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Vikram Sampath

January 01, 1970

Vikram Sampath FRHistS is an Indian scholar and popular historian who is noted for writing biographies of Gauhar Jaan and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Sampath was born in Karnataka. After academic training in engineering, mathematics, and finance, he worked in banking. In 2008, he published a history of the Wadiyar Dynasty of Mysore—a childhood fascination. In 2012, he published a biography of Gauhar Jaan, which received critical acclaim and won the Yuva Puraskar in English literature from Sahitya Akademi. The next year, Sampath published a biography of S. Balachander, which also garnered positive reviews.

In 2013, Sampath left his job at Hewlett-Packard to begin a PhD in ethnomusicology and history at the University of Queensland, Australia. In 2019 and 2021, he wrote a two-part biography of Savarkar that received praise for its thorough detail but was criticised for its uncritical treatment of the subject. In September 2021, Sampath was selected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

In February 2022, multiple academics accused Sampath of plagiarism, providing examples of near-identical reproduction of other authors' works in his corpus; Sampath denied the allegations and initiated a lawsuit.

Early life and education

Vikram Sampath's father Sampath Srinivasan was a Tamil banker; his mother Nagamani Sampath was a Marathi housewife.[1][2][3] He was raised in Bangalore, and completed his schooling at Sri Aurobindo Memorial School and Bishop Cotton Boys' School.[2]

Sampath was trained in Carnatic music since the age of five; among his teachers were Jayanthi Kumaresh and Bombay Jayashri.[4][5] Sampath graduated from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) with a dual degree in electronics engineering and a master's degree in mathematics.[2][6] Against the wishes of his professors, who wanted Sampath to pursue a PhD in topology, he shifted to finance and obtained an MBA from S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research.[2] In October 2017, Sampath received a doctorate in ethnomusicology and history from the School of Music at University of Queensland, Australia.[a]

Career

Sampath worked at GE Capital in Gurgaon for about eight months until December 2005, then switched to Citibank's Global Decision Management Team at Bangalore, where he worked until March 2008.[7] He went on to join Hewlett-Packard, where he stayed until July 2013.[7]

Sampath is a former senior fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library,[clarification needed] and is the founder and director of Bangalore Lit Fest and ZEE Group's ARTH: A Culture Fest.[7] In February 2014, Sampath was appointed for a three-year tenure as the Executive Director of the Bangalore regional center of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, from which he resigned in August 2015 for personal reasons.[8] The same year, he also resigned from Bangalore Lit Fest after invited authors disagreed with his characterization of the Indian writers protest against government silence on violence and declined to take part in the festival.[9] President Pranab Mukherjee selected Sampath as a writer-in-residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2015.[10]

Works and reception

Wadiyar dynasty

Vikram Sampath's first book, a history of the Wadiyar dynasty of Mysore, was published in 2008 by Rupa Publications, a topic that had captivated him since reading the "humiliating portrayal" of Wadiyars in The Sword of Tipu Sultan, and a "television show's misrepresentation of a particular era of the dynasty" provided the impetus to explore the subject.[1][11] Sampath was inspired by the works of Arun Shourie and Ramachandra Guha but said his work is not a "historian's point-of-view"; the lack of an academic training coupled with a disinclination to either Marxism or Hindu Nationalism benefitted him.[12][13][14] Suryanath U. Kamath proof-read the work.[12]

A review in The Hindu Literary Review noted the work to be unprecedented for the span of time it chronicles; the reviewer, however, said they found Sampath's "keenness on chronicling details rather than harnessing them for a rigorous academic engagement with forces that shape history" disappointing.[15] His methodology—mundane documentation of all sides to a story absent any historical analysis—was criticized as were his "totally inane" observations.[15] Pavitra Jayaraman's review in Mint found the work to be a "page-turner" that attests to the years of work Sampath had put in the project.[16] Another review in the Business Standard found Sampath to have surpassed all other works produced on similar themes in a non-academic context; he made excellent use of the archives to draft a "riveting" narrative.[17]

Gauhar Jaan

In 2012, Sampath published a biography of Gauhar Jaan, who was India's first classical musician to record on the gramophone. He had chanced upon Jaan in the Royal Archives of Mysore while researching for the previous book.[18][b]

All reviewers commended Sampath's meticulous archival work despite the scarcity of sources on figures like Jaan. Ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel found Sampath to have had sketched an "informative and evocative portrait" of Jaan and her politico-cultural milieu despite a non-scholarly approach that lacks citations; his work was hailed as a groundbreaking contribution to studies of Hindustani music.[19] Partha Chatterjee, reviewing for Frontline, found his portrayal of Jaan "an unusual and beautiful book".[20]

Harbans Singh, reviewing for The Tribune, praised Sampath's non-judgmental scholarship and forceful recreation of the cultural world inhabited by Jaan.[21] The Hindu Literary Review admired Sampath's nuanced chronicling of the dichotomies that arose with regimes of princely modernity.[22] Sadanand Menon, reviewing for Outlook, found the book be filled with a "glut of [pedantic and tiresome] detail"; the work was held to be "at times tiresome, at others ingenuous in its amateurish attempts at reconstructing history".[18]

The book has been translated into Hindi[23] and Marathi.[24] It has also been adapted into an eponymous play by Lillette Dubey and Mahesh Dattani.[25][26] Ashutosh Gowarikar acquired film rights for the book in 2017.[27]

Digital music archive

While working on the book, Sampath set up a private, non-profit trust in collaboration with Manipal University to digitize vintage gramophone recordings and make them freely accessible to the public, with funding from T. V. Mohandas Pai.[5][28] In 2015, Sampath donated the collection to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.[29] Since 2013,[30] much of the archive has been accessible for free on SoundCloud.[31] As of 2021, the archive includes almost 15,000 records, 7,000 of which had been digitized.[31]

S. Balachander

Sampath's third book, which was published in 2013, narrates the life of Veena maestro S. Balachander.[32] Balachander was a controversial figure; Sampath received hate mail[33] but he was extensively helped by Balachander's widow and family during his research.[4] Overall, Sampath found Balachander to be a much-misunderstood and maligned genius.

T. M. Krishna found Sampath's work to be "engaging" and provides "a rare insight into one of the most enigmatic figures in Indian performing art". According to Krishna, "the author has tried to create a social and musical context for the reader, sometimes this intrudes into Balachander's story".[34] Krishna also noted errors on the musical history of South India.[34] A review in Frontline commended Sampath for situating a well-researched, detailed and objective biography of an enigmatic figure within the broader interplays of Carnatic music.[35] The book has been translated into Tamil.[36]

V. D. Savarkar

Sampath's fourth book is a biography of V. D. Savarkar that was published by Penguin Books in two parts in 2019 and 2021.[37] He stated he was motivated by the lack of a comprehensive biography of Savarkar despite his strong presence in the Indian political discourse for decades.[citation needed]

Janaki Bakhle, an associate professor of Indian history at University of California, Berkeley who reviewed the volumes for India Today, noted despite meticulous and thorough research, Sampath's contribution is wholly uncritical, and he accepts every primary source at face value; Bakhle criticised Sampath's interpretation of concurrent historical events as non-objective and lacking in updates from relevant scholarship.[38] Reviewing for Open, popular historian Manu S. Pillai voiced similar concerns; he praised Sampath's meticulous research and his persuasive case of Savarkar as a martyr who had sacrificed his youth for the cause of nation but criticised his methodologies, especially the uncritical acceptance of Savarkar's self-laudatory memoirs, and Sampath was held to be an unobjective biographer.[39]

Madhav Khosla, professor of Political Science at Columbia Law School who reviewed the work for Hindustan Times, commended the detailed narrative but found Sampath's treatment of Savarkar's extremist views and his relationship with the British government less "thoughtful" when compared to another contemporary biography by Vaibhav Purandare.[40] P. A. Krishnan, reviewing for Outlook, found the work to be an elaborate but sympathetic biography.[41] Salil Tripathi, reviewing for Mint, found Sampath's choice of language and analyses to "give away" his obvious bias despite the façade of neutrality; particular attention was drawn to the cavalier descriptions of any massacre perpetrated by Muslims as "genocides".[42]

In contrast, Swati Parashar, a professor at the University of Gothenburg who reviewed the volumes for The Hindu, called the comprehensive treatment of Savarkar a "must-read", admiring how he brought out "the contradictions, complexities and complicities" that made Savarkar.[43] Reviewing for The Telegraph, TCA Raghavan described the book as "a straightforward, no-fuss narrative without hyperbole and hero worship".[44]

Baul

In 2022, Sampath, composer Ricky Kej and scholar Rajib Sarma produced a documentary film titled Who is Baul about the mystical Baul tradition of Bengal; it was directed by Sairam Sagiraju.[45][46]

Bravehearts of Bharat

Sampath's Bravehearts of Bharat: Vignettes from Indian History, published in 2022, is an anthology of 15 biographies of "under-appreciated civilisational warriors".[47] Sampath claimed that among his goals was to shift the "Delhi-centric" perspective of Indian historiography; among those included were Lachit Barphukan, Chand Bibi, and Lalitaditya Muktapida.[48]

Shashi Warrier, reviewing the work for The Asian Age, praised the author's selection of figures from a millennia-long span cutting across religion, profession, and gender and found his narration commendable; however, he took issue with the word "civilization", and further found Sampath's presentation of Lalitaditya non-critical and unconvincing.[49]

Waiting for Shiva: Unearthing the Truth of Kashi’s Gyan Vapi

In 2024, the book Waiting for Shiva: Unearthing the Truth of Kashi’s Gyan Vapi by him was launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at Pradhan Mantri Museum and Library auditorium. The book is a comprehensive work that combines historical, religious, archaeological, and legal perspectives on the Hindu reclamation efforts in Varanasi. Sampath draws parallels between Hindu devotion to Shiva and the Nandi bull's anticipation of darshan in temples. He criticizes historians for ignoring India's deep cultural connection.[50]

Reception

Honors

For his book on Gauhar Jaan, Sampath was awarded the first Yuva Puraskar in English literature by Sahitya Akademi, India,[51] and the Excellence in Historical Research Award by Association for Recorded Sound Collections.[52] Sampath was also accorded with a visiting fellowship by Berlin Institute for Advanced Study. In September 2021, he was selected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.[53][c]

Critics and allegations

In a letter to the president of the Royal Historical Society dated 11 February 2022, Audrey Truschke, Rohit Chopra,[d] and Ananya Chakravarti[e] accused Sampath of plagiarism and requested Sampath's membership be reviewed and his scholarship be thoroughly examined.[54][55]

The letter includes as examples sections from a 2017 publication by Sampath, which lacked explicit attribution and were copied with minimal paraphrasing from works of Vinayak Chaturvedi and Janaki Bakhle. They also cited an example from his biography of Savarkar, in which a paragraph was nearly identical to one in an undergraduate student thesis. It was later supplemented with more examples of identical reproduction from the works of Chaturvedi and R.C. Majumdar.[54] According to the letter, plagiarism detection software had found about 50% of the text in the 2017 publication was plagiarised.[54][f] Chaturvedi expressed his disappointment at Sampath's lack of ethical standards;[54][57] Bakhle requested Sampath offer a public apology for unequivocal plagiarism and retract the publication.[58][g]

Sampath rejected the allegations and filed a defamation suit in Delhi High Court seeking costs of ₹two crore (271,000 USD).[54] He stated the 2017 publication is the transcript of a speech in which he had properly included appropriate attribution, and that the sources remain cited in the bibliography section. The biography paragraph is similar due to dependence on a common source.[54] In response, the complaining authors said referencing a publication is not a free pass to reproduce content;[54] Bakhle also noted the implausibility of numerous footnotes in any speech.[58] None of the complainants except Chakravarti submitted to the jurisdiction of the Court. On the first hearing, an interim order was passed restraining Truschke and others from publishing the letter or any other defamatory material;[59] a week later and again in May, the court ordered Twitter to remove multiple tweets to such effect Truschke had published despite the order.[60][61]

Notes

  1. ^ The thesis is titled "Indian classical music and the gramophone (c. 1900-1930): A socio-cultural, historical, and musical analysis of the Gramophone Company's Indian recording expeditions".
  2. ^ Sampath spotted some letters from Jaan, addressed to the Mysore Government with pleas to not slash her salary.
  3. ^ Apart from historians in academia, members include "government historians, broadcasters, film-makers, creative writers, biographers, public historians, curators, publishers, journalists and editors, and academic librarians." They must have made an "original contribution to historical scholarship, typically through the authorship of a book, a body of scholarly work similar in scale and impact to a book, the organisation of exhibitions and conferences, the editing of journals, and other works of diffusion and dissemination grounded in historical research".
  4. ^ Chopra is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Santa Clara University. He has published on the intersections of Hindu nationalism and media.
  5. ^ Chakravarti is an Associate Professor of History at Georgetown University. She has published on the histories of religion in South Asia.
  6. ^ They also claimed to have come across other similar instances in Sampath's corpus of work.[54] Shortly after, Truschke published an appendix highlighting similar issues in his two-volume biography of Savarkar (2019; 2021).[56] Passages were minimally paraphrased from works of S. Kamra, I. J. Catanch, M. Malgonkar, R. C. Majumdar, and K. Maclean.[56]
  7. ^ Bakhle's support came about a week after the publication of the accusations.[58] Sampath had argued, including in his representation to the Delhi High Court, Bakhle had reviewed his biography of Savarkar without any adverse comments about plagiarism, and she thus did not share the concerns of the letter.[58]

References

  1. ^ a b (PDF). Deccan Herald. 5 April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d - Kumar, Smita Balram. Jade.
  3. ^ Sampath, Vikram (2023). "Acknowledgements". Indian Classical Music and the Gramophone, 1900–1930. SEMPRE Studies in The Psychology of Music. Routledge. pp. xiii. doi:10.4324/9780367822026. ISBN 978-0-367-42132-8. S2CID 249139177.
  4. ^ a b Gautam, Savitha (19 January 2012). . The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b . Tehelka. 25 February 2012. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Dr. Vikram Sampath". The Times of India. 26 November 2019. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Sampath, Vikram. "LinkedIn CV". LinkedIn. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  8. ^ "All for a sign". Bangalore Mirror. 9 August 2015. from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  9. ^ Mallya, Vinutha. "How Vikram Sampath Played Victim to the "Tolerance Mafia" at the BLF This Year". The Caravan. from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  10. ^ "This is the next generation of intellectuals in India". ThePrint. 27 December 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  11. ^ . Deccan Herald. 7 March 2008. Archived from the original on 1 April 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  12. ^ a b Murthy, Neeraja (12 July 2008). (PDF). The Hindu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2021.
  13. ^ . The Hindu. 31 March 2008. Archived from the original on 1 April 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  14. ^ Chandra, Vaishalli (12 March 2008). (PDF). Bangalore Mirror. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2021.
  15. ^ a b Bageshree, S. (1 June 2009). . The Hindu : Literary Review. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009.
  16. ^ Jayaraman, Pavitra (29 March 2008). "Beautiful south". Mint. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  17. ^ Sankar, Anand (1 April 2010). . Business Standard. Archived from the original on 1 April 2010.
  18. ^ a b "Cascade Of Silk". outlookindia.com/. 5 February 2022. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.(subscription required)
  19. ^ Manuel, Peter (2012). "Review of "My Name is Gauhar Jan!": The Life and Times of a Musician". Ethnomusicology. 56 (1): 146–150. doi:10.5406/ethnomusicology.56.1.0146. ISSN 0014-1836. JSTOR 10.5406/ethnomusicology.56.1.0146. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  20. ^ Chatterjee, Partha (17 June 2010). "Poignant notes". Frontline. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  21. ^ "The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum". www.tribuneindia.com. from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  22. ^ . The Hindu: Book Review. 5 August 2011. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  23. ^ "Hindi translation of 'Mera Naam Gauhar Jaan Hai' launched". Lokmat Times. Indo-Asian News Service. 29 March 2022. from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  24. ^ Bari, Prachi (22 December 2017). "Pune's Sujata Deshmukh bags Sahitya Akademi award for best translation". Hindustan Times. Pune News. from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  25. ^ "Gauhar, the fall of a star". The Hindu. 12 November 2016. from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  26. ^ Govind, Ranjani (16 March 2016). "A woman of her times". The Hindu. from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  27. ^ Govind, Ranjani (4 April 2017). "Gauhar Jaan to be brought to life on celluloid". The Hindu. from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  28. ^ "Afternoon raga". www.telegraphindia.com. from the original on 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  29. ^ Kumar, Shyama Krishna (8 April 2015). "Library with Rare Records a Hit". The New Indian Express. from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  30. ^ Nair, Malini (1 August 2013). "Vikram Sampath: Indian music archive goes online". The Times of India. from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  31. ^ a b Mavad, Asra (14 July 2021). "Wondering what to do with old gramophone records?". Deccan Herald. from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  32. ^ Ganesh, Deepa (5 March 2012). "It's more than the melody". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  33. ^ Aravind, Indulekha (10 March 2012). "'Biographies can really drain you'". Business Standard India. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  34. ^ a b Krishna, T. M. "A rare insight into the life and art of a musical maestro". India Today. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  35. ^ Chatterjee, Partha (19 April 2012). "Versatile genius". Frontline. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  36. ^ Balasubramanian, V. (11 April 2013). "The wizard of the veena". The Hindu. from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  37. ^ Parashar, Swati (28 August 2021). "'Savarkar: A Contested Legacy, 1924–1966' review: Hindutva's biggest ideologue". The Hindu. from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  38. ^ Bakhle, Janaki (26 September 2019). "The missing pieces | Books". India Today. from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  39. ^ Pillai, Manu S (27 September 2019). "In search of the real Savarkar". Open The Magazine. from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  40. ^ Khosla, Madhav (29 November 2019). "Review: Books on VD Savarkar by Vikram Sampath and Vaibhav Purandare". Hindustan Times. from the original on 11 May 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  41. ^ Krishnan, P.A. (4 November 2019). "Pro Patria Mori Meets Fire-And-Brimstone". Outlook India. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2020.(subscription required)
  42. ^ "Savarkar, the patriot with tunnel vision". Mintlounge. 30 September 2021. from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  43. ^ Parashar, Swati (28 August 2021). "'Savarkar: A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966' review: Hindutva's biggest ideologue". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  44. ^ Raghavan, TCA Srinivasa (30 September 2019). "The Savarkar revival". The Telegraph. from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  45. ^ Prasad, Sanath (16 March 2021). "'Baul'ed over". The New Indian Express. from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  46. ^ Sudevan, Praveen (19 April 2021). "'Who is Baul?' delves into the philosophy of Bengal's musical mystics". The Hindu. from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  47. ^ "New book challenges 'mainstream' Indian history, brings to fore stories of 15 unsung heroes". ThePrint. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  48. ^ Biswas, Tunir (15 November 2022). "Documenting the undocumented". Indulge. The New Indian Express. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  49. ^ "Book Review | Folk heroes take precedence over icons, wording of title still curious". The Asian Age. 11 December 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  50. ^ Kissu, Sagrika (5 March 2024). "Vikram Sampath book launch ticked many boxes: Shiva, Aurangzeb, Hindu resilience, bias, Nehru". ThePrint. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  51. ^ Bagchi, Shrabonti (15 February 2012). "Yuva Puraskar for Bangalore author". The Times of India. from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  52. ^ "Vikram Sampath". Penguin Random House India. from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  53. ^ "281 new Fellows & Members elected to the Society | RHS". royalhistsoc.org. from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  54. ^ a b c d e f g h "Savarkar Biographer Vikram Sampath Accused of Plagiarism, Historians Say Others' Work Not Cited Fairly". The Wire. 14 February 2022. from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  55. ^ "Vikram Sampath: The literary start of the right-wing". Deccan Herald. 27 February 2022. from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  56. ^ a b Audrey Truschke [@AudreyTruschke] (17 February 2022). "Additional examples of Vikram Sampath's plagiarism" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  57. ^ Chaturvedi, Vinayak (24 February 2022). "Would VD Savarkar have condoned plagiarism?". Scroll.in. from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  58. ^ a b c d "'Vikram Sampath Is Claiming My Ideas, Words as His Own': Historian Janaki Bakhle on Savarkar Author". The Wire. from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  59. ^ Thapliyal, Nupur (18 February 2022). "Delhi High Court Restrains Historian Audrey Truschke & Others From Publishing Defamatory Material Against Vikram Sampath". www.livelaw.in. from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  60. ^ Jha, Prashant (24 February 2022). "Delhi High Court directs Twitter to take down five tweets of Audrey Truschke against Vikram Sampath". Bar and Bench - Indian Legal news. from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  61. ^ Thapliyal, Nupur (4 May 2022). ""Defamatory": Delhi High Court Directs Twitter To Take Down 5 More Tweets Posted By Historian Audrey Truschke Against Vikram Sampath". www.livelaw.in. from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2022.

Further reading

  • Bhattacharya, Akash (13 November 2021). "How historian Vikram Sampath uses decolonisation rhetoric to make Hindu domination sound reasonable". Scroll.in.
  • D'Souza, Rohan (20 October 2021). "The Risks of Looking at India's History Through the Eyes of Pseudo-Historians". The Wire (India).

January 01, 1970
vikram, sampath, frhists, indian, scholar, popular, historian, noted, writing, biographies, gauhar, jaan, vinayak, damodar, savarkar, frhistsbornbangalore, indiaalma, materbits, pilani, electrical, mathematics, jain, university, queensland, ethnomusicology, hi. Vikram Sampath FRHistS is an Indian scholar and popular historian who is noted for writing biographies of Gauhar Jaan and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vikram SampathFRHistSBornBangalore IndiaAlma materBITS Pilani BE Electrical MSc Mathematics SP Jain MBA University of Queensland PhD Ethnomusicology and History Occupation s Popular historian columnist former financial analystNotable workSavarkarAwardsSahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2011 Sampath was born in Karnataka After academic training in engineering mathematics and finance he worked in banking In 2008 he published a history of the Wadiyar Dynasty of Mysore a childhood fascination In 2012 he published a biography of Gauhar Jaan which received critical acclaim and won the Yuva Puraskar in English literature from Sahitya Akademi The next year Sampath published a biography of S Balachander which also garnered positive reviews In 2013 Sampath left his job at Hewlett Packard to begin a PhD in ethnomusicology and history at the University of Queensland Australia In 2019 and 2021 he wrote a two part biography of Savarkar that received praise for its thorough detail but was criticised for its uncritical treatment of the subject In September 2021 Sampath was selected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society In February 2022 multiple academics accused Sampath of plagiarism providing examples of near identical reproduction of other authors works in his corpus Sampath denied the allegations and initiated a lawsuit Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Works and reception 3 1 Wadiyar dynasty 3 2 Gauhar Jaan 3 2 1 Digital music archive 3 3 S Balachander 3 4 V D Savarkar 3 5 Baul 3 6 Bravehearts of Bharat 3 7 Waiting for Shiva Unearthing the Truth of Kashi s Gyan Vapi 4 Reception 4 1 Honors 4 2 Critics and allegations 5 Notes 6 References 7 Further readingEarly life and educationVikram Sampath s father Sampath Srinivasan was a Tamil banker his mother Nagamani Sampath was a Marathi housewife 1 2 3 He was raised in Bangalore and completed his schooling at Sri Aurobindo Memorial School and Bishop Cotton Boys School 2 Sampath was trained in Carnatic music since the age of five among his teachers were Jayanthi Kumaresh and Bombay Jayashri 4 5 Sampath graduated from Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani BITS Pilani with a dual degree in electronics engineering and a master s degree in mathematics 2 6 Against the wishes of his professors who wanted Sampath to pursue a PhD in topology he shifted to finance and obtained an MBA from S P Jain Institute of Management and Research 2 In October 2017 Sampath received a doctorate in ethnomusicology and history from the School of Music at University of Queensland Australia a CareerSampath worked at GE Capital in Gurgaon for about eight months until December 2005 then switched to Citibank s Global Decision Management Team at Bangalore where he worked until March 2008 7 He went on to join Hewlett Packard where he stayed until July 2013 7 Sampath is a former senior fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum amp Library clarification needed and is the founder and director of Bangalore Lit Fest and ZEE Group s ARTH A Culture Fest 7 In February 2014 Sampath was appointed for a three year tenure as the Executive Director of the Bangalore regional center of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts from which he resigned in August 2015 for personal reasons 8 The same year he also resigned from Bangalore Lit Fest after invited authors disagreed with his characterization of the Indian writers protest against government silence on violence and declined to take part in the festival 9 President Pranab Mukherjee selected Sampath as a writer in residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2015 10 Works and receptionWadiyar dynasty Vikram Sampath s first book a history of the Wadiyar dynasty of Mysore was published in 2008 by Rupa Publications a topic that had captivated him since reading the humiliating portrayal of Wadiyars in The Sword of Tipu Sultan and a television show s misrepresentation of a particular era of the dynasty provided the impetus to explore the subject 1 11 Sampath was inspired by the works of Arun Shourie and Ramachandra Guha but said his work is not a historian s point of view the lack of an academic training coupled with a disinclination to either Marxism or Hindu Nationalism benefitted him 12 13 14 Suryanath U Kamath proof read the work 12 A review in The Hindu Literary Review noted the work to be unprecedented for the span of time it chronicles the reviewer however said they found Sampath s keenness on chronicling details rather than harnessing them for a rigorous academic engagement with forces that shape history disappointing 15 His methodology mundane documentation of all sides to a story absent any historical analysis was criticized as were his totally inane observations 15 Pavitra Jayaraman s review in Mint found the work to be a page turner that attests to the years of work Sampath had put in the project 16 Another review in the Business Standard found Sampath to have surpassed all other works produced on similar themes in a non academic context he made excellent use of the archives to draft a riveting narrative 17 Gauhar Jaan In 2012 Sampath published a biography of Gauhar Jaan who was India s first classical musician to record on the gramophone He had chanced upon Jaan in the Royal Archives of Mysore while researching for the previous book 18 b All reviewers commended Sampath s meticulous archival work despite the scarcity of sources on figures like Jaan Ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel found Sampath to have had sketched an informative and evocative portrait of Jaan and her politico cultural milieu despite a non scholarly approach that lacks citations his work was hailed as a groundbreaking contribution to studies of Hindustani music 19 Partha Chatterjee reviewing for Frontline found his portrayal of Jaan an unusual and beautiful book 20 Harbans Singh reviewing for The Tribune praised Sampath s non judgmental scholarship and forceful recreation of the cultural world inhabited by Jaan 21 The Hindu Literary Review admired Sampath s nuanced chronicling of the dichotomies that arose with regimes of princely modernity 22 Sadanand Menon reviewing for Outlook found the book be filled with a glut of pedantic and tiresome detail the work was held to be at times tiresome at others ingenuous in its amateurish attempts at reconstructing history 18 The book has been translated into Hindi 23 and Marathi 24 It has also been adapted into an eponymous play by Lillette Dubey and Mahesh Dattani 25 26 Ashutosh Gowarikar acquired film rights for the book in 2017 27 Digital music archive While working on the book Sampath set up a private non profit trust in collaboration with Manipal University to digitize vintage gramophone recordings and make them freely accessible to the public with funding from T V Mohandas Pai 5 28 In 2015 Sampath donated the collection to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts 29 Since 2013 30 much of the archive has been accessible for free on SoundCloud 31 As of 2021 the archive includes almost 15 000 records 7 000 of which had been digitized 31 S Balachander Sampath s third book which was published in 2013 narrates the life of Veena maestro S Balachander 32 Balachander was a controversial figure Sampath received hate mail 33 but he was extensively helped by Balachander s widow and family during his research 4 Overall Sampath found Balachander to be a much misunderstood and maligned genius T M Krishna found Sampath s work to be engaging and provides a rare insight into one of the most enigmatic figures in Indian performing art According to Krishna the author has tried to create a social and musical context for the reader sometimes this intrudes into Balachander s story 34 Krishna also noted errors on the musical history of South India 34 A review in Frontline commended Sampath for situating a well researched detailed and objective biography of an enigmatic figure within the broader interplays of Carnatic music 35 The book has been translated into Tamil 36 V D Savarkar Sampath s fourth book is a biography of V D Savarkar that was published by Penguin Books in two parts in 2019 and 2021 37 He stated he was motivated by the lack of a comprehensive biography of Savarkar despite his strong presence in the Indian political discourse for decades citation needed Janaki Bakhle an associate professor of Indian history at University of California Berkeley who reviewed the volumes for India Today noted despite meticulous and thorough research Sampath s contribution is wholly uncritical and he accepts every primary source at face value Bakhle criticised Sampath s interpretation of concurrent historical events as non objective and lacking in updates from relevant scholarship 38 Reviewing for Open popular historian Manu S Pillai voiced similar concerns he praised Sampath s meticulous research and his persuasive case of Savarkar as a martyr who had sacrificed his youth for the cause of nation but criticised his methodologies especially the uncritical acceptance of Savarkar s self laudatory memoirs and Sampath was held to be an unobjective biographer 39 Madhav Khosla professor of Political Science at Columbia Law School who reviewed the work for Hindustan Times commended the detailed narrative but found Sampath s treatment of Savarkar s extremist views and his relationship with the British government less thoughtful when compared to another contemporary biography by Vaibhav Purandare 40 P A Krishnan reviewing for Outlook found the work to be an elaborate but sympathetic biography 41 Salil Tripathi reviewing for Mint found Sampath s choice of language and analyses to give away his obvious bias despite the facade of neutrality particular attention was drawn to the cavalier descriptions of any massacre perpetrated by Muslims as genocides 42 In contrast Swati Parashar a professor at the University of Gothenburg who reviewed the volumes for The Hindu called the comprehensive treatment of Savarkar a must read admiring how he brought out the contradictions complexities and complicities that made Savarkar 43 Reviewing for The Telegraph TCA Raghavan described the book as a straightforward no fuss narrative without hyperbole and hero worship 44 Baul In 2022 Sampath composer Ricky Kej and scholar Rajib Sarma produced a documentary film titled Who is Baul about the mystical Baul tradition of Bengal it was directed by Sairam Sagiraju 45 46 Bravehearts of Bharat Sampath s Bravehearts of Bharat Vignettes from Indian History published in 2022 is an anthology of 15 biographies of under appreciated civilisational warriors 47 Sampath claimed that among his goals was to shift the Delhi centric perspective of Indian historiography among those included were Lachit Barphukan Chand Bibi and Lalitaditya Muktapida 48 Shashi Warrier reviewing the work for The Asian Age praised the author s selection of figures from a millennia long span cutting across religion profession and gender and found his narration commendable however he took issue with the word civilization and further found Sampath s presentation of Lalitaditya non critical and unconvincing 49 Waiting for Shiva Unearthing the Truth of Kashi s Gyan Vapi In 2024 the book Waiting for Shiva Unearthing the Truth of Kashi s Gyan Vapi by him was launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at Pradhan Mantri Museum and Library auditorium The book is a comprehensive work that combines historical religious archaeological and legal perspectives on the Hindu reclamation efforts in Varanasi Sampath draws parallels between Hindu devotion to Shiva and the Nandi bull s anticipation of darshan in temples He criticizes historians for ignoring India s deep cultural connection 50 ReceptionHonors For his book on Gauhar Jaan Sampath was awarded the first Yuva Puraskar in English literature by Sahitya Akademi India 51 and the Excellence in Historical Research Award by Association for Recorded Sound Collections 52 Sampath was also accorded with a visiting fellowship by Berlin Institute for Advanced Study In September 2021 he was selected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society 53 c Critics and allegations In a letter to the president of the Royal Historical Society dated 11 February 2022 Audrey Truschke Rohit Chopra d and Ananya Chakravarti e accused Sampath of plagiarism and requested Sampath s membership be reviewed and his scholarship be thoroughly examined 54 55 The letter includes as examples sections from a 2017 publication by Sampath which lacked explicit attribution and were copied with minimal paraphrasing from works of Vinayak Chaturvedi and Janaki Bakhle They also cited an example from his biography of Savarkar in which a paragraph was nearly identical to one in an undergraduate student thesis It was later supplemented with more examples of identical reproduction from the works of Chaturvedi and R C Majumdar 54 According to the letter plagiarism detection software had found about 50 of the text in the 2017 publication was plagiarised 54 f Chaturvedi expressed his disappointment at Sampath s lack of ethical standards 54 57 Bakhle requested Sampath offer a public apology for unequivocal plagiarism and retract the publication 58 g Sampath rejected the allegations and filed a defamation suit in Delhi High Court seeking costs of two crore 271 000 USD 54 He stated the 2017 publication is the transcript of a speech in which he had properly included appropriate attribution and that the sources remain cited in the bibliography section The biography paragraph is similar due to dependence on a common source 54 In response the complaining authors said referencing a publication is not a free pass to reproduce content 54 Bakhle also noted the implausibility of numerous footnotes in any speech 58 None of the complainants except Chakravarti submitted to the jurisdiction of the Court On the first hearing an interim order was passed restraining Truschke and others from publishing the letter or any other defamatory material 59 a week later and again in May the court ordered Twitter to remove multiple tweets to such effect Truschke had published despite the order 60 61 Notes The thesis is titled Indian classical music and the gramophone c 1900 1930 A socio cultural historical and musical analysis of the Gramophone Company s Indian recording expeditions Sampath spotted some letters from Jaan addressed to the Mysore Government with pleas to not slash her salary Apart from historians in academia members include government historians broadcasters film makers creative writers biographers public historians curators publishers journalists and editors and academic librarians They must have made an original contribution to historical scholarship typically through the authorship of a book a body of scholarly work similar in scale and impact to a book the organisation of exhibitions and conferences the editing of journals and other works of diffusion and dissemination grounded in historical research Chopra is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Santa Clara University He has published on the intersections of Hindu nationalism and media Chakravarti is an Associate Professor of History at Georgetown University She has published on the histories of religion in South Asia They also claimed to have come across other similar instances in Sampath s corpus of work 54 Shortly after Truschke published an appendix highlighting similar issues in his two volume biography of Savarkar 2019 2021 56 Passages were minimally paraphrased from works of S Kamra I J Catanch M Malgonkar R C Majumdar and K Maclean 56 Bakhle s support came about a week after the publication of the accusations 58 Sampath had argued including in his representation to the Delhi High Court Bakhle had reviewed his biography of Savarkar without any adverse comments about plagiarism and she thus did not share the concerns of the letter 58 References a b Telling the untold story of Wadiyars PDF Deccan Herald 5 April 2008 Archived from the original PDF on 15 June 2021 a b c d The skeptics called me a royalist Kumar Smita Balram Jade Sampath Vikram 2023 Acknowledgements Indian Classical Music and the Gramophone 1900 1930 SEMPRE Studies in The Psychology of Music Routledge pp xiii doi 10 4324 9780367822026 ISBN 978 0 367 42132 8 S2CID 249139177 a b Gautam Savitha 19 January 2012 A wizard and his veena The Hindu Archived from the original on 22 January 2012 Retrieved 5 March 2022 a b When I look at excel sheets a thumri plays in my head Tehelka 25 February 2012 Archived from the original on 27 May 2012 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Dr Vikram Sampath The Times of India 26 November 2019 ISSN 0971 8257 Retrieved 27 April 2024 a b c Sampath Vikram LinkedIn CV LinkedIn Retrieved 30 March 2022 All for a sign Bangalore Mirror 9 August 2015 Archived from the original on 31 March 2022 Retrieved 30 March 2022 Mallya Vinutha How Vikram Sampath Played Victim to the Tolerance Mafia at the BLF This Year The Caravan Archived from the original on 25 February 2023 Retrieved 25 February 2023 This is the next generation of intellectuals in India ThePrint 27 December 2018 Retrieved 6 September 2022 History retold Deccan Herald 7 March 2008 Archived from the original on 1 April 2010 Retrieved 5 March 2022 a b Murthy Neeraja 12 July 2008 Spinning a Royal Tale PDF The Hindu Archived from the original PDF on 15 June 2021 The facts of fiction The Hindu 31 March 2008 Archived from the original on 1 April 2010 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Chandra Vaishalli 12 March 2008 Reclaiming the Heirloom PDF Bangalore Mirror Archived from the original PDF on 15 June 2021 a b Bageshree S 1 June 2009 A balanced reading The Hindu Literary Review Archived from the original on 1 June 2009 Jayaraman Pavitra 29 March 2008 Beautiful south Mint Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Sankar Anand 1 April 2010 Off with his nose Business Standard Archived from the original on 1 April 2010 a b Cascade Of Silk outlookindia com 5 February 2022 Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 5 March 2022 subscription required Manuel Peter 2012 Review of My Name is Gauhar Jan The Life and Times of a Musician Ethnomusicology 56 1 146 150 doi 10 5406 ethnomusicology 56 1 0146 ISSN 0014 1836 JSTOR 10 5406 ethnomusicology 56 1 0146 Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Chatterjee Partha 17 June 2010 Poignant notes Frontline Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 5 March 2022 The Sunday Tribune Spectrum www tribuneindia com Archived from the original on 16 June 2021 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Of a woman her music and her times The Hindu Book Review 5 August 2011 Archived from the original on 5 August 2011 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Hindi translation of Mera Naam Gauhar Jaan Hai launched Lokmat Times Indo Asian News Service 29 March 2022 Archived from the original on 4 December 2022 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Bari Prachi 22 December 2017 Pune s Sujata Deshmukh bags Sahitya Akademi award for best translation Hindustan Times Pune News Archived from the original on 4 December 2022 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Gauhar the fall of a star The Hindu 12 November 2016 Archived from the original on 4 December 2022 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Govind Ranjani 16 March 2016 A woman of her times The Hindu Archived from the original on 4 December 2022 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Govind Ranjani 4 April 2017 Gauhar Jaan to be brought to life on celluloid The Hindu Archived from the original on 4 December 2022 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Afternoon raga www telegraphindia com Archived from the original on 30 March 2022 Retrieved 30 March 2022 Kumar Shyama Krishna 8 April 2015 Library with Rare Records a Hit The New Indian Express Archived from the original on 8 May 2022 Retrieved 8 May 2022 Nair Malini 1 August 2013 Vikram Sampath Indian music archive goes online The Times of India Archived from the original on 8 May 2022 Retrieved 8 May 2022 a b Mavad Asra 14 July 2021 Wondering what to do with old gramophone records Deccan Herald Archived from the original on 8 May 2022 Retrieved 8 May 2022 Ganesh Deepa 5 March 2012 It s more than the melody The Hindu ISSN 0971 751X Archived from the original on 21 October 2021 Retrieved 21 October 2021 Aravind Indulekha 10 March 2012 Biographies can really drain you Business Standard India Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 5 March 2022 a b Krishna T M A rare insight into the life and art of a musical maestro India Today Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Chatterjee Partha 19 April 2012 Versatile genius Frontline Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Balasubramanian V 11 April 2013 The wizard of the veena The Hindu Archived from the original on 4 December 2022 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Parashar Swati 28 August 2021 Savarkar A Contested Legacy 1924 1966 review Hindutva s biggest ideologue The Hindu Archived from the original on 18 September 2021 Retrieved 18 September 2021 Bakhle Janaki 26 September 2019 The missing pieces Books India Today Archived from the original on 13 February 2022 Retrieved 4 January 2020 Pillai Manu S 27 September 2019 In search of the real Savarkar Open The Magazine Archived from the original on 19 February 2022 Retrieved 4 January 2020 Khosla Madhav 29 November 2019 Review Books on VD Savarkar by Vikram Sampath and Vaibhav Purandare Hindustan Times Archived from the original on 11 May 2022 Retrieved 9 January 2020 Krishnan P A 4 November 2019 Pro Patria Mori Meets Fire And Brimstone Outlook India Archived from the original on 5 March 2022 Retrieved 4 January 2020 subscription required Savarkar the patriot with tunnel vision Mintlounge 30 September 2021 Archived from the original on 6 March 2022 Retrieved 6 March 2022 Parashar Swati 28 August 2021 Savarkar A Contested Legacy 1924 1966 review Hindutva s biggest ideologue The Hindu ISSN 0971 751X Archived from the original on 18 September 2021 Retrieved 15 October 2021 Raghavan TCA Srinivasa 30 September 2019 The Savarkar revival The Telegraph Archived from the original on 9 May 2022 Retrieved 29 April 2022 Prasad Sanath 16 March 2021 Baul ed over The New Indian Express Archived from the original on 8 May 2022 Retrieved 8 May 2022 Sudevan Praveen 19 April 2021 Who is Baul delves into the philosophy of Bengal s musical mystics The Hindu Archived from the original on 8 May 2022 Retrieved 8 May 2022 New book challenges mainstream Indian history brings to fore stories of 15 unsung heroes ThePrint 25 October 2022 Retrieved 7 December 2022 Biswas Tunir 15 November 2022 Documenting the undocumented Indulge The New Indian Express Retrieved 7 December 2022 Book Review Folk heroes take precedence over icons wording of title still curious The Asian Age 11 December 2022 Retrieved 4 July 2023 Kissu Sagrika 5 March 2024 Vikram Sampath book launch ticked many boxes Shiva Aurangzeb Hindu resilience bias Nehru ThePrint Retrieved 28 March 2024 Bagchi Shrabonti 15 February 2012 Yuva Puraskar for Bangalore author The Times of India Archived from the original on 21 October 2021 Retrieved 21 October 2021 Vikram Sampath Penguin Random House India Archived from the original on 1 August 2021 Retrieved 1 August 2021 281 new Fellows amp Members elected to the Society RHS royalhistsoc org Archived from the original on 18 October 2021 Retrieved 18 October 2021 a b c d e f g h Savarkar Biographer Vikram Sampath Accused of Plagiarism Historians Say Others Work Not Cited Fairly The Wire 14 February 2022 Archived from the original on 18 February 2022 Retrieved 18 February 2022 Vikram Sampath The literary start of the right wing Deccan Herald 27 February 2022 Archived from the original on 26 February 2022 Retrieved 27 February 2022 a b Audrey Truschke AudreyTruschke 17 February 2022 Additional examples of Vikram Sampath s plagiarism Tweet via Twitter Chaturvedi Vinayak 24 February 2022 Would VD Savarkar have condoned plagiarism Scroll in Archived from the original on 24 February 2022 Retrieved 24 February 2022 a b c d Vikram Sampath Is Claiming My Ideas Words as His Own Historian Janaki Bakhle on Savarkar Author The Wire Archived from the original on 22 February 2022 Retrieved 22 February 2022 Thapliyal Nupur 18 February 2022 Delhi High Court Restrains Historian Audrey Truschke amp Others From Publishing Defamatory Material Against Vikram Sampath www livelaw in Archived from the original on 18 February 2022 Retrieved 18 February 2022 Jha Prashant 24 February 2022 Delhi High Court directs Twitter to take down five tweets of Audrey Truschke against Vikram Sampath Bar and Bench Indian Legal news Archived from the original on 16 March 2023 Retrieved 24 February 2022 Thapliyal Nupur 4 May 2022 Defamatory Delhi High Court Directs Twitter To Take Down 5 More Tweets Posted By Historian Audrey Truschke Against Vikram Sampath www livelaw in Archived from the original on 4 May 2022 Retrieved 4 May 2022 Further readingBhattacharya Akash 13 November 2021 How historian Vikram Sampath uses decolonisation rhetoric to make Hindu domination sound reasonable Scroll in D Souza Rohan 20 October 2021 The Risks of Looking at India s History Through the Eyes of Pseudo Historians The Wire India Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Vikram Sampath amp oldid 1221061768, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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