This blog is a comprehensive and in-depth guide to the events, people and places throughout the history of India
1920 - Birth of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 17 March 1920. Also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist, who was the first president of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was voted as the Greatest Bengali of all time in the 2004 BBC opinion poll.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed during a military coup in 1975, along with most of his family.
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.
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.
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The Vernacular Press Act was repealed in 1881 by Lord Ripon, the then viceroy of India.
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.
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.
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.
Death of Syed Ahmad Khan on 27th March in 1898. Sayyid Ahmad Khan was an Indian Muslim reformer and educationist. He is credited for origina...
