The Recovery of Historical Consciousness

The Recovery of Historical Consciousness

Yogesh Snehi

In the past few years there has been a steady decline in the number of students opting for courses in Arts. The situation in the post-graduate classes of history, sociology, philosophy, etc has become grave with the number of students stooping to such levels that the colleges affiliated with Punjab University, Guru Nanak Dev University and Punjabi University have started looking into the ‘economic viability’ of these courses. Arts and humanities, especially the subject matter of history, are indeed in a state of crisis and this is reflected in our larger socio-political sphere. In the past five years, Amritsar, for example, has experienced the demolition of various monuments of historical importance like akharas on the pretext of galiyara (corridor) project or Saragarhi Memorial School for decongesting the city and making space for parking complexes. Fewer funds have been allocated for the preservation and restoration of historical monuments. Such policies of the state amply reflect on the lack of historical consciousness.

Writing history of India is as much a challenge, as has been the teaching of history. Declining scholarships for history, as compared to pure sciences and a blanket ban on recruitments of teachers by Punjab Government has badly affected the supposed ‘viability’ of the subject. The controversies over rewriting of history under the previous BJP regime have created this misconception that history is a fiction and is subject to whims and fancies of the historians. This perception is incorrect as the writing of history is based on a methodology which has scientific basis. Besides, history is not a mere collection of facts as interpretation of facts is an intrinsic facet of historical consciousness.

Historical consciousness has diverse set of meanings for different societies. Besides the basic awareness of the past, it has an important role of sensitising and humanising students. While giving a discussion on the establishment of Delhi Sultanate in the early medieval period, for example, it becomes imperative to explain students that the advent of Islam and Turkish invasions in India were two different events. The former travelled to India with Arab traders since the seventh century A.D. and preceded the establishment of Delhi sultanate in the twelfth century A.D. by about five hundred years. It is precisely through a critical understanding of our complex past that historians have tried to overcome biases and prejudices. A better understanding of history can thus help us in disseminating correct perspective of the past and countering communalist perspectives on supposed origins of Hindu-Muslim conflict in medieval India.

Understanding history further helps in the creation humanistic sensibilities of equality and human rights by critiquing the fascist tendencies of modern states like Germany against the Jews during the Second World-War and questioning the communal basis of Hindu-Muslim conflict in the modern India. History provides diverse perspectives of caste, class and gender to weave and problematise our understanding of the past. It lifts the veil of societal myths about the past, present and the future. For instance, the partition of Punjab in 1947 is often represented as an outcome of a communal conflict. But in the Canal Colonies of the Lyallpur district of colonial Punjab it was an outcome of an agrarian unrest; a conflict between peasants (who were generally Muslims) and, the landlord and moneylender (who were generally non-Muslims).

Theoretical basis of history lays primary emphasis on the scientific basis of historical methodology. It negates rumours and highlights the primacy of fact in the understanding of history. With the recent diversification of the discipline, history has become interdisciplinary in its approach and expanded its scope towards the understanding of popular culture, folk traditions through the tools of socio-anthropology. Further, periodisation through carbon-dating has aligned history with Physics. Archaeology depends more and more on chemical and biological examination of the remains. This integration of history with diverse disciplines is, however, not visible in our everyday reality.

There is a dearth of serious interest in history and archaeology in India. Thousands of valuable historical remains, hundreds relating to Harrapan civilisation alone, are facing the test of time and scarcity of funds. There is an urgent need to pump more and more funds into the study of Indian past. The disappearance and vandalisation of these facets of history, threaten to wipe-off the civilizational edifice of historical consciousness which is trapped in time and waiting to be explored. There is an urgent need to preserve these remnants of the past to remind us of the gone-by era and at the same time generate interest in the writing of history and the making of ‘we the people’. It entails the application of creative methodologies in teaching history. There is an urgent need to encourage the writing and understanding of history. There is no ‘end of history’ as historical writing is an evolutionary exercise and is subject to newer discoveries. If history looses its significance in the present era of globalisation it would lead to the weakening of historical consciousness, the consciousness of our being.br />urchinTracker();