Demythsifying Myths: Demystifying 18 Myths about India by Amit Bagaria – Review

Myths are very common to any nation. An old lady on the Moon; pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; elephant’s trunk in ‘Hathiya Nakshatra’ and so on… these were a few of the myths I have been knowing since my very childhood. However, there are also many political myths that one can come through. As Indians, as school students and kids, we have been fed with many myths of political and almost sinister nature. We have read the history written by those who have made history what they wanted to it to be rather than what should have been. We have been forced to accept certain individuals as certain metaphors by default; we cannot question them; we cannot protest against these facts. Why? Have you ever asked? Have you ever thought about these myths? Who will get you out of these troubling questions that you have in your mind constantly biting your intellect?

I have recently read a book by Amit Bagaria that is titled Demythsifying Myths: Demystifying 18 Myths about India. This book, as the title explicitly hints, tries to uncover the sheet of falsehood and fabrication and take on the lies. This book raises the questions that we often wanted to ask but could not just because we did not want to be ridiculed or bullied by the loyalists or fundamentalists. This book does not only raise the question but also tries to go deeper into the perspectives and answer many questions for the readers. So, what does the book offer? How interesting is the content? Who should be reading this book?

Demythsifying Myths: Demystifying 18 Myths about India is a book that tries to break into the misleading, confusing and conspiring history written by our so-called historians (on the behest of politicians) who called Nehru a great visionary, Gandha a Mahatma and Indira a great prime minister. However, they did not tell us the other side. They did not let us know about many episodes of our history that could have let us make our own judgement about many prominent Indians rather than being dogmatised. So, in a short sentence, Amit Bagaria’s book takes on the historians with bias. This book has been praised by the reviewers for many leading book review websites in India for many qualities that it has.

In this book, the author also tries to express his concerns about many issues that relate to our functioning as a nation and as a democracy. He argues for a presidential system of democracy where the power is centralised rather than divided. He also argues for getting away with Rajya Sabha or the upper house of Indian parliament. The author also argues that Ram was not a vegetarian as is proposed by many people. He also discusses why India, as a nation, may not be 5,000 years old. And there are many other things in the book that an ordinary Indian will find too interesting to connect.

To sum up, Demythsifying Myths is a book that compels the readers to think with different perspectives in their mind. It does not tell the readers to stick to one certain version of history and any particular narrative. It digs deep into the roots of corruption. It inquires whether Gandhi was the right candidate to be called a Mahatma. It investigates what were the situations in the days of emergency. It analyses the real issues of Kashmir…

If you want to understand all these, you can go deep into the book and find out the perspectives that Amit Bagaria offers. You can get a copy from Amazon India now and read the book.

Buy the book – click here to buy

review by Rohan for Desi Readers

Know more about the Indians who write – read Indian Authors website