Most historians gave prominence to Mughals only, little on Cholas, Pandyas, Mauryas: Amit Shah

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Most of the historians in India have given prominence to recording the history of Mughals only, ignoring the glorious rules of many empires like Pandyas and Cholas, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday and asserted that “nobody can stop us from writing history as we are independent now”.

Asking historians to revive the glory of the past for the present, Shah, while releasing the book ‘Maharana: Sahastra Varsha Ka Dharma Yuddha’, said history is not written at the behest of the governments and other books but on the basis of factual events.

Speaking in Hindi, the home minister also said many Indian kings had fought invaders and protected their territories by defeating them bravely but unfortunately this has not found a place in great detail in the history so far.

The battle fought for the protection of the culture, language and religion for 1,000 years has not gone in vain as “India is again standing with respect before the world now and the country’s glory is recognised’, he said.

“I want to tell the historians. We have many empires but historians have concentrated only on the Mughals and wrote mostly about them. The Pandya empire ruled for 800 years. The Ahom empire ruled Assam for 650 years. They (Ahoms) had even defeated Bakhtiyar Khalji, Aurangzeb and kept Assam sovereign. The Pallava Empire ruled for 600 years. The Cholas ruled for 600 years.

“The Mauryas ruled the whole country — from Afghanistan to Lanka for 550 years. The Satvahanas ruled for 500 years. The Guptas ruled for 400 years and (Gupta emperor) Samudragupta had for the first time visioned a united India and established an empire with the whole country. But there is no reference book on them,” he said.

The home minister said reference books should be written on these empires and if they are written,”the history which we believe wrong will gradually fade away and the truth will emerge”.

For this, he said, there is a need to start work by many people.

“By keeping aside comments, our glorious history should be kept in front of the public. When we make big efforts, then automatically the attempt of falsehood becomes small. So, we should pay more attention to make our efforts bigger because even commenting on a lie also gives traction to it,” he said.

Shah said history is not written on the basis of victory or defeat but on the basis of the outcome of any event.

“No one can stop us from writing the truth. We are now independent. We can write our own history,” he said.

The home minister said it is a fact that some people have written history in such a way that it generates disappointment. “But India is such a country where disappointment can’t survive”.

“It may be decades, 50 years or a hundred years but in the end, it is the truth which will emerge victorious,” he said.

Shah said some historians have written some books on a small scale but no one has done any comprehensive work on the history of the whole country and there are limited reference books.

He said he wants to tell those engaged in writing, compiling or doing research in the field of history, that “the task of history is to revive the glory of the past for the present. I have full faith that if you resuscitate the glory of the past for the present, it helps in building a bright future for society.

He said the government is also taking initiatives but when the government takes the initiative for writing history, many difficulties come up.

“When independent historians write history, only truth comes up and that is why our people should write books with facts and without making any comments,” he said.