Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian whose principal area of study is ancient India. She is the author of several books including the popular volume, A History of India.
After graduating from Panjab University, Thapar earned her doctorate under A. L. Basham at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London, in 1958. She was a reader in Ancient Indian History at Kurukshetra University between 1961 and 1962 and held the same position at Delhi University between 1963 and 1970. Later, she worked as Professor of Ancient Indian History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, where she is also popular by the name Professor Emerita.
In 2002, Govt. of India, led by the PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee changed the school textbooks for social sciences and history, on the ground that certain passages offended the sensibilities of some religious and caste groups. Romila Thapar, who was the author of the textbook on Ancient India for class VI, objected to the changes made without her permission that, for example, deleted passages on eating of beef in ancient times, and the formulation of the caste system. She questioned whether the changes were an, "attempt to replace mainstream history with a Hindutva version of history", with the view to use the resultant controversy as "election propaganda."[1]
Non-acceptance of Padma Bhushan award
In January 2005, Romila Thapar declined the Padma Bhushan awarded by the Government of India. In a letter to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, she said she was "astonished to see her name in the list of awardees because three months ago when I was contacted by the HRD ministry and asked if I would accept an award, I made my position very clear and explained my reason for declining it". Thapar had declined the Padma Bhushan on an earlier occasion, in 1992. To the President, she explained the reason for turning down the award thus: "I only accept awards from academic institutions or those associated with my professional work, and not state awards"
External Links
- Romila Thapar - profile at JNU website
- Romila Thapar at Wikipedia
- https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-reasons-that-the-Historian-Romila-Thapar-is-so-heavily-criticized
- http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/%E2%80%98Nationalism-does-not-allow-the-Hindu-in-India-to-claim-primacy%E2%80%99/article14132664.ece
References
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