Correcting the Master Narrative of Indian Heritage

Richard Bulliet, Historian at Columbia University, had this to say about the changing nature of master narratives of history:

• History is structured according to master narratives.   

• Master narratives are those things about history that have been repeated so often and so confidently with so little variation that they are taken to be true.   

• Master narratives are the triumph of the historian.   

• The more successful these narratives are, the less inclined people are to questioning them.   

• Successful narratives linger longer but they are most definitely not the only narrative.

Western bias to the master narrative: How the master narrative is written for a culture or tradition Is heavily influenced by who writes it.  It is hardly a surprise then that the West, which has been in a position of power for centuries, writes a master narrative of history that almost exclusively shows its own past as a collage of stupendous achievements while showing others in poor light or no light. 

India had no voice in the master narrative: Indians did not contribute to the master narrative of World history or even to their own history.  The West did.  The West continues to control it.  In the master narrative of world history, West has painted Western philosophy and Abrahamic religions as the epitome of human achievement while painting Indian civilization, culture, traditions, philosophy and Dharmic knowledge as a hapless and hopeless mediocrity of thought and achievement.  Indian voices which attempted to correct this injustice were discredited, unheard, and when forceful were branded unauthoritative or jingoistic and marginalized.  Westerners continue to control the master narrative of Indian history. 

Need other voices heard in the master narrative: One-sided master narratives are against diversity and fail to offer richness of thought.  They show extreme inequity in undermining entire cultures and their contributions.  Such extreme inequity arises not only because of the desire of the Western narrators to present Western grandeur but also because of the prejudicial blinders imposed on the narrators by the predominant foundation of Western thought.  

In the midst of this state of affairs, Rajiv Malhotra stepped in to take on the stupendous task of correcting the master narrative and placing Indian thought and achievements with their right place in history.  Rajiv Malhotra has dedicated his life and resources to this cause since 1995 and has not flinched ever since then.

Rajiv Malhotra's recently published book "Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism" is a challenge that reverses the gaze and takes a fresh  perspective of Dharmic knowledge and Western thought.  Rajiv Malhotra does not achieve this by presenting an Indian alternative to Western master narratives for History.  Instead,  he carefully develops a systematic framework to study Western and Dharmic knowledge systems while maintaining the audacity to speak of differences.  Rajiv Malhotra walks the reader through the development of the framework that helps the reader compare and contrast contributions of Dharmic and Abrahamic traditions.   What is revealed in its pages is the exclusivist foundation of Abrahamic religions, and  limitations to thought and experience resulting from prejudicial blinders imposed by those religions.

Rajiv Malhotra aptly describes the exclusivism of Abrahamic religions as History-Centrism.  We need to understand the exclusivist foundation well to know why the master narrative of World history authored by the West is so unfavorable to India.