[h=1]“History of Ancient India” (A VIF Publication in 11 volumes edited by Prof. Dilip K. Chakrabarti & Prof. Makkhan Lal).[/h][h=1]First 5 volumes will be released on December 23, 2013 in New Delhi.
In his talk, delivered at Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on August 31, 2011, Dr. Dilip K Chakrabarti, Professor Emeritus of South Asian Archaeology, Cambridge University made out a strong case for presenting the history of ancient India in an unbiased manner. The talk, interspersed with powerful arguments, succinctly underscored the colonialist bias from which the study of ancient India suffers even today. It is rather unfortunate that historians in independent India, who have striven to put the records straight, have been labeled either as ‘Hindu revivalists’ or ‘communalists’.
The formation of the Indian Council of Historical Research in the early 1970s was in response to this trend. By forming a body to control the funding of historical research in the country and by filling it up with the nominees of the ruling power, the government ensured that historical research in the country would henceforth be dominated entirely by group politics and thus get criminalised.
Such battles can be fought only by well-trained, nationally committed historians and archaeologists. Dr. Chakrabarti however deplored the fact that with no serious historical research undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India, the agency functions like a Public Works Department (PWD), responsible only for preservation and maintenance of historical monuments.
http://www.vifindia.org/event/report/2011/09/08/The-Study-of-Ancient-India-Erroneous-Perceptions-and-the-Reality
[/h]
In his talk, delivered at Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on August 31, 2011, Dr. Dilip K Chakrabarti, Professor Emeritus of South Asian Archaeology, Cambridge University made out a strong case for presenting the history of ancient India in an unbiased manner. The talk, interspersed with powerful arguments, succinctly underscored the colonialist bias from which the study of ancient India suffers even today. It is rather unfortunate that historians in independent India, who have striven to put the records straight, have been labeled either as ‘Hindu revivalists’ or ‘communalists’.
The formation of the Indian Council of Historical Research in the early 1970s was in response to this trend. By forming a body to control the funding of historical research in the country and by filling it up with the nominees of the ruling power, the government ensured that historical research in the country would henceforth be dominated entirely by group politics and thus get criminalised.
Such battles can be fought only by well-trained, nationally committed historians and archaeologists. Dr. Chakrabarti however deplored the fact that with no serious historical research undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India, the agency functions like a Public Works Department (PWD), responsible only for preservation and maintenance of historical monuments.
http://www.vifindia.org/event/report/2011/09/08/The-Study-of-Ancient-India-Erroneous-Perceptions-and-the-Reality
[/h]
