LONG before many historians called the Hindutva forces’ bluff with respect to Indian history, Professor D.N. Jha had talked about the not-so-divine status of the cow in the Hindu religion. Basing his argument largely on scriptures, he came up with The Myth of the Holy Cow . Hindutva outfits panned the book but could not dispute the words of the holy texts he quoted. Jha stood his ground, and the cow began to be seen as a political rather than divine animal. “The bull rather than the cow deserved a divine status,” he argued, saying that there have been temples dedicated to Nandi.
For the past few years, the soft-spoken academic has been waging another battle: safeguarding India’s pluralist past. Be it raising his voice against atrocities inflicted on minorities and Dalits or exposing the shallowness of the Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan, Jha’s arguments are rooted in history. He has argued that the way forward is not through a slogan like Bharat Mata ki Jai but Jai Hind, not through Brahmanical superiority but egalitarianism. He disagrees with any notion of a mythical golden age in Indian history, arguing that kings, whatever their religion, have always waged battles for political superiority.
In his latest book, Against the Grain , released recently, he continues his battle for writing history right.
LONG before many historians called the Hindutva forces’ bluff with respect to Indian history, Professor D.N. Jha had talked about the not-so-divine status of the cow in the Hindu religion. Basing his argument largely on scriptures, he came up with The Myth of the Holy Cow . Hindutva outfits panned the book but could not dispute the words of the holy texts he quoted. Jha stood his ground, and the cow began to be seen as a political rather than divine animal. “The bull rather than the cow deserved a divine status,” he argued, saying that there have been temples dedicated to Nandi.
For the past few years, the soft-spoken academic has been waging another battle: safeguarding India’s pluralist past. Be it raising his voice against atrocities inflicted on minorities and Dalits or exposing the shallowness of the Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan, Jha’s arguments are rooted in history. He has argued that the way forward is not through a slogan like Bharat Mata ki Jai but Jai Hind, not through Brahmanical superiority but egalitarianism. He disagrees with any notion of a mythical golden age in Indian history, arguing that kings, whatever their religion, have always waged battles for political superiority.
In his latest book, Against the Grain , released recently, he continues his battle for writing history right.