History according to puranas: RSS's next big project

New Delhi: In a bid to “present India’s real history”, RSS-affiliate Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojna (ABISY) has embarked on an ambitious ten year project to compile an encyclopedia of the ancient Hindu religious texts. An Indian Institute of Purana Studies’ has been set up at ABISY’s office in Delhi to undertake the project which is being referred to as the Puranantargat Itihaas. “The vision of this project is to compile the 18 maha puranas, to translate them into Hindi and to have scholars interpret its original meaning. We want to create an encyclopedia and an index of the puranas. In the coming days, we will be bringing out a special magazine on this project that will feature the research work that is being done. This is a research-based project. And the vision is to put forward India’s real history,” said Ratnesh Tripathi, a research scholar involved in the project and office-in-charge, ABISY.[caption id=“attachment_1556425” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. [/caption] According to Tripathi, the project is at an ‘early stage’ and currently all possible sources of information on the puranas are being collected. “Currently, research scholars like myself are working on the primary data collection. All compilations will be properly sourced. Nothing will be recorded without first authenticating the source,” said Tripathi. Upto 200 scholars from universities including Delhi, JNU, BHU and Patna have been roped in for the project, says Balmukund Pande, the organising secretary of the ABISY. “We are doing a survey of the puranas. We are ascertaining how many slokas and texts are there. There has been a lot of distortion of the puranas over time. Many have been burnt, lost. We want to revive them. In ten years, we will bring out an encyclopedia,” said Pande. ABISY was set up in 1994 with the stated objective of writing Indian history from “national perspective”. The ABISY believes “the British distorted Bharatheeya history” and “destroyed /perverted the tradition, heroes, culture, literature and language”. Headquartered in Delhi, it also regional chapters that go by the name Bharatheeya Itihasa Sankalana Samithi. It was in the news recently after the head of its Andhra Pradesh unit Yellapragada Sudershan Rao was appointed as the chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Narendra Modi government.