On Medieval Indian history

Raziuddin Aquil

In an intolerant society, difference of opinion or even saying something different from what the entrenched orthodoxy wants to keep reinforcing is misunderstood and misrepresented as vilification or animosity, which the custodians of society seek to suppress with venom. This is particularly true in the small field of medieval Indian history. New thinking and interpretations are blocked by those who continue to work with a mindset developed 60-70 years back. And, unfortunately, these people often identify themselves as left of the centre liberals. As for the right-wing Hindu fringe, which is now going berserk, less said the better.

If scholarship, in any field, is to grow with time, young researchers with fresh ideas and energies must be given an opportunity to be heard seriously, else Ibn Khaldunian rule automatically applies, where old jagirdars have to give way to new turks; this is more true in politics and statecraft where new people displace decadent old political culture with new strategies and tactics, often deploying sophisticated technologies of warfare and violence. In the field of medieval Indian history, it is sought to be dismissed as a mischief, which can be easily suppressed by those in positions of power, the venerable dons of academia. Dogma prevails over fresh thinking.

Insofar as serious scholarship is concerned, if it is to remain relevant and credible, it must engage with intellectual concerns emerging out of contemporary political and social contexts, of course armed with methods of critical historical distance. In the last four decades or so, Indian society and politics has grappled with a host of issues ranging from some legitimate questions of identity – ethnic, religious, linguistic – to longstanding cries of injustices based on gender, caste and tribe, and attempts to address these issues politically, with some success. All these are largely reflected in the historiographical trends of the last couple of decades or more, especially in the works of scholars specializing in what are conventionally identified as ancient and modern periods. Anyone with a little bit of exposure to the study of medieval Indian history, and not bound to any commitments to any kind of group-politics -that is, petty academic politics often covered with the facade of liberating ideologies - will know that scholarship in related fields is lagging behind considerably. New researchers are discouraged from exploring research agendas developed through their own thinking.

Thus, medieval Indian history writing is a besieged field today. It has to constantly battle on one hand with popular perceptions which erroneously equate the period with one religion – Islam – and with centuries of darkness, an image that school textbooks do little to dispel, and on the other hand with ignoramus fellow practitioners. It is being completely marginalized in some universities because of grossly misinformed association with only one language, Persian (and absence of language experts), and domination of one set of people, Muslims. The polyglossian cosmopolitan medieval and early modern world is being reduced to a monochromatic caricature. The exceedingly rich corpus of European sources, Indic vernaculars, and Sanskrit texts, as well as a variety of visual, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological material are sought to be ignored in the process. Maliciously attacked from conservative votaries, new research does not reach the classrooms. Acceptance is grudging, or absent, and worse rejection vicious; and dissemination is restricted through control of syllabi and so called expert reviews.

Mercifully, some of the most interesting research is happening on this vast thousand year period in institutions abroad, especially in North American universities, and in rare instances in some still ‘open’ Indian ones. We have seen, in recent years, some pioneering works on the Portuguese, Mughals, Marathas, Vijayanagara, and a host of other important regional kingdoms in Bengal, Deccan and coastal India. Working on a variety of themes related to political theory and governance, literary traditions, religious practices, connections with the wider world, urbanization and consumption, visual cultures, body and sexuality, etc., current generation of scholars have opened new frontiers of research. Unfortunately, very little of this is made available to students in Indian universities. Only a handful of Indian academic journals publish these kinds of new research, and the ones which do, lack wide circulation. Same orthodoxy controls publication of research monographs through peer review system where even a whiff of iconoclasm is quickly smothered. Ignorance is bliss.

Regrettably, this is more or less the scenario in different streams of expertise in Indian academia. Yet, we still expect and feel disappointed that Indian universities consistently fail to figure in international rankings. No amount of wishful thinking and even serious reform will help, unless new ideas are allowed to germinate and flourish. Excellence only happens where there is freedom; it cannot thrive in stultifying patron client networks of mediocrity, dishonesty, and hypocrisy. Deteriorating politics in the country is going to make it worse. Scholars need autonomous spaces for serious academic and intellectual pursuits; spaces which are not exposed to violent mobs unleashed by people in power. If this is not ensured, whatever excellence our institutions previously claimed and displayed will be a thing of the past. People within academia will be complicit in this sad demise. Understandably, this will be a long-drawn struggle. Mughal India took 150 years to decline and fall. The republic has seen only 73 odd years. But then, the best of scholars, thinkers and philosophers are produced in worst of times. So, all is not going to be lost forever.