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Politics of the past : row in Tamil Nadu and Kerala -- B.S.Harishankar

Politics of the past : row in Tamil Nadu and Kerala

B.S.Harishankar 9 December 2018

Martin Sabrow, Professor of History at the University of Potsdam, Germany,  warned  in 2009  that,  if the cooperation between politicians and historians is too close, it might be harmful since  the relationship between history and politics can develop into a fatal friendship offering the reward of public attention and moral esteem whilst destroying the radical independence of historical research and its disposition to rethink history.

Sabrow’s  views have relevance currently, when there is  an orchestrated campaign to establish a  hoax  identity of  the past to raise divisive political and religious   claims  in Kerala and Tamil Nadu .The ongoing manoeuvres to associate the disputed  Pattanam site in Kerala with  Kodumanal, Keezhadi, Porunthal and  other unearthed spots in Tamilnadu, has already  sparked  controversies. But few are aware of  the fact that,  the very integrity of Kerala Council for Historical Research ( KCHR)  which unearthed Pattanam, was seriously  questioned by  the Kerala state government and historians  much before the current  excavations.

Following serious complaints  on KCHR about "procedural and financial irregularities" and its "approach to the writing of history",  the  former Congress government led by chief minister A.K. Antony decided to dissolve it on  September 22, 2001. Vindicating the government decision, Prof M.G.S. Narayanan, former Chairman of the ICHR, charged that,  the formation of the KCHR was "a Marxist party conspiracy to hijack history for its destructive, sectarian purpose of party propaganda" and welcomed the government's move to dissolve it. (Frontline, Oct. 13 - 26, 2001).  

Left lobbies protested against the Congress government decision to  dismiss the KCHR. On 25^th September 2001, the Safdar  Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) a left cultural forum, called  upon the Kerala Government  to immediately reinstate the KCHR. It was signed by left historians such as  R.S. Sharma Irfan Habib,  K.M. Shrimali, D.N. Jha,  and  Sumit Sarkar.

Upholding the state government’s decision, the Kerala high court   dismissed a writ petition challenging the dissolution of KCHR. Justice G Sivarajan held that the petition filed by P. J. Cherian, director of KCHR and its three members was without merits. (The Times of India , Dec. 20, 2001).

But following immense pressure  jointly launched  by church and left lobbies, the  Congress high command directed Chief Minister A.K.Antony  who was  ultimately forced to reinstate the KCHR.

The leading patrons  of Pattanam  which was claimed as the  ancient trading port of  Muziris,  were Euro American scholars. Istvan Perczel from Hungary, one of the patrons of Pattanam,  and also a  scholar in Early Christianity and Byzantine history, solicited that it provides much potential for research  as the site where, Apostle Thomas landed in India and established  Indian Christianity (Muziris Heritage Project-- Pattanam excavations, KCHR,  2008 ) . He also  delivered a lecture at KCHR,  on history of Kerala christianity, along with  Bishop Gabriel Mar Gregorios, and theologian Ninan Koshy (The Hindu, Feb.12, 2008).

 The Pontifical Commission  for  Sacred Archaeology and The Pontifical Academy of Archaeology both  at Vatican, functions for the purpose of promoting and directing excavations in the Catacombs of Rome and on other sites of Christian antiquarian interest, and for safeguarding the objects found during such excavations. Consequently,  the Liturgical Research Centre of the Syro Malabar Church invited the KCHR,  for its national seminars in 2005 at Kochi, and in 2011 at Kalyan in Mumbai,  to present papers corroborating  Pattanam, and Christianity.The United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia  based in New York supported Pattanam  excavator P.J.Cherian in his historical studies (The New Indian Express, Feb.17, 2011). Eleven students from University of Georgia  visited  Pattanam to  learn the historical, theological and sociological aspects of the ancient trading port of Muziris and Christianity in the state.  (The Hindu, Dec. 25, 2011).It was a global campaign that an ancient  biblical site has been finally unearthed in India.

Orthodox churches also  took a genuine interest in Pattanam. Keynote Address by Fr. Dr . K.M. George at the Public meeting of Malankara  Orthodox Church at the  reception for Bishop Catholicos Marthoma Paulose II,  on March 13, 2011, in  Tyaga Raja Stadium New Delhi, lauded Pattanam for  finally establishing the two millennium old history of Apostle Thomas in India.

Following  escalating   controversies on KCHR and  Pattanam, archaeologists from major Indian institutes and universities kept away from the project. But despite serious charges of fake documentation,  financial irregularities and transforming myth into history,  it was Dr. K.Rajan of Pondicherry University  who  is   one of the foremost patrons of Pattanam. He  associates  Pattanam with   various sites  in  Tamil Nadu,  thus not only collaborating to establish a biblical myth as history,  but also  constructing a larger communal space for the church to raise political claims  in south India . Rajan observed that,  the cultural transformation from the Iron Age to the Early Historic Period discernible at Pattanam was unique to Peninsular India (The Hindu, May,  12,  2009).

The Pattanam team acknowledges  Rajan’s  guidance  in May, 2012,  for assistance  to the Kongu Region, including Kodumanal, Kangayam, Arachallur and Arasampalayam. Seminars  on Indian Ocean trade of Pattanam conducted by KCHR and British Museum  in August 2013, was hosted by department of history, University of Pondicherry and chaired by Rajan. British Museum which collaborates with Pattanam  is  associated with biblical scholars such as Michael Jursa and Irvin Finkel.  Pattanam Museum in Ernakulam was  inaugurated by Finkel . Oxford which also collaborates with Pattanam,  has a long history in biblical archaeology with scholars such as  Dame Kathleen Kenyon, Roger Moorey, Andrew Sherratt, and Levantine Archaeology Laboratory as well as Ashmolean Museum.

Mario Seiglie a missionary and columnist  wrote that,  archaeology makes a believer,  and abundance of archaeological evidence in support of the Bible can strengthen faith, and in some cases it has greatly contributed in giving birth to belief, where none existed before. This observation has much relevance in Pattanam and its linked sites in Tamil Nadu, in the Apostle Thomas context.

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 K.Rajan and P.J. Cherian jointly propagates  presentations   linking  the Tamil Nadu - Kerala region – in the backdrop of excavations at kodumanal, Thandikudi, Porunthal and Pattanam  (Pattanam  Fifth Season –Field Report, 2011, KCHR).Currently, Rajan is member of the KCHR administration. There are serious allegations that  field reports on  sites such as kodumanal, Thandikudi and Porunthal  are prepared  for  promoting  Pattanam which has much political and religious connotations.

In this context, we are reminded of what the Bavarian Minister for Education and Cultural affairs, Hans Schemm, declared  in 1933, to lecturers at the University of Munich  that,  it is no longer  their  task to find out if something is true, but if it accords with the beliefs of the national socialist government. In the present context it is the beliefs of the  left government in Kerala and church denominations in India that matters.

It is not that Prof. Rajan is ignorant of serious financial corruption  and academic forgery accused on Pattanam . The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) identified the unbridled foreign funds received by KCHR and cancelled its license along with Kerala Muslim Educational Association and Kerala United Theological Seminary  under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010. (The New Indian Express, Dec. 8, 2016).

Earlier, the Accountant-General detected the irregularities,  in  the KCHR  audit report of 2010-11 (The New Indian Express, July 22, 2012).Later  in 2016, the KCHR was accused in creation of fake government documents, illegal appointments and financial irregularities worth crores. It is also alleged that the KCHR obtained the licence for the Pattanam excavation after submitting fake documents to the Archaeological Survey of India.

(Read more at: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/rampant-irregularities-detected-at-kchr-kerala-kerala-council-for-historical-research-corruption-1.1478483)

Following  serious charges  on Pattanam excavations, and unscientific approaches adopted by the KCHR, a  probe was conducted on the basis of complaints to the Union Minister of State for Culture,  Mahesh Sharma.  Based on the complaints, a meeting of the central advisory panel of the ASI asked the KCHR to temporarily stop the excavation(  Business Standard Jan. 5, 2016).

 Even,  late Iravatham Mahadevan, who earlier  applauded Pattanam as  potentially important  (The Hindu, Mar. 14, 2011),  later declined to make any comments or observation on the site following widespread controversies.

The Pattanam site has been questioned  not by activists, but by eminent south Asian archaeologists and historians such as Profs. Dilip Chakrabarti,  A.Sundara, Vasant Shinde, MGS Narayanan, R.Nagaswamy and T.Satyamurti. When Rajan ignores serious allegations on Pattanam  by  eminent  scholarship,  it also raises serious doubts on sites in Tamil Nadu  with which he constantly associates Pattanam. Already  the Keezhadi site  has generated enough controversies.

 The recent controversy on Pattanam erupted after R. Sivanantham, deputy director, Tamil Nadu state department of archaeology, officially facilitated a lecture on Pattanam by P.J. Cherian on Oct. 30, 2018. The programme was chaired by T. Udhayachandran, Commissioner, department of archaeology, Tamil Nadu.

 Archaeological Survey of India’s  probe into alleged unscientific approaches adopted by the KCHR at Pattanam, was taken up by  Amarnath Ramakrishna, the then superintendent archaeologist of the ASI, Bengaluru centre (Business Standard, Jan. 5, 2016). His findings are kept in dark, but later Amarnath Ramakrishna also took up the Keezhadi excavation. The CPI(M) which  launched Pattanam has openly supported Amarnath Ramakrishna who supervised Keezhadi (The Hindu, Oct.  6, 2018), which  shows  how  the left  functions in manufacturing cultural data for church lobbies.

 ASI director General,  Rakesh Tewari said Amarnath Ramakrishna should publish a report on the Keezhadi excavation. Then only the  ASI shall give him the  license for the third year because, he has got more than 4,000 artefacts(More excavation only after report,  Frontline , Jan.2, 2017).

 Dating of all  these interlinked sites  including  Pattanam,  have been done  at the same institution at USA. The carbon dating conducted on  Keezhadi, has been  done by Beta Analytic Inc., Florida, USA, (The Hindu, Sept. 30, 2017). The carbon dating at Pattanam was also conducted at Beta Analytic Inc., despite the fact that India has  premier dating laboratories. Accelerator mass spectrometry dating of the paddy from Palani site  excavated by  Prof.Rajan was also  done by Beta Analysis Inc. which assigned the paddy to 490 BCE (Palani excavation triggers fresh debate, The Hindu, Aug.29, 2011). It has also much relevance since, research by Cornell University archaeologists, Sturt Manning and colleagues shows that, commonly accepted radiocarbon dating standards can miss the mark, thus calling historical timelines into question.

 The 21st Annual Tamil Convention of    Federation of the Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA) was also held at the Florida .The theme of the three day convention was “Preserve the Tamil Race by protecting the language”. Florida is a major stronghold of FeTNA and the carbon dating of  both Keezhadi and Pattanam  in Florida  raises serious suspicion.

 FeTNA in April 2018, invited Amarnath Ramakrishna to deliver a lecture on the Keezhadi excavations. The ASI denied him permission to participate as guest of honor at this event, possibly because FeTNA publicly supported the cause of ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils in the Sri Lankan civil war. Time and again, the Sri Lanka Guardian has warned that the Catholic Church is heavily involved with the LTTE from the 1970s (Catholic Church, an ally of Tamil Tiger terrorists in Sri Lanka, Guardian, April 4, 2009). The FeTNA has been a major campaigner and fund raiser for the Tamil Chair at the University of California, Berkeley. Prof. George L. Hart, known for his Dravidian politics, was hired for the chair. FeTNA also honoured Jagat Gasper, Catholic propagandist for Christianizing Tamil culture.

 Thillai Kumaran, the  former  President of FetNA represented it  in the vicious 2006 California textbook campaign launched by FOIL, FOSA and many members of the CAG against Hindu groups who were advocating for an equitable treatment of Hinduism vis-a-vis other leading global  religions in sixth grade textbooks. FeTNA’s testimony at the California Curriculum Commission made the dubious claim that the early Tamil texts clearly distinguish between Tamils and Aryans. The  co-founders of FOIL are two  Indian leftists,  Biju Mathew and Vijay Prashad.

 Harvard scholar Michael Witzel has admitted that he and his associates were in contact with FeTNA  in the California textbook campaign.  Thillai Kumaran  representing FeTNA,  in their letter dated  Feb. 19, 2006,  wrote  to Glee Johnson of California State Board of Education, thanking Witzel for the efforts in proposing edits in pursuance of the Colorado evangelical church agenda. Witzel's supporters in the California textbook battle include two evangelical  groups -- Dalit Freedom Network and Dalit Solidarity Forum in the USA . DFN president Joseph D'Souza also patronizes  the All-India Christian Council.

 The left –church syndicate  at Pattanam, and its  current association with Tamil Nadu archaeological  sites  has to be understood in a global context. The fervor shown for propaganda and  for dating them in one institution in America,  has also  generated questions regarding politics of the past  in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.