Historians and Archaeologists in India as well as abroad were surprised, when the name of a Lucknow-born scholar, K.N. Dikshit, figured in the list of the Padma awardees this year.
Dikshit is credited for rekindling worldwide interest in Greater India having footprints across the then known world. It had existed without any prophet as a part of the quest for studying the unknown and the cosmos. It had influenced mankind much before the Abrahamic religions, comprising Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Europe and West Asia.
Interestingly, Dikshit is awarded the Padma Bhushan, though he neither endorses any sectarian approach of the Hindutva lobby in interpreting the past nor he ever cared to join the leftists, who enjoyed state patronage during the era of pampered historians of the JNU brand. Leftists like the scholars of Oxford and Cambridge, the universities were engaged in weaving the historical narratives for justifying the colonial agenda across the continents. They could never accept the findings of the Dacca University historian, Kalidas Nag, who had travelled to various parts of the South Asian region to re-establish the fact that close cultural ties existed in the ancient times between the region and India. It may be recalled that in 1942, the Christian Association of India and
the Communist Party of India had endorsed the demand of the Muslim League for the division of India. After independence, the Christian missionaries had told the tribes of India’s northeastern region that they were never a part of greater India’s culture. Similarly, the Communist Party of India had endorsed the partition of India. They even accused Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru of representing the Indian bourgeoisie. On the other hand , Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League were progressive in their views. Even its leader P.C.Joshi had refused to topple the League government in the undivided Bengal in 1946 despite the massacre of Hindus in the 1946 Kolkata riots.
In this context, it is not surprising that Dikshit’s admirers and peers appear to feel satisfied that instead of the Padmashree, Dikshit has been honoured with Padma Bhushan, third highest award of India. Maybe, a rare honour for a non-RSS scholar in the Modi regime, confides a senior historian to the Financial World.
In 2024, his name had figured as one of the Padma awardees, perhaps for a Padmashree, but the proposal was dropped just before the announcement. It is believed that the conservatives within the contemporary ruling establishment have always been wary of the secular approach of Dikshit. In fact, in his writings as well as in the journals he edited, Dikshit was following Grace Morley, a well-known historian who believed in cultural democracy. Grace was one of the key figures of the San Francisco Museum, now named San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It goes to the credit of Dikshit that he could have a working relationship with the conservatives among the present establishment without succumbing like the British archaeologist, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who is being ridiculed even today for his publication, Five Thousand Years of Pakistan. Pakistan came into being only in 1947 after the partition of India on the basis of religious differences.It may also be noted that Mortimer had led the excavation of Mohenjo Daro. He also served as a director of the National Museum, New Delhi for a while..
The decision to honour Dikshit with the Padma Bhushan is also being
recognised as a deliberate effort within the ruling establishment that the all -inclusive approach of Dikshit
in the fields of culture and ancient Indian history could be more credible than indulging in the repetitive rhetoric of the greatness of India since ancient times. According to a number of historians, who neither subscribe to the approach of the historians of the left ideology nor support the logic of the RSS that India has been a great nation since the ancient times, believe that this honour, though belated, could be indicative of the new approach within the ruling establishment.
Amidst these differences of opinion, Dikshit was honoured. It is being felt that if he could have been honoured earlier, before the death of his wife, the woman who always stood by him in his challenging tasks.
Festive Mood in Lucknow: A postgraduate in Ancient Indian history from the Lucknow University, Dikshit
had joined the department of archaeology in the Union Government. Later, he was elevated as its director also.
He is known for numerous excavations.
In recent years, Dikshit, perhaps, is the first scholar of the university to be honoured with the Padma Bhushan.
Archeological Society: During the sixties, a group of historians had formed an organization, Indian Archeological Society (IAS) in Varanasi. Later, S.P.Gupta, who had also served in the National Museum, New Delhi, was elected its president. He finally was able to get a dedicated premises for the society in the Qutub Institutional area in New Delhi.
Apart from helping Sonia Gandhi, wife of PM Rajiv Gandhi to enable her to understand Indias’ rich heritage and culture, his organisation, IAS, provided detailed evidences on the basis of excavations in Ayodhya for getting a favourable judicial verdict for the people demanding the restoration of the temple at the disputed site.
Gopal Misra has been associated with national and international media. His books on journalism and geo-politics have been well-appreciated. Views are personal.
