Incarnations: India in 50 lives
Author : Sunil Khilnani
Publisher : Penguin Random House, Rs 999
Sunil Khilnani’s Incarnations is an enlightening, glorious tribute to 50 figures that have shaped India since the last 2,500 years. He tells ANANYA BORGOHAIN why Northeast India didn’t find a mention in it and what he plans for students to afford it
Buddha shunned the caste order in 5 BC, Mahavira disapproved of the caste system too. Even in the 19th century, people like Jyotirao Phule and in the colonial era, figures like Gandhi, Ambedkar, etc spoke against its atrocities and yet today in 2016, India is still engulfed by this burning issue. WhyIJ
Not just the caste system, but that applies to issues like gender and patriarchy as well. It’s devastating to see the way women are still treated. Even when we have had these very sharp, strong critics of caste, patriarchy, lack of freedom and equality unfortunately, there has also been the ability to absorb that criticism and deter change. In spite of our history bearing testimony to the Buddha, Mahavira, Basava, Jyotirao Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar, and so on, not much has changed and I think we should be outraged by that. I hope this book will help us to see that ours is not a smooth progressive story that is getting better. I hope it gives us a more complicated perspective rather than a simple narrative about our country. To refer to another figure, Malik Ambar, an Ethiopian slave who rose to become a Deccan king-maker in India, there was greater mobility for him in 16th century India than there is today for someone with dark skin in the country. We are more racist today than we were then.
That India is multicultural enriches us or does it lead to more complicationIJ
I think multiplicity is a source of strength. In fact, often the conflicts can also be strengthening. In them, you also expose the issue and have to face it. Plurality leads sometimes to conflicts but hopefully to clarifications also and to a sense of what really matters and why we should value it. For example, at the time of the Emergency, Indira Gandhi became a hated political figure and yet from the Emergency, emerged a stronger commitment to democracy. People realised the value of democracy and reaffirmed their commitment to it, to their political rights and legal processes.
There has been a subtle dislocation of established perceptions. For example, Akbar’s narrative is more secular than what Mughals are generally seen as. On the other hand, Gandhi seems to distance himself from South Africans, indicating a slightly racist undertone. These are facets we do not usually associate with such historical figures. Have Indians consumed too many preconceived notionsIJ
In the West too, we all operate in stereotypes and clichés and I would like to question not only the stereotypes the West has about us, but also the ones that we have about ourselves. Gandhi, after all, was a human being and not a spiritual paragon. He was, in fact, a brilliant manager of the media. The way he managed the Dandi March, he could have taught Steve Jobs a thing or two about branding! At the same time, that doesn’t diminish him and his cause. It just makes him more human. Similarly with Akbar, he was complicated; very open minded yet much immersed in theology and Islamic thought.
Could the ‘I’ in the title also stand for I the reader, trying to find where I come fromIJ
That’s really interesting and I had not thought of it that way, but yes, I think we could look at it that way as well. I’ve also used the Zen eye as a motif in the chapters. I selected it because I wanted the eye looking out, but also looking in, reflecting back on our own culture and history.
This is a very consequential book for students in particular. But isn’t it overly priced for them at the same timeIJ
I understand that and there are a few solutions for it as well. First of all, the kind of book that it is, with the photographs and the quality of paper, the price was inevitable. Having said that, I agree it might be overpriced for many. We are planning to bring a Student Edition in a few months time with fewer photographs and on cheaper paper so that the cost of the book could be reduced. Also, the BBC podcasts and iTunes are for available free.
Was it a deliberate choice to have only Indian figures in the bookIJ Except for William Jones and Annie Besant, you have not written about any other imperialist personality who may have impacted India.
I did think it would be better to look at different Indian figures. These are figures that also have an afterlife. The Buddha, Mirabai, Kabir, and their principles manifest in so many different ways in contemporary India.
But Nehru is still conspicuous by his absence.
I have spoken about Nehru in other arenas quite a few times so I was more interested about the figures I knew less about. For me, this book was also about self-education and writing about Nehru would not have been much of a challenge or exploration.
There is also no mention about an important figure from northeastern India, the only region in the country that has not found any presence in the book. Why is it soIJ
I do feel very uncomfortable that it doesn’t have a figure from the northeast. It’s a glaring absence. I did think about, for instance, Naga leader Angami Zapu Phizo, but there was a difficulty in locating hard documentary and primary sources. For the northeast, if you go back to 200 years, there were neither such sources nor translations for my benefit. I hope we could create a web page where people can put in their own list of figures that they feel have influenced Indian history and also elaborate why.
For our Delhi readers, could you talk a little about the bird hospital at Chandni Chowk or the Charaka Call CentreIJ
The Jiva Institute at Faridabad is a dial-in health clinic that follows the principles of Charaka, who lived 2000 years ago. The institute says that it receives 2,000 phone calls every day from acne to cancer. The clinic’s main reference is Charaka’s biography, the Charaka Samhita.
The bird hospital at Chandni Chowk runs on donations only. It has 400 cages in rooms cooled by ceiling fans. It is based on Jainist philosophy that it is our duty to be protective of everyone in the world. My BBC producer discovered both these institutions.
Which Indian historians do you would you recommend to our readersIJ
Indian history for me belongs to everyone in the world and not to any one culture specifically. We should be proud if there are people from other parts in the world who want to be informed about our history.
I think it’s a sad reflection that there are thousands of Sanskrit manuscripts in the country which people are not reading. Apart from someone like David Shulman, there are David Edwin Pingree from Brown University, and his student Kim Plofker who are masters in the subject. I think we should look at it objectively, without overly mythologising and romanticising it.
We do have many fine historians that include Nayanjyot lahiri for ancient history, who wrote Ashoka in Ancient India last year, Shahid Amin who wrote Conquest and Community: The Afterlife of Warrior Saint Ghazi Miyan.
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