Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Romila Thapar has taught India to read history, question it freely

During her 60 years of research and writing, Romila Thapar has contributed to the comprehension of history as an intellectual adventure, by bringing this discipline to the centre of the Indian public sphere.

Romila Thapar is a major figure in the intellectual history of contemporary India. However, many, both inside and outside India, consider her first and foremost as an expert on the history of early India. Yet, behind Thapar’s multifaceted work, starting from her research on Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas to her memoir, Just Being, one finds a strong intellectual figure with a system of thought, who has profoundly influenced Indian historical thinking and beyond.

Certainly, Thapar studied history less as a curiosity about what was there before her and more to try and trace a pattern. As she points out in Talking History: “The intrinsic link between the past and the present – and the fact that the present grows out of the past and, therefore, the patterns of past societies are important to our understanding of present-day societies.” In other words, what we can learn from more than half a century of Thapar’s work is that one studies history not only to understand the past, but also to comprehend the present.

During her 60 years of research and writing, Thapar has contributed to the comprehension of history as an intellectual adventure, by bringing this discipline to the centre of the Indian public sphere. Undoubtedly, she has been an important transmitter of culture and a significant animator of ideas in Indian society. As such, her mission as a historian has been more than just writing about Indian history. Her task as an engaged intellectual has also been that of speaking truth to power, enlightening Indian public opinion on issues such as Aryanism, and taking a critical stand as a dissenter in Indian society. What Romila Thapar’s work attests to is that every piece of historical analysis is a manner of engaging in the present regarding the past. This is how she approaches........

© ThePrint