People's Democracy

INDIAN HISTORY CONGRESS HOLDS ITS 69^TH SESSION AT KANNUR, KERALA

From our Correspondent

OVER 750 delegates from all over India assembled for the 69^th session of the Indian History Congress at the campus of the Kannur University, Kerala, on December 28-30, 2008.

The session was inaugurated by the chief minister of Kerala, V S Achuthanandan on December 28. Achuthanandan praised the stand that the Indian History Congress has taken in defense of scientific historiography, freedom of opinion and secular ideals. He expressed confidence that the session being held in Kerala, for the fifth time, would be a very successful one and will significantly advance the cause to which the History Congress is committed.

Professor K N Panikkar in his address as the general president chose the theme of �Culture as a Site of Struggle�. He emphasised that historians especially Marxist historians, must more seriously study our past culture, and not let post-modernists and communalists dominate the terrain. He pointed out that whereas �Marxist studies are concerned with the problems of the underprivileged and their movements, the post-modern history, reflecting the interests of late capitalism, tends to fragment and disorient social realtiy.�

At the same time, �in the communal strategy the study of culture fulfils two purposes: first, to identify culture with religion, and, secondly, to redefine the nation exclusively through this relation.� To attain the twin objectives, communal historiography attempts a wholesale �factual misrepresentation in textbooks or invention of facts in research.� It, therefore, needs to be challenged in both these arenas.

Professor Panikkar spoke of the richness of the legacy of nationalist historians who had, like Ananda K Coomaraswamy, stressed the composite nature of India�s cultural past. It was this conception of Indian culture that Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru espoused so firmly. To them, Panikkar pointed out, �the cultural diversity� that our country�s history has given us, formed the very �foundation on which the idea of India has struck its roots.� The communal offensive and the post-modern rejection of such unity in diversity tend to undermine the entire secular perception of our past. In such a situation, Professor Panikkar felt, Marxist historians need to follow the example of D D Kosambi and study cultural history in much greater depth than they have done so far.

The morning session was followed by the delivery of addresses by the sectional presidents in the afternoon. In her address as president of the section on Ancient India, titled �Towards a History of Reproduction�, Professor Kumkum Roy (New Delhi) took up the critical issue of gender-selection that is giving to our population such an unbalanced sex-wise composition. With this as her starting point, she analysed an impressive range of texts from Ancient India to show how women are there sought to be reduced to mere mechanisms for (male-sex) reproduction. In his address read at the Medieval Indian section, Professor Afzal Husain (Aligarh) analysed the composition of the Mughal nobility as an illustration of a process of �accommodation and integration�, which contributed so much to the success of the Mughal Empire, as a body politic in gains from which different communities of the elite could claim a share. Professor Arun Bandopadhyay (Kolkata) chose for his theme (�Agrarian Change and Social Mobility�) the relationship between the weakening of the Mirasi tenures in Tamilnadu during colonial times and the rising aspirations of the depressed caste of Paraiyans. This session had a new section on Contemporary India. Its president, Professor Raghuvendra Tanwar (Kurukshetra) reassessed the roles of Shaikh Mohammad Abdullah and Master Tara Singh, and noted that the RSS-led Praja Parishad movement in Jammu and the pro-Hindi movement in Punjab had held much to do with the communal brush with which these two figures were tarred by official India. In his presidential address to the section on History of Countries other than India, Dr Haraprasad Ray (Kolkata), a Sinologist, made a special plea for cultural cooperation between India and China, recalling Tagore�s counsels in this matter.

The other main special functions of the session were the S C Misra Memorial Lecture, which was given on December 28, and the symposium on Language Change, on December 29. Professor Shireen Moosvi, delivering the S C Misra Memorial Lecture, suggested the lines on which gender history could be reconstructed, with special attention paid to gender division of labour and the position of women under regimes of class exploitation. In the symposium on Language Change, Professor Romila Thapar underlined the fact that Prakrit was the first all-India written language that emerged in Ancient India, and dealt with its implications. Professor Irfan Habib analysed how the basis was laid in medieval times for the Hindustani language, as the spoken form of both modern Hindi and Urdu. Finally, Professor Imtiaz Hasnain discussed the degree to which very early words, descendants of proto-Indo-Aryan or proto-Dravidian, have survived in isolated languages, and what such survivals can tell us about the past of the people using them.

Over 600 papers were presented at the different sections of the session. The list of printed papers shows that the themes were wide-ranging, but a tendency towards conventional narrative still prevails. Many papers, however, suggested revision of views conventionally held; those with Marxist orientation were rather few.

The Indian History Congress organised a special panel on �Aruna Asaf Ali: Fighter for Freedom, Women�s Rights and Secularism�, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, where papers were presented by Professors Aparna Basu, R Gopinath and Amar Farooqui and others. The Aligarh Historians Society organised a panel on History and History Writing in India, on December 29 and 30 at which 19 papers were presented, most of which had been precirculated. These included papers by Professors Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, B B Chaudhuri, R Champakalakshmi, D N Tripathi, B P Sahu and Kesavan Veluthat.

The Indian History Congress maintained its rigorous tradition of placing in the hands of the delegates, the printed text of the Proceedings (including over a hundred selected papers) of the last year�s session, free of cost. This year there were two thick volumes. Because they are very closely refereed and edited, the University Grants Commission has notified the Indian History Congress that any paper published in its Proceedings can count as a research paper for evaluation in the career-advancement process for the position of Professor.

The delegates� general satisfaction with the way the Indian History Congress is being conducted was shown, among other things, by the fact that a panel of twenty candidates for the executive committee was elected unopposed.

At the general business meeting held on December 30, the History Congress passed a resolution mourning the victims of the Mumbai terror-attack and of other acts of terror. While calling for the detection and punishment of the guilty, the resolution expressed the hope that �the purpose of the perpetrators is not aided by the disturbance of peace and amity among the countries of the subcontinent�.

The History Congress continued to press for better access to archives. In one resolution, it demanded that the work of hand listing of documents should be energetically pursued, and in another that the central and state governments should regularly transfer documents and files to the national and state archives.

A special resolution congratulated Professor Romila Thapar for the Kluge Foundation Award received by her for her lifetime contribution to History.

While the History Congress was in session news arrived of the barbaric Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. The Students Federation of India organised a rally at the Kannur University on December 30, which was addressed, among others, by Professor Irfan Habib.

The executive committee of the History Congress elected Professor R Champakalakshmi (Chennai) to be the general president at its next year�s session, which is going to be held at Hyderabad under the aegis of the Osmania University. Professors Suvira Jaiswal and Irfan Habib were elected vice-presidents. The sectional presidents will be Professor Sishir Kumar Panda (Ancient India), Professor N R Faruqi (Medieval India), Professor Rajen Saikia (Modern India), Professor T R Ghoble (Countries other than India), Dr Ashok Datta (Archaeology) and Professor Rajen Harshe (Contemporary India).

Professor B P Sahu�s very successful three-year term as secretary ended with this session. Professor Arun Bandopadhyay (Kolkata) is the new secretary, while Dr Rajshekhar Basu replaces Dr R P Rana as treasurer. The joint secretaries are Professors A S Satyanarayana (Hyderabad) and S Z H Jafri (Delhi).

The members of the new executive committee are Professors S N Arya, C Balan, Suraj Bhan, Susnta Das, (Ms) Suchandra Ghosh, Bishwambhar Jha, V Kunhali, (Ms) Ruby Maloni, (Ms) Shireen Moosvi, (Ms) Jahnabi Gogoi Nath, S N R Rizvi, B P Sahu, , C P N Sinha, Ganapathy Subbiah, Kesavan Velluthat, Dr Najaf Haider, Dr R P Rana, Dr Srinath, Dr (Ms) Radhika Sheshan and Dr Jaydev Gandalur Sudhakar.

A word must be said about the excellent arrangements made by the host university. The vice-chancellor, Professor P Chandra Mohan who had invited the History Congress to hold its session at the Kannur university, was especially thanked at the Business Session, for his support and ready cooperation. Professor C Balan, the local secretary, and Professor Kunhali and their team of teachers and student volunteers did all they could to make the delegates� stay comfortable and the academic proceedings conducted according to schedule. It is understood that the state government of Kerala also came to the assistance of the Kannur university with a large financial grant. The chief minister himself came by rail and road from the capital Thiruvananthapuram, some 500 kilometers distant, to be present at the inaugural session. The delegates greatly appreciated this gesture.