Empire State of Mind Erasure
Picture a history classroom in a metro city of India. Maps are displayed on the projector screen, but the Gupta Empire—widely considered India's Golden Age—bears a glaring red question mark. The teacher, peering sternly through thick glasses, lectures her students.
"Remember," she insists, "we must avoid glorifying our past, especially the so-called 'Golden Age' of the Guptas."
A curious student raises his hand. "But Ma'am, didn't the Gupta period see remarkable advancements in science, mathematics, and the arts?"
The teacher frowns. "We must not 'over-glorify' our country's past. To question colonial perspectives would be... unintellectual."
Consider the absurdity if transplanted elsewhere: France downplaying the Renaissance, England dismissing Shakespeare, or Greece rejecting Socrates and Plato. Such scenarios seem unthinkable—yet in India, this self-criticism is normalized.
In India, architectural marvels like the Kailasa temple receive less attention than invaders' tombs. The timeless Panchatantra stories are overshadowed by Aesop's fables—which themselves borrowed heavily from Indian originals.
We diminish Chanakya by calling him "India's Machiavelli," ignoring that he preceded Machiavelli by over a millennium and engineered history's greatest empire while Machiavelli merely advised a minor principality.
Those who dare celebrate India's heritage face immediate ideological backlash.
Another student challenges: "Don't other nations take pride in their golden ages? The Chinese celebrate the Ming dynasty, Persians honor Cyrus the Great, and Greeks revere the Age of Pericles. Why must we alone feel historical shame?"
Because we dear student are unique in our commitment to 'national integration'—or rather, national integration through historical self-flagellation."
Students learn to view Khajuraho's temples not as architectural triumphs but as embarrassing reminders of "decadence". The profound Upanishads are reduced to primitive pre-scientific musings.
And the Gupta period? It becomes a cautionary tale against excessive national pride, with Marxist historians warning that cultural confidence is dangerous.
In Indian historical education, Hindu civilization's achievements inspire not pride but guilt. The implicit message: a good Hindu must be forever apologetic about their rich heritage.
Can a civilization survive the amputation of its own memory?
In this classroom, the greatest empire in Indian history has been reduced to a cautionary tale. Outside, a civilization slowly forgets how to remember itself.
A people who cannot celebrate their history are doomed to become someone else's footnote.
