The History Of India For Children – (Vol. 1): From Prehistory To The Sultanates By Archana Garodia Gupta, Shruti Garodia [Paperback]

The History of India for children by Garodia and Garodia is astoundingly illuminating, leaving you wondering if it’s a entrepôt or a treasure trove of India itself. Open any of it’s chapters ; it’s as though the authors are holding powerful floodlights – right behind you.

Normally Historians are unapologetic when they join dotted lines with their own choice of colours between emperors , their dynasties the wars and the shifting dunes of power. Make no mistake, this is no version upgrade. It’s a whole new way that demystifies exalted persona and breaks down historical events in exacting terms that even an unfettered, demanding new generation would approve.

Supercharged with copious data and with zeal of ace detectives, the authors cover the

The best of Humankind yet as spawned by the Himalayan Glacier systems, 3000 BCE
The early Indo – European linguistic and the genetic connect,
Intrigues of the Nandas-Mauyrias and their face-off with the Greeks that coalesced the first Pax Indica through Buddhism,
The bloom in The Gupta Era,
The Opulently Indulgent Mughals and
The persistent impact of the Imperial British Sahibs .

They place the magnifying lens on virtually every footprint on the sands of time; no matter who made them or how faint they appear. A striking feature of this book is the continuum of the Indian Woman and her times from the dawn of History. And umpteen pages that covers everyday lives of the common people and their robustness that made India a trading superpower since 3000 BCE.

In their coverage the authors have looked at several rulers dispassionately as faltering humans … sometimes opportunistic … often succumbing to their times and hurtling their subjects to unimaginable heights or abyss.

Volume 1 fires up your imagination and makes it easy for you to understand why we live the way we do today. It traces back our roots – food, clothes, festivals , scripts , speech, lifestyle and our psyche to over five millenniums. It harks back and shows we had multiple golden eras and proves that India was the fountainhead of Mathematics, Science, Literature , Astronomy, Medicine and Statecraft. As if these were not enough it explains powerfully our greatest gifts yet to humankind – Vedic Philosophy and the virtues of Peace and Non-violence.

Another feature that stands out of this volume is the South of the Vindhyas deep narration. Almost half of the book describes these in vivid details. The Tamil Sangam era with it’s obeisance to the Epic Silappadikaram and the rulers of the era – Cholas, Pallavas, Pandayas, Cherans are captured eloquently. Later, about a resurgent 12CE Cholas and their maritime empire from Maldives to the Indonesian archipelago and the 15th CE glittering supremacy of The Vijayanagara Empire. A pleasant surprise is the description at length about Muizirs – a speck-in-a-galaxy like bygone port city in the land of Cheras that brought not only enormous amounts of gold and goods but also people of every known faith to our shores.

Magic and Bubble boxes spring out through out the book giving ample parallel nuggets, what was happening in other parts of the world at the time and unending links to explore more.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that facts in this book come from a renowned BBC Mastermind Champion of Champion – perhaps the most intimidating format in quizzing world over and her History geek associate. The style of writing is such that even slow readers can find the contents refreshing; retaining and assimilating mammoth amounts information.

Volume II follows the theme set in the earlier Volume. Pliny (the Elder) like Encyclopaedic coverage, it delves in great depths the dramatic three century lives of the super-rich Mughals and how they seized power from the Sultanate and then got entangled with the indigenous people – The Rajputs, The Sikhs, The Marathas, The Deccans’ – and later with a smattering of early Europeans voyagers .

Garodia and Garodia argue that it was the weight of their own profligacies that made the later days Mughals dependent on the Europeans, who first came in as traders.

At the decline and fall of the Mughal Empire, most British Historians have compared India as a “ripe fruit ready to be plucked” and that that the British only used a benevolent pair of hands. Garodia and Garodia are quite unrestrained here; they explain the British deviousness , cruelty and debauchery upon arrival and later how the tables got turned on their vaunted immortality when Indian Nationalism took off towards freedom.

Unlike their own historians, the authors have held little back by showing us the Raj’s brand of indulgence. Some of it’s decadence in display are in a day’s five meals’ menu for the Sahib and Memsahib, in their atrocities on plantation workers and in their passion for wanton hunting that went a long way in decimating the fauna of this tropical country.

The book also explores the differing approaches to governance . While amalgamation with the locals was the mainstay for the Mughals the British played on minds and brought about colossal transformations in the Indian society with their dazzling technology and education system. While the Mughals spent for self-aggrandization, the British colonised to siphon India’s assets for their Crown’s glory.

It details the British Policies and Acts that set the backdrop for immense famines and drain on natural resources like timber, coal, cotton and iron-ore . They argue that the rail-lines were constructed for freight movement to the Port cities and then beyond ; passengers were simply by-products albeit a large one. They prove quantitatively that the British came to India for it’s own sustenance by pushing Indians down the cruel pits of poverty

How and why foreigners came to dominate and use India’s resources and the novelty by which they were successfully challenged – Satyagraha and Civil disobedience – are told in the remaining chapters of Volume II. As in Volume 1, the spotlight lingers long on the everyday lives of common people, artisans, painters, musicians, intellectuals, poets, bureaucrats and traders of these eras.

Read on …. from a fresh and far more informed perspective about an old, thriving and bewitching civilisation …

I happen to get the book as a gift from someone. While I was flipping the book, it said something similar to “Timur was a good person” !
How can a ruler who went on killing millions of people in India, invaded India on the pretext that the Muslim sultans of Delhi were showing excessive tolerance to their Hindu subjects, be a good person??

I am sorry for me this book ends here. I do not want my kids to read an incorrect representation of Bharat’s rich culture and heritage. Think twice before buying this book.

If it were possible to give 6 stars, I would, for both Volume 1 and Volume 2.
I flipped through both volumes and found them fascinating. I have just started reading Volume 1. The books are incredibly well researched and written in an engaging style, so that History becomes fun. There are numerous photographs, maps and pictures. The writers are well versed with science, for example they discuss the R1A mutation on the Y chromosome, which helps in tracking the spread of populations.

I was an above average student at school, but I found History boring. I wish these two books were available when I was a school student. These books would have completely changed my views about History.

I think these books should be read by everyone who can read. I hope they get translated into Indian languages as well. They are incredible value for money and I looking forward to slowly reading both the books over the next couple of weeks.

Congratulations to both the authors. You have done the impossible. You have made History fun for me.

The blurb identifies Archana as the Champion of an international Television quiz show and Shruti as a “history-geek”. That is, they are not professional historians. Nor do they teach history in this college and that university.

Probably that is their strength. Because the Garodia sisters have done a wonderful job of writing history for the children.

And this is how history should be written for the children.

The Volume-I deals with Indian history from the dawn of civilization to the Delhi Sultanate.

Written in lucid and witty style, this is a broad panoramic view of the nation’s 4500-year history.

The “Fun Fact!” is truly funny, the boxed items shed more light on a particular subject and the Activity Ideas make the book even more interesting.

There has lately been a great deal of controversy about how the mainstream historians have dealt with the Islamic period of our history. Archana and Shruti have rightly and wisely steered clear of that controversy.

In our career-centric curriculum (not that it should be frowned upon), history generally takes a back seat. It gets pushed away by Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, Economics, Computer Science and even Environmental Science. Our children get through history more as something to be grudgingly endured that something to be learnt. And the quality and content of our history books – particularly in the vernacular languages – have not helped, either.

But there are a lot – A LOT – of things that should make us proud of our forefathers. Garodia sisters have put that pride right and center in our classrooms. Without screaming to be nationalists!

Thank you, Archana and Shruti, Excellent job. Looking forward to read the Volume-II and also your book on women rulers of the country.

History as it should be taught, as a story of the development and progress of a civilization. Not just dates and events but also of culture and daily life… A wonderful set of two books which is a far more engaging way for a teen or adult, to learn about the events and experiences that shaped our India. Would’ve preferred a better paper quality and coloured photos but I guess they were aiming for a more economical price point. Excellent read, nonetheless!