A lot of times, people ask me, why do you bring up the past all the time ? What is the point of dwelling in the bygones ? Ancient India was great, but what about us now ? Why don't we focus on our present problems instead of obsessing about its past or lost glory.
Life unfolds in the presents and I completely believe in living in the moment.But I also think history is important. Ancient cultures devoted much time and effort to teaching their children family history. It was thought that the past helps a child understand who he is. Modern society, however, has turned its back on the past. We live in a time of rapid change, a time of progress. We prefer to define ourselves in terms of where we are going, not where we come from. Our ancestors hold no importance for us. They lived in times so different from our own that they are incapable of shedding light on our experience. Man is so much smarter now than he was even ten years ago that anything from the past is outdated and irrelevant to us. Therefore the past, even the relatively recent past, is, in the minds of most of us, enshrouded by mists and only very vaguely perceived. Our ignorance of the past is not the result of a lack of information, but of indifference. We do not believe that history matters.
But history does matter. It has been said that he who understands the past, controls the future. Our view of history shapes the way we view the present, and therefore it dictates what answers we offer for existing problems. History is important because it helps us figure out who we really are, understand - where did we go wrong ? And gives us a chance to learn from our mistakes.History is important because it helps us to understand the present. If we will listen to what history has to say, we can come to a sound understanding of the past that will tell us much about the problems we now face.
Our history books in school usually start from Ashoka - The great, the decline of the Hindu kings, the rise of the Mughals and it ends with India's independence from the British. And we all are pretty much aware about the last 60 years. It always made me wonder, so who exatly are we, as a nation.Are we this dirty, corrupt nation, which is incaple of fulfilling even the basic necessities of a vast majority of its people. Where people stuggle to get a meal, live in unhygrnic, inhuman conditions and cannot lead a life of dignity. Or are we these slaves, where our wealth was looted, temples were destroyed, women were violated and everything that mattered, is taken away from us. This is not who we really are.
When the Europeans came to India, they were divided between religion and science.The pre-scientific Europeans accepted whatever the priests preached on the pulpit. The post-scientific European demanded evidence for everything. However, both rejected our scared texts and history as myths and termed it mythology. The former did it for religious reasons: truth only comes from the Bible. The latter for scientific reasons: lack of measurable evidence. In the 17th century, for example, an Irish Archbishop called James Ussher, based on literal reading of the Bible concluded the world began on October 23, Sunday, 4004 BC.So naturally, the idea that there were people roaming around the world and painting on cave walls at least 10,000 years earlier did not go down well with the religious-minded.
It must be remembered that the formal system of education that we have today was started by the British.Infact it is they who have written our history. Until the Edicts of Emperor Ashoka were discovered, he was also just a part of Buddist mythology ! Till date Ramayan and Mahabharat are not a part of our history. We are victims of a colonial hangover. We are still trying to defend and apologize to our former masters. Even today Indians bear the burden of making Ramayan and Mahabharata historical and scientific. We still feel we are answerable to the West. We have to ‘prove’ the existence of Ram and Krishna in scientific terms in order to justify our faith.
Our history books do not tell us the complete history. They tell us about the prevelant untouchability, caste system etc in our society. But have we always been like this ? No ! The word 'Varna' literally means group in Sanskrit. The ancient Indian society was divided into four sections-Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra. The reference to the Varna System can be traced back to the religious texts of the land. In Mahabharata (Anusasana Parva, Chapter 163)it is said: "O Devi, if even a sudra is actually engaged in the occupation and pure behavior of a brahmana, he becomes a brahmana. Moreover, a Vaishya can become a Kshatriya. Therefore, neither the source of one's birth, nor his reformation, nor his education is the criterion of a brahmana.The vritti, or occupation, is the real standard by which one is known as a brahmana." Every individual had the freedom to choose his occupation and hence his 'Varna' or group, just like it is all modern societies of the world. Its very important to refect upon the vedic times to understand what the true essence of our civilization is and how we have corrupted it over a period of time.
We belong to the great Bharatvash also called as Aryavart.It is time, each one of takes a keen interest in our history, understand it and define it in our terms. We have to write our own history, because it is this history which will shape our nation and its future !
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