BENGALURU: Indian culture today is so varied, it needs to be called cultures. The roots go back to ancient times and it has developed through many races and people. Hence, among its ingredients, it is impossible to say surely, what is native and what is alien, what is borrowed out of love and what has been imposed by force.
If we view Indian culture thus, we realise there is no place for showmen,” said renowned author and historian Ramachandra Guha, quoting polymath and Jnanpith awardee Kota Shivaram Karanth.
Speaking of the book Indians: Histories of a Civilization, during its launch at the Bangalore International Centre in Domlur on July 18, Guha felt the spirit of Karanth’s perspective “hangs over the book”.
A brainchild of author and literary critic, GN Devy, Indians: Histories of a Civilization is a comprehensive volume that collates the many histories of the Indian subcontinent over the past 12,000 years. Jointly edited by Devy, journalist Tony Joseph and archaeologist & adjunct professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Ravi Korisettar, the book is a culmination of inputs by over 90 historians globally.
“What was worrying in recent years is that a few autonomous institutions such as the Indian Council of Historical Research and a committee constituted by the Ministry of Culture, GOI had initiated steps to ‘rewrite’ Indian history…History expects a conversation about a society’s past while keeping a safe distance from fantasy and wishful nostalgia. The main objective should be to provide justice to society at large. With these objectives in mind, we embarked on this project,” said Prof. Korisettar, about the book’s ideation.
According to Guha, the book’s generational, disciplinary and international range is unprecedented, at least in the sphere of Indian publishing. “What is truly impressive about this work is the range of themes and contributors. It explores wide-sweeping disciplinary themes, from biology, ecology, language, culture, and sociology. The contributors are of different generations and from different parts of the world, but all are acknowledged specialists in their respective fields,” he added.
While Indians: Histories of a Civilization explores a wide range of themes through its diverse contributors, Prof Korisettar says the chapters of the book are merely a synopsis and hopes to expand on each theme in the future. “We plan to obtain full-length articles, spanning 50-60 pages each and publish them into a series of 30-40 expanded volumes. Our aim is to work consistently over the next decade, closely adhering to the scientific method and with judicious use of recent data and finding, so that we may produce the magnum opus,” he added.