Distorted History 2

In continuation of my yesterday’s blog, few more facts on distorted Indian history. The Mughals, The British and Congress party are the main culprits in distorting Indian History. Few of the classic examples, which hardly get mentioned in few pages of history although their empire lasted many centuries

1. The Vijaynagar Empire- this lasted between 1336 t0 1646 in southern part of India.. While the Mughal rule ( From Babur to Aurangjeb lasted about 170 years) in the northern India, has been covered extensively in Indian history where as reign of Vijaynagar empire is covered very briefly. The mughals never dared to enter Vijaynagar, but in the history books it has been projected as if mughals were ruling entire country. This empire was established by two brothers Harihara and Bukkya Raya, they were sons of Hindu couple who had converted to Islam. The brothers re converted to Hinduism and established the empire to fight the Muslim invaders and rulers.
2. The Maratha Empire- They were also contemporary of Mughals, and were always the thorns in the Mughal Empire. Empire was established by Shivaji, Marathas went on to rule all of western India to Cuttuck in the east, from central India to Karnataka in the south, a huge empire. But the Indian history text books barely describe this , and what they have mention gives the impression that Marathas were ruling only major portion of Maharashtra. They were mainly responsible for ending the mughal empire, before the British East India company took over, the Marathas have written a glorious chapter in Indian history. Shivaji is one of the greatest hero of Indian History. Marathas were also the main fighting force that restricted East India company. From Queen of Jhansi to Peshwa, all were Marathas who fought war of 1957.
3. The Sikh Empire-This is one of the most powerful Empires of India during 18th century. The empire was spread over the whole of undivided Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and parts of J & K. The history of this empire is virtually unknown to present generation outside Punjab. The glory ofv this empire and its ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his general and minister Hari Singh Nalwa. The stories of their bravery, wisdom and excellent rule should be part of pan Indian folklore. But sadly, this did not happen.
4. The Ahom Empire of Assam- This Assamese empire which ruled for nearly 600 years, is one of the greatest of India in last few centuries. It has the credit of defeating both the Mughals and the British. Unfortunately their story is unknown to most of the Indian outside Assam and other North Indian states. The most iconic personality , who became legend, from this empire is Lachit Borphukan, who was known for his leadership, as commander of armed forces, in 1671 battle of Saraighat that thwarted a drawn out attempt by Mughal forces  to capture Kamrup.
5. The Great Chola Dynasty- This was one of the greates empire in Indian history, and it was equivalent to the great Gupta Empire and mauryan Empire. The Cholas ruled from southern India to North East India, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and parts of Indonesia. This dynasty took care its citizens, people were happy, prosperous and literate. The prosperity of this kingdom can be judged by the fact that it had coins of copper, silver and gold in circulation. Outside Southern India, very little is known  about this dynasty. The Brihadesheshwar Temple in Thanjavur, is a maginficient example of Chola architecture.
6. Gupta Empire-from 320 to 445. Very little is known about this empire in Indian history and school text books, despite it is being called the golden age of India. It was an era where Science, Mathematics, Arts , Literature, Trade and all other fields prospered.
7. The Mauryan Empire- Indian history has some of the most glorious rulers in Ashoka, Bindusara, Chandragupta etc alongside Chanakya. But they are not given more than few paragraphs or an odd chapter in text books perhaps. It is known fact that without Ashoka, the world history would be entirely different, He was among the greatest rulers to have ruled. Ashoka ruled the Mauryan empire from 268 to 232 BC.

The other dynasty which gets hardly mentioned in the history books are Kalinga Dynasty of Orissa and Dogra Dynasty in Kashmir.

The above are the few examples, who are part of Indian history and we Indians hardly know about them. The reason being after freedom we are only fed with Mughal and British history in schools, and it is the Indian scholars, interested in history, who have unearthed the stories about the above rulers and dynasties. After Independence India at Centre was basically ruled by Congress, and so Congress only glorified Mughals, British and their own party in the history books.  As per Congress Indian history belongs to only these three, and all others have been sidelined or turned into myths.

This subject is quite vast, and presently I am ending the same at this juncture. my efforts to  find more details on this topic will continue.

Waiting for your views/feed backs/comments.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

23rd Oct 2018.