American historian, who rediscovered Gujarat's history, expresses wish to meet PM Modi
Jun 18, 2023
By Reena Bhardwaj
Maryland [US], June 18 : Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is also the house of royalty for more than 400 erstwhile Indian Princely States and Indian minority groups like Jews and Africans. Among them is Kenneth X Robbins, a man whose passion is to document, archive and rediscover hidden history.
Robbins has recently published three volumes that represent his efforts to document the history of all the 'Princely States' of Gujarat using paintings, photographs, maps, documents, and ephemera from his personal collections. He said he hopes to present this work to PM Modi as he arrives in the US on his maiden official visit to the country.
He added that he wishes that through PM Modi, the Indian diaspora and the greater community of scholars would take an interest in the history of Gujrat and will deeply engage and interact with his published collection.
"Prime Minister Modi came from Gujarat and my work is to really establish the importance of Gujarat in the formation of India. The preservation of Indian culture, and many of the preservation and furthering of Ayurvedic medicine and the particular contributions that particular maharajas have had as a cultural icon," Robbins added.
Over the course of more than five decades, Robbins and his wife, Joyce Robbins, have amassed a collection of more than 100,000 items pertaining to the history of South Asia, Africans in the greater Indian Ocean world, and the Jewish diaspora in India and beyond.
Robbins is hopeful that someday, the Union government will make an effort to build, preserve, and increase access to deep and distinctive collections, some of Robbins most prized possessions of life, especially his study on Gujarat.
The home of the historian is almost like a museum making it the largest collection of Indian ephemera outside of India. Their collection comprises more than 100,000 items, including books, manuscripts, medals and fine artworks -- speaking to the diverse cultures and traditions that find expression in India. It provides a lot of insight into topics of social and cultural history that people are interested in. Generations of scholars will find research topics here.
In October last year, it was found that the Robbins' family had designated the Pen Library -- the library system of the University of Pennsylvania, an IVY League school in the US -- as the recipient of their entire collection in their estate planning.
Robbins also stressed that the historical and unexplored ties between Afro-South Asian communities need cultural attention and to do so, he wished to present Vice President Kamala Harris, a person of Indian and African heritage, with a book on Jaaz in India.
"I'd like to as well since I've been working on Africans in India. One of my books deals with Indian and jazz American jazz musicians. I'd like to be able to give a copy to Kamala Harris because I understand she's a great jazz fan of my great idol, Charlie Mingus," he added.
Robbins has been particularly involved in documenting the history of Africans in India. "India is the only place where sub-Saharan Africans ruled over non-Africans in a number of places, and we've documented this. Now the idea is to talk about India, the global Indian diaspora and its interactions with other groups. And I'm working on a book now about interactions between Bengalis and people of African origin in five continents," he said.
