Nationalistic Historiography : The writings of Indian historians who were trained in the British educational system show an inclination to restore the pride in the ancient glory of India and the self- esteem of the Indian readers. Their writings are known as ‘Nationalistic Historiography’. Nationalistic writings in Maharashtra were inspired by Vishnushastri Chiplunkar. He criticised the prejudiced history of ancient India written by British officers. The nationalistic historians tried to seek the golden era of Indian history. They are at times blamed for ignoring the critical analysis of the historical truth. Mahadev Govind Ranade, Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Rajendra Lal Mishra, Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Kashi Prasad Jayswal, Radha Kumud Mukherjee, Bhagawan Lal Indraji, Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi and Anant Sadashiv Altekar are the names of some renowned scholars among the nationalistic historians.
Rajwade is well-known for his writings in Marathi on varied subjects like history, linguistics, etymology, grammar, etc. He was of the firm opinion that we should write our own history. He compiled and edited 22 volumes of ‘Marathyanchya Itihasachi Sadhane’. He wrote very scholarly prefaces to each of the 22 volumes. He stated, ‘History is the all-inclusive image of the past societies. It does not include only the stories of political images, conspiracies and wars for seizing power.’ He insisted that history should be written only using the authentic documentary source.
The nationalistic historiography helped in the triggering of the independence movement of the Indian people against the British. In this aspect the book, ‘The Indian War of Independence, 1857’, written by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is of great importance.
The nationalistic historiography provided a momentum to the writing of regional histories too. As a result the attention of historians was drawn to the geographic conditions and history of south Indian regions.
