Eminent Historians

Language: EnglishPages: 400Introduction In June-July 1998, progressives kicked up quite a racket. The government has packed the Indian Council of Historical Research with pro-Ram Mandir historians, they shouted. It has surreptitiously altered the aims and objectives of the Council, they shouted. As is their wont, they had sparked the commotion by giving wind to a concoction. As is their wont too, they were charging others with planning to do in some undefined future what they had themselves been actually doing for decades - that is, write history to a purpose. The commotion led me to look into their record - to look at what they had made of an institution like the Indian Council of Historical Research, and to read the textbooks they had authored. Small scandals turne