'Our history books tell invaders' stories, not our heroes': Amish Tripathi at his book launch

Amish Tripathi

Author Amish Tripathi on Friday said Indian history textbooks largely narrate the stories of invaders who attacked and ruled the country for centuries, but fail to highlight the courage and sacrifice of our ancestors who fought to preserve the nation's civilisation and identity.

Tripathi, who launched his latest book "Chola Tigers" at a popular roadside bookstall run by Anand Solanki in Pune Cantonment for the past 35 years, said his work aims to bring to light the forgotten heroes of India's past.

"What is taught in our history textbooks is the story of invaders -- Turks, Arabs, Persians, French, British, Portuguese -- who attacked and ruled us for many centuries. But we are not told about our ancestors who fought those invaders, which is why we are still alive," Tripathi told PTI at the event.

The author said "Chola Tigers", the second book in his Indic Chronicles series after "The Legend of Suheldev", narrates the tale of an assassination squad sent by Emperor Rajendra Chola to Ghazni to punish and kill Mahmud of Ghazni for the desecration of the Somnath temple.

He deliberately chose to launch his book at Solanki's open-air store instead of a five-star venue to support local booksellers, Tripathi said.

"Many bookstores are under threat because of online sales. While some have revived, several are still struggling. New authors only get discovered through bookstores. That's why I prefer launching my books here -- it's good for the industry and keeps the reading culture alive," he said.

Praising Solanki's store, which began as a small pavement stall and has since become a landmark for readers, Tripathi said, "Every time I come here, the experience is new and filled with warmth. They welcome me in the traditional Indian way -- with pagdi, tika and meetha. It's beautiful." Speaking about the impact of artificial intelligence on writing, Tripathi said, "I tested AI by asking it to write in my style, and what it came up with was utter crap. So, thank God, I still have a job! But we'll all have to adapt to new technology; you can't un-invent what's already been invented." He also described Pune as the cultural capital of Maharashtra and said the state, as it becomes wealthier, should take pride in sharing its Marathi culture globally.

"Marathi culture is now being celebrated even in popular spaces. With Maharashtra poised to become a trillion-dollar economy, we should take our culture across the world, and Pune can and should aspire to lead that," he said.

Solanki said his father, Kanhaiyalal Solanki, started the book-selling business in 1989 with a small collection of books.

"Today, it has been 35 years since we started this stall. Over the years, it has been visited by numerous authors and noted novelists such as Jeffrey Archer, Ashwin Sanghi, Amish Tripathi, Chetan Bhagat, Vikram Sampath, and Kabir Bedi, to name a few, who have launched their books here," he said.