Ramchandra Guha is an established historian from India and
presently a writer who adopts a narrative style of writing history.
I have avoided writing
reviews on the work of highly reputed writers, and probably I have an
inferiority complex. I fear that while commenting on the scholarship of an
expert, I may not betray my ignorance and inapt learning.
However, I have ventured
to overcome my shortcomings and picked this task to comment on this book.
In the historiography of
India, Ramchandra Guha is identified with the Subaltern Group. Subaltern Group
is influenced by the thoughts on writing a history of Erick Stokes. The Indian
scholar Ranajit Guha was influenced by his lecture and started a brand of
Subaltern studies in the form of a series of essays. It is considered to be an
exclusive group. The scholars of high calibre with good fortune and research
abilities are given entry to their circle. The Subaltern School belongs to the
Marxist tradition of writing history. They are influenced by the idea of
history by Marx and Gramsci.
In a book which I have
written on Historiography of Modern India, I wrote, “Marxist historian does not
mean that the scholar is a member or a follower of any communist political
association. The Marxian methodology follows the dialectic materialism. The
theory can be as a tool of the research methodology even by a non-communist
scholar.” (Sharma, Sumir. Essays
on Modern India Historiography (KindleLocations 1005-1006). Kindle Edition.) There was a reason to make such an
observation on the Marxist historians. Most of the Marxist historians and their
allied group proudly claim themselves to be real Indians. They raise many such
issues and give such interpretations that they became a target of fierce
criticism by the Nationalist and Fanatic Hindu groups. It was not a surprising
thing that Dr Guha, a Padam Bhusan decorated scholar, was arrested recently
during the protest against the Citizen Amendment Act 2019. (Refer to the
report: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ramachandra-guhas-detention-in-bluru-further-inflames-public-anger-against-caa/articleshow/72894186.cms) Well, he was picked and released on the same day.
Dr Guha is a world-known
scholar on environmental history. In India, it is more famous as the Chipko
Movement started by Vinoba Bhave, a Gandhian leader and Medha Patekar.
Ramachandra Guha is also identified for his work on Contemporary History of
India, a field which is not yet popular among the universities of India. One of
my students, who is seeking to start research in Contemporary History, has yet
not found a guide in contemporary history. In one of his books, Dr Guha has
rightly observed that the Indian history ends with August 15, 1947, and
succeeded by works of Sociologist and Political science. Move around in any
university, and one may quickly come across a Medievalist, but it isn't very
easy to find a guide in the field of contemporary history. I dare to say that
with a strong stance.
Now let us move towards
the book. One can go through the Preview of the book from the thumbnail given below:
The book is mainly a
monograph.
There is only one
chapter in the book. One may read it in less than one hour. The monograph on
the subject merely forms the 30 per cent of the whole book. The Prologue takes
one-third part of the book by the writer. The Prologue and not the Preface is
the feature of the works of Dr Guha. His books have long Prologue. The other
one-third part is given to bibliographic essay and an acknowledgement.
Dr Guha belongs to
Subaltern group. They believe in the fieldwork and use Eco metrics, or one may
say Clio Metric to derive their conclusion. But, Ramchandra Guha adopts a
narrative method of the old school. He is the best in his trade. Therefore, you
will be able to read this monograph in one sitting and complete it in an hour
or a little bit more.
MacMillan publishes many
of his books in paperback form. Penguin has published this edition in eBook
form. His works are available both on Kindle and Google Playbooks.
While formatting the
present volume, the Publisher has missed some aspect of e-formatting. There is
no preface in the book. Dr Guha writes Prologues but no Preface. His Prologues
are quite long. He writes a separate section as an acknowledgement in which he
writes about his collaborators which is generally given in Preface. In the
Prologue, he builds the background for his main work. His Prologue is always in
a narrative style as if he is going to start some novel. In the section, he
writes about his methodology and game plan. For uninitiated, he may sound as if
he is talking too much about himself. But, he has it as a method to provide the
historian's mindset as he works to write his work. The Publisher has not taken
care of it. Dr Guha has mentioned itself in the Bibliography section that how
the people from Penguin pushed him hard to bring out enchanting writing. But
the Publisher has created a Preface section in the Table of Content – TOC which
does not exist. A quotation by Mahatma Gandhi is marked as a Preface. Is it so?
I do not think so.
A Map section is
created. But it has lost its purpose the way it is formatted.
The Bibliography is
termed as “A Note on Sources”. It is so long that one starts wondering that if
it was such extensive research, the author has given a very less material in
the actual body of the book.
The actual book is
termed as Middle Caste, Middle Rank, and it is the only chapter. It traces the
history of the parents of Mahatma Gandhi in Porbandar up to the day when Gandhi
Ji left India for London.
In the monograph, the
historian is successful in sketching the social environment in which Gandhi Ji
was nurtured in his earlier years. It is strongly recommended that readers
should not skip the footnotes. One may read it in one go without referring to
the footnotes. The author writes it in an effortless but effective style. One
keeps on moving from one page to another. A reader virtually glides through the
pages. Nothing is overloaded or sensational weaved into the different episodes
of the life of Gandhi Ji. But, even then, nearly all the aspect of life and its
turfs and ebbs are nicely sketched in words. The author claims to have used
some new documents in writing it. I believe that many people would find some
further information even in this small monograph. But one must seriously read
the Prologue to fully appreciate the structure of the content which refer to
the society and people around Gandhi Ji among whom his earlier days were
fabricated. I wonder that the research scholar has not made some chapter in it.
He has given only one episode. I know that it is a part of a bigger work. But
even then, there is every possibility of making some chapters even in this
book. The period of Porbandar and Rajkot can be separated. The schooling and
later days of academic years in India can make a separate episode.
The scholar has detailed
how this book has gone under scrutiny before appearing in its present form. He
knows better about making chapters in this monograph.
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