Information AboutRomila Thapar |
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WORK Thapar's major works are ''Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya'', ''Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations'', ''Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History'' (editor), ''A History of India Volume One'', and ''Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300''. Her scholarly approach tends to be critical of social elites, and portrays the origins of Hinduism as an evolving interplay between social forces. For both reasons her historiography has been sharply criticized by Hindu Nationalists . She has taken a strong stance against Communalism and the communalisation of history textbooks. Her recent work on Somnath examines the evolution of the historiographies about the legendary Gujarat temple. CONTROVERSIES In April 2003, she was named as First Holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at Library Of Congress , the USA 's oldest federal cultural institution and the research arm of Congress . This appointment raised the ire of Hindu nationalists. In January 2005 , she refused to accept the Padma Bhushan awarded by the Indian Government. In a letter to President A P J Abdul Kalam , she said she was "astonished to see her name in the list of awardees because three months ago when I was contacted by the HRD ministry and asked if I would accept an award, I made my position very clear and explained my reason for declining it". Thapar had refused the Padma Bhushan on an earlier occasion, in 1992 . To the President, she explained the reason for turning down the award thus: "I only accept awards from academic institutions or those associated with my professional work, and not state awards". In 2006, she was an active supporter of Michael Witzel of Harvard in the Californian Hindu Textbook Controversy . Thapar has been subjected to attacks, especially from '' accused her and other Marxist historians of "white-washing" the records of Islamic rulers such as Mahmud of Ghazni and Aurangzeb and of "tampering with history". Another critic is Dutch historian Koenraad Elst , who accuses Thapar of making false claims about Hindu iconoclasm. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books
Edited Anthologies
Select papers, articles and chapters
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