In this conversation, Professor Thapar will be taking pre-submitted questions from teachers across schools based on her most recent talk titled Conversations with Indiaโs Ancient Past (available at https://bit.ly/3j88fH9) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsu1Jc3y_sM&t=2423s
and on her work titled ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ: ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ,ย ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐บ๐ข.
ย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsu1Jc3y_sM&t=216sย establishes for the first time that, with the texts we use as sources, there is a need for us to be aware of the perceptions that those earlier authors had, and their representations of how they saw the past. In other words, we have to search for how the past saw its past.... The religion based periodisation of Indian history into Hindu, Muslim and British, giving a wrong direction to Indian society, is replaced by the more scientific ancient, medieval and modern. How the past saw its own past (in the context of how we think the bards, poets and literati perceived and represented their past) is important to understand the intent and the ways in which the early Indian โintellectuals and administratorsโ narrated events of the past to suit colonial policy, narratives of the past taking different forms in early societies.ย - review of R. Thapar's book. https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/the-past-before-us-book-review/article7188690.ece
ย
Developing sound historical consciousness is critical in our ability to effectively respond to the realities we are faced with. Active reading of a vast multiplicity of narratives, critical thinking and analysis, and questioning existing knowledge opens up our sensibilities to the pasts.
How do we write history? How has it been written so far in relation to early India? How do we bring the complexities of multiplicities in everyday classroom? How can we oppose any one linear narrative?