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.

Lord Hardinge (1844-48), Governor General of India

His tenure of office was marked by the First Sikh War (1845). The English army occupied Lahore and dictated peace terms to the Sikhs (Treaty of Lahore, 1846). Hardinge introduced the principle of giving preference to English educated Indians in public employment- a policy which gave great fillip to English education but changed its character. He is also credited to have suppressed human sacrifice by the Khonds.

Position of Women in Vijayanagar Empire

Women occupied a very honourable position in the Viajayanagr society. Some of them were very learned and were eminent litterateurs. Monogamy was the general practice, but kings and nobility followed polygamous practices. Early marriages were common among the Brahmins. The plight of the widows was pitiable, but they could remarry. 

The state encouraged widow remarriage by not levying any marriage tax on their marriage. Women of the nobility and higher castes were carefully educated. Music and dancing formed an important part of their curriculum. Women were also wrestlers, astrologers, accountants, writers, musicians and even went to the battlefield. 

Another group of women were the courtesans who played a very important role in society. They were two classes: (a) those who were attached to the temples, and (b) those who lived independently. Their case was not homogeneous and it was open to women of any community to join their sisterhood. Courtesans were highly educated and cultured and no social stigma was attached to them. Most courtesans were very rich and enjoyed certain privileges.

During the Vijayanagar period, the Sati or Sahagaman was performed only by royal women. 

Doctrine of Lapse of Lord Dalhousie

Lord Dalhousie (1848-56) is regarded as one of the greatest governor generals of India and his contribution to the building up of the British India is enormous. 

No other single governor general of India added even the half the extent of territories, which were incorporated into the British dominions during the administration of Lord Dalhousie. 

These were nearly twice the area of England and Wales. Dalhousie made these annexations by freely applying the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ which he termed as “Annexation of Peace’. 

 Rulers of the Indian states believed that their states were annexed not because of the doctrine of lapse but on account of the lapse of the morals o the par of the East Indian Company. The states annexed by the application of this doctrine of lapse were Satara, Jaitpur and Sambalpur, Baghat, Udaipur, Jhansi and Nagpur.

Veer Savarkar, Great Revolutionary of India

Popularly known as Veer Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was a great revolutionary and later on a leader of the Hindu Mahasabha. 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 he 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 which he called the Revolt the First war of Indian Independence. In London he was a close associate of Madan Lal Dhingra who murdered Curzon Wyllie with a bomb.

In 1910 he was arrested in London, brought to India and tried in the Nashik Conspiracy case. He was sentenced to two consecutive life transportations, which meant fifty years. He spent ten years in the Andaman jail-from 1911 to 1921 and three years in other prisons. After his early release from prosin in 1924 he organised a movement of social reforms and also joined the Hindu Mahasabha. He was elected president of the Hindu Mahasabha for five consecutive years, 1937-42.

Veer Savarkar was tried for his role in the assasination of Mahatma Gandhi but he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidnce.

Foreign Visitors to Vijayanagar

                                                UNESCO World Heritage - Hampi

The splendor and affluence of the Vijayanagara city and empire has been described in the accounts of travellers who visited this South Indian Hindu Kingdom at regular intervals. Prominent among them are the Italian Nicolo dei Conti and Abdur Razzaq (15th century AD) and the Portuguese travelers Paes and Nuniz who visited India in the 16th century. 

Nicolo Conti, First European Visitor To Vijayanagar 

Born at the coastal town of Chioggia in Italy, Nicolo Conti was an Italian and the earliest European visitor to the mighty Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. The ruins of the great city of Vijayanagar are found at Hampi in the state of Karnataka. Nicolo Conti reached the city in 1420 -21 in the reign of Devaraya I. His original travel account in Latin is lost. Conti gives a vivid account of the city of Vijayanagar, its court, customs, currency, festivals and other matters. 

Abdur Razzaq 

Abdur Razzaq was a Persian who was sent by Timur's son and successor Shah Rukh as ambassador to the Zamorin of Calicut. In April 1443, Abdur Razzaq also visited Vijayanagar during the reign of Devaraya II. Abdur Razzaq was overawed with the size and grandeur of the city of Vijayanagar. He says, “The city is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. It is so built that it has seven fortified walls, one within the other.” His narrative supplies valuable information on the topography, administration and social life of Vijayanagar at that time. 

Duarte Barbosa

Duarte Barbosa was another Portuguese traveller who came to Vijayanagar during the reign of Krishnadeva Raya. He was proficient in Malayalam. Barbosa returned to Portugal between 1517 and 1518. His work "An Account of Countries Bordering the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants" was completed in 1518.

Domingo Paes 

He was a Portuguese traveler who visited Vijayanagar during the reign of its greatest ruler Krishnadeva Raya in 1520. Paes saw the glory of Vijayanagar and has written what he saw, without relating legends, fables, stories, etc. The narrative of Domingo Paes provides an eyewitness account to the reign of Krishnadeva Raya. Paes found the city of Vijayanagar “as large as Rome, and very beautiful to sight. This is the best provided city in the world…”

Fernao Nuniz

Fernao Nuniz was a Portuguese horse-dealer and chronicler who spent three years in Vijayanagar during the reign of Achyuta Deva Raya from 1535 to 1537.  

Caesar Frederick 

Caesar Frederick was a Venetian traveler who visited Vijayanagar a couple of years after the famous battle of Rakshasa Tangadi or Talikota in 1565. 

Reference:

Prof K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar

Preserve the Gandhara Civilization

An astonishingly beautiful place, the Swat valley in Pakistan, the ancient seat of Gandhara civilization, is no longer the popular tourist destination as it used to be before the Taliban seized the valley in 2006 and effective power in 2006. Since then, area has become synonymous with violence.

It all started with the defacing of a 23-foot high statue of the Buddha by Fazlullah’s militants on October 8, 2007 on the pretext that Islam permits no graven images. This 7th century seated Buddha is carved in a rock in the lap of a mountain in Jehandabad village in the region.

During the rule of great Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, Buddhism became a force to reckon with in the Swat valley. The region is full of Budhist stupas, monasteries, pottery and coins. The world famed Gandhara art flourished under the Buddhist Kushan dynasty. Today Batkara Stupa in the Swat Valley is in a state of disarray due to the neglect of the authorities concerned. Beautifully situated in the serene ambience of Jambil Valley the Batkara Stupa is one of the most famous and oldest seats of Buddhist learning in Swat Valley.

It is high time the people at the helm of affairs in Pakistan should come forward to preseve this great civilization that is an asset not only to Pakistan but also to the world.