Challenges to the writing of History in the Indian vernaculars

Raziuddin Aquil

Contrary to the British colonial assumptions, India has long and varied literary and historical traditions. Historical works are to be found not only in the classical languages such as Sanskrit, Tamil, and Persian, but also from the medieval period onwards, in a variety of Indic vernaculars like Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, and Urdu. The vast corpus of Indian historical literature might be divided on the basis of languages, or presented in a whole range of genres, they eventually acquired the status of an important set of sources. However, a large part of this literature, on the basis of its writing style alone, merits the label of being ‘history’ in its own right. Itihas, purana, vamshavali, charit, buranji, bakhar, and tarikh might be replete with myths and legends, might not pass the test of veracity of historical truth, or might not be strictly chronological, yet they present sufficiently large examples of historical consciousness and traditions in India. Just because they are different in style and language from modern western historical method, they should not be dismissed as altogether ahistorical.

A major limitation of vernacular history is that it is used as a weapon in the political struggle for identity based on religion, caste, region, and languages. In these contestations, professional historical research is often set aside, and traditional notions and beliefs are privileged by the custodians of popular sentiments. Consequently, unverifiable social memories are preferred over verifiable historical evidence and facts; and history is misused or sacrificed in the quest for power. On the other hand, despite contradictions between political ideologies and historical reality, as well as other challenges, academic research conducted and emerging from universities, research institutions, and journals, has been exploring new frontiers within the contours of history as a professional discipline. Relevant historical questions are analysed on the basis of evidence and its authenticity, validation, and corroboration. Even though social and political context of historians, their language, theoretical models and assumptions determine historical interpretations and narratives, credible professional historians are expected to maintain objectivity and eschew biases and prejudices.

Contemporary trends in historical research show that a lot of progress has been made in recent decades. Basing on a variety of sources in different languages and genres, interesting new research is being conducted on politics, religion, visual cultures, performance, gender, caste, identity, and regional aspirations. Much of the cutting-edge research is in English, with international discursive engagements. To an extent, in continuation with pre-colonial forms of history-writing, modern histories are also being produced in languages such as Bengali, Malayalam, and Marathi, but their standard is generally not at par with English. The situation is far worse in North India where teaching and researches in Hindi is considered infra dig, and for a language such as Urdu problems are compounded by political and communal overtones. The vernacular histories, therefore, tend to serve as fodder for popular debates and politics than contributing to the production of knowledge in any significant manner.

Since academic institutions cannot remain isolated from social and political activities in their surroundings, subjects of research and teaching are also influenced by their contemporary contexts. Still, there is a wide gulf between professional academic histories and popular vernacular histories, which has to be bridged. In the name of establishing Hindi as the pre-eminent national language, thousands of crores of public money is spent by the government annually, amidst allegations and protests of forcible imposition of Hindi over non-Hindi speaking states as well as a silent decimation of various dialects in North India itself. However, in the academic sphere, privileging Hindi is a token gesture. Theses are actively discouraged from being written in Hindi, though signboards must be!

The paucity of serious academic research work in Hindi is an open secret. Textbooks are thirty-forty years old, original research work is not being written, journals are either absent or of inferior quality, and researchers are increasingly found lacking in linguistic skills. Lack of funds for research and publication is certainly a major challenge, but it has more to do with mindsets and intentions.  An entrenched elite with pretensions to modernity has been running academic institutions since colonial times, which is not conducive for generation and wider dissemination of knowledge. The centres of learning are, often, regressive. Instead of encouraging liberal ideas, they are trapped in casteism, regionalism, religious communalism, and gender biases, which are sometimes cloaked in the garb of influential political ideologies and fashionable theories. However, recent developments in various fields, including politics, sports, and even academics, indicate that it is possible to overcome the obstacles. Some fascinating new histories are being created, reconstructed, or, if you like, fabricated.

Earlier published in the Sunday Guardian: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/hindi-on-signboards-but-not-in-theses