A large number of readers have responded to my recent articles (here, here and here) on the Kashmiri Pandits through Messenger and WhatsApp. Their reactions have been diverse. A few have appreciated and endorsed my arguments, while many have disagreed with my conclusions and raised searching questions. I welcome every such response, for history advances not through unquestioning conformity but through informed debate, critical scrutiny and an unwavering commitment to truth.
To all those who have written to me, my reply is simple: history is not an art of storytelling. It is a science of truth.
Like every scientific discipline, history must rest upon credible evidence, rigorous investigation, logical reasoning and an honest evaluation of facts. It cannot be built upon hearsay, inherited prejudices, political expediency, ideological loyalty, or emotionally comforting myths. A historian's foremost allegiance is neither to governments nor to political parties, neither to communities nor to popular sentiments. His only loyalty must be to historical truth, however inconvenient or uncomfortable that truth may prove to be.
History as a Diagnosis of Society
History resembles medicine more than literature. It is, in essence, a diagnosis of society. Just as the future health of a patient depends upon the accuracy of a physician's diagnosis, the future of a nation depends upon the accuracy of its understanding of the past.
A wrong diagnosis inevitably produces a wrong prognosis, and a wrong prognosis results in disastrous treatment.
Imagine a physician who mistakes tuberculosis for asthma. However competent or compassionate that physician may be, the prescribed treatment will fail because the disease itself has been wrongly identified. The patient will continue to deteriorate, not because medicine has failed, but because the diagnosis was fundamentally flawed.
History works in exactly the same manner. When the origins of conflicts are distorted, when social tensions are selectively explained, or when political upheavals are attributed to convenient myths rather than established facts, every policy founded upon such false assumptions is destined to fail. One cannot build lasting peace upon historical falsehood, nor can justice emerge from intellectual dishonesty.
Myths and Politicisation
History is replete with examples of myths masquerading as truth. One oft-cited illustration concerns the Black Sea. For generations, sailors reportedly avoided parts of its waters because terrifying stories had spread that ghosts haunted the sea, dragging voyagers to their deaths. The legend became so deeply embedded in popular imagination that maritime traffic was seriously discouraged.
Later investigations sought rational explanations. One account attributes the eerie sightings to remarkably well-preserved corpses of Tsarist soldiers killed during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, whose bodies, preserved by the peculiar chemical and environmental conditions of the sea, gave rise to ghost stories. Whether every detail of that explanation is accepted or debated, the larger lesson remains unchanged: superstition yielded only when investigation replaced imagination.
Kashmir's modern history offers an equally revealing example. During the meteoric rise of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, a sensational story was propagated that the leaves of certain trees had miraculously borne the Kashmiri inscription: "Pane wathrun kyah chhu shuban—Sher-i-Kashmir Zindabad" ("Even the leaves proclaim: Long Live the Lion of Kashmir").
To thousands of simple and deeply religious Kashmiris, this was projected as divine testimony that Sheikh Abdullah had been chosen by Providence to lead them. The slogan spread rapidly, strengthening the carefully cultivated image of a leader enjoying heavenly approval.
Dr. Aga Ashraf, in his book Kutch Tuo Lekhyay Ki Loog Kahtay Hain (p. 14), records that he was himself shown two such leaves bearing the inscription. According to accounts that later emerged, the supposed miracle was no miracle at all. It was alleged that a goldsmith had been engaged to engrave the slogan on the leaves by treating them with acid, thereby, creating the illusion of a supernatural phenomenon.
Whether viewed as political theatre or calculated propaganda, the episode demonstrates how readily public opinion can be manipulated when emotion triumphs over reason and critical inquiry is suspended.
Both examples convey the same enduring lesson. Myths may inspire temporary admiration or fear, but they cannot withstand the relentless scrutiny of evidence. That is precisely what distinguishes history from mythology, scholarship from propaganda, and science from superstition.
This is why much of Indian history requires a fearless scientific reappraisal. Such a reappraisal should neither glorify nor demonise any individual, community, ideology or regime. Its sole objective must be the recovery of truth.
Unfortunately, our historical discourse has too often been shaped not by evidence but by ideology. Different schools of history have frequently selected facts that support their preferred narratives while suppressing or ignoring those that challenge them. Distortion has never been the monopoly of any one political persuasion. Whenever history becomes the servant of power instead of truth, it ceases to be history and degenerates into propaganda.
The consequences are profound. Entire generations grow up believing myths instead of documented facts. Public opinion is moulded by selective memory. Political decisions are taken on inherited misconceptions. National debates become increasingly emotional because they are detached from historical reality.
Reconciliation Requires Historical Honesty
The controversy surrounding Kashmir, including the tragedy of the Kashmiri Pandits, illustrates this danger with painful clarity. If we approach such sensitive subjects carrying preconceived conclusions instead of evidence, we merely deepen existing wounds rather than healing them.
Genuine reconciliation is impossible unless it is founded upon historical honesty.
Evidence should never be feared. On the contrary, evidence is history's greatest ally. Every historical claim, irrespective of who makes it, must be subjected to the same rigorous standards of verification. No narrative deserves immunity from scrutiny merely because it is politically fashionable or emotionally appealing.
The purpose of history is not to manufacture heroes or villains. Its purpose is to understand human actions in all their complexity so that society may avoid repeating its mistakes.
Only by removing the accumulated layers of distortion and restoring evidence to its rightful place can history become what it was always meant to be - a scientific guide to justice, national integration and a wiser future.
If we continue to misdiagnose our past, we shall continue to mismanage our present and imperil our future. But if we summon the intellectual courage to confront history honestly, evidence rather than ideology will illuminate our path, and truth rather than myth will become the foundation upon which a stronger, wiser and more harmonious India can be built.
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