Is our past so insignificant that it doesn’t need a mention in our present day school curriculum?
Zulhima Jan
History, as a subject, seems boring and dull to many but the undeniable truth is that it is the connecting link, a bridge between the past and the present. The history, whether taught as a part of curriculum in schools, colleges or universities or through the newspapers, creates awareness and enlightens our minds.
It is an effort to know ones past. In this way we achieve number of goals at once: it trains our mind, enlarges our vision, and provide much-needed historical perspective. So, history should form an inseparable part of any educational curriculum. Although our curriculum has given a due importance to the subject but what we are lacking is the perspective about our own Kashmiri history. Not a single chapter is devoted in the entire curriculum to Kashmiris history at middle and secondary level. We learn about Indian history, World history, Indian freedom struggle, about World Wars and many other important things but where is our own Kashmiri history. Is our own past history so insignificant that it doesn’t need a mention anywhere or we can see this as a policy to keep our coming generations ignorant about their roots.
Once we go through the books written on the history of Kashmir it is really astonishing to find that a huge chunk of books are partial and lacking honesty and objectivity, which is an important aspect of historical phenomenon. Starting from Kalhana to present day many books written, most of them by Pandits, are biased and unfair towards the majority community in Kashmir. The books which include “An Outline of the history of Kashmir” by Prof L N Dhar;
“Converted Kashmir: Memorial of Mistakes” by Narender Sehgal; “Kashmir: Wail of a Valley” by Mohan Lal Koul;
“Kashmir Article 370” by Mohan Krishen Teng; “ White Paper on Kashmir” by Dr M K Teng and C L Gadoo
And many other books by Ram Krishen Kaul Bhatt, Santosh Kaul, K N Pandit, M L Kotru, Anil Maheshwari and Prem Nath Bazaz.
Most of these books attempted to prove that Islam spread in Kashmir by force. They have produced concocted tales, manufactured myths to substantiate their argument that the conversion was by force and persecution. Thus Henry Sender, an prominent author, writes, “The past recalled by Pandits thus differed substantially from the past which had actually occurred”.
It is only few years ago some brilliant students of history have started writing about Kashmir. We have Prof Kashi Nath Pandit who is translating the works of Shamsu –Din-Araki and this book narrates how Shiaism spread in Kashmir.
In “Islam in Kashmir” by Prof Muhammad Ashraf Wani has critically examined the chronicles of Brahmin writers like Kalhana, Zonaraja, Srivara and later day Pandits and exposed their bias against Muslim community.
Distortions have taken place in past and may be repeated in future as there is dearth of authenticated books on Kashmir. It is clear that history is not something that can be hidden under the carpet. It is important to remind our children and our future generation that Kashmir has its own constitution, that like any other sovereign nation we had our own rule of law, that we once had our own Prime minister and importantly Indian state has made certain promises with the people of Kashmir which it hasn’t fulfilled till date. Oscar Wilde once remarked, "Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it." The need of the hour is to know our history, our roots and importantly our identity. We have this responsibility to clear the doubts about our status and position, to remove the confusion and to introduce our own one history in school curriculums.
Author student of English in the Department of English in University of Kashmir and can be mailed ats3ap3arl@gmail.com
Once we go through the books written on the history of Kashmir it is really astonishing to find that a huge chunk of books are partial and lacking honesty and objectivity, which is an important aspect of historical phenomenon. Starting from Kalhana to present day many books written, most of them by Pandits, are biased and unfair towards the majority community in Kashmir. The books which include “An Outline of the history of Kashmir” by Prof L N Dhar;
“Converted Kashmir: Memorial of Mistakes” by Narender Sehgal; “Kashmir: Wail of a Valley” by Mohan Lal Koul;
“Kashmir Article 370” by Mohan Krishen Teng; “ White Paper on Kashmir” by Dr M K Teng and C L Gadoo
And many other books by Ram Krishen Kaul Bhatt, Santosh Kaul, K N Pandit, M L Kotru, Anil Maheshwari and Prem Nath Bazaz.
Most of these books attempted to prove that Islam spread in Kashmir by force. They have produced concocted tales, manufactured myths to substantiate their argument that the conversion was by force and persecution. Thus Henry Sender, an prominent author, writes, “The past recalled by Pandits thus differed substantially from the past which had actually occurred”.
It is only few years ago some brilliant students of history have started writing about Kashmir. We have Prof Kashi Nath Pandit who is translating the works of Shamsu –Din-Araki and this book narrates how Shiaism spread in Kashmir.
In “Islam in Kashmir” by Prof Muhammad Ashraf Wani has critically examined the chronicles of Brahmin writers like Kalhana, Zonaraja, Srivara and later day Pandits and exposed their bias against Muslim community.
Distortions have taken place in past and may be repeated in future as there is dearth of authenticated books on Kashmir. It is clear that history is not something that can be hidden under the carpet. It is important to remind our children and our future generation that Kashmir has its own constitution, that like any other sovereign nation we had our own rule of law, that we once had our own Prime minister and importantly Indian state has made certain promises with the people of Kashmir which it hasn’t fulfilled till date. Oscar Wilde once remarked, "Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it." The need of the hour is to know our history, our roots and importantly our identity. We have this responsibility to clear the doubts about our status and position, to remove the confusion and to introduce our own one history in school curriculums.
Author student of English in the Department of English in University of Kashmir and can be mailed ats3ap3arl@gmail.com
http://risingkashmir.com
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