Indian History

1316 - Death of  second Khilji Sultan Alauddin Khilji on 4 January 1316.  Alauddin Khilji is buried in a tomb located within the Qutb Minar complex in Mehrauli in Delhi. 1931 - Death of Muhammad Ali Jauhar Khan (10 December 1878 – 4 January 1931), one of the founders of All-India Muslim League and a leading figure of the Khilafat Movement. Muhammad Ali Jauhar was poet and journalist. He had started an English newspaper called “The Comrade”.  1948 - Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, gained independence from Britain on 4 January 1948 after more than 60 years of colonial rule. 

1653 - By the Coonan Cross Oath (Koonan Kurishu Sathyam), the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage in both ecclesiastical and secular matters. Coonan Cross Oath (Koonan Kurishu Sathyam) refers to a public oath taken on 3 January by the Malabar Christian community in 1653 that they would not submit to the authority of the Jesuits and the Latin Catholic hierarchy.  1730 : Rani Velu Nachiyar (3rd Jan 1730 – 25th Dec 1796), first queen to fight against the British colonial power, was born in 1730 AD to the King Sellamuthu Sethupathy and to Rani Sakandhimuthal of Ramnad Kingdom. 1831 - Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, activist, reformer and educationist was born on January 3, 1831 in Naigaon in a lowly Mali family in Maharashtra.  

1878 - Mannathu Padmanabhan, social reformer and freedom fighter from Kerala, was born on 2nd January 1878 in Perunna, Kottayam district of Kerala. He was the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS). He participated in the Vaikom (1924–25) and Guruvayoor (1931) temple-entry Satyagrahas and the anti-untouchability movements.  1954  – India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan. They were instituted on 2nd January.  The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna were: C. Rajagopalachari (last Governor-General of India and founded the Swatantra Party),  Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Nobel laureate C. V. Raman. They were honoured in 1954. The first recipients of the Padma Vibhushan award were Satyendra Nath Bose, Nand Lal Bose, Zakir Husain, Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, and V. K. Krishna Menon, who were honoured in 1954. 

Delhi Durbar 1877 / Image Credit: Unknown Photographer 1662   - Birth of  Balaji Vishwanath  on  1 January 1662 .  Balaji Vishwanath was the first Peshwa of the Maratha kingdom. He is called the  Second Founder of the Maratha State.    1877  - The first Delhi Durbar, also known as the Imperial Durbar, was held on 1st January 1877.  Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India. 1894  – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist and mathematician, was born on 1st January.  1923 - The Swaraj Party or the Congress-Khilafat  Swaraj Party  was formed on 1st January 1923 by Chittaranjan Das (C R Das) and Motilal Nehru. Chittaranjan Das had defended Aurobindo Ghosh in the Alipur Bomb Conspiracy case. The Alipore Bomb case conspiracy, also known as the Manicktolla bomb conspiracy or Muraripukar conspiracy, was a criminal trial took place in 1908. C R Das had presided the annual session of the Indian National ...

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.