Pavan K. Varma | Don’t airbrush history, but respect context & fact too

Recently, I spoke at the launch in Delhi of Vikram Sampath’s new magnum opus, Tipu Sultan: The Saga of Mysore’s Interregnum, a 900-page biography of this controversial figure. Vikram has also written a masterly biography of the legendary singer of the gramophone record era, Gauhar Jan, as also an excellent two-volume biography of the great freedom fighter, Veer Savarkar. In fact, in my book cited above, I quote the globally recognised chronicler of civilisations, Will Durant, who wrote: “The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history…” Yet, I have always also maintained that endlessly excavating past atrocities, serves little purpose in our new quest, as a constitutional and secular republic, to build a cohesive and united country, unique for its proven ability to be a vibrant multi-religious, multicultural and multiethnic nation. At the end of his book, he writes: “The jury is still out on Tipu Sultan, his legacy, his characterisation and his contributions…” To emphasise this point Sampath quotes the scholar Narasingha Sil’s assessment: “It is time we arrived at a reasonably realistic assessment of Tipu Sultan…” There is no irreconcilable contradiction in the fact that he fought the British valiantly, and was also an Islamic fanatic.