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An effort by Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) member-secretary Gopinath Ravindran to advocate the coexistence of all schools of history to keep alive the idea of a plural India during the Foundation Day lecture by American Vedic teacher David Frawley here on Friday, was cut short by some members of the gathering.
In his lecture, Dr. Frawley questioned the Aryan invasion theory and was also critical of India for not extensively teaching ancient India to its students.
“Few Indians today seem to know or take pride in their historical heritage that is one of the oldest in the world. …we find some Indian academics denigrating their own traditions, from a superficial view that does not adequately understand the background or purpose of the older teachings.”
As Prof. Ravindran questioned some of Dr. Frawley’s contentions, particularly his insistence that there was no Aryan invasion as made out by “colonial and Marxist historians,” some back-benchers in the audience protested and told the member-secretary to wrap up his address.
Referring to the Marxist school of history, Dr. Frawley said: “We are in a post-colonial/post-Marxist era because of the failure of Marxism the world over’’ and added that there was still quite a lot of it in India.
‘No one view’
In an oblique reference to this criticism of the Marxist school of history, Prof. Ravindran, before contesting Dr. Frawley’s argument on the Aryan invasion theory, said: “There is no one view of history. It is not a question of just taking the red out.’’ Arguing that all schools of history should coexist, he added: “It is important to safeguard the idea of India as a plural India. Disagreement is healthy but we should allow all strands of thought.’’
As members in the audience cut the member-secretary short, ICHR Chairman Y. Sudershan Rao stepped in to support Dr. Frawley’s contention, stating that the Aryan invasion theory is made up and not backed by archaeological evidence.