top of page

By:

Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Unearthing India’s Forgotten Histories

From restoring ancient temples to rewriting historical narratives, this year’s Prakashchandra Surana Historian Award celebrated the need for a wider understanding of India’s past. Pune: History is not merely a record of vanished centuries but a map to understanding the present. That was the central message at the fifth edition of the ‘Late Shri Prakashchandra Surana Historian Award’, where archaeologist K.K. Muhammed and historian-author Aniruddh Kanisetti were honoured for their...

Unearthing India’s Forgotten Histories

From restoring ancient temples to rewriting historical narratives, this year’s Prakashchandra Surana Historian Award celebrated the need for a wider understanding of India’s past. Pune: History is not merely a record of vanished centuries but a map to understanding the present. That was the central message at the fifth edition of the ‘Late Shri Prakashchandra Surana Historian Award’, where archaeologist K.K. Muhammed and historian-author Aniruddh Kanisetti were honoured for their contributions to preserving and expanding the understanding of India’s past. The awards, instituted by the Quantum Foundation, were presented at the convocation hall of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute in Yerwada. The main award was presented to K.K. Muhammed, former Regional Director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and a leading figure in Indian archaeology, by renowned archaeologist Padmashri Dr. K. Paddayya and Quantum Foundation Chief Trustee Pushpa Surana. Changing Contours The ceremony also recognised the changing contours of historical scholarship by conferring the ‘Digital Historian Award’ on Aniruddh Kanisetti, author, storyteller and recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. In addition, the foundation launched the Quantum Scholarship to support young researchers pursuing higher studies in history and archaeology. The first scholarship was awarded to Pune-based researcher Sujay Khalate for his Ph.D. work in ’Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology.’ The initiative reflects a growing recognition that historical research requires not only academic commitment but also institutional support. In his introductory address, Quantum Foundation representative Dr. Pratik Surana emphasised that understanding history was essential for making sense of contemporary society. “Everything around us has a history. To gain new knowledge and correctly understand the present, it is necessary to know the past,” he said. The award ceremony was attended by Prasad Joshi, Vice Chancellor of Deccan College, Prof. Sonal Kulkarni, Dean of Deccan College, and Shahida Ansari, Head of the Archaeology Department. For Muhammed, the honour was a recognition of a lifetime spent bridging the gap between archaeological discovery and heritage conservation. Speaking after receiving the award, he recalled his work in restoring the ancient Bateshwar temple complex in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, a project widely regarded as a landmark in heritage restoration. He said he had now undertaken the restoration of select ancient temples in Hampi, Karnataka. Yet, he cautioned that India’s celebration of its heritage often exceeds its efforts at preservation. While archaeology and ancient monuments occupy a prominent place in public discourse, the actual execution of conservation projects remains inadequate, he said. According to Muhammed, thousands of historic structures across the country could be revived if stronger governmental initiatives and sustained conservation efforts were undertaken. The challenge, he suggested, was not the absence of heritage but the absence of a systematic approach to protect it. Kanisetti, meanwhile, used the occasion to highlight another challenge confronting Indian historiography — the dominance of a largely North-centric narrative. “The history we learn has remained largely North-centric. South India produced great empires that not only contributed immensely to India but also expanded their influence into Southeast Asia. These histories are rarely discussed,” he said. He argued that a fuller understanding of India’s past required moving beyond familiar political narratives and exploring the diverse regional traditions, kingdoms and cultural exchanges that shaped the subcontinent. The award ceremony thus became more than a recognition of individual achievements. It was a reminder that history is a constantly evolving field — one that depends as much on excavating forgotten monuments as on questioning established narratives. As India debates its identity in the present, the search for a more complete understanding of its past has become an increasingly important intellectual pursuit.

Selective Outrage

India’s left-liberal media has long prided itself on being the torchbearer of secularism, dissent and moral rectitude. In the aftermath of ‘Operation Sindoor,’ the precision military strike launched by the Modi government against Pakistan-based terror camps, it has revealed its not a principled commitment to peace or truth, but a disturbing penchant for ideological prejudice, performative sanctimony and selective outrage.


The operation itself was a textbook display of calibrated force and geopolitical prudence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, often caricatured as ‘authoritarian’ by the ‘liberal’ English-language commentariat, chose patience over provocation. He consulted opposition leaders, held detailed discussions with defence chiefs and took key international stakeholders, notably the United States and Russia, into confidence before authorising limited military action. The symbolism of ‘Operation Sindoor’ was also carefully crafted: a pointed reminder that the attack’s real victims were Hindu women widowed by Pakistan-sponsored militants in Kashmir. The government’s briefings were also strategic and symbolic as two ranking female officers, one of them Muslim, were made the public face of the mission, underlining a new Indian confidence that blends military muscle with democratic pluralism.


But this was unacceptable for India’s entrenched ‘left-liberal’ press, steeped in academic jargon, Western validation and a knee-jerk hostility to anything remotely ‘Hindutva.’ That a Muslim officer briefed the nation on ‘Operation Sindoor’ was branded ‘tokenism’ by such commentators. Others crudely alleged that the April 22 Pahalgam massacre was the logical culmination of reported atrocities against Muslims since Modi came to power in 2014.


The semantic nitpicking over ‘Operation Sindoor’ was maddening. An editor of a prominent magazine dubbed the operation’s name as ‘patriarchal’ and coded in Hindutva tropes. In a bizarre case of moral inversion, sindoor was likened to symbols of ‘honour killings’ and gender oppression, ignoring both its cultural resonance and the cruel reality that these women had lost their husbands in cold blood. For years, India’s ‘secular’ commentariat nurtured a preordained binary: the Congress may be flawed but was at least ‘secular’ while the BJP was an inveterate ‘fascist.’ Thus, the 2002 Gujarat riots are always focused upon but the Congress-backed pogrom of the Sikhs in 1984 is either downplayed or rationalised. Terrorism in Kashmir is tragic, but state retaliation is ‘jingoism.’ A strong Muslim voice in government is ‘tokenism’ but its absence is ‘exclusion.’ Even journalistic rigour is selectively applied. When Pakistan claimed to have downed Indian jets, some Indian outlets rushed to amplify the story before verification, inadvertently echoing enemy propaganda.


Dissent is vital in any democracy. But when its becomes indistinguishable from disdain, when editorial choices are dictated by ideological conformity, then the press becomes a caricature of itself. Ironically, many of these journalists enjoy robust free speech and loudly lament India’s supposed slide into ‘fascism’ from the safety of their X handles. Yet they turn a blind eye to Putin’s repression, Erdogan’s purges or Xi Jinping’s camps. In their eyes, Modi remains the greatest threat to democracy even as they broadcast their outrage freely, without fear of censorship or reprisal. ‘Operation Sindoor’ was a statement of cultural self-confidence. That confidence has rattled those who have spent their careers gatekeeping Indian discourse. Today, their monopoly is over. The people are watching and they no longer believe that the emperor has clothes.

Comments

bottom of page