Date:07/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010761780300.htm

New Delhi

To set history straight

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Over 100 historians and scholars from India and abroad will be taking part in a three-day conference on “Indian History, Civilisation and Geopolitics” being organised by the U.S.-based Indic Studies Foundation at India International Centre here beginning this Friday.

The conference will seek to challenge many aspects of ancient Indian history as it is taught today and expose various myths including the Aryan invasion theory that have been presented as facts by the Raj historians of the 19th Century and would also discuss India’s modern geo-political landscape and strategic affairs.

According to Indic Studies Foundation executive director Kosla Vepa, “The purpose of the conference is to de-colonise various aspects of ancient Indian history and its chronology which were deliberately distorted and misdated during the British Raj with a view to causing confusion and inferiority complex among Indians.”

The conference will also contribute towards correcting the historical narrative of Indian civilisation. “Much of the ancient Indian history taught to our youth today has absolutely no basis in fact and is not supported by modern research. This is causing terrible cultural damage to our society and has to be set right urgently,” Mr. Vepa said.