Should anyone own it?

Sudhirendar Sharma

Sudhirendar Sharma

Published in 1961, noted historian E H Carr’s monumental What is History? unveiled crucial understanding of history that remains relevant over time. The function of history is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the past and the present. He further stressed that the role of the historian should neither suffer nor history be made to lose its fascination. Much has changed about history and historiography since then, it ignites fierce debate and contests between the state and historians on how it is produced and institutionalized. Who Owns the Past? offers a fraught guide between social history of historians and the politics of writing history.

Who owns the past

In a chronological span starting in the 1870s when Sir Syed Ahmad Khan raised objections to a history textbook, Shaan Kashyap takes stock of how history writing has been contested and imagined for next 150 years, till 2020. Each major event in history is viewed with a change in perspective, as history goes through revision and re-examination. Did well-respected historians not point out that ‘the destruction of temples was not necessarily on account of religious bigotry, but also due to political rivalry’? Interpretation of such events through rationalist lens may not concur with the prevailing majoritarian reality of the time. Does it mean that writing about the past must confirm to the lived social and political reality?

Should history writing be seen as a form of storytelling that may appeal to the majority? In principle, it should not. Since few countries inhabit their past as turbulently as India, a medieval mosque and even a dead emperor are the topic of intense national argument all across. More than the professional historians, it is a section of the public, religious movements and dominant politician who are essential historians who are re-writing this version of history. Social media spreads it across, leaving the general public wondering ‘who owns the past?’

Spread across ten chapters, this is an absorbing book on the sociology of power struggles that defines the present at the cost of the past. Kashyap traces the intellectual battles that have shaped it and examines how textbooks are crafted, how institutions legitimize change, and how political ideology leaves its imprint on these stories. Insightful but provocative, it raises an important question: if the past is constantly under seize, what does that mean for our future?

In a society where politics constantly reshapes history, there are uncomfortable questions raised  on the role of historians. History does not belong only to historians but seems as much or more ownership by the public who makes nearly everyone within this discipline uncomfortable. Kashyap doesn’t hesitate to admit that ‘history writing cannot be left to trained historians alone’. Many prominent historians, from Jadunath Sarkar to Ramachandra Guha, were never trained as one. In such a situation, more than a discipline history is a world view.

Who Owns the Past? is a reflective question on historical authority and on what grounds that authority gets exercised. History is neither an inheritance to be owned nor a weapon to be used for getting across an argument. Only historians can resolve historical challenges. For instance, to get a sense of the man behind the bigot emperor, historian Munis D. Faruqui has cut across many distortions in the long prevailing narrative to recreate secular image of Aurangzeb. Not without reason, the sixth Mughal Emperor ruled for nearly half a century.

While the book traces the evolution of historical writing across nearly a century-and-a-half, its deeper interest lies in ensuring that the historians should not suffer on account of it (history) becoming a public vocation. As it seems, the relationship between historians and political power is waning. Since history is invariably used as a tool by the government to trigger empathy towards its ideological predisposition, there are concerns about historian’s vulnerability as scholar in the public arena. Can the historian be left to fend for his/her position?

With history having escaped the classroom and entered mass politics, a new era has dawned on professional historians in which they are gradually losing their academic authority. When every ideological camp seeks possession of the past, Who Owns the Past? wonders if history is an inheritance to be owned.

Who owns the past?

by Shaan Kashyap

Vintage/Penguin RandomHouse, New Delhi

Extent: 390, Price: Rs. 799.

(Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma is a writer and researcher specializing in development issues. He is based in New Delhi, India)

Medieval history is my interest and passion. It helps learn about how the past relates with the present.