"Historians usually focus their attention on the past of countries that still exist, writing hundreds and thousands of books on British history, French history, German history, Russian history, American history, Chinese history, Indian history, Brazilian history or whatever. Whether consciously or not, they are seeking the roots of the present, thereby putting themselves in danger of reading history backwards. As soon as great powers arise, whether the United States in the twentieth century or China in the twenty-first, the call goes out for offerings on American History or Chinese History, and siren voices sing that today’s important countries are also those whose past is most deserving of examination, that a more comprehensive spectrum of historical knowledge can be safely ignored."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe (2011)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/History_of_India
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
History of India
20 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by History of India →
Related Quotes
"In his diary, Hsuan Tsang has recorded that India was divided into five divisions or to use his language, there were …"
"The age in which true history appeared in India was one of great intellectual and spiritual ferment. Mystics and soph…"
"“At most periods of her history India, though a cultural unit, has been torn by internecine war. In statecraft, her r…"
"Nothing should more deeply shame the modern student than the recency and inadequacy of his acquaintance with India. H…"
"In the present context, the link between history-writing and actual politics is extra-ordinarily strong. Witness the …"
"The history of modern India tells us a complex, surprising, captivating, and yet unconcluded story of freedom. It is …"
"The effort to read the problem of India in the set terms of Marxism is rather an exercise in ingenuity than a serious…"
"History is the one weak spot in Indian Literature. It is, in fact, non-existent."
"Indians of old were keenly alive to the expansion of dominions, acquisition of wealth, and the development of trade, …"
"Indian society has no history at all, at least no known history. What we call its history, is but the history of the …"