Indian Council for Historical Research

archaeologist

Deccan College

KJ Somaiya Centre

ICHR

Ramayana

Arvind Jamkhedkar, who will take over as head of, on the importance of objectivity and having a holistic perspective.Accomplishedand cultural historian Arvind P Jamkhedkar will take over as the chairman of Indian Council for Historical Research on March 5. Jamkhedkar is at present the chancellor of, in Pune, as well as director atfor South and South East Asian Studies. He served as the director of archeology and museums in Maharashtra two decades ago. The post of the head of thehad been lying vacant since Professor K Sudershan Rao resigned last year. Rao’s tenure was marred by several controversies that were generated by his proposals such as the Ram Sethu Pilot Project, which sought to investigate whether the chain of limestone shoals, which features in theand is situated between Pamban Island and Sri Lanka’s Mannar Island, was man-made or natural. Excerpts from an interview.I don’t agree with the ‘RSS’ bit, though such appointments are usually made when the appointee has a view that aligns with the ruling party’s. For several decades, historians with Marxist orientations headed the ICHR. ICHR hands out fellowships and major research projects among others, which are funded by the government. So, in a way, ICHR sets the tone for historical research in the country. There is a governing council, and the members of the council are acquainted with the objective. Through these projects, the aim is to send out a message to educated people about how we should look at history. I am not going to teach History. We at ICHR are going to help people look at history in an objective manner.Divergent opinions, including those from political leaders, should be welcome in any democracy. My duty is not to correct them. My objective is to create tools for researching history well and providing perspective. Whenever there has been a need to set things right, scholars -- such as Bhau Daji Lad and Lokmanya Tilak, for example -- have come forward to do the needful. In the south, too, several scholars contributed their mite when they felt that the colonial way of interpreting history was wrong.Everyone has a separate account of oral memory. Hence, emphasis on oral memories is not useful when reconstructing history. History and culture, social conditions, history of sciences, art and architecture, and performing arts, all of these come together to create history. Political ideas of institutions are also a part of that. The telling or writing of history is not a simple task. It has to be told from a holistic perspective.Historians can’t take sides, be right or left, they have to simply be objective. Everyone will have a personal opinion and so opinions might differ, but the objective of an institution such as the ICHR is to promote objective history. If there are attempts to distort it, we will try and eliminate them.