Many pasts of one nation: history teaching as part of identity building in government and nationalist Indian textbooks

Abstract

This article compares history teaching in two types of Hindi-language textbooks used in India. One group of sources includes textbooks issued by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, a central public institution. The other one contains those published by Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan, a network of private schools run by Hindu nationalists. The objective of this study is to analyse what political, identity-building purposes these two conflicted narratives on history reveal. Unsurprisingly, the author’s conclusion is that the Hindu nationalist textbooks are biased in a number of ways. They portray India as continuously assaulted by foreign forces across the ages and united by the Hindu religious traditions. The government textbooks also stress Indian national unity at times but do not build it on the bedrock of Hindu religious traditions. While part of their contents is tilted politically to the left, they are still more balanced than the publications of Hindu nationalists. They recognise diversity much more, challenge some of the common myths and biases, admit India’s various historical challenges and include perspectives of various social groups to a certain degree. The article’s concluding remarks also muse on whether and in what ways such debates on Indian history affect the country’s present domestic politics and foreign policy.