweep, reconciling
diverse trends and adjudicating between rival positions. SANJAY
SUBRAHMANYAM, though appreciative of the balanced tone, would have
preferred some fireworks thrown in too.
A CERTAIN Indian social scientist living in New York, who shall
naturally remain unnamed here, is believed to have boasted to his
colleagues that he was "like the Taj Mahal ó everyone who visits
the city has to come and see me." Romila Thapar, who is today a very
young 72 and rather more modest than the person mentioned above, is a
monument of sorts too in the Indian historiography, though the
appropriate comparison may be to the Jantar Mantar rather than to the
Taj Mahal. By this I mean that with her work, the emphasis is on
utility rather than pure aesthetic appeal, even though a certain
residual enigmatic quality remains. And to push the metaphor to its
conclusion, like that monument located on Sansad Marg, she has managed
to be both centrally located and to maintain a distance from the
Connaught Place hurly-burly of the Indian history establishment.
Romila Thapar's reputation does not rest on a single work, but on the
capacity to have adapted herself decade after decade to changing trends
and tendencies, and to have continued nevertheless to produce work of a
consistent quality. Most Indian historians of her generation either
were one-monograph wonders (effectively the case of the demi-god of
medievalists, Professor Irfan Habib), incapable of mounting a fresh
project once their doctoral thesis was done; or otherwise they were
specialists of the "one-note samba", producing fresh books on Indian
feudalism every two years which effectively said the same thing again,
again and still again. Romila Thapar on the other hand has moved from
her early work on the Mauryas, to a general consideration of early
state-formation that is much influenced by the marriage of Marxism and
structuralism, to reflections on the epics, historiography and a host
of other subjects. In this vast output, an early book does stand out:
this is her History of India, first published by Penguin in 1966, and
which has been used since in countless classrooms by numberless
students. Written when the author was in her early thirties, the book
is a prime example of chutzpah, and what is remarkable is that it
easily upstaged the second volume of that same series, written by the
"senior scholar" Percival Spear. The work under review here is a much
revised version of the same text, written some four decades later, and
has expanded from about 350 pages to over 550 pages in the newer
version.
The work is organised as 13 chapters, which ó after an
introductory set of two, on historiography and on "landscapes and
peoples" ó follow a broadly chronological trend, although there
is occasionally a shift to a more thematic organisation (as in Chapters
11 to 13, all of which deal with the centuries from about 800 to 1300).
Political history in the sense of state-formation continues to dominate
as a theme, but this is of course no mere dynastic history. Rather the
emphasis is solidly on questions of socio-political history, and the
interaction between state and society; questions of trade and agrarian
economy are of course present, though cultural themes do lag noticeably
behind and are often treated as appendages of social history. In each
chapter, the evidence from secondary literature is carefully weighed,
and a mix of the author's own prose and citations from the primary
sources serves to give the reader a sense of the "style" of each epoch.
Obviously, the author is more comfortable with certain periods than
others, and the discomfort is clear when we move from the middle
chapters (which are certainly the strongest) to either the early ones
or the later ones. The problem though is that every reviewer will have
his or her axe to grind. Early historians will find archaeology
underplayed, while historians of the Delhi Sultanate will find that
their period is treated in a somewhat schematic fashion. But this is
really neither here nor there. The real question is how this work
compares with others of a similar scope and ambition.
Here, only two serious rival candidates exist, namely Kulke and
Rothermund's work, and the posthumously published History of India by
Burton Stein. The former does possess some notable virtues in its first
half, namely a closer attention to sources and to the nitty-gritty of
history. On the other hand, it is also rather weak on the later
centuries of the first millennium of the Christian era. Stein's work
takes a somewhat different tack, by assuming the explicit burden of a
schematic argument, which Romila Thapar largely eschews. She attempts
the grand sweep which also reconciles diverse trends, and attempts to
adjudicate between rival positions. Those who like their history
written in a sober and balanced tone will hence much prefer her volume,
though it is a sad commentary on the popular perception of ancient
Indian history today that even this even-handed work will be tarred by
some as being "sectarian". My own chief complaint against the work is
quite different: namely, that there are not enough fireworks in it. We
have had an "Aligarh School", a "Cambridge School", an "Allahabad
School" and even a "JNU School" in Indian history. I am inclined,
especially for the southern readers of The Hindu, to suggest that it is
high time to promote the existence of a "Sivakasi School".
Early India: From the Origins
to AD 1300, Romila Thapar, London, Allen Lane, 2002, p. xxx + 556,
£30, Indian Price £8.75.
Sanjay Subrahmanyam is Professor of Indian History and Culture in the
University of Oxford.
SANJAY SUBRAHMANYAM
o o o
Outlook Magazine (India), May 05, 2003
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20030505&fname=Booksb&sid=1
REVIEW
Not Quite The Satanic Verse
Hopefully, the work would be read not only by all those who are
interested in understanding essential strands of early India's cultural
dynamics, but more importantly, also by those who are fast emerging as
Satan
K.M. SHRIMALI
EARLY INDIA: FROM THE ORIGINS
TO AD 1300
by Romila Thapar
PENGUIN INDIA
PRICE: 395; PAGES: 592
This thoroughly-revised version of the authorís classic A
History of India, Vol I must be welcomed for its timely arrival when
the country is battling with renewed attempts to mythify history and
redefine the parameters of the Indian nation. The new version closes at
c. AD 1300 instead of AD 1526 as in the earlier version. Considering
the space devoted to this period in the two versions, the present
edition has almost been doubled.
More maps and figures; a reasonably comprehensive, up-to-date and more
systematically arranged bibliography add to its freshness.
The earlier version gave an impression that the whole text was planned
in a broad political frame, though material and cultural developments
through the millennia were never ignored. A nomenclature-related
rethinking is now visible in formulations seeking to focus on broad
contours of socio-economic and politico-cultural developments. The
post-independence writing on early Indian history has been enriched
through analyses of the lives of commoners. Thapar familiarises the
reader with the emerging new vocabulary. A thrust on archaeology
providing tangible data in the form of artifacts and material remains;
the study of oral traditionsódistinguishing between
ëfrození (Vedic) and ëmore opení (epic
poetry)óalong with fieldwork; the use of linguistics as a tool
for historical reconstruction, particularly to question the notion of
communities and their identities being ëstaticí: all this
has made history-writing challenging, its reading fascinating.
The fourth chapter ("Towards Chiefdoms and Kingdoms, c 1200-600 BC") is
an effective refutation of many fanciful ideas that are being touted
around about the indigenous origins of the 'Aryans'; and how the
glorious 'Aryan culture' is identical with the Harappan culture.
Here, by carefully sifting data from linguistics, the vast corpus of
Vedic literature and archaeological evidence, Thapar presents a nuanced
construction of two different historical processes: invasion and
migration.
Thapar devotes considerable space to several issues involved in the
socio-political formations during the millennium stretching from AD 300
to 1300. After all, paradigms of 'Indian feudalism' and its
alternatives such as segmentary state and integrative politiesí
have been the focus of writings in the last five decades. Thapar, while
making her positions clear, is never dogmatic. To illustrate, while she
is unconvinced about the sustainability of segmentary state and
integrative polities as pan-India phenomena, she wants a
reconsideration of the long-forgotten hypotheses of the two phases of
Indian feudalism (ëfeudalism from aboveí and
ëfeudalism from belowí).
Further, amidst all the excitement about agrarian expansion during this
millennium, she provides a timely reminder about "diverted attention
from pastoralism", which was quite important in the "interstices of
agrarian areas and in some hill states". She stresses on the
transformation of pastoral clans into castes of cultivators. This,
indeed, is just one of the many perceptive observations on mutations of
varna and jati through Indiaís long history that is a running
theme of the book.
Barring a few typographical errors, this competently produced volume is
marked by Thapar's lyrical narrative. She writes, "A fundamental sanity
in Indian civilisation has been due to an absence of Satan." Hopefully,
the work would be read not only by all those who are genuinely
interested in understanding essential strands of early Indiaís
cultural dynamics, but more importantly, also by those who are fast
emerging as Satan.
______
#7.
[URLS to some recent lectures and
interviews with Romila Thapar]
Webcast: Romila Thapar: History and Contemporary Politics in India
Running Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
History As Politics
Links between knowledge and ideology do not
justify the passing off of political agendas as knowledge as is being
done in the rewriting of history by the present central government; and
that too of a kind not based on the understanding of history current
among historians.
Romila Thapar
[This is substantially the text of the
Professor Athar Ali Memorial lecture, organised by the Aligarh
Historians Society, at the Aligarh Muslim University on 8 February 2003]
[PDF] Two Lectures by Romila Thapar
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Two Lectures by Romila Thapar Professor
Emeritus of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
Delhi, November 4, 2002
BBC Audio
Historian Professor Romila Thaper "There is an attempt to
suggest the only history and civilisation that matter are Hindu" - BBC (May 10, 2002)
In defence of history
Romila Thapar
(Text of Lecture delivered at
Thiruvananthapuram on 2 March 2002)
Secular Education and the Federal Polity
Romila Thapar
text of her address at the 'National Convention
Against Saffronisation of Education', organised by SAHMAT (August 4-6,
2001, New Delhi, India)
Hindutva and history
Why do Hindutva ideologues keep flogging a dead horse?
Romila Thapar (October 2000)
An Interview with Romila Thapar (4
February 1999)
A Paradigm Shift Romila Thapar speaks to Parvathi Menon in a 'Frontline' interview (1997)
______
#8.
[URLS of documentation on assault on
history writing, on secular academics, intellectuals and artists in
India]
- On Rewriting History in India: The problem
by Neeladri Bhattacharya (2003)
- 'It is a fear of history'
Interview with K.N. Panikkar
- Outsider as enemy: The politics of rewriting history in India
by K.N. Panikkar (January 2001)
- Manufacturing Myths
by K.N. Panikkar
- The Rediff Interview/ Professor Irfan Habib (2001)
- Beef book sparks Hindu protest
(August 2001)
- The meat of the matter
by Sukumar Muralidharan (Sept 2001)
- Against cultural hegemonism
The Delhi High Court strikes down a notification issued in August 1993
banning the exhibition of a panel depicting the different traditions of
the Ramayana legend, mounted by Sahmat.
by Sukumar Muralidharan (August 2001)
- Targeting history (May 2001)
by T.K. Rajalakshmi
- Rewriting history ó I
by R. Champakalakshmi (2002)
- History As Told by Non-Historians
by Anjali Mody (2001)
- Righting or rewriting Hindu history
by Ann Ninan
- A saffron offensive
by R. Krishnakumar
- India:
History Writing Takes a Strong Hindu Turn
by Ann Ninan (July 1998)
- Painting a sorry picture
by Santwana Bhattacharya (May 4, 1998)
- A catalogue of crimes
by Praveen Swami (January 30, 1999)
- Assault on art
The bizarre attack by Hindutva forces at the home of M.F. Husain in
Mumbai has once again brought the issue of freedom of artistic
expression into focus.
- Shooting of Indian film banned (BBC | 07 Feb 00)
- Fundamentalist Hindu party says Pakistani artists not welcome
The governing party in India's western state of Maharashtra, the Hindu
fundamentalist Shiv Sena, says that it's determined to stop Pakistani
artists and sports-people performing in India.
(BBC | 27/04/1998)
______
#9.
I.
- write letters/call/fax support for Professor Thapar to the Kluge
Center at the Library of Congress
To Write letter on on the web go to: http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/kluge-contact.html
Phone: (202) 707-3302
Fax: (202) 707-3595
Mailing Address: (write a letter)
The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20540-4860
- Email messages may be sent to
Prosser Gifford, Director of Scholarly Programs
at the Library of Congress expressing support for Professor Thapar's
appointment. The contact details are: Email "Prosser Gifford" <pgif@loc.gov>
Phone: (202) 707-3302
II.
- write short pieces to media highlighting how sanghis (David Frawley
and Gaurang Vaishnav-with Hindutva credentials- both signatories on the
petition) are the supporters of such miserable efforts against Romila
Thapar, highlighting the irrational claims in the petition contrasted
with the proven diabolical character of the Hindutva movement which
inspires the petition authors and supporters, etc.
III.
A 'press packet' to the media highlighting her work, stature and
achievements (South Asia Citizens Wire Alert may be forwarded to media)
available at:
http://www.sacw.net/Alerts/IDRT300403.html
IV.
Post letters on rediff.
http://www.rediff.com/us/2003/apr/25us1.htm
______
#10.
Examples of some letters sent to the Library of Congress in support of Dr. Romila Thapar:
Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks
English Department
Boston College
Hosted by The South Asia Citizens Web