There is a need to present true history, says Dr. Mohan Bhagwat

Pune, Oct 14: The British rulers deliberately distorted the glorious chapter of our history to create an inferiority complex in our society so that they could rule for a longer period. The rulers of independent India too followed the same legacy of the British. There is a need to rewrite this history of our great nation to create a sense of self pride and self confidence and the author of this book deserves congratulations for accomplishing this important task, said RSS Sarsanghchalak Dr. Mohanrao Bhagwat.

 

 

 

He was speaking after releasing a book “Ajeya Bharat – A glorious history of India from 5th to 12th Century” written by Sudha Risbud and pulished by the Continental Prakashan. Noted archaeologist and historian and Director General of Maritime Heritage Complex, Lothal, Dr. Vasant Shinde chaired the function held here on Tuesday.

 

Congratulating the author and the publisher for this stupendous task Bhagwat said that the British understood the importance of history and the magic it could perform in awakening the people to throw the yoke of the slavery. So they deliberately presented a distorted and broken image of our history. Unfortunately, the rulers of free India and the scholars influenced by the British superiority followed the same legacy and continued to distort the history inculcating a sense of inferiority in our society.

 

From eons our society remained independent of the government. Kings came and went, but the society remained glued together with the strong adhesive of cultural affinity and strong bonding of dharma that sustained the society and social systems, Bhagwat said adding that we lost an opportunity to rectify the mistakes created by the British and native scholars and rulers. But this was not done, and it took 30 years to establish the truth of Sri Ram Janmabhumi, he added.

 

“We did not give up the slave mentality. We are still suffering from that policy and legacy. We were ignorant about our history, glorious past and great heroes. We only served the rulers”, Dr. Bhagwat said. History is a science and we should learn history to gain the knowledge of four ‘purusharthas’ and to achieve ‘abhyudaya’ and ‘nihshreyas’ on the basis of Dharma i.e. to attain mundane glory and spiritual uplift on the edifice of Dharma, he said.

 

History is ‘as it happened’, he said citing example of Mahabharata which is a history titled as ‘Jay’ composed by Ved Vyasa. Now-a-days, conclusions are drawn first and then arguments developed to justify them, he added. Quoting a noted communist Rajni Pam Dutta, the RSS chief said we had a glorious social life and we had attained the intellectual level to maintain this. That is why our society and nation is immortal. We have attained this immortality, he said.

 

Our forefathers have developed a harmonious national life over the years in the past. The history of this glorious period was dubbed as ‘dark age’ because the British had applied their parameters to our society. This book by Sudha Risbud fulfilled that vacuum and presented the history of that glorious period in a language that common masses can understand, he said congratulating the author for this stupendous scholarly work.

 

In his presidential address Dr Vasant Shinde, who pioneered the Rakhigarhi excavations I Haryana, said that many misconceptions prevailed about history and its study. Efforts are needed to make the people understand their history in its real sense. The book by Sudha Risbud is a different book that sows the world how a book on history should be writted. He congratulated the author for the holistic approach.

 

He said that the idea of nation was developed in India during the Harappan period and it is at least a 5000-year-old concept. Indian history is a continuous process of evolution of a nation and its people. The practices of yoga, meditation were there during the Harappan period, he said. Japan adopted the business techniques developed during the Harappan period to become a global economic period in just 14 years, Dr. Shinde said.

 

He also referred to maritime activities such as shipbuilding, sea voyages, business trips, and that knowledge was passed on to generations through oral traditions. He said that they studied the DNA of the people of the sub-continent and found the presence of 25 to 30 percent Harappan DNA. The diversity was used to create a nation by the Harappan society, he said. Therefore, there is no truth in the ‘Aryan Invasion’ theory, he emphatically said.

 

Speaking about the idea of the book author Sudha Risbud, an electronic engineer by profession who developed interest in ancient Indian history, said that the period under the study was a glorious period of the Indian history which the Britishers painted as ‘dark age’ applying their western parameters.

 

She said the Indian society always preserved the cultural nationalism roots of which were deeply entrenched during this period. Devayani Abhyankar of Continental Prakashan also expressed her views on the occasion. Sudhir Gade conducted the proceedings of the program and proposed vote of thanks.