Nepal, Nov. 8 -- What history is fit to write? Over the past decade or so, it's a question that has generated a great deal of noise and very little light. Much of the clamour has centred on Mughal history, which must, ideally, be eradicated; failing which, the Mughals must be shown up as monsters. (I met a teacher recently who was wryly concerned she might invite trouble if she took her students to an exhibition on the Taj Mahal.)

Underlying the question of what history should be written, however, is why some history acquires (or requires) more (or less) attention. Why has the right spent the last 30-odd years, since LK Advani's Rath Yatra, attacking the Mughals? And why has the left been compelled to spring to their defence? The politic...