Was ancient India really tolerant? DN Jha's book busts a few myths

Touching upon a range of controversial subjects under labels like 'cow conundrum, Bharatmata, Brahmanical intolerance in early India,' Jha debunks the myths constructed by the Sangh parivar

There comes a moment in history when you need to go back to the basics. Given the extraordinary times we are passing through, reading or re-reading historian DN Jha’s just-published book, Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History, may be an imperative we would do well not to ignore. Controversy is not new to Jha or to his fellow academics, especially scholars of ancient history. The discipline of history, ancient and medieval history in particular, has for long been the favoured stomping grounds of political parties.

Regardless of ideological variation, the political class in its entirety has generally tended