Indian History

Written in Persian, Tarikh-i-Rashidi deals with the history of Central Asia as well as the events in Kashmir. It was written by Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat (1499-1551) who was a ruler of Kashmir.  Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat was  a cousin of Mughal founder Babur .    His grave was restored in 2018 in Srinagar by the Kazakh embassy in India in association with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Hāla was a Satavahana king who is traditionally assigned the authorship of Saptasataka (Seven Hundred) or Gathasaptashati, the most important literary work in Prakrit. Written in the Arya metre, Saptasataka is a collection of self contained stanzas full of beauty.  Out of seven hundred poems, some forty-four were penned by Hala, who, according to the Matsya Purana, was the 17th Satavahana ruler.  Hāla ruled in the Deccan in the 1st century AD.   The Maharashtri Prakrit work " Lilavati Parinayam " narrates his romance and marriage with Lilavati, a princess of Simhaladvipa (identified with modern Sri Lanka). Lilavati Parinayam was written by  Kuthuhala Koūhala.

One of the famous triumvirate called “Lal-Bal-Pal”, Bipin Chandra Pal is known as "Father of Revolutionary Thoughts" in India. He was born in 1858 in Sylhet (now in Bangladesh).    Bipin Chandra Pal joined Indian National Congress in 1886. He started newspapers with a view to educating public opinion. He was the founder editor of Paridarshak, a weekly, and later worked as assistant editor of the Bengal Public Opinion and the Tribune. Nationalist to the core, Bipin Chandra Pal was an exponent of concept of Indian Swaraj and Swadeshi. He vehemently opposed the partition of Bengal announced in 1905. He was a noted writer and a powerful speaker. His most famous work was Memories and My Life and Times (in two volumes). He also launched English newspaper Bande Mataram of which the revolutionary and later a mystic Aurobindo Ghose became an editor. I n 1907, h e was convicted for six months following publication of seditious views in the paper. Bipin Chandra Pal worked for Associatio

Ashtadhyayi is a treatise on grammar composed in the 4th century B.C. by Panini. The work is the most detailed and scientific grammar composed before the 19th century in any part of the world.  Consisting of over 4000 grammatical rules, Panini’s grammar is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of any ancient civilization.  Later Indian grammars such as Mahabhasya of Patanjali and Kasika Vrtti of Jayaditya and Vamana are commentaries on Panini. Panini was associated the ancient university of Taxila or Takshashila.   Reference: The Wonder that was India by A. L. Basham 

                                        Aihole inscription of Ravi Kirti/Wikimedia Commons Aihole Prasasti (Inscription) is a panegyric of Pulakesin II, the greatest king of Chalukya Dynasty, which ruled from Vatapi (now called Badami) in Karnataka. Pulakesin II reigned from 610 to 642 CE.  Dated A.D. 634, Aihole Inscription was composed by his Jain court poet, Ravikirti, who claimed equal sta tus with poets  Kalidasa and  Bharavi as a result of his composition . Engraved on the walls of Meguti temple at  Aihole, the inscription gives a detailed account of his victories.  Jain Maguti Temple Jain Meguti Temple is the  only dated architectural monument in Aihole. 

Written by Diwan Ali Muhammad Khan in 1750s, Mirat-i-Ahmadi is a rare piece of history writing in Persian. It gives statistical information on the history of Gujarat from the beginning of the Muslim rule.  Mirat-i-Ahmadi was translated into English by James Bird. It was translated into Gujarati by Nizamuddin Faruqi in 1913. 

Mirat-i-Sikandari is a Persian work describing the political history of Gujarat from the inception of the Muzaffarid dynasty by Muzaffar Shah (Jafar Khan). The work was composed by Sikander bin Muhammad Manzu and completed in 1611. Sikander bin Muhammad Manzu served in the army of Aziz Koka, a leading noble and Mughal Subahdar of Gujarat. Mirat-i-Sikandari also describes the cultural and social life of Gujarat.