Historians concentrated only on Mughals, ignored Pandyas, Mauryas: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday (June 10) that many Indian historians have given prominence to recording Mughal history only and ignored the glorious rules of many empires like Pandyas, Cholas, Mauryas, Guptas and Ahoms. Shah made the remarks at the book launch of 'Maharana: Sahastra Varsha Ka Dharma Yuddha' in New Delhi. Referring to the historians in India, Shah further detailed the rule of these empires. "I want to tell something to the historians. We have many empires but historians have concentrated only on the Mughals and wrote mostly about them. The Pandya empire ruled for 800 years. The Ahom empire ruled Assam for 650 years. They (Ahoms) had even defeated Bakhtiyar Khalji, Aurangzeb and kept Assam sovereign. The Pallava empire ruled for 600 years. The Cholas ruled for 600 years,” PTI cited the Union Home Minister as saying. 

"The Mauryas ruled the whole country -- from Afghanistan to Lanka for 550 years. The Satvahanas ruled for 500 years. The Guptas ruled for 400 years and (Gupta emperor) Samudragupta had for the first time visioned a united India and established an empire with the whole country. But there is no reference book on them," he claimed. 

The senior BJP leader stated that reference books should be written on these kingdoms adding that if it is done then the “truth” will emerge and "the history which we believe wrong will gradually fade away”. 

"By keeping aside comments, our glorious history should be kept in front of the public. When we make big efforts, then automatically the attempt of falsehood becomes small. So, we should pay more attention to make our efforts bigger," the Union Home Minister said.

He added that history is written on the basis of the outcome of an event, not on victory or defeat. Shah said that history is not made on the account of government and books, adding that truth is made on the basis of events. Shah said that we cannot be stopped from writing the truth. “We are now independent. We can write our own history," he emphasised. 

(With PTI inputs)