Manyakheta, Rashtrakuta capital

Image Credit 

Manyakheta was the capital of the Rashtrakuta dynasty which ruled large parts of southern India from 753 to 973. The capital city was founded by Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha I (Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha) who transferred regnal capital from Mayurkhandi (in the Bidar district of Karnataka)  to Manyakheta. He had embellished the new capital with beautiful buildings in order to "match the city of Indra's heaven, Amaravati." 

Today Manyakheta is modern Malkhed village in Sedam taluk in Gulbarga (modern Kalaburagi) district in Karnataka.

In 972-73 Manyakheta was sacked by Harsha Siyaka of the Paramara dynasty. After the downfall of the Rashtrakuta dynasty in 973, it became the capital of the Kalyani Chalukyas who had supplanted the Rashtrakutas.

During the rule of Satyasraya belonging to the Chalukyas of Kalyani, Manyakheta was sacked in 1008 by Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044) during the reign of Raja Raja Chola . 

Someshvara I Ahavamalla (c1042-1068) of Chalukyas of Kalyani( also known as Western Chalukya dynasty), shifted his capital from Manyakheta to Kalyani. 

Piprahwa Relics of Buddha Return Home to India

 

The Piprahwa relics of Lord Buddha have returned to India after 127 years. The holy remains were discovered by British civil engineer and landowner William Claxton Peppé in 1898 from Piprahwa, the ancient site of Kapilavastu in the Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Piprahwa is just south of Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha in Nepal. 

The Piprahwa site contained a massive sandstone coffer housing the relics, including sacred bones and ashes, precious gemstones and soapstone as well as crystal reliquaries. 

Five caskets, including a crystal casket believed to be over 2,300 years old, were unearthed during excavations. Buried 18 feet underground these caskets contained sacred relics associated with Lord Buddha. Inscribed in early Brahmi script, one of the oldest known in any Indian language, an urn identified the depositors as members of the Buddha’s own Shakya clan, who had enshrined here the relics of the Buddha.

William Claxton Peppé’s excavation of the Piprahwa relics in 1898 has been referred to as “one of the most astonishing archaeological finds of the modern era”. 

The majority of these relics were transferred to the Indian Museum in Kolkata in 1899. However, a portion of the relics retained by the Peppé family was taken away from India  and was listed for auction.

The repatriation of the Piprahwa relics was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said it was a “joyous day for our cultural heritage”.

Originally slated for auction in Hong Kong in May 2025, the sacred artefacts were successfully secured by the Ministry of Culture. 

 

PM Modi Visits Gangaikonda Cholapuram To Celebrate Rajendra Chola’s Exploits

Today on July 27, 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the ancient capital of the imperial Cholas built by emperor Rajendra Chola - I (regnal years 1012-1044 CE). Participating in the valedictory function of ‘Aadi Thiruvathirai’ festival marking the birth anniversary of Rajendra Chola, Mr Modi released a commemorative coin to celebrate the 1000 years of naval expedition of Rajendra Chola - I. 

To commemorate his successful military expedition to the Gangetic plains, Rajendra Chola founded a new capital and called it Gangaikonda Cholapuram, identified with modern Gangaikonda Cholapuram in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu. 

Brihadisvara Temple Gangaikonda Cholapuram / Image Credit

Rajendra Chola also built the Shiva temple in Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Known as Brihadisvara Temple, this temple has a similar name as the one built by his father Raja Raja I in Thanjavur. A UNESCO World Heritage site, this temple is adorned with exquisite granite sculptures.  

Rajendra Chola I: Worthy Son of Legendary Father
Rajendra Chola I is one of two greatest kings of the Chola dynasty which, one of three ancient dynasties in the Tamil tradition, again rose in the middle of the 9th century and ruled for well neigh three centuries over a large part in South India with their capital at Tanjuvur (modern Tanjore also Thanjavur).

The power of the Chola dynasty reached its pinnacle during the reigns of Rajendra Chola (1014- 1042) and his father Rajaraja I (985-1014). Rajendra Chola was the worthy son and successor of his father. Though he succeeded to the Chola throne in 1014, his regal years are counted from 1012 AD when he was declared heir-apparent.

By his military prowess and administrative skill, Rajendra Chola raised the Chola power to the zenith of glory. Probably in 1017 AD, he conquered the whole of Sri Lanka, the northern part of which was already annexed to the Chola empire during the reign of his father Rajaraja I.

In the next year (1018 AD) Rajendra Chola forced the rulers of Kerala and the Pandyan country to accept the suzerainty of the Cholas. He defeated the Western Chalukya power under Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla (c. 1016-42). 

Rajendra also came in conflict with the Pala ruler of Bengal, Mahipala I, and his armies spread their victorious wings as far as the Ganges. To commemorate this daring victory, he assumed the title of Gangaikondachola (The Chola conquer of the Ganga) and founded a new capital named after him - Gangaikonda – Cholapuram, identified with modern Gangaikondapuram in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu.

Rajendra Chola possessed a powerful fleet and is credited with sending a great naval expedition which occupied parts of South East Asia including Myanmar, Malaya and Sumatra. This naval expedition, unique in the annals of Indian history, was undertaken to presumably suppress the piratical activities of the Indonesian rulers, which were an obstacle to the flourishing trade between China and the South India.

Rajendra Chola is known by a variety of titles such as Tyagasamudra, Gangaikonda and Pandita Chola.   

Binoy, Badal and Dinesh: Epitome of Valour

Writer's Buildings / Image Credit

Showing exemplary courage three Bengali revolutionaries – Benoy Krishna Basu, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Chandra Gupta - barged into the historic Writer's Buildings in Calcutta on 8th December 1930 and shot dead the then Bengal's IG (Prisons) Lt Col N S Simpson who was notorious for his atrocities and physical torture of Indian freedom fighters. In the gun battle that ensued the trio seriously wounded several European high officials.

Members of the Bengal Volunteers, a group set up by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress in 1928, these revolutionaries had worn western suits to gain access to the Writer's Building, the seat of the government of undivided Bengal. 

Refusing to surrender to the British, Badal Gupta immediately took potassium cyanide and died instantly, while Benoy and Dinesh shot themselves with their firearms. Benoy died in a hospital on December 13, 1930, while Dinesh survived. Dinesh was later hanged to death on 7 July 1931. Later Kanailal Bhattacharjee avenged the death of Dinesh by killing the judge who had sentenced the latter to death. 

Earlier Lowman, the Inspector General of Police, was shot dead by Benoy Basu in August in 1930. Lowman was known for his brutal oppression of the prisoners.  

Dinesh Gupta was born in 1911 while Benoy Basu was born in 1908 and Badal Gupta was born in 1912.  

The area where Writer's Buildings is located is known as BBD (Benoy, Badal Dinesh) Bagh in honour of the trio. Earlier the area was named Dalhousie Square.

India Celebrates 169th Birth Anniversary of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Today India is celebrating the 169th birth anniversary of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a leading light of Indian freedom struggle. 

Of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Edwin Samuel Montagu, British Secretary of State for India between 1917 and 1922, said, "Tilak is at the moment probably the most powerful man in India".

One of the famous triumvirate called “Lal-Bal-Pal”, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on July 23, 1856 in Ratnagiri district in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. 

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was educated in Poona where had co-founded Fergusson College, a landmark educational institution in Maharashtra. A scholar in mathematics, law and Sanskrit, Tilak was one of the founders of the Deccan Education Society in 1884, with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Madhavrao Namjoshi  and Vishnushastri Chipalunkar being the other members. 

During Home Rule movement which he started in 1914 Bal Gangadhar was given the epithet of Lokamanya (Universally Respected). 

Tilak was imprisoned several times by the British authorities on charges of sedition. In July 1908, he was imprisoned for six years on charges of sedition and sent to Mandalay Jail in present-day Myanmar where he wrote Gita Rahasya or Bhagavad Gita . The Arctic Home in the Vedas was also written by Tilak. 

The nationalist poet Subramania Bharati translated Tilak’s Tenets of the New Party into Tamil. 

Tilak had launched two newspapers, Kesari (in Marathi) and Mahratta (in English). His trenchant criticism of colonial rule through these newspapers earned him the ire of the British administration.

Tilak initiated two important festivals, Ganesh in 1893 and Shivaji in 1895.

In 1916 Tilak signed the historic Lucknow Pact, also known as the Congress–Muslim League Pact. 

Tilak breathed his last in Bombay on August 1, 1920. Gandhi wrote of him in Young India on August 4, 1920: 

“A giant among men has fallen. The voice of the lion is hushed… He knew no religion but love of his country. He was a born democrat. He believed in the rule of majority with an intensity that fairly frightened me…No man preached the gospel of swaraj with the consistency and the insistence of Lokamanya.” 

Famous Quotes from Bal Gangadhar Tilak 

"Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!"

'If God were to tolerate untouchability, I would not recognise Him as God at all.'' 

Additional Information

Tilak was called "father of Indian unrest" by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol, a British journalist. 

Cellular Jail: Torturous British Penal Colony

Cellular Jail Andaman / Image Credit

One of the main attractions of Port Blair, the capital of the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands in India, is Cellular Jail, where Indian freedom fighters and revolutionaries were imprisoned during the Indian struggle for Independence.  The jail was also known as Kālā Pānī, translating literally as “black waters”. 

The three-storied massive structure bears testimony to the inhumane atrocities on them by the British. Built in 1906, this colossal monument, now declared a National Memorial, features a unique sound and light show taking you right back in time, when Indian people were engaged in fierce struggle with the British for the achievement of their freedom from the colonial rule. The jail was originally built with seven wings which had rows of single iron-gated cells – 693 in total, specially built for the solitary confinement of the prisoners. 

Notable inmates  of the Cellular Jail also, known as Kala Pani, were  Batukeshwar Dutt, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Babarao Savarkar, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Hare Krishna Konar, Bhai Parmanand, Sohan Singh, Ullaskar Dutta, Indu Bhushan Roy, Mahavir Singh, Mohan Kishor Namdas, Mohit Moitra. Barindra Kumar Ghosh. The brutal treatment of the prisoners drove Indu Bhushan Roy to commit suicide while Ullaskar Dutta had lost his mind.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had referred to the inhuman treatment meted out to the inmates by the Irish jailor David Barrie, the self-declared “God of Port Blair”.

 

Akkadevi: Beauty of Virtues

Western Chalukya Temple Galaganatha Temple, Haveri district, Karnataka

Akkadevi (1010 CE- 1064 CE) was a Kalyani Chalukya princess who governed parts of present-day Karnataka in the 11th century CE. She was a governor of an area known as Kishukadu, situated in the present-day districts of Bidar, Bagalkot, and Vijayapura in the state.

Akkadevi was the sister of Jayasimha II (1015-1042), the Kalyani Chalukya ruler. There were many Chalukya dynasties. Of them, the four most important were: the Chalukyas of Badami or Vatapi (also known as early western Chalukyas), the Chalukyas of Vengi (also known as eastern Chalukyas), the Chalukyas of Kalyani (also known as western Chalukyas) and the Chalukyas of Gujarat.

The Chalukyas of Kalyani ruled from 957 to 1200. 

Akkadevi had supressed many rebellions displaying great valour and courage which led her to be called Bhairavi.

Early this year two gold  coins of Akkadevi were found near Madugula village in the Mahbubnagar district of Telangana. 

Akkadevi  was also called Gunadabedangi translated as “Beauty of Virtues”.