Page 29 - K M PANNIKAR and The Growth of a Maritime Consciousness in India

K. M. PANIKKAR, THE HISTORIAN
History as Maritime Geostrategy
In this presentation I focus on K. M. Panikkar (1895 – 1963) the historian, by
examining his book India and the Indian Ocean: An Essay on the Influence of Sea
Power in Indian History, first published in 1945. The second chapter in the book
deals with the ‘Hindu Period in the Indian Ocean’. To what extent was Panikkar
the first thinker to formulate the hypothesis of India’s maritime supremacy in
its ancient history? I discuss this with reference to his contemporaries and their
writings, especially members of the Greater India Society. The second question
follows from this and addresses the issue of historical events that shaped the
1940s and provided the stimulus to Panikkar’s thinking. The final section of
the paper examines models from history and archaeology that influenced
independent India’s choice of national symbols. The larger question that the
paper addresses relates to the value of history for the present and for working
out geostrategies.

23-24 March 2021 | Sapru House, New Delhi 29