Privileged and Unisex Historical Perspectives

Human history is rich with literature from diverse cultures and societies. Across eras, literature has served as both a mirror to the world and a means of shaping it. However, one cannot ignore an unsettling reality: much of this literary legacy is inherently biased, shaped by the perspectives of the privileged—and overwhelmingly male—authors who controlled the narrative. This skewed lens has influenced how we understand history, culture, religion, and society, resulting in a perspective that is, at best, incomplete and, at worst, deeply exclusionary and unisex.

Literature Through the Prism of Privilege

A significant portion of historical literature comes from the pens of privileged individuals. These were often the educated elites with the leisure and resources to engage in literary pursuits. Consequently, the narratives and themes they explored tended to reflect their own experiences, concerns, and biases. The lives of underprivileged or marginalized communities, when depicted, were filtered through the lens of these privileged storytellers. There is no way to verify the authenticity of these depictions as there is no representation of underprivileged authors in the literature that survives various transitions of human history.

For instance, in many ancient civilizations, the voices of the working class, enslaved individuals, or women were seldom recorded firsthand. Their experiences were either ignored or romanticized, often reduced to stereotypes or supporting roles in stories centered on the lives of kings, warriors, and noblemen. This dynamic perpetuated a cycle in which the struggles, joys, and perspectives of the underprivileged were either misrepresented or erased from the broader narrative. Take any book or even epics like Ramayan, Mahabharat, or Eliad, they all are written by the elites and for the elites. Of course, over time the entire society adopted these epics as their own story as there was no other alternative. When the discourse is heavily dominated by voices from certain sections one tends to believe that only those voices are relevant. 

Even in more recent times, this pattern persists. Consider colonial literature, where indigenous cultures were often depicted through the lens of the colonizers. The historical accounts of the freedom struggle of India are also depicted through the lens of colonizers or the privileged class that either colluded or occasionally resisted colonizers to protect their own interests. These portrayals were laden with biases, reinforcing notions of cultural superiority, justifying the exploitation of the colonized, and dehumanizing or marginalizing underprivileged voices. The accounts of contributions from non-elite classes were either absent or consistently downplayed. Such literature, while historically significant, reflects a deeply skewed understanding of the societies it sought to describe.

The Male-Dominated Narrative

Adding another layer of bias is the predominance of male perspectives in literature. For much of history, social structures have relegated women to secondary roles, both in life and in literature, especially for underprivileged women. The narratives that emerged from this male-dominated world naturally reflected their worldview, concerns, and values. As a result, literature—whether religious, cultural, or historical—became overwhelmingly unisex in its outlook, focusing solely on male experiences and aspirations.

Even portrayals of women in historical literature were often shaped by male authors. Women were depicted as muses, temptresses, or paragons of virtue, their identities crafted to serve the narrative needs of male protagonists. Many books, mythological stories, and even movies include various complex male characters with various shared, however, any of these mediums have rarely presented females as fully realized individuals with agency and depth comparable to their male characters.

Religious texts, which have profoundly shaped cultures and societies, are no exception. Most were authored by men and reflected patriarchal structures, often relegating women to submissive or supportive roles. These texts have been instrumental in perpetuating gender norms and have influenced the way societies view women and their contributions. These texts have so profound influence in various societies that even women view themselves through the lens inculcated in their minds by these stories. 

Social Media and Emergence of Diverse Voices

It is only in recent history that this dominant narrative has been meaningfully challenged. The rise of social media has offered a unique platform for diverse voices, particularly from women and other marginalized groups. This has begun to shift the literary landscape significantly. Various female content creators have brought new perspectives to literature, exploring themes of identity, empowerment, and the lived experiences of women. Social media with all its drawbacks has democratized the narrative and helped reduce the gender gap, no one can deny this effect of social media.  

Moreover, the growing focus on intersectionality has highlighted the importance of including voices that reflect the complexities of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Writers from underprivileged backgrounds are now sharing their stories, offering unfiltered perspectives that challenge the narratives crafted by the privileged few.  This shift is not just a matter of representation; it is a rebalancing of the literary canon. For most of human history, only one section and one gender of society occupied the stage and now by including diverse voices, we gain a fuller understanding of the human experience, one that acknowledges the richness and complexity of different perspectives. Today's literature is the most diverse and richer than at any point in human history. I know many elites won't agree with me on this, but this is a verifiable fact and social media is one of the major factors that made it possible.

Moving Toward a More Inclusive Literary Tradition

While progress has been made, much work remains to be done. The literary world still grapples with systemic inequalities, and many voices continue to be marginalized. Publishers, educators, and readers must actively seek out and support diverse perspectives, ensuring that literature reflects the breadth of human experience. To move beyond the unisex perspective, we must embrace stories that challenge our assumptions and expand our understanding. By doing so, we honor the richness of humanity and create a literary tradition that is truly inclusive and representative of all voices.

In the end, literature is not just a reflection of society; it is a tool for shaping it. By addressing the biases inherent in our literary heritage, we can pave the way for a future where every story has the chance to be told, heard, and valued. I am lucky that I started writing the blog and could share my views and ideas on various platforms, I encourage my readers to share their stories also. You will be amazed to see how many people are like you and are interested in knowing your story. it is up to us to develop and be a part of a more inclusive and gender-balanced literary tradition. I am excited to be part of such a tradition, are you? 

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

*Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com 

History is always incomplete and biased

History is important. It is important to know about past mistakes and learn from them to avoid repeating them. However, history is rarely used for this purpose. Mostly, history is used to boast about the past, instill feelings of unreasonable pride, fuel perpetual hate among communities by using some tragic and unpleasant incidents from the past, or glorify certain characters to create a cult. There are several examples to demonstrate that we refuse to learn lessons from history and purposely repeat the same mistakes to inflict the same wounds. For example, communities who suffered genocide or societal hate don't hesitate to do the same to other communities when they get power; communities whose religious structure was demolished to build another religious structure don't hesitate to do the same when they get power in their hands. History as well as our present is full of examples like this. 

The reason why I am saying history is incomplete and biased is because not even a tiny fraction of what actually happened is recorded in written history. What we read is only recorded and preserved by winners and subsequent rulers. Also, what was recorded were the views and perspectives of people who could be interviewed, were willing to talk, and by people who had the privilege to speak and write. This all made history an important but very biased and incomplete account. Basing our present views and opinions only based on historical accounts completely ignoring the present situation is what makes us repeat that history again and again. The danger of seeking revenge for historical conflicts only results in creating more conflicts for future revenge, this cycle is endless unless one of the sides decides to take a higher moral stand and settle the issue amicably through peaceful negotiations. Most historical accounts don't say anything about the masses, they completely ignore nuances of human suffering and resilience.  

Does this mean we should not study history? No, we should study history. We must critically study history and interpret it with context. History without context is just a list of events and dates, nothing more. The context needs to be broad enough to make historical events relevant for everyone affected by those events in the past as well as the present. If we do this, even incomplete and biased historical accounts may help us to resolve complicated conflicts that have been going on for decades or centuries. Without such reasonable use of history, it will remain another tool that had the potential to benefit humanity but like nuclear power, we converted it into a deadly weapon and are only using as a deadly weapon against each other. We are not perfect, and neither is history, we can make use of imperfect history to make our present and future perfect. If not, we will be busy creating more imperfect and divisive history, the same way as our ancestors did. The choice is ours. 

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com 

You can't drive forward by continuously looking in a rearview mirror

Traditions, culture, history, and legacy all connect us with our past. Any country or civilization that is old enough will have enough incidents and achievements to celebrate and feel good about it, at the same time, there will be incidents about which they owe an apology to a certain section of their society. Old civilizations like the Chinese, Indians, or Romans are no exceptions to it. History is not only about glorious triumphs or grand wars or golden eras, but it is also about racism, casteism, gender discrimination, massacres, and exploitation of certain sections of society at the hands of a few privileged ones. It won't be an exaggeration to say that each golden era of any civilization is associated with some sort of travesty inflicted on some section of society. This is true irrespective of which country or civilization we are talking about. However, there will be very few from that corresponding country or civilization to acknowledge this fact, rather, we can find many who either deny or try to justify even the ugliest or most cruel historical incidents.

Learning lessons from history is important, that is why we study history, it is not just important to know what happened, but also important to know why happened. Also, if we don't feel sorry, bad, disgusted, apologetic, or angry while studying history, then we may be studying something but not real history. There is no country or civilization that does not have skeletons buried in their closet. As I mentioned, there are some bright spots in every civilization, and it is important to know about them. But the problem arises when in the mode of hyper-nationalism, people highlight only bright spots and cover up or worse, blatantly deny some inconvenient truths. The result of this is that the most vocal class of such societies keeps on indulging in past glories. They fall in love with their past so much, that they do not even recognize that their current situation is not even close to the so-called golden era about which they are harping. It is like trying to drive a vehicle on a highway by continuously looking in a rear-view mirror.

The rear-view mirror has its utility, one has to look at it occasionally while driving to check on the surroundings. One cannot look in the rear-view mirror and drive forward, if we do that we are bound to crash. Check your present situation and think about how to move forward, know about your competition today, and design a strategy to compete based on what you have today. If I want to win a gold medal in the Olympics, then I need to train hard and compete with my fellow contestants, not brag about my grandfather winning Olympic gold, such bragging is not going to help me a bit to win any medal or even get qualified for that event, rather, others might feel pity for my situation. This is what is happening in countries where hyper-nationalism is on the rise, they are forgetting that their competitors are getting better day by day, by thumping their chest about their past glories they are not doing any good to their current situation but helping their competitors to get better and better. Hopefully, these people realize their mistakes and shift their gaze from the rear-view mirror. Because if they don't, all they can go is in the reverse direction. The more one indulges in the past, the more one loses connection with the present, this is true for an individual, group, or country.  Learn from the past to create a better future for everyone, for things from the past apologize or salute and move on, don't get stuck.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

Did Mahabharat really happen?

Many times I see people arguing about whether some events from some epic books really happened or not, especially from scriptures like Mahabharat, Ramayan, Bible, etc. Normally these arguments are really passionate and heated because many people are really emotional about these things, with both sides trying to make their points furiously very often without any reliable evidence. I find this a totally unnecessary ordeal, a total waste of time unless its whole purpose is to do a time pass. I often wonder why people waste their time arguing about whether stories or incidents mentioned in these books really happened or not? Why does it matter to them? What will they gain or achieve if they prove or disprove that these incidents really happened? I read many of the stories mentioned in these books but I read them like any other book. It's not at all important whether these stories or incidents are real or not. If they teach me something useful they are relevant to me, I am totally fine even if it's a work of fiction. If they don't teach me anything useful or relevant then I just read them for the sake of entertainment, whether they really happened or not is not at all relevant to me. 

History is documented for many reasons, one of them is to have it stored for future generations so that they can get some clue from past incidents and learn relevant lessons which will help them not to repeat the same mistakes again. But many of these scriptures are not history but they are classified under mythology or theology and that's why I think it's a waste of time to discuss whether they are fiction or non-fiction, whether they really happened or not. I like many characters from these epics. I relate to many of them, for me it's really insignificant whether they really lived in flesh and blood on this planet or not, even if they didn't then also it doesn't reduce my attachment or affection for them even a little bit. The message that the authors of these books wanted to deliver is the most important thing for me. I take whatever is relevant for me and leave the rest, I don't get into unnecessary technical details like how humans flew without airplanes, how the bird or snake spoke, and how a person became alive again after being killed. These all are semi-fiction stories written long back over a long period, the main purpose was to educate and entertain people at the same time. Some of them are so old that it's very difficult even to find out who wrote them, but they all have something useful in them that's why people still read them. But when people try to enforce these books as a rule book for everyone, there is a problem, there is a conflict and unnecessary tension. I am against this practice. Many of these books no matter how good, were written thousands of years ago and many things mentioned in them are no longer relevant, some of the things are outdated. Even many scientific papers published in journals many years back are no longer relevant anymore, some of them are even proven to be wrong. These books are the same, they can be used as literature but they are not rule books or science journals so to follow them or to expect others to follow them blindly is absurd, wrong, and unreasonable.

So let's not worry or argue about the technical details of these books. Read them as ancient literature. There might be many technical glitches in them but that should not be a deterrent for anyone to read them. These books are treasures from the past, they actually don't belong to any particular religion or sects but belong to all humanity. Linking them to any particular religion or sect limits their use and is a gross injustice to their potential. The story of Mahabharat is one of my all-time favorite stories, all the characters in this are so human that anyone can relate to them that's the reason I like it more than any other story. Stories and characters from these books have inspired me during various stages of my life and they still continue to do so. I love Mahabharat stories, some biblical stories, and some concepts from the Quran. Let's not worry about the technical details of these stories, let's try to catch the real essence of them, this will be a great tribute to all those authors and the real use of all these books.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. 5000 year old Viamana craft was found in Afghanistan
2. Were Our Ancient Ancestors Scientifically Advanced?

History - be careful while reading it

History was not one of my favorite subjects in school. I didn't like the way it was taught and tested in schools. It did put too much emphasis on remembering the names, dates, and other insignificant details of the incidents rather than understanding the analyzing the significance of those events. Eventually, I met people in my life who reintroduced this subject to me in a much more interesting way and then I started reading books to understand more about some past events,. Now I love to read history and like to read accounts from different sides. One can find many historical accounts, either written by experts (after thorough research) or by witnesses (who were involved in some way in those incidents). Many of these reports are sometimes contradictory to each other, some glorifying the incident while others criticizing it. If we see such contradictory accounts, which one to believe? Which one is true? This is a very important question and there is no easy answer to this. My approach is to read as much as you can from all sides and then decide for yourself. 

The major problem that I face while reading most of these books or articles is that many times they are very biased, the views and opinions clearly take sides. There are neutral accounts also but very often they are not popular because people like to see clear heroes and villains in every story and often neutral accounts don't project clear heroes and villains so they fail to impress most readers. I see this contrast when I review what I learned in school about the Indian freedom struggle. All those lessons glorified all actions of Indians, the armed struggle of 1857 was presented in such a way that as a kid I was under the impression that all autocracies were only committed by British troops and all rebels were very honest and fair in dealing with their enemies. But when I read some books (for example a recent book which I read, Gandhi Churchill by Arthur Herman) that talk about the same mutiny but from a totally different perspective. I learned about each and every massacre committed by British troops but I never knew about the Bibighar massacre. I was surprised when I read about it. I am sure it was omitted purposely from our textbooks. I am sure one can find totally different views about the Pearl Harbor attack, or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki if we read Japanese and American opinions. When there are totally different views about the same incident, it is not easy to decide who is right and who is wrong.  

I think rulers (kings in the past and governments now) always feel the need to present history in a biased way to infuse patriotism in people. They want more heroes from our past and from our lineage so that we feel proud about our history and buy the argument that the past was more glorious than the present. But I always wanted to know both sides. Mahabharat taught me that there is no absolute right or wrong in this world, everything is relative, and it depends on which side you are standing. I have no shame or hesitation in accepting some dark spots in Indian history. They are also part of our history. They belong to us as much as many other glorious things that we mention proudly. I am not selective in my acceptance or denial. This helps me to learn and grow intellectually. I always tell my kids that before forming any opinion about anything try to know all sides, and be prepared to change that opinion if any contradictory information is received as nothing is permanent.

Reading is good, it improves our knowledge and sharpens our minds. I always try to read diverse opinions and try to get neutral opinions or at least views from both sides. It helps to balance my own views. If we look at history only through the eyes of winners, losers will be always villains, if we read only from the loser's perspective we will always feel winners didn't play a fair game. Our vision will be clouded depending on which side we are looking at, our job is to make it as much less clouded as possible. 

History is a very engaging and mesmerizing subject, and it has the potential to teach us a lot, at the same time if we are not careful then it can also fill us with a lot of negative emotions and hatred against each other. We need to be very careful about how we interpret the historical events. We need to make sure that we have all the required information before forming any opinion about any country or community. There are already enough conflicts around us we definitely don't need any more of them. Always remember, history is past so don't allow it to ruin our present and destroy our future. If we are careful about all these things then history is an amazing subject.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion on this subject.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)