Who Owns the Past? India’s Cultural Coup
By Chintan Chaturvedi
India’s history is not just written in textbooks—it is carved in stone, buried under silence, and shouted through statues, courtrooms, and hashtags.In this pathbreaking non-fiction narrative, Chintan Chaturvedi explores the complex battle for India’s cultural memory. From the Harappan ruins and Mauryan pillars to Mughal mosques and post-Independence temple politics, the book traces how history in India is continuously rewritten sometimes revived, sometimes erased, and often contested.Drawing from original sources like the Baburnama, Chinese travelogues, colonial records, and temple inscriptions, this book maps the journey of sacred spaces turned into battlegrounds of ideology. It investigates the politics behind renaming cities, demolishing statues, reviving temples, and passing landmark laws like the Places of Worship Act. Far from a one-sided commentary, this is a meticulous, sourced account that asks uncomfortable yet necessary questions: Who gets to define the past? Who edits public memory? And what happens when history itself becomes a political weapon? Bold, factual, and deeply thought-provoking—Who Owns the Past? is not just a book. It’s a mirror held up to India’s soul.
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Chintan Chaturvedi
Chintan Chaturvedi is a researcher, writer, and cultural historian who explores the intersection of memory, politics, and sacred space in the Indian subcontinent. With a background in philosophy and a passion for archival inquiry, his work blends scholarly depth with narrative clarity.
Through original research in historical texts like the Baburnama, Rajatarangini, and British gazetteers, Chintan unearths how monuments, temples, and city names become tools of identity formation and ideological struggle. His writing resonates with students, scholars, and anyone seeking to understand India beyond headlines. This is his second book—a bold attempt to decode the political grammar of India’s past and present. When not immersed in research, Chintan can be found debating cultural narratives over chai or walking silently through ruins that still whisper untold stories.
