" .. A question I have is, when history is so interesting to learn, why did we(atleast most of us in schooldays) find it so boring and dry to read in school. Is it the way the subject is taught? Or is it because, most of the history we study is North Indian history, which maybe irrelevant to us?. Even in state board schools, we learn more about the mauryas and moghuls than about the Chozhas, Cheras or Pandyas. Would it help if history is customized in each state where it is taught and made more relevant, rather than a single textbook throughout the country(In case of CBSE or ICSE)? .. "
WELCOME DEAR SIR..
very nice query.
In fact this is a very serious topic.
To make it less serious, Several ARTS colleges in TN and Universties in India / Abroad are thinning down History department strength / closing down... for the past 10 years ...
In School books also it was not properly given.
Now .. lots and lots of new finds .. there is more awareness .. which is being spread among the School children too.
sometimes vested-interests do creep-in.
But things are vastly improving.. that is academically.
Apart from this, like our respected member PAVITHRA SRINIVASAN - there are specialists concentrating on the younger children and furnish History mixed in honey through Chandama publications and the like... !!
our respected member RAMESH (rewindertoons) does the same through Cartoon movies !!
History related movies also generate more interest..
Generally there is more awakening in knowing the details of our past ... once certain such details are contradicted, then there will be still more awakening True history..
and True - becomes a relative term !
now when we read Sundarkrishnan's mail - we do realise.. there is more to know re Malikgafur - Pandyas war.
The reason history in school is found boring with kids is that they are forced to learn the dates and events without much significance to them. If they introduce a historical fiction in their non-detail and then deal with the related core history in Social Studies, I am sure kids will take more interest. Afterall most of us here started taking interest in history after reading PS. Didnt we?
I dont know if any of the member have had chance to read 'Ladybird' historical collection series. They are books of 40 to 50 pages and on English Monarchs. Each king had a book. I guess they also had roman and greek series too. My school library had only English history series. Those were the first ever books I read. Faintly remember around 6-9 std I was reading those books. No wonder why history interests me much!! Those were pretty neat books with illustrations and would create interest in any body who reads them...
Though I still like my 10th std CBSE world history..esp second world war with Hitler...
But it is sad when I think back if there was one full book for Ashoka and Harsha, there was simply one page for CHola ,Chera,Pandya.
aja would get a paragraph.
On the other side Tamil subject books will have so called history of Tamil dynasties - but they only have legends of Manu neethi Cholan and others.
TO be frank I read more of Tamil History in Ponniyin Selvan than 12 yrs of Schooling.
I rather have ended up learning about dynasties which ruled Delhi and never come close to Tamil Nadu - than reading history of Tamil Nadu... seriously it is hurting if I think back.
I must surely mention this also here...if Kalki gave me introduction to Tamil History - I must thank PVSP for feeding me everyday....
SPS: After my 10th class, I wanted to get into the History stream. I found history, geography, civics etc very fascinating. My parents thought there was no scope for career. So I was asked to get into science stream.
As an Indian, North Indian is as much part of us - so it is always relevant. I had some ideas on how history should be taught to kids :-))
North India is part of us but All we are asking is ..Give us due credit as well..The Cholas were called the Phoenicians of the East...The roman empire moaned about losing all their wealth to the pandiya pearls and chera spices!!
Do our Indian books do justice o them....
Sri
If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin, Into his nest again, I shall not live in vain. Emily Dickinson
Sridhar saar: Sadly, you are preaching to the choir. The request is quite legit; I have studied in CBSE and know what you say. That was not my focus though. Just that we can not say North Indian history is irrelevant.
You want to tell that around 5000 KG of gold [ At today cost is Rs 750 Crores at least, SPS may please checkup as he is a brilliant science student] he gave to Ranganathar?
Whether he ransacked the gold from Chola empire or of his own?
Is it possible to have so much gold by emperor personally? Or it is a wealth of pandyan empire?
and finally the main question is
What happened to the 5000 kgs gold? given to ranganathar.
I hope the temple does not have so much wealth as of now?
Well, I didnt mean to say North India is irrelevant. My point was, we find things more interesting when we can closely associate us with it. So say atleast 50% of south indian history would have made it more interesting instead of just one or two pages. Also as Swaroop had pointed out maybe dwelling too much on the dates makes history a demon as well.
The problem is to ascertain if what Google offers is right.
~GRS
> Hello My Young Friends, > > > > Here's something for you. > > Historical, of course. > > > > The Cholzas were ruling over the whole of Tamilnadu and parts > > of Andra for the better part of 3 centuries. > > The nemesis to the Cholza Empire came in the person of > > Maaravarman Sundara Pandiya I(1216 - 1240) He devastated Cholza nadu > > and Cholza nadu became very weak. > > 40 years later, another Sundara Pandiya appeared on the scene. > > He was Jatavarman Sundara Pandiya. He conquered the Cholza > > territories and created the New Pandiya Empire. > > He ransacked Cholza naadu. > > But he donated much of whatever booty that he captured. > > The biggest beneficiaries to his benevolence were the Chidhambaram > > and the SriRanggam temples. > > He perfomed what was known as the 'Thulabaara Dhaanam'. > > He caparisoned his Royal elephant with full ornaments. He climbed > > upon the howdah(ambaari) with his royal queen. The elephant mahout was > > also on the elephant. The king and queen were fully bedecked in their > > splendour. > > The custom was that the king would wear the most costly > > ornaments. Marco Polo, a few years later. has mentioned that > > the king was wearing ornaments worth a city's ransom>. Thus fully > > he weighed himself, his wife, the mahout, the elephant with all > > the paraphernalia. > > He gave an equivalent weight of gold and other ornaments to the > > Temple of SriRanganathar. > > > > Please read carefully. > > > > This is a historical fact. Therefore it had really taken place. > > > > Now the questions are, > > > > How did the Emperor Jatavaraman Sundara Pandya measure out > > an exact weight? > > > > How tall was the beam of the scale-"tharaasu" . > > > > What material would have takenthe stress and strain and born the > > weights - the weight of the elephant etc., and theweight of the gold? > > > > What formula would you use to measurethe distance of the fulcrum > > from the end? > > > > How heavy and how thick should be thepivot which would bear the > > weight of the arms and the weights, if it should be iron? > > > > Regards > > > > JayBee > > > > ============ == > > >
the original mail was posted in Agathiyar and Dr Jaybee quized us all about the way it was weighed...
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Sri
If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin, Into his nest again, I shall not live in vain. Emily Dickinson