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{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}} {{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox person {{Infobox person
| name = Meenakshi Jain | name = Meenakshi Jain
| image = | image =
| image_size = 220px | image_size = 220px
| caption = | caption =
| birth_date = | birth_date =
| birth_place = | birth_place = ], ]
| death_date = | death_date =
| death_place = | death_place =
| other_names = | other_names =
| known_for = ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' | known_for = ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse''
| occupation = Historian, political scientist | occupation = Historian, Writer, Political scientist
| alma_mater = ] | alma_mater = ] (])
| awards = ] (2020) | father = ]
| relatives = ] (brother)<br/>Sandhya Jain (sister)
| awards = ] (2020)
}} }}
'''Meenakshi Jain''' is an Indian historian and political scientist and historian who served as an associate professor of history at ], Delhi. In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the ] by the Government of India.<ref name=":2" /> In 2020, she was conferred with the ], India's fourth highest civilian award, for her work in the field of literature and education.<ref>{{cite news|author=The Hindu Net Desk|date=26 January 2020|title=Full list of 2020 Padma awardees|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/full-list-of-2020-padma-awardees/article30656841.ece}}</ref> '''Meenakshi Jain''' is an Indian political scientist and historian who served as an associate professor of history at ], Delhi. In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the ] by the Government of India.<ref name=":2" /> In 2020, she was conferred with the ], India's fourth highest civilian award, for her work in the field of literature and education.<ref>{{cite news|author=The Hindu Net Desk|date=26 January 2020|title=Full list of 2020 Padma awardees|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/full-list-of-2020-padma-awardees/article30656841.ece}}</ref>


Jain wrote ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' on the ] in colonial India and had also authored a school history textbook, ''Medieval India'', for ], which replaced a previous textbook co-authored by ], ] et al.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/being-proud-of-indias-hindu-past-is-great-but-worry-about-the-present-too/1800185/|title=Being proud of India's Hindu past is great, but worry about the present too|website=]}}</ref> Jain wrote ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' on the ] in colonial India and had also authored a school history textbook, ''Medieval India'', for ], which replaced a previous textbook co-authored by ], ] et al.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/being-proud-of-indias-hindu-past-is-great-but-worry-about-the-present-too/1800185/|title=Being proud of India's Hindu past is great, but worry about the present too|website=]}}</ref>
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== Career == == Career ==
Jain is an associate professor of history at ], affiliated to the University of Delhi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ichr.ac.in/Council_new.pdf|title=Members of the Council|website=INDIAN COUNCIL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH}}</ref> In December 2014, she was nominated as a member of the ] by the ].<ref name=":2"></ref> Jain is an associate professor of history at ], affiliated to the University of Delhi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ichr.ac.in/Council_new.pdf|title=Members of the Council|website=INDIAN COUNCIL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH|access-date=6 November 2019|archive-date=6 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106120853/http://ichr.ac.in/Council_new.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In December 2014, she was nominated as a member of the ] by the ].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |url=http://ichr.ac.in/newcouncilMembers.pdf |title=Membership of the Indian Council of Historical Research |access-date=21 March 2015 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200819/http://ichr.ac.in/newcouncilMembers.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>


== Reception == == Reception ==


=== Martha Nussbaum === === Medieval India (textbook) ===
Philosopher ] noted Jain to be an amateur historian, who despite being trained as a sociologist, was inducted as a historian in service of a ].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future.|last=Nussbaum|first=Martha Craven|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780674030596|oclc=1006798430}}</ref> Her ''Medieval India'' rendered the time-span through a monoscopic clash-of-civilizations narrative between the forces of good (Hindus) and evil (Muslims); the tensions and internal conflicts between these seemingly homogeneous groups were done away with.<ref name=":4" /> Nonetheless, Nussbaum found her work to be a small "oasis of intelligence", subtlety and literacy, when contrasted with other publications of the new NCERT series, published under the aegis of the Hindu Nationalist government;<ref name=":4" /> Professor Pralay Kanungo of ] reflected similar sentiments.<ref name=":0" />
{{Rquote|1=right|2="...Jain, however, favors a simple narrative of Muslim aggression and Hindu suffering/resistance .... ignores the arts, concentrating on battles, so that no syncretism has a chance to emerge ... On the whole, Jain's account displays a constant oscillation between responsibility to the truth, which she clearly does feel, and the demands of a prior ideological commitment."|3=Martha C. Nussbaum}}
Writing in ''The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future'' (2007), distinguished philosopher ] noted Jain to be an amateur historian, who was trained as a sociologist and was yet to publish any significant work but was inducted into the ranks of a historian to fulfill a political mission.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/library/120040798/the-clash-within-democracy-religious-violence|title=The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future.|last=Nussbaum|first=Martha Craven|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780674030596|oclc=1006798430}}</ref> Recalling an interview, wherein she asked Jain about historiographic uncertainties faced whilst writing ''Medieval India'', Nussbaum noted her to have a strongly dogmatic persona who entirely lacked in any puzzlement or a sense of difficulty—two desirable traits in a good scholar.<ref name=":4" />


⚫ Similarly, sociologist ] found ''Medieval India'' to have portrayed the exactions of the ] rulers and the ] as anti-Hindu acts; besides, all of their contributions to the social, cultural and political were ignored.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sundar|first=Nandini|date=2004|title=Teaching to Hate: RSS' Pedagogical Programme|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=16|pages=1605–1612|issn=0012-9976|jstor=4414900|doi=10.1057/9781403980137_9}}</ref> She saw this as part of a broader pattern of state-induced ] to suit the need of ].<ref name=":1" /> John Stratton Hawley of ] found the book to misrepresent the gensis of the ] by presenting it as a response to ]'s monism than to the egalitarian message of Islam.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/457858|title=A storm of songs. India and the idea of the Bhakti Movement.|last=Hawley|first=John Stratton|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780674187467|pages=38–40|chapter=The Bhakti Movement and Its Discontents|doi=10.4159/9780674425262|jstor=j.ctt1c84d6f|oclc=917361614|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9780674425262/9780674425262-004/9780674425262-004.xml}}</ref>
Nussbaum found Jain's ''Medieval India'' to poorly represent the complexity of the medieval period—a simple ideologically-based uni-dimensional war-narrative between the forces of good and evil, that did not highlight the tensions and internal conflicts between seemingly homogeneous groups.<ref name=":4" /> Yet she found her work to be a small "oasis of intelligence", subtlety and literacy, when contrasted with other publications of the NCERT series.<ref name=":4" />


=== Rama and Ayodhya ===
She similarly faulted and criticized multiple aspects of Jain's review of ] ''Somanatha: Many Voices of a History'' and noted that the heavy dose of "dogmatic ideology" contained in it, made her serious points less convincing.<ref name=":4" />
Pralay Kanungo found Jain's ''Rama and Ayodhya'' to be a subtle and sophisticated work that managed to stand apart from the earlier ahistorical propaganda by Hindutva-leaning historians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://thebookreviewindia.org/alternative-narratives/|title=Alternative Narratives|website=The Book Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-11}}</ref> Nonetheless, while by cherry-picking from random sources, she had managed to produce a useful compilation, it lacked in coherence and authenticity.<ref name=":0" />

Nussbaum noted that Jain's rebut to the criticisms of her works (by various leading scholars) had integrity.<ref name=":4" /> Whilst she often skipped the broader issues, Jain admitted to some of her errors and often produced secondary scholarly source(s) that had supported her writing, though the merit of the latter as an argument was debatable.<ref name=":4" /> She concluded that whilst Jain remained intellectually ahead of other right-wing historians and had genuine scholarly passions, she was inserted into the wrong domain by political forces and was compelled to produce a sub-standard work in a short time span.<ref name=":4" />

===Others===
⚫ Sociologist ] noted that the exactions of the ] rulers and the ] were portrayed from an anti-Hindu perspective in Jain's ''Medieval India'' whilst their legacy contributions to the society, culture and polity were ignored.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sundar|first=Nandini|date=2004|title=Teaching to Hate: RSS' Pedagogical Programme|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=16|pages=1605–1612|issn=0012-9976|jstor=4414900|doi=10.1057/9781403980137_9}}</ref> She saw this as part of a broader pattern of state-induced ] to suit the need of ].<ref name=":1" /> John Stratton Hawley of ] found the book going against the grain in its treatment of the ] in that she presented the movement as a response to ]'s monism rather than to the egalitarian message of Islam.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/457858|title=A storm of songs. India and the idea of the Bhakti Movement.|last=Hawley|first=John Stratton|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780674187467|pages=38–40|chapter=The Bhakti Movement and Its Discontents|doi=10.4159/9780674425262|jstor=j.ctt1c84d6f|oclc=917361614|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9780674425262/9780674425262-004/9780674425262-004.xml}}</ref>

Professor Pralay Kanungo, of ], 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://thebookreviewindia.org/alternative-narratives/|title=Alternative Narratives|website=The Book Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-11}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> Kanungo also pointed out other significant errors including her rejecting of the established scholarly consensus about the existence of multiple versions of ''Ramayana''s et al.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> ] admired of the work as a fair history, which successfully challenged the ignorance espoused by "secular intellectuals" and "] historians" on the locus.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rama & Ayodhya|url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/book-reviews/rama-ayodhya|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Free Press Journal|language=en}}</ref>

A review over the ] 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Singh|first=Swadesh|date=2017-06-01|title=Book Review: Meenakshi Jain, Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse|journal=Indian Historical Review|language=en|volume=44|issue=1|pages=151–153|doi=10.1177/0376983617694691|s2cid=148735989|issn=0376-9836}}</ref> Another review over ] was positive as well.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mallampalli|first=Chandra|date=August 2018|title=Bok review|journal=Studies in World Christianity|language=en|volume=24|issue=2|pages=179–180|doi=10.3366/swc.2018.0222|s2cid=149744624 |issn=1354-9901}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-11-15|title=Where Did the Temples Go?|url=https://openthemagazine.com/cover-stories/where-did-the-temples-go/|access-date=2020-06-26|website=Open The Magazine|language=en-GB}}</ref>


== Works == == Works ==
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Latest revision as of 15:07, 6 June 2024

Indian historian

Meenakshi Jain
BornDelhi, India
Alma materUniversity of Delhi (PhD)
Occupation(s)Historian, Writer, Political scientist
Known forSati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse
FatherGirilal Jain
RelativesSunil Jain (brother)
Sandhya Jain (sister)
AwardsPadma Shri (2020)

Meenakshi Jain is an Indian political scientist and historian who served as 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 Government of India. 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.

Jain wrote Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse on the practice of Sati in colonial India and had also authored a school history textbook, Medieval India, for NCERT, which replaced a previous textbook co-authored by Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra et al.

Early life and education

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

Career

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

Reception

Medieval India (textbook)

Philosopher Martha Nussbaum noted Jain to be an amateur historian, who despite being trained as a sociologist, was inducted as a historian in service of a political mission. Her Medieval India rendered the time-span through a monoscopic clash-of-civilizations narrative between the forces of good (Hindus) and evil (Muslims); the tensions and internal conflicts between these seemingly homogeneous groups were done away with. Nonetheless, Nussbaum found her work to be a small "oasis of intelligence", subtlety and literacy, when contrasted with other publications of the new NCERT series, published under the aegis of the Hindu Nationalist government; Professor Pralay Kanungo of Jawaharlal Nehru University reflected similar sentiments.

Similarly, sociologist Nandini Sundar found Medieval India to have portrayed the exactions of the Sultanate rulers and the Mughals as anti-Hindu acts; besides, all of their contributions to the social, cultural and political were ignored. She saw this as part of a broader pattern of state-induced historical negationism to suit the need of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. John Stratton Hawley of Columbia University found the book to misrepresent the gensis of the Bhakti movement by presenting it as a response to Shankaracharya's monism than to the egalitarian message of Islam.

Rama and Ayodhya

Pralay Kanungo found Jain's Rama and Ayodhya to be a subtle and sophisticated work that managed to stand apart from the earlier ahistorical propaganda by Hindutva-leaning historians. Nonetheless, while by cherry-picking from random sources, she had managed to produce a useful compilation, it lacked in coherence and authenticity.

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).

See also

References

  1. ^ "Membership of the Indian Council of Historical Research" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  2. The Hindu Net Desk (26 January 2020). "Full list of 2020 Padma awardees". The Hindu.
  3. "Being proud of India's Hindu past is great, but worry about the present too". The Financial Express.
  4. Khushwant Singh, Biased view (Book review of The Hindu Phenomenon), India Today, 31 August 1994.
  5. ^ Srinivas, M. N. (14 October 2000). Caste: Its 20Th Century Avatar. Penguin UK. p. 313. ISBN 9789351187837.
  6. "Members of the Council" (PDF). INDIAN COUNCIL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  7. ^ Nussbaum, Martha Craven (2007). The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674030596. OCLC 1006798430.
  8. ^ "Alternative Narratives". The Book Review. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
Recipients of Padma Shri in Literature & Education
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