5 months ago
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The past is ever present. Each procreation makes meaning for itself successful the contiguous by referring to past — whether successful the caller parliamentary statement connected the ‘mutilation’ of Vande Mataram, the mundane ‘WhatsAppification’ of history, oregon the affectional reactions by communities connected societal media.
At The Hindu Lit for Life Dialogue 2025, successful the houseful Hyder Mahal astatine ITC Kakatiya here, writer and historiographer Manu S. Pillai was successful speech with literate and civilization writer Nandini Nair. The session, titled ‘History arsenic Battlefield: The Past successful India’s Present’, warranted other chairs.
Mr. Pillai believes that established writers “in times similar these” indispensable beryllium liable and not succumb to pressures — the lone mode to sphere country for first-time authors.
According to him, the past — and however overmuch of it is remembered — plays an important relation for individuals, societies and governmental parties successful shaping themselves. For him, arsenic helium recalled his father’s times, stories by his grandmother, section traditions astatine his location successful Thiruvananthapuram and the archives that uncover comedies successful past and find of caller interpretations, the affectional texture is important to knowing past afloat and not conscionable references to dates.
Asked however past is weaponised today, helium observed that nary historiographer tin assertion to person recovered the implicit truth. “History is astir connecting 20 dots — reasonably, intelligently and successful a well-thought-out manner. And not everyone interprets the aforesaid way; it whitethorn beryllium ideological, done a feminine oregon a antheral gaze,” helium said.
Mr. Pillai, with an involvement successful studying the subversion of powerfulness dynamics, besides discussed however the British introduced English and however it was appropriated successful the country; the resilience of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, depicted successful his publication The Ivory Throne; and the communicative of Princess Sita Devi of Pithapuram, who converted to Islam to annul her Hindu matrimony and joined Pratap Singh Gaekwad of Baroda.
In effect to an assemblage question astir which governmental enactment “uses past astir efficaciously and dangerously”, Mr. Pillai observed that determination was nary exception. “There were books astir Nehru’s childhood, similar determination is contented now. But the question is to what grade and what grade of shame. These days, determination is simply a originative play happening with past that is deliberate and not accidental — meant to beryllium malicious, vindictive, to confuse radical and, to immoderate extent, make distrust successful expertise, to marque radical deliberation that historians person an agenda.”
To different question of whether radical going backmost to past beliefs, helium concluded: “Human stupidity repeats itself perpetually — aforesaid mistakes and patterns repetition — past to past.”
