HISTORY IN PRESENT TENSE 43
The publication of Sumit Sarkar^s Modern India ^ undoubtedly one of the significant occurrences in the production of text-books, is an important milestone in this process of encapsulating information and analysis "for the benefit of students". Hence, although this book by itself is an extremely valuable addition to history-writing as such, discussion on it must start with taking into account the role such a significant publication is likely to play as a text-hook or as a very valuable and very convenient handbook on the history of modern India to be used by students.
According to the author, "The present work has a twofold aim. It attempts a synthesis of the massive data unearthed in recent years by a flood of monographs on specific problems in political, social and economic history. At the same time it explores, in the light of my own research interests, the possibilities of a 'history from below9 as distinct from the usual tendency in the historiography of Indian nationalism to concentrate on the activities, ideals or factional manouevrcs of leaders'* (p vii). What this means for students who can stop worrying and start loving modcrs Indian history examinations is that they can get everything the examiners want to ask about the subject at one place without the trouble of going to the orginal authors. In different educational contexts, this is going to have serious implications. For one, this is perhaps the first good text-book on history for post-secondary school students going through university systems which expect them to either read more than one book for a subject or to make analysis and conceptualisation for themselves, or ideally, both. But the book, by the very virtue of the fact that it is so good, may well defeat the purpose. In a situation as in some metropolitan universities where able teachers and supplementary reading meterial are available to the students, the book may serve to ignite the need for further investigation and independent analysis. In other situations, like mofussil colleges where total holdings in Hbiaries may not exceed a few hundred books, reading this particular book could encompass the totality of learning history of "modern India", uncritically and perhaps uncomprehendingly, as there would be no opportunity for cross-reference. This last aspect is quite significant as, and this is one of the qualities of the book, it is not a mere compendium of fact and opinion like various earlier 'text-books' allowing the reader to take his pick from various conclusions recored but an original piece of reasearch admittedly and self-consciously attempting to take a particular approach. As such, it is only fair to compare it with similar publications by Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawm etc. It can be said about Sumit Sarkar as was said about Hobsabwm that, "under guise of a text book he has produced an orginal and masterly reinterpretation of
*Sumit Sarkar, Modern India: 1885-1947^ Macmillan India Limited, New Delhi, 1983, pp xiv &486, Rs 26.50 ("subsidized by the Government of India, through the National Book Trust, India, for the benefit of students")