History vs Itihaas

Of late we have seen many debates and discussions about the recent history of India, subcontinent and the world, where we are busy dissecting, analysing the so called “facts”, judging the characters, fixing blame and satisfying our intellectual need to be “proven right”.

I sometimes wonder what purpose this rendition of history achieves for the progress of the mankind, our own evolution or growth! Does it make us better human beings? Or only keep following the maxim of “history repeating itself”? Does it propagate the message of unity and love or only widens the chasms and promotes hate, distrust and other negative emotions leading to the lowering of the human consciousness. Can anyone deny that the so-called “facts” are always somebody’s opinion, filtered through their own frame of reference.

I recently found a thought provoking article on the basic difference between HISTORY (a western approach) and ITIHASA (an Indian approach). For those interested, you may find it at https://adhyatmawritings.com/2016/02/19/itihasa-versus-history/. The ancient Indian historical accounts of Mahabharata and Ramayana are written in the tradition of Itihasa which acknowledges all the human failures and successes but finally brings out a positive message for humanity’s growth and evolution and thus remains ever relevant. In Itihasa, we try to focus on the meaning behind the events and also try to understand even the aberrant behaviour or personalities in the larger evolutionary context. So, after an impassioned reading of these accounts, one gets the message of love and hope and not of anger, frustration and discrimination which often is the case with the classical approach to “his”tory. Itihas based approach has the power to make “HIS” story into “OUR”story.

Wish someone,  well versed in the knowledge of recent history of India, takes up the job of writing the Itihasa of modern India!