Thread by @GorwayGlobal

#India's right-wing #sanghi #whatsapp groups are seeing this message to day.
This series on the State run (i.e. RSS and BJP controlled) TV Channel will allegedly set the record straight on India's freedom movement.

here is a promotional video of the kind of stories that the 75-episode series will tell Indian citizens about

It is introduced by the Prof Heerman Tiwari.
In the opening scene in what looks like a Roman Catholic Seminary a man with a cross

around his neck is heard telling his men in stylised Hindi as spoken by the firangi, "India bahut hi prosperous hai, Unke saath trade karo, Hamara King ka yeh order hai, ki jo bhi tumhara ius mahaan yatra par hurdel kare, usko punish kiya jaye" The video then cuts to

A red-coated trooper, presumably of the East India Company flogging the fallen figure of a rather large man in a lungi.
And then it cuts to the story of Ranu Abbakka Chowta who fought the Portugese in defence of her Kingdom. That though was in 1570 or thereabouts.

Heerman Tiwari is Professor and Chairman at the Centre for Historical Studies, since Aug 2021 JNU. but he is also a professor at
1. Centre for Media Studies
2. School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies, and
3. Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Managementand Entrepreneurship
all at #JNU

His extensive c.v (see here: jnu.ac.in/Faculty/htiwar…)
tells us that his PhD in 1989 was A Study of the Nyāyapariśuddhiof Vedāntadeśika. he majored in Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy from Lucknow Unioversity,

Hios M Phil (Delhi Univ 1984 )disseration was A study of AdvaitaVedānta in the light of the Advaitarasamañjarīof [the medieval saintphilosopher] SadāśivaBrahmendraSarasvatī’). If he was the historical consultant, we are in good hands.

I wonder what @DalrympleWill might make of this potted 'history'

If the whole series is like this 5 min clip of Episode 2 on you tube, then this is not history, this is cheap politically motivated theatrics.

In this scene, the European fellow ( I think he either Dutch or Portugese) is seen wearing the obligatory Cross around his neck. The Indian rulers are bare chested turbanned and with a scared thread.

The idea seems to be to present the history of the European entry into India and the subsequent take over of the East India Company by the British Vrown in 1858 as a kind of religious endeavour.

Anyway, in this scene the Indian merchants are shown as cheating scoundrels who try to pass off low grade pepper as the quality stuff. The Portugese trader spots the con, refuses to deal, knifes the merchant and makes off with vast quantities of pepper.

He is given the title of "Count" by King of Portugal in a ceremony taken straight from a Buckingham Palace ceremony where the King or Queen touches each shoulder of the kneeling subject with the tip of a sword. I dont know if the Portugese followed the same ritual.