Today In Indian History (5th January)

1592- The fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, builder of Taj Mahal, was born on January 5, 1592, in Lahore. He ruled from 1628 to 1658). 

1659 - The Battle of Khajwa (Khajuha in the Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh) was fought on January 5, 1659, between the newly crowned Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and his brother Shah Shuja who had declared himself Mughal Emperor in Bengal. 

Today In Indian History (4th January)

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”. 

Rani Velu Nachiyar

Today i.e. January 3 is the birth anniversary of Rani Velu Nachiyar, a freedom fighter who  became the first Indian queen to defeat the British and regain her annexed estate in 1780.  

Rani Velu Nachiyar ranks first among female rulers who fought against the British colonial power. Born in 1730 AD to the King Sellamuthu Sethupathy and Rani Sakandhimuthal of Ramnad Kingdom, this scion of the Ramnada Royal family in Tamil Nadu  gave good account of herself as a brave ruler who was a scholar in many languages including French, English, and Urdu.

Nachiyar became queen of the Sivaganga estate (present-day Tamil Nadu) in 1780 after her husband Muthuvaduganathaperiya Udaiyathevar’s death by combined forces of British soldiers and the son of the Nawab of Arcot. 

In 1780 Rani Velu Nachiyar fought the British and won the battle. She ruled until 1790.

India paid tributes to her by issuing a commemorative postage stamp on 31^st December, 2008.

Today In Indian History (3rd January)

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.  

194th Birth Anniversary of Savitribai Phule

Today is the 194th birth anniversary of  Savitribai Phule who is hailed as the first female teacher in India. She was a poet, reformer and educationist. Born on January 3, 1831 in Naigaon in a lowly Mali family in Maharashtra she was married off at the tender age of 10.

Critical of the prevailing Hindu religion and custom she along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, established several schools for the uplift of the untouchables and women. 

Savitribai Phule started India’s first school for girls at Pune's Bhide Wada in 1848.

To make the depressed classes conscious of their rights, she and her husband founded the Satya Sodhak Samaj in 1873. 

Savitribai passed away on March 10, 1897.

Savitribai Phule was born in Maharashtra’s Satara district to Lakshmi and Khandoji Nevase Patil on January 3, 1831. 

Her important works include:

• Kavya Phule (“Flowers of Poems”) (published in 1854)

• Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar (published in1892)

• Matushri Savitribai Phulenchi Bhashane Va Gaani

• Jotibanchi Bhashane Vol. 1 to 4 – [Collection of Mahatma Phule’s speeches, edited by Savitribai Phule],

In Savitribai’s honour, the Pune University was renamed the Savitribai Phule Pune University in 2015. 

Key Takeaways

• Savitribai Phule is hailed as the first female teacher in India. 
• Savitribai Phule opposed child marriage, dowry, Sati and child infanticide. She stood for women’s education and widow remarriage. 
• She has been popularly called the ‘Crusader of Gender Justice.’ 
• Along with her husband Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai established two educational trusts in the 1850s. One was called the Native Female School of Pune, and the other was The Society for Promoting the Education of Mahars, Mangs and Etceteras.

Today In Indian History (2nd January)

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.