Indian History

Amoghavarsha I or Sarva (814-878) was the Jain scholar-king of Rashtrakuta dynasty. He succeeded to the throne after his father Govinda III’s death. He was born in a camp while his father was campaigning in the Vindhyas. Amoghavarsha’s long reign of 64 years was marked by conflicts with the Eastern Chalukyas, also known as the Chalukyas of Vengi, and the Gangas. His army remained in occupation of Vengi for twelve years. Amoghvarsha did not match the martial spirit of his father and other predecessors. This was due to his fascination for literature and leanings towards religion. Amoghavarsha was converted into Jainism by the Jaina monk Jinasena, the author of Adipurana. He was a patron of Saktayana, the author of Amoghavritti, and Mahaviracharya, the author of Ganitasara-Samgraha. He himself authored Kavirajamarga, the earliest Kannada work on poetics. The Arab traveller Suleiman in his account called Amoghavarsha as among the four great sovereigns of the world, the other three

Sikandar Lodi was the second ruler of the Lodi dynasty,  last of the dynasties that comprised Delhi Sultanate that lasted from AD  1206 to1526 . Born as Nizam Khan, he succeeded his father Bahlul Lodi after his death in 1489.  Bahlul Lodi had nominated him his heir apparent.  Sikandar  was the son of the daughter of a Hindu goldsmith.  In 1494 he dealt a crushing defeat to  Hussain Shah Sharqi  and demolished the Sharqi monuments in Jaunpur. He crushed the Raja of Tirhut and captured Chanderi in 1514. He was able to seize Bihar and signed a treaty with the Sultan of Bengal. From 1506 to 1517 he devoted his energies to capturing Gwalior which remained unconquered under its Tomar ruler Raja Man Singh (1486-1517). He is credited with the tightening of the espionage system. He  introduced the system of auditing of accounts and Gaaz-i-Sikandar of 32 digits for measuring cultivated land. He gave patronage of philosophy. His rule saw the rising popularity of Avicenna’s philosophy in Del

Shantidas Jhaveri was a leading Jain jeweller and banker in the Ahmedabad city during the 17th century. He had a beautiful Jain temple built in Ahmedabad. The temple was desecrated and converted into a mosque in 1645 by the then governor of Gujarat, Aurangzeb (later Mughal emperor) who built a mihrab (niche) for prayer in it. This was complained to Shah Jahan who, on the assertion of scholar and philosopher Mulla Abdul Hakim that Aurangzeb had flagrantly violated the sharia in usurping Shantidas’s property, ordered the temple be restored to the latter.

Maryam-i Makani Hamida Banu Begam, popularly known as  Hamida Banu Begam, was the mother of the greatest  Mughal emperor Akbar and wife of second Mughal emperor Humayun who fell in love with her while he was at his brother Hindal’s camp during his wanderings as a fugitive.    Hamida Banu Begam was daughter of Shaikh Ali Ambar Jaini, who had been a tutor to Hindal. She married Humayun in early 1942 and became mother of Akbar in November 1542 AD.  Hamida Banu Begam was given the title of Maryam Makani, literary of 'rank equal to Mary'. 

Ahval-i-Humayun Badshah or Humayun-Nama was written by Babur's daughter and Humayun’s half- sister, Gulbadan Begam, who stayed with the greatest Mughal Emperor Akbar, son and successor of Humayun, from 1556 to 1603 at Agra.      Written at the instance of Akbar, Humayun-Nama, which contains Gulbadan’s personal reminiscences of her father and brother, was composed between 1580 and 1590 A. D. Humayun-Nama was translated into English by Mrs. Beveridge.

Chandragupta Maurya and Bhadrabahu / Image Credit Bhadrabahu was the Jaina monk under whose leadership, due to a serious famine at the end of Mauryan emperor Chandragupta’s reign, a large number of Jaina monks migrated from Magadha to Sarvanabelgola in Karnataka at the close of the fourth century BC. These monks set up important centres of Jainism in Deccan. Out of this exodus arose the famous split of Jainism into two sects, namely the Digamabaras (“Space-clad”, i.e. naked) and Shvetambaras (“white clad”). While Bhadrabahu insisted that his followers should not wear clothes thereby retaining the rule of Nudity established by the Jaina founder Mahavira, Sthulabhadra, who remained in the North (Magadha), allowed the monks to wear white clothes.

Natyashastra is the earliest surviving Indian textbook on three arts of drama, music and dancing. It was composed in the later centuries of the Christian era by an anonymous writer who in accordance with the custom of the time, attributed the work to the ancient sage Bharata.  Even today the best modern Indian dancers dance according to the rules laid down in Natyashastra.