Indian History

Five separate Sultanates arose in the Deccan, one after another, on the break-up of the Bahmanai kingdom. Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda was one of them. The founder of this dynasty was Sultan Quli Hamadani who was given the charge of the region of Golconda by the Bahmani ruler in 1494. Sultan Quli Hamadani was given the title of Qutbul Mulk by the Bahmani ruler. Taking advantage of the weakening of the Bahmani kingdom, he declared independce in 1512. His reign was characterized by his constant struggles with the rulers of the Vijayanagar empire. Qutbul Mulk was killed by his son Jamshid in 1543 at the age of ninety-eight. Jamshid ruled for seven years. His rule was characterized by chaos and his boneheaded obstinacy made his unpopular. His brother Ibrahim, fearing his life, went to the protection of Vijayanagar rulers. Jamshid was succeeded by his son Subhan. Taking advantage of the prevailing discontent in the empire, Ibrahim succeeded in becoming the ruler of the Qutb dynasty. Ibrah...

A 17th century life-size portrait of fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir was sold for a record Rs 10 crore at Bonhams Indian and Islamic Sale in London. The painting is attributed to Abul Hasan or Nadir al-Zaman or " wonder of the age " as he was called by Jahangir, who was the Mughal Emperor from 1605-1627. Abul Hasan and his father Aga Reza of Herat were the famous painters of the court of Jahangir. Jahangir was an excellent connoisseur of paintings. The emperor was also an art critic who could tell the names of the individual painters in a composite piece.  Other important painters of his court were Muhammad Nadir and Muhammad Murad from Samarqand, Ustad Mansur , Bishan Das , Manohar and Govardhan . Most of the subjects of Mughal paintings were inspired by the court life and the natural life.

His tenure of office was marked by the First Sikh War (1845). The English army occupied Lahore and dictated peace terms to the Sikhs (Treaty of Lahore, 1846). Hardinge introduced the principle of giving preference to English educated Indians in public employment- a policy which gave great fillip to English education but changed its character. He is also credited to have suppressed human sacrifice by the Khonds .

Women occupied a very honourable position in the Viajayanagr society. Some of them were very learned and were eminent litterateurs. Monogamy was the general practice, but kings and nobility followed polygamous practices. Early marriages were common among the Brahmins. The plight of the widows was pitiable, but they could remarry.  The state encouraged widow remarriage by not levying any marriage tax on their marriage. Women of the nobility and higher castes were carefully educated. Music and dancing formed an important part of their curriculum. Women were also wrestlers, astrologers, accountants, writers, musicians and even went to the battlefield.  Another group of women were the courtesans who played a very important role in society. They were two classes: (a) those who were attached to the temples, and (b) those who lived independently. Their case was not homogeneous and it was open to women of any community to join their sisterhood. Courtesans were highly educated and cul...

Lord Dalhousie (1848-56) is regarded as one of the greatest governor generals of India and his contribution to the building up of the British India is enormous.  No other single governor general of India added even the half the extent of territories, which were incorporated into the British dominions during the administration of Lord Dalhousie.  These were nearly twice the area of England and Wales. Dalhousie made these annexations by freely applying the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ which he termed as “Annexation of Peace’.   Rulers of the Indian states believed that their states were annexed not because of the doctrine of lapse but on account of the lapse of the morals o the par of the East Indian Company. The states annexed by the application of this doctrine of lapse were Satara , Jaitpur and Sambalpur , Baghat , Udaipur , Jhansi and Nagpur .

Popularly known as Veer Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar , was a great revolutionary and later on a leader of the Hindu Mahasabha. In 1899 he established the first revolutionary society the Mitra Mela (Friends Association), which was named as the Abhinav Bharat Society (New India Society) in 1904. In 1906 he went to England and became a member of the revolutionary group led by Shyamji Krishna Varma. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Revolt of 1857, he wrote a famous book in which he called the Revolt the First war of Indian Independence. In London he was a close associate of Madan Lal Dhingra who murdered Curzon Wyllie with a bomb. In 1910 he was arrested in London, brought to India and tried in the Nashik Conspiracy case. He was sentenced to two consecutive life transportations, which meant fifty years. He spent ten years in the Andaman jail -from 1911 to 1921 and three years in other prisons. After his early release from prosin in 1924 he organised a movement of so...

                                                            UNESCO World Heritage - Hampi The splendor and affluence of the Vijayanagara city and empire has been described in the accounts of travellers who visited this South Indian  Hindu Kingdom at regular intervals. Prominent among them are the Italian Nicolo dei Conti and Abdur Razzaq (15th century AD) and the Portuguese travelers Paes and Nuniz who visited India in the 16th century.  Nicolo Conti, First European Visitor To Vijayanagar   Born at the coastal town of Chioggia in Italy, Nicolo Conti was an Italian and the earliest European visitor to the mighty Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. The ruins of the great city of Vijayanagar are found at Hampi in the state of Karnataka. Nicolo Conti reached the city in 1420 -21 in the reign of ...