Historians Stress Importance Of Historical Understanding In Building Democracy

Inaugurating the 45th South India History Congress, being held from November 13 to 15 at Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU) in Anneparthy, Nalgonda district, MGU vice-chancellor Prof. Khaja Althaf Hussain said the study of history should help society examine its assumptions rationally, confront exclusion and work towards a more inclusive and progressive future.

Prof. Victor Babu of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, delivered the presidential address on conceptions of God and religious traditions in North and South India. He called for an understanding of India's cultural interconnectedness while recognising regional differences. Village deities, local beliefs and tribal traditions should be studied alongside institutional religious traditions to understand how communities negotiated identity, authority and social change, he said. He also stressed the need to critically examine colonial interpretations of Indian religious life.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof. S.K. Masthan Vali of Bangalore University urged historians to document the experiences of communities often left out of dynastic narratives. Farmers, artisans, agricultural labourers, women, Dalits and Adivasis were central to the making of civilisation, he said.

He said archaeology, inscriptions, oral histories, folklore and community archives could help reconstruct their contributions and struggles. Artificial intelligence and digital research tools should expand historical inquiry rather than reproduce the exclusions of earlier accounts, he added.

South India History Congress secretary Prof. P. Sivadasan, local secretary Dr Panasa Ramakrishna and scholars from across South India attended the event.

More than 1,200 historians, professors, researchers and students from various universities across the country are participating in the three-day congress.