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'''Purushottam Nagesh Oak''' (2 March 1917 – 4 December 2007), commonly referred to as '''P. N. Oak''', was a Historian from India.
'''Purushottam Nagesh Oak''' (2 March 1917 – 4 December 2007), commonly referred to as '''P. N. Oak''', was a fringe Hinducentric [[Historical negationism|historical negationist]] from India.


Among his prominent claims were that Christianity and Islam are both derivatives of [[Hinduism]], [[Vatican City]], [[Kaaba]], [[Westminster Abbey]] and the [[Taj Mahal]] were once [[Hindu temple]]s dedicated to [[Shiva|Mahadeva]] and that the [[Pope|Papacy]] was originally a [[Vedas|Vedic]] Priesthood; their reception in Indian popular culture have been noted by observers of contemporary Indian society. He ran an '''Institute for Rewriting Indian History''<nowiki/>' in the 1980s which published a quarterly periodical called ''Itihas Patrika'' dedicated to fringe causes; he had also written numerous books, some of which have even lead to court cases in a bid to correct the mainstream history narrative.<ref name=india1/><ref name=ht1/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2000/07/14/stories/0214000q.htm|title=Plea to rewrite Taj history dismissed|date=14 July 2000|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref>
Among his prominent claims were that Christianity and Islam are both derivatives of [[Hinduism]], [[Vatican City]], [[Kaaba]], [[Westminster Abbey]] and the [[Taj Mahal]] were once [[Hindu temple]]s dedicated to [[Shiva|Mahadeva]] and that the [[Pope|Papacy]] was originally a [[Vedas|Vedic]] Priesthood; their reception in Indian popular culture have been noted by observers of contemporary Indian society. He ran an '''Institute for Rewriting Indian History''<nowiki/>' in the 1980s which published a quarterly periodical called ''Itihas Patrika'' dedicated to fringe causes; he had also written numerous books, some of which have even lead to court cases in a bid to correct the mainstream history narrative.<ref name=india1/><ref name=ht1/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2000/07/14/stories/0214000q.htm|title=Plea to rewrite Taj history dismissed|date=14 July 2000|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref>

Revision as of 11:39, 11 November 2019

Purushottam Nagesh Oak
File:Cardpn 1508840403.jpg
Born(1917-03-02)2 March 1917
Indore, Indore State, British India
Died4 December 2007(2007-12-04) (aged 90)
Pune, India
Occupation(s)Soldier and writer
Known forHistorical revisionism

Purushottam Nagesh Oak (2 March 1917 – 4 December 2007), commonly referred to as P. N. Oak, was a fringe Hinducentric historical negationist from India.

Among his prominent claims were that Christianity and Islam are both derivatives of Hinduism, Vatican City, Kaaba, Westminster Abbey and the Taj Mahal were once Hindu temples dedicated to Mahadeva and that the Papacy was originally a Vedic Priesthood; their reception in Indian popular culture have been noted by observers of contemporary Indian society. He ran an 'Institute for Rewriting Indian History' in the 1980s which published a quarterly periodical called Itihas Patrika dedicated to fringe causes; he had also written numerous books, some of which have even lead to court cases in a bid to correct the mainstream history narrative.[1][2][3]

Life

Oak was born in 1917 in

Class I Gazetted officer in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting wherein he wrote various journalistic pieces.[4] Before joining the army, he also claims to have worked as an English tutor at Fergusson College in Pune.[4]

In 1964, he founded an organisation called Institute for Rewriting Indian History.[4] He died on 4 December 2007, at 3.30 am at his Pune residence aged 90.[5]

Historical negationism

Taj Mahal Theory

In 2000 India's Supreme Court dismissed Oak's petition to declare that a Hindu king had built the Taj Mahal by saying he had a "bee in his bonnet" about the Taj.[6] Till date, as of 2017, several court cases about Taj Mahal being a Hindu temple have been inspired by Oak's theory.[1][2] In August 2017, Archaeological Survey of India stated there was no evidence to suggest the monument ever housed a temple.[7]

Giles Tillotson calls Oak's claims as a "desperate bid to assign a new meaning to the Taj" and "pseudo-scholarship". He states that Oak interprets the statements of Padshahnama about Shah Jahan's purchase of the land for the Taj from Jai Singh I upon where a mansion built by an ancestor of the Raja earlier existed, to claim that Taj Mahal was a wonder of ancient Hinduism. Tillotson adds that no evidence is offered by Oak to redate it to thirteen centuries earlier. He adds that the technical know-how to construct structural buildings didn't exist in pre-Mughal India, the only surviving architecture being rock-cut or monolithic. He points that Oak later dropped this claim and claimed it to be from 12th century. He adds that Oak claims Mughals built nothing and only converted Hindu buildings. In relation to similarity with buildings of West Asia, Oak also claims them all to be "products of Hindu architecture".[8]

Reception

Edwin Bryant in his work on Indo-Aryan theory describes Oak to be a self-styled historian whose works suffer from an ubiquitous and very poor standard of professionalism and critical methodology and who fit the definition of a crack-pot.[10][11]

Giles Tillotson describes Oak's work on Taj Mahal as a "startling piece of pseudo-scholarship",[12] which was plainly a work of polemical fantasy intended to denigrate Islam and did not merit any serious scholarly attention.[13] Art historian Rebecca Brown described Oak's books as "revisionist history as subtle as Captain Russell's smirk" (referring to a character in the Hindi movie Lagaan).[14]

Oak's theories have been noted to have found a popular following among right-wing Hindu factions in a bid to wage politico-religious battles.[15][16][17] Tapan Raychaudhuri has referred to him as "a 'historian' much respected by the Sangh Parivar."[18] Incidentally, one of his books "Some Blunders in Indian Historical Research" was banned from the Parliament's library by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Siraj Qureshi, "Another court petition challenges Taj Mahal's story as a symbol of love", India Today, 12 August 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Is Taj Mahal a mausoleum or a Shiva temple? CIC asks govt to clarify", Hindustan Times, 10 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Plea to rewrite Taj history dismissed". The Hindu. 14 July 2000.
  4. ^ a b c P. N. Oak (November 2017). "About The Author Prof P.N.Oak 19/20". Archived from the original on 19 January 2007.
  5. ^ Paracha, Nadeem F. "How the Taj Mahal became part of the campaign to erase India's Muslim past". Scroll.in. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  6. The Tribune
    .
  7. ^ BJP's Vinay Katiyar now calls Taj Mahal a Hindu temple - a 'bee in bonnet' theory that Supreme Court once rejected India Today
  8. ISBN 9780674031869
    .
  9. ISBN 9781400826858
    .
  10. ISBN 9780195137774
    .
  11. ISBN 9780195137774
    .
  12. ^ Peter Parker (13 September 2008). "Review: Taj Mahal by Giles Tillotson". The Daily Telegraph.
  13. ISBN 9780674063655
    .
  14. ISSN 1548-9922
    .
  15. ISBN 9780674063655
    .
  16. ^ Ahmed, Akbar (May 1993). "The Taj Mahal". History Today. 43 (5).
  17. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  18. ISSN 1469-8099
    .
  19. ^ Rajeev Dhavan. "Thinning not the answer to PN Oak Speaker's powers". Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=P._N._Oak&oldid=925642489"