More insidious was the loss of memory-keeping, of all the ways in which a culture remembers its past and its glory. Manuscripts were burned, libraries despoiled, Urdu and Persian abandoned, and a fortune in artefacts and exquisite objects stolen and removed to Britain. Today most Indian treasures—miniatures, jewellery, statues, gems, books and manuscripts—lie in museums abroad. The disenfranchisement is many-layered and it is deadly. As we forget our languages and can no longer put into context the events and achievements of the past, we grow forgetful and confused.
