HYDERABAD: In these contemporary times when selective facts or fake news are being propagated to further agendas, speakers at the inaugural session of the third Telangana History Congress on Monday stressed on historians to be unbiased while writing. The event which took place at the auditorium of Prof G Ram Reddy Centre for Distance Education, Osmania University, had chief guest and former governor of Andhra Pradesh C Rangarajan and former chief secretary, Narendra Luther, reiterating the same.
Rangarajan said, “Historical facts should not be distorted to further an agenda. Good historians do not preselect the evidence according to their point of view. The very act of choosing a fact over another makes it lose its authenticity. Although subjectivity and interpretation cannot be avoided, there is a need to keep both of them distinct.”
Reiterating the same, and recounting how he wrote the autobiography on Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah, the first Qutb Shahi emperor, Luther said, “Historians have to shed their own likes and dislikes while writing books on history.” Luther highlighted how important the work district gazetteers are in relation to recording history. Recounting an incident, Luther said, “In my experience, if a district gazetteer was a Brahmin, then he recorded only temples and ignored dargahs and mosques. That is not fair to others and oneself.” Apart from that, Rangarajan implored everyone to learn a little bit of history. He said, “Those who do not know history are condemned to repeat the past.”
‘State’s history older than Satavahanas’
When D Raja Reddy was researching on Telugu history, he couldn’t find any material dating before the Satavahana era. That was when he looked towards medieval coin study for an answer. He was not disappointed. “We found that Telangana history doesn’t start from Satavahanas. It starts with Ashmaka janapada, one of the 16 Mahajanapadas.”
Mahajanapadas are the sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth century BC. “Ashmaka Janapada was the only one that was south of the Vindhyas. We have found coins belonging to Ashmaka Janapada era across Nizamabad,” Reddy added. Reddy concluded by highlighting the need to study coins more. “Majority of the historical sources before 1000 AD are from inscriptions and most of the inscriptions are from coins. We need to study them more.”