President Pranab Mukherjee today rued that "tutored history" written by the "colonial masters" is considered more truthful than folklore and exhorted historians and academicians to focus on indigenous sources.
Mukherjee was addressing the inaugural function of the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Paika rebellion, one of his last public functions before demitting office.
The rebellion was an armed uprising against the British East India Company's rule in Odisha in 1817.
Mukherjee said the movement was a war waged by ordinary people who resented the oppression of the British rule.
"We do not remember our history. The unfortunate part is we read very attentively whatever interpretations they (the colonial historians) gave to the national and regional events, completing ignoring all folklore," the president said.
He urged academicians and historians to rely on indigenous source material like folklore which can give a true account of the struggle faced by the common people.
"We find more truth in the so-called tutored history," he observed.
Noting that the people of Odisha refused to be subjugated under the British rule, Mukherjee cited atrocities, unfair revenue policies and the "reckless looting of the resources" of the common people by the East India Company as one of reasons behind the Paika rebellion.
Along with Buxi Jagabandu, the hero of the rebellion, Mukherjee also remembered Dinabandhu Samantray Mohapatra, Dama Subudhi Manjaraj, Samanta Madhaba Chandra Routray (Dalbehera of Tapanga), Pindiki Bahubalendra, Krutibas Patsani who fought along side him.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan were present at the event.
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