Meenakshi Jain: Difference between revisions

What links here Related changes Page information Get shortened URL
Created by RegentsPark
Last edited December 24, 2025
VisualWikitext
->RegentsPark
unsourced additions. please see WP:V and WP:RS
 
Content updated and refined
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|Indian historian}}
{{short description|Indian historian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox officeholder
| name       = Meenakshi Jain
| name               = Meenakshi Jain
| image       =  
| image             = Meenakshi Jain.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| image_size         =  
| caption     =  
| caption           = Meenakshi Jain in 2025
| birth_date =  
| office              = [[List of nominated members of the Rajya Sabha|Member of Parliament]], [[Rajya Sabha]]
| birth_place =
| term_start          = 21 July 2025
| death_date =  
| nominator          = [[Droupadi Murmu]]
| death_place =  
| predecessor        = [[Rakesh Sinha]]
| other_names =  
| constituency        = [[List of nominated members of the Rajya Sabha|Nominated]] (Literature and Education)
| known_for   = Authoring books about Indian history
| birth_date         =  
| occupation = Historian, political scientist  
| birth_place       = [[Delhi]], [[India]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Delhi]]  
| death_date         =  
| awards     = [[Padma Shri]]
| death_place       =  
| other_names       =  
| known_for         = ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse''
| occupation         = Historian, Writer, Political scientist
| alma_mater         = [[University of Delhi]] ([[PhD]])
| father            = [[Girilal Jain]]
| relatives          = [[Sunil Jain]] (brother)<br/>Sandhya Jain (sister)
| awards             = [[Padma Shri]] (2020)
}}
}}
'''Meenakshi Jain''' is an Indian political scientist and historian. A scholar on relations between caste and politics,<ref name=":1" /> she is currently an associate professor of history at [[Gargi College]], Delhi. In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] by the [[Indian government]].<ref name=":2" /> In 2020, she was conferred with the [[Padma Shri]], India's fourth highest civilian award, for her work in the field of literature and education.<ref>{{cite news|author=The Hindu Net Desk|date=26 January 2020|title=Full list of 2020 Padma awardees|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/full-list-of-2020-padma-awardees/article30656841.ece}}</ref>
'''Meenakshi Jain''' is an Indian political scientist and historian who served as an associate professor of history at [[Gargi College]], Delhi. Her areas of research include cultural and religious developments in medieval and early modern India.<ref name="i783">{{cite web | title=Who is Meenakshi Jain? Historian, author, and new Rajya Sabha nominee | website=Moneycontrol | date=13 July 2025 | url=https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/who-is-meenakshi-jain-historian-author-and-new-rajya-sabha-nominee-13272261.html#google_vignette | access-date=15 July 2025}}</ref><ref name=ichr/> In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] by the Government of India.<ref name=":2" /> In 2020, she was conferred with the [[Padma Shri]], India's fourth highest civilian award, for her work in the field of literature and education.<ref>{{cite news|author=The Hindu Net Desk|date=26 January 2020|title=Full list of 2020 Padma awardees|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/full-list-of-2020-padma-awardees/article30656841.ece}}</ref>


Jain wrote ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' on the [[Sati (practice)|practice of Sati]] in colonial India and had also authored a history textbook (''Medieval India''), which incurred significant scholarly criticism but went on to replace a previous text by [[Romila Thapar]].
Jain wrote ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' on the [[Sati (practice)|practice of Sati]] in colonial India and had also authored a school history textbook, ''Medieval India'', for [[NCERT]], which replaced a previous textbook co-authored by [[Romila Thapar]], [[Satish Chandra (historian)|Satish Chandra]] et al.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/being-proud-of-indias-hindu-past-is-great-but-worry-about-the-present-too/1800185/|title=Being proud of India's Hindu past is great, but worry about the present too|website=[[The Financial Express (India)|The Financial Express]]}}</ref>
 
Meenakshi Jain was nominated to [[Rajya Sabha]] by President [[Droupadi Murmu]] on 12 July 2025.<ref name="President Murmu nominates four to Rajya Sabha, including former Foreign Secretary Shringla, 26/11 prosecutor Nikam">{{cite news |last1= |first1= |date=13 July 2025 |title=President Murmu nominates four to Rajya Sabha, including former Foreign Secretary Shringla, 26/11 prosecutor Nikam |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/former-foreign-secretary-shringla-ujjwal-nikam-c-sadanandan-master-and-meenakshi-jain-nominated-to-rajya-sabha/article69806580.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713180529/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/former-foreign-secretary-shringla-ujjwal-nikam-c-sadanandan-master-and-meenakshi-jain-nominated-to-rajya-sabha/article69806580.ece |archive-date=13 July 2025 |access-date=13 July 2025 |publisher=The Hindu |language=en-IN}}</ref>


== Early life and education ==
== Early life and education ==
Meenakshi Jain is the daughter of journalist [[Girilal Jain]], a former editor of ''[[The Times of India]]''.<ref>[[Khushwant Singh]], [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-of-the-hindu-phenomenon-by-girilal-jain/1/293926.html Biased view] (Book review of The Hindu Phenomenon), India Today, 31 August 1994.</ref> She received her Ph.D. in political science from the [[University of Delhi]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAESBQAAQBAJ|title=Caste: Its 20Th Century Avatar|last=Srinivas|first=M. N.|date=2000-10-14|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=9789351187837|pages=313|language=en}}</ref> Her thesis on the social base and relations between [[caste system in India|caste]] and [[politics]] was published in 1991.<ref name=":3" />
Meenakshi Jain is the daughter of journalist [[Girilal Jain]], a former editor of ''[[The Times of India]]''.<ref>[[Khushwant Singh]], [https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-and-the-arts/books/story/19940831-book-review-of-the-hindu-phenomenon-by-girilal-jain-809565-1994-08-30 Biased view] (Book review of The Hindu Phenomenon), India Today, 31 August 1994.</ref> She received her Ph.D. in political science from the [[University of Delhi]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAESBQAAQBAJ|title=Caste: Its 20Th Century Avatar|last=Srinivas|first=M. N.|date=2000-10-14|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=9789351187837|pages=313|language=en}}</ref> Her thesis on the social base and relations between [[caste system in India|caste]] and [[politics]] was published in 1991.<ref name=":3" />


== Career ==
== Career ==
Jain is an associate professor of history at [[Gargi College]], affiliated to the University of Delhi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ichr.ac.in/Council_new.pdf|title=Members of the Council|website=INDIAN COUNCIL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH}}</ref> In December 2014, she was nominated as a member of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] by the [[Indian government]].<ref name=":2">[http://ichr.ac.in/newcouncilMembers.pdf Membership of the Indian Council of Historical Research]</ref>
Jain is an associate professor of history at [[Gargi College]], affiliated with the University of Delhi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ichr.ac.in/Council_new.pdf|title=Members of the Council|website=INDIAN COUNCIL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH|access-date=6 November 2019|archive-date=6 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106120853/http://ichr.ac.in/Council_new.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In December 2014, she was nominated as a member of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] by the [[Indian government]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |url=http://ichr.ac.in/newcouncilMembers.pdf |title=Membership of the Indian Council of Historical Research |access-date=21 March 2015 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200819/http://ichr.ac.in/newcouncilMembers.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> She is former Fellow of the [[Nehru Memorial Museum and Library]] and currently Senior Fellow of the [[Indian Council of Social Science Research]] (ICSSR).<ref name=ichr>[https://fihcr.com/dr-meenakshi-jain/ Dr Meenakshi Jain] IHCR.</ref>
 
Her books include, ''Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples'', ''The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya'' and ''Rama and Ayodhya''.<ref name="Times14July">{{cite news |title=From having legs hacked off to getting Rajya Sabha foothold: A Master's journey of grit |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/from-having-legs-hacked-off-to-getting-rajya-sabha-foothold-a-masters-journey-of-grit/articleshow/122424644.cms |access-date=14 July 2025 |publisher=The Times of India |date=14 July 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250714044603/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/from-having-legs-hacked-off-to-getting-rajya-sabha-foothold-a-masters-journey-of-grit/articleshow/122424644.cms |archive-date=14 July 2025}}</ref>


== Reception ==
== Reception ==


=== Martha Nussbaum ===
=== Medieval India (textbook) ===
{{Rquote|1=right|2="...Jain, however, favors a simple narrative of Muslim aggression and Hindu suffering/resistance .... ignores the arts, concentrating on battles, so that no syncretism has a chance to emerge ... On the whole, Jain's account displays a constant oscillation between responsibility to the truth, which she clearly does feel, and the demands of a prior ideological commitment."|3=Martha C. Nussbaum}}
Philosopher [[Martha Nussbaum]] noted Jain to be an amateur historian, who despite being trained as a sociologist, was inducted as a historian in service of a [[Saffronisation|political mission]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future.|last=Nussbaum|first=Martha Craven|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780674030596|oclc=1006798430}}</ref> Her ''Medieval India'' rendered the time-span through a monoscopic clash-of-civilizations narrative between the forces of good (Hindus) and evil (Muslims); the tensions and internal conflicts between these seemingly homogeneous groups were done away with.<ref name=":4" /> Nonetheless, Nussbaum found her work to be a small "oasis of intelligence", subtlety and literacy, when contrasted with other publications of the new NCERT series, published under the aegis of the Hindu Nationalist government;<ref name=":4" /> Professor Pralay Kanungo of [[Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi|Jawaharlal Nehru University]] reflected similar sentiments.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Alternative Narratives |url=https://thebookreviewindia.org/alternative-narratives/ |access-date=2019-05-11 |website=The Book Review |language=en-US}}</ref>
Writing in ''The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future'' (2007), distinguished philosopher [[Martha Nussbaum]] noted Jain to be an amateur historian, who was trained as a sociologist and was yet to publish any significant work but was inducted into the ranks of a historian to fulfill a political mission.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://www.questia.com/library/120040798/the-clash-within-democracy-religious-violence|title=The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future.|last=Nussbaum|first=Martha Craven|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780674030596|oclc=1006798430}}</ref> Recalling an interview, wherein she asked Jain about historiographic uncertainties faced whilst writing ''Medieval India'', Nussbaum noted her to have a strongly dogmatic persona who entirely lacked in any puzzlement or a sense of difficulty—two desirable traits in a good scholar.<ref name=":4" />
 
Nussbaum found Jain's ''Medieval India'' to poorly represent the complexity of the medieval period—a simple ideologically-based uni-dimensional war-narrative between the forces of good and evil, that did not highlight the tensions and internal conflicts between seemingly homogeneous groups.<ref name=":4" /> Yet she found her work to be a small "oasis of intelligence", subtlety and literacy, when contrasted with other publications of the NCERT series.<ref name=":4" />
 
She similarly faulted and criticized multiple aspects of Jain's review of [[Romila Thapar|Romila Thapar's]] ''Somanatha: Many Voices of a History'' and noted that the heavy dose of "dogmatic ideology" contained in it, made her serious points less convincing.<ref name=":4" />
 
Nussbaum noted that Jain's rebut to the criticisms of her works (by various leading scholars) had integrity.<ref name=":4" /> Whilst she often skipped the broader issues, Jain admitted to some of her errors and often produced secondary scholarly source(s) that had supported her writing, though the merit of the latter as an argument was debatable.<ref name=":4" /> She concluded that whilst Jain remained intellectually ahead of other right-wing historians and had genuine scholarly passions, she was inserted into the wrong domain by political forces and was compelled to produce a sub-standard work in a short time span.<ref name=":4" />
 
===Others===
Sociologist [[Nandini Sundar]] noted that the exactions of the [[Delhi Sultanate|Sultanate]] rulers and the [[Mughals]] were portrayed from an anti-Hindu perspective in Jain's ''Medieval India'' whilst their legacy contributions to the society, culture and polity were ignored.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sundar|first=Nandini|date=2004|title=Teaching to Hate: RSS' Pedagogical Programme|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=16|pages=1605–1612|issn=0012-9976|jstor=4414900|doi=10.1057/9781403980137_9}}</ref> She saw this as part of a broader pattern of state-induced [[historical negationism]] to suit the need of [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]].<ref name=":1" /> John Stratton Hawley of [[Columbia University]] found the book going against the grain in its treatment of the [[Bhakti movement]] in that she presented the movement as a response to [[Shankaracharya]]'s monism rather than to the egalitarian message of Islam.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/457858|title=A storm of songs. India and the idea of the Bhakti Movement.|last=Hawley|first=John Stratton|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780674187467|pages=38–40|chapter=The Bhakti Movement and Its Discontents|doi=10.4159/9780674425262|jstor=j.ctt1c84d6f|oclc=917361614|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9780674425262/9780674425262-004/9780674425262-004.xml}}</ref>


Professor Pralay Kanungo, of [[Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi|Jawaharlal Nehru University]], noted Jain's ''Rama and Ayodhya'' as a subtle and sophisticated work that can't be outright dismissed and managed to stand apart, when contrasted with the earlier propaganda attempts by Hindutva historians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://thebookreviewindia.org/alternative-narratives/|title=Alternative Narratives|website=The Book Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-11}}</ref> He noted that a majority of the book was devoted to attacking left-leaning anti-Hindutva historians and by cherry-picking random content from random sources coupled with stray extrapolations, she had managed to produce a useful compilation but not an authentic history.<ref name=":0" /> Kanungo also pointed out other significant errors including her rejecting of the established scholarly consensus about the existence of multiple versions of ''Ramayana''s et al.<ref name=":0" /> He also deemed Jain's ''Medieval India'' to be the sole face-saving volume in the entire NCERT history series, that was published by the newly elected NDA government.<ref name=":0" /> [[M. V. Kamath]] admired of the work as a fair history, which successfully challenged the ignorance espoused by "secular intellectuals" and "[[Jawaharlal Nehru University]] historians" on the locus.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rama & Ayodhya|url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/book-reviews/rama-ayodhya|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Free Press Journal|language=en}}</ref>
Similarly, sociologist [[Nandini Sundar]] found ''Medieval India'' to have portrayed the exactions of the [[Delhi Sultanate|Sultanate]] rulers and the [[Mughals]] as anti-Hindu acts; besides, all of their contributions to the social, cultural and political were ignored.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sundar|first=Nandini|date=2004|title=Teaching to Hate: RSS' Pedagogical Programme|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=16|pages=1605–1612|issn=0012-9976|jstor=4414900|doi=10.1057/9781403980137_9}}</ref> She saw this as part of a broader pattern of state-induced [[historical negationism]] to suit the need of [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]].<ref name=":1" /> John Stratton Hawley of [[Columbia University]] found the book to misrepresent the gensis of the [[Bhakti movement]] by presenting it as a response to [[Shankaracharya]]'s monism than to the egalitarian message of Islam.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/457858|title=A storm of songs. India and the idea of the Bhakti Movement.|last=Hawley|first=John Stratton|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780674187467|pages=38–40|chapter=The Bhakti Movement and Its Discontents|doi=10.4159/9780674425262|jstor=j.ctt1c84d6f|oclc=917361614|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9780674425262/9780674425262-004/9780674425262-004.xml}}</ref>


A review over the [[Indian Historical Review]] praised ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' as a well-researched and cogent magnum opus, that was thoroughly packed with facts, analysis and sources.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Singh|first=Swadesh|date=2017-06-01|title=Book Review: Meenakshi Jain, Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse|journal=Indian Historical Review|language=en|volume=44|issue=1|pages=151–153|doi=10.1177/0376983617694691|s2cid=148735989|issn=0376-9836}}</ref> Another review over [[Studies in World Christianity]] was positive as well.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mallampalli|first=Chandra|date=August 2018|title=Bok review|journal=Studies in World Christianity|language=en|volume=24|issue=2|pages=179–180|doi=10.3366/swc.2018.0222|issn=1354-9901}}</ref>
=== Works on Ayodhya dispute ===
Pralay Kanungo found Jain's ''Rama and Ayodhya'' (2013) to be a subtle and sophisticated work that managed to stand apart from the earlier ahistorical propaganda by Hindutva-leaning historians.<ref name=":0" /> Nonetheless, while by cherry-picking from random sources, she had managed to produce a useful compilation, which can be traced in many islamic historian's book questioning distortion of history by post independence leftist historians.<ref name=":0" />  


Professor Abhinav Prakash, of the University of Delhi, noted ''Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History'' to be a brilliant work.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-11-15|title=Where Did the Temples Go?|url=https://openthemagazine.com/cover-stories/where-did-the-temples-go/|access-date=2020-06-26|website=Open The Magazine|language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Award==
In 2020, President Kovind awarded the [[Padma Shri]] for her contribution in the field of Literature and Education.


== Works ==
== Works ==
===Books===
===Books===
* ''Congress Party, 1967-77: Role of Caste in Indian Politics'' (Vikas, 1991), {{ISBN|0706953193}}.
* ''Congress Party, 1967-77: Role of Caste in Indian Politics'' (Vikas, 1991), {{ISBN|0706953193}}.
* [https://archive.org/details/flawed-narratives-history-in-the-old-ncert-textbooks-of-satish-chandra-by-meenakshi-jain ''Flawed Narratives: History in the old NCERT Textbooks - A random survey of Satish Chandra’s “Medieval India''], NCERT 2000, by Meenakshi Jain
* ''Medieval India: A Textbook for Class XI'' ([[National Council of Educational Research and Training|NCERT]], 2002), {{ISBN|8174501711}}.
* ''Medieval India: A Textbook for Class XI'' ([[National Council of Educational Research and Training|NCERT]], 2002), {{ISBN|8174501711}}.
* ''Rajah-Moonje Pact: Documents On A Forgotten Chapter Of Indian History'' (with Devendra Svarupa, Low Price Publishers, 2007), {{ISBN|8184540787}}.
* ''Rajah-Moonje Pact: Documents On A Forgotten Chapter Of Indian History'' (with Devendra Svarupa, Low Price Publishers, 2007), {{ISBN|8184540787}}.
Line 58: Line 62:
* ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' (Aryan Books International, 2016), {{ISBN|8173055521}}
* ''Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse'' (Aryan Books International, 2016), {{ISBN|8173055521}}
* ''The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya'' (Aryan Books International, 2017), {{ISBN|8173055793}}.
* ''The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya'' (Aryan Books International, 2017), {{ISBN|8173055793}}.
* "Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History" (Aryan Books International, 2019), {{ISBN|8173056196}}.
* ''Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History'' (Aryan Books International, 2019), {{ISBN|8173056196}}.
* ''Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura'' (Aryan Books International, 2021), {{ISBN|8173056587}}
* ''The Hindus of Hindustan: A Civilizational Journey'' (Aryan Books International, 2023), {{ISBN|8173056811}}
* ''The British Makeover of India: Judicial and Other Indigenous Institutions Upturned'', (Aryan Books International, 2024){{ISBN|8173057044}}
* ''Vishwanath Rises and Rises: The Story of Eternal Kashi'' (Aryan Books International, 2024), {{ISBN|8173056994}}


===Selected articles===
===Selected articles===
Line 64: Line 72:
* "Backward Castes and Social Change in U. P. and Bihar" in ''Srinivas, Caste: Its 20th Century Avatar (2000)''.
* "Backward Castes and Social Change in U. P. and Bihar" in ''Srinivas, Caste: Its 20th Century Avatar (2000)''.
* A review of [[Romila Thapar]]'s ''Somanatha: Many Voices of a History'' over [[The Pioneer (India)]].<ref name="Somanathareview">{{cite news|url=http://hindureview.com/2004/04/20/review-romila-thapar%C2%92s-%C2%93somanatha-many-voices-history/|title=Review of Romila Thapar's "Somanatha, The Many Voices of a History"|author=Meenakshi Jain|date=21 March 2004|newspaper=The Pioneer|access-date=2014-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218044553/http://hindureview.com/2004/04/20/review-romila-thapar%C2%92s-%C2%93somanatha-many-voices-history/|archive-date=18 December 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* A review of [[Romila Thapar]]'s ''Somanatha: Many Voices of a History'' over [[The Pioneer (India)]].<ref name="Somanathareview">{{cite news|url=http://hindureview.com/2004/04/20/review-romila-thapar%C2%92s-%C2%93somanatha-many-voices-history/|title=Review of Romila Thapar's "Somanatha, The Many Voices of a History"|author=Meenakshi Jain|date=21 March 2004|newspaper=The Pioneer|access-date=2014-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218044553/http://hindureview.com/2004/04/20/review-romila-thapar%C2%92s-%C2%93somanatha-many-voices-history/|archive-date=18 December 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Jadunath Sarkar]]
* [[R. C. Majumdar]]
* [[Sita Ram Goel]]


== References ==
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links==
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Literature & Education}}
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Literature & Education}}


{{authority control}}
{{authority control}}
{{Commons category|Meenakshi Jain}}
{{Wikiquote}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Jain, Meenakshi}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jain, Meenakshi}}
Line 76: Line 93:
[[Category:Historians of India]]
[[Category:Historians of India]]
[[Category:Hindu revivalist writers]]
[[Category:Hindu revivalist writers]]
[[Category:University of Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:Delhi University alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Analysts of Ayodhya dispute]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian scientists]]
Line 88: Line 104:
[[Category:Women writers from Delhi]]
[[Category:Women writers from Delhi]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Delhi University]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature and education]]
[[Category:Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha]]

Latest revision as of 21:09, 24 December 2025


Meenakshi Jain
Meenakshi Jain in 2025
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Assumed office
21 July 2025
Nominated byDroupadi Murmu
Preceded byRakesh Sinha
ConstituencyNominated (Literature and Education)
Personal details
BornDelhi, India
Parent(s)
RelativesSunil Jain (brother)
Sandhya Jain (sister)
Alma materUniversity of Delhi (PhD)
OccupationHistorian, Writer, Political scientist
Known forSati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse
AwardsPadma Shri (2020)

Meenakshi Jain is an Indian political scientist and historian who served as an associate professor of history at Gargi College, Delhi. Her areas of research include cultural and religious developments in medieval and early modern India.[1][2] In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Government of India.[3] In 2020, she was conferred with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, for her work in the field of literature and education.[4]

Jain wrote Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse on the practice of Sati in colonial India and had also authored a school history textbook, Medieval India, for NCERT, which replaced a previous textbook co-authored by Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra et al.[5]

Meenakshi Jain was nominated to Rajya Sabha by President Droupadi Murmu on 12 July 2025.[6]

Early life and education[edit | edit source]

Meenakshi Jain is the daughter of journalist Girilal Jain, a former editor of The Times of India.[7] She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Delhi.[8] Her thesis on the social base and relations between caste and politics was published in 1991.[8]

Career[edit | edit source]

Jain is an associate professor of history at Gargi College, affiliated with the University of Delhi.[9] In December 2014, she was nominated as a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Indian government.[3] She is former Fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and currently Senior Fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).[2]

Her books include, Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples, The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya and Rama and Ayodhya.[10]

Reception[edit | edit source]

Medieval India (textbook)[edit | edit source]

Philosopher Martha Nussbaum noted Jain to be an amateur historian, who despite being trained as a sociologist, was inducted as a historian in service of a political mission.[11] Her Medieval India rendered the time-span through a monoscopic clash-of-civilizations narrative between the forces of good (Hindus) and evil (Muslims); the tensions and internal conflicts between these seemingly homogeneous groups were done away with.[11] Nonetheless, Nussbaum found her work to be a small "oasis of intelligence", subtlety and literacy, when contrasted with other publications of the new NCERT series, published under the aegis of the Hindu Nationalist government;[11] Professor Pralay Kanungo of Jawaharlal Nehru University reflected similar sentiments.[12]

Similarly, sociologist Nandini Sundar found Medieval India to have portrayed the exactions of the Sultanate rulers and the Mughals as anti-Hindu acts; besides, all of their contributions to the social, cultural and political were ignored.[13] She saw this as part of a broader pattern of state-induced historical negationism to suit the need of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.[13] John Stratton Hawley of Columbia University found the book to misrepresent the gensis of the Bhakti movement by presenting it as a response to Shankaracharya's monism than to the egalitarian message of Islam.[14]

Works on Ayodhya dispute[edit | edit source]

Pralay Kanungo found Jain's Rama and Ayodhya (2013) to be a subtle and sophisticated work that managed to stand apart from the earlier ahistorical propaganda by Hindutva-leaning historians.[12] Nonetheless, while by cherry-picking from random sources, she had managed to produce a useful compilation, which can be traced in many islamic historian's book questioning distortion of history by post independence leftist historians.[12]

Award[edit | edit source]

In 2020, President Kovind awarded the Padma Shri for her contribution in the field of Literature and Education.

Works[edit | edit source]

Books[edit | edit source]

  • Congress Party, 1967-77: Role of Caste in Indian Politics (Vikas, 1991), ISBN 0706953193.
  • Flawed Narratives: History in the old NCERT Textbooks - A random survey of Satish Chandra’s “Medieval India, NCERT 2000, by Meenakshi Jain
  • Medieval India: A Textbook for Class XI (NCERT, 2002), ISBN 8174501711.
  • Rajah-Moonje Pact: Documents On A Forgotten Chapter Of Indian History (with Devendra Svarupa, Low Price Publishers, 2007), ISBN 8184540787.
  • Parallel Pathways: Essays on Hindu-Muslim Relations, 1707-1857 (Konark Publishers, 2010), ISBN 9788122007831.
  • The India They Saw (co-edited with Sandhya Jain, 4 Volumes, Prabhat Prakashan), ISBN 8184301065, ISBN 8184301073, ISBN 8184301081, ISBN 818430109X.
  • Rama and Ayodhya (Aryan Books International, 2013), ISBN 8173054517.
  • Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse (Aryan Books International, 2016), ISBN 8173055521
  • The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya (Aryan Books International, 2017), ISBN 8173055793.
  • Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History (Aryan Books International, 2019), ISBN 8173056196.
  • Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura (Aryan Books International, 2021), ISBN 8173056587
  • The Hindus of Hindustan: A Civilizational Journey (Aryan Books International, 2023), ISBN 8173056811
  • The British Makeover of India: Judicial and Other Indigenous Institutions Upturned, (Aryan Books International, 2024)ISBN 8173057044
  • Vishwanath Rises and Rises: The Story of Eternal Kashi (Aryan Books International, 2024), ISBN 8173056994

Selected articles[edit | edit source]

  • "Congress 1967: Strategies of Mobilisation in D. A. Low" in The Indian National Congress Centenary Hindsights, 1988.
  • "Backward Castes and Social Change in U. P. and Bihar" in Srinivas, Caste: Its 20th Century Avatar (2000).
  • A review of Romila Thapar's Somanatha: Many Voices of a History over The Pioneer (India).[15]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "Who is Meenakshi Jain? Historian, author, and new Rajya Sabha nominee". Moneycontrol. 13 July 2025. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dr Meenakshi Jain IHCR.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Membership of the Indian Council of Historical Research" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  4. ↑ The Hindu Net Desk (26 January 2020). "Full list of 2020 Padma awardees". The Hindu.
  5. ↑ "Being proud of India's Hindu past is great, but worry about the present too". The Financial Express.
  6. ↑ "President Murmu nominates four to Rajya Sabha, including former Foreign Secretary Shringla, 26/11 prosecutor Nikam". The Hindu. 13 July 2025. Archived from the original on 13 July 2025. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
  7. ↑ Khushwant Singh, Biased view (Book review of The Hindu Phenomenon), India Today, 31 August 1994.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Srinivas, M. N. (14 October 2000). Caste: Its 20Th Century Avatar. Penguin UK. p. 313. ISBN 9789351187837.
  9. ↑ "Members of the Council" (PDF). INDIAN COUNCIL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  10. ↑ "From having legs hacked off to getting Rajya Sabha foothold: A Master's journey of grit". The Times of India. 14 July 2025. Archived from the original on 14 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Nussbaum, Martha Craven (2007). The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674030596. OCLC 1006798430.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Alternative Narratives". The Book Review. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Sundar, Nandini (2004). "Teaching to Hate: RSS' Pedagogical Programme". Economic and Political Weekly. 39 (16): 1605–1612. doi:10.1057/9781403980137_9. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 4414900.
  14. ↑ Hawley, John Stratton (2015). "The Bhakti Movement and Its Discontents". A storm of songs. India and the idea of the Bhakti Movement. Harvard University Press. pp. 38–40. doi:10.4159/9780674425262. ISBN 9780674187467. JSTOR j.ctt1c84d6f. OCLC 917361614.
  15. ↑ Meenakshi Jain (21 March 2004). "Review of Romila Thapar's "Somanatha, The Many Voices of a History"". The Pioneer. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.

External links[edit | edit source]

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meenakshi_Jain&oldid=451736"
Discover more