Thapar, Romila  <br/><br/>
Our history, your history, whose history? 

 - India International Centre   
 - 50(1), Summer, 2023: p.1-17 
<br/><br/> The highly respected historian of modern Europe, Eric Hobsbawm, commenting on the relationship of history to nationalism, given that histories become prolific when a society nurtures nationalism, writes that history is to nationalism what a poppy is to a heroin addict. I would add that the dependence has to be recognised and analysed. Origins generally rise in status when placed in the ancient past. They then have to be legitimised by assessing evidence and accuracy. What comes from the poppy and enters the mind of the heroin addict, conjures up fantasies about a magnificent past—or otherwise—and about which fantasy sustains the present. Those of you who are familiar with the counter currents of actual history as opposed to imagined history in the India of today, or indeed have smoked pot, might appreciate the parallel.- Reproduced