Audrey Truschke declares her own historiography of the Subcontinent

LIKE TRANSLATIONS of classical literature, histories are enriched by multiple tellings. Differing perspectives and ideologies that might oppose traditional historical narratives do not erase or replace them; they supplement them. As we translate anew to account for how linguistic idioms change and to adjust to more equitable ways of seeing and thinking, so too do we re-tell histories to include more rather than less of humankind – an impulse that has shaped many postcolonial historiographies, such as the Marxist and Subaltern schools of thought. 

Our knowledge of the past may not change much in terms of the information we already have, but we can be open to new ways of thinking and writing about that knowledge. New technologies and new research could also challenge our previously held beliefs. Therefore, it is all the more important to rest our revised perspectives on historical evidence and plausible theories that can be corroborated by other sources, instead of resorting to ideological positions that sanctify our preferences.