Historian Vikram Sampath recently took to Twitter to respond to the attacks he has been facing from left historians and online trolls for the remarks he made during his interaction with Shashi Tharoor and Rajdeep Sardesai at India Today Conclave. At the conclave, Sampath had slammed the historians for devoting more space to obscure and bigoted dynasties in India’s textbooks than empires that flourished to the south of Vindhyas, such as the Cholas and the rulers of Travancore.
However, Sampath’s acerbic comments about the skewed nature of India’s history taught in school textbooks did not sit well with the historians and “intellectuals” belonging to the left intelligentsia, who rushed to discredit Sampath, his work and statements made by him in the India Today Conclave.
Sampath hits back at his critics, providing evidence of prejudiced account of history taught in school books
But Sampath, who recently wrote a second volume of his biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, remained undeterred to the denigration by the left trolls and propagandists. In a fairly long string of tweets, Sampath came out all guns blazing against the ‘historians’ and trolls and presented evidence to back the claims made by him during his interaction on India Today Conclave.
Conscious of the fact that a batallion of “professional” historians & some crazy trolls have begun discrediting me, my work & whatever I said at @IndiaToday conclave with Dr @ShashiTharoor & @sardesairajdeep . Selective screenshots of NCERT books (usual ploy!) to prove falsehood+
— Dr. Vikram Sampath, FRHistS (@vikramsampath) October 13, 2021
Sharing the links to the NCERT history books for Class 6, 7, and 8, Sampath said he feels pity for the students of such ‘historians’ for suffering their fakery and sleight of hand on a daily basis.
He cited Class 7 school book to assert how south Indian dynasties such as Rashtrakutas, Pandyas etc. had just passing reference in the book while Hirangyagarbha myth was cited to make Rashtrakutas and their Brahmin priests foolish.
Anyone can download entire books & see my point proved amply. Class 7 textbook has merely a map in chp 2, pp 16 that just states names of southern dynasties like Rashtrakutas, Pandyas etc. Some hiranyagarbha myth cited to make Rashtrakutas & their brahmin priests appear foolish
— Dr. Vikram Sampath, FRHistS (@vikramsampath) October 13, 2021
Sampath highlighted the dichotomy between the way historians glorified the Muslim invaders and the way they treated Indian kingdoms with contempt and scorn. For instance, he cites the vilification of the Cholas for imposing 400 types of “oppressive taxes” as against no criticism of “jizya”, a tax imposed by the Mughals on non-Muslims.
Sampath said Cholas were disposed of within 3 pages whereas Mahmud Ghazni, the Islamic marauder who invaded and desecrated the Somnath temple multiple times, was given undue coverage by the ‘historians’, who characterised him as a leader interested in finding out more about the people he conquered and even mentioned a book he got Albiruni to write on himself.
Buttressing his claim that Delhi centricity is a hallmark of books used to teaching history to students in school, Sampath pointed out that while great kingdoms in the south are disparaged and disposed of in 3-4 pages, “Delhi Sultans” have got entire chapters after them, even though their contribution to the country is unknown. He further mentioned that even the history of “Delhi Sultans” is adulterated, with sordid facts about their tyranny against the masses conspicuously absent from the books.
Chp 4 is fully devoted to “Mughal Empire”. Chp 5 on “Rulers & Buildings’ is also largely about Delhi Sultanate & Mughal architecture/tombs/gardens wt a few temples strewn in between. “Temples and mosques were beautifully constructed because they were places of worship”🤦 (pp 63)
— Dr. Vikram Sampath, FRHistS (@vikramsampath) October 13, 2021
As far as temple destruction is concerned, Sampath says the books provide an elaborate justification for the desecration of temples witnessed during the Muslim rule in India. The books, Vikram says, demonise Hindus to the point that their temple destruction by bloodthirsty Islamists could be justified. Obscure attacks carried out by Hindu kings against Sri Lankan Buddhists are cited to justify how attacking religious places was the norm of the day in medieval India.
Temple destruction hardly merited a mention in the book, but one whole page in Class 7 book is devoted to the Hindu pillaging by Mahmud Ghazni, mentioned so casually so as to give an impression that it was common to destroy and loot places of worship of defeated rulers in the middle ages.
Mind u just 3 lines on any temple destruction at all as against 1 page of Hindu pillaging & that too mentioned so casually that Mahmud Ghazni was not a v important ruler & in middle ages it was common to destroy & loot places of worship of defeated rulers (p66). No proofs given!
— Dr. Vikram Sampath, FRHistS (@vikramsampath) October 13, 2021
The Vijayanagara Kingdom, one of the most prosperous Indian kingdoms of all time, has just a one-page mention in the book, which was also more about Hampi and what Domingo Paes said about it. There was no explanation as to what brought an end to the empire, with just an abrupt mention that it fell in 1565.
Chapter 7, which talked about Tribals and Nomads, there was a brief mention about Ahoms, that too about Mughals defeating them in 1662 while all-important battles of Saraighat in 1671 and the humiliating defeat of Mughals against the Ahom army led by Lachit Borphukan were excluded from the book.
Sampath further calls attention to Chapter 10, which he says mentions in detail about Nadir Shah, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Awadh Nawabs, but only a minuscule reference to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Peshwas, he says, get only 1 page to themselves as against Delhi Sultanate rulers, Mughal kings, who had entire chapters to themselves. While exploits of Nadir Shah and other Muslim conquerors were explained in detail, the book reserves just one-quarter of a page for acquainting students with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and only a page for the Peshwas.
“If this doesn’t prove my point of the incommensurate portrayal of invaders as against native kingdoms, I don’t know what else can! I’m told “professional” historians work very hard & shouldn’t be insulted. If this shoddy work is what comes after toil, they deserve all the rap on knuckles,” Sampath emphatically tweeted.
Sending a stern message to trolls and their ‘historians’ sitting in foreign universities, Sampath said slanders and ad hominem attacks do not bother him one bit and he is not among those who would cower under their bullying.
“Truth, courage of conviction & a clear conscience along with the support of my readers is all that I have as my strength. The rest of you with no constructive criticisms/feedback & your malicious insinuations are irrelevant to my life or my work! So please utilize your time elsewhere!” said Sampath in his concluding tweet.
Truth, courage of conviction & a clear conscience along with the support of my readers is all that i have as my strength. The rest of you with no constructive criticisms/feedback & your malicious insinuations are irrelevant to my life or my work! So pls utilize ur time elsewhere!
— Dr. Vikram Sampath, FRHistS (@vikramsampath) October 13, 2021
Left ‘historians’ and trolls target Vikram Sampath for his remarks at India Today Conclave
Sampath’s rebuttal on Twitter came after a raft of left-leaning ‘historians’, social media trolls and sympathisers of the Congress party tried to denigrate observations made by him during his interaction at India Today Conclave. His assertion that the history that is taught in schools is highly prejudiced in favour of Muslim invaders while neglecting the indigenous rulers rattled the ‘historians’ and Marxist trolls who proceeded to criticise Sampath’s views as opinions deriving out of his political ideology, Whatsapp forwards and distorted version of history.
Truth is: @IndiaToday would never call professional historians at its stage because they are interested in TRP, not in history. None of the speakers on the stage are professional historians. They are writers who write about the past for a political ideology. https://t.co/JCYXmD6N78
— Arun Kumar (@arun_historian) October 11, 2021
Some of them even raised aspersions on Sampath’s credentials, questioning whether he is truly a ‘historian’.
From PN Oak’s letters to the editor to Vivek Sampath as ‘historian’ at the India Today conclave, a short history of India’s descent into mediocrity. https://t.co/CHyKToRgmc
— Aunindyo Chakravarty III (@AunindyoC) October 13, 2021
Those who could not bring themselves to accept what Sampath said at India Today Conclave was unfortunately true, derided his contentions as Whatsapp forwards couched in better English.
Same as sanghi whatsapp forwards, but now wrapped in the language of decoloniality and delivered in better English. https://t.co/fglXj7dtSc
— Subir Sinha (@PoMoGandhi) October 11, 2021
Historians provided a mono-chromatic version of India’s history, glorified invaders while obscuring Indian kingdoms: Vikram Sampath
Historian Vikram Sampath in a recent interaction on India Today Conclave had slammed the historians for presenting a monochromatic narrative of India’s history, stating that India’s history was presented almost in “third person” as if it is the history of some other nation.
He further added that historians dedicated unwarranted space to little known and fanatical dynasties in India’s textbooks as compared to empires that flourished to the south of Vindhyas, such as the Cholas and the rulers of Travancore.
For this travesty of history, Sampath blamed the successive Congress governments after the independence for unwittingly ceding control of historiography to the stranglehold of Marxist historians, whom he blamed for distorting history and creating several faultlines that continue to exist today.
“Let people read the truth, however inconvenient it may be. I think we have had a very troubled past and since we have not made peace with it, we will keep having these fissures emanating all the time, whether it is in Ayodhya or some other place,” Vikram Sampath said.
