Foreword to Aarohan Rajasthan- History for RAS in English

Foreword

If given a chance to travel back in time, most people will still skip paying any attention to their History lectures in School. We think it only concerns Historians, Scholars, would-be teachers and madmen and Civil Service aspirants. A majority are content with the mythological History fed to them on a platter with a fair sprinkling of twisted facts and interesting; albeit idiotic explanations of the present structure of our society. On the other end of the spectrum are the followers of self-proclaimed saviours of Indian society- both secular and fundamentalists, who take History too seriously to gather counter-information to each other’s beliefs. It is a well-established notion that the people, in general, and the administrators, in particular, should know our society’s past so we know who we really are and what our people’s expectations are now. Knowing the past and present, we can very well steer the course of the future of society. Here, I am using the word society instead of country, because society is what travels through the past to reach to the present and will eventually be the future. Countries may come and go but the society remains and so do its people.

History of Rajasthan is special because of it being a buffer zone between the Brahmanical society- interspersed with a fair share of other philosophies and beliefs- and the ever-emerging military powers and societal forces from Central Asia, Middle East and Far-East. Even before the rise of Islam in 7^th century AD, Rajasthan was a constant battleground for forces trying to get a hold on the cradle of civilization itself. Rajasthan was a major centre of many pre-Harappan and Harappan civilizations. What is even more invigorating is the way it maintained its status quo as the Gateway to India, till the naval age came. All this when the rivers that fed it once had either gone dry or changed their courses and now 60% of the geographical area of the state is nothing but an endless stretch of sand dunes.

Anyone who knows India even slightly, immediately recognises Rajasthan as the land of bright colours in contrast to its monotonous sandy landscape; the ship of the desert sailing in the backdrop of a beautiful sunset; the moustached, headgear sporting progeny of the former Rajput warriors- ever proud of their legacy, the haunting music of years bygone that venerates the valour and love stories of the former masters of Rajputana. But is this it? Have we rediscovered our past completely or something is still there which may hold the key to our progress and a bright future?

Apart from trying to find answers to these questions, we will also try to find the reason behind the mellowness of these freedom-loving people in front of a central power, repeatedly and how the people of Rajputana belonging to so many princely states, eagerly turned themselves into a democracy of sorts, at the stroke of the midnight. Unlike British India, where people enjoyed certain privileges of a democratic setup and Congress and other organisations worked relentlessly to make people politically aware, people of Rajputana states didn’t even get 10 years of public dissonance, outcry, opinion building, experimental administrative reforms, hooliganism, morchas, protests, Satygraha and cadre building.

During the course of knowing answers to these questions, we will also discover the origin of the society of Rajasthan, its distinctive cultural heritage and historically where we went wrong to find ourselves at the bottom of most human development indexes, a fragmented society on the lines of caste, class, sex, residence, etc. Even if we cannot pinpoint a specific theme, we surely can find a better way to deal with and initiate changes in the lives of the proud but poor people of Rajasthan.