National Conference on “Re(Visiting) History, Nation and Culture through Autobiography, Biography and Memoirs” concluded

Autobiography, Biography and Memoirs are also significant sources of history

Corroboration of Autobiography, Biography and Memoirs necessary

13th January 2018: Jaipur: A two days National Conference on “Re(Visiting) History, Nation and Culture through Autobiography, Biography and Memoirs” organized by the Department of History of The IIS Deemed to be University in collaboration with Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi concluded on Saturday. In the inaugural ceremony of the conference, Dr. Giles Tillotson, Consultant Director, Research, Publications and Exhibitions, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, City Palace Jaipur was the chief guest.

Dr. Ashok Gupta, Vice Chancellor extended his hearty welcome to al the delegates, invited speakers, scholars, resource persons who had gathered to discuss the nuances of history, nation and culture. Prof. N.K.Jain, Dean, Arts and Social Sciences discussed the aim of the Conference, which was the examination of History and its relationship with some aspects of English Literature within the wider aspects of History. He stated that the History, today, is not merely a chronological account of wars fought by the Kings but includes almost all aspects of lives of the people along with evolution of society, economic life, cultural history and philosophical literary tradition.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Giles Tillotson in which he discussed his study on the Memoires and diaries through which he accumulated a detailed understanding of the cultural milieu during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II. He also discussed his study on the pamphlets on the history of Jaipur.

The theme of the first technical session was “History through Non-Conventional Literary Sources” which was chaired by the Former Professor from the MDS University, Ajmer, Dr. V.K.Vashishtha. The invited speaksers for this session were Dr. U.C.Chaudhary from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur and Dr. Balaji Ranganathan from the Central University of Gujarat, Gujarat.

Dr. Chaudhary’s paper was on “Autobiography as a source of Modern Indian History” under which he examined the autobiographies of Jawaharlal Nehru and M.K.Gandhi as highly informative sources of Indian history.

“In the Indian context in the pre-independence times, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were the two significant sources for understanding the development and struggles in the British period”, he asserted.

A panel discussion was held on “History and Non-Conventional Literary Sources” in which invited speaker Dr. Vashishta suggested the need of corroboration for all facts like autobiographies, biography and memoirs so that they are not misleading.

Dr. Sharad Rathore was the Convener of the conference. A total of 60 research papers were presented in the conference.