Across the internet, and even in the broader public discourse, Indian history is a point of contention in a way that not many other civilization’s past is. Whether it is the question of early Central intrusions and their links (or lack thereof) to Hindu synthesis and propagation, or the era of Muslim political rule, narratives of history in India carry get emotional valence.
However, there is a bigger question here. In what way does Indian history matter ? The past is literally that, the past. To matter, history must continually provide relatable reference points and rich contexts to understand the present and beyond. On first glance, as a record of a civilization that failed to industrialize and reach enlightenment values autonomously, Indian history might not seem to hold much intrinsic value.
Where Indian history becomes more relevant for today and tomorrow is when it starts responding in a innovative and creative ways in response to the industrialized West. There is a reason why the Indian Constitution out enlightens most Western founding documents. This response comes from India’s specific cultural and moral values, but these attributes are totally divorced from genetic profiles and who had the throne in Delhi, when. They rely instead on deeper currents of folklore