Earnest discourse on history marks The Hindu Lit for Life 2025 in Hyderabad

The past is ever present. Each generation makes meaning for itself in the present by referring to history — whether in the recent parliamentary debate on the ‘mutilation’ of Vande Mataram, the everyday ‘WhatsAppification’ of history, or the emotional reactions by communities on social media.

At The Hindu Lit for Life Dialogue 2025, in the houseful Hyder Mahal at ITC Kakatiya here, author and historian Manu S. Pillai was in conversation with literary and culture journalist Nandini Nair. The session, titled ‘History as Battlefield: The Past in India’s Present’, warranted extra chairs.

Mr. Pillai believes that established writers “in times like these” must be responsible and not succumb to pressures — the only way to preserve room for first-time authors.

According to him, the past — and how much of it is remembered — plays an important role for individuals, societies and political parties in shaping themselves. For him, as he recalled his father’s times, stories by his grandmother, local traditions at his home in Thiruvananthapuram and the archives that reveal comedies in history and discovery of new interpretations, the emotional texture is crucial to understanding history fully and not just references to dates.

Asked how history is weaponised today, he observed that no historian can claim to have found the absolute truth. “History is about connecting 20 dots — reasonably, intelligently and in a well-thought-out manner. And not everyone interprets the same way; it may be ideological, through a feminine or a male gaze,” he said.

Mr. Pillai, with an interest in studying the subversion of power dynamics, also discussed how the British introduced English and how it was appropriated in the country; the resilience of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, depicted in his book The Ivory Throne; and the story of Princess Sita Devi of Pithapuram, who converted to Islam to annul her Hindu marriage and married Pratap Singh Gaekwad of Baroda.

In response to an audience question about which political party “uses history most effectively and dangerously”, Mr. Pillai observed that there was no exception. “There were books about Nehru’s childhood, like there is content now. But the question is to what degree and what degree of shame. These days, there is a creative play happening with history that is deliberate and not accidental — meant to be malicious, vindictive, to confuse people and, to some extent, create distrust in expertise, to make people think that historians have an agenda.”

To another question of whether people going back to past beliefs, he concluded: “Human stupidity repeats itself constantly — same mistakes and patterns repeat — past to past.”