Battle of Plassey

Date : June 23rd, 1757
Place: Plassey (present day Palashi ) on the Ganga in Nadia district of West Bengal

Image source: commons.wikimedia.org/

The battle of Plassey was fought between the army of Siraj-ud-Doula, the last independent Nawab of Bengal and the troops of the British East India Company under Robert Clive. Clive had 1100 Europeans and 200 sepoys whereas Siraj-ud-doula’s army composed of about 50,000 men strengthened by a train of heavy artillery. However about 45000 of the Nawab’s troops were under command of three traitors Mir Jafar, Yar Latif khan and Rai Durlabhram. Mir Jafar was the general of Siraj-ud-doula. A small force under Mohanlal and Mir Madan joined the battle.

After Mir Madan’s death from a stray shot, Siraj-ud-doula suspended the fight for the day on Mir Jafar’s treacherous advice. The withdrawal result in the complete disaster for the nawab’s army. Fearing his life Siraj fled from the battle. The chaos reigned supreme. The casualty on English side numbered 23 killed and 49 wounded. 500 were killed on Nawab’s side.

Though battle of Plassey was a mere skirmish, going by the results of the battle it can be safely concluded that its importance was more than that of the some of the greatest battles of the world. It facilitated the British conquest of Bengal and subsequently the whole of India.

Indulal Yajnik: A brief biography

Born at Nadiad in the present-day Kheda district of Gujarat, Indulal Yajnik was one of the finest editors. A freedom fighter, social worker and peasant leader from Gujarat he was a gifted journalist.

He was associated with the home rule movement started by Annie Besant. Yajnik actively participated in the Kaira Satyagraha organized by Gandhi to secure exemption for the peasants from payment of land tax for the crops that had failed. He launched two Gujarati monthlies – Navjivan Ame Saty and Yugadharm and a daily Nutnan Gujarat.

Indulal Yajnik established schools for the Bhil children and was the secretary of the Antyaj Sava Mandal, with Thakkar Bapa as its president. He was actively associated with the Kisan Sabha work and organsied the cooperative movement among the peasants of Gujarat. In 1942 he presided over the annual session of Akhil Hind Kisan Sabha. He was a founder of the Gujarat Vidyapeeth. In 1956 he took lead in the Maha Gujarat Movement for a separate state and became founder president of the Maha Gujarat Janta Parishad.

Samarth Ramdasa , great Marathi saint of Bhakti Movement

Born in a Brahmin family in 1608 Ramdasa was the spiritual guru of the great Maratha ruler Shivaji. He travelled throughout India for twelve years and finally settled at Chaphal on the banks of the Krishna where he built a temple. During the political upheaval Ramdasa regarded the realization of God as primary aim.

Samarth Ramdasa established monasteries in different parts of Maharashtra. These monasteries served as centres of spirituality. He emphasized the need of physical yoga exercises as well as meditation.

In his magnum opus Dasabodha, Samarth Ramdasa combines his vast knowledge of various sciences and arts with the synthesizing principle of spiritual life. He is credited to have written several abhangas which deals with the ways to realize God.

Bloody Birth of Bangladesh

The emergence of Bangladesh as a sovereign country in 1971 is an important event in the world history. At the time of Indian independence in 1947 Bangladesh was a part of newly created nation of Pakistan. Since then, (it is still the case) Pakistan had been carrying their hate India campaign since its creation. It was nor ready (is still not ready) to understand that the future of India and Pakistan depends on peace and cooperation between these two countries.

Before its independence in 1971 Bangladesh was described as Eastern Pakistan. Due to the high handedness of the West Pakistan (present Pakistan) over the people of Eastern Pakistan, the situation came to such a pass that the people of the eastern Pakistan were in no mood to submit to the reckless dictates of the Western Pakistani authorities.

The first elections in Pakistan were held in 1970. The Awami League of eastern Pakistan, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, got an absolute majority winning 160 out of 162 seats For East Pakistan in the National Assembly. However, the army Commander-in Chief, General Yahya Khan, who was ruling the country, refused to set up a representative government. As a result a civil disobedience movement led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was launched in eastern Pakistan. General Yahya Khan unleashed a reign of terror resulting in the killing of thousands of people. Many fled to India to escape the genocide. People of Eastern Pakistan took to guerilla warfare and liberation of Bangladesh became the battle cry .

Bangladesh Flag

On 28th March, 1971, the liberation army chief major Ziaudding Khan, announced the formation of Bangladesh Government. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was named the president. As the massacre of the people was carried by the western Pakistani armies, India could not afford to remain a silent spectator.

The make the matter worse, Pakistan declared war on India on 4th December. Pakistan was summarily defeated and India officially recognized Bangladesh as an independent country on 6th December. The combined forces of India and Bangladesh inflicted crushing defeat on the Pakistan armies. On 16th December Pakistani troops surrendered to Lt. General Jagjit Singh Aurora, the chief Commander of the Joint military command of India and Bangladesh.

History of West Bengal

There is a divergence of views on how the word Bangla or Bengal came into being. The area that constitutes the present day West Bengal was ruled by various kingdoms in ancient times.

West Bengal was part of the Mauryan Empire (BC 321-185), the first and one of the greatest empires to be established in Indian history. The earliest reference to Bengal in foreign accounts has been found in those of the Greeks dating back to the first century BC. According to Mahavamsa, the Sri Lankan Buddhist Chronicle, Vijaya Singha, an obscure Vanga prince, conquered Sri Lanka in 544 BC.

After the fall of the Mauryan Empire, the territory of West Bengal came under the control of smaller kingdoms. After an interregnum it once again became part of the great Gupta rule, known as the classical age in Indian history.

After the fall of the Gupta empire, several local rulers asserted their independence. Chief among them were Dharmaditya, Gopachandra, and Samacharadeva. The first independent king of substance in Bengal was Shashanka who ruled in the seventh century AD. He proved to be a formidable opponent to the powerful Harsha.

After the death of Shashanka, Bengal plunged into anarchy (Matsya nyaya). The anarchy came to an end with the establishment of the Pala dynasty under Gopal. After a rule of about four hundred years, the Pala power was replaced by the Senas. Lakshman Sen, the last ruler of the Sena dynasty was defeated by Bakhtiar Khilji, a Turkish general of the Slave dynasty of Delhi Sultanate. 

Bengal came under the control of the Mughal Empire. However, Mughal authority was nominally respected by the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who remained independent for all practical purposes .

Bengal came under the rule of the British after the defeat of Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab, in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Calcutta ceased to be the capital of India in 1911, Delhi taking the place. During India’s struggle for Independence, Bengal was the nerve centre of revolutionary and political activities. Subhash Chandra Bose is one of the so many prominent freedom fighters Bengal is reputed to have produced. When India achieved independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines.

The Indian state of West Bengal was created in 1947 when the Partition of India following India’s attainment of Independence split the province of Bengal India and East Pakistan. The mostly Muslim eastern part of the province became East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan); the mostly Hindu western part became West Bengal. The former French colony of Chandannagar was incorporated into West Bengal in 1955.

A Short History of Assam

In ancient times many powerful dynasties held their sway over the territory that constituted the present day Assam which was then known as Kamarupa. Chief among them were the Varmans (c.350-650 AD), the Salstambhas (c.655-900 AD) and the Kamarupa-Palas (c.900-1100 AD). It was during the reign of the Varman king, Bhaskaravarman (c.600–650 AD), that the Chinese traveler Xuan Zang visited the region.

After the disintegration of the ancient dynasties, two later kingdoms, the Ahoms and the Koch came to the centrestage of Assam. Of these the first held their sovereignty over Assam for nearly 600 years. The Koch kingdom came into being in c.1510 AD. During the reign of Naranarayana (c.1540-1587 AD), the power of the kingdom reached its pinnacle.

The greatest king of the Ahom dynasty was Sukhrungpha or Sworgodeu Rudra Simha (c.1696-1714 AD). Among other kingdoms which held their sway in some parts of Assam at this period were the Chutiyas, the Kacharis. During the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the Bengal governor Mir Jumla invaded the territory but could not hold power for a long time thanks to guerrilla attacks on the Mughal forces.

Assam was annexed by British India in 1833. Assam was made a state of India in 1947.

History of Gujarat

The history of Gujarat, the western most state of India, goes back to 2000 B.C. Tradition has it that Lord Krishna left Mathura to settle on the west coast of Saurashtra, which later became famous as Dwarka, a well-known city in the state. 

Two important Indus Valley Civilisation sites in Gujarat are Lothal and Dholavira.

The area that constitutes the present day Gujarat was ruled by various dynasties including Mauryas, Guptas, Pratiharas and others.

During the time of Chalukya dynasty, Gujarat saw progress and prosperity. the Chalukya or Solankis ruled in Gujarat and Kathiawar for nearly three centuries and half (950-1300). One of the earliest rulers of this dynasty was Mularaja who consolidated the Chalukya power in Gujarat. The next illustrious king was Bhima I (1022-64), during whose reign Mahmud Ghazni overran Gujarat and plundered the great temple of Somanath.

Jayasimha Siddharaja was the greatest Chalukya king who, in commemoration of his victory against the Paramaras, adopted the title of Avantinatha. During the reign of Bhima II (1178-1241), Muhammad Ghori made an unsuccessful attempt to subjugate Gujarat in 1178 AD. Anhilwara was plundered by the Turkish army. In the same period the Vagela chief craved out an independent principality in Gujarat between the Sabarmati and the Narmada. Gujarat was annexed into the Delhi sultanate by Allauddin Khilji. The state was incorporated into the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1576.

After coming under the control of the Portuguese, Gujarat was ruled by the British who set up a factory in Surat in 1614. Gujarat finds a place of pride during the independence movement thanks to producing Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation. Apart from Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was another stalwart of India’s struggle for freedom.

The present state of Gujarat came into being on 1 May 1960 thanks to the bifurcation of Bombay state. Maharashtra became the other state. Gandhinagar became the capital of the state in 1970. Earlier the capital was Ahmedabad.

History of Haryana

Haryana is known for being the territory over which were fought some of the decisive and famous battles that changed much of the history of India. Chief among them are the battle of Mahabharata and the three battles of Panipat.

The Indus Valley Civilization, or the Harappan Civilization, one of the world's first and oldest civilizations, was located in part of what is now Haryana. Banawali in Hisar District of Haryana was a major city of the Indus Valley Civilization. Rakhigarhi is another city of the Indus Valley Civilization that is situated in the present day Haryana. Haryana was an important centre of Vedic civilization.

King Harshavardhana, one of the greatest kings of ancient India made Thanesar near Kurukshetra in the state of Haryana his capital in the 7th century AD. Prithviraj Chauhan, the last Hindu king in Delhi, founded forts at Tarori and Hansi in the 12th century.

Haryana came under the control of Muslim ruler after Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated by Muhammad Ghori in the Second Battle of Tarain. The area came under the suzerainty of the Delhi Sultanate which ruled much of India for more than three centuries. Firoz Shah Tughlaq of the Tughlaq dynasty built a fort at Hisar in 1354.

Panipat in Haryana was the place where three famous battles were fought. The first battle of Panipat fought between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, resulted in the foundation of the Mughal Empire in India. The second battle of Paipat, fought between Akbar and the Hindu king Hem Chandra Vikramaditya also called Hemu, resulted in the restoration of the Mughal empire once again. The Third Battle of Panipat, fought January 13, 1761, between the Marathas and Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Abdali, who won the battle, dent a severe blow to the cause of Maratha imperialism. Sir J. N. Sarkar writes about the Third Battle of Panipat, “It was in short a nation-wide disaster like Flodden Field; there was not a home in Maharashtra that had to mourn the loss of a member, and several houses their very heads. An entire generation of leaders was cut off at one stroke.”

The Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848 to 1849 resulted in the defeat of the Sikhs who were defeated by the British at Gujarat, a town near Chenab on 21 February 1849. As a corollary to this, Punjab which included most of present day Haryana was annexed to the British Empire on 2 April 1849.

Haryana became a state of the Indian union on 1 November, 1966.

Jammu and Kashmir: A historical Perspective

Three dynasties, the Karkota, the Utpala and the Loharas, ruled over Kashmir from 800 AD to 1200 AD. Of the Karkota dynasty, Lalitaditya Muktapida (724-760) and Jayapida Vinyaditya (779-810) were the two most famous rulers. The Karkota dynasty was overthrown by the Utpalas in the middle of the ninth century AD. The most illustrious ruler of the Utpala dynasty was Avantivarman (855-83) who devoted more time to internal administration than to conquests. He is credited to have founded new cities including Suyyapura (Sopar) and Avavntipur.

The Utpalas were supplanted by the Loharas. Harsha was the last important ruler of the Lohara dynasty. After his death Kashmir faced a quick succession of weak Lohara rulers and finally the dynasty came to an end in 1172 AD.

Though Muhammad bin Qasim, the conqueror of Sind, invaded Kashmir, he was not able to subjugate the region. Mahmud of Ghazni’s attempt to conqueror also ended in failure. Shah Mir dynasty was founded in 1339. Alauddin (1343-54) transferred his capital from Indrakot to Alauddinpur (Srinagar). The greatest ruler of the dynasty was Sultan Zainul Abidin (1420-70). He was given the title of Budshah (The Great King) and is still remembered by it.

Kashmir was annexed to the Mughal empire in 1588 by Akbar who appointed Ramchandra I as the governor of the Himalayan kingdom. Ramchandra I is credited to have founded the city of Jammu, named after the Hindu goddess Jamwa Mata, south of the Pir Panjal range.

When India attained independence in 1947, Kashmir was ruled by Hari Singh. This princely state had 77% Muslim population. On October 20, 1947, Pakistan invaded Kashmir. Hari Singh signed instrument of accession treaty with the India Government. Till then Kashmir has been a sore point in the relation between India and Pakistan, resulting in three more wars.

Musicians at Mughal Court

All the great Mughal rulers, with the exception of Auragzeb, were patrons of music. Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan took keen interest in music. Abul Fazal, the court historian of Akbar mentions that thirty six singers enjoyed the patronage of Akbar’s court. Of them, Tansen was the most famous. According to Abul Fazal, the author of Akbarnama, ‘a singer like him has not been in India for the last thousand years.’ Tansen was earlier a court musician of Rama Chandra, a Raja of Bhatta (Rewa). The famous Sufi saint Shaikh Salim Chishti was great admirer of Tansen. Tansen was conferred the title of Kanthabharanvani Vilas by Akbar. Tansen’s son Tantarng also sang in the court of Akbar.

Among the thirty six names of musicians in the court of Akbar, most of the singers were Indian and hailed from either Gwalior or Dhar. Ramdas who had been formerly in the court of Islam Shah was second only to Tansen. His son Surdas was also a musician.

The musicians enjoying the patronage of the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir were Chatr Khan, Khurramdad and Hamza. Shahjahan was fond of Dhrupad. His musicians were Lal Khan, son-in-law of Tansen. He was given the title of Gunsamundar. Pandit Jagannath received the title of Maha kaviraj. Surasen was a famous instrumentalist.

Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda

Five separate Sultanates arose in the Deccan, one after another, on the break-up of the Bahmanai kingdom. Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda was one of them. The founder of this dynasty was Sultan Quli Hamadani who was given the charge of the region of Golconda by the Bahmani ruler in 1494.

Sultan Quli Hamadani was given the title of Qutbul Mulk by the Bahmani ruler. Taking advantage of the weakening of the Bahmani kingdom, he declared independce in 1512. His reign was characterized by his constant struggles with the rulers of the Vijayanagar empire. Qutbul Mulk was killed by his son Jamshid in 1543 at the age of ninety-eight.

Jamshid ruled for seven years. His rule was characterized by chaos and his boneheaded obstinacy made his unpopular. His brother Ibrahim, fearing his life, went to the protection of Vijayanagar rulers. Jamshid was succeeded by his son Subhan. Taking advantage of the prevailing discontent in the empire, Ibrahim succeeded in becoming the ruler of the Qutb dynasty. Ibrahim’s reign was a major milestone in the history of Goconda. Ibrahim was a man of education and learning. He joined the coalition that defeated the Vijayanagar army in the battle of Talikota. Ibrahim died in 1580 and was succeeded by his son Muhammad Quli who is credited with the foundation of Hyderabad. After his death in 1612 Muhammad became the ruler of Qutb Shahi dynasty.

Golconda was incorporated into the Mughal empire in 1687.

Jahangir portrait fetches record Rs 10 crore at auction

A 17th century life-size portrait of fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir was sold for a record Rs 10 crore at Bonhams Indian and Islamic Sale in London. The painting is attributed to Abul Hasan or Nadir al-Zaman or "wonder of the age" as he was called by Jahangir, who was the Mughal Emperor from 1605-1627.

Abul Hasan and his father Aga Reza of Herat were the famous painters of the court of Jahangir. Jahangir was an excellent connoisseur of paintings. The emperor was also an art critic who could tell the names of the individual painters in a composite piece. 

Other important painters of his court were Muhammad Nadir and Muhammad Murad from Samarqand, Ustad Mansur, Bishan Das, Manohar and Govardhan. Most of the subjects of Mughal paintings were inspired by the court life and the natural life.