Subaltern History : The seeds of subaltern history are found in the Marxist historiography. The role of the Italian historian Antonio Gramsci is very important in developing the idea that history should be written starting from the bottommost ranks of people in the society. In fact, subaltern means the ‘bottommost ranks’. Folklore has been considered as a very important source of writing subaltern histories. Ranjit Guha, an Indian historian played a major role in establishing subaltern history as an important academic school of historiography. However, we may point out that much before the onset of subaltern ideology similar thoughts were expressed by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Mahatma Phule unfolded the history of the ‘shudratishudra’ commuunities in his book, ‘Gulamgiri’. He drew attention to the exploitation of women, shudras and atishudras done under the name of religion. The terms ‘shudra’ and ‘atishudra’ indicates the bottommost ranks in the caste system.
The role of the people belonging to Dalit castes is very significant in the shaping of various cultural and political aspects of India. However, their role was not duly acknowledged in the colonial and nationalistic historiography. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar focusing on this fact, consistently wrote about it. Two of his books, ‘Who Were the Shudras’ and ‘The Untouchables’ may be cited as examples of history of subaltern type.
SSC 10th History, Maharashtra Board, 2019 - 2020.
Chapter 2. Historiography : Indian Tradition
1. Complete the sentences by choosing the correct option.
(1) ........ was the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India.
(a) Alexander Cunningham
(b) William Jones
(c) John Marshall
(d) Friedrich Max Muller
(2) ............ translated the Sanskrit text of ‘Hitopadesh’.
(a) James Mill
(b) Friedrich max Muller
(c) Mountstuart Elphinstone
(d) Sir John Marshall
(B) Identify the wrong pair in the following, correct it and rewrite.
(1) ‘Who were the Shudras’ - Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
(2) ‘Stri-Purush Tulana’ - Feminist writing
(3) ‘The Indian War of Independence 1857’ - Marxist History
(4) Grant Duff - Colonial History.
Answer: The incorrect pair is:
The Indian War of Independence, 1857 - Marxist History
The Appropriate Pair is:
The Indian War of Independence, 1857 - Nationalistic Historiography.
2. Explain the following with its reason.
3. Answer the following in 25-30 words.
4. Write detailed answers to the following questions :
5. (a) Complete the following chart.
Answer:
(b) Complete the following concept chart.
Answer:
6. Explain the following concepts.
