Shakuntala and Somanatha

In this section there is a discussion on two books written by Thapar, Shakuntala and Somanatha. She explains what made her choose these two subjects which, in a sense, suggest both a similar and yet a somewhat dissimilar narrative strategy. The story of Shakuntala is fictional yet it is a story that is frequently rewritten in history but incorporating some small changes. Thapar relates the changes in the drama to their historical context. She also shows how the projection of the central character in the story alters over time and is perceived differently both across time and by recourse to different cultural attributes. Her book on Somanatha takes the central historical event and examines how it is viewed in a variety of sources from variant perspectives. Some describe it in different ways whereas others do not refer to it despite writing about other events at Somanatha. The methods encapsulated in both these books are suggestive of new ways of looking at the past. This can also be seen in Thapar’s substantial work on how people in the past looked at their own past and how this illumines our understanding of that past.