John Smith Essays - Historiography, Philosophy Of History

John Smith History History Assignment: 3 Q.1) What were the main characteristics of the writings of the Nationalist School of Historiography? Ans : The Nationalist School of historical writing contributed to the self- confidence, self-assertion and a certain national pride which enabled Indian people to struggle against colonialism especially in the face of denigration of India's past and the consequent inferiority complex promoted by colonial writers. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri and other historians also helped overcome the regional bias. In this respect, as in many others, nationalist historical writing in India became a major unifying factor as far as the literate Indians were concerned. Nationalist historiography flourished mainly in dealing with the ancient and medieval periods. In the First Generation, the Indian historians began writing ancient Indian history. Most famous among them was R.G. Bhandarkar . The Indian historians did not have any new perspective on Indian history. They blindly followed the model set by the British historians who focussed on dynastic narratives or political history. In the Second Generation, the Indian historians continued to write political and dynastic history, but the interpretations were based on the nationalist point of view. This period saw the growth of nationalism. In the 1920's and the 1930's the Second Generation felt the impact of the National Movement. Some of the prominent historians at that time were H.C. Raychaudhuri , K. P.Jayaswal , R.C. Majumdar , R. K. Mookerjea , H.C. Ojha , Jadunath Sarkar, A.S. Altekar , U. Ghoshal . After facing a lot of criticism by James Mill, the Indian historians primarily aimed at building national self respect in order to compensate for the humiliation. They did so by stressing on the glorification of India's past.