Chronicles of dates and happenings don’t define nationhood. Read dispassionately, they usually pass as snapshots in time since historians are tasked with records rather than flowery discourse. The start points identified gather substance once the most innocuous events are probed. Enter archaeologists, followed by disciples of other sciences, and suddenly, history begins to gain a life of its own.
That life, truth be told, transcends from the pages of scrolls to unveil and unravel the colours of the time along with the intrigues, shenanigans, and to the delight of the connoisseur, stories. These are tales that regale and are the cause for reflection and unmistakeable shame of what some of our ancestors did.
Values change along with narratives. More the reason relics of the past must be preserved not just as pieces to be gazed at, but to be felt and understood. Vast majority of Germans wish that the Third and Fourth Reich ambitions had never gained traction. Some hold opposing views. Alongside the haunting presence of Auschwitz, Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf is published without any truncation.
It is for the individual to study and think and try to make sense of it all. All and sundry exhort learning from history. That we don’t is the biggest tragedy afflicting mankind.
There’s much to revel in over the ancient civilizations of Romans, Egyptians, Incas, American Indians, Vikings, Africans, Japanese, and in more recent times, British, French, Portuguese, and Dutch Colonialism. There are many more, the Moghul Empire and the inevitable religion-based ventures of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslim Caliphate, and the Crusades.
Each had justifications that made sense to a few. To others, those arguments were just unacceptable.
Little by little, murmurs of ramifications turned into grumbling of disbelief, leading to public apologies by leaders. Regrets were and are being followed by financial and other honours as reparations. Most of such are derogatorily viewed. As debates continued, inquisitive minds began asking questions.
Especially, citizens that were kept in the dark of their nations’ darker exploits away from home shores in lands that was never theirs to begin with. That is where structures and edifices are sought out. It has been slow in coming, the thrust on archaeology to preserve whatever the remnants are not just of horrors committed in far off lands but also in their own patch of the woods.
Responsibility of preservations falls on the countries where events took place. Celebratory events were what could be found of ancient civilizations producing astonishing facts of very early application of science and the humanities, law, social systems, engineering, culture, and sport. Scientists struggle to explain the unbelievable longevity of paints used by Egyptian craftsmen all those centuries ago that have survived even as smattering on columns. Using nature as air cooling or a moving stage in Pompeii continues to humour.
And then the darker side.
From unliveable dungeons to the Colosseum, the tales of bravery were trumpeted above the inhumane, pitting man against beast and then man against man for the sporting merriment of bellowing Romans. With business having taken firm control of all agenda to the point of creating armed conflict, the smaller stages are often consigned to the pages of history not often read.
Strewn around in the corners of the country that is the pride of 170 million, examples exist of religious, colonial, and empire buildings of tragedies and glories. They won’t be there for too many years. Before that, tales need to be told of the gruesome tyranny dealt out in the interest of indigo cultivation to make British clothes a little whiter.
The indirect subjugation of farmers, perpetrated by unfeeling zamindars acting as stooges of tax collection. These stories need to be documented, as do the 1971 atrocities during our War of Independence.
Without these, succeeding generations will never know where the resolve of our people comes from. A resolve that is intertwined with the simple demand of justice. It is for that that the relics of Indigo Forts must be preserved, no matter how painful the history is.
Indian parliamentarians are waging a one-man battle in seeking reparations, apologies, and the return of the jewel in Queen Elizabeth’s crown. African nations are summoning the gumption to reclaim artefacts trucked off to be on display in European Museums.
After all, what can be as ignominious as having a nation’s culture and history on display in a foreign land.
Mahmudur Rahman is a writer, columnist, broadcaster, and communications specialist.