The historian’s charge is not to forget: Audrey Truschke

In her new book, India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent, Audrey Truschke once calls historians “killjoys”. It is, she tells Frontline, because people often like to weave “fantastic, semi-mythical ideas about the past where everything comes together”. The task of the historian, then, is to untie these neat ribbons of conviction and insist: it was not like that, no, it was not like that at all. This, she admits, is hardly the most pleasant part of her work. “But be mad at the truth,” she says. “Don’t be mad at the messenger.” Never one to shirk from controversy or run away from a fight, Truschke, a professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University, has long been a target of the Hindu Right, not least for her book-length reappraisal of Aurangzeb. With India, however, her lens widens. Her canvas becomes panoramic, and her questions become yet more expansive. What distinguishes Truschke’s telling of South Asian history is her instinct to foreground the underdog. Whether it is the manual scavengers of the Indus Valley Civilisation, the nuns who shaped early Buddhism, or the labourers who sustained the Mughal empire, she coaxes us to look at the subcontinent’s past from the bottom up: “I think it is incumbent upon historians not to simply do the easiest thing—not to keep using the same texts over and over, telling only the most obvious stories—but instead to make a few corrective moves, and seek out lesser-told narratives”. Refusing the temptation to view the past through the low-hanging prism of the present, Truschke shows instead how yesterday’s discrimination deepens into today’s inequity. While Truschke expertly traces the genealogy of hate in her book, she cautions against blaming history for our prevailing ills and bigotry. “I, for instance, do not think that Manu is responsible for [caste] prejudice in modern-day India. Modern Indians who exhibit those prejudices are responsible for them,” she says. Asked if India will ever move past its caste bias, her reply is firm: “Assuming our world does not come to a screeching halt, I absolutely think Indians will.” This belief in a brighter tomorrow is also underwritten by a personal hope. Truschke longs for the day when travel to India is once again safe for her. “Not being able to travel to India is one of the great sadnesses of my life,” she says. “I look forward to the day it moves to a better place, one that welcomes historians—both its own citizens and those from the international community.” Chapters: 00:00 – Audrey Truschke on her book 00:54 – Why write 5,000 years of South Asian history 02:14 – Limits of a sweeping history 04:01 – On Hindu nationalist criticism 20:01 – Bhagavad Gita and caste views 22:45 – William Dalrymple’s "The Golden Road" 28:33 – Aurangzeb, temples, and policy 39:42 – Gandhi’s legacy and the RSS Perfect for: 1) Students of South Asian history 2) Historians 3) Sociologists 4) Anyone interested in Indian history Credits: Interview by Shreevatsa Nevatia Edited by Razal Pareed Produced by Team Frontline