Revisionist Historians

via Girish Potti published on January 4, 2011

Recently I was watching the national geographic episode on Alexander the “great”. Alexander invades till Afghanistan and goes back to Greece for celebrating.His megalomania hits the point where he kills his best friend for suggesting his father was behind or the starting point of his sucess. Then he comes back for the ultimate prize of them all -India. I was hooked on the
narrative and then the narrative goes like this – Alexander defeated the Hindu king and then surprisingly gives the kingdom back to the king seeing his valor.He also for unexplained reasons took a circuitous route back to Greece through deserts. As proof of the national geographic narrative they put on a historian from India,some Bose,who comes in a suit for a second and says something like ” Alexander’s invasion influenced Indian gods who were sculpted modelled on greek gods from then on”.

This historian would say anything to appear on a national geographic spot.His suit says it all.
 
Alexander’s abrupt return from India and the fact that the kingdom was later ruled by the Hindu king and also the fact that he ran away using a hidden route casts serious doubts on the “historian’s” theory that  Alexander in fact defeated the Hindu King. It defies all logic. Maybe historian’s don’t think logically .I did some research online and found out the inspiring story of King Puruva. The only proof they have of him being defeated is written by a Greek historian 300 years after the battle. They also point to some painting in a temple as proof that Alexander defeated Puruva.Thats it.Zip.Nothing else and the whole world claims Alexander defeated Puruva when the logical facts points clearly that Puruva was victorious and Alexander couldnt make any impression on India.
 
India maybe the only country which allows its history to be said and written by foreigners.The national geographic narrative had a white caucasian historian and appeared to be a mumbling fool. They seem to be the ones etching out Indian history.
 
King Puruva’s story is an inspirational story of how our ancestors would give everything to protect the Bharat Dharma.   King Puruva’s success against Alexander was attributed to the elephants in his army. This also teaches us the fact that in a war whoever possesses the better weapon has the edge. The overpowering Indian Army back then led to the golden period in Indian history till 5th century AD. Later Indian rajas found out their swords were no match for
the tanks coming across the border.

 India’s History has been mostly written by the British or Nehru mold Indians.We should have better historians narrating these stories not just for us to feel good about, But could also teach us valuable lessons for the future.

Welcome to Haindava Keralam! Register for Free or Login as a privileged HK member to enjoy auto-approval of your comments and to receive periodic updates.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 characters available

four × four =

Responses

Latest Articles from Bharath Focus

Did You Know?