Ponniyin Selvan actors highlight need for a holistic approach to Indian history in schools

Mumbai: Actress Aishwarya Lekshmi, along with actors Vikram and Karthi, who starred in the period film 'Ponniyin Selvan: 2' that was released in theatres on Friday, share the belief that our education system has been unfair to the indigenous empires or dynasties of India. They feel that these empires or dynasties have not been given their due recognition in our educational curriculum.

Recently, the removal of references to the Mughal dynasty from coursebooks in Uttar Pradesh sparked controversy and debate around what should be included in academic history.

Compared to the dynasties that arrived in India as part of conquest, the indigenous empires of India have very little mention in school-level history books.

During an interview, Aishwarya Lekshmi said, "From what I know, there has been some level of unfairness towards the indigenous empires of India. It would take a lot of research to obtain even a little bit of information about them in that direction. Kalki's novel 'Ponniyin Selvan' (on which the Mani Ratnam magnum opus is based) is actually a window to the 10th century of southern India, how progressive we were at that time, and how much chasing westernisation led us to go back in time."

Actor Vikram agreed with Aishwarya, as he feels that Indian society was quite progressive back then for its time. He said, "At that time, America wasn't even discovered, and we had thriving societies under different empires."

Karthi, who plays Vallavaraiyan in the film, said, "Only when the British arrived did they begin to do extensive research and document history. I'm sure a history student would know a lot more about each dynasty as per their specialization. However, for school-level history, a proper panel of intellectuals should sit and decide what should be included in the course material to give a holistic view."
(With IANS inputs)