Looking back through our Identities - Itihāsa Purāna

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Aloka Parasher begins this session with an interrogation of how Myth and History are commonly understood—juxtaposing this with what is meant by Itihāsa Purāṇa.

Having explained why in the Indian ethos this composite term is preferred, Aloka argues: surely myths cannot be seen as proof givers of history nor can they be seen as ‘truths’ of the past in absolute terms.

Presenting extracts from Romila Thapar's writing that looks at Time to locate human interventions in defining themselves; and Badrinath Chaturvedi's text that looks at the human condition—Aloka will share her own perspectives with examples from research on how identities were formed.

The focus here will be on looking at the transmission of myths into regions and localities. She argues that once this is done, a historical evidence is produced that then edifies the myth to create new meanings. Modern history…