Today In Indian History (16th March)

1527 - The Battle of Khanwa was fought on 16 March 1527 at Khanwa, a village in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. Khanwa is 60 km west of Agra. The battle was fought between Babur, the first Mughal emperor, and the Mewar ruler Rana Sanga for supremacy of Northern India. The battle resulted in the victory of the Mughal forces.

1559 - Birth of Maharana Amar Singh I on 16 March in 1559. Amar Singh was the son and successor of Maharana Pratap of Mewar Kingdom. The first military campaign undertaken by Jahangir, the Mughal emperor and son of Akbar, was against Rana Amar Singh. The Mughal expeditions sent against Mewar in 1606 and 1608-09 proved indecisive, but in 1613-14 the campaign led by Jahangir's third son Khurram (later Shah Jahan) proved decisive and Rana Amar Singh submitted to the Mughals in 1615. Jahangir offered most liberal terms to Mewar and thus ended a long struggle between Mewar and the Mughals. The emperor installed two life-size marble statues of Rana Amar Singh and his son Karan in the garden of his palace at Agra. However, the glory and pride of Mewar was gone.

1693 - Birth of Malhar Rao Holkar on 16th March in 1693.  Malhar Rao Holkar was a noble subedar of the Maratha Empire and was the founder of the Holkar dynasty that ruled Malwa.

Malhar Rao Holkar died on 20 May 1766 at Alampur in Madhya Pradesh. Chhatri of Malhar Rao Holkar was built by his daughter-in-law Ahilya Bai Holkar at Alampur.

Today In Indian History (15th March)

1206 - Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori was stabbed to death at Damyak (in modern Pakistan) on the 15th March, 1206. Muhammad Ghori was the next prominent invader on India after Mahmud of Ghazni. Muhammad Ghori took the title of Mu'izzuddin Muhammad ibn Sam after he became sultan.

Today In Indian History (14th March)

1878 - The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 was introduced by Lord Lytton, then Viceroy of India, and was passed on March 14, 1878. The Vernacular Press Act was enacted to curtail the freedom of the Indian press and prevent the expression of criticism toward British policies. 

The Vernacular Press Act was repealed in 1881 by Lord Ripon, the then viceroy of India. 

Today In Indian History (13th March)

1742 - Death of Nana Phadnavis (also spelt as Nana Fadnavis) on 13 March 1800 in Pune. Nana Fadnavis was a brilliant Maratha minister and statesman during the Peshwa administration in Pune. He is often referred to as "the Maratha Machiavelli".  

Nana Phadnavis was born in Satara on 12th February in 1742. 

1940 - Michael O’Dwyer was killed in London on 13th March 1940 by Udham Singh.

Udham Singh was a great revolutionary who avenged the infamous Jalianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar by murdering Michael O’Dwyer, who was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in 1919 when Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar had ordered the firing on the innocent people who have gathered here to protest the arrest of Congress leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satya Pal under Rowlatt Act.

Udham Singh killed O’Dwyer in London on 13th March 1940. He was arrested on the spot and sentenced to death on 21st July in the same year.

Today In Indian History (12th March)

1481- Muhammad Shah III of the Bahmani Empire sacks Kanchi or Kanchipuram temple on March 12, 1481. Other temples of Kanchipuram were looted by Muhammad III along with his minster Mahmud Gawan who confiscated large amounts of gold, silver and precious jewels. 

Today In Indian History (11th March)

1689 - Death of Sambhaji on 11 March 1689. Eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire, Sambhaji ruled from 1681 to 1689. He was captured, and after cruel torture for more than three weeks by Aurangzeb, he was brutally put to death by the Mughals forces on the instruction of Aurangzeb. He was executed by beheading on 11 March 1689 at Tulapur on the banks of the Bhima river near Pune.

Sambhaji was born at Purandar fort to Shivaji's first wife, Saibai Nimbalkar, who died on 5 September 1659 when he was two years old. 

Today In Indian History (10th March)

1897 - Death of Savitribai Phule on March 10 in 1897. Savitribai Phule was a poet, reformer and educationist. Born on January 3, 1831 in Naigaon in a lowly Mali family in Maharashtra Satara district she was married off at the tender age of 10. Her parents were Lakshmi and Khandoji Nevase Patil. 

Critical of the prevailing Hindu religion and custom Savitribai Phule along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, established several schools for the uplift of the untouchables and women. 

Savitribai Phule started India’s first school for girls at Pune's Bhide Wada in 1848.

To make the depressed classes conscious of their rights, she and her husband founded the Satya Sodhak Samaj in 1873. 

Savitribai passed away on March 10, 1897.

Her important works include:

• Kavya Phule (“Flowers of Poems”) (published in 1854)

• Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar (published in1892)

• Matushri Savitribai Phulenchi Bhashane Va Gaani

• Jotibanchi Bhashane Vol. 1 to 4 – [Collection of Mahatma Phule’s speeches, edited by Savitribai Phule],

In Savitribai’s honour, the Pune University was renamed the Savitribai Phule Pune University in 2015. 

Key Takeaways

• Savitribai Phule is hailed as the first female teacher in India. 
• Savitribai Phule opposed child marriage, dowry, Sati and child infanticide. She stood for women’s education and widow remarriage. 
• She has been popularly called the ‘Crusader of Gender Justice.’ 
• Along with her husband Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai established two educational trusts in the 1850s. One was called the Native Female School of Pune, and the other was The Society for Promoting the Education of Mahars, Mangs and Etceteras.

1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested on March 10, 1922 in Bombay by the British government on the charge of sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years.