11-24-2006, 11:46 PM
karthiksri, there are two natures/methods of historical study (broadly, AFAIK) - Analytic history and Speculative (and a variant, counterfactual) history. If analytic history is what you want, that is one story. I agree, there is use and abuse of history, there is a definite need to get to the bottom of that. No question about it. If it is Speculative, then, any theory/scenario goes without some boundaries, and/or by default gets driven by ideologies and biases. For example, the very framing of the thread "When did India become modern"? has bias bult into it.