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A review by tbr_the_unconquered
Incarnations: India in 50 Lives by Sunil Khilnani
4.0
’A society , almost necessarily, begins every success story with the chapter that most advantages itself,’ the American public intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates recently argued regarding mythic constructions of liberation all over the world. ‘Chapters are almost always rendered as the singular action of exceptional individuals.’
So begins the chapter in this book that talks about the life and times of Bhimrao Ambedkar who played a pivotal part in the history of India and also in redrawing the socio-political map of India according to the lines of caste and religion. Ambedkar is one among the 50 individuals who Sunil Khilnani has picked to sketch a rough timeline of India’s history. Starting with the Buddha and ending with Dhirubhai Ambani, the selection of Individuals is widely varied and traverses across all boundaries of linguistics, caste, religion and state boundaries. There are saints, mystics, kings, queens, emperors, fanatics, poets, actors, vagabonds, politicians, firebrand social reformers and also business magnates who form a few of the foundation stones on which India now stands. While the selection is by no means complete, it certainly makes for superb reading for Khilnani treats the well-known and not-so-popular with equal importance.
Considering that the subject matter of the book deals with lives of individuals which have been subjects of individual books before, the author goes for a capsule based approach. Each life is summarized with their key contributions in the space of three or four pages and then Khilnani analyses on how this one person has influenced the India of today. An interesting point to note is that when he talks of early history of India and deals with Buddha, Mahavira, Panini, Rajaraja Chola et al the chapters are smaller in size when compared to the lives of individuals who have lived in more recent times (Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Periyar etc). One reason could be that there is a great deal of information about the later Indians than one can find about the historical figures whose lives are surrounded more by myth than actual historic information.
For me as a reader, the more fulfilling parts were on the lives of the people who are not superstars of history like – Amir Khusrau, Krishnadevaraya, Malik Ambar, Jytohirao Phule, Deen Dayal, Birsa Munda and Chidambaram Pillai who have done their own contributions to the nation’s growth and over the ages have slightly vanished over the horizon. Khilnani also gives an overview into how the writings, actions, speeches and work of these men and women have metamorphosed into sometimes unrecognizable forms over time. In some cases these changes happen with time alone but in other cases these changes are the result of a deliberate action taken by individuals or organizations to gain more mileage to the groups they represent.
There are a lot of interesting anecdotes to be picked up from the book. Foremost among these to me was that the one person who contributed most to the philology of Indian languages was an Englishman !
This book serves to be a reminder that history is not just built by individuals alone. There are circumstances, situations and scenarios that all lead to a certain action being taken or having a certain man or woman being thrust to the forefront. Hindsight and wishful thinking helped with heaps of imagination have led to some of these men and women achieving cult status over the years. Behind every such hero there are always truths that must be known to fully comprehend history.
Recommended !
So begins the chapter in this book that talks about the life and times of Bhimrao Ambedkar who played a pivotal part in the history of India and also in redrawing the socio-political map of India according to the lines of caste and religion. Ambedkar is one among the 50 individuals who Sunil Khilnani has picked to sketch a rough timeline of India’s history. Starting with the Buddha and ending with Dhirubhai Ambani, the selection of Individuals is widely varied and traverses across all boundaries of linguistics, caste, religion and state boundaries. There are saints, mystics, kings, queens, emperors, fanatics, poets, actors, vagabonds, politicians, firebrand social reformers and also business magnates who form a few of the foundation stones on which India now stands. While the selection is by no means complete, it certainly makes for superb reading for Khilnani treats the well-known and not-so-popular with equal importance.
Considering that the subject matter of the book deals with lives of individuals which have been subjects of individual books before, the author goes for a capsule based approach. Each life is summarized with their key contributions in the space of three or four pages and then Khilnani analyses on how this one person has influenced the India of today. An interesting point to note is that when he talks of early history of India and deals with Buddha, Mahavira, Panini, Rajaraja Chola et al the chapters are smaller in size when compared to the lives of individuals who have lived in more recent times (Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Periyar etc). One reason could be that there is a great deal of information about the later Indians than one can find about the historical figures whose lives are surrounded more by myth than actual historic information.
For me as a reader, the more fulfilling parts were on the lives of the people who are not superstars of history like – Amir Khusrau, Krishnadevaraya, Malik Ambar, Jytohirao Phule, Deen Dayal, Birsa Munda and Chidambaram Pillai who have done their own contributions to the nation’s growth and over the ages have slightly vanished over the horizon. Khilnani also gives an overview into how the writings, actions, speeches and work of these men and women have metamorphosed into sometimes unrecognizable forms over time. In some cases these changes happen with time alone but in other cases these changes are the result of a deliberate action taken by individuals or organizations to gain more mileage to the groups they represent.
There are a lot of interesting anecdotes to be picked up from the book. Foremost among these to me was that the one person who contributed most to the philology of Indian languages was an Englishman !
This book serves to be a reminder that history is not just built by individuals alone. There are circumstances, situations and scenarios that all lead to a certain action being taken or having a certain man or woman being thrust to the forefront. Hindsight and wishful thinking helped with heaps of imagination have led to some of these men and women achieving cult status over the years. Behind every such hero there are always truths that must be known to fully comprehend history.
Recommended !