Grave errors in "5000 years of Indian history" chart including its timeline bar, appearing as top result in Google Image search

Last minor update on 10th Jan. 2023

This post is based on two recent Facebook posts of mine:

• 30th November 2022 post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0eoM8NMEWMbTwrchc2LpRaqe3QCZdtfZ3F99yi8wuoZtvz77216tyQ4TY4qyqPMNXl
• 11th Dec. 2022 post,  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0BvoxN5QobRBh6UzWwzwrTccT7uiao3M3XnLgoqjtuG54f7BTL3GPc8bRKiVsQ1LMl .

Around two weeks ago, in a limited audience (not public) Facebook post I came across a very flawed image claiming to show "5000 years of Indian History" which does not even mention Vijayanagara empire. Googling for the info. shows that this image seems to be shared publicly by lot of people. E.g. https://aimamedia.org/newsdetails.aspx?nid=80275 . That is quite tragic. I felt I should do my bit by putting up an initial Facebook public post (the 30th Nov. 2022 one). Key additional contents of that post are given below:

Perhaps as the image author is said to be from Ahmedabad (Gujarat presumably), the image may be said to be Indian history as viewed from Gujarat.

From a South Indian history point of view, the most glaring error seems to be no mention of Vijayanagara empire, giving the reader the very wrong impression that Delhi Sultanate and Mughal empire ruled over all of India (including South India) from "Sultanate era" time till Marathas competed with Sultans/Mughals for territory in India. In fact, significant parts of South India were not under sultanate rule when Gujarat was under sultanate rule. And some parts of Kerala like territory of former Travancore state never came under Sultanate/Mughal rule.

Another grave error, in my humble opinion, is the impression created by the label "East India Co. Rule" that East India Company ruled over all or most of India from 1757. That is very wrong. It is the Marathas who were the major power after Mughal empire declined after death of Aurangzeb in 1707. It is only in early 1800s, and surely in 1818 after the Third Anglo-Maratha war was won by the British, that most of India came under British rule (excluding Sikh kingdom which came under British rule only around 1850s).

That Vijayanagara empire finds no mention in this image shows how flawed this image is.

---- end extract from 30th Nov. 2022 Facebook post ----

Even though I had mentioned some of the main flaws in the chart in above post, I knew that was not enough to counter this wrong information. But my initial thoughts were that I had done enough on the matter especially as such a topic is sensitive in India. I wanted to move on to other stuff.

[On PC desktop, to open pic in larger resolution (if available), right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

However, I continued to feel quite disturbed that Google Image Search listed, as a top result, this chart with wrong information which also seems to be motivated to promote a false narrative about Indian history. Note that even Google Text Search usually lists top image results within first ten results and so this wrong data image pops up in Google Text search too, for the same term.

So I decided to invest the time in countering this wrong information with correct charts which I have shared in previous posts.

Now the last thing to be done in this matter was to put up a post showing through pictures using my correct data charts, why the "5000 years of Indian History" chart is wrong. And for that I have to also get into what seems to be the motivation for providing the false information, which is a sensitive topic. I was debating whether I should get into this or just stop at what I have done so far in providing 2nd millennium AD correct info. charts for Delhi city area and for Tamil Nadu.

Finally I decided to bite the bullet and put up this post on this sensitive matter.

Before I get into the main part of this post, I would like to say that this post is not anti-Sultanate. I simply want to counter wrong info. with correct info. I further would like to say that I often pray to Bhagavan Sri Shirdi Sai Baba who would say, "Allah Malik" (God is the Lord/owner) and "Sabka Maalik Ek" (The Lord/owner of all (irrespective of religion followed) is one), which I believe in. My life has been enriched by many Indian Muslims. I wish them well and pray to Allah for their well being.

Unfortunately the "5000 years of Indian History" chart seems to have an agenda of promoting Sultanate history in India by exaggeration and some falsehood. What most will focus on is the horizontal stacked timeline bar chart or graph at the bottom of the picture. This bar conveys the impression that (Islamic) Sultanates (and Mughals) dominated Indian history from 1000 AD to 2000 AD. 

It seems that the chart author has used history of Delhi area and/or perhaps other parts of North India, to create the 1000 AD to 2000 AD part of the bar chart, but wrongly stated that it is "Indian History"!

To illustrate that, first let us look at Delhi city area history and this flawed bar chart.

The timeline bar chart part of the flawed "5000 years of Indian History" picture is given below.

Going by the size and position of the Sultanate and Mughal bar-segments in it, the period of Sultanate rule seems to be from around 1026 AD to 1536 AD, followed by Mughal Sultanate rule from around 1536 AD to 1795 AD, after which it is British rule! But even for Delhi city area, this bar chart exaggerates period of Islamic Sultanate and Mughal rule! 

Please see below pic showing a stacked (or segmented) timeline bar chart / graph of ruler of Delhi city area from 1000 AD to 2000 AD, followed by bar segment in style followed by "5000 years of Indian History" but giving correct data, a compressed version of the correct data bar segment and finally the exaggerated or wrong data "5000 years of Indian History" bar segment.

The above picture clearly illustrates how the "5000 years of Indian History" bar segment exaggerates even Delhi city area Islamic ruler periods! First sultanate rule in Delhi started in 1192 (not 1026) and Mughals ceased to be a sovereign/independent power in Delhi in 1752.

The pic below shows how small a period of rule or major power status, Islamic sultanates had in Tamil Nadu as compared to Delhi city area. To focus on Sultanate periods, I have viewed most other kingdoms as non-Sultanates but kept British rule as separate bar.

The main chart shows correct period of Sultanate, British and Non-Sultanate ruler/major power in Tamil Nadu in 2nd millennium AD. 

The next bar is a compressed version of the main chart showing correct period of Sultanate, British and Non-Sultanate ruler/major power in Tamil Nadu in 2nd millennium AD.

This is followed by the "5000 years of Indian History" bar segment whose data shows far higher periods of Islamic Sultanate and Mughal rule than the correct data for Tamil Nadu. Note that Mughal empire never had around or over 50% territory of Tamil Nadu and so does not get mentioned in the correct data chart.

Whew! I am glad that this rather sensitive work has got finished. 

Sabka Maalik Ek - The Lord of all (religions) is one.

Allah Maalik, Easwar Maalik, Yesu Maalik - Allah is the Lord, Easwar is the Lord, Yesu (Jesus) is the Lord.

Jai Sai Ram!

==========================

P.S. Usually my blog posts get indexed by Google search. So there is a possiblity, I repeat, only a possibility, that if and when this blog post gets indexed, Google Image Search for "5000 years of Indian History" will list an image from this post, say towards the end of the first ten results. If that happens then people who search for such stuff and who look beyond top 2 or 3 results would see this criticism post on it. That would be a good achievement, IMHO.