Tripti Nath/New Delhi

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday said that Indian civilization is one of the oldest and most continuous civilizations and it has a vast expanse. He was speaking at the release of a book 'History of Ancient India', an 11-volume series , at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), a nationalist think tank.

Doval said that there were a few aspects of Indian history that nobody, including our detractors,questioned.

"One is its antiquity.. that it is one of the oldest civilizations and probably human life had evolved and society had perfected itself to a very high... (degree). Now, who did it? Whether they were the original people or they came from outside, they may be biased about that, but they all concede that this is a civilization of antiquity," he said.

“The second is continuity. That is, if it started 4000 or 5000 years ago, it has been continuous till today. There is no disruption in that. So it was a continuity," Doval explained.

"The third feature was its vast expanse. It was not a small hamlet that you find somewhere with a developed island or something like that. It is right from the river Oxus to probably Southeast Asia and others, where the footprints of the civilization were very visible," he said.

He said that Alexander's India visit was a non-event in Indian history, but a key event in Western history.

"Now, the paradox is this, when you think about this expanse of 6000 or 8000 years of continuous history in such a vast area, the narrative that has been brought is that probably the first chapter about Indian history in any of the western discourse, it starts with Alexander, that Alexander was the first...who discovered India, and it was the victory of the west over the east. He conquered India," he said.

Doval noted that Alexander only came to the border of India into Jhelum and then probably was not able to proceed further. And thereafter, that was the end of him.  “But the fact remains that the entire history by the Westerns, when the history of India, or the history of the West is narrated, is about the history of Alexander," he added.

NSA Doval pointed out that everyone made such a big mountain of it as if world history had changed with Alexander.

This volume was conceptualized by the VIF in 2009 as an attempt to capture the entire Indian civilization and present an authentic and all-inclusive understanding of Indian history. Edited by Dilip K. Chakrabarti, Prof Emeritus, Cambridge University, the volume has been published by Aryan Books International.

Congratulating all the contributors and VIF, Doval said, “This is not an end. This is a means to an end and the end objective is building a nation on a sense of common heritage; having pride in our ancestry and achievements in the past and a vision for the future. What else is there that can be done? That is one thing that should probably continue to exercise the brains of people at VIF.’’

“All those who believe in that make one nation. My hero cannot be your villain….Foreign domination was responsible for not developing a feeling of nationhood. There was a deliberate attempt to destroy institutions. Nalanda and Takshila were institutions that were targeted and destroyed.

The NSA said “When Prime Minister Modi was presented this volume and I told him about it, he was so delighted. He wanted to have it and this volume occupies a place of prominence in his library." Prime Minister, he said, had an idea that it should be donated to all world libraries.

Doval expressed gratitude to Prof Chakraborty and Mr Makhanlal for this large body of scholars who have produced these high-quality research papers.’’

He said that one thing that was very clear from the very start was that they wanted the volume to be objective. “When we started the project, we said that let it be totally authentic. We don’t want to generate propaganda material. ‘’

The hardbound volume is priced at Rs 30,000 and the paperback is priced at Rs 14,900. Arvind Gupta suggested that 11 volumes could be condensed into one volume so that people of this Twitter age can also benefit from the knowledge. 

"There is a need to build the Indian narrative. Reading such volumes will give us the confidence to build this narrative," he said. 

The VIF Chairman, S.Gurumurthy said that Dilip Chakrabarty headed the project with patience and moderation to present a multi-dimensional, all-inclusive understanding of Indian history. “We never wrote our history. We only read the history that others wrote. As a nationalist think tank, we expressed our wish to do so. Mr Doval pursued it. It was extraordinary information to compile. It is really an achievement.’’

Dr Arvind Gupta, Director of VIF said that when they launched this project in 2009, the objective was threefold: to remove distortions on Indian history by Western scholars who deliberately ignored India’s achievements, gave a one-sided account and created an inferiority complex among a generation of Indians. "These volumes correct those misperceptions, he said.

He thanked Prof Chakrabarti and Makhanlal for mobilizing 80 scholars to write the book. “We hope that these volumes will serve as reference books for scholars.’’

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Chakrabarti, Editor of the book, said, “It was a very bold move. I got a free hand in the real sense of the term. Our volumes were planned according to different but connected themes of ancient Indian archaeology and history, beginning with a volume on prehistoric background. The concluding volume focuses on ancient India’s inter-relations with the world including southeast, east, central, and west Asia, the eastern coast of Africa, and the Mediterranean world.’’

ALSO READ:  MWL Chief Al-Issa says ending war is Israel’s responsibility, not of Jews

Gurumurthy told Awaz-The Voice that the idea was to present the most truthful and authentic version of India's history. “This is a teacher’s book and a teaching and a research institution’s book. We have created a reference book. It has taken eighty scholars over 12 years to produce this volume. We have not really calculated the cost involved in producing the book. This book should be gifted in a manner that it is valued.’’