Re-presenting history
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Sheikh Ali, insists that history should be presented with objectivity. B.S. VENKATALAKSHMI listens to the eminent historian.
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Sheikh Ali hopes that India will not end up being a labour colony. — Photos: K. Gopinathan
AS A historian of great repute, who has studied both in India and abroad, and as a recipient of various awards in recognition of his scholarship, Prof. B. Sheik Ali has many things to say about the evolution of a society from a historical perspective. This erudite scholar who is the founder Vice-Chancellor of Mangalore and Goa Universities, can guide people in the manner in which history history as a subject should be understood, in order to link the past with the present, so that there could be a continuity in the thought process.
Early obsession
While narrating the circumstances which enabled him to don the role of a historian, Prof. B. Sheik Ali, who had been invited to the interaction session - Maneyangaladalli Maatukathe — held in Bangalore recently, recalled the keen interest he used to evince in the various events that took place in his surroundings and his efforts to understand them in proper perspective right from his formative years. As a student in Hassan and Mysore, it was English literature and Greek history, which attracted him, but the various studies he undertook at a later date took him to the field of research and analysis. A rare educationist who can speak with authenticity the contribution of Islam to India and the role of Tipu Sultan, Prof. Sheik Ali has won laurels including D. Litt from Kannada University, Hampi, and the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award.
Untainted history
In his opinion, history should be both historical and objective, reality and a reflection of the truth, and should be projected without any prejudice. It should also be evaluated from various points of view, thereby providing ample scope for healthy interpretations. While answering queries from the audience, Prof. Sheik Ali felt that there was a need to preserve our historical monuments with more care. Highlighting the interest bestowed by a few rulers of the past in this regard, he quoted Tipu Sultan in particular, who, as a secularist, showed great interest in preserving both temples and mosques, and was always in the forefront to rejuvenate the relics. More than the controversies that were surrounding the several relics, what was most important to him was the spirit of Indian culture, its pristine purity and the great struggle of the unknown mortals of the land.
Improve education
Prof. Sheik Ali, who as a teacher and a social worker is responsible for starting nursery schools in the most backward pockets of Muslim localities in Mysore city, and a trustee of several educational institutions, felt that there was a need to uplift the academic levels in order to impart quality education. Aim of the teachers should be to enthuse the students to critically analyse, so that they would be able to derive inferences. He ridiculed the manner in which "guides" and "prepared notes" were mechanically passed on to students by teachers. He felt that even a few of the doctorates that were being bestowed were not free from criticism and jokingly said: "If a person copies from one book it is plagiarism. But when he copies from ten books it becomes his Ph.d." Speaking of "brain drain", he hoped globalisation and liberalisation wouldn't end up making India a "labour colony".
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