Indian History

There is no doubt that w orld’s debt to India is immense. Many good things have been said, rightly so, about this country by scholars, scientists and great men of the world. Below are some of the famous quotes on India. "India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only." -        Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain. American Author "India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all". -  

Image Source: Wikipedia Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is a country where Buddhism entered very early. Mahavamsa (Great Chronicle) of the island country deals with the history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. It was during the reign of the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka that Buddhism embarked on a career of world religion. Sri Lanka was converted to Buddhism in the 3rd century BC by Mahendra (in Pali Mahinda), Ashoka’s son or his brother by some sources, during the reign of great king Devanampiya - Tissa, who was Mahendra’s first convert. Mahendra had become a Buddhist monk. Asoka’s daughter Sanghamitta is said to have carried to Sri Lanka the southern branch of the original Bodhi tree of Gaya, under which the Buddha sat and got enlightenment. From then, this tree planted at Anuradhapura, capital of the early kings of Ceylon, has been an object of pilgrimage to the followers of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist stupas of gigantic proportions were built in Sri Lanka. 327

Akbar (1555-1605), the greatest of the Mughal emperors, was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I and is known for his rejection of bigotry. He was firmly of the view that an empire can last only on a basis of complete toleration. Born in Umarkot into a Sunni Muslim family in 1542, Akbar had been brought up in an atmosphere where he came into contact with conflicting religious influences. Sufism also had an impact on him and he made it a point to visit the famous shrine of Shaikh Muinuddin Chisti at Ajmer every year from 1562, and continued this practice for eighteen long years. Formation of Akbar’s religious views in some part was determined by the influence of his Rajput wives   and   his Hindu officials like Man Singh, Todarmal and Birbal. Scholars like Faizi and his brother Abul Fazal and the Bhakti movement of the sixteenth century also helped in moulding his religious views. Subsequently In 1578, Akbar took the step of converting the Ibadatkhana into a “Parliament of Re

Mudrarakshasa (The Minister Signet’s Ring) is a 4th century AD Sanskrit drama written by Vishakhadatta, who is also credited with the authorship of Devichandragupta. It describes the overthrow of the Nandas ruling the Magadhan empire by the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya who was aided in this endevour by Kautilya also called variously as Chanakya and Vishnugupta. There is no unanimity among the authorities on the date of Mudrarakshasa. However, majority of them are in favour of assigning the composition of this Sanskrit work to 4 th -5 th centuries AD. The Minister Signet’s Ring centers around the schemes of the wily Chankya to frustrate the plots of Raksasa, the minister of Dhana Nanda, the last ruler of the Nanda dynasty. Consequently Chankya was able to place Chandragupta on the throne of Patliputra (modern day Patna), the capital of Magadh. Though the plot of Mudrarakshasa is exceedingly complicated, Vishakhadatta has been able to unravel the story with great s

Though he ruled for only four years, Qutb-ud-din Aibak’s main claim to fame rests on his being the first Muslim ruler of Delhi. He was the founder of the Slave Dynasty, the first of the five Muslim dynasties, known as Delhi Sultanate. He is also famous as the builder of Qutb Minar in Delhi, a signature monument in the capital of India. The monument is located in Mehrauli where he laid the foundation of the first so-called 'seven cities' of medieval Delhi. When Muhammad of Ghur died in 1206, Qutb-ud-din, who was his slave (Mamluk), assumed the title of Sultan and became the ruler of Indian territories won by his master. The dynasty which he founded came to be known as Mamluk Dynasty (Slave Dynasty). He belonged to the Aibak tribe. Death of  Qutb-ud-din Aibak A Turk and  native of Turkistan , Qutb-ud-din Aibak died in 1210 of a sudden fall from a horse at Lahore while playing polo (chaugan). He lies buried in a tomb in Lahore.   Qutb-ud-din Aibak's Tomb in Lahore / Image