Indian History

                         First level plinth at Somapura Mahavihara/ Image source One of the famous Buddhist monasteries in ancient India, Somapura Mahavihara , the remains of which are located at the Paharpur archaeological site in the Naogaon district of Bangladesh , was built by the second Pala ruler Dharmapala (r. 770- c.810). The Pala rulers were great patrons of Buddhism and built several monasteries.  Somapura Mahavira is one of the best few preserved Buddhist monasteries to survive the Muslim invasions  under  Afghan military chief   Ikhtiyar- al-Din Muḥammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, popularly known as  Bakhtiyar Khilji . The other famous Buddhist monastery of Vikramshila (in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar), built by Dharampala , was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji. Missions sent from Vikramshila monastery resulted in the establishment of Vajrayana form of Buddhism in Tibet in 11th century AD.

Not much is known about the events in North India after the downfall of the Kushana dynasty but it seems probable that by the 3nd century AD the Indian territories east of the Punjab and Malwa were ruled by small Indian kings.  Chandra Gupta I In this backdrop, in 320 AD there emerged a king named Chandra Gupta whose successors were instrumental in restoring the glory of the Mauryan dynasty (322 BCE - 185 BCE) to a great degree. He was the son of 2nd Gupta king Ghatotkacha whose father Srigupta I is considered the founder of the Gupta kingdom. It was, however, Chandra Gupta who was responsible for elevating the kingdom to the imperial status.  Chandra Gupta I strengthened his position by matrimonial alliance with the tribe of Lichchhavi whose princess Kumaradevi was married to him. (The Licchhavi clan made its reappearance, eight centuries after their defeat by Magadhan emperor Ajatashatru.)  Special coins were issued to commemorate this marriage which has been described by eminent

The 2,000-year-old Greek temple in Jandial (now in Pakistan) is a famous landmark in temple architecture in India. It was excavated from one of the mounds which covered the city of Taxila or Takshashila   .  The Jandial temple was probably Zoroastrian and contained a square sanctuary, a meeting hall and a courtyard. Its inner and outer entrances were each flanked by two large pillars of Ionian pattern. 

A military leader in 18th century South India, Tipu Sultan (ruled from 1782-99) was the ruler of Mysore for a seventeen-year-period until his death in 1799 . He succeeded to the throne when his father Hyder Ali died on December 7, 1782 during the course of Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84). The  Second Anglo-Mysore War   came to an end by the Treaty of Mangalore (March 1784) on the basis of mutual restitution of conquests.  Tipu Sultan was born in 1750 in Devanahalli (near Bangalore in Karnataka).  Unlike his father who was a de facto ruler, Tipu assumed royal title of Sultan by dethroning the Hindu raja of Mysore in 1786. The increasing power of Mysore made the Marathas and the Nizam enter into a coalition in 1786 against Tipu Sultan who became successful in defeating them by crossing the flooded Tungabhadra in rafts and basket boats in a brilliant military feat. The defeat brought the Marathas and the Nizam closer to the English who were eyeing opportunity to avenge the past defeat

Mansabdari system was a unique feature of the administrative system of the Mughal empire. It was introduced by Akbar with a view to organizing his nobility as well as army. Under the system, all officers of the state were entitled to a mansab. Mansabdari system was, in sum, “the army, the peerage, and the civil administration, all rolled into one.”     Mansabdar (holder of a rank, or an officer) is a title derived from the word Mansab which is of Arabic origin and means a rank or a position.  Under the system, each mansabdar held a mansab (rank) and was to maintain a quota of horses, elephants, camels, beasts of burden and carts. They were paid either in cash (naqd) or allotted land (jagir). The mansabdars who received pay in cash were known as naqdi and those paid through assignments of jagirs were called jagirdars. According to the Ain –Akbari , there were thirty-three grades of mansabdars ranging from the dahbashi (commanders of 10) to the dah hazari (commanders of 10,000). Mansabs

                                             Kunwar Singh: 1857 Rebellion Hero / Image source A Rajput zamindar, Kunwar Singh is known as a brave leader who unfurled the banner of rebellion against the British in Bihar. At the time of Revolt of 1857, he was eighty years old. However, old age did not deter him from fighting the British with utmost valour.   Popularly known as Veer Kunwar Singh, he was born at Jagdishpur village (then in the erstwhile Shahabad district) in Bhojpur district in Bihar in 1777. Chivalry, undaunted courage and able generalship had earned him the sobriquet of “Lion of Bihar”.  He challenged the British authority and established his own government. He marched to Kalpi in Bundelkhand with a view to give helping hand to Nana Saheb, leader of the revolt in Kanpur. Known for his perfection in guerrilla warfare, he employed this warfare tactic with great effect against the British. His gallant resistance to the British forces ended when he died on 26 April, 1858  

Yahiya bin Ahmad bin Abdullah Sarhindi was a contemporary of Mubarak Shah (reigned 1421- 1434 ) and Muhammad Shah (reigned 1434-45), the rulers of the Saiyid dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. It was during Mubarak Shah’s reign that he composed his Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi, dedicated to the Sayyid ruler.  Written in Persian, Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi begins with the reign of Muizzuddin Muhammad of Ghor and ends at 1434 with the accession of Sultan Muhammad Shah, the third Saiyid ruler. 

Written in Persian, Tarikh-i-Rashidi deals with the history of Central Asia as well as the events in Kashmir. It was written by Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat (1499-1551) who was a ruler of Kashmir.  Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat was  a cousin of Mughal founder Babur .    His grave was restored in 2018 in Srinagar by the Kazakh embassy in India in association with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Hāla was a Satavahana king who is traditionally assigned the authorship of Saptasataka (Seven Hundred) or Gathasaptashati, the most important literary work in Prakrit. Written in the Arya metre, Saptasataka is a collection of self contained stanzas full of beauty.  Out of seven hundred poems, some forty-four were penned by Hala, who, according to the Matsya Purana, was the 17th Satavahana ruler.  Hāla ruled in the Deccan in the 1st century AD.   The Maharashtri Prakrit work " Lilavati Parinayam " narrates his romance and marriage with Lilavati, a princess of Simhaladvipa (identified with modern Sri Lanka). Lilavati Parinayam was written by  Kuthuhala Koūhala.

One of the famous triumvirate called “Lal-Bal-Pal”, Bipin Chandra Pal is known as "Father of Revolutionary Thoughts" in India. He was born in 1858 in Sylhet (now in Bangladesh).    Bipin Chandra Pal joined Indian National Congress in 1886. He started newspapers with a view to educating public opinion. He was the founder editor of Paridarshak, a weekly, and later worked as assistant editor of the Bengal Public Opinion and the Tribune. Nationalist to the core, Bipin Chandra Pal was an exponent of concept of Indian Swaraj and Swadeshi. He vehemently opposed the partition of Bengal announced in 1905. He was a noted writer and a powerful speaker. His most famous work was Memories and My Life and Times (in two volumes). He also launched English newspaper Bande Mataram of which the revolutionary and later a mystic Aurobindo Ghose became an editor. I n 1907, h e was convicted for six months following publication of seditious views in the paper. Bipin Chandra Pal worked for Associatio