"There Is Nothing Shameful About Being a Medieval Indian"

"One of the ways in which the British justified the imposition of colonial rule early in the nineteenth century was to pitch the notion of their new western modernity against an alleged pre-colonial barbarity. The picture of medieval India, especially under Muslim rulers, as brutal, barbarous, dark-age was assiduously built by the British as one of the strategies for the legitimation of colonial rule in India, portrayed as meant for liberating and civilising the Hindus...

India on the eve of colonial conquest in the 18th century was one of the most vibrant economies with a highly skilled population, and an international balance of payment heavily-loaded in its favour. In knowledge-production and the culture of civility, Indian cities could compete with the best in the world, even when they might not have been that smart in the contemporary sense.

That pre-colonial, early modern world was systematically destroyed within a few years with new weapons and a new language of politics facilitating and justifying brutal conquests as well as severe exploitation."
http://thewire.in/2015/08/29/there-is-nothing-shameful-about-being-a-medieval-indian-9517/

I feel like this should be much longer, but just its title is an important balm to ongoing wounds.

Related: speech for Indian reparations