Many new fields like socio economic, political and cultural history have been included in recent Trends OF History In Rajasthan.
Napoleon Bonaparte said “History is a set of lies agreed upon.’’ This serious comment on history indicates the incompleteness of research work. We know that History is based on research but inspite of all efforts put to search the truth, History is always uncovered and incomplete.
The common phenomena about historical research may be described in very few words that it is a process of studying and investigating the knowledge of past through the systematic collection and evaluation of evidences. The goal is to understand, describe, and explain past events, people, and societies by using all possible sources and methods. This evidence can include texts, physical remains, recorded data, pictures, maps, and artifacts. The research aims to reconstruct and interpret the past based on the all possible evidences.
Thus we can say that History is a search for truth, an approximation rather than a final formation. The study of history is, by its very nature, an incomplete discipline not only because new evidences are always coming to light, but also because every generation has fresh interests and puts forward new questions to unravel the past.
Marc Bloch has said “History is a science still in travail. It is a thing in the movement”. History has no meaning in a static society. Prof. Carr observed, “History is a dialogue, continually going on between the past and the present, with an eye to the future. All history is contemporary and each age with the problems peculiar to it, brings fresh sets of questions to be asked of the past. And inevitably the answers that emerge out of this process of interrogating the past are bound to be different”.
Much of our thinking is now broadened by modern historical dimensions. Techniques of historical writing have undergone a considerable change, according to the life and spirit of the age in which we are residing. It has, therefore, become necessary for the historian to rewrite, reinterpret and even to rejudge the past in the changing circumstances.
The task of historian is perpetually to restructure the given elements in new generalizing patterns and open fresh vistas of understanding by applying on the historical process the concepts which emerge with the advancement of human civilization.
According to Dr. S. Gopal, the discipline of history is a form of intellectual crystallography whereby the formation of the past changes incessantly according to those of its features which the present is emphasizing because of its current interests. Akin to this view is that of Lucien Febvra, who holds “concepts, interpretations, the selections of facts and the nature of facts are often mere operational constructs which will vary with the constant shifts in focus.”
The historical research work in Rajasthan is continue since British period but the history written in Rajasthan during that period was biased. In 1947 the British Imperialism came to an end and the princely order was replaced by a democratic setup. Now the public of Rajasthan is living in the age of democracy, socialism and secularism.
Voltaire, the French Philosopher, once wrote, “It seems that for fourteen hundred years, there have been none but kings, ministers and generals in the Gauls”.
We have had enough of this approach in writing history of Rajasthan, as also that of India. With the expanding horizon of our knowledge, it is high time we took cognizance of the social, economic, religious and cultural history of the region and had a fresh look at its unfathomed past. All these aspects should be studied in a broader perspective, as integral parts of the study of society as a whole – its materialistic and spiritual activities, mode of production, social organization, political life and philosophical trends. All these aspects are so inter-related and inter-woven that they form the very basis of a social organization.
The process of historical investigations in this direction has already begun in our state. The pioneer work “Rajasthan Before Second World War : A Socio-Economic Study” was done by Jagdish singh Gehlot. His work “Socio-Economic History of Rajasthan” was also a pioneer work in this field.
The research work on “Social Life in Medieval Rajasthan (1500-1800 A. D.)” by Dr. G. N. Sharma stands as a standard reference book. Dr. Kalu Ram has produced a work (in hindi) on the Social and economic life of Rajasthan during the 19th century. Dr. Pema Ram’s thesis on ‘Madhya Kalin Rajasthan Me Dharmik Andolan’ has also been published. It is reported that, in the universities of the state, some young scholars are engaged in historical investigations on one aspect or the other related to the life of the people of Rajasthan through the ages.
A growing interest in the peasantry and its attitudes towards the stresses and pressures, to which it has been exposed from time to time, is a striking development in the historical studies of today.
It has become a very fascinating theme to work on for the professional historians and also for the scholars of other disciplines such as anthropology and sociology. Rural protests, through the ages, as one of these attitudes, has attracted the scholars most The responses of the peasants to the wider social, economic, political and historical changes need a critical analysis.
It is heartening to know that Dr. S. P. Gupta of the Aligarh University and Dr. Dilbaghsingh of the J. N. University have done a very useful statistical study of the rural economy and the agrarian society in the Eastern Rajasthan during the medieval, or later medieval, period, throwing light on cultivation, agricultural production, revenue rates, fluctuation of prices, structure and composition of the agriculture class, stratification and differentiation in the village society, the proportion of the land revenue demand on different sections comprising the agricultural community, the relationship of the peasant vis-a-vis the Jagirdar or the ruler, agrarian indebtedness etc., we may go in for a horizontal study of the other regions in the state on the same pattern; the findings of this will help us in projecting a true picture of the peasant society as a whole in Rajasthan during the period under investigation.
The trade and commerce in Rajasthan, through the ages, an unexplored and neglected field in the economic history of the region may form a fascinating theme for historical investigations.
The study will include the various economic aspects of the problem like the trade routes passing through the then commercial towns; a critical assessment of their importance; the hazards and the safety arrangements on these routes; the commercial organizations and the business magnates, who worked as the promoters of the internal and the foreign trade in the region; the feudal lords and the native chiefs, who worked as levers to promote the commercial activities in their respective territories for providing economic stability there; the wholesale mercantile establishments which sponsored and organized Caravans and adopted the system of payment through hundies; the services rendered by the Banjaras to the transport activities; the postal arrangements of an indigenous nature.
The study will also include the impact of the agricultural production; fiber products and raw materials available; the production of local industries, minerals etc; the trade activities of the region; the pattern of the growth and development of the rural trade; the role of mandies, markets and commercial towns; the interaction between villages and towns; the impact of the economic policies adopted by the imperial powers, like the Mughals and the British, resulting in the growth or decline of the trade in the said region.
The information gathered by Dr. G. L. Devra in the work ‘A study of the Administration of Bikaner State (1500-1818)’ regarding the trade routes of the Bikaner region and the data collected on the organisation of marketing system in medieval Rajasthan (1600-1800) by Dr. H. C. Tikkiwal, indigenous Banking in Eastern Rajasthan by Dr. G.D. Sharma and money lending and exchange in Marwar by Dr. B. L Bhadani in their short articles are related only to small regions and by no means can be taken as comprehensive. Such information may be used on a broader canvas of the economic history of Rajasthan.
Prof. F. K. Kapil’s research work “Rajputana States” was published in last decade of 20th century. His another research work “Princely States: Personages” is also a valuable work.
In first decade of twenty first century, Dr. Mohanlal Gupta published his History research works regarding several new fields of society of Rajasthan. His research was published in seven volumes on cultural history of all 33 districts of Rajasthan.
Dr. Gupta also published his research work on accession of prominent four princely states into India and their integration into Rajasthan. His work on “Agrarian Discontentment in Bikaner Riyasat” and “Bikaner Ka Arthik Evam Samajik Itihas” are also very important. Dr. Mohan Lal Gupta’s research work Cultural Tourism in Marwar Region of Thar Desert is of same importance.
The study of the tribals, which is gaining an abiding interest in other parts of the country, has not been given sufficient attention by the historians of Rajasthan so far. There have been isolated blocks of tribal chunks in Rajasthan from time immemorial both in the Aravali regions and some other pockets here and there.
These tribal people have remained primitive in their technology and social organization. We have to probe into the genesis of the partial paralysis of our body politic which led to the continuing of these groups in their primal way of living for such an inordinately long period of time. We have to study the nature of the tribal society in relation to the political system; their social structure, their economic and agrarian institutions and their movements.
Their continuing presence in Rajasthan through the ages has been an interesting theme for the study of inter-tribal and tribal – non tribal relationship, and gives it the form of a problem-oriented research. To what extent the Christian missionaries realized the magnitude of the tribal problem and what they did in this regard is still to be analyzed.
During the colonial period, the Bhils in Mewar, and adjoining regions of the south-east Rajasthan; the Mehrs in Ajmer-Merwara region and the Meenas in other parts of the State of Rajasthan had to frequently revolt against authorities for getting their grievances redressed.
These out breaks have to be studied as movements within the then prevailing social system, together with the policy adopted by the princely states, the involvement of the Britishers and the part played by the feudal lords of the region. There is a great possibility of research in the tribal history of modern Rajasthan. It can be undertaken feasibly in close collaboration with other disciplines like anthropology and sociology.
Similarly the study of the urban history also has been practically ignored so far. Every great city is a history of a very complex growth. The complexity in all its features, has to be analyzed. We have yet to investigate in depth not only the urban institutions but many such facets of economic and social formations also. We have to enquire into the fiscal and credit institutions and their linkage with the castes, the arti- sans and the laborers.
A thorough study has to be made of the social, economic, political and cultural forces which have made various communities come to the city and settle there. Various phases of the development of the city, with its cultural ethos, have to be examined in a proper historical perspective. The history of the Jaipur city has been written by Shri Ashim Kumar Roy.
There are many more cities in Rajasthan, waiting for a historical analysis of their development. And then a comparative study of them all may be undertaken. The cities of Rajas- than provide a happy blending of tradition and modernity. They, therefore, must provide an interesting field of study.
New trends in historical research recently noticed in other parts of the country also. With a view to keeping pace with them, it has become essential for the scholars, working on the history of Rajasthan, to concentrate themselves on a closer and deeper study of such themes as have been mentioned above.
A changed concept of historiography should be kept in view, so that findings arrived at may be correlated with the findings of the contemporary scholars working on other regions. Thus alone shall we be in a position to assess them in a coherent and a compact manner on the national level.
