Indian History

Built by Nur Jahan, wife of fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir, for her father, Itmad- ud- Daulah’s tomb in Agra in Uttar Pradesh is one of the earliest buildings in which pietra dura, a method of decorating the walls with floral designs studded with semi-precious stones, was used.   Also known as mini Taj, the structure is the first Mughal buildings built entirely from marble. Built between 1622 and 1628 it is also the first tomb to be built on the banks of the Yamuna. Nur Jahan’s father Mirza Ghiyas Beg was given the title of Itmad- ud- Daulah (pillar of the state). He was the wazir (chief minister) of the Mughal empire under Jehangir.  Itmad- ud- Daulah’s tomb was built by Nur Jahan ,  Pietra dura is also used on a large scale in the Taj Mahal.

When it comes to the concentration of Buddhist sites in Indian states, the eastern state of Odisha does not lag far behind the likes of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. With over two millennia of history in Buddhism, Odisha is what one would call a heaven of the Buddhist. Visit the below mentioned predominant places of Buddhist pilgrimage in the state in 2026.  Ratnagiri  Ratnagiri, Odisha The excavations at Ratnagiri have unearthed important Buddhist sites and artifacts including two large Buddhist monasteries, 10 meter high stupa surrounded by small votive stupas and a statue of Buddha. According to the Chinese monk and scholar Hieun Tsang who visited the site in the 7th century AD, Ratnagiri was an important entre of Buddhism. The Ratnagiri museum under the Archeological Survey of India is an invaluable introduction to the history of Buddhism in the area and the galleries have some interesting finds including sculptures found in the area. Lalitgiri Complete view of the chaityagri...

Hawa Mahal Jaipur Your lasting impression of Jaipur will be of the impressive the Palace of Winds or Hawa Mahal. One of the most written-about and photographed of the monuments in the world, the Hawa Mahal was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, grandson of Maharaj Sawai Jai Singh (the founder of Jaipur). Made of sandstone plastered pink encrusted with fine trelliswork and elaborate balconies, this iconic landmark is a five-storey ornamental facade of 953 niches and windows latticed-stone screened windows. Behind these windows the women could view the city street below without being seen. 

1572   - Maharana Pratap ascended the throne of Mewar kingdom on 1 March, 1572.  Maharana Pratap is known for his valiant and spirited defence against the Mughal Empire under Akbar.  Maharana Pratap died at Chavand on 19th January in 1597.    Maharana Pratap was the ruler of Mewar kingdom in present day Rajasthan, from 1572 until his death in 1597. He is notable for leading the Rajput resistance against the Mughals in the legendary battle of  Haldighati  in 1576. 1776  - The Treaty of Purandar was a doctrine signed on 1 March 1776 by the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company's Supreme Council of Bengal in Calcutta. Earlier another Treaty of Purandar was signed between Maratha leader  Shivaji  and  Jai Singh,  Mughal viceroy of Deccan, on 11 June 1665.

320 –  Chandragupta I is officially crowned as the first Gupta Emperor on 26 February in 320 AD.   1966  - Death of  Vinayak Damodar Savarka r on 26 February 1966. Popularly known as Veer Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a great revolutionary and later on a leader of the Hindu Mahasabha.  Savarkar was born on 28 May 1883 to a Marathi Hindu Chitpavan Brahmin family to Damodar and Radhabai Savarkar in  Bhagur  in the  Nashik  district in Maharashtra. He had three other siblings: two brothers, Ganesh and Narayan, and a sister named Mainabai.  In 1899 he established the first revolutionary society the  Mitra Mela (Friends Association) , which was named as the Abhinav Bharat Society (New India Society) in 1904.  In 1906  Savarka r  went to England and became a member of the revolutionary group led by  Shyamji Krishna Varma . On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Revolt of 1857, he wrote a famous book in...

Tomb of Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh /  Image source Also known as Data Ganj Baksh (Distributor of Unlimited Power), Khwaja Ali Hujjwiri lived in 11th century AD and is considered to be the earliest Sufi Saint of repute who made India his home.  Born in Ghazni in Afghanistan, he died in Lahore and his tomb, known popularly as Data Darbar, is an important place of pilgrimage in the city. Also called Shaykh al-Hujwiri, Khwaja Ali Hujjwiri was a scholar and is known for compiling Kashf-ul-Mahjoob or Kashf al-Mahjub (Revelation of Mystery), a Persian treatise on Sufism, which was translated into English by British Orientalist and scholar Reynold Alleyne Nicholson. The work gives the biographies of Sufis from Prophet Muhammad's days to his own time.  Hujwiri died in 1073 and was buried in Lahore. His shrine was visited by famous Chisti saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti who paid his homage to him by hailing him as 'Ganj Baksh' , the perfect pir.  The grandson of Sultan Mahmud of Gha...

In the 12th century AD a new movement came to emerge in Karnataka. This movement known as Veerashaivism or Lingayatism was led by Basava, a Brahmana minister of King Bijala Kalchuri who had founded a new dynasty after usurping the throne of the Chalukyas of Kalyani in A. D. 1156.  The followers of Basava were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga). This Shaivite sect is famous more for its cult and social doctrines than for its theology, which is a “qualified monism”. Basava opposed idolatry. In Lingayatism the only scared symbol is the linga of Shiva, a specimen of which is always carried on the person of the believer. Those who are revered include the Jangama or wandering monks.  Radical in his view, Basava completely rejected the Vedas and authority of the Brahmin class, and priesthood.   Apart from opposing pilgrimage and sacrifice he instituted complete equality among his followers, even to the equality of women who were per...

2013 - Death of Lotika Sarkar on 23 February 2013. She was a famous Indian feminist, social worker, educator, teacher, and lawyer. Born in 1923, Lotika died in New Delhi on 23 February 2013, at the age of 90.

February 22 is the birth anniversary of Swami Shraddhanand , a pioneer of Indian culture and nationalism. Swami Shraddhanand was a leading member of the famous reform movement Arya Samaj and tried his best to propagate the ideals and teachings of Swami Dayanand Saraswati , who founded the movement in 1875. A nationalist leader from Punjab, he strove hard to reform Hinduism of purging it all later degenerate features that had crept into it.  Born as Munshi Ram Vij on February 22, 1856 at Talwan village in Jalandhar district in Punjab province, Shraddhanand has left an indelible mark on India’s culture which will continue to inspire future generations. Shraddhanand was a courageous social reformer who opposed illiteracy, the prevailing caste system, untouchability, and advocated widow remarriage, national unity and integrity. On 4th April, 1919, he delivered a speech on the Hindu Muslim unity from the pulpit of Jama Masjid in Delhi. To B R Ambedkar , Shraddhanand was ‘the greatest...

1 892 -  Birth of  Indulal Yajnik  on  22 February 1892 . Born at  Nadiad  in the present-day  Kheda  district of Gujarat, Indulal Yajnik was a freedom fighter and one of the finest editors. A 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  Kheda 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  Nutan Gujarat . Indulal Yajnik  established schools for the Bhil children and was the secretary of the Antyaj Seva 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 ses...

1630 -  Birth of Shivaji. Founder of the Maratha kingdom in 17th-century, Shivaji was born in the hill-fort of Shivneri near Junnar (in the Pune district of Maharashtra) on February 19, 1630. However, according to one school of thought, he was born in 1627. 1915 -   Death of Gopal Krishna Gokhale on   19 February in 1915 . Born on   9 May in 1866 , Gopal Krishna Gokhale was an Indian freedom fighter and political guru of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the president of the Benares session of Indian National Congress in 1905. In that year he had founded Servants of India Society. Ridiculing the idea of Swaraj in 1903, Gopal Krishna Gokhale had said "Only mad men outside lunatic asylums could think or talk of independence" In  1907 , the Congress had been divided into two factions in the Surat session. While the moderate faction was headed by Gopal Krishna Gokhale,  Bal Gangadhar Tilak  was the leader of the extremist group. Gopal Krishna Gokhale was also a ...

  1486   - Birth of  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu    on   18th February in 1486 . Considered to be one the greatest saints of Bhakti Movement, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born on 18th February in 1486 in   Navadwip   (Nadia) in a Brahmin family in West Bengal. Nimai and Gauranga were his other names.  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave great impetus to Vaishnavism in Bengal. This greatest religious reformer  laid the foundation of the Gaudiya sect of Vaishnavs. He was an exponent of a new style of Bhajan singing.  1905 - Foundation of the  Indian Home Rule Society  (IHRS) in  1905 . The Indian Home Rule Society (IHRS) was an Indian organisation founded on  18 February  in London in 1905 that sought to promote the cause of self-rule in British India. It was founded by Indian revolutionary leader  Shyamji Krishna Varma .  

  1792-  Birth of  Budhu Bhagat  on  17 February,   1792  in Jharkhand .      Budhu Bhagat was the leader of  Kol  rebellion and  Larka  rebellion in 1831—32 in Chhotanagpur. Born on  17 February 1792  into an Oraon farmer family, Budhu Bhagat had employed tactic of guerrilla warfare against the British. His resistance to the British forces ended when he was killed on  13 February 1832  by them . 

1869  - Death of Mirza Ghalib on 15 February 1869. He was a famous Urdu poet during the Mughal period. Ghalib was buried near the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya in Hazrat Nizamuddin locality in Delhi Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, Mirza Ghalib was patronized by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar (Zafar ascended the Mughal throne in 1837). He was born in Agra on 27 December 1797.  Ghalib was also well versed in Persian.  1948 - Death of famous Hindi poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan on 15 February 1948. One of her most popular poems is Jhansi Ki Rani. She was born on 16 August 1904. 

1483 - Birth of Mughal Emperor Babur on   14 February 1483 .  Zahirudding Muhammad Babur ,  better known simply today as  Babur , who defeated   Ibrahim Lodi   of the Lodi Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate at the   first battle of Panipat   on the 21st April,  1526 , founded the Mughal empire in India.  1556  -  Akbar ascended the Mughal throne at the age of 13 years and 4 months on February 14, 1556. The  brick coronation platform of  Akbar , the known as Takht-i-Akbari, is located at  Kalanaur in  the Gurdaspur district in  Punjab. The brick platform is the place where Akbar’s coronation took place in 1556.  1658  - At the Battle of Bahadurpur near Benares, Shuja, son of  the fifth Mughal emperor  Shah Jahan, was defeated by Sulaiman Shikoh, on 14 February in 1658. Sulaiman Shikoh was the son of Dara Sikoh, eldest son of Shah Jahan.  The Battle of Bahadurpur was part of...

  1742  - Birth of Nana Phadnavis (also spelt as Nana Fadnavis) on 12th February in 1742. Nana Fadnavis was a brilliant Maratha minister and statesman during the Peshwa administration in Pune. He is often referred to as "the Maratha Machiavelli". 1824 - Birth of Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, on 12 February 1824. Arya Samaj was founded in 1875. 

1750 - Birth of Tilka Majhi on 11th February  in 1750 . Tilka Majhi was a tribal leader and revolutionary who laid down his life in 1785 some 72 years before the First War of Independence in 1857. His place of birth is Tilakpur in Sultanganj in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar.  He had killed Augustus Cleveland , a British East India Company administrator in Bengal and Collector of Bhagalpur, who was known for his arrogance and hatred towards Indians.  Tilka Majhi was executed by the British on January 13, 1785.  The site where he was hanged from a banyan tree is known as Tilka Manjhi Chowk. The Bhagalpur University is also named after this heroic figure.  1942 - Death of Jamnalal Bajaj on 11th February, 1942. Jamnalal Bajaj was a freedom fighter, businessman, social reformer and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

  1757  -  Treaty of Alinaga r was signed on  9 February 1757  between Robert Clive of the British East India Company  and  Siraj ud-Daulah , the Nawab of Bengal,  Alinagar  was the short-lived name given to Calcutta by the Nawab after it was captured by him in June 1756. Under the terms of the treaty, Calcutta was restored to the East India Company. 

1872 - Death of   Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo , the   Viceroy of India  (1869-72), on 8 February 1872. Lord Mayo, after whom   Mayo College   in Ajmer is named, was assassinated by Sher Ali Afridi at Port Blair. Afridi was hanged on March 11, 1872.  1995  - Death of  Kalpana Datta  on 8 February 1995 (27 July 1913 – 8 February 1995), Also known as Kalpana Joshi, Kalpana Datta was a woman revolutionary from Bengal. She was a member of the Chittagong Republican Army, formed by Surya Sen ( also known as “Masterda”). Chittagong Republican Army carried out the Chittagong armoury raid in 1930.

1942 - Death of revolutionary leader   Sachindra Nath Sanyal   who was born on 3rd June 1893 in Benares, then in North-Western Provinces. He died on 7th February 1942.  Sachindra Nath Sanyal / Image Credit-  Wikimedia Commons Jailed for his involvement in the  Kakori  conspiracy, Sanyal was the co-founder of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), which after 1928 became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association).  He had written a book titled  Bandi Jeevan   (A Life of Captivity).