Tracing the Evolution of Indian Historical Perspective: How People Recall their Past

Eminent Russian scholar Dr Eugenia Vanina of the Institute of Indian Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, has published this impressive book on the evolution of the conception of history in India in different historical eras. It brings the narrative down to the modern times when the past has become a dangerous battleground with different partisan groups struggling to create their own historical interpretations. What is at stake in this struggle is the country’s historic identity and integrity. As someone deeply devoted to the study of Indian history and culture—a foreigner, outsider, and impartial scholar and yet seriously concerned about the state of the nation today, Vanina suggests, almost pleads: ‘Since a consensus is more socially beneficial than conflict, I allowed myself, in the debates on the past, to hope for the former as a part of my overwhelming wish for India’s better future’ (pp. 16-17). This is a long-time yearning and aspiration of the author, as the book was previously published in Russian in 2014, with the assumption that India’s historically acclaimed and multidimensional intellectual resources are of great value across the world. She writes: ‘I just wanted to give my compatriots both information on India, the country that enjoys a very friendly and favourable attitude of the Russian people and also provide fodder to analyse their own relations with history’ (p. 16). Thus, longstanding contestations around India’s history and its varied literary and historical traditions from the very ancient past down to the present—glorious or not—require continuous examination to understand all their varieties and complexities.