Overview

The present collection consists of essays and short notes on some of the issues that dominate the political and cultural discourse of contemporary India which is witnessing the unprecedented ascendancy of the Hindu Right. The volume represents a spontaneous response to its several loony assertions about the history and culture of India: India is a Hindu rashtra and the Hindu identity goes back to geological time; the cow has always been sacred and unslayble; Hinduism is a tolerant religion; mythologies are the true histories of India; chanting of Bharat Mata ki Jai is an indisputable proof of one’s patriotism; Indian historians are ‘Macaulay’s children’ – stupid statements such as these, made with increasing frequency by the Hindutva votaries, figure prominently in public discourse as well as in private drawing room conversations. This short yet timely volume seeks to debunk the myths of a fantastic antiquity of Hindu identity, spuriousness of the Brahminical tolerance and the pseudo nationalism of the saffron brigade whose historio- graphy is rooted in colonialism and has multiple western paternity. It is therefore addressed more to those lay men and women who may be vulnerable to the hocus-pocus of the Sangh Parivar and less to its members who are averse to reading, and rational thinking and love to wallow in their ignorance

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Dwijendra Narayan Jha was educated at the Presidency College, Calcutta, and Patna University where he taught history for more than a decade. He was Professor of History at the University of Delhi until his retirement in 2005. He has edited, and authored several works including The Myth of the Holy Cow (London, 2002) and Rethinking Hindu Identity (London, 2009) which have rattled India’s Hindu Right wing establishment. Professor Jha was elected Sectional President of Andhra Pradesh History Congress (1987) and General President, Punjab History Con- ference (1999). A UGC National Lecturer (1984-5) and Honorary Research Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study (1991-2), he was Secretary, Indian History Congress (1986-9) which elected him its General President in 2005-6. A recipient of the prestigious H.K. Barpujari Award in 1995, he was honoured by the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, in 2011 for his significant contributions.

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