Somnath romila thapar biography

The destruction of Somnath was seen a traumatic humiliation of the Hindu community which could only be avenged by bringing the gates back to India. Ironically, when found, the gates turned out not to have been of Indian workmanship after all and were placed in the storeroom of the Agra Fort. When India became independent, a demand arose that the Somnath temple be rebuilt.

Among the most important proponents of this idea was K. Describing the impact of trauma on communities, she argues that the traumatized population either exorcises it by referring to it repeatedly or suppresses it by withdrawing and refusing to have anything to do with the perpetrators. There have been traumas related to hostilities between communities in the last hundred years and we are familiar with the aftermath of these.

They do not reflect what happened a thousand years ago but emerge out of contemporary origins. There were varying representations, both overt and hidden. A deeper investigation of these representations could point to concerns quite other than the ones to which we have given priority so far, both in this and similar events in Indian history.

Writing about the Californian Hindu textbook controversyThapar opposed some of the changes that were proposed by Hindu groups to the coverage of Hinduism and Indian history in school textbooks. She contended that while Hindus have a legitimate right to a fair and culturally sensitive representation, some of the proposed changes included material that pushed a political agenda.

She was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in She holds honorary doctorates from the University of Chicagothe Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the University of Oxfordthe University of Edinburghthe University of Calcutta [ 20 ] and recently in from the University of Hyderabad.

Somnath romila thapar biography: Romila Thapar, an unprecedented name in

In a letter to President A P J Abdul Kalamshe 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 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".

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. This is the latest accepted revisionreviewed on 1 November Indian historian born LucknowUnited ProvincesBritish India. Early life, family and education [ edit ].

Somnath romila thapar biography: Romila Thapar (born 30 November )

Work [ edit ]. Views on revisionist historiography [ edit ]. Recognition and honours [ edit ]. Bibliography [ edit ]. Books [ edit ]. Editor [ edit ]. Select papers, articles and chapters [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Basham, while her rejection of ideological frames of reference sets her work apart from that of the Marxist scholar D. Medieval Hindu literature grapples with the searing issues raised by Islamic iconoclasm.

In the Ekalinga mahatmaya, the sage Narada enquires of the God Vayu how an image of God could be destroyed by Muslims if it was indeed God himself. Vayu responds that just as the demons had tried to harm Gods, so the Yavanas had a natural tendency to destroy divine images.

Somnath romila thapar biography: She took her first degree from

Though they had the capacity to retaliate, the Gods understood that their conflict with the demons was eternal and that each was fated to suffer setbacks, for periodic dissolution of the world was part of the natural order. The Vimanarcanakalpa, a medieval priestly handbook of the Vaisnava Vaikhanasa school, lays down ritual procedures for burying images in times of danger.

The rich body of medieval Jain literature is notable for its strident assertion of the power of the faith and images to withstand the Islamic onslaught. Images that had retreated or gone into exile reappear more powerful than ever, and even those mutilated reveal increased ability to perform miracles. Thapar overlooks all these concerns and equates Turkish iconoclasm with an imagined Hindu vandalism.

Notwithstanding her attempts to invoke the class factor, medieval Hindu literature associates all sections of society, viz. The recovery of buried images invariably follows a divine communication to a humble cowherd. In the case of the Sri Ranganatha image, a female devotee follows the Sultanate army all the way to Delhi and is instrumental in the eventually retrieval of the idol.

Yet this Hindu gesture only reinforces the opposing perspectives of the two sides. While the Arab trader wished Somanatha might come to Islam, his Hindu hosts showed no desire to convert him, and facilitated the construction of a mosque so he could properly adhere to his faith. Somanatha : The Many Voices of a History. Romila Thapar. The story of the raid has reverberated in Indian history, but largely during the raj.