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The '''Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana''' (ABISY) is a subsidiary of the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS), a [[Hindutva|Hindu-nationalist]] organisation. Envisioned in 1973 by Moropant Pingley, a ''[[pracharak]]'' of the RSS, and founded in 1978-79, ABISY holds that India's history was distorted by the [[British Raj]], and seeks to correct the biases. Scholars state that the actual aim of the organisation is to rewrite Indian history from a Hindu nationalist perspective.{{sfn|Berti|2006}}{{sfn|Berti|2007|pp=7-9}}{{sfn|Chatterji|Hansen|Jaffrelot|2019|p=165-168}}

==History==
The Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana (ABISY) is a subsidiary of the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS), founded in 1978-79.{{sfn|Berti|2006}} It was envisioned in 1973 by Moropant Pingley, a ''[[pracharak]]'' of the RSS.{{sfn|Berti|2006}} The organisation was further developed by Balmukund Pandey, who would later become its Organising Secretary.{{sfn|Chatterji|Hansen|Jaffrelot|2019|p=165}} According to social anthropologist Daniela Beti, the main leaders of the organisation have an ideology aligned with [[Hindutva]] ideology, although the members of the organisation may have their own reasons for participating.{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=7}}

In July 2014, [[Yellapragada Sudershan Rao]], the head of the [[Andhra Pradesh]] chapter of ABISY, was appointed Chairperson of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] (ICHR) by the [[National Democratic Alliance (India)|National Democratic Alliance]] government headed by [[Narendra Modi]].<ref name="Firstpost">{{cite news | last=Iyer |first=Kavitha | title=Coming soon from Modi sarkar: RSS takeover of top research, cultural bodies |newspaper=Firstpost |date=3 Jul 2014 |url=http://www.firstpost.com/politics/righting-india-modi-will-post-rss-men-lead-top-research-cultural-bodies-1602761.html}}</ref> In March 2015, three other ABISY-affiliated historians were nominated as members to the Council: Narayan Rao, former Professor at [[Berhampur University]] and the national Vice-President of ABISY, Ishwar Sharan Vishwakarma, Professor in the Department of Ancient History, Archaeology and Culture at [[Gorakhpur University]] and the All-India General Secretary of ABISY, and Nikhilesh Guha, a retired Professor of [[Kalyani University]] and the head of the Bengal chapter of ABISY.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-01-14/news/58066167_1_ichr-chief-historical-research-council-chief |title=ICHR chief Sudershan Rao recommends 3 RSS historians to top panel |newspaper=Economic Times |date=14 January 2015}}</ref><ref name=Hindu>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/saffron-hue-in-revamped-ichr/article6949814.ece |title=Saffron hue in revamped ICHR |newspaper=The Hindu |date=2 March 2015}}</ref> The appointments were described by commentators as an effort by the Modi administration to fill government institutions with individuals ideologically aligned with the RSS.<ref name="Firstpost"/><ref name=Hindu/>

==Ideology==
The stated objective of the ABISY is writing Indian history "from a national perspective".<ref name="ABISY-home">{{cite web|url=http://itihasabharati.org/|title=Vision and objectives|publisher=ABISY}}</ref>{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=15}} The name ABISY means ''"The Plan (also in the sense of committee) for collecting History of the Whole of India"''.{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=7}} Scholars have described the organisation as engaging in [[historical revisionism]] to present a narrative consistent with the ideology of Hindutva.{{sfn|Berti|2006}}{{sfn|Berti|2007|pp=7-9}}{{sfn|Chatterji|Hansen|Jaffrelot|2019|p=165-168}} Pandey states that Indian historians have been exposed to western distortions, which created a false impression of Indian cultural diversity.{{sfn|Berti|2006}}<ref name="HindustanTimes" /> According to Pandey, the ''[[puranas]]'' were the most significant source of Indian history.<ref name="IndianExpress">{{cite news|title=6 times more 'Puranas' in hand, RSS puts 100 on job for new history|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/6-times-more-puranas-in-hand-rss-puts-100-on-job-for-new-history/|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=18 August 2014|access-date=2014-09-09}}</ref> The organisation states that beneath the diversity of India's culture is a unifying [[Hindu culture]].{{sfn|Berti|2006|p=17}}{{sfn|Berti|2007}} It regards the Vedic culture to have originated in the Janjati and Adivasis traditions, the local Indian cultures.<ref name="HindustanTimes" />{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=8}}

The ABISY believes that the [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryans]] did not migrate to the Indian subcontinent from Central Asia, but were the [[Indigenous Aryans|original inhabitants of India]], some of whom later left the subcontinent and civilised other parts of the world.{{sfn|Berti|2006}}{{sfn|Chatterji|Hansen|Jaffrelot|2019|p=165-168}} This theory is rejected by mainstream scholars, as it contradicts a wide range of scientific research.{{sfn|Trautmann|2005|p=xiii}}{{sfn|Bryant|2001|pp=140-145}} This belief is also used to argue that upper-caste Hindus and Adivasis share a common stock, but that only the caste-Hindu lineages were advanced enough to expand out of the subcontinent. Scholars have described this ideology as an effort to justify discrimination against Adivasi peoples.{{sfn|Chatterji|Hansen|Jaffrelot|2019|p=165-168}}

==Activities==
===Projects===
In August 2014, the organisation stated that it had completed four research projects, namely retracing the journey of the [[Saraswati river]], countering [[Out of India theory|the theory that Aryans migrated into India]] and instead claiming that Aryans were originally from India who had migrate out of India,<ref name="ABISY-miconceptions">{{cite web|url=http://itihasabharati.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=120|work=ABISY|title=Misconceptions about Aryans''|access-date=21 June 2019}}</ref> dating the [[Mahabharatha]], [[Shankaracharya]] and [[Buddha]], and emphasizing that the [[Indian rebellion of 1857|1857 rebellion]] was the First War of Independence.<ref name="HindustanTimes" /> It announced that its next ten-year project would be to compile all Hindu ''[[Purana]]s'' into an encyclopedia, get scholars to interpret its original meaning, and to put it forward as India's real history.<ref name=puranas>{{cite news |title=History according to puranas: RSS's next big project |newspaper=Firstpost |date=18 Aug 2014 |url=http://www.firstpost.com/politics/history-according-puranas-rsss-next-big-project-1669673.html}}</ref> The ABISY has also stated that it intends to document the history of all the 670+ districts in India, and describe the history of the more than 600 tribal communities in India.<ref name="IndianExpress" />

===Methodology===
The ABISY centers its historical work around [[Hindu scriptures]].{{sfn|Berti|2007}} Berti states that ABISY methodology, as exemplified in its interpretation of [[Kullu]] mythology, is to collect orally preserved stories of the gods, or ''bharthā'', which are to be regarded as reliable sources for an understanding of those gods.{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=24}} ABISY leaders "decipher" those texts, or often just snippets of them, to reveal their similarity with [[:Category:Sanskrit texts|Sanskrit texts]], by focusing on specific words or expressions. This would reveal the Sanskrit identity of the village gods.{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=23-24}} ABISY tries to show a link between local cultures and a supposed unified Hindu culture by investigating those local cultures.{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=8}} Berti notes that this kind of "new local historiography"{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=8}} is not unique to Hindutva-writers, but has also appeared in African nationalistic discourse, and that "the political construction and utilisation of folklore was at the very heart of the XIX century’s European nationalisms."{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=9}}

===Publications===
The ABISY publishes the journal ''Itihas Darpan'' (Mirror of History), edited in Delhi. A majority of the articles are written in English, while a few are in [[Hindi]]. The editorial standards of the journal emphasize the urgency of "scientific character" in Indian historical research,{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=14}} with repeated reference to a scientific framework, such as "the importance of making reference to sources, and to proving with documents what is put forward.{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=14}} Not all local history is deemed worth researching, but only those facts which have a "historical basis" and are in accordance with the organisation's ideology.{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=14}}

==Organisation==
ABISY headquarters are located at Keshav Kunj, the [[Delhi]] office of the RSS.{{sfn|Berti|2007}} Under the central office are thirteen ''ksetra'', or provincial, offices, each run by a president. These centres are responsible for connecting ABISY ideology to local cultural lore and tradition.{{sfn|Berti|2007}} Branches of ABISY exist in [[Chandigarh]], [[Shimla]] and [[Kullu]].{{sfn|Berti|2007|p=12}} ABISY states that it has 500 professors associated with it.<ref name="HindustanTimes">{{cite news |title=Among new projects, RSS to focus on studying adivasis traditions |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=21 Aug 2014 |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/among-new-projects-rss-to-focus-on-studying-adivasis-traditions/article1-1254754.aspx}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|last1 =Berti|first1 =Daniela|year=2006|title=The Memory of Gods: From a Secret Autobiography to a Nationalistic Project|journal=Indian Folklife|issue=24|url=https://www.academia.edu/893399|access-date=16 August 2014}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Berti|first =Daniela|year=2007|title=Hindu nationalists and local History: From ideology to local lore|journal=Rivista di Studi Sudasiatici|volume=2|pages =5–36|url=http://www.fupress.net/index.php/rss/article/view/2462/2297|access-date=16 August 2014}}
* {{cite book|last=Bryant|first=Edwin|author-link=Edwin Bryant (author)|year=2001|title=The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195137774}}
* {{cite book|first1=Angana P.|last1=Chatterji|first2=Thomas Blom|last2=Hansen|first3=Christophe|last3=Jaffrelot|title=Majoritarian State: How Hindu Nationalism Is Changing India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zcObDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA454|date=August 2019|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190078171}}
* {{cite book|last =Trautmann|first=Thomas|year=2005|title=The Aryan Debate|publisher =Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195669084|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BUluAAAAMAAJ}}
{{refend}}

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[[Category:Historiography of India]]
[[Category:History resources]]
[[Category:Research institutes in India]]
[[Category:Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]]
[[Category:Sangh Parivar]]

Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana - Revision history

>Citation bot at 19:43, 8 April 2021