History is what has been told by victors
and rulers. But there is more history to be found in what has not been written in
the history books ever. Voise of silence needs to be heard if we really want to
know actually what happened.
Defeated people of Kalinga can
only tell why Ashoka became a non-violent Buddhist even after winning the fiercest
battle in ancient Indian history!
Why much exploited caste system today,
is not even mentioned once in any of Ashokan Rock Edicts?
Mighty King Porus needs to be heard
to know why Alexander returned to Greece even after winning the long-drawn
battle at Hydespes, which changed the course of history for ancient India?
Only Prithvi Raj Chauhan can tell
us how he was defeated from an enemy much weaker than him!
Ibrahim Lodhi shall unearth the
true reasons of defeat from Babur.
Historians are still finding answers
for Indians losing in 1857 despite Britishers merely being one tenth of total
Indian force.
And why first Census of India in
1881 still returned Muslims as minority and Hindus as Majority and country was
still being called ‘Hindoostan’, even after almost eight hundred years of
Muslim rule ?
Search for what has not been
written in the history books shall unearth the voices of defeated. That will be
true history. Questions are the basis of intellectual pursuit. Questioning
and Requestioning past is the fundamental right of a society. A culture of
superimposing the victor’s narration of history and silencing the asking of
question itself, shall lead to blurred vision of a society about its own existential
framework and surely lead to its intellectual death. Modern and progressive
society allows its people to have free flow of intellectual discourse about its
past present and future.
Let wrong questions also be asked
as nobody actually knows when a question is wrong. All answers are just a
narration. Nobody knows the complete truth. Nobody knows “the History”!
Not knowing the true history shall
bring the fear of unknown. Not being able to know something doesn’t mean it
didn’t exist. Less informed and misinformed people are the favorite choices of
all dictators in history. But remember, the Rome was lost when people were
busy watching gladiator games!
Kartikey
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