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 from the Far East to West Asia. During the ancient times, Europe, except Greece and Roman rulers, was inhabited by wild barbaric tribes. They were pagans and yet to be brought under a prophet for bringing them under a religious order under the discipline of a holy text. However, during the period, later called dark ages by the European colonizers, Indian scholars and ascetics were trying to introduce the then known world to the mysteries of the cosmos through scientific thinking and approach. However, later the Abrahamic religions, comprising Judaism, Christianity and Islam influenced Europe and West Asia.
Interestingly, Dikshit, who is awarded the Padma Bhushan is known as a scholar opposed to the concept of enchaining mankind under a faith governed by a holy text and to be slaughtered for serving the imperial or political ambitions of the rulers. At the same time, he never cared to endorse the contemporary Hindutva loaded with any sectarian approach; interpreting the past for supporting a political agenda. He also never hobnobbed with the leftists, who enjoyed state patronage during the era of pampered historians of the JNU brand. They like their peers in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which were engaged in weaving the historical narratives for justifying the colonial agenda across the continents. They may be representing different ideologies, but they never accepted the scholarship 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, however, that in 1942, perhaps under influence of the British colonizers, the Christian Association of India and the Communist Party of India had endorsed the demand of the Muslim League for the division of India. Later, even after independence, a section of the Christian missionaries under the spell of the old colonial agenda had continued to work for snapping deep cultural ties with the rest of India. The tribes of India’s northeastern region that were being told that they were never a part of greater India’s cultural web. 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 , for them Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League were ‘progressive’. 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, he has been honoured with Padma Bhushan, third highest award of India. Maybe, a rare honour for a non-RSS scholar in the Modi regime, according to a senior historian, who confided to the Financial World recently.
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. It is not known whether he has compromised his academic contribution to please the powers that be in Westminster or to his new employers in Pakistan. The leadership of Pakistan, which came into being only in 1947, have always been keen to claim an ancient past of their nascent state. It may also be noted that Mortimer had led the excavation of Mohenjo Daro. Earlier, he also had served as a director of the National Museum, New Delhi.
For many, the decision to honour Dikshit with the Padma Bhushan is also a belated recognition or an 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 as a propaganda. 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, it is quite surprising that Dikshit has finally been honoured. It is being felt that he could have received the Padma Bhushan during the lifetime of his wife, Ajai Lakshmi, the woman who always had stood by him during his challenging career.
Festive Mood in Lucknow
Apart from a festive mood in Dikshit’s family and relations in Lucknow, the scholars of the University of Lucknow, such as Dr. Ramashray and Dr. Raghvendra are celebrating this honour. He is a postgraduate in Ancient Indian history from the university. Dikshit had later joined the department of archaeology in the Union Government. He was elevated as its director also and is credited for conducting numerous excavations and has been engaged in the publication of journals in English and Hindi.
Dikshit, perhaps, is the first scholar of the university in recent years 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 campaign to restore the Rama temple at the disputed site, where a mosque was established during the invasion of Babur.
Gopal Misra has been associated with national and international media. His books on journalism and geo-politics have been well-appreciated. Views are personal.
