Not a day passes by without any uproar over some or other controversy stirred by the right wingers and the far left. The latest fad being "Tipu sultan". People who cry foul over the state government's patronage towards pushing Tipu centenary to the very day when he massacred an entire village over suspected attempts to overthrow his government must voice out the reason why they were silent all this while? Or had they been regularly vociferous but the media is selectively highlighting the issue now to stir the country against the elected government? In either case, its a blatant abuse of playing with people's emotions.
Coming back to the Tipu issue.
Not just Tipu, any Indian king for that matter, have always been painted as a picture of benevolence. As much as their arts and cultural deeds were glossed over and their victories cherished, their war acts were mere one liners which never spoke of the cruelties inflicted on the opposing forces and the struggles faced by the losers. Especially when it comes to Mughals, our historians or custodians of school syllabus, conveniently hide the atrocities committed by them on Hindus and skip the acts of forcible conversions and genocides committed in the name of religion. I would definitely not want to scar the minds of kids with gore and barbaric deeds of erstwhile kingdoms. At the same time, the current crop of politicos, who cunningly choose to give a secular paint to such despots in the name of appeasing minorities, are those who scare me and the future of this country. Tipu might've really killed all those people on the day of Deepavali which those villagers, even after so many generations are still observing as a day of immense sadness. (Someone had interestingly linked the current CM as one amongst the descendants at the hope of pouring more fuel to the raging fire. It's definitely not the best of times for CM's and other leaders belonging to majority class for every single step of their life is under immense scrutiny) If i am not wrong, so did he kill a church full of christians in Mangalore (?) including so many women that it finally led to his defeat at the hands of British.
Few things about all these issues stump me.
- As much as Mughals are tagged as muslims, i've never heard anyone tagging Britishers as Christians!! May be its just brewing steady and is awaiting an outbreak or since the vast majority of Americas and Europe, who control what the world needs to trade, fight,read and understand follow Christianity, its under wraps to prevent their wrath?
- If Tipu can be vilified for his act of violence, how about the Chalukyas who destroyed Pallava monuments? Cholas who killed Cheras and Pandyas who lead proxy war against Cholas? So each descendant of every clan can claim apology from other?
- Forget about the religions that entered India via invasions. What about the scores of people who were killed over war between our own gods. Those numerous battles fought in the name of spreading Saiva, Vaishnava and converting-re converting emperors from Baudhdham and Jainism, if we track back every single instance in history favouring one king, there is always a case of extremist action by the very same against our very own.
This phenomena of tracing back historical events and claiming refuge over foul play to our ancestors by someone's forefathers is not restricted to India alone. Imagine the poor native Americans who once were spread all over the continent and are now relegated to few square miles of confined settlements. Imagine the response from current creed of Americans over any outcry by the natives over atrocities committed during Trail of tears and other cruel acts which are not just well documented but are the very definition of genocide, going by the standards of any era. Imagine the outcry by the natives over Universities decision to swap mascots that represent their heritage. The situation is still the same. Can the present be held accountable for the deeds/misdeeds of their fore fathers? Logic might favour in concurrence for if they can enjoy the benefits from the past why not the burden of their sins?
World over, the concept of policing has taken a huge beating and has come under such immense scrutiny like never before. Even drug lords and murderous Mafia are spared and are some time even deified by the media, but not the law enforcers. If in India, a cop has to decide on the news of arrest based on the religion of the suspect and at times on the locality, its the colour and race, for an American cop that forms the crucial determinant. In its TRP frenzy, the media has created an environ where cops are afraid to arrest, criminals are not afraid of committing crimes, while the general public are afraid of both the police and the rowdies, with media holding sway over everyone.
History has always and will continue to remain the version of the victors with good media clout. Those kings who had talented artisans who can write good literature had the benefit of their valour spread across eras as against those whoever bereft of such talents. Replace those poets and sculptors with present day media the situation remains the same. But the winners change and keep changing. If there is one thing that is forever prone to change that would be history, as no winner survive forever. But the via media survives. Its that snake which keeps pushing the forbidden fruit to people, tricking them into make believes.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. The greatest evil that we would let upon us would be convincing ourselves that our version of history will stand the test of time and its worth to spill innocent blood over it.
Coming back to the Tipu issue.
Not just Tipu, any Indian king for that matter, have always been painted as a picture of benevolence. As much as their arts and cultural deeds were glossed over and their victories cherished, their war acts were mere one liners which never spoke of the cruelties inflicted on the opposing forces and the struggles faced by the losers. Especially when it comes to Mughals, our historians or custodians of school syllabus, conveniently hide the atrocities committed by them on Hindus and skip the acts of forcible conversions and genocides committed in the name of religion. I would definitely not want to scar the minds of kids with gore and barbaric deeds of erstwhile kingdoms. At the same time, the current crop of politicos, who cunningly choose to give a secular paint to such despots in the name of appeasing minorities, are those who scare me and the future of this country. Tipu might've really killed all those people on the day of Deepavali which those villagers, even after so many generations are still observing as a day of immense sadness. (Someone had interestingly linked the current CM as one amongst the descendants at the hope of pouring more fuel to the raging fire. It's definitely not the best of times for CM's and other leaders belonging to majority class for every single step of their life is under immense scrutiny) If i am not wrong, so did he kill a church full of christians in Mangalore (?) including so many women that it finally led to his defeat at the hands of British.
Few things about all these issues stump me.
- As much as Mughals are tagged as muslims, i've never heard anyone tagging Britishers as Christians!! May be its just brewing steady and is awaiting an outbreak or since the vast majority of Americas and Europe, who control what the world needs to trade, fight,read and understand follow Christianity, its under wraps to prevent their wrath?
- If Tipu can be vilified for his act of violence, how about the Chalukyas who destroyed Pallava monuments? Cholas who killed Cheras and Pandyas who lead proxy war against Cholas? So each descendant of every clan can claim apology from other?
- Forget about the religions that entered India via invasions. What about the scores of people who were killed over war between our own gods. Those numerous battles fought in the name of spreading Saiva, Vaishnava and converting-re converting emperors from Baudhdham and Jainism, if we track back every single instance in history favouring one king, there is always a case of extremist action by the very same against our very own.
This phenomena of tracing back historical events and claiming refuge over foul play to our ancestors by someone's forefathers is not restricted to India alone. Imagine the poor native Americans who once were spread all over the continent and are now relegated to few square miles of confined settlements. Imagine the response from current creed of Americans over any outcry by the natives over atrocities committed during Trail of tears and other cruel acts which are not just well documented but are the very definition of genocide, going by the standards of any era. Imagine the outcry by the natives over Universities decision to swap mascots that represent their heritage. The situation is still the same. Can the present be held accountable for the deeds/misdeeds of their fore fathers? Logic might favour in concurrence for if they can enjoy the benefits from the past why not the burden of their sins?
World over, the concept of policing has taken a huge beating and has come under such immense scrutiny like never before. Even drug lords and murderous Mafia are spared and are some time even deified by the media, but not the law enforcers. If in India, a cop has to decide on the news of arrest based on the religion of the suspect and at times on the locality, its the colour and race, for an American cop that forms the crucial determinant. In its TRP frenzy, the media has created an environ where cops are afraid to arrest, criminals are not afraid of committing crimes, while the general public are afraid of both the police and the rowdies, with media holding sway over everyone.
History has always and will continue to remain the version of the victors with good media clout. Those kings who had talented artisans who can write good literature had the benefit of their valour spread across eras as against those whoever bereft of such talents. Replace those poets and sculptors with present day media the situation remains the same. But the winners change and keep changing. If there is one thing that is forever prone to change that would be history, as no winner survive forever. But the via media survives. Its that snake which keeps pushing the forbidden fruit to people, tricking them into make believes.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. The greatest evil that we would let upon us would be convincing ourselves that our version of history will stand the test of time and its worth to spill innocent blood over it.
Comments
The Tipu Sultan controversy is simply trouble mongers fishing. Those who are involved in the issue may not even know who Tipu Sultan was and what he did. They are just out to create trouble and assert their power. That's all. Its the most futile controversy I have ever heard of.
Sheer idiocy.