By SK.Vyas
Chandigarh, April 24, 2018 : PU decides to organize a talk on “Nehru, Ashoka and the Making of Nation-State in Post-Colonial India” conduct a Colloquium (48th), on April 26, 2018. Prof. Bhagwan Josh, Professor of
Contemporary History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi will be our speaker, for this Colloquium.
Dr. Josh obtained his M.Sc (Hons.) in Chemistry and M.A. in History from Panjab
University during the period 1968-1973, before he received his PhD from Jawaharlal
Nehru University. Prof. Josh and Prof. Shashi Joshi have jointly authored a three-volume
history, entitled “Struggle for Hegemony in India, 1920-47”, published by Sage in 1992.
They are also the authors of “A History of Indian Communists” (3 Vols.) published by
“Sage” in 2011. He was one of the project committee members of “Europe-South Asia
Maritime Heritage Project: Teaching Methodologies, Distance Learning and Multimedia
Course Materials Development.” He has also been the Co-director (1983-87) of an ICSSR
project on the “History of the Indian National Congress, 1885-1947.” Besides being a
Common-Wealth Fellow at SOAS, London during 1996-97, he has also been a Visiting Scholar
at Maison des Sciences de l’homme, Paris and Oxford University.
Prof. Josh will talk about the two emblems of Ashoka Dharmachakra and Sarnath lion
The capital which came to dominate the public and private space in India immediately after
independence in 1947.Questions like “What should be the symbol of the new republic as
distinct from the recently inherited colonial state which could embody within themselves
not only the glorious past of India but also its aspirations for the future? Should the
Charkha dominated Congress flag, be now adopted as a National Flag keeping in view the
nature of Gandhi-led national movement?” will be answered by Prof. Josh. Pandit Jawahar
Lal Nehru being a serious student of History was convinced that all societies, even when
they tend to devalue the study of history, are forced to recognize that history can be a
powerful thing and read our past one way or another could be very significant for the
future. The cultural symbols chosen by the intellectual representatives of the Indian
people under Nehru’s influence were linked to historical romanticism and looked to the
restoration of worldly glory. Sacred symbols of nation invariably function to synthesize
people’s ethos and their dominant worldview, their most comprehensive ideas of a social
order reflecting their belief systems. But why did the rulers of the newly emerged
Indian nation-state appropriate the two images of Ashoka’s visionary legacy? The answer
to this deceptively simple question is inseparably linked to the evolution of historical
discourse centring on Ashoka in the West and the Gandhian vision of the Indian National
Movement.
TIME: 3:00 PM
VENUE: SSB UICET AUDITORIUM, PU, CHANDIAGRH