Page 177 - EW December 2025

Books

History from A NEW HISTORY OF INDIA FOR shows that interaction and
exchange of commodities
below CHILDREN: FROM ITS ORIGINS TO was essential to the very
THE 21ST CENTURY
Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Shobita survival of villages.
Punja and Toby Sinclair The establishment
HE WELL-KNOWN ALEPH BOOK COMPANY of Mughal rule in the
historian of ancient Rs.499 Pages 295 territories of Koch and
TIndia, Ram Sharan Ahom tribes, towards the
Sharma, once quipped that end of the 16th century,
while it is not so difficult witnessed increased use
to teach history to college the leading historians of A vivid narration of of money, given that the
and university students, India, including Romila India’s history from Mughal state collected rev-
given that they already Thapar, RS Sharma, pre-historic times to enue in cash. Apart from
have some grounding in Satish Chandra and Bipan the 21st century for revenue, cash was now,
the subject, it is a hercu- Chandra — as well as school students that following this develop-
lean task to teach the same Audrey Truschke’s recent examines the lives of ment, increasingly used in
subject in an engaging and magnum opus, India: non-elite sections of commercial activities of
exciting manner, to school 5,000 Years of History on society the people of the region.
students. Besides making the Subcontinent (2025). However, penetration
the subject ‘attractive’, Engaging with richly of the British colonial
it is important for those textured narratives, these state in the Northeast
trained in the historian’s books attempt to make methodology. had adverse effects on
craft to make school young minds aware that Given that in the major- the social and economic
students familiar with his- they cannot understand ity of writings on Indian orders of the various
torical knowledge which is contemporary India history, the Northeast tribal kingdoms. That the
accurate and, at the same without appreciating its region has been margin- emergence and develop-
time, non-sectarian. deeply contested past, alised, Mukherjee’s study ment of a tea plantation
Several historians and which continues to shape is essential. In the portion economy — unique to
history enthusiasts have, current events and socio- pertaining to the North- these parts of the country
in recent years, made political controversies. eastern region of the coun- — led to an increased level
sincere efforts to make the Written by Rudrangshu try, the author outlines the of economic exploitation
subject more accessible to Mukherjee, together with broad historical trajecto- and suppression of the
school students. Works of cultural historian Shobita ries of the Northeast. local peasantry, is stressed
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Punja and photographer- While examining the by the author. Thus, as the
Devika Rangachari, archivist Toby Sinclair, political history of the author rightly notes, the
Subhadra Sen Gupta, A New History of India area, the section highlights creation of ‘planter raj’,
Roshen Dalal, Devika for Children vividly nar- the distinctiveness of a term coined by Ama-
Cariappa, and Archana rates India’s history from various tribal formations, lendu Guha, “lorded over
Garodia Gupta, to name prehistoric times to the including the Ahoms, and tyrannized the entire
a few, are commendable 21st century. Based on Chutiyas, Kacharis, and population of the region”.
inasmuch as they allow thorough research, each Koch. Far from being At a time when the
school students to chapter dissects multi- homogenous, each tribal present dispensation is
understand complex facets layered and, at the same group, we are told, was blatantly tinkering with
and debates of Indian and time, complex, Indian so- disparate and unique. India’s glorious past,
world histories in simple ciety. Importantly, rather And socio-cultural facets and is leaving no stone
terms, and in a language than focusing primarily on like dance, diet, clothing, unturned in promoting
bereft of jargon. Moreover, political and dynastic his- religious rituals and beliefs a version of history
these books often contain tory, the study examines were tribe specific. How- which is biased and
colourful illustrations at length socio-economic ever, tribal villages were, sectarian, A New History
which add richness to the issues concerning the lives as the author argues, ‘by of India for Children is
narrative. of non-elite sections of no means self-sufficient’. an important scholarly
To this list we may society. Mukherjee, in this That the tribal population intervention. Interspersed
also add classic NCERT respect adopts a ‘history of the region was actively with a canvas of exquisite
history school textbooks from below’ approach, taking part in local as miniature paintings,
—written by some of instead of ‘top-down’ well as trans-local trade archaeological remains,

DECEMBER 2025 EDUCATIONWORLD 177