‘The only history being taught is Delhi-centric’

The history being taught today is Delhi-centric, said author Anand Neelakantan — best known for his book The Rise of Sivagami, which released to rave reviews.

CHENNAI: The history being taught today is Delhi-centric, said author Anand Neelakantan — best known for his book The Rise of Sivagami, which released to rave reviews. The bestselling author was speaking on the second day of conclave. Neelakantan was a part of a panel discussion that discussed the topic ‘Epic Success: Telling Our Own Stories’, alongside fellow authors Anuja Chandramouli, Devi Yesodharan and Nikhil Chandwani.

Referring to the history taught in today’s curriculum, Neelakantan said, “The narrative that is being fed is of India (in its entirety) being under foreign rule for thousands of years. But the question is, whose India are we talking about?” While history dictates that the Maratha king Prithviraj Chauhan lost a major battle that paved the way to the Mughal rule, we would do well to remember that he was the ruler of a mere ‘panchayat’ in Northern India, he said. “No one knows about Marthanda Varma (ruler of Travancore) who defeated the Dutch. We don’t know the history of the South or North East, the only history we know is Delhi-centric,” he said.

Devi Yesodharan, author of historical fiction Empire, a book set in the time of Rajendra Chola, said History textbooks needed an overhaul. Today’s curriculum teaches us a lot about the works of English poets, but does not feature translated versions of our beautiful, regional literature like Sangam poetry, she said.

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