What is needed in history is not reform, but innovation, speakers on the Kerala panel at the Indian History Congress being held here have opined.
The panel comprising Rajan Gurukkal, Kesavan Veluthat and Sanal Mohan said efforts were being made recently to rewrite history. “But history needs no corrections. History is an endless process. History innovates itself constantly and efforts should be made to understand it,” the panel members said citing that there were attempts in recent days to make history a product. Mr. Gurukkal said that the study of history would only be enriched by the development of science beyond the disciplines. Even scientific truths were not final, he said adding that history was similar to that.
Critical analysis
Mr. Veluthat said critical analysis was essential to the study of history. He noted that colonial writers, including William Logan, made historical and caste-based assessments. Sanal Mohan said a historian’s mission was to find hidden and neglected history rather than strengthening current historical narratives.
