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Meenakshi Jain

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Meenakshi Jain
Alma materUniversity of Delhi
Occupation(s)Historian, political scientist
Known forSati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse
AwardsPadma Shri (2020)

Meenakshi Jain is an Indian political scientist and historian. A scholar on relations between caste and politics,[1] she is currently an associate professor of history at Gargi College, Delhi. In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Indian government.[2] In 2020, she was conferred with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, for her work in the field of literature and education.[3]

Jain wrote Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse on the practice of Sati in colonial India and had also authored a history textbook (Medieval India), which incurred significant scholarly criticism but went on to replace a previous textbook co-authored by Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra et al.[4]

Early life and education

Meenakshi Jain is the daughter of journalist Girilal Jain, a former editor of The Times of India.[5] She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Delhi.[6] Her thesis on the social base and relations between caste and politics was published in 1991.[6]

Career

Jain is an associate professor of history at Gargi College, affiliated to the University of Delhi.[7] In December 2014, she was nominated as a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Indian government.[2]

Reception

Others

Sociologist Nandini Sundar noted that the exactions of the Sultanate rulers and the Mughals were portrayed from an anti-Hindu perspective in Jain's Medieval India whilst their legacy contributions to the society, culture and polity were ignored.[1] She saw this as part of a broader pattern of state-induced historical negationism to suit the need of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.[1] John Stratton Hawley of Columbia University found the book going against the grain in its treatment of the Bhakti movement in that she presented the movement as a response to Shankaracharya's monism rather than to the egalitarian message of Islam.[8]

Professor Pralay Kanungo, of Jawaharlal Nehru University, noted Jain's Rama and Ayodhya as a subtle and sophisticated work that can't be outright dismissed and managed to stand apart, when contrasted with the earlier propaganda attempts by Hindutva historians.[9] He noted that a majority of the book was devoted to attacking left-leaning anti-Hindutva historians and by cherry-picking random content from random sources coupled with stray extrapolations, she had managed to produce a useful compilation but not an authentic history.[9] Kanungo also pointed out other significant errors including her rejecting of the established scholarly consensus about the existence of multiple versions of Ramayanas et al.[9] He also deemed Jain's Medieval India to be the sole face-saving volume in the entire NCERT history series, that was published by the newly elected NDA government.[9] M. V. Kamath admired of the work as a fair history, which successfully challenged the ignorance espoused by "secular intellectuals" and "Jawaharlal Nehru University historians" on the locus.[10]

A review over the Indian Historical Review praised Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse as a well-researched and cogent magnum opus, that was thoroughly packed with facts, analysis and sources.[11] Another review over Studies in World Christianity was positive as well.[12]

Professor Abhinav Prakash, of the University of Delhi, noted Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History to be a brilliant work.[13]

Works

Books

  • Congress Party, 1967-77: Role of Caste in Indian Politics (Vikas, 1991), ISBN 0706953193.
  • Medieval India: A Textbook for Class XI (NCERT, 2002), ISBN 8174501711.
  • Rajah-Moonje Pact: Documents On A Forgotten Chapter Of Indian History (with Devendra Svarupa, Low Price Publishers, 2007), ISBN 8184540787.
  • Parallel Pathways: Essays on Hindu-Muslim Relations, 1707-1857 (Konark Publishers, 2010), ISBN 9788122007831.
  • The India They Saw (co-edited with Sandhya Jain, 4 Volumes, Prabhat Prakashan), ISBN 8184301065, ISBN 8184301073, ISBN 8184301081, ISBN 818430109X.
  • Rama and Ayodhya (Aryan Books International, 2013), ISBN 8173054517.
  • Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse (Aryan Books International, 2016), ISBN 8173055521
  • The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya (Aryan Books International, 2017), ISBN 8173055793.
  • "Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History" (Aryan Books International, 2019), ISBN 8173056196.

Selected articles

  • "Congress 1967: Strategies of Mobilisation in D. A. Low" in The Indian National Congress Centenary Hindsights, 1988.
  • "Backward Castes and Social Change in U. P. and Bihar" in Srinivas, Caste: Its 20th Century Avatar (2000).
  • A review of Romila Thapar's Somanatha: Many Voices of a History over The Pioneer (India).[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Sundar, Nandini (2004). "Teaching to Hate: RSS' Pedagogical Programme". Economic and Political Weekly. 39 (16): 1605–1612. doi:10.1057/9781403980137_9. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 4414900.
  2. ^ a b Membership of the Indian Council of Historical Research
  3. ^ The Hindu Net Desk (26 January 2020). "Full list of 2020 Padma awardees". The Hindu.
  4. ^ "Being proud of India's Hindu past is great, but worry about the present too". The Financial Express.
  5. ^ Khushwant Singh, Biased view (Book review of The Hindu Phenomenon), India Today, 31 August 1994.
  6. ^ a b Srinivas, M. N. (14 October 2000). Caste: Its 20Th Century Avatar. Penguin UK. p. 313. ISBN 9789351187837.
  7. ^ "Members of the Council" (PDF). INDIAN COUNCIL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
  8. ^ Hawley, John Stratton (2015). "The Bhakti Movement and Its Discontents". A storm of songs. India and the idea of the Bhakti Movement. Harvard University Press. pp. 38–40. doi:10.4159/9780674425262. ISBN 9780674187467. JSTOR j.ctt1c84d6f. OCLC 917361614.
  9. ^ a b c d "Alternative Narratives". The Book Review. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  10. ^ "Rama & Ayodhya". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  11. ^ Singh, Swadesh (1 June 2017). "Book Review: Meenakshi Jain, Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse". Indian Historical Review. 44 (1): 151–153. doi:10.1177/0376983617694691. ISSN 0376-9836. S2CID 148735989.
  12. ^ Mallampalli, Chandra (August 2018). "Bok review". Studies in World Christianity. 24 (2): 179–180. doi:10.3366/swc.2018.0222. ISSN 1354-9901.
  13. ^ "Where Did the Temples Go?". Open The Magazine. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  14. ^ Meenakshi Jain (21 March 2004). "Review of Romila Thapar's "Somanatha, The Many Voices of a History"". The Pioneer. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
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