Contested authenticities

Abstract

The image of the past is redefined by communities within a particular cultural context. The future of the past does not flow to a fixed end-point; on the contrary it betrays an anxious and continuous negotiation with the present. The past therefore becomes an invention suited to immediate concerns. In a multicultural country such as India the past lends itself to many interpretations: examples discussed in this miniature article are the visionary geography of Garhwal, the reinvention of the Vailankanni myth and the propagation of the Somnath agenda. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd.