Samudragupta: The Greatest Gupta Emperor

Samudragupta, was greatest ruler of the Gupta dynasty. He was son and successor of Chadragupta I. He succeeded to the throne in c. 350 AD. He ruled for about 25 years. A skillful military leader and administrator as well as a patron of learning, Samudragupta is called Indian Napolean.

His court poet Harishena composed an eloquent eulogy of him which is contained in the Allahabad pillar inscription (API).

Samudragupta is credited to have uprooted Nagasena, Achyuta and Ganapatinaga, (identified with the rulers of Padmavati, Ahichchhatra and Mathura respectively). He is said to have captured the prince of the Kota family (Bulandshahr region) and besieged the city of ‘Pushpa’(probably Kanyakubja).

Apart from these conquests, Samudragupta brought under his control a large number of kings and vassals. According to eminent historian K. P. Jaiswal, Samudragupta forced Rudrasena I of the Vakatava dynasty to cede his North Indian possession to the Gupta Empire. To commemorate this victory the Gupta emperor built a temple dedicated to Vishnu at Eran (an ancient Indian historical city in Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh).

A Chinese text mentions that the Sri Lanka ruler Shrimeghavarna sent an embassy to Samudraguta requesting him to allow for the erection of a monastery for the Simhalese pilgrims at Bodha-Gaya (in the state of Bihar.)

Samudragupta was a great promoter of art and learning. He himself has authored a poetical work called the Krishan Charitam. On one of his gold coins, he has been represented as seated on a high-backed couch playing in a vina (lyre or lute) which lies on his knees. All these show that he has rightly earned the title of Kaviraja.

Origin of the word ‘Sufi’

In medieval India, Sufism was an important aspect of Islam. Various authorities have offered different explanations regarding the origin of the word “Sufi”. According to one school of thought, the term Sufi has been derived from ‘suf’ or garments of coarse wool that were worn by the Sufi saints as a badge of poverty. Abu Nasral Sarraj, the author of an Arabic treatise on Sufism, traces the origin of term by the word suf (wool).

Generally, authorizes are of the opinion that virtuous people were called safa. Hence the nomenclature Sufi. According to another school of though, the term has been derived from the Greek word Sophia meaning wisdom or knowledge.

Jahiz of Basra was the first writer to use the word Sufi in 869 A.D. Jami mentions that sufi was first applied to Abu Hashim of Kufa in the 8th century while Aul-Kusheri opines that this term was introduced in A.D.811.

Famous Quotes from Mahatma Gandhi

“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”

“A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident.”

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

“Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.”

“But for my faith in God, I should have been a raving maniac.”

“I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.”

“I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world.”

“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.”

“I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.”

Tukaram: 17th century Marathi and Saint

Tukaram was born in the family of a farmer at Dehu, a town near the city of Pune . He inheritred some landed property and cattle, but lost them all in a great famine. He also lost his parents, one of his two wives, and a son in the famine. Left with nothing to fend for, he lost interest in life. Added to this, constant nagging of his other wife, who was a shrew, troubled Tukaram very much. Fed up with the turn of events, Tukaram took to the study of the works of Jnaneswar, Ekanatha and Namdeva he retreated to the hills of Bhamhanatha and Bhandara and practised mediation.

Tukaram is credited to have written several abhangas, which are highly popular in Maharshtra. These abhangas embody his teachings. Some of these abhangas were translated into Bengali by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. A contemporary of great Maratha ruler Shivaji, Tukaram declined to accept the offer of rich presents made by him.

Keshab Chandra Sen: The doyen of Social Reforms in Pre-independent India

Born to a respectable family in Calcutta on 19 November 1838, Keshab Chandra Sen was one of the most famous social reformers of India and took the leadership of the Brahmo Samaj during the absence of Debendranath Tagore. A strong votary of widow remarriage, Keshab Chandra Sen started Bamabodhini Patrika, a journal for women.

Keshab Chandra Sen launched several radical reforms, such as giving up of caste names, advocating inter caste marriage and launched movement against the social vices prevailing at that time like child marriage. These radical reforms resulted in the first schism in the Brahmo Samaj. The original Brahmo Samaj, founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, came to be known as Adi Brahmo Samaj and the other, the Brahmo Samaj of India was established by Keshab Chandra Sen in 1867.

In 1870 Keshab Chandra Sen founded the India Reform Association which succeeded in persuading the British Government to enact the Native Marriage Act of 1972 (popularly known as Civil Marriage Act) legalizing the Brahmo marriages and fixing the minimum marriageable age for boys and girls.

It was under the advice of Keshab Chandra Sen that the reformist Dayanand Saraswati began to use Hindi for his writings and teachings.  

Avalokitesvar: The Lord who looks down

There are numerous Bodhisattvas in the universe of the Mahayana Buddhism. Chief among them is Avalokiteśvara (the "Lord who looks down"), also called Padmapani (the Lotus Beraer). He is an embodiment of compassion and his helping hand reaches even to Avici, the deepest and most unpleasant of the Buddhist purgatories.

Karanda-vyuha is an important Mahayana text that glorifies the compassionate qualities of Avalokiteshvara and his different forms and manifestations.

History of Christianity in India

Christianity has quite a good presence in India. Ever since its early years, Christianity has had its roots in India. If we are to rely on a tradition, India come in contact with Christianity very early. In fact tradition credits the Disciple Thomas himself with evangelizing India. The legend has it that Gondophares, one of the Pahalva rulers, was converted by St. Thomas himself. According to Roman Catholics, tomb of St. Thomas was buried in the cathedral at Mailapur or Mylapore in the southern part of Chennai.

If we have to put aside the legend, the first definite historical evidence to the Christian activity can be found in the Topografia Christiana (Christian Topography) of Cosmas Indicopleustes, an adventurous Alexendrian monk of the 6th century AD. Cosmas Indicopleustes, literally meaning who sailed to India, left a voluminous account of his travels. Indicopleustes saw churched in Kerala and according to him these churches were in the hands of Persian priests. This amounts to the explanation that Christians in India had embraced the Nestorian heresy, then widespread in Persia. When Christianity was stamped out in Persia, the Christians in India benign to be guided by the patriarch of Syria and continues to be so even today.

At the end of the 15th century Italian traveler Marco Polo referred to the tomb of St. Thomas and dwelt on its popularity as a sacred place.

According to The Anglo Saxon Chronicle in 884 AD, King Alfred sent an envoy to India to with rich present for the tomb of St Thomas. The envoy named Sithelm returned home with rich gifts given to him by the Chola king Aditya I.

There are several Christian communities in India, who on a whole constitute approx2.34% of the Indian population with Roman Catholics forming the majority of Indian Christians. Today Christians mostly live in the northeast states of India as well as in the southwestern states of Kerala and Goa.