On Saturday (23rd November), Professor Lavanya Vemsani was targeted on social media for not re-telling Indian history from a ‘Muslim perspective.’
The development came hours after the brown-skinned, Hindu, Indian-origin, female academic announced the publication of the 506-page ‘Handbook of Indian History.’
The book, published by Springer, contains 21 chapters on Indian history and includes new groundbreaking research in the particular field.
Friends, thrilled to share the publication of Handbook of Indian History. Please check it out: https://t.co/qUc7nO52wN. #IndianHistory #NewBook this book contains 21 chapters many of which contain new groundbreaking research on Indian History
— Dr. Lavanya Vemsani Ph.D. (@ProfVemsani) November 22, 2024
Professor Lavanya Vemsani, who teaches history at Shawnee State University in the US, has written at least 3 chapters in the book and edited it in its entirety.
Following her announcement on social media, she was attacked by a bunch of white-skinned, foreign academics ‘specialising’ in Islamic Studies.
They attacked the integrity of the Indian-origin Professor for not re-telling Indian history from the perspective of invading Muslim tyrants and instead choosing to make the history of the natives (aka Hindus) – the epicentre of her book.
Springer just published a Handbook of Indian History. It doesn’t have a single chapter on Islam or Muslims. The word Islam appears 5 times, the word Muslim 9 times, in a 507 page book. Is this negligence or a Hindutva-zation of South Asian Studies? Either way, it’s outrageous. pic.twitter.com/96NzFIHQoM
— Brannon Ingram (@brannoningram) November 22, 2024
One Brannon Ingram, who ‘works on Islam in colonial South Asia’, whined about the under-representation of invaders in a book on the native history of India.
“Springer just published a Handbook of Indian History. It doesn’t have a single chapter on Islam or Muslims. The word Islam appears 5 times, the word Muslim 9 times, in a 507 page book. Is this negligence or a Hindutva-zation of South Asian Studies? Either way, it’s outrageous,” he claimed.
Jonathan AC Brown, another ‘white’ Professor of Islamic studies, declared that he would not be using it in his classes at the varsity.
This is an amazing book if you don’t care about Indian history from 1100-1800 or about 1/4 of its population… so basically if you’re a Hindu nationalist. I will *not* be using this in my classes. Handbook of Indian History | SpringerLink https://t.co/ZSzit4uohs
— Jonathan AC Brown (@JonathanACBrown) November 23, 2024
“This is an amazing book if you don’t care about Indian history from 1100-1800 or about 1/4 of its population… so basically if you’re a Hindu nationalist. I will not be using this in my classes,” the Muslim appeasing ‘academic’ brazened out.
Another researcher ‘interested in Islamic studies’, Mufid Yuksel, claimed, “Handbook of Indian History Omits Significant Muslim Narrative.”
Handbook of Indian History Omits Significant Muslim Narrative
— 𐩣𐩰𐩺𐩵 مفيد يوكسل الحيدري الشافعي Müfid Yüksel (@mufidyuksel) November 23, 2024
A newly published 'Handbook of Indian History' by Springer, edited by Dr. Lavanya Vemsani, has sparked controversy for its minimal mention of Islam and Muslims, with the terms appearing only five and nine times… pic.twitter.com/07u8RBIykm
At a time when the world is focusing on de-colonisation and bringing native history under the spotlight, some in academia want to preserve the colonisation process (especially the one perpetrated by Muslim invaders).
And that is besides the usual whitewashing of atrocities, cherry-picking of benevolence and rampant distortion in the mainstream history textbooks.
The targeting of Professor Lavanya Vemsani is part of the same modus operandi to intimidate researchers from the scholarship of Indigenous history, not tainted by the influence of mlecchas.
