History Unpacked – Let’s Talk, Walk and Live History! [Review]

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Title: History Unpacked – The Why, When and What of Ancient India
Author: Saisudha Acharya
Illustrator: Rohit Bhasi
Type: Paperback
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Duckbill  (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
Age group: 10 years+

Does history bore you? Put you to sleep? Or even scare you? That was me a few years ago. I was that girl who hated history because I only saw it as a school subject that needed me to remember pages after pages of dates, places, and kings’ names. For a long time, this experience put me off from reading any historical fiction/non-fiction. But things have changed. I have read some terrific non-fiction that have made me forget just how much I hated the subject. This book falls in this category of phenomenal history books. That it is meant for children is another big, bright feather in its cap. How I wish I read something like this when I was younger!

The author has set a conversational tone to the book right from ‘Introduction’. It reminded me of the drawing room conversations at home when my father would (and still does sometimes) regale us with stories of some historical event. The book starts with the story of ancient India, when Homo Sapiens first set foot and flourished in the sub-continent. While the text is very informal and even quirky sometimes, the star highlights of the book are the funny illustrations, quizzes, and tests. Take a quiz to know which religion would have suited you the best in 6th century BCE or what career option in Gupta-era India would have been the best for you! The author talks about not just what we know from so long ago, but also how we got to know about all that happened. She makes you walk through time like it is the most natural thing to do!

The book is divided into ten chapters, each of them starting with an infographic on the time period that the chapter spans, and the important events it covers. Each chapter ends with the important events occurring in other parts of the world at that time. The author has maintained an impartial point of view and has reiterated many times that most of history is written about and for those with power and influence, and hence, lacks accounts of the everyday lives of common people. Even if such accounts exist, most of them have been lost, or have changed so much (in the case of oral histories) that we don’t know how much of it actually happened. Still, wherever possible, the author has included the stories of how ordinary people lived. You will also sense a hint of the author’s disdain towards authority figures for having made societal rules giving themselves more power, while stripping the already down-trodden of basic respect.

The book focuses on important historical events which have substantial evidence to back them. Most events are geographically placed in northern India. However, there are dedicated chapters for the histories of India’s southern-most tip and north-eastern parts. Starting with stone-age India, the book talks about the beginnings of agriculture, domestication of animals, how and when the great Harappan Civilisation began, flourished, and then ended, how and when the Aryans arrived and inter-mingled with the people already living in the sub-continent, how religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism started and expanded to other parts of the world, all the different forays and invasions of foreign kings in India, and some of the greatest Indian empires – the Mauryas and the Guptas.

There are some events and entities throughout history that remain ambiguous and even lead to confusion among the people of today. Two such things that always remain in my mind are – how did a civilisation like the Harappan, that was so ahead of its time, decline without passing on its incredible legacy? And, who does the word ‘Aryan’ refer to? The author has discussed these questions without skirting around them.

Books like this need to be read by everyone, because like the author says, “understanding the past helps us make sense of today and plan for a better tomorrow.”

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Disclaimer: Kimeera is a part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.