Indian History

Charles Wilkins was a famous British scholar and Orientalist who played an important part in instilling interest in Oriental studies in the Europe. His claim to fame rests in being the first translator of Bhagavad Gita into English. Completed in 1784, this translation is considered the first direct one of a Sanskrit work into English.   Charles Wilkins, an employee of the East India Company, learnt Sanskrit, Bengali and helped William Jones found the Asiatic Society of Bengal on 1 st January, 1784.   In 1787, Wilkins translated Hitopadesha.

Veerashaivism or Lingayatism is one of the important Shaivite sects having its followers in the state of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Veerashaivism was founded by Basava, a minister of King Bijjala Kalchuri who usurped the throne of Chalukyas of Kalyani in 1156. The theology of this sect is ‘qualified monism’. However, it is more famous for its social doctrines. Basava repudiated caste system instituted complete equality among his followers, opposed image worship, pilgrimage, sacrificial rituals.  In Veerashaivism, the linga of Shiva is the only sacred symbol a small specimen of which is carried around the neck of the adherents. Here authority of the Vedas is rejected and the followers of either sex are allowed to remarry after the death of their spouses.  Basava also condemned cremation of the dead and burial is the usual practice among its followers even today. In recent years, orthodoxy has crept into Veerashaivism to some extent. The sacred literature of the se...

1.   Which of the following Slave Sultans of Delhi Sultanate did not belong to Ilabari Tribe of Turks? (a)     Qutbuddin Aibak (b)     Iltutmish (c)   Ghiyasuddin Balban (d)     Nasiruddin Mahmud Answer:   Qutbuddin Aibak 2. Which Slave ruler called himself Naib-i-Khudai or Deputy of the God? (a)     Iltutmish (b)     Qutbuddin Aibak (c)   Ghiyasuddin Balban (d)     Kaiqubad Answer: Ghiyasuddin Balban 3. Amir-i-Chahalgan or The Group of Forty was eliminated by? (a)     ltutmish (b)     Ghiyasuddin Balban (c)   Razia (d)      Qutbuddin Aibak Answer: Ghiyasuddin Balban 4. Who among the following Slave Sultan was the first to issue regular currency? (a)     Iltutmish (b)     Ghiyasuddin Balban (c)   Aram S...

        1.      Who defended Aurobindo Ghosh in the Alipur Bomb Conspiracy case?                (a)    Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee                (b)    Chittaranjan Das                (c)    Motilal Nehru                (d)    Tej Bahadur Sapru    Answer: Chittaranjan Das                2.      Dadabhai Naoroji entered the British House of Commons as a member of the …….. Party?                (a)    Liberal ...

Several regional kingdoms came into being in northern, central and eastern India between the eighth and thirteenth centuries. One of them was the Rajput kingdom of Paramaras who ruled in Malwa. The origin of the Paramaras is shrouded in obscurity. However, it seems probable that since Malwa formed part alternately of the domains of Pratiharas and Rashtrkutas, they must have been the feudatories of either of the two. Though the Paramara Dynasty owes its origin to a chief named Upendra or Krishnaraja at the beginning of the 9th century AD, it was  as a result of the collapse of the Rashtrakuta power in the second half of the 10th century that Paramaras became an independent power. Ujjain was their earlier capital and later Dhar became their seat of power. Both these places are in Madhya Pradesh. The first great Paramara ruler of note was Vakapati Munja , (c 974-997-8) who was in constant war with Tailapa or Taila II, founder of the later western Chalukyan dynasty of Kalyani . It is...

In A.D. 1327 a danger in the form of a challenge to the authority of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the second Tughlaq ruler, came from Bahauddin Gurshasp who was Ghiyas-ud-din’s (Muhammad Bin Tughlaq’s father) sister's son. Gurshasp, who was the governor of Sagar, situated about thirteen km north of Shorapur in Karnataka, raised the banner of revolt against the Sultan. After a prolonged battle Gurshasp was captured by the Delhi Sultanate army under Prime Minister Ahmad Ayaz who sent him to Delhi where he was meted out the severest punishment. Gurshasp was flayed alive and his meat was cooked and served as the meal of the elephants. His skin was paraded round the city with the intention of warning to persons of rebellious disposition, "Thus shall all traitors to their king perish." He was flayed alive there, his dead body was paraded round the city, and his execution was proclaimed by way of warning to persons of rebellious disposition "Thus shall all traitors to th...

With the best intentions, excellent ideas, but no balance or patience, no sense of proportion, Muhammad Tughlaq (sic) was a transcendent failure - ­ Stanley Lane-Poole .   Muhammad Tughlaq was "a Prince of Moneyers" - Edward Thomas . On Muhammad Tughlaq’s death Badauni , wrote, “Muhammad bin Tughlak was freed from his people and they from their king." According to Stanley Lane-Poole , the transfer of capital by Muhammad bin Tughlaq from Delhi to “Daulatabad was a monument of misdirected energy."