Representations of India’s Past in Muhammad Iqbal and Lalah Ram Prashad’s Tārīkh-e Hind (1913)

Miyamoto Takashi

doi:10.18910/87586

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

植民地インドの教科書における過去の表象 : ムハンマド・イクバール＆ラーラー・ラーム・プラシャード『インド史』（1913 年）を読む
ショクミンチ　インド　ノ　キョウカショ　ニ　オケル　カコ　ノ　ヒョウショウ　ムハンマド　イクバール　ラーラー　ラーム　プラシャード　インドシ　（1913 ネン）ヲ　ヨム
ショクミンチインドノキョウカショニオケルカコノヒョウショウ : ムハンマド・イクバール&ラーラー・ラーム・プラシャード『インドシ』(1913ネン)オヨム

Search this article

Abstract

This paper examines the structure and content of the history textbook, Tārīkh-e Hind (1913), written in Urdu by Muḥammad Iqbāl and Lālah Rām Prashād. Under the regulation of the colonial provincial government's textbook committee and the epistemological framework of colonial knowledge, the authors sought their own discursive strategies. Simply read, the historical narratives they wrote were reminiscent of the standard narratives of colonial bureaucratic intellectuals. Iqbal and Prashad divided India’s past into three main periods: the ancient Hindu period, the medieval Muslim period, and the modern British period. This framework of writing Indian history, dividing it into three periods, had been used by British historians such as James Mill and H.H. Wilson. Also, the geographical framework of the authors’ historical narrative was clearly based on the British Indian territory. As such, the historical narrative of Tārīkh-e Hind appears to be a derivative of colonial discourse. However, one can identify the authors’ own strategies in the narrative details, that is, a strong emphasis on the distinction between Hindu and Muslim pasts. Not only the ancient Hindu past, but also the Maratha past was written as an independent chapter. The glorious story of the Marathas, in which Shivaji played a central role, was told in Iqbal’s voice, not Tilak’s. In addition, Sanskrit and Muslim cultures were portrayed in stark contrast, emphasizing the latter's connection to traditions of the Arab and Persian world, outside the Indian subcontinent. Thus, while taking a pro-British stance, the text juxtaposed the Hindu and Muslim pasts. In doing so, it prepared a narrative of a de-territorialized Islamic community, and the story of Shivaji's Hindu kingdom was useful in portraying the past of the other.

Journal

外国語教育のフロンティア

外国語教育のフロンティア 5 315-329, 2022-03-31

Graduate School of Language and Culture Osaka University

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Export