Itihasam-True History

 

ITIHASAM–True HISTORY

Ryan Baidya, PhD., MBA

 

Itihasam is a connected word of three words – Iti (meaning - this) ha (meaning - happened) and asam (meaning - exactly this way).  Thus the whole meaning of the word Itihasam is “This happened exactly this way”

 

All Itihasam is history, all history is not Itihasam

Therefore, when history is told or written that is devoid of bias, manipulation, omission, and/or fabrication is called Itihasam.  History the way we know it, and the way it had been written, are not always the way it happened. 

 

History by definition is the facts of a time, and the fact is always true (the way it happened). However, that truth is not always, decoded as it happened.  Writers, historians, and contemporary pundits do their best to decode facts from the information and materials with the admixture of composite influences of economic, social, political, and individual beliefs.  Therefore, history needs to be reevaluated, re-accessed with the passage of time, advancement of technologies, and development of human intrinsic philosophical and moral (dharmic) wisdom.

 

Kalachakra –Time wheel

 

 

Since history was always written by the powerful and the victor, it is currently being written by the powerful and the victor, and it will be done so in the future unless we, the people take a very small step to tell the tale now, or never.

 

Let us consider a few examples to cement our thoughts on this simple point.

The most contemporary event in Indian history is its transfer of power from Great Britain to the Indian then Congress party led by then a small group of elites, intellectuals, and freedom fighters.   India governed itself through many small, medium, and large ups and downs with that power comprising of systems and instruments of laws and regulations, thought processes, and methodologies for the past 75 plus years.   However, many of those processes and methodologies had been modified, and updated; and many new systems, processes, and methodologies were adopted as well along the way. 

 

Both the young and the old citizens of India now and then become baffled with the moment to celebrate and commemorate the Start of the present nation of India.   Questions arise should we celebrate the moment when the people of India first hoisted its tricolor pride and governed a piece of land by the name Republic of India on December 30, 1943, with formal currency, civil code, and other administrative instruments, or the day when the British India Administration transfer its wrongfully captured authority to rule India to then the President of the Congress party of India on August 15, 1947, with very much same or similar civil code and other administrative instruments that the British used to oppress and to exploit Indians for nearly two centuries. 

 

On that day, India became a commonwealth dominion under the British Empire (https://www.worldatlas.com/what-was-a-dominion.html).  To the surprise of many, even after 75 years, the Indian administration rules Indian citizens with many of those civil codes and administrative instruments that the British handed over to the president of the Congress party.   The word is still RULES, not SERVES, which is precise for a democratically elected administration. 

 

I say that because in a ruling system, people of the land are the subjects (that was the case during the British raj).  The demand is always on the subjects.  Whereas, in a free and democratic nation people of the land are the lords and the members of the administration are the paid servants.  Scrutiny and demand must be on the administration.  To have the latter function properly, administrative rules, regulations, and civil codes must be adopted accordingly.

 

Several nations were forcefully ruled by foreign nations, and though they initially celebrated the departure of their foreign rulers as their day of independence, they appropriately reassigned a different date for their true freedom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_independence_days).   These nations genuinely recognized the importance of identifying the true moment of triumph against the invading power and the first day of ruling its land by its people.  This recognition could be synonymous with knowing by one who one’s true parents are.   This authentication becomes a very important cornerstone of one’s life as a bonafide citizen of a nation.  Any adulteration of this information gives rise to a non-harmonious society in that nation.

 

That history of change in the Indian governing body, and the terms and conditions that came with it is still cloudy and confusing even to the scholars of history.   There are many debates, commentaries, scholarly articles, and books written on it to shed light on that history so that young pupils could read their history text and not be confused.  When young citizens are confused about their country’s history, that is not a good thing for themselves and the country. 

 

Anyway, my intention here is to elaborate on one point that true history could give the appropriate direction for a nation’s future.  And, making the wrong history right is an ongoing process and the country should always be vigilant and proactively right the wrong of its history for its holistic progress.

 

Now let’s go back a couple of hundreds of years and we will end up in further confusion about the country known as Bharat – a name of land known to its people for the past ten thousand years.   Pre-British India history, as we were taught in our schools, is truncated, diluted, and even altered in some instances to fit the contemporary narratives, and political undue advantages and maneuvers. 

 

Pre-sultanate era remains largely feeble and the Christ and the pre-Christ era turned into myths.  The country’s collective wisdom, philosophy, psychology, social norm, and interpersonal relationship all have an origin at the beginning of the country’s establishment.  A cloudy and confusing history only gives a week, confusing and hostile collective, wisdom, philosophy, psychology, social norm, and interpersonal relationship; and that is a very unfortunate prospect for building a harmonious community by the citizens of that nation. 

 

Better the understanding one has about its ancestral history better the individual becomes a bonafied citizen. Knowing one’s family history is knowing one’s roots.  These roots help keep the family harmonious and propel it toward prosperity and happiness.  Similarly, knowing own nation’s history as deep and as far assists its citizens anchored in (rooted in) connectedly with each other.  This in turn helps its citizen to weather out internal and external calamities whenever those arise, and the nation moves on for collective prosperity and peacefulness.

 

Recently, the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) has taken an initiative to appropriately document an all-inclusive history of Bharat.  Among other things, ICHR invites historians to objectively explore Indian Itihasam from the Vedic era to the formation of the Republic of India. 

 

Itihasam of South India that including the mega Chola dynasty should get its rightful position in Indian history, and at the same time vast thousands of years’ glorious history of Bharat’s mountain region of Jammu-Kashmir-ladakh should not merely be truncated to the past couple of centuries.

 

Team to Decode Itihasam

These days, historians and archeologists, along with other historical materials, must use an ensemble of technological tools and equipment to get to the truth.  Such tools are Software driven ground penetrating LiDAR, AI, robotics, drones, and simulation modeling.   Furthermore, to fix the time of early historical events, if possible, use astronomical data, and the earth’s rotation parameters as well.  These parameters remain unaffected by human interferences and natural calamities for thousands of years.  Therefore, Itihasam-investigators should comprise of computer scientists, astronomers, mathematicians, linguists, historians, and archeologists. 

 

A Citizenry Project Itihasam

Present netizens gifted with the best possible tools and technologies of our time.  They are large, energetic, and born-free souls.  They deserve to know their past as it happened.  So, we call upon the netizens to take part in uncovering your history using your digital devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets), and web platforms.

 

Citizenry Project Itihasam is borne out of your activities of your telling the tale  – the way you see it, the way you learned it from your parents and ancestors, the way it is hidden in a corner of your town, village, the bushes, the river-banks, and the mountains nearby.  Your active participation in a project Itihasam can put the events and the stories of the long-long past amid facts, art effects, and folklores.   This will be very valuable to the historians and the ICHR.  And, you will have a near pure history.

 

This will allow historians, scientists, and data technologists either to re-authenticate or rectify the currently written history through the doctrine of “This happened exactly this way” to be characterized as an event of Itihasam.

 

Then, there are people, facts, and events that were of no interest to the writers of the historical event at that time, and that may have tremendous values and importance now.  Itihasam wishes to capture glimpses of such events and people of the past.  Such people are the tribes of the lands.  Their languages, cultures, and lives are part of the lost history of humanity.  The more we all do this more the history comes closer to the event that happened - the "True" history.

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Additional Information

https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/india/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharata_(Mahabharata)

https://www.worldhistory.org/india/

http://ichr.ac.in/v2/index.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxmWTZnpG5o&ab_channel=Audioburst

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_world_maps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIOM79D-l9w&ab_channel=PDFvisuals

https://nileshoak.wordpress.com/

https://rajarammohanroy.medium.com/

 

She Is

Project: She Is

Project She-Is is to look into the abuses of women from all walks of life and expressing their silent voices that are glass-shatteringly loud and heart penetratingly sharp.  We present their voices through the book titled: She Is.

The mission of this project is to touch individuals' inner emotions through the vivid representation of abuses of women.  We have used the works of artist Phauzdar who dedicated his entire life to expressing the soundless voices of the women Mr. Phauzdar persistently has been raising his voice for the past four decades through his artworks.  With his artworks and their narratives, we present his voice that resonates with the voices of many.  Please use the link below for an excerpt from the book.

https://online.fliphtml5.com/smxvq/obvf/

The 256-page book contains 103 artworks and multiple other images.

It is a hybrid book with artworks and voices of the women who had been denigrated and abused. The book also presented the status of women before the "modern" era - respected and admired.  Each plate in this book is a story of wrongdoings endured by not one, not two, but thousands of thousands of women.  Each plate speaks for them to us to remind us that we have still a long way to go into making our society more just.  We must change, and change soon as a whole society.

The attitude towards women has to be clear and unambiguous. She forms the foundation of our society.  If we destroy the status, education, and dignity of women, we will destroy society.

If we want to form a society that stands up to the highest echelon of principles and nobility bestows the highest glory to a woman and lets her possess the knowledge, dignity, and leadership.

Please give us your views and opinions on this project.  Also, help us on how to bring this one-of-a-kind Collectible book to a larger audience.

Support this project and reserve a copy for yourself and make a donation to Takshila Foundation [501(c)3]:  https://tinyurl.com/Takshila-SheIs

 

Thank you.

Takshila Foundation

Revisiting Panchsheel: Tibet and India

Tibet: India must Rescind its Interim Recognition of Tibet as being part of China

Anjali Kanojia, PhD, and Ryan Baidya PhD

Tibet has flourished for centuries; it has been a living hub of ancient culture and spirituality, minding its own business, so to speak.  Tibet has made vast contributions to the world in terms of spiritual wealth and philosophy.  As parts of the Indian subcontinent were being invaded and the Hindu civilization was obliterated by the barbaric attackers, many seekers, gurus and spiritual masters took refuge in the safety and solitude of Tibet, allowing Hindu and Buddhist thought and literature to survive and flourish.  Thus, Tibet holds extreme importance to Indians as it denotes resilience and survival. 

India & Tibet – Mutual Roots

One usually thinks of the recent history of Buddhism arriving from India to Tibet.  However, the harmonious relationship between India and Tibet runs farther and deeper and predates the time of the Gautama Buddha.  Tibetan scholar Bu-ston wrote that the Tibetan race comes from the descendants of the Military General – Rupati – a general from the Kaurava army from the times of the Mahabharata.  Tibetan chronicles documents that Rupati went to Tibet after the Kauravas were defeated by the Pandava army after the epic battle of Mahabharata ended and Rupati was followed by a large number of his consignment into Tibet. 

India in a sense can be considered as a mother, which gave birth to the beautiful culture of Tibet where the same stream of consciousness flows between the two entities. 

The roots of Tibet are Indian, and this continued with the advent of Buddhism in Tibet and noble Buddhist thought and philosophy influenced the people and the way of life for the region of Tibet.  Two Tibetan kings – Songtsen Gampo and Trisong-Detsen played a vital role in history by introducing Buddhism to their praja (citizens) in the 7^th and 8^th century.  This influence is still practiced and observed in the rituals, art, literature, poetry and day-to-day lives of the beautiful Tibetan people. 

Political Background

This historic border between India and Tibet was called the Indo-Tibetan border and China (Sino) had no mention in defining that border.  Tibetan history shows that Tibetan powerful rulers in the 7^th century invaded parts of China, and the annexed Chinese territory was even paying taxes or tribute according to a treaty (Treaty of 821 A.D.) between the Tibetan king Tsenpo and the Chinese Emperor Hwang citing “neighborly contentment,” and “establishing a great era when Tibetans shall be happy in Tibet and Chinese shall be happy in China, shall never be changed.”   The Chinese forces violated the 821 A.D. bilateral treaty by continuously invading Tibet over the centuries.  

Tibetans have lost most of their Central Asian possessions to the Chinese and the great Tibetan Empire all but vanished by the 9^th century due to Chinese and Mongol invasions.  

The British signed the Lhasa Convention with the Government of Tibet after their expedition and this denotes Tibet’s sovereignty.  It should be noted that China is nowhere in the picture and all official business was conducted with the government of Tibet. 

Twentieth Century

Mongolia and Tibet had a formal, bilateral treaty in 1913 where the two nations maintained recognition and Mongolia had kept an Ambassador in the Tibetan capital – Lhasa.  In 1913-1914, the representatives of British India, Tibet and China met in Shimla and settled the political status of Tibet and defined Tibet’s relations with China.  British-ruled India and Tibet signed an Indo-Tibet border treaty establishing the McMahon Line, which mainly defined the eastern Himalayan international borderline at the Shimla Convention.  However, the Shimla Convention failed to meet the goals it set out to accomplish.

Neighboring Nepal, in 1949 applied for the United Nations membership and formally stated that the Tibetan nation had independent, diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, India, Burma, the United States of America and Tibet.  This clearly shows Tibet as an independent entity. 

Chinese Invasion

The Chinese again invaded Tibet in 1949.  India’s foreign office responded to the violation (of 821-treaty) on October 26, 1950 as:  “In the context of world events, invasion by Chinese troops of Tibet cannot but be regarded as deplorable and in the considered judgment of the Government of India, not in the interest of China or peace”.

India’s response clearly shows that India did not recognize Tibet as part of China.  If India did recognize Tibet as part of China, it would not refer to the violation of the 821 A.D. as an “invasion.”

When India became independent of the British in 1947, the Government of India sent the following note recognizing the Tibetan government:  “The Government of India would be glad to have an assurance that it is the intention of the Tibetan government to continue relations on the existing basis until new arrangements are reached that either party may wish to take up. This is the procedure adopted by all other countries with which India has inherited treaty relations from His Majesty’s Government”.

Mao Zedong acknowledged independent Tibet

After the fall of the Manchus in 1911, China offered both Nepal and Tibet to join China and both the nations refused.  China clearly recognized each of these nations as being sovereign entities up till this moment of time.  During World War II, Tibet continuously maintained neutrality and did not allow passage of any troops through its territory.  Even Mao Zedong acknowledged the independent status of Tibet in year 1938 when traveling through the Tibet-China border regions and said that “This is our only foreign debt, and some day we must pay — the Tibetans for the provisions we received from them”.

Soon after the failure of the Shimla Convention where China refused to sign the treaty, Mao Zedong declared a liberation plan for Tibet and began claiming that Tibet has always been a part of China.  The Indian Prime Minister – Jawaharlal Nehru for the first time recognized China’s claim over Tibet and signed the Panchsheel Treaty in 1954 acknowledging the same. 

Nehru’s ill thought faux pas set a dangerous precedent in history which affects the relationship between  India and Tibet as well as other foreign policy decisions. 

On June 23, 2003, while visiting China, in a joint declaration signed by then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, for the first-time recognized Tibet as a part of China.  However, soon after the declaration, China repeatedly violated this declaration and Panchsheel accord by substance and spirit.  China’s aggression has continued even today with increased vigor and voracity.

India had enough and India has begun to ‘Right’ the ‘Wrong’.  In 2014, when Mr. Narendra D. Modi got elected by an unprecedented mandate by the citizens of India, Mr. Modi invited the head of the exiled government of Tibet to his swearing-in ceremony.

Righting the Wrongs   

More than 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a result of China’s occupation of Tibet.  The culture and people have been systemically destroyed and redirected resources that put Tibetans in a terrible position for survival.  China indiscriminately diverted water from the multinational rivers which originate in Tibet thereby putting the lives and well-being of billions of people at risk.  

India not just from a moral and ethical perspective but from a cultural perspective needs to maintain a protective status towards nations such as Tibet and Nepal and it is in everyone’s mutual interest that their sovereignty remain intact and protected from the neighboring Communist dreams and agendas. 

Given the recent issues between India and China over land grabbing, India needs to firm up its policies towards all its neighboring nations, especially Tibet.  Nations often declare treaties to be moot, and it is time for India to declare that it will no longer recognize the Panchsheel Treaty of 1954 to be valid.  India has no choice but to rescind its reluctant recognition of Tibet as a part of China, and formally re-recognize Tibet as a sovereign nation.

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Bibliography

1.      Art: Phauzdar, 2010  (www.Phauzdar.com)

2.      Deb-snon and Mkhas-pahi-dgah-ston

3.      Tibet: A Political History by Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa,Yale University Press,

4.      New Haven and London. 1967. p.5.

5.      India Tibet Policy, L.L. Mehrotra, 2000

6.      http://www.umass.edu/rso/fretibet/education.html

7.      Memoranda and Letters Exchanged and Agreements signed by the Governments of India and China, Vol. 2, 1959 p. 39.

8.      Red star over China, New York edition. 1961. p. 214.

9.      Tibet - A Source Book - edited by Dr. Anand Kumar, New Delhi, 1994.p.55.

iDR: Indian Defense Review

http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/tibet-india-must-rescind-its-interim-recognition-of-tibet-as-being-part-of-china/

https://medium.com/@eduzakka/revisiting-panchsheel-tibet-india-f0cacfa3ae9a

MYInd

https://myind.net/Home/viewArticle/india-must-rescind-its-interim-recognition-oftibet-as-being-part-of-china