SCOPE OF KOSAMBIST PARADIGM IN KERALA HISTORIOGRAPHY

DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SREE SANKARACHARYA UNIVERSITY OF SANSKRIT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY UNDER THE SEMESTER SYSTEM.

BY SHAFEEK H. REG. NO. 11283

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY SREE SANKARACHARYA UNIVERSITY OF SANSKRIT REGIONAL CENTRE THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

APRIL 2009.

Dr. A. Paslithil Reader in History, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Regional Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Dissertation entitled SCOPE

PARADIGM IN KERALA HISTORIOGRAPHY

OF KOSAMBIST

is a bonafide record of

independent research work done by Shafeek H. ( Reg. No.: 11283) under my guidance and supervision during January-April, 2009 , submitted to the Department of History, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Regional Centre, Thiruvananthapuram in partial fulfillment for the award of the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY, Faculty of Social Sciences and that the dissertation has not previously formed the basis for the award of any other degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or other title.

Thiruvananthapuram 16-04-2009 Dr. A. Paslithil

DECLARATION
I, Shafeek H, do hereby declare that the dissertation entitledSCOPE
KOSAMBIST PARADIGM IN KERALA HISTORIOGRAPHY, OF

submitted to

Department of History, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Regional Centre, Thiruvananthapuram in partial fulfillment for the award of the Degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY, Faculty of Social Sciences is a bonafide record of research work done by me under the guidance and supervision of Dr. A. Paslithil, Reader in History, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Regional Centre,

Thiruvananthapuram and that the dissertation has not previously formed the basis for the award of any other degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or other title.

Place: Date:

Shafeek H.

PERFACE

The present dissertation is an attempt to make an analytical study of D. D. Kosambis Indian History, the paradigm that he brought in historiography of India and its scope in interpreting Kerala history. D. D. Kosambis methodology is a Marxist one that brought a drastic shift in paradigmatic level. His entry into the field of Indian History, thus, was a great leap in Indian Historical writings. I have collected almost all relevant materials for this study both primary and secondary in due course of my study. I consider his own writings as the primary sources. The major hindrances were the paucity of time as well as the scarcity of books even in the libraries. Here I have to express my sincere gratitude towards Dr. A. Paslithil, Reader in history, S.S.U.S, Regional Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, without whose guidance and supervision I would not complete this research work. His suggestions and other helps are ample and valuable that I admire him. I am grateful to Dr. S. Sivadasan, the Head of The Department of History, S.S.U.S, main centre, Kalady, who is remaining as my inspiration for historical studies and who encouraged me to do this work. I use this occasion to extend my thanks to Sinitha G. S., Daniel M. and Mohan Prasad, the lecturers in this centre. I am also thankful to Sreekanth G. the librarian, S.S.U.S Regional Centre library, who gave all the books what I need immediately. I also grateful to all staffs of this centre who sympathetically helped me to fulfill this venture. I am also thankful to the librarians of the Kerala University Library, Central Library, C. Achuthamenon Memorial Library and other libraries. My special thanks to my friends, Aswinbabu, Keerthy, Reynold, Ahil, etc.

SHAFEEK H.

INTRODUCTION

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM, which was founded by Karl Marx with Frederick Engels through the declaration, the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle 1 in the famous Manifesto of the Communist Party and the theoretical works like Grundrisse and The German Ideology with their other works inaugurated a new era of interpretation of history the era of Materialistic interpretation of history. It can be defined as the extension and application of the tenets of dialectical materialism, the laws of the development of nature, in analyzing and studying the social life, development of society or social formations and in explaining social phenomena. 2 This scientific knowledge has been further enriched and developed by the contributions made by V.I. Lenin, J.V. Stalin and Mao Tse-tung. Since the emergence of Marxism as a methodology, Historical Materialism has got ideological primacy in interpreting the past. The basis of this methodology is the principle, concrete analysis of concrete conditions. 3 It replaced the old story telling mode of history, in which a sequential order of heroes, rulers, administers etc. according to their date is outlined, by the mode of analysis by which inner laws of the

K. MARX and F. ENGELS, Manifesto of the Communist Party, Progress Publishers, Moscow, p. 40. Henceforth Manifesto 2 J.V. STALIN, Dialectical And Historical Materialism in Problems of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1976, p. 834. 3 V.I. LENIN, Kammunismus in Collected Works, Vol.31, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1966, p. 166.

development of society have been tried to find and the past, thus, is linked with the present [and with future]. In India, Marxism and Marxist interpretation of history had been appeared even in the early part of the second decade of 20th century. Several eminent historians and politicians, in those days, entered into this school. Most of them were the part of the Left Movement in the colonial India. M.N. Roy, R.P. Dutt, E.M.S. etc. were

important geniuses who chaired this school, which is still going on and getting more and more reputation. The entrance of D.D. Kosambi (1907 1966), a mathematical scientist into the interpretation of Indias past with the tool of Dialectical Materialism or Marxism
4

with a strong definition, history is the presentation, in chronological order, of successive developments in means and relations of Production, 5 brought a drastic shift 6 in the paradigm of historical interpretation. By declaring that Marxism is not a substitute of thinking but a tool of analysis 7, he puts a break in the earlier pseudo Marxist paradigms in India, which treat history as some what the justification for preconceived ideas and jargons. Scientific Indian History. 8 That is so why Dale Riepe called him father of

D.D. KOSAMBI, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Popular Prakasan, Bombay, 1996, p. 8. Henceforth Introduction 5 Ibid., p. 1. 6 ROMILA THAPAR, The Contribution of D.D. Kosambi to Indology in History And Beyond, Oxford University Press, p. 90. 7 D.D. KOSAMBI, Marxism And Ancient Indian Culture in Combined Methods, Op. cit, p. 789. 8 DALE RIEPE, D.D. KOSAMBI, the father of Scientific Indian History in Indian Society: Historical Probing: In Memory of D.D. Kosambi edited by R.S. Sharma and V. Jha, http://www.geocities.com/dialecticalmethod/dale.html

As far as history of Kerala is concerned, the Marxist interpretation is developing now in a positive way. It had started even before independence, when this linguistic region was not set up as a unified state, through the articles and documents of undivided Communist Party of India (undivided CPI) 9. But as a methodology for interpreting past, it has been used only recently, mainly in the works of E.M.S., K. Damodaran, C. Achutha Menon, N.E. Balaram etc. Nowadays Kerala possesses much higher position in this regard. The problem is most of the historians of Kerala under this school are writing history as swinging towards the understandings of any of Left Parties, though they make great contributions. In this aspect they are biased and treat history as justifications of pre-conceived ideas. Another important problem is that though Materialist historiography has been used, the problems and issues in Kerala historiography are remaining unsettled. This is partly due to the scarcity of sources and partly due to the absence of correct use of perspective and methodology. The Marxist historiographers in Kerala are, to some extent failed to break the old conceptual frame work and to get primacy over the bourgeois and academic historiography. Moreover such a drastic shift in paradigm brought by Kosambi is not only totally absent but not properly addressed in Kerala History. The present study is a double dimensional mission. On the one hand it tries to synthesis Kosambist Paradigm and on the other hand, it seeks the problems and issues of Kerala History and scope of Kosambist Paradigm in remedying them. An attempt

The term undivided is used to denote the Communist Party of India, which was existed before its split into present day CPI and CPI (M) on 1964.

has also been made to analyzing the question as to why the official and non official historians are trying to assassinate Kosambis class analysis by putting it into silence. In the national level several studies have been done to synthesis Kosambis methodology. Recently Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) 10 published 10 articles written by eminent scholars like Romila Thapar, Meera Kosambi, Shereen Ratnagar, Irfan Habib, Rajan Gurukkal etc. on Kosambi in his Birth Centenary. Not only EPW but several journals including The Marxist 11, Newspapers including The Hindu 12 and websites like Jstor 13, Geocities 14 etc. have published articles on the same. All studies provide amble facts and analysis on his contributions. But all of them focus only on some of his findings or some of the aspects of his methodology. Even the earliest analysis of Romila Thapar in her The Contribution of D.D.Kosambi to Indology 15, where the paradigm shift brought by Kosambi appears first, is suffering the same defect though her study puts strong analysis of his contributions and findings in history as well as in other auxiliary disciplines forward. In Kerala, the studies relating to historiography of Kerala are few in number which can be counted with fingers. The major studies have been appeared as the articles written by M.G.S. Narayanan 16, C.K. Kareem 17, K.N. Ganesh 18 and Dr. P.M.
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, July 26-Auguest 01, 2008. The Marxist, XXIV 4, Oct.-Dec., 2008. 12 The Hindu, July 31, 2008. 13 www.jstor.org 14 http://www.geocities.com/dialecticalmethod/ 15 ROMILA THAPAR, op. cit., pp. 89-113. 16 M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Historiography of Kerala: Some Important Issues in Issues in Kerala Historiography edited by K.K. Kusuman, International centre for Kerala Studies, University of Kerala, 2003, pp. 192-201. 17 C.K. KAREEM, Kerala Historiography in Issues in Kerala Historiography, Ibid., pp. 202-208.
11 10

Rajan Gurukkal 19 . Cultural History of Kerala 20 under the editorship of Raghava Varier and Rajan Gurukkal also tries to analyze the same. Though M.G.S. Narayan made valuable analyses, he shows a hyper-criticism to Marxist historiography. The other works laid emphasis on Marxist Historiography but not being out its methodology systematically. The common nature of all those works is the absence of laying importance and analysis of Kosambist paradigm. So the present study is a pioneering one which tries to link Kosambist paradigm and interpretation of Kerala History so as to highly relevant one. This paper has been prepared on the basis of analytical and critical perspective. Comparative methodology of study is also much used in it. The essence of the proposed study is arranged as 3 chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion. They are entitled as 1. D.D. KosambiA Short Profile. 2. Kosambist Paradigm A Synthesis of Marxist Historiography. 3. Problems, Issues and Prospects of Kerala Historiography and Kosambist Paradigm. The first chapter tries to give a short biographical sketch of D.D. Kosambi. This chapter is preparing mainly on the basis of his autobiographical essay Step in Science and on the basis of eye-witness account given by Meera Kosambi, his

18

K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends in Perspectives of Kerala History edited by P.J. Cherian Kerala Gazetteer, Govt. of Kerala, 1999. 19 P.M.RAJAN GURUKKAL, Historiographical Antecedents in Perspectives of Kerala History, Ibid. 20 RAJAN GURUKKAL and M.R. RAGHAVA VARIER (eds.), Cultural History of Kerala, Vol. I, Dept. of Cultural Publications, Govt. of Kerala, 1999.

daughter, Romila Thapar, R.P. Nene, A.L. Basham, V.V. Gokale, Daniel Ingalls, and D.N. Jha, his friends and contemporaries. The second chapter tries to bring together the Kosambist Paradigm and define it. It also highlights the debates relating to Kosambist Paradigm and analyzes them. The third chapter tries to bring out the major problems, issues, debates and so far prospects of Kerala historiography and to seek remedy for those problems in the light of Kosambist paradigm. Hypothetically the present study assumes that Kosambist paradigm is the synthesis of Marxist Historiography and its development in a higher phase. It has got universality of defining the interpreting historical problems and phenomena. It can solve the problems and issues of Kerala historiography. It can also render its service in perspective and methodological level.

CHAPTER I

KOSAMBI A Short Profile

D.D. Kosambis interpretation of Indian history from a Marxist perspective was path-breaking in a dual sense. It not only sought to provide an analysis of Indian history as a process as a district from a mere litany of names and dates but also contributed to an expansion of the frontiers of historical materialism itself. 21 - PRABHAT PATNAIK

UNTIL RECENTLY Marxism and Marxist historiography had been faced all round attacks from the scribes of Capitalism, the bourgeois intellectuals and bourgeois historians. But the contemporary financial crises faced by the World Capitalist system become the severe blow to them and bring the attention of the world to the sayings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, the founders of scientific communism. Such a juncture gives us, the students of Indian History, an opportunity to give homage and to evaluate D.D. Kosambi, the great eminent personality who defended and applied Marxism in interpreting Indian history. D.D. Kosambi was born on July 31, 1907 in a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family of Kosben in Goa. His family was known for its rigorous standards of learning and social behaviour. 22 He was a boy who was inherited an insatiable spirit of inquiry, a

21

PRABHAT PATNAIK, D.D.Kosambi and the Frontiers of Historical Materialism, in The Marxist, XXIV 4, October December 2008, p. 29. 22 V.V. GOKHALE, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Science and Human Progress: Prof.D.D.Kosambi Commemoration volume, 1974, www.geocities.com/ bhupindersingh2/ddk/intro/gokhale.htm.

love of wandering and a sharp, versatile intellect. 23 Dharmanand Kosambi, a Buddhist scholar
24

His father was Acharya

who was teaching Pali at Fergusson

College. Damodar Kosambis early schooling was in Pune. In order to do work on some Pali Buddhist text, Acharya Kosambi was invited to Harvard University as visiting faculty. 25 In this time Acharya took his eleven years old son to the Cambridge Grammar School. There he spent 8 years for completing his schooling. In January 1926, he was enrolled in Harvard College and he graduated with a brilliant result in 1929. During this time he had learned several languages other than Indian languages like Greek, Latin, German, French etc. 26 So he became a polyglot. Even though he had finished his graduation he could not get scholarship for further studies there. It was partly due to the economic depression of the time
27

and

partly due to his Mathematics professor was unsure of his commitment to the subject, given his tendency to traverse over a wide field of disciplines (with his fathers encouragement). 28 On his return to India in 1929, Kosambi joined the mathematics faculty of the Benaras Hindu University, which was founded by Madan Mohan Malaviya (who was a friend of Dharmanands). Here he could not go on his

23 24

Ibid. MEERA KOSAMBI, D.D.Kosambi: The Scholar and the Man, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.43, No.30, July 216 August 01, 2008, p. 34. 25 Ibid. 26 D.D. KOSAMBI, Steps in Science, in Science, Society & Peace, Academy of Political and Social Studies, Pune, 1986, p. 2; And see D.N.JHA, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi: A Scholar Extraordinaire, in The Marxist, Op. cit. p. 3. 27 SUNIL P. ILAYIDAM, D.D.Kosambi: Charithramezhuthile Viplavangal, in Mathrubhumi Weekly, August 5-11, 2007, p. 50. 28 MEERA KOSAMBI, Op.cit., p. 34.

10

profession since the ideological difference

29

with Malaviya who was a strong Hindu

nationalist. After that he worked in Aligarh Muslim University. In 1932 he decided to settle down at Pune as Professor of mathematics at the Ferguson College where his father had earlier taught Pali. There he spent fourteen years. He also faced certain difficulties mainly the difficulty raised from a clash of two radically different academic systems and cultures Harvard and Pune. Ultimately Kosambi had to leave the college because of examination-ridden system and uninspiring standards of education. 30 He joined the newly established Tata Institute of Fundamental Research [TIFR] in Mumbai in 1946. Actually he was invited to the Institute by well known scientist Homi Bhabha, the then director of the institute. Because of his strong devotion to humanism, Kosambi also failed to maintain harmony with the management of Institute especially with Homi Bhabha. There were mainly three reasons. Homi Bhabhas change as a managerial scientist who mainly focused on institution building rather than focusing research works was the first. Second was ideological i.e., CapitalistMarxist ideological differences and third was their different opinion on the question of using atomic energy. Kosambi always opposed the usage of atomic energy and was in favour of using solar energy for facing energy crisis. Bhabha was involved in

developing atomic energy in India. 31 Jawaharlal Nehru supported these efforts of

29 30

Ibid., p. 35. Ibid. 31 Ibid., p. 36.

11

Bhabha and declared that independent India would use the atomic force to defend herself. 32 In 1962, he left the Institute due to his high value of humanism. In 1964, he was appointed as the scientist emeritus by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He also joined with the Maharastra Association for the Cultivation of Science at Pune. At the same time, Major General E.B. Habibullah, Commandant of the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasala near Pune, invited him to found the Archaeological Society in the Academy as the part of the hobbies section. 33 Since 1950 Kosambi was participating in the World Peace Council. In June 1955, he headed the Indian delegation to the World Peace Conference at Helsinki, Finland, which was chaired by the famous French Nobel-laureate Frederic JoliotCurie, and attended by J.D. Bernal, the author of Science in History. A.L. Basham said that Kosambi seemed to have only three interests, which filled his life to the exclusion of all others ancient India, in all its aspects, mathematics and the preservation of peace. 34 On June 29, 1966, death overtook that legendary life in the form of myocardial infract.

AS A MATHEMATICIAN
D.D. Kosambi was basically a mathematician. According to J.D. Bernal,

mathematics was his main contribution to science, particularly in the field of

32

ANIKET ALAM, National Interest Not the Issue of Nuclear Deal, in Economic and Political Weekly, September 27, 2008, p. 14. 33 MEERA KOSAMBI, Op. cit, p. 34. 34 A.L. BASHAM, Baba: A Personal Tribute, in Indian Society: Historical Probing; In Memory of D.D.Kosambi, ICHR, New Delhi, p. 18. Also visit the site www.geocities.com/dialecticalmethod.ddk.html

12

statistics and stochastic theory. 35 About 20 years of his works lay in tensor analysis and path-geometry.
36

When we go through the list of books and articles of Kosambi,

that is prepared by Gokhale, 37 a friend and colleague of Kosambi, we can understand his range of knowledge that traverses from Mathematics to the Indian culture. Among those article most of them are dedicated to mathematics, mainly to statistics and to path-geometry. The term path-geometry was coined by himself. 38 He had published several articles in various magazines on mathematics and statistics. Precession of an Elliptical Orbit (1930), Geometrie Differentielle et Calcul des Variation (1932), The Classifications of Integers (1933), Path-Spaces of Higher Order (1936), Path-geometry and Cosmogony (1936), The Tensor Analysis of Partial Differential Equations (1939), Path-Geometry and Continuous Groups (1952) etc. were famous articles among them. 39 He won several prizes. In 1934 he won the first Ramanujan Memorial Prize. In 1947, a special Bhabha prize also went to him. Though his main articles are dealing with mathematics he had published a paper on genetics, which became very famous in the name the Kosambi formula for chromosome mapping. 40 It became widely used by the professional scientists. It was a development from them existing chromosome theory of heredity. N.R. Bhat, an agricultural scientist has experimented Kosambis theory and found it to have a good

35 36

J.D.Bernal, D.D.Kosambi, in Science and Human Progress, op. cit. p. 331. MEERA KOSAMBI, op. cit. p. 37. 37 V.V. GOKHALE, Op. cit. 38 D.D. KOSAMBI, Step in Science, Op. cit., p. 2. 39 V.V. GOKHALE, Op. cit. 40 MEERA KOSAMBI, Op. cit.

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fit.

According to Bhat, the Kosambi formula, though largely an intelligent

empiricism, is the only one so far which gives satisfactory additive estimates of map lengths irrespective of the kinds of organisms and the lengths of their chromosomes on which recombination data are gathered. 41 Meera Kosambi, daughter of Kosambi gives a clear picture on his travels throughout the world. In 1948-49, he was United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organizations (UNESCO) fellow to the US and UK for electronic calculating machine research. In 1949, he went to Chicago as a visiting professor in pathgeometry. He also visited Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton where he met Albert Einstein and had extensive discussions with him. He visited Soviet Union in 1955 as he was invited to Soviet Academy of Science to lecture and to attend their first conference on the peaceful use of atomic energy. Academia Sinica (Beijing, China) had also invited him to suggest statistical methods for the forecasting of foodcrops and quality control in industry.

AS AN INDOLOGIST
Why we, the students of history study a well known mathematician is the recognition that he was a great Indologist who changed Indian historical writing from top to bottom. Romila Thapar says that Kosambis acknowledged status as an Indologist was the more remarkable in that by profession he was a mathematician. 42 We can systematize his transition from mathematician to a historian as follows. 1930s
41 42

He was mainly a mathematician

Ibid. ROMILA THAPAR, Op. cit, p. 91.

14

1940s

His interest in Indology started. Occasional papers on this subject were started to appear.

1950s to 1966

Most of his works on Indology and early history of India were brought out.

His entrance to Indian history was not a conscious one. From the study of numismatics and linguistic studies of Sanskrit Literature with the interest of Marxism he reached in to Indology. Lets quote his own words;
Study of the records meant some mastery of Sanskrit, of which I had absorbed a little through the pores without regular study. Other pre-occupations made it impossible to spend as much time as the average student on the classical idiom. So, the same method was adopted as for study of statistics: to take up a specific work, of which the simplest was Bhartrharis epigrams (Subhashitas). The Supposed philosophy of Bhartrhari, as glorified by the commentators, was at variance with his poetry of frustration and escape. By pointing this out in an essay which made every Sanskritist who read it shudder, I had fallen Into Indology, as it were, through the roof.
43

Why he himself introduced as indologist is very remarkable. In the academic level he did not study history. In that sense he was an alien to this subject. But through above mentioned way he entered the study of culture and history of India. He wrote and published five books and several articles on Indian History and Culture and several articles. The books are An Introduction to the study of Indian History (1956), Exasperating Essays: Exercises in the dialectical method (1957), Myth & Reality: Studies in the formation of Indian Culture (1962), The Culture &
43

D.D. KOSAMBI, Steps in Science, Op. cit. p.9

15

Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline (1965) and Indian Numismatics (1981). Almost all articles written by him got much impression from historians. Among them Combined methods in Indology, articles on Vedic tribes, Brahmin Gothras, on cultural studies, The Basis of Ancient Indian History I and II, On a Marxist Approach to Indian Chronology, Stages of Indian History, Marxism and Ancient Culture, On the Development of Feudalism in India, Primitive Communism etc. were the most important. All his works constitute the Historical Materialism of India. After his death, Academy of Political and Social Science at Pune compiled some of his articles and published them as a book under the title, Science, Society & Peace, which uncover the Unity of Nature and Society as a book. Another anthology of his major articles is published by Oxford University Press under the title, Combined Methods in Indology and Other Writings in 2002 under the editorship of Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya.

D.D. KOSAMBI ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND ATOMIC ENERGY

Nuclear weapons and Atomic Energy are the burning questions that are being faced by present day world. He foresaw and tried to deal these burning questions 44 not on the basis of national interest 45 that raised by the Left Parties and BJP nowadays but entirely on the basis of great humanism and proletarian class stand. He severely opposed the use of nuclear weapon. According to him;

44

D.D. KOSAMBI, Nuclear Warfare: The Real Danger, in Science, Society & Peace, Op. cit., p. 83 45 ANIKET ALAM, Op. cit., p. 14.

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Nuclear weapons are much more dangerous to use than the conventional the record number of deaths from a single conventional bomb was during the Japanese invasion of China, when an aviator unloaded in a desperate effort to save himself and killed nearly 700 people The Hiroshima bomb killed about a thousand times this number. A 50 megaton weapon could wipe out the largest city in the world with its suburbs, causing from 8 to 15 million immediate deaths. In addition, there is a question of side effects, the nuclear fallout. In 1954, the weapons available if dropped on Delhi when the not winds was blowing, would not only have wiped out our capital, but would have killed every living creature and damaged all vegetation within a belt 150 miles wide, stretching from Delhi to beyond Culcutta. You can calculate the damage of yourself. 46

He also opposed the use of Atomic energy. It was not only on the basis of huge cost but also on the basis of dangerous of materials and their byproducts and also on the basis of abuse of the same material. He was ready to admit all energies other than atomic energy, which is truly dangerous to the human kind. He always prefers solar energy to remedying the energy scarcity. Nowadays the science is facing the problem how to eliminate the byproducts and wastes of Atomic energy. He said;
Then there is the question of byproducts [of uranium]. Animal byproducts are good fertilizer... In industrial countries, the average temperature over cities goes up. due to the use of coal. No one knows where to put the radio active wastes from uranium piles. This is best brought out by the effects of atom-bomb tests.. the prestige of

46

Ibid., pp. 84-85.

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having atomic power stations does not compensate the extra expenditure or the extra danger involved. 47

In is opinion, India as a developing nation in which most of population belonging to poor should use solar energy for meet energy need. It seems, he argues to me that research on the utilization of solar radiation, where the fund costs nothing at all, would be of immense benefit to India, whether or not atomic energy is used 48

D.D. KOSAMBI, Atomic Energy of India, in Science, Society & Peace, ibid., pp. 102103. 48 Ibid. p. 103

47

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CHAPTER 2

KOSAMBIST PARADIGM A Synthesis of Marxist Historiography

Men make their own history but they do not make it just as they please. They do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. 49 - KARL MARX

KOSAMBIST PARADIGM can be defined as the Marxist methodological perspective that can be used not only to interpret the history but also to change it as Marx said that the point is to change the world than to interpret it in various ways. 50. Kosambism is the system of Kosambis views, method and teachings. 51 He was a well known Marxist scholar who developed Historical Materialism 52 to a higher phase by applying it into the soil of India. The Marxist stream of historical writing had been started in India before she got freedom from the colonial yoke, since the second decade of 20th century. Mainly the leaders of undivided CPI had started this stream. M.N. Roys India in Transition can be considered as the pioneer effort in this way. After that several similar efforts
49

KARL MARX, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, in Selected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Vol. I, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1973, p. 398. Henceforth Selected Works M.E. 50 KARL MARX, Theses On Feuerbach, in Selected Works M.E., Ibid., p. 15. 51 Here the model of Lenins definition of Marxism is used to define the term Kosambism. See V.I.LENIN, Karl Marx, Selected Works of Lenin, Vol. 1, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976, p. 19. 52 Prabhat Patnaik said that Kosambis Contributions expand the frontiers of historical Materialism. (See PRABHAT PATNAIK, Op. cit.). Actually what has done by Kosambi is the development of Historical materialism in a higher phase.

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had been done but failed. M.N. Roys book was also not get sufficient attention. It was because this book was appeared as the part of Roys political work. But it paved the way for a hermeneutic turn 53 that brought by Kosambi by the Publishing his classical work An Introduction to the Study of Indian History. Kosambi never claimed that his works as full-fledged writings on India, though others acknowledged them as the classical matured works of Indian historical writings. What was his intention is that to bring a modern approach to the study of Indian history.
This book, he wrote in the preface to the first edition of An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, does not pretend to be a history of India. It is merely a modern approach to the study of Indian history
54

This modern approach is nothing but Marxist approach.

He challenged all the

previous models of historical writing with the tool of Marxism. At the same time he also challenged the blind application of Euro-schematic style 55 scheme of pseudo Marxist interpretation of Indian history. He cannot patience with those who are trying to malign, misuse or vulgarize Marxism, the science that he respects the most. This can be seen in his treatments of Karl A. Wittfogel 56 who maligned Socialism as despotism, of D.A. Suleikin
53

57

who dangerously misused Marxism to outline Indian

RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect: A Hermeneutic turn that shook Indian Historiography, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.43, No.30, July 26-August 01, 2008, pp. 89-96. 54 D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. xi. 55 Euro-schematic style means argument of social developments only through four modes of production, Primitive Communism-Slavery-Feudalism-Capitalism. 56 D.D. KOSAMBI, The Basis of Despotism, in Combined Methods, Op. cit., pp. 797-801. 57 D.D. KOSAMBI, On a Marxist Approach to Indian Chronology, in Combined Methods, Ibid., pp. 49-56.

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Chronology and of S.A. Dange 58 who was trying to thrust slavery system into the Indian History.

MATERIALISTIC CONCEPTION OF HISTORY General Outline

In order to get full and clear idea of Kosambist Methodological perspective, we have firstly to know Materialistic conception of history or Historical Materialism from which Kosambist Paradigm has logically emerged. The basic tenets of historical materialism were laid by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels during the second half of 19th century. What is historical materialism? It is a science of social development. Actually it was appeared as the harmonious, integral world outlook of the working class with dialectical materialism. Historical Materialism is the extension of the Principles of dialectical materialism to the study of social life, an application of the principles of dialectical materialism to the phenomena of the life of society, to the study of society and of its history. 59 It is the general theory of motive forces and the laws of social change, 60 that developed by Marx and Engels.
The discovery of the materialist conception of history, wrote Lenin, or more correctly, the consistent Continuation and extension of materialism into the domain of social phenomena, removed the two chief short-coming in earlier historical theories. In the first place, the latter at best examined only the ideological motives in the historical
58

D.D. KOSAMBI, Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture, in Combined Methods, ibid., pp. 784-789. 59 J.V. STALIN, Dialectical And Historical Materialism, Op. cit., p. 835. 60 MAURICE CORNFORTH, Historical Materialism, in Dialectical Materialism, National Book Agency Private Limited, Calcutta, 1997, p. 143.

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activities of human beings, without investigating the origins of those motives, or ascertaining the objective laws governing the development of the system of social relations, or seeing the roots of these relations in the degree of development reached by material production; in the second place, the earlier theories did not embrace the activities of the masses of population, whereas historical materialism made it possible for the first time to study with scientific accuracy the social conditions of the life of the masses and the changes in those conditions. 61

As soon as the materialistic conception of history by which the active life-process is described, history ceases to be a collection of dead facts as it is with the empiricists or an imagined activity of imagined subjects, as with the idealists. 62 Before Marx, the materialist including Feuerbach believed that materialism and history diverge completely. 63 But Marx placed the study of the development of society on the materialistic basis. In order to analyze the historical phenomena to find out the laws that govern the development of society he used dialectics. Thus we can say that the Marxist method of cognize the material and historical phenomena is dialectical and its interpretation of them, its conception of these phenomena, its theory, is materialistic. 64

Concept of Mode of Production and its international contradiction

Historiography had for a long period searched for the causative or determining forces of the social development. The idealistic view of history always search for the
61 62

V.I. LENIN, Karl Marx, in Selected Works of Lenin, Op. cit., pp. 24-25. KARL MARX and FREDERICK ENGELS, Feuerbach: Opposition of the Materialistic and Idealistic Outlook, in Selected Works M.E., Op. cit., pp. 25-26. Henceforth Feuerbach 63 Ibid., p.30. 64 J.V. STALIN, Op. cit., p. 835.

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external or outside forces of the society. But the Materialistic conception of history logically answer to this question that the productive forces are the chief motive force of social developments. By these productive forces Man interact with the nature. That is so why Benjamin Franklin, the eighteenth century US politician and inventor defined Man as a tool-making Animal. 65 Marx and Engels said,
Men can be distinguished from animals by consciousness anything else you like. They themselves begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence. By producing their means of subsistence men are indirectly producing their actual material life.
66

That is so why we can say that mode of production means method of human society for producing and exchanging their means of subsistence, in essence, for producing their actual material life. This mode of production is also a definite form of activity of the individuals, a definite form of expressing their life, a definite mode of life on their part. 67 Mode of production historically is constituted by the productive forces that has already been explained above and relations of production. What is the forces of production? The Mankind must first of all eat, drink, and have shelter and clothing, the production of immediate material means of subsistence.
68

In order to produce this

means of subsistence, instruments are necessary. But the instruments do not produce

65

MICK BROOKS, Historical Materialism, see, http://visualwikipedia.com/en/Marxist_historiography 66 KARL MARX and FREDERICK ENGELS, Feuerbach, Op. cit., p.20. 67 Ibid. 68 FREDERICK ENGELS, Speech at the graveside of Karl Marx, Selected Works M.E., Vol.3, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1973, p.162.

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anything by themselves. So man is necessary. The forces of production, therefore, consist of a) the instruments of production and b) the people with their productionexperience and skills who use these instruments. 69 The people can make and use the instruments of production and exercise their production experiences and skills only through entering into definite mutual relations with each other by which they are associated and organized in the process of social production. 70 In this process the people must enter into social relationships, not only with the one another, 71 but also with the means of production. 72 Means of production is something more than the instruments of production. It is some total of all those means of production including not only instruments but also land, raw materials, buildings etc. In the mode of production, the relations of production are correspond to the definite stage of development of their material productive forces.
73

The economic

structure of the society is constituted by the sum up of all these relations of production. But in a certain stage of the development of society these two elements of mode of production will come into contradiction. From form of the development of the productive forces, these relationships are transformed into their fetters. Then an epoch of social revolution opens. 74

69 70

MAURICE CORNFORTH, Op. cit., p.167. Ibid. 71 KARL MARX, Wage, Labour and Capital, Quoted by J.V.STALIN, Op. cit., p.857. 72 MAURICE CORNFORTH, Op. cit., p.167. 73 KARL MARX, Contribution, Op. cit., p.4. 74 Ibid.

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Concept of Social Being and Social Consciousness

As we say the philosophy of Marxism is Materialism. Materialism always seeks to answer the question of relation of thinking to being. Materialism opposes idealism which considers the independency of idea from matter. The basic teachings of Materialism in opposition to idealism are; 1. Materialism teaches that the world is by its very nature, material that everything which exists comes into being on the basis of Material causes, arises and develops in accordance with the laws of motion of matter. 2. Materialism teaches that matter is objective reality existing outside and independent of the mind; and the far from the mental existing in separation from the material, everything mental or spiritual is a product of material process. 3. Materialism teaches that the world and its laws are fully knowable, and that while much may not be known there is nothing which is by nature unknowable. 75 When we bring these materialist principles to the study of social phenomena we can understand that the source of production of ideas, of conception or of consciousness is the material production of life. So, conceiving, thinking, the mental intercourse of men, appear at this stage as the direct efflux of their material behaviour. 76 From this Marx and Engels conclude that Life is not determined by

75 76

MAURICE CORNFORTH, Op. cit., oo. 26-27. KARL MARX and FREDERICK ENGELS, Feuerbach, Op. cit., pp.24-25.

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consciousness, but consciousness by life. 77 From this understanding Max and Engels logically conceptualize that;
In the social production of their means of existence, men enter into definite, necessary relations which are independent of their will, productive relationship which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The aggregate of those productive relations constitutes the economic structure of society, the real basis on which a juridical and political superstructure arises and to which definite forms of social consciousness correspond. The mode of production of the material means of existence conditions the whole process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, it is their social being that determines their consciousness with the change in the economic foundation the whole superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed. In considering such [social] revolution it is necessary always to distinguish between the material revolution in the economic conditions of production, which can be determined with scientific accuracy and the juridical, political, religious, aesthetic or philosophic in a word, ideological forms wherein men become conscious of this conflict and fight it out.
78

From this view we can say that every society has tow parts, a] Basis Economic Basis i.e. economic structure of society, the sum

total of the relations of production. [Not the productive forces!!]

77 78

Ibid., p.25. KARL MARX, Contribution, Op. cit., pp. 3-4 [Emphasis added].

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b]

Superstructure Social ideas, social organizations and institutions and

ideological relations. 79 Here the term ideological relation is used in a broad sense which includes relations that are political, juridical, religious, aesthetic or philosophic. The basis gives rise to superstructure, which develops on a definite basis and is determined by it. After the establishment of the superstructure that correspondence to the basis, if any changes take place in basis, it will not immediately reflect in the superstructure. Therefore there may be a partial lack of correspondence between superstructure and basis. The superstructural changes may lag behind the changes in economic basis. 80 Does the superstructure act upon basis? Yes, the superstructure has a reciprocal influence on the basis. The superstructure is always in motion, i.e. active. When a new superstructure is brought by the basis, it helps basis to take shape, develop, strengthen and extend its longevity. Another important matter is that when the mode of production has become obsolete, the superstructure helps to keep it in existence. As obsolete superstructure seeks to preserve the obsolete system and to prolong its existence.

Theory of Class-Struggle
Marxist historiography is some way considered as the arch of world history that reaches from classless primitive communist society to the communist society of

79 80

D.I.CHESNOKOV, Historical Materialism, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1969, p. 274. Ibid., p. 279.

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future. 81 That Marxist historiographys declaration, World history as the history of class struggle, paved the way for a new approach to the history, the approach of class analysis. It was started by Marx and Engels themselves by publishing Manifesto of Communist Party in 1948. According to them,
the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle. oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each timed ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possess, however, this distinctive feature, it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.
82

These findings of class analysis became possible only by the application of Materialistic dialectics in the study of history of society. This elevated Marxist

historiography into the rank of science of society. This classical explanation of class struggle promulgated by the greatest geniuses of Marxism was appeared before the

81

ERNEST NOLTE, The Relationship between Bourgeois and Marxist Historiography, History and Theory, Vil.14, No.1, Feb., 1975, p. 58, [Emphasis added] 82 KARL MARX and FREDERICK ENGELS, Manifesto of the Communist Party, Op. cit., pp. 40-41.

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coming of Lewis Henry Morgans

83

study on primitive society in which the inner

84

organization of primitive communistic society

was uncovered.

After the

publication of Morgans Ancient Society they exclude primitive communist society from the class antagonisms. Engels wrote;
(ever since the dissolution of the primeval communal ownership of land) all history has been a history of class struggle, of struggles between exploited and exploiting, between dominated and dominating classes at various stages of social development; that his struggle, however, has now reached a stage where the exploited and oppressed class (the proletariat) can no longer emancipate itself from the class which exploits and oppresses it (the bourgeoisie), without at the same time for ever freeing the whole of society from exploitation, oppression and class struggle.

Actually class struggle was not the new findings of Marx. It has been already found by French Sociologists and historians like Thierry, Guizot, Mognet and Thiess. 85 What Marx did as new is that he proved: 1) that the existence of classes is only bound up with particular historical phases in the development of production, 2) that the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat, 3) that this dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society. 86

83

Lewis Henry Morgan was a prominent American anthropologist his famous work is Ancient Society or Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization. 84 KARL MARX and FREDERICK ENGELS, Manifesto, Op. cit., p. 40. 85 V.I. LENIN, Karl Marx, Op. cit., p. 26. 86 KARL MARX, Marx to J.Weydemeyer (Letter), Selected Works M.L., Vol. I, Op. cit., p.258.

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Marx and Engels drew the outline of four social formations in history among which three class-divided societies and their inner class struggle and primitive communist society which was the first classless society. They are slaves and slaveowners in slavery society which was the first class society in Europe, lords and serfs in feudal society and Bourgeoisie and Proletariat in the modern capitalist society. According to them except capitalism all societies carries different classes and social groups other than fundamental classes. In capitalism the number of classes reduced into two and the entire society has been divided into two major hostile camps Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. What constitutes and distinguishes classes is the places they occupy in social production and consequently, the relation in which they stand to the means of production 87 from which the differences in income, habits, mentality and so on arises 88 It means what position they take to appropriate the share of surplus created by the society as a whole. Consequently Lenin defines classes as
large groups of people which differ from each other by the place they occupy in a historically definite system of social production, by their relations to means of production classes are group of people one of which may appropriate the labour of another, owing to the different places they occupy in the definite system of social economy. 89

87 88

V.I. LENIN, Vulgar Socialism and Narodism Quoted by Mauristornforth, Op. cit., p. 173. MAURICE CORNSOOLTH, Op. cit., p. 173. 89 V.I. LENIN, A Great Beginning, in On Utopian and Scientific Socialism, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976, p. 157.

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All class relations are antagonistic since the class struggle are rooted in conflicts of material interests between different classes i.e. conflicting economic interests arising from the different places occupied by different classes in social production.

Is Historical Materialism Economic Determinism?

To answer this question here quote only two paragraphs of Engels which are self explanatory.
According to the materialistic conception of history, the ultimately determining element in history is the production and re-production of real life. More than that neither Marx nor I have ever asserted. Hence if somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms that proposition into a meaningless, abstract, senseless phrase. The economic situation is the basis, but the various elements of the superstructure.. also exercise their influence on the course of the historical struggle, and in many cases preponderate in determining their form. 90 We regard economic conditions as the factor which ultimately conditions historical developments. Political, juridical, philosophical, religious, literary, artistic, etc., development is based on economic development. But all these react upon one another and also upon the economic basis. It is not that economic condition is the cause and alone active, while everything else is only a passive effect. There is, rather, interaction on the basis of economic necessity, which ultimately always asserts itself. 91

FREDERICK ENGELS, Letter to J. Bloch, in Selected Works M.L., Vol.3, Op. cit., pp. 487-488. 91 FREDERICK ENGELS, Letter to W. Borgius, in Selected Works M.L., Vol. 3, Ibid., pp. 502-503.

90

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PRE-KOSAMBIST PARADIGMS
Historical Writing, in modern sense, in India had appeared only after the advent of the British. Before that we had history-like writings from ancient times. Kalhanas Rajatarangini, Kalidasas Raghuvamsa, Athulas Mushaka Vamsa etc. are the best example for this type work. We cannot consider them as history of India or any part of India or of any sects but as the sources of Indian history, since, as the part of literary superstructure, these literary pieces reflect, the base, the then means and relations of production. After the advent of the British, the Indologists as well as colonialists had started to treat history as a separate discipline and they started scientific research in Archaeology, linguistic, philology, epigraphy, numismatic study etc. modern historical writing had been coming into being. Romila Thapar enumerated three major changes in Paradigm of historical writing, which are represented by James Mill, Vincent Smith and D.D. Kosambi respectively. 92 James Mills History of British India published in early 19th century put forward the communalistic chronology of India. According to this work India had passed 3 civilizations, Hindu, Muslim and British of which the earlier two civilizations were backward, stagnant and a historic. 93 According to historians this periodization later paved the way for the emergence of communalism in India. Vincent Smiths History of India which was appeared in 1919 was another step. This From this

92 93

ROMILA THAPAR, Contribution of D.D. Kosambi to Indology, Op. cit., p. 89. Ibid.

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work gave up sharpness of Mills value judgment.

94

This paradigm started the

chronological presentation of dynasties in which their rise and fall as being the crucial to the study of Indian history, was also described. Both Mill and Smith had colonial interests. While Mill had to justify the conquest of British, Smith had to justify the colonial rule of British. What was Nationalistic historians position in the historical writing of India was to apply negative value judgment on pre-British period especially on so-called Hindu period. They re-named Indian Chronology as Ancient, Medieval and Modern. But despite the change of nomenclature, the time brackets remained the same 95 i.e., Ancient as Hindu, Medieval as Muslim and Modern as British. But in the paradigmatic level national historians follow the same dynastic and chronological concerns. 96 Only ideological aspect seems to be changed from Colonialism to Nationalism.

KOSAMBIS MARXIST PERSPECTIVE ON HISTORY

Kosambi used Marxism as the frame work of all his studies that include both history and his original subject, Mathematics. He declared himself as a Marxist. So his world outlook was Materialism. He said that my treatment of the phenomenon is

94 95

Ibid., pp. 89-90. ROMILA THAPER, The Penguin History of Early India, From the Origins to AD 1300, Penguin Books, New Delhi, p. 18. Henceforth Penguin History of Early India 96 ROMILA THAPAR, Contribution, D.D. Kosambi to Indology, Op. cit., p. 90.

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purely materialistic. 97 He was not mere a materialist but a Dialectical and Historical Materialist. This can be assumes from his following words.
The present approach implies a definite theory of history known as dialectical materialism, also called Marxism, after its founder.. For all that, the theoretical basis remains Marxist as I understand the method. 98

In a letter to his old friend Daniel Ingalls, an Indologist at Harvard, he wrote in 1953, the world is divided into three groups: (1) swearing by Marxism, (2) swearing at Marxism, (3) indifferent, i.e., just swearing I belong to (1), you and your colleagues to (2). 99 His adherence to Marxism can also see in his dedication of his critical study of Satakatrayam of Bhartrhari to the great Marxist teachers, Marx, Engels and Lenin. 100 When we go through his preface to Exasperating Essays, it would not be an exaggeration if he is to be called as dialectical materialist theoretician. He said that
The essential is the method followed [in this book], which is the method of dialectical materialism, called Marxism after the genius who first developed its theory and used it systematically as a tool.
101

In this preface he explained Materialistic theory and the laws of dialectics, i.e. mater continuously changes and develops, negation of negation, internal contradiction, the

DD.KOSAMBI, The Scientific Attitude And Religion, in Science, Society & Peace, Op. cit., p. 52. 98 D.D.KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., pp. 8-12. 99 DANIEL INGALLS, My Friendship with D.D. Kosambi, in Indian Society: Historical Probing, Op. cit., pp. 2-33. 100 Quatedd by SUNIL P.ILAYIDAM, Op. cit., p.47. See also BRAJADULAL CHATTOPADHYAYA, Introduction, Combined Methods, Op. cit., p. xxx. 101 D.D. KOSAMBI, Exasperating Essays, Peoples Book house, Poona, 1957, p.1.

97

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changes from quantitative into quantitative changes and vice versa, etc.

102

His

explanation of the principals of dialectical materialism is reminiscing Engels. 103 Not only he explains the dialectical Materialism but also explain the relations of nature and society and historical Materialism. In this preface he challenged those who attack Marxism as naming it as an outmoded theory. He gave blows to them by brining scientific findings of Gauss Faraday, Darwin etc. By doing this he uncover his intellectual realm of vast knowledge. According to him Historical Materialism, a definite theory of history is the frame work to interpret Indian history. 104 He quotes long passage from Marxs preface to Critique of Political Economy as an excellent theory from which he got the theoretical basis to interpret Indias past. He reiterates the same passage several times. 105 In accordance with that Marxist understanding he defined history as the presentation, in chronological order, of successive developments in the means and relations of production. 106

Ibid., pp. 1-4. These basic tenets of dialectical Materialism were clearly explained by Engels in his Dialectics of Nature. See ENGELS, Dialectics of Nature, National Book Agency 104 RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect: A Hermeneutic Turn that Shook Indian Historiography, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No.30, July 26-August 01, 2008, p. 89. 105 See D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. 9; and see Stages of Indian History, Op. cit., p. 57. 106 D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p.1; and Stages of Indian History, Op. cit., p. 58.
103

102

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In earlier he used successive changes 107. Later he changed in accordance with the Marxist understandings of social formations. development,
An aggregate of human beings constitutes a society when, and only when, the people are in some way interrelated. The essential relation is not kinship but much wider; namely, that developed through production and mutual exchange of commodities. The particular society is characterized by what it regards as necessary; who gathers or produces the things, by what implements; who lives off the production of others, and by what right, divine or legal cults and laws are social by products; who owns the tools, the land, sometimes the body and soul of the producer; who controls the disposal of the surplus and regulates quantity and form of the supply. Society is held together by bonds of production. Far from destroying human values, materialism shows how they are related to contemporary social conditions, and to the prevalent concept of value. 108

He explained social

According to him History is not the succession of outstanding megalomanic names and imposing battle and if it is, then Indian history cannot be written. As far as Kosambi is concerned, to write history means the understanding of whether a given people had the plough or not them to know of the name of their king. 109 By following Marxism, Kosambi declares that Social organizations cannot be more

107

In his famous essay Steps in Science he defined history as the development in chronological order of successive changes in the means and relations of production. See D.D.KOSAMBI Steps in Science, Op. cit., p. 10. 108 D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., pp. xii-xiii. 109 D.D. KOSAMBI, Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1965, p. 10. Henceforth Culture and Civilization

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advanced than the instruments of production will allow. 110 Thus he laid Central emphasis on forces of production as that the motive force of development of society. He underlines the centrality of plough and discovers economic practices, ideas and institutions indicative of a transformed society in the course of critical analysis of ancient Indian literary texts, but hardly seeks to interpret change by problematising the incompatibility between forces and relations of production. 111 He is also always upholding the class struggle as he was a Marxist. According to him study of class society means analysis of the differences between the interests of the class on top and of the rest of the people. Recently Mathrubhumi, a famous weekly in Malayalam published one article of K.N. Panikkar, Contemporary relevance of Kosambi. 112 In this essay he is trying to misrepresent Kosambi as a Culturalist. In his essay he argued that Kosambi by interpreting the myths and cultural things of India, he tried to understand nature of means and relations of production. So, according to him Kosambi reciprocated basesuperstructure theory as superstructure-base theory. attributing his somersault upon Kosambis head. Here what he is doing is

He never considers Kosambis

appeal for combined methods, archaeology, field study to get materials etc. to form the superstructure of the societies. Let us examine Kosambis words.
archaeology alone, Kosambi said, can supply any reliable data for the study of ancient cultures, particularly those that have left no contemporary, legible, written

110 111

Ibid., pp. 117-118. RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect, Op. cit., p. 90. 112 K.N.PANIKKAR, Kosambiyude Samakalika Prasakthi, Mathrubhumi, February 22-30, 2009.

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records. It is a completely materialistic approach, for it tells more than any other methods as yet at our disposal about the tools of production utilized by many sections of mankind in the remote past, historical or prehistoric. Ancient written sources are to be trusted in direct proportion to their concordance with archaeological evidence. 113

If Panikkar gives ear to these words he would not have argued in such a way.

Anti-deterministic and Anti-Mechanical approach

Kosambi never considered Marxism as an Economic determinism. He was always against deterministic theory. According to him Marxism is far from

economic determinism which its opponents so often take it to be. For that matter, any intelligent determinist must discuss conditions rather than causes and take full cognizance of the course of historical development 114 He was a strong Marxist scholar who always oppose those who called it as economic determinism. With the bold stand point of Marxism dialectics he said that;
Economic determinism will not do. It is not inevitable, nor even true, that a given amount of wealth will lead to a given type of development. The complete historical process through which the social form has been reached is also of prime importance If the superstructure cannot be adjusted during growth, then there is eventual conflict. Sometime the old form is broken by a revolution in the guise of a reformation. Sometimes the class that gains by preserving the older form wins, in which case there is stagnation, degeneracy or atrophy. The early maturity and peculiar helplessness of Indian society against later foreign invasion bears testimony to this general scheme. 115

113 114

D.D. KOSAMBI, Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture, Op. cit., p. 786. D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. 10. 115 D.D. KOSAMBI, Culture and Civilization, Op. cit., p. 12.

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Kosambi did not adherence with the mechanical application of Marxism anywhere. He never admit the four stage schema of socio-economic formations of Europe (Primitive Communism, Slavery, Feudal and Capitalism)in Indian soil, that is not a mathematical point but a very large country, a subcontinent with utmost diversity of natural environment, language, historical course of development. 116 According to him the adoption of Marxs thesis does not mean blind repetition of all his conclusions at all times. 117 For doing this blind repetition of Marxism, he not only not admit official Marxists but also severely criticized them. He called them as OM. He said that;
From the opposite direction, the Indian Official Marxists (thereafter called OM) have not failed to manifest their displeasure with an interlopers views. These from a mixed category, indescribable because of rapidly shifting views and even more rapid political permutations and combinations. The OM has too often consisted of theological emphasis on the inviolable sanctity of the current party line, or irrelevant quotations from the classics. 118

According to him Marxism is nothing but tool of analysis and not substitute of our thinking. 119 The best examples are that his view on Asiatic Mode of Production (AMoP), on Dankes Slavery system, and on D.A. Suleikins Chronology of India.

116

D.D. KOSAMBI, On a Marxist Approach to Indian Chronology, in Combined Methods, Op. cit., pp. 47-50. 117 D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. 10. 118 D.D. KOSAMBI, Exasperating Essays, Op. cit., p. 4. 119 D.D. KOSAMBI, Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture, Op. cit., p. 789.

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Oriental despotism is one of the ingredient features of Asiatic Mode of Production (AMoP) that was firstly used by Karl Marx. According to Marx, The Asiatic, the ancient, the feudal and the modern bourgeois modes of production designated as progressive epochs of the socio-economic orders. 120 In addition to Oriental despotism, Agrarian Village communities based on water irrigation are another characteristic feature of Asiatic mode. This society is unchangeable. For getting clear picture above this AMoP we can quote Marxs Capital.
Those small and extremely ancient Indian (village) 121 communities, some of which have continued down to this day, are based on possession in common land, on the blending of agriculture and handicrafts, and on an unalterable division of labour, which serves, whenever a new community is started, as a plan and scheme ready cut and dried. Occupying areas of from 100 up to several thousand acres, each forms a compact whole producing all it requires. The chief part of the products is destined for direct use by the community itself, and does not take the form of a commodity. Hence, production here is independent of that division of labour brought about, in Indian Society as a whole, by means of exchange of commodities. The simplicity of the organization for production in these self-sufficing communities that constantly reproduce themselves in the same form, and when accidentally destroyed, spring up again on the spot and win the same name, this simplicity supplies the key to the secrete of the unchangeableness of Asiatic Societies, an unchangeableness in stricking contrast with the constant dissolution and refounding of Asiatic states, and the never-ceasing changes of dynasty. The structure of

120 121

KARL MARX, Critique of Political Economy, Op. cit., p. 4. Kosambi adds the term village by carefully reading Marx. See, D.D.KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. 11.

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the economic elements of society remains untouched by the storm-clouds of the political sky. 122

Again Marx explained that;

Oriental Despotism therefore with its apparent legal absence of property is in fact. based on tribal or communal property in most cases created through a combination of manufacture and agriculture within the small community, which thus becomes entirely self-sustaining and contains within itself all conditions of reproduction and surplus labour belongs to the higher community 123

From these words of Marx we can clearly assumes ins and outs of AMoP. But most of the historians both bourgeois and Marxist dismissed Marxs AMoP. According to Romila Thapar, Marx, despite his concern for dialectical movement, was not averse to the idea with its emphasis on a static society and an absence of change, and worked the theory into his mode for Asian Societythat of the Asiatic Mode of Production. 124 R.S. Sharma identifies AMoP with feudalism. 125 Irfan Habib theorizes AMoP and called it as State-Landlordism. 126 What stand was taken by Kosambi in this issue reflects his correct position of Marxist ideology. According to him acute and brilliant as these remarks [of Marx]

KARL MARX, Capital, Vol. I, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977, pp. 337-339. Emphasis added. 123 KARL MARX and FREDERICK ENGELS, Pre-Capitalist Socio-Economic Formations, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1979, p. 87. 124 ROMILA THAPAR, Ideology and Interpretation of Early Indian History, History & Beyond, Op. cit., pp. 6-7. 125 R.S.SHARMA, Indian Feudalism, Orient Logman. 126 IRFAN HABIB, Marx Perception of India, the Marxist, Vol. 1, July-September. 1983, pp. 92-193.

122

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are, they remain misleading nevertheless. 127 He again said that the villages did not exist from times immemorial. 128 As far as Kosambi is concerned, what was Marx himself said about India cannot be taken as its stands. 129 But at the same time he accepted a special kind of Asiatic Mode which was reaching over several stages (at least, the term is applicable to India) when he analyze the caste system in India. 130 By using the term oriental despotism, Karl A. Wittfogel started to abuse Soviet Socialist System. According to him, communism is the most dangerous form of Oriental despotism and total power. 131 He again said that the history of hydraulic society suggests that the class struggle, far from being a chronic disease of all mankind, is the luxury of multicentered and open societies. 132 But clearly Kosambi answer Wittfogel in his article The basis of Despotism. He said that Oriental despotism, as if it were plague or cholera, succeeded in infecting Rome without benefit of hydraulics. 133 He not only brought all aspect of Oriental despotism but also defended Soviet Socialism in this debate. S.A. Dange, one of the former secretaries of undivided CPI who was also criticized within the party for his right deviation and revisionism or renegacy towards Marxism, published his India from Primitive Communism to Slavery in 1949. In this book Dange was trying to explain Indias ancient past in its transition from primitive communism to slavery by following the footpath of European Social development.
127 128

D.D.KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. 11. Ibid. 129 Ibid. 130 D.D.KOSAMBI, Stages of Indian History, Combined Methods, Op. cit., p. 59. 131 D.D.KOSAMBI, The Basis of Despotism, Combined Methods, Ibid., p. 798. 132 Ibid., p.800. 133 Ibid., p. 797.

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Kosambi cannot tolerate with Danges Facile pseudo-Marxism 134 that shows the extent of his tolerance towards mechanical application of Marxism. 135 He, thus, made a scathing review of this painfully disappointing book because of the fact that to let such a performance go unchallenged would bring Marxism into disrepute. 136 According to him India never had a slave-holding economy in the same sense as Greece and Rome. 137 He reiterates the same in his criticism of Suleikin that the Indian method for expropriation of a whole class of labour made no use of slavery. 138 He sees only chattel slavery that can never have had any significant role in Indian production. He also did a linguistic analysis on the same subject. On that basis the word dasa does not include the meaning of slave which is derived from the low Latin sclavus that denotes a particular people from whom a large number of slaves were recruited. But dasa in Rigvedic times means a set of tribes hostile to and generally beaten by the Aryans. 139

COMBINED METHODS
Kosambi considered sources as the primary thing that can be seen throughout all his works. But in India, unlike other countries, historians face a big challenge of scarcity of sources. In order to face this situation Kosambi used combined methods to

Ibid., p. 788. RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect, Op. cit., p.91. 136 D.D. KOSAMBI, Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture, Op. cit., p. 784. 137 Kosambi argued the same in this review, and maintains this understanding in his all time. See also D.D.KOSAMBI, On a Marxist Approach to Indian Chronology, Op. cit., pp.51-56. 138 Ibid., p. 52. 139 Ibid., p. 54.
135

134

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explore the source for his studies. According to him combined methods means the linguistic study supplemented by intelligent use of archaeology, anthropology, sociology and a suitable historical perspective. This should be helped by a great deal of honest and competent field work. 140 In order to know his combined methods we have to start from field work. While Kosambis hermeneutics was based on almost entirely on Marxism and Historical materialism, his heuristics was based on ethnographic field work and particulars.
141

He consider field as his laboratory.

142

Pre-Kosambist paradigm

neglected field work. The paramount importance of field work in the study of Indian history seems 143 altogether to have escaped their attention. He explained field work as follows;
Such work in the field falls into three inter-related classes: archaeology, anthropology and philology. All three needs some preliminary knowledge of local conditions, the ability to master local dialects, and to gain the confidence of tribesmen as well as peaseants. 144

Such field work should be done with critical insight, taking nothing for granted, or on faith. 145 He advised that to avoid attitude of superiority, sentimental reformism or

140 141 142 143 144 145

D.D. KOSAMBI, Combined Methods, Op. cit., p.3. RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect:, Op. cit, p.91. Ibid. D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit, p.ix. Ibid. 51. Ibid., p.xi.

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spurious leadership which prevents most of us from learning anything except from bad textbooks. 146 How the field work can be performed is explained by him in the following words.
In all field work, it is necessary to develop a technique and critical method during the course of the investigation itself. Fitting observations into rigid preconceived modules is ruinous. The technique of asking the right questions in the proper way cannot be taught nor mastered except in the field. Whatever transport is used to reach any given locality, the actual field work can only be done on foot. 147

Actually using filed data is not a new thing while writing history. Almost all historians of ancient period must use the field study and field data. But all of them are not from the living being but from the non-living things or from the relics of dead bodies. According to him archaeology can provide some data, but in the study of field work the historian should get a great deal from the peasants. 148 For employing combined methods successfully, he suggests field archaeology in which the amount of digging is negligible, but the ground covered exclusive. 149 What he meant by field archaeology is that the archaeology with which field work in philology and social anthropology had to be combined. Archaeology in the field, thus, is distinguishing from the site archaeology of a dig. 150 At the same time he is reiterating the importance of

146 147 148

Ibid.

Ibid. RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect:, Op. cit, p.92. 149 D.D Kosambi, Introduction, Op. cit, p.ix. 150 RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect:, Op. cit., p. 92.

45

archaeology. According to him only primary archaeological work can help us to evaluate the content, to fix the meaning of our written sources. 151
Archaeology, he said, alone can supply any reliable data for the study of ancient cultures, particularly those that have left no contemporary, legible, written records. It is a completely materialistic approach, for it tells more than any other method as yet at our disposal about the tools of production utilized by many sections of mankind in the remote past, historical or prehistoric. Ancient written sources are to be trusted in direct proportion to their concordance with archaeological evidence......
152

He also used ethnographical studies to enrich his primary sources. As far as Kosambi is concerned the technique of applying the definition in practice means not only the collation of the written record with archaeology, but the interpretation of each of these in conjunction with ethnographic data. 153 Even in the fully developed greens social clusters which mark all strata of a caste society as having developed at some older date from the absorption of tribal group. 154 If the careful study of these groups furnishes the real problem for explanation in the light of historical development. 155 He argued, for instance, that the change from aggregate of gentes to a society, which is the advances of agrarian village economy over tribal country, is the first great social revolution in India. This is still reflected in the endless ramifications of the extant caste system, where the caste names, endogamy, commensal taboo,

151 152 153 154 155

D.D. KOSAMBI, On a Marxist Approach to Indian Chronology, Op. cit., p.51. D.D. KOSAMBI, Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture, Op. cit. p.786. D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. 7. Ibid. Ibid., pp.7-8.

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exogamous steps observed in practice (often with totemic names) and east sabha counsels are all off tribal origin. 156 This study was basically on the study of ethnographic survivals. His linguistic studies are the main sources for his reconstruction of Indias past. He has inherited with thorough knowledge is Sanskrit. Not only was he master in Marathi, English and Sanskrit but also in Pali, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Russian. 157 He had fully utilized his knowledge in different language in analyzing the literary records. He believed that so far as annals, king lists, chronicles, dates of important battles,, biographies of rulers and cultural figures go, there is no Indian history worth reading. 158 His approach to the study of literary texts, therefore, was analytical and critical. 159 Kosambis analysis and criticism of literary work was informed by his commitment to a social and political ideology rooted in Marxism. In his view, therefore, literature like (other) sciences should be understood as a function of the age in which it is product. 160 He mixed up his class analysis with the literary analysis. The best example of this is his analysis of the Quality of Renunciation of Bhartrharis poetry. He tells us that, the great poet in a class society must not only express the position and aspirations of an important class, but must also transcend the class
D.D. KOSAMBI, The Basis of Ancient Indian History (I), in Combined Methods Op. cit., p. 308, and also see Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 75, No.1, Jan-Mar, 1955, p. 35. 157 BRAJADULAL CHATTOPADHYAYA, (ed)., Combined Methods, Op. cit., p. xiv.
158 159 156

D.D. KOSAMBI, Cultural and civilization, Op. cit., p.23. RAJAN GURUKKAL, The Kosambi Effect:, Op. cit., p.94. 160 D.N. JHA, Damodar Darmanand Kosambi, A Scholar Extraordinaire, Op. cit., p.7.

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barriers, whether explicitly or implicity. 161 According to him Bhartrhari is a poet of his class but he is not a poet of people. 162 Kosambis stress on the class character of Sanskrit literature is also evident from his introduction to the Subhasitaratnakosa. 163 Filed work that is combined with social philology and social anthropology, field archaeology and site-archaeology and linguistic study collectively constitutes Kosambis combined methods to explore the primary sources for interpreting the past.

KOSAMBIST CHRONOLOGY OF INDIAN SOCIAL FORMATIONS

When this paper deals with anti-deterministic stand of Kosambism, the theological type of application of Marxism by the OM and some Marxist scholars have explained in detail. Euro-schematic style of chronology in India was subjected to severe criticism of Kosambi. He never admits such a mechanical periodization in India. According to him the historical periods must be demarcated according to the developments in means and relations of production, not by fortuitous changes of dynasty or battles but it can be recognized that major wars, great changes in rulers, significant religious upheavals do often signalize fundamental changes in the productive relations of the production. 164 Here we have to remember his definition of history as the chronological sequence of essential stages in the means and relations of human social production. 165 From this definition we can assume that he never negate the chronological presentation of history. But his was entirely different from that of the old that was the chronological presentation of reign and down fall of kings or
D.D. KOSAMBI, The Quality of Renunciation of Bhartrharis poetry, Exasperating Essays, Op. cit., p. 70. 162 Ibid. 163 D.N. JHA, Op. cit., p.8. 164 D.D. KOSAMBI, On A Marxist Approach to Indian Chronology, Op. cit p. 49.
165 161

D.D. KOSAMBI, Stages of Indian History in Combined Methods, op. cit., p. 58.

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dynasty. But what Kosambi gave importance is that the chronological presentation of development of modes of production. So what Kosambi set out in his An Introduction to the study of Indian History to do is that to draw the chronological developments in economic basis (the means and relations of production) and the changing beliefs, customs, and the culture (superstructure) and their mutual relationship. 166

Kosambi outlined the main advances that had been happened in Indian history as follows: 1) The urban but stagnant and Indus Valley Culture (3000-1500 BC) which

left its mark on later technique, iconography and probably social institutions. 2) Aryanization, i.e. late bronze and early Iron Age pastoral-nomadic tribal

organization over the two-caste system, developing into four caste-classes by 800 BC. 3) Clearing and settlement of the heavily forested Gangetic alluvial basin

with sudra labor, mostly under Magadhan state enterprise (from 500 BC) ending in the first empire over the whole country by 250 BC. 4) A primitive feudalism where by the Peninsula was properly developed

for trade and agriculture (say the Satavahana period), but with far less production in cities. The emergence of private property, even in land, began earlier than AD 400, before the prime of Gupta Empire. 5) Pure feudalism, begin in the later Gupta period enormously stimulated

by Muslim trade and military penetration after AD 1200.

IRFAN HABIB, Kosambi, Marxism and Indian History in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, Op. cit., P. 86.

166

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6)

Modern capitalism, culminating in the rule of a new indigenous

bourgeoisie that came into being and share capital, under British colonial rule. 167 Thus he cast aside the conclusion of Leningrade discussions of the 1920, that the unilinear succession of modes of production, primitive communism-slaveryfeudalism-capitalism, should be followed in practically all countries. 168 So he totally rejected the slave mode of production in India. According to him India never had a slave- holding economy. 169 He argued that the term Asiatic occurring in Marxs passage in the preface to the Critique of Political Economy should be taken to cover a case like Indias and, for this reason, the term should be not be ignored, as had been done in Stalins interpretation of the passage. 170 He named primitive feudalism as Feudalism from Above and Pure feudalism as Feudalism from below. He explained that;
Feudalism from above means a state where in an emperor or powerful king levied tribute from subordinates who still ruled in their own right and did what they liked within their own territories -- as long as they paid the paramount ruler. These subordinate rulers might even be tribal chiefs, and seem in general to have ruled the land by direct administration, without the intermediary of a class which was in effect a land owning stratum. By feudalism from below is meant the next stage where a class of land-owners developed within the village, between the state and the peasantry, gradually to wield armed power over the local population. This class was subject to

167 168 169 170

D.D. KOSAMBI, Stages of Indian History, Op. cit., p.58. IRFAN HABIB, Kosambi, Marxism and Indian History, Op. cit., p. 86. Ibid.; and also see D.D. KOSAMBI, Stages of Indian History, IRFAN HABIB, Kosambi, Marxism and Indian History, Op. cit., p. 86.

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military service, hence claimed a direct relationship with the state power, without the intervention of any other stratum. 171

He also said that in both stages remnants of previous systems survived down to the primitive food-gathering tribe. 172 According to him the basic difference between these two stages derives the great increase in number of village communities. 173 On the question of Muslim conquest and rule in India, he said that, the complete feudal system once set up spread rapidly in to territory not conquered by Muslims, which again demonstrates that society was ripe for it. 174 Kosambi argued for a feudal period of Indian history dating its start to the later half of the first millennium AD and continuing with variations into recent ceturies. 175 The question of whether or not there was an Indian version of feudalism has been debated for some years. 176 Kosambi argued that the Indian version did not conform to European feudalism since, among the features of difference there was an absence of demesne-farming on a substantial scale on the land of the vassal those compulsorily made to labor. 177 R.S. Sharma the famous historian of early medieval India, does not accept Kosambis later feudalism, feudalism from below: He said that I do not

171 172

D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., pp.295 - 405. Ibid., p. 296. 173 Ibid.
174 175

D.D. KOSAMBI, Stages of Indian History, Op. cit., p.70. ROMILA THAPAR, Early Indian History and the Ligancy of D.D. Kosambi in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, Op. cit., P.49. 176 Ibid. 177 D.D. KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p. 326.

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consider Kosambis theory of feudalism from below...We may look for feudalism from below not only in the later stage as Kosambi does but also in the initial stage. 178 From these understandings of Kosambi on Indian chronology we can clearly draw his materialistic un-deterministic approach on Indian chronology. Thus he always opposed the scissors and paste 179 method.

His understanding of present day mode of production is that of capitalist in nature. According to the present ruling class is capitalist class. This understanding is a big challenge to the official Marxist parties in India, which believe Indias ruling class as a mixture of capitalist class and feudal lords. That is so why they are proposing Peoples Democratic revolution. 180 According to Kosambi feudalism has declined in India. Their last struggle for existence was the war of 1857. 181 Kosambi said that the class that rules India today, the Paramount power, is Indian bourgeoisie. This class has some peculiar characters, due primarily to the course of history. The Indian bourgeoisie is technically backward. Its production (and mentality) is overwhelmingly that of a petty- bourgeoisie as yet. 182 Kosambi said this around half a century back. Nowadays, the Indian capitalist system has been developed into Imperialist-Capitalist system that can export capital abroad. In India there can not

R.S. SHARMA, Early Medieval Indian Society - A study in Feudalism, Orient Logman Ltd, 2001, Calcutta, 2001, p.8. 179 D.D. KOSAMBI, Stages of Indian History, Op. cit., p.71. 180 BASAVA PUNNAYYA, On Party Program, (Mal. Trans.) published by Communist Party of India (Marxist), State Committee, 1989. 181 D.D. KOSAMBI, On The Class Structure of India, Exasperating Essays, Op. cit. see http://www.geocities.com/dialecticalmethod/class.html 182 D.D, KOSAMBI, Introduction, Op. cit., p.xiii.

178

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been seen the feudalism except in feudal behavior of Rural Bourgeoisie. But the revolutionary Strategy of these communist parties remains peoples democratic in nature!!!

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CHAPTER 3

PROBLEMS, ISSUES AND PROSPECTS OF KERALA HISTORIOGRAPHY AND KOSAMBIST PARADIGM

KERALA IS an extreme southern state of Indian Subcontinent. She has her own features as compared with other regions. Mainly Physiographic features of Kerala, today get the world attention so that the governments of Kerala are rushing to change Kerala as a world tourist centre. She had a short history as compared with the other regions like Tamilakam or North India, since this small linguistic geographical area had emerged recently. Historical writings on this small geographical region have been started recently. Here also a modern approach in history writing has been appeared from the advent of European particularly of the English. 183 British colonial power established history as a separate discipline and a mode of enquiry 184 in Kerala. From that period several attempts have been made to write history of Kerala with a modern approach both macro and micro level. 185 But very little attempts have been made to evaluate these

K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends in Prospectives on Kerala History, Kerala Gazetteers, Govt. of Kerala, 1999, p. 13. 184 Ibid. 185 The forms micro histories and micro histories have beautifully explained by K.N. Panikkar, see K.N. PANIKKAR, In Defence of Old History in Economic and political Weekly, Vol. 29, No. 40, Oct.1, 1994, p.2595.

183

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attempts of historical writing and to discuss the trends in historiography. According to Dr. K.N. Ganesh this may due to a sense of complacency that has prevailed among the historians themselves on the importance of analyzing critically their own antecedents, the trends that have given shape to their own vision and method. 186 If such attempts have been done, they are mainly aiming at only to extolling or debunking 187 the hitherto historical writings rather than evaluating them. This pathetic situation has resulted in the absence of an objective and critical value judgment of the historical studies done in the past. Since the entry of K.P. Padmanabha Menon in writing history, Rankeyan methodology has been mainly used to write history of Kerala. Value judgments and opinions formed by historians from that time, on the basis of the available evidence and the accepted methods of historical enquiry prevalent at the time of their study, have been paraded as facts. Such facts have contributed to the popular conceptions about Keralas past. 188

HISTORICAL WRITINGS OF KERALA THROUGH DIFFERENT PHASES

History is not grandmas tales that invariable started with the days of a king of long, long ago. 189 History is a specialized knowledge about the past. It is a social science. Just as other social science it is now concerned about the development of human social life according to the development of Mode of Production.

186 187

K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.1. Ibid. 188 Ibid. 189 RAJAN GURUKKAL and M.R. RAGHAVA VARIER, (eds)., Cultural History of Kerala, Vol.1, Dept. of Cultural publications, Govt. of Kerala, 1999, p.xv.

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History is, E.M.S Namboodiripad said, a science that is at embryonic stage.... (It has) another feature, that is to be emphasized, is that it is a science that reflects the class view of the researcher. This may, thus, act as a strong weapon that is used for maintaining and preserving the interests of ruling class or classes. 190

That is so why an impartial or unbiased history is only a daydream. Nowadays this materialistic approach on Kerala part has been much widely used after E.M.S. who launched Marxist methodology in history writing. Up to then and after that Kerala Historiography had passed and is passing through different stages.

Pre -modern Phase.

Earlier period of Kerala remains only a certain records. Athulas Mushaka

Vamsa which belongs to the Kavya tradition 191 is one of the rare historical works of that period. It was prepared by Athula in the 11th Century AD. Athula was a court poet of Mushaka (Elimala in Northern Kerala) ruler Srikantha. 192 This poem has to be noted that the commonly accepted first historical chronicle of India, since Kalhanas Rajatarangini was dated 12th century AD only. According to K.N. Ganesh, this poem is structurally similar to Raghuvamsa by Kalidasa, but in the presentation of historical detail, the poem is similar to Rajatarangini. The work is a blend of legends and facts. The author relays upon legends and traditions for recording the early history of Mushaka Kingdom. Athula relates the

E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Keralam Malayalikalude Mathrubhoomi (Kerala, the Mother land of Malayalies) (Mal.) in Collected Works, Vol.9, Chintha Publications, Thriuvananthapuram, 2000, p.24. 191 T.K. GANGADHARAN, Evolution of Kerala History & Culture, Calicut University, p.2. 192 K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.1.

190

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origin of the dynasty with a traditional myth. 193 The actual important of Mushaka Vamsa in farming the tradition of historical writing in Kerala has yet to be fully analyzed. This poem stands almost alone, as there has not been any evidence for a similar composition on the Perumals or any other Naduvazhis. This poem was prepared on the basis of his own observation and interpretation. This is the chief work which gives an account of the penetration of Cera Kingdom over Elimala. 194 Medieval accounts of Kerala, both indigenous and foreign, incorporated the accounts of the past also. More systematic work in this respect began from the 16th century. 195 A Christian priest named Joseph Kattanar, from Kodungallur give an amount of Kerala for the benifit of his European audience in 16th century. Another account is Tuhfat-ul-Mujahidin, an appeal to the Muslim world to organize jehad against the Portuguese intruders. 196 This was written by Shaikh Zainnuddin of Ponnani in 1583. 197 During the beginning of the 17th century another Portuguese priest, Diogo Gonsalves wrote Historia Da Malabar. 198 Here a question will arise as to whether these accounts can be called on histories. In the modern sense of the term they are not histories since they were not concerned with a rigorous examination of the past of Kerala. 199 They were mainly

193 194

T.K. GANGADHARAN, Op.cit., p.2. K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.2. 195 Ibid. 196 M.G.S NARAYANAN, Historiography of Kerala: Some important Issues, Op. cit., p.192. 197 K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.2. 198 Ibid. 199 Ibid.

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the descriptions of the conditions of Kerala at the time of their writing and the period immediately preceding it, with references to the distant past limited to broad allusions. Now we have to examine the features of Kattanars and Zainuddins works. Joseph Kattanar explained the history and customs of Kerala Christians in terms of the history and customs Prevalent in the Land. 200 Zainuddin shows how the Muslim community was incorporated into socio cultural milieu present in Kerala and shows how the Portuguese were trying to break their milieu in order to spread their religion and customs. 201 Zainuddin saw history as a background for the on going struggle, and his own commitment determined his outlook towards history. 202 However, Historical writings on the basis of oral tradition and written information had begun to take shape during the period from 16th to 18th centuries. Brahmanas started to compile this oral tradition as Kerlolpathi that have appeared in various places. 203 Vatakkam Pattukal, ChengannurAdi etc started to appear. Despite all these, the various versions of the Keralolpatti show remarkable consistency in some of the details, viz. Brahmana Grama, role of Perumals, and the origin of the Naduvazhi chiefs. Comparative studies on Keralolpatti and their correlation with available evidence show that the oral tradition of the Keralolpatti was based on a

200 201

T.K. GANGADHARAN, Op.cit., p.3 Ibid., p.4 202 K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.3. 203 Ibid, pp.4-5.

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strong foundation of facts. 204 Works on the non-brahminical tradition might also show a similar basis. 205 Other important documents are Granthavaris. These are maintained by the ruling families and temples. These are the great documents that provide ample historical data. The Kshetrakaryam Curuna and Rajyakaryam Curuna maintained in Padmanabha temple, Thiruvananthapuram are excellent records of events. The chronicler was not only recording the events in relation to the temple but also recording political events that took place in the contemporary period and the recent past. 206

Colonial phase.
The first effort of writing history can be seen in Vaikkathu Pachu Moothathu.

Mooththus Tiruvitamkur Caritram (History of Travancore), 1867 was prepared on the basis of oral tradition and Granthavaris. 207 But this work could not proceed beyond an arrangement of legends and facts. 208 A transition had been done in the colonial period i.e. a transition from historical writing of this type to writings on the basis of authentic source materials and analysis. 209 In the initial stage Kerala was totally avoided from the historical writing by the English colonial powers. Actually the Indian historical writing had been, in the
Ibid. E.M.S NAMBOODIRIPAD, Kerala Charithravum Samskaravum: Oru Marxist Veekshanam (History and culture of Kerala: A marxist perspective) (mal.), Chinta Publishers, 2008, p.44. 206 T.K. GANGADHARAN, Op. cit., p.5. 207 Ibid., p.7. 208 K.N. GANESH, Op. cit, P.6. 209 M.E. MANICKAVASAGOM, Sources for the Study of Early History of Kerala in Issues in Kerala Historiography, Op. cit., p.37.
205 204

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modern sense, started by them. James Mill, Vinsent Smith etc. wrote about India with their colonial perspective. The liberal tradition that encouraged James mill to write his History of India could not be said to have influenced the majority of British administers. 210 The British came to India as conquerors and in order to strengthen their conquest they had to study Indias past and culture. 211 This was particularly important in revenue administration where the traditional land system had to be studied. Actually this function had been fulfilled by Orientialists. As far as Kerala is concerned this efforts was absent except some of the attempts. This initial effort is clearly visible in the studies Buchanan, word & Cornner. Another feature of this study was the study of immediate past. None of these efforts comprised a history. They are nothing more than collection of oral evidence and the examination of contemporary records. 212 This situation continued till the end of 19th century.P. Shangoony Menons History of Travancore (1878) formed was the earliest endeavor for writing a complete historical account on Travancore. 213 He was an employee of the King of Travancore. He started his official career as a clerk and reached up to the level of the acting Diwan of Travancore. By enjoying the highest position in the court Menon had access to all official records and personal contacts with the King. He could use all the available

210 211

K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.6. ROMILA THAPAR, The penguin History of Early India, Op. cit., pp.1-12. 212 M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Op. cit., p.194. 213 D. DANIEL, Historical Research in Modern Kerala - problems and scope in Issues in Kerala Historiography, Op. cit, p.147.

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sources for writing book. 214 He was also encouraged in to this enterprise by the then ruler of Tiruvitamkur. 215 Menons approach and treatment of historical source appeared more from the point of view of Kings and their genealogies, their accessions and death. His method was history from above as against the recent trend of history from below. 216 As a conservative and obscurantist, he could not tolerate the changing trend among the people on account of western influence. He advocated the continuity of a stagnant social system to continue for the convenience and benefit of the higher castes and was out rightly against any moral, physical or physiological growth of the oppressed communities. He also opposed rights of Shannar women to wear upper cloths. 217 A more analytical use of history was in fact, made by a British administrator historian, William Logan. Logan in his Malabar Manual that was published in 1887 attempted to present a detailed historical account of the Malabar district. 218 The differences in method from Shangoonny Menons account are clear from this work. First, he was able to see the distinct features of Megalithic burials and their importance in reconstructing the very ancient past. Second, he was able to distinguish between traditional history and history from other sources, whereby a definite effort was made to separate the oral and legendary information from the information being gathered from the new evidence, i.e. inscriptions, monuments, coins etc. Third, he was

214 215

T.K. GANGADHARAN, Op. cit., p.7. K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.7. 216 D. DANIEL, Op. cit., p.148. 217 Ibid. 218 C.K. KAREEM, Kerala Historiography in Issues in Kerala Historiography, Op. cit., p.203.

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able to the some extent possible to eliminate the incorporation of unsubstantiated oral tradition in to the history of the period for which more definite evidence is available as in his treatment of history from the Portuguese period. 219 However, both Logan and Menon were primarily administrators, and their commitment to history was in so far as it served their administrative needs. 220 In this period the inscriptional study has got much attention. The historians understood that this study would be able to throw light on the early period of Kerala history which was a mixture of legend and fact. Such an exercise was undertaken by P. Sundaram Pillai, a Tamil poet and scholar in the heterodox tradition 221 who studied the available inscriptions with reference to Tiruvitamkur rulers. His series of articles under the title of the Early Sovereigns of Travancore 222 brought to light not only political details but also interesting aspects of society and culture. V. Nagam Aiya, incorporated the studies of Sundaram Pillai into his Travancore State Manual. A path-breaking approach was inaugurated by K.P. Padmanabha Menon, son of Shangoonny Menon, when he wrote his Malayalam work Kochirajya Caritram. 223 He was a lawyer by profession. He was imbibed with the spirit of modern research and chalked out a new line. He devoted almost a whole life time for collecting materials for a History of Kerala. He followed the example of Logan instead of his own father, in attempting critical examination. 224 However, Menon was unable to make the best

219 220

K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.9. Ibid. 221 Ibid 222 T.K. GANGADHARAN, Op. cit., p.6. 223 K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.10. 224 M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Op. cit., p.193.

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use of inscriptional and other forms of evidence in order to throw light on the antecedents and origins of the kingdom of kochi. Hence although he was not constrained by the value judgments of his predecessors Menon was unable to achieve anything more than a systematic presentation of the available information mainly form secondary sources. 225 The archaeological tradition had been appeared just after Padmanabha Menon. Several enthusiasts like K.R. Pisharady, V.K.R Menon, V.N.D Nambiar and Anujan Achan were collecting inscriptional evidence. Anujan achan was mainly concentrating on the archaeological excavations around Kodungallur. They published their finding in the Rama Varma Research Institute Bulletin. The period after the European arrival also aroused considerable interest particularly in the wake of the existing reality of colonial yoke and growing sentiments against it. Thus narrative histories were composed on the Portuguese and Dutch periods by K.M. Panikar, and later by O.K. Nambiar. They have the nationalistic colour more emphasis. Their Picturaisation of Kunjali was as nationalist leader. 226

Post-Colonial Phase 227

The chief contribution of colonialism to historiography was the establishment

of history as a separate discipline and mode of enquiry. In post-colonial period the researches have been accumulated. Even though this facilitated to possible not only to
K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., 10-11. Ibid, p.12. 227 Here the term post-colonial is not used in the sense of post colonialism, a contemporary theory that inaugurated by Fanon. But here it is used only in the sense of after independence.
226 225

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develop a non traditional framework of Kerala history but also analyze and interpret the traditional framework in the light of new evidences. But that was not happened but the search for such a framework continued to be elusive. 228 This crisis has several reasons. The first is the institutional reason. History taught in colleges was basically construed in the colonial mould and failed to change with the needs of the post independence era. History as a presentation of accumulated facts and as a presentation of political changes as a parade was preferred. Even the History of Kerala as a subject has been started to teach in the academic institutions only very recently. However, the efforts at explanation of historical evidence were growing among those working out side the institutional framework. 229 These efforts can be divided into two. One is done by those who were active in various social protest movements, who attempted an enquiry into the historical forces that laid the basis of their contemporary position in society. Thus several caste histories were constructed on Nayars, Nambutiries, Izhavan etc. These historians had no understanding of the historical method nor had any access to sources. 230 Pracheena Malayalam by Chattambi Swamikal was a best to this tradition this own an attempte to write a historical account of the Nairs. N.R. Krishnans Izhavar Annum Innum, the articles by C.V. Kunjuraman, etc. are examples. Another trend was the effort at historical analysis by those influenced by progressive and socialist ideas who tried to use the tool of Materialistic conception of

228 229

K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.13. D. DANIEL, Op. cit., pp.149-150. 230 K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.13.

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History or Historical Materialism. 231 Writings of E.M.S Namboodiripad on Kerala History and K. Damodarms unfinished Kerala Caritham are the best examples of this trend. Beyond these trends even though without a correct framework some attempts are there. Such an effort has brought by a professor of Malyalam, Prof. P.N. Elamkulam Kunhan Pillai. 232 Elamkulam was one of the first to scientifically analyze the accumulating inscriptional evidence and realize the significance of the megalithic burials in terms of social and political history. 233

PROBLEMS AND ISSUES IN KERALA HISTORIOGRAPHY

E.H. Carr said that the function of the historians is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present. Great history is written precisely when the historians vision of the part is illuminated by insight into problems of the present.... to learn about the present in the light of the part also means to learn about the past in the light of present. The function of history is to promote a profounder understanding of both part and present through the interaction between them. 234 Unfortunately, Kerala most of the historians belongs to the school which, E.H. Carr described, are to love the part or to emancipate themselves from the part. They are not ready to give up their

Ibid. M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Op. cit., p.195. 233 K. SADASIVAN, Problems and prospects of Historiography of with special Reference to the works of Ilamkulam P.N. Kunjan Pillai in Issues in Kerala Historiography, Op. cit., pp.218-229. 234 E.H. CARR, What is history, London, 1962, pp.20,31, 62 and 62.
232

231

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outmoded frame work of story telling mode. They are unable to base their understandings of history on Materialism. Some of the turn has been appeared that will be explained later. In addition to this Kerala historiography is facing several enumerated as follows.

Problem of security of evidence

Facts are essential ingredient of writing history. Without facts or evidences,

historians can nothing to explain. Since the Berlin Revolution of Ranke, the primary sources have been started to be depended for constructing history. All historians every where in the world are facing the challenges of scarcity of facts. This is a big block in the way of historians. As far as Kerala is concerned, the scarcity of evidence is a big problem. 235 The researches in the auxiliary disciplines have been going on and helping history several ways. Even though, this problem is remaining unsettled. 236 Beside this E.M.S has also seen another problem-the veracity of the available evidences. He said, the historical sources, i.e., epigraphs, copper plates, letters, notes etc were prepared by the rulers are their officials. Their aim was not to tell truth but to eulogize their masters Kerala historians can perform his duty only through creep into the flatteries, starting from the theory that Kerala was created by Parasurama to the theory of the English that up to their advent the natives were uncivilized and barbarians. 237

235 236

E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Keralam Malayalikaludie Mathrubhumi Op. cit., p.66. M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Op. cit., p.197. 237 E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Keralam Malayalikaludie Mathrubhumi Op. cit., pp.67-68.

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The trend that dominated the historiography of Kerala until recently is the collection and interpretation of individual source material. This meant that collection and preservation of sources that did not immediately attract the interest of the historian tended to be ignored. Collection of sources became the major casualty when histories revolved around personalities, as a large number of documents including land deeds, family documents, etc might not mention them. This also applied to inscriptions and archaeological evidence. After the spurt of activity in the beginning of the 20th century, interest or expertise in the study of archaeological evidence or inscriptions also waned. Research work in Archaeology and Epigraphy and actual works of collecting new evidence was restricted to the individual enthusiasts. This was started by the Department of Archaeology in British India and the native states. 238 But after that it became statement.

Lack of Method
The second major problem is the problem of Method. The traditional frame-

work has been done during the post-independence period, but an effective method and frame work for the study of history has not been developed. 239 This has been partly the result of the emphasis on facts and the text book approach. However, debates have been taking place on this problem at different levels, using different parameters. 240 How historian can approach the past for getting most accurate history? In what way

238 239

M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Op. cit., p.193-194. K.N. GANESH, Historiographical Trends, Op. cit., p.21. 240 Ibid.

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was the Kerala society feudal? What were the specific features that provided the commonality variations vis--vis the classical feudal model? How did the feudal agrarian order come into being? These questions are to be discussed with in this frame work. 241 Regarding these questions, two types of discussions are going on. The first such discussion is basically on how to interpret the available evidence on pre-modern Kerala. The second is relating to the question of applying various formulations on the available evidences.

Problem of Institutional Framework

The forth problem is on Institutional framework. Historical methodology based

on analytical and critical study, which has been a result of active discourse, is allergy to our academic circle. They are comfort with the stereotypical patterns, ossified models. K.N. Ganesh criticized them that the institutional framework that existed at present, including Government departments, archives, archaeology, University departments, college level history teaching and the popular understanding of history, have been based on stereotypical patterns and ossified models. Active discourse does not exist there. Discussions and debates therefore get restricted to occasionally sponsored seminars and the post-dinner sections among a few enthusiasts. 242 So the

See preface of E.M.Ss Keralam Malayilkalude Mathrubhumi, E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Keralam Malayalikaludie Mathrubhumi Op. cit., pp 23-45; Kerala Charitravum Samskaravum, Op.cit,; and Kerala Charitram Marxist Veekshanathil, Chintha Publishers, Thiruvananthapuram, 1990, pp.1-82. 242 K.N. GANESH, Historical Trends, Op. cit., p.22.

241

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students of history in Kerala are forced to accept the outmoded institutional stereotypical framework. We have to note that the traditional oral-legendary framework is also prevailing here. Thus the myths regarding St. Thomas, Ayyappaswamy and Adi Sankara are also regarding on unquestionable truth. If any one student who attempts to question them he would be subjected to the wrath of the believer-revivalist.

Lack of correct Perspective

Historical outlook is very necessary since, history in essence, is the interpretation of the past made by historians. It must include the subjective thought. But the subject should be the reflection of the objective world. How such subjective thought can be a reflection of the concrete objective world so far as to history is dealing with the matters what was happened has been a big challenging question before the historians for a long period. If we show any type of negligence towards this question, it would be more dangerous that will bring several adverse effects what we are witnessing in the present day. Moreover history is peculiar science that reflects the point of view of a particular class or group with which they are associated 243 because we are living in a society where definite forms of classes exist. Class-struggle, thus, as a living reality will reflects in the thoughts of each individual. The historian is not an exception to this principle. So there are bourgeois and Marxist historiography 244 whose struggles are

243

E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Some Problems of Indian History, in social Scientist, Vol. 3, No. 9, Apr., 1975, p.14. see also Keralam Malayalikalude Mathrubhoomi, Op. cit., p.24. 244 ERNST NOLTE, Op. cit., pp57-73.

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irreconcilable. In India we can see Marxist (and not pseudo-Marxist) historians like D.D. Kosambi, Irfan Habib, R.S. Sharma etc. who are successfully combating not only bourgeois historians but also extreme bourgeois nationalistic historians called as communalistic historians. The latter two are idealistic in nature where as the former is materialistic in nature. In Kerala there is a lack of strong Marxist stream though it was started by certain Communists. Even the historians who claimed to be Marxists are very strongly influenced by the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois interests. In order to become more unbiased and objective they are giving up Marxist method, working class perspective and undertaking the heavily responsibilities of Culturalist theories, postStructuralist theories or of the post-modern and post-Marxist theories. This standless standpoint is one of the chief problems of Kerala Historiography.

KOSAMBIST PARADIGM AND KERALA HISTORIOGRAPHY

Now we reached one of the main themes of the present study. This study has defined Kosambism as the system of Kosambis Views, method and teachings. It has a far reaching applicability. As a development of the Materialistic Conception of History, Kosambism has got universality. It can use to define and interpret the historical phenomena both as macro and micro level. Marxist historiography had been, here in Kerala, firstly appeared through the writings of E.M.S. He himself declared that, his was the pioneer effort to interpret Keralas past in the light of Materialistic

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Conception of History. 245 He said that whatever may be limitations and weaknesses in its approach Keralam was the first attempt to examine Keralas ancient past in the light of Marxist perspective. 246 He also interprets Keralas first class society as castjanmi-loard system. 247 This conclusion itself is evident that he never blindly applied the Euro-schematic level of social development in India particularly in Kerala. In perspective level he fully depends on Marxism i.e. Historical Materialism. According to him historians other than those guided by the theory of Historical Materialism are handicapped by the fact that they does not see the history of human society as one of mans struggle against nature in the course which he enters into mutual relations with other members of society. Nor do they perceive that these mutual relations become what are known as relations of conflict between the exploiting and exploited class. 248 He also tried to draw historical outline as the developments of modes of production. Like Kosambi he used his knowledge of Sanskrit and on that basis he made some linguistic studies. So we can see Kosambist elements firstly in E.M.S.s works. This proves the scope of Kosambist paradigm in interpreting Kerala History. Though E.M.S. made greater contributions in this respect, most of the historians criticized his dependency on the secondary sources. 249 According to M.G.S Narayanan, however, E.M.S. Namboodiripad possessed no knowledge of epigraphic
E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Keralam Malayalikalude Mathrubhoomi, Op. cit., p.23. Ibid. 247 E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Keralam Malayalikalude Mathrubhoomi, Op. cit.; Kerala Charithram Marxist veekshanathil, Chintha Publishers, Thiruvananthapuram, 1980; and National Question if Kerala, Vol. 11, Chintha Publishers, Thiruvananthapuram, 2000, pp.113-363. 248 .M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD, Some Problems of Indian History, Op. cit. p.14. 249 K.N. GANESH, Historical Trends, Op. cit.; and M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Op. cit., p199200.
246 245

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or literary material, claimed that he was looking at the development of feudalism in Kerala in the light of Marxist theory, without reference to known sources. 250 Here M.G.S. noted one of the great defects of Namboodiripad. But his further evaluation on E.M.S. reflects his total allergy to Marxist historiography. He with his hypertension towards Marxism called E.M.S.s evaluation as the mockery of Marxism, retrogressive movement in the field of historical writing in Kerala etc. 251 This criticism does not reflect truth. M.G.S.s recent stand towards the text book issue when an amendment in the school level history text books in Kerala was undertaken by left-government reflects his retrogressiveness. He suddenly jumped in to the camp made by congress with all communal forces. After E.M.S Marxist trend in history writing of Kerala become limited. But entry of new historians like K.N. Ganesh, M.R. Raghava Varier, Rajan Gurukkal, Kesavan Veluthat, etc.with a Marxist framework also developed this stream of thought. Under the general editorship of Rajan Gurukkal and M.R. Raghava Varier, department of Cultural Publications brought out Cultural History of Kerala Vol. I 252. This was a great step. Though they prefer multiple perspectives in the preface of this book, it tries to conceptualize Keralas culture with the analysis of material sources. So with the defect of perspective, the book has a merit of source-analysis and also maintaining materialism (that materialism cannot be called as Marxist materialism).

250 251

M.G.S. NARAYANAN, Op. cit. pp199-200. Ibid. 252 RAJAN GURUKKAL and M.R. RAGHAVA VARIER (Eds.), Cultural History of Kerala, Op. cit.

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In order to get the sufficient evidences, as Kerala history, as we explained is suffering from lack of scarcity of sources, combined methods is most useful. Here there are several ancient literary sources. Besides this several archaeological sources are there. But here using of field archaeology has not been developed though individual efforts from Rajan Gurukkal like people prevail. Rajan Gurukkal deciphered the epigraphs of Edakkal caves. 253 This supplemented the historical writing with linguistic and philological studies. But what Kosambi said about field archaeology could not be fully utilized in Kerala, one of the main centers of India where the tribal people who are having the primitive mode of production, even hunting and gathering are densely populated. The anthropological studies in this area are developing. But their contributions in history writing are so scanty. So historians should use to analyze the culture and material base of these people to understand Keralas past. The method of cult of facts is also prevailing in Kerala history as a dominant position. Most of the historians in Kerala like M.G.S. Narayanan, A. Sreedhara Menon, etc. is belonging to this school. This type of history has only one benefitthe benefit of a chronicle. This story-telling mode of writing history has become outmoded. History is nothing but, as Kosambi said, the chronological presentation of the developments in means and relations of production. The means and relations of production, which are collectively called mode of production determines and conditions the superstructure (culture, politics, philosophic, juridical, in essence,

253

Ibid., pp.157-533.

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social consciousness). Here lays scope of Kosambis definition and methodology of history in Kerala. Though Rajan Gurukkal like people is claiming themselves as Marxists and they are contributing in the Kerala history, they fear to uphold this ideology. They are much influenced by the contemporary theories of late capitalism, post-modernism, destructuralism etc. It is no doubt that historians have to give up economic determinism. But in the pretext, to be unbiased and to be more objective these historians dismiss their connection with the working class interest. This may be the result of their pettybourgeois standpoint that Marx and Engels considered as most vacillating tendency. This tendency should be avoided. Kosambi always tried to interpret Indian history with his strong adherence to Marxism, the working class ideology. Marxism is not an unbiased ideology. Its declaration as a proletarian ideology is very famous. If it is biased, its bias differs fundamentally from bias of any other form of historical scholarship. Its bias is not at odds with objectivity, for the basic interests of the working class are in harmony with the conditions of objective reality. 254 So the model of Kosambis history can successfully be used in Kerala History. Kosambist Paradigm is much, thus, useful to the study of Keralas past. In order to bring into the socio-cultural and past of Kerala, her history should be reconstructed on the materialistic base. Historical materialism particularly Kosambist Paradigm is only the way out.

254

ERNST NOLTE, Op. cit., p.59.

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CONCLUSION
THERE IS a famous sayingfools rush in where angels fear to tread. Our history, history of Kerala for long period has been searching for a new mode of interpretation. World has passed several phases in history writing and reaches the threshold of postmodernism that celebrate the death-day of history. That it has its own history is a joking paradox. This postmodernist tendency is not a new but a continuation of the same old anarchism of Bakunin 255 who consider Marxism as its enemy since Marxism always upholds the truth that the world as well as historical development follows certain laws, which collectively known as Dialectical Materialism. Marxism sees all sciences with a historical viewpoint. We know only a single science, said Marx and Engels, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divided it into the history of nature and the history of men. The two sides are, however, inseparable; the history of nature and the history of men are dependant on each other so long as man exists. The history of nature, called natural science, does not concern us here; but we will have to examine the history of men, since almost the whole ideology amounts either to a distorted conception of this history or to a complete abstraction from it. 256 Here by transforming all the science into the level of history, history itself becomes a science. Historical Materialism examines history materialistically i.e. in the view of the developments of social

255

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (1814-1876) was a Russian democrat who was a propagandist of anarchism. 256 Quoted by Vivek Monteiro, see VIVEK MONTEIRO, Science is the Cognition of necessity, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, Op. cit., p.103.

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formations. According to this view society develops in accordance with the developments of mode of production i.e. production for mens material life is base upon which their social consciousness (culture, juridical, political, aesthetic etc) is constructed. In the material production men enter into definite relations not only with each other but also with the forces of production. This ultimately leads to the split of society into various classes. So that Marxism declares that from the dissolution of primitive communism, the ancient classless society, history of the existing society is the history of class struggle. Here in India Marxist Materialist Conception of History was, in the highest form, applied by D.D. Kosambi. He himself dedicated his life to put this theory into practice. Thus he could win to develop a new concept on Indian history. He also became successful to develop Indian history into materialistic one. His definition of history as the presentation, in chronological order, of the successive developments in means and relations of production is a watermark that demarcates his methodology from that of his predecessors. The question before him was as to how reconstruct Indias past on a materialistic base. For India is a country where the source materials are too insufficient, he developed a new method called combined methods in which linguistic study, field archaeology, site archaeology and social anthropology are combined together. By doing this he could win in interpreting available literary source materials almost materialistic in nature and constructing Indian cultural past.

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According to him Marxism is not a substitute of our thinking or blind repetition of Marxs conclusions but a great tool, a yardstick of analysis as Marxist teachers reiterated. That is so why he took a strong position against the deterministic theories and blind applications of Marxism by the pseudo Marxist and OM (Official Marxist).at the same time he proudly without any type of vacillating tendency declared himself as a Marxist. He defended Marxism from the attacks of bourgeois intellectuals, the scribes of capitalism. As Romila Thapar noticed, his was a Paradigm shift in historical writing in India. From this, Kosambist paradigm can be defined as Marxist methodological perspective of history that can be used not only to interpret history but also change. Why such a definition is that Kosambis understandings, method, perspective and teachings collectively constitute a new Paradigm as a developed form of Marxist Historical Materialism. Kosambism, thus, means the system of Kosambis views, method and teachings. This is a science that has universal applicability. Marxist Methodology of historical interpretation has been in Kerala for several decades. But such a methodology could not develop from embryonic stage. So that it could not achieve prime position. That is so why comprehensive history of Kerala, though historians reached a developed stage, is remaining as unreachable since the problems of scarcity of sources, lack of correct method and perspectively rigid institutional framework etc are prevailing. In order to eliminate these problems and to reconstruct Keralas history in a materialistic base Kerala historian should give up their old mode of telling historical truth and replace it with Kosambist paradigm.

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Nowadays, in Kerala, by using the loopholes made by our predecessors in historical writings the communal histories are being appeared. That is so dangerous to the entire human society. Muslims write their own history, Hindus write their history and Christians write their own history. All these histories are not reflecting any historical truth but reflecting only the hostility to other religions. So we are bound to shoulder the responsibility to rectify these loopholes. How can we employ these responsibility is that to reconstruct Keralas history on materialistic basis with the tool of Kosambist paradigm, which is a scientific synthesis of Marxist Historiography and its development in a higher phase. As E.H. Carr said history has an aim, that is to enable the humankind to open the present problem as a key to the understanding of the present. In such a way the past should be linked with the present and future. Kosambist paradigm, by interpreting the Indias past with astrong Marxist class analysis, changes the world as Marx Said, Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.

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24. NAMBOODIRIPAD, E.M.S., A History of Indian Freedom Struggle, Social Scientist Press, Thiruvananthapuram, 1986. 25. PUNNAYYA, BASAVA (Mal. Trans.), On Party Programme of CPI(M), CPI(M) publication, State Committee, Kerala, 1989. 26. RAJAN GURUKKAL and RAGHAVA VARIER, M.R. (ed.), Cultural History of Kerala, Vol. I, Dept. of Cultural Publications, Govt. of Kerala, 1999. 27. SHARMA, R.S., Early Medieval Indian SocietyA Study in Feudalism, Orient Logman ltd, Calcutta, 2001. 28. SIVADASAN, S (ed.) (Mal.), Colonialism and Resistance movement in South India, Rainbow Book Publishers, Eranakalum, 2008. 29. STALIN, J.V., Problems of Leninism, Foreign Language Press, Peking, 1976. 30. STALIN, J.V., Works, Vol. I, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1952. 31. THAPAR, ROMILA (ed.), Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History, Popular Prakasan, Bombay, 1996. 32. THAPAR, ROMILA, History And Beyond, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2004. 33. THAPAR, ROMILA, The Penguin History of Early India, From the Origins to AD 1300, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2003.

Journals and Articles

34. BASHAM, A.L., "Baba", a Personal Tribute", in R.S. Sharma and V. Jha (eds.), Indian Society: Historical Probings: In Memory of D.D. Kosambi, Indian Council for Historical Research, New Delhi, 1974. 35. BERNSTEIN, HOWARD, R., "Marxist Historiography and Methodology of Research Programmes", un History and Theory, Vol. 20,No. 4, Dec. 1981.

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36. BHATACHARYA, SABYASACHI, "Kosambi and the Discourse of Civilisaton", in The Hindu, Thursday, Jul. 31, 2008. 37. CHAKRABARTI, KUNAL, "The Lili and the Mud; Kosambi on Religion", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 38. CHANDRA, SUDHIR, "Modern Indian Historiography" in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 7, No. 19, May 6, 1972. 39. CHATTOPADHYAYA, B.D., "D.D. Kosambi and the Study of Early Indian Coin", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 40. CHOPRA, SUNEET, "The Approach of Karl Marx to the Study of Indian Society" in Social Scientist, Vol. 11., No. 3, Mar., 1983. 41. DANIEL, D., "Historical Research in Modern Kerala-Problems and Scope" in K.K. Kusuman (ed.), Issues in Kerala Historiography, International center for Kerala Studies, 2003. 42. GANESH, K.N., "Historiographical Trends" in P.J. Cherian (ed.), Perspective of Kerala History, Kerala Gazetteers, 1999. 43. GOKALE, V.V., "Damodar Dharmanad Kosambi", in Science and Human Progresss: Prof. D.D. Kosambi Commemoration Volume, Popular Prakasan, Bombay, 1974. 44. GOTTLOB, MICHAEL (ed.), "D.D. Kosambi; the Difficulties Facing the Historians" in Historical Thinking in South Asia-- a Hand Book from colonial times to the present, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2003. 45. HABIB, IRFAN, "D.D. Kosambi and the construction of Marxist Historiography of India" in the Marxist, XXIV 4, Oct.-Dec., 2008. 46. HAIBIB, IRFAN, "Kosambi, Marxism and History", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008.

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47. HABIB, IRFAN, "Marx's Perception of India" in the Marxist, Vol. 1, Jul.-Sept., 1983. 48. ILAYIDAM, SUNIL, P. (Mal.), "D.D. Kosambi; Charithramezhuthile Viplavangal", in Mthrubhoomi Weekly, Vol. 85, No. 23, Aug. 5-11, 2007. 49. JHA, D.N., "Damodar Dharmanad kosambi: A Scholar Extraordinaire" in the Marxist, XXIV 4, Oct.-Dec., 2008. 50. KAREEM, C.K., "Kerala Historiography" in K.K. Kusuman (ed.), Issues in Kerala Historiography, International center for Kerala Studies, 2003. 51. KOSAMBI, MEERA, "D.D. Kosambi: The Scholar and the Man", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 52. MANICKAVASAGOM, "Sources for the Study of Early History of Kerala" in K.K. Kusuman (ed.), Issues in Kerala Historiography, International center for Kerala Studies, 2003. 53. MONTEIRO, VIVEK, "Science is the Cognition of Necessity", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 54. NAMBOODIRIPAD, E.M.S., "Some Problems of Indian History", in Social Scientist, Vol. 3, No. 9, Apr., 1975. 55. NOLTE, ERNST, "the Relationship between "Bourgeoisie" and "Marxist" Historiography" in History and Theory, Vol. 14, No. 1, Feb., 1975. 56. PANIKKAR, K.N., In Defence of ''Old History" in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 29, No. 40, Oct.1, 2004. 57. PATNAIK, PRBHATH, "D.D. Kosambi and the Frontiers of Historical Materialism", in the Marxist, XXIV 4, Oct.-Dec., 2008. 58. PEACHY, PAUL, "Marxist Historiography of the Radical Reformation: Causality or Covariation?", in Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, Vol. 1, Jan. 1970.

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59. POLLOCK, SHELDON, "Towards the Political Philology: D.D. Kosambi and Sanskrit", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 60. RAGHAVA VARIER, M.R, "a Fresh look at Ordeals in Pre-Colonial Kerala" in K.K. Kusuman (ed.), Issues in Kerala Historiography, International center for Kerala Studies, 2003. 61. RAJAN GURUKKAL, "the Kosambi Effect: A Hermeneutic Turn that Shook Indian Historiography", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 62. RAJAN GURUKKAL, Dr., "Marxist Historiography-Theoty and Method" in seminar on History Working Today,Kerala Concil for Historical Rsearch. 63. RAJAN GURUKKAL, P.M., "Historical Antecedents" in P.J. Cherian (ed.), Perspective of Kerala History, Kerala Gazetteers, 1999. 64. RANADE, SUDHANSHU, "History--Make It or Break It?", in the Hindu, Thursday, Apr. 22, 2003. 65. RATNAKAR, SHEREEN, "Kosambi's Archaeology", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 66. RIEP, DALE, "D.D. Kosambi: Father on Scientific Indian History", in R.S. Sharma and V. Jha (eds.), Indian Society: Historical Probing: In Memory of D.D. Kosambi, Indian Council For Historical Research, New Delhi, 1974. 67. ROY, KUMKUM, "Kosambi and Question of Caste", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43,
No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008.

68. SADASIVAN, K., Dr., "Problems and Prospects of Historiography with special Reference to the works of Ilamkulam P.N. Kunjan Pillai" in K.K. Kusuman (ed.), Issues in Kerala Historiography, International center for Kerala Studies, 2003.

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69. SHARMA, R.S., "How Feudal was Indian Feudalism" Social Scientist, Vol. 12, No. 2., 1984. 70. SRINIVAS, M.N., "Modern Indian Historiography" in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 7, No. 15, (Apr. 8, 1972). 71. THAPAR, ROMILA, "Early Indian History and the Legacy of D.D. Kosambi.", in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 30, Jul. 26-Aug. 01, 2008. 72. THAVARAJ, M.J.K., "the Concept of Asiatic Mode of Production: Its Relevance to Indian", Social Scientist, Vol. 12, No. &. Jul., 1984. 73. THERBORN, GORAN, "Karl Marx Returning", in Internatioanal Political Science Review, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1986, 74. VARGEES, K., GEORGE (Mal.), "Marxism Anthima Vidhiyalla", in Mathrubhoomi Weekly, Vol. 85, No. 53, Mar. 8-14, 2009. 75. VELUTHAT, KESAVAN, Dr., "D.D. Kosambi in Indian Historiography," in seminar on History Working Today, Kerala Council for Historical Research. 76. VELUTHAT, KESAVAN, Dr., "Reading Kosambi once Again," in T.R. Venugopalan, History and Theory, Thrissur, 1997.

Website Referred
1. D.D. Kosambi, Marxist, historian, India, http://www.indiavideo.org/text/kosambi-marxist-historian-india1274.php?pg=77#R 2. DESHMUKH, CHINTAMANI ,Dr. Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi Life and Work, http://www.vidyaonline.net/arvindgupta/ddkbio.pdf 3. Geocities, www.geocities.com 4. Jstor, www.jstor.org.

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5. PERSONAL REMINSCENCES of Prof. D. D. Kosambi By Sri R. P. Nene as told to Arvind Gupta, http://www.vidyaonline.net/arvindgupta/nene.pdf 6. SEN, ARINADM, D.D. Kosambi Blazed a new Trail, Lefts follow It, www.cpiml/liberation/year_2007/july/dd_kosambi_tribute.htm