[INDOLOGY] Another round in the California textbook story

[Dominik Wujastyk]

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*Hindutva Efforts to Rewrite History in California Schools Fail*
<http://thewire.in/2016/04/15/hindutva-efforts-to-rewrite-history-in-california-schools-fail-29751/>
// *The Wire*
<http://thewire.in/2016/04/15/hindutva-efforts-to-rewrite-history-in-california-schools-fail-29751/>

*Right-wing Hindu groups are seeking to gloss over Indian history and deny
the reality of caste discrimination by deleting the word ‘Dalit’ from the
history textbooks in California.*

Right-wing groups are trying to deny the reality of caste discrimination.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

*New York: *California reviews its textbooks every six years, inviting
public opinion each time. The process has never been easy. The ‘golden
state’ has again got far more than it bargained for in its latest round of
reviews, with American right-wing Hindu groups demanding changes to the
history and social science textbooks used in the sixth and seventh grades.

On March 28, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), the Uberoi Foundation for
Religious Studies and the Dharma Civilization Foundation suffered a setback
when a history and social science committee in Sacramento threw out most of
the changes they wanted to make to the new California textbooks, which are
slated for publication later this year. However, the California State Board
of Education is scheduled to vote on the proposed framework changes in May.

“As much as it is about California textbooks, it is truly a battle which is
ideological in nature,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan of the Ambedkar
Association of California, which with six other secular Indian groups is
trying to make sure the “egregious edits” submitted by HAF to the education
board don’t find their way into the textbooks.

According to activists like Soundararajan, right-wing Hindu groups want to
gloss over Indian history and deny the reality of caste discrimination by
deleting the word ‘Dalit’ from the history textbooks of the state.

“You can’t distort facts, whitewash history and deny what’s happened to
millions of Indians from marginalised communities who are victims of caste
apartheid,” said Soundararajan, who is the co-founder of Dalit History
Month. “You cannot tamper with and bring ideology into the framing of the
past.”

HAF and other right-wing Hindu groups, however, maintain that issues such
as the caste system, the plight of dalits and discrimination against women
do not belong in a sixth-grade introduction to world civilisations. HAF
says that Indian American children are embarrassed by the depiction of
Hinduism in ancient India in the history textbook.

California ninth grader Akanksha Maddi wrote in a statement released by
HAF that the textbooks are unfair to students of Indian heritage.

“My classmates and teachers think that we Hindus still believe in primitive
and unjust practices,” Maddi wrote. “I don’t want my friends to look down
upon me and my culture because of my textbook.”

The Uberoi Foundation for Religious Studies says Hindus are merely seeking
parity with other religions in sixth grade textbooks, where social problems
of other religions are not given the same prominence, even as the redeeming
features of Hinduism are ignored.

Shiva G. Bajpai, professor emeritus of Asian Studies at California State
University, asked the education board for a revision, writing: “Hindu
children are bullied by their classmates for the system of *varna* and
*jati* because the social iniquities of other religions go unmentioned… If
the commission insists on keeping lines 862 to 874, it should add 300 to
400 word comments on social order and slavery for the Abrahamic religions.”

A poster protesting the Hindu American Foundation’s claims, also showing an
image from an American history textbook explaining the caste system.

However, the South Asian Faculty Group made up of South Asian scholars from
Stanford, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University and UCLA, among
others, held that history should not be tampered with, even if it is
unpleasant.

“We are disturbed by claims that an equitable portrayal should prevail over
historical accuracy,” said an expert who didn’t want to be named for fear
of being targeted. “It is a slippery slope.”

*Protests over “erasing” India *

HAF is spearheading protests across America because it says it has
discovered over 30 places in the sixth and seventh grade history textbooks
where the words “Hindu” or “India” would be replaced in the new textbooks
with “South Asia.”

Samir Kalra, senior director of HAF, told
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/04/12/hindu-group-protests-possible-california-textbook-changes/>*The
Washington Post*
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/04/12/hindu-group-protests-possible-california-textbook-changes/>
that the proposed changes could have “implications for several years
forward,” and could diminish the significance of Hindus in the ancient
civilisation of India. Kalra told the newspaper that the textbook changes
appear to only reflect revisions aimed at India and Hinduism: China will
not be changed to “East Asia,” nor will there be changes to any references
to Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism or any other religions.

The South Asian Faculty Group has fired back, saying that during the
submissions in the public comment process it suggested that in some places
“India” be replaced with “South Asia” because some of the areas discussed
currently belong to Pakistan and are not aligned with modern-day India.

“Although ‘Ancient India’ is common in the source material, when discussing
the Indus Valley Civilisation, we believe it will cause less confusion to
students to refer to the “Early Civilisation of South Asia” or “Ancient
South Asia” because much of the Indus Valley is now in modern Pakistan.
Conflating “Ancient India” with the modern nation-state of India deprives
students from learning about the shared civilisational heritage of India
and Pakistan,” the group said in a letter responding to HAF.

The California State Board of Education will vote in May on whether to
retain descriptions of the caste system, role of women, Aryan migrational
history and polytheism in ancient Hindu religion and other issues – as the
textbook furore rages on.

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