Indian History

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a landmark cultural exposition titled “Lotus Light: Relics of the Awakened One” on January 3, 2026, at the Rai Pithora Cultural Complex in New Delhi. Organised by the Ministry of Culture, the exposition will showcase the revered Sacred Piprahwa Relics along with associated antiquities, highlighting India’s deep civilisational ties with the teachings of Lord Buddha and its commitment to the preservation of its rich spiritual heritage. The relics on display include repatriated sacred artefacts of immense historical, archaeological and spiritual significance, revered by Buddhist communities worldwide. The exhibition marks a significant moment in India’s cultural and diplomatic engagement.  The Piprahwa relics of Lord Buddha were discovered by British civil engineer and landowner William Claxton Peppé in 1898 from Piprahwa, the ancient site of Kapilavastu in the Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. The holy remains have returned to Ind...

  1561 - Death of Bairam Khan, the preceptor to Mughal emperor Akbar and Mughal military commander, on 31st January 1561 on his way to Mecca. Bairam Khan was relieved of his post and was ordered by Akbar to go to Mecca.   Bairam Khan was instrumental in establishing the Mughal rule after Humayun's exile from India during the reign of Sur rulers.    He was killed by an Afghan at Patan on his way to Mecca.  1600 - English company the East India Company was formed on December 31, 1600. The company was given a monopoly of all English trade to Asia by royal charter in that year.  

1887 -  Noted Indian freedom fighter, educationist,  lawyer,    author and statesman.  K. M. Munshi was born on  30 December 1887  in  Bharuch (Broach) , in present-day western Indian state of Gujarat.  Munshi  was a member of Indian National Congress , Swatantra Party and Vishva Hindu Parishad . he also served as a governor of Uttar Pradesh. Munshi also founded the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, an educational trust,  in the year 1938.  In 1950  Munshi started  Van Mahotsav, a festival to promote tree plantation and environmental conservation in India. 1906 - The All-India Muslim League is founded in Dacca (now the capital of Bangladesh). It had led the movement for the creation of new Muslim state (Pakistan).  1943 - On 30th December 1943, Netaji Subhas hoisted the Tricolor flag for the first time in Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and renamed the Andaman Islands as Shaheed Dweep & Nicobar Islands a...

1844-   Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee or Umesh Chandra Banerjee , the first president of Indian National Congress in 1885 , is born on 29 December 1844 in Calcutta. He was also the first Indian to fight the election to British Parliament. 1930- Muhammad Iqbal 's presidential address in Allahabad on 29 December in the annual session of the All-India Muslim League in 1930 introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal, was an Urdu poet and lawyer. Born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan) on November 9, 1877, he was a nationalist during early years of career writing the famous nationalist song: Sare Jahan se Accha, Hindositan hamara, but later on he voiced the idea of a separate Muslim state in the north-west India in his presidential address to the annual session of the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930. It was this idea which later fructified and culminated in the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan ...

1659 - The Battle of Kolhapur took place on 28 December, 1659, near Kolhapur city, Maharashtra. It was fought between the Maratha forces under Shivaji, and the Adil Shahi forces led by Bijapur general Rustam-i-Zaman. 1885 - The Indian National Congress (INC) is founded by A.O. Hume in Mumbai. First session of INC was held in Mumbai from 28 –31 December in 1885. 1937 - Indian industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Tata was born on 28 December, 1937

1797 - The famous Urdu and Persian poet  Mirza Asadullah Khan popularly known as  Mirza Ghalib was born in Agra on 27 December 1797. Today is Ghalib's 228th birth anniversary.   Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, Mirza Ghalib was patronized by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar (Zafar ascended the Mughal throne in 1837). Mirza Ghalib died in Delhi on February 15, 1869.  He was buried near the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya in Hazrat Nizamuddin locality in Delhi Ghalib was also well versed in Persian.  1911 - The national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana, was first publicly sung on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress. 

Today is 126th birth anniversary of  Udham Singh , an Indian freedom fighter with association with Ghadar Party, a political movement founded by expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India.  Born as Sher Singh on December 26th, 1899 in Sunam Village in Sangrur district of the north-western Indian state of Punjab, Udham Singh is known for avenging the infamous Jalianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar by murdering Michael O’Dwyer after 21 years. 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 . In 1919 soldiers of the British Army in India had opened fire on the crowd in a walled public garden and killed over 1,000 of them. This became known variously as the Amritsar Massacre or the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The ...