The Ocean of Churn Is Our Story
- In Book Reviews
- 01:50 PM, Sep 16, 2016
- Ajit Datta
Despite being one of the most popular contemporary chroniclers of Indian history, many consider Sanjeev Sanyal to be amateurish, or non-academic. He doesn’t mind such tags though, at least he says it as he sees it.
His latest book, The Ocean of Churn, revolves around the maritime history of the Indian Ocean. It deals with various civilizations and kingdoms which sprouted at different points in time along this ocean. Apart from the Indian peninsula, the region includes the Middle-East, East Africa, Sri Lanka, South-East Asia and China. The book is largely made up of anecdotes, which bring to the fore several aspects of cultural interchange and cultural overlapping in the region. Using certain contemporary examples, Sanyal demonstrates how many of the links are relevant even today. The book is page-turner. Its narration is engaging and laced with humour.
But what is more important than the anecdotes the book has to offer, are certain underlying ideas it conveys repeatedly. Most people familiar with Sanyal and his work have probably come in contact with these ideas already. These ideas are imperative to understand Indian history, especially if one seeks to obtain a more accurate and credible version of it. By now, it is no secret that the mainstream narrative of Indian history is vastly erroneous. Sanyal repeats these ideas in The Ocean of Churn again, but does it without sounding like a broken record. The mainstream’s filth has attained such depths that these ideas need to be reiterated as much as possible.
The first idea is that Indians need to write their own history. In effect, Indians doesn’t mean people of Indian origin as much as it means free-thinking Indians. Several Indians suffering from colonial hangovers or political compulsions have been as responsible as the West for bringing about distortions in our history books. By colonial hangovers, it is meant that a lot of Indian mainstream history has for its basis the same pool of so-called research that the Western perspective of Indian history uses. This is a shallow perspective, which begins only after Vasco de Gama lands on Indian shores. According to it, Indians were simply growing pepper for thousands of years, and things got interesting only after the Europeans arrived. The objective of the Western perspective was to project India in an uncivilized light, setting the stage to justify colonisation.
Next, the entire approach towards history is in need of radical change. Unlike the linear progression that history is often made out to be, Sanyal emphasizes that history needs to be looked at from a perspective that is both broad and fluid. He views it as a Complex Adaptive System, wherein the flow of events is influenced by the interaction of various perpetually evolving factors. These include geographic and climactic changes, the play of socio-cultural, economic and religious forces as well as technological advancements. The incorporation of advances in genetic studies for example, disproves a whole lot of history as we know it. Evidences of this nature have been lacking in the past, allowing colonial humbug like the Aryan Invasion Theory to creep into our history and establish themselves firmly. The case is made to keep adding to history as and when such advancements are made, in order that it may become more and more accurate.
One of the tragedies of mainstream Indian history is the systemic discrimination it carries out. Most textbooks and history-related material have a bias towards certain parts of India, certain kingdoms or dynasties, and certain periods of history. Mainstream Indian history is considered to be highly Delhi-centric. The Gupta era and the Mughal era are for example covered in great detail, while several southern empires are almost completely ignored. The Ocean of Churn sets the record straight in a sense, as it explores in depth some of the major southern empires. It describes the extent of influence the Cholas, the Pallavas, the Vijayanagar Empire and many others wielded. It describes the maritime exploits of these empires, the Odiyas, the merchants from Western India and other kingdoms along India’s coastline.
Taking this idea of systemic discrimination forward, it is essential to understand the roots of this bias. Quite evidently, several distortions crept into India’s mainstream history to fulfil political compulsions. Certain periods or personalities were literally stripped off their misdeeds and put on a pedestal to benefit vested interests. Sanyal goes through all the evidence that exists about Ashoka, who is considered to be among the greatest emperors of India, and reaches a contradictory conclusion. Not only was Ashoka brutal, he was responsible for the downfall of the empire he inherited from his forefathers. However, he is one of the few kings in Indian history who advocated a nanny-state. His legacy was resurrected from the ashes and he was deified, to give Nehruvian socialism a cultural legitimacy. Similarly, the Central Asian marauders who founded empires in India committed several genocides, often on religious basis. Though they are covered extensively, their atrocities have been conveniently omitted so as not to alienate a particular community. Another popular misconception is that India won its freedom through peaceful means. Sanyal demolishes this lie with anecdotes about the Indian National Army (INA), several mutinies carried out by Indian soldiers, and smaller kingdoms which courageously fought the colonizers. These stories are omitted from mainstream Indian history so that all credit can be bestowed upon a particular section of freedom fighters.
The Ocean of Churn also puts forth the idea of India being as vibrant a region as any other in the past. Destroying the myth about Hindus being a superstitious, regressive and passive people, Sanyal demonstrates how bold and dynamic they were. Various guilds, merchants, and financial institutions worked in tandem. Temples, which are considered to be places of worship, functioned as largescale financial institutions that bankrolled merchants and sailors. For a long time, almost every major civilization of the world had access to the Indian Ocean. The trade and interchange from the Middle East right up to China passed through India.
Sanyal’s anecdotes illustrate the extent of engagement between coastal Indians and their neighbours across the seas. This is especially visible between the Odiyas, the Tamils and the South-East Asians. The region witnessed a lot of conquests and occupations by different players within itself. Moreover, constant trade and exchange, marital alliances and the export of religion shaped these parts of the world extensively. Many effects of this interchange are still very visible today. Once again, these anecdotes shun the misconception of Hindus being isolates or recluses.
What most readers will retain from the book are not the various anecdotes, but many of these underlying ideas. These ideas are important, for they permit people to decipher fact from fiction. They permit people to grasp how bold, vibrant and receptive a people we used to be. They permit them to aspire, to dream big, to pursue the same level of importance and influence they used to wield. And most importantly, this book gives them a detailed picture of their roots and who they truly are. This is what makes Sanyal’s work revolutionary.
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