Indian History

The ‘Black Hole’ was a tragic incident that happened in the run-up to the Battle of Plassey that took place in 1757. The incident served as casus belli for the invasion by the British on Murshidabad. Siraj ud Daulah, the then Nawab of Bengal, resented to the interference by the East India Company in his province. He was also livid with the company’s abuse of the commercial privileges which was granted by the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar under the firman of 1717. Though inexperienced and devoid of taking decisions, Siraj ud Daula set out to begin a military campaign against the English. During his military campaigns he captured Calcutta on 20 th June, 1756. Consequently, John Zephaniah Holwell, a narrator of the ‘Black Hole’ tragedy and a number of Europeans were taken prisoners who were confined in a chamber 18 feet by 14 inches, with only on window, throughout the hot and humid night of June in Calcutta. According to Holwell, they numbered about 165 or 170, and the nex

William Brydon riding into Jalalabad/ Wikipedia Commons The First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842) caused the greatest misfortune that ever befell the British army and dealt a severe blow to their prestige in India.   With the fall of Napoleonic France in 1814, Russia had emerged as Britain’s potential rival by 1830s. India was the prized possession of the British Empire at that time. Russia has made its Asiatic ambitions clear. But to realize its ambition it would have to gain a diplomatic and military foothold in Afghanistan, an insignificant and impoverished tribal society in the early 19th century. Instead of entering into an alliance with Afghanistan’s ruler, Dost Mohammad, Britain chose to back Shah Shuja, the deposed ruler of Afghanistan, who had been living in exile in India for three decades. In 1837, Alexander Burnes, an envoy sent by    George Eden (Lord Auckland) , the then Governor-General of India, reached Afghanistan. The Afghanistan’s ruler Dost Mohammad was willing to have

Born on 26th December in Sunam Village in Sangrur district of the north-western state of Punjab, Udham Singh was a great revolutionary. He 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.

Aurangzeb, the last great Mughal emperor, died in 1707.  Muhammad Shah became Mughal emperor in 1719.  During the interregnum, Bahadur Shah I , Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi-ud-Darajat and Rafi-ud-Daula ascended the Mughal throne. Jahandar Shah was murdered on the orders of Farrukhsiyar who had the support of the two powerful Mughal nobles Sayyid Abdullah and his brother Sayyid Husain Ali at that time. They are famous in history as Sayyid brothers, the King-makers. In 1719, Farrukhsiyar were murdered in utter disregard of a Mughal emperor by Sayyid brothers. Rafi-ud-Darajat died of consumption in a few months. Rafi-ud-Daula was addicted to opium and died in 4 months. Sayyid brothers now chose Raushan Akhtar, a son of Jahan Shah (the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I), to be the emperor. Raushan Akhtar ascended the throne under the title of Muhamamd Shah in September 1719. In the beginning Muhammad Shah was a puppet in the hands of Sayyid brothers who soon began to lose their g

A popular feature of Vaishnavism is the worship of the avataras, i.e. descents or incarnations of Vishnu. According to popular tradition there are ten incarnations of Vishnu. While the nine avatars have already appeared, Kalkin or Kalki is yet to come. At the end of Kali- yuga (dark age) marked by utter confusion resulting from disappearance of religion and virtue, Kalki will appear in the form of a man mounted on a white horse named Devadatta , with a flaming sword raised in his hand. We are presently in the Kali-yuga, which started according to popular tradition in 3012 B. C. Kalki will destroy the wicked, reward the good and usher in the age of gold. This 10 th incarnation of Vishnu appears to be a late addition to the Vaishnavite concept of avataras . This can be gauged from the fact that there have already been references to the concept of the coming of Maitreya Buddha (future Buddha) in Buddhism. There are many temples dedicated to Kalkin. The Kalkin temple n

Charvaka is an ancient Indian philosophical system which propounded materialism and rejected the notions of an afterlife. According to the Charvaka school of thought, all religious observance and morality were useless. The school encouraged making most of the life and seeking after the happiness that can be found in life. As long as he lives a man should live happily And drink ghee, though he run into debt, For when the body is turned to ashes How can there be any return to life?” Ajita Kesakambalin (“Ajita of the Hair-blanket), a contemporary of the Buddha, is the earliest known proponent of complete materialism.  He taught that pleasure is the chief end of life. According to him, “When the body dies both fool and wise alike are cut-off and perish. They don’t survive after death.” According to Buddhist sources, Ajita founded a sect of monks. It is not possible to pinpoint the exact influence of the tenets of Carvaka or Lokayata, as the materialist schools were

Mirabai (also spelt as Meerabai) was a Rajput princess who was one of the greatest saints of the Krishna cult of Vaishnavism in 16 th century India. She was the only child of Ratna Singh Rathor of Merta in Rajasthan.  Mirabai was born at the village of Kudki in the Pali district in or about AD 1498. In 1516, she was married to Bhoraj, eldest son of Rana Sanga, the ruler of Mewad with its capital at Chittor. Bhoraj was heir-apparent to Mewad but he died in 1526.   Mirabai was highly religious from her childhood. Like her grandfather Dudaji and father she was a devotee of Krishna. After her husband’s death she completely addressed herself to the devotion of Krishna. She patronized learned men. Devotees who were drawn from both sexes made a beeline to Mirabai. Consequently, her fame spread far and wide. However, Mirabai’s religious activities were resented by her in-laws who took exception to the fact that a royal princess would sing and dance before the image of Krishna