This blog is a comprehensive and in-depth guide to the events, people and places throughout the history of India
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Rafi-ud-Daulah (Shah Jahan II ): Phantom Mughal Emperor
Rafi-ud-Darajat: Puppet Mughal Emperor
Friday, January 3, 2014
Later Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah: Incompetent and Morally Depraved
After his death on the 27th February, 1712, Bahadur Shah I, son and successor of Aurangzeb, was succeeded by his son Jahandar Shah. Jahandar’s accession to the Mughal throne was not a smooth affair. In the war of succession that followed Bahadur Shah I’s death, he killed his brother Azim-us-Shan. His other brothers Jahan Shah and Rafi-us-Shan were also killed during the war of succession.
Jahandar Shah owed his accession to the throne to Zulfiqar Khan, son of Asad Khan. The father son duo was the important members of the Irani party of the later Mughal nobility. Zulfiqar Khan was made the chief minister and became supreme in the state.
Slave to the charms of his favourite mistress Lal Kunwar, Jahandar Shah became oblivious of his duties to the state. His brief reign was the heydays of the merrymakers. "In the brief reign of Jahandar", observes contemporary historian Khafi Khan, "violence and debauchery had full sway. It was a fine time for minstrels and singers and all the tribes of dancers and actors." Matters were made worse by the Zulfiqar Khan who was under the influence of his favourite named Subhag Chand and entrusted his most of his official work to him.
Jahandar Shah was not destined to be Mughal emperor for a long time. Farrukhsiyar, his nephew and Azim-us-Shan's son, with the help of Sayyid brothers, defeated him outside the city of Agra on the 10th January, 1713. Jahandar Shah fled to Delhi in a bullock cart where he was strangled to death in prison on Farrukhsiyar’s orders. Zulfiqar Khan also met the same fate.
Jahandar Shah lies buried in the Humayun’s tomb in Delhi.
Key Takeways
Jahandar Shah abolished the Zajiya tax which was imposed by Aurangzeb.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Akbar’s Conquest of Garah Katanga
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Baburnamah or Tuzuk-i-baburi of Babur
Krishnadeva Raya, the Greatest Vijayanagar king
- Vyasaraja was the rajguru or royal teacher of Krishnadeva Raya.
- Krishnadeva Raya was the first Vijayanagar ruler who concluded treaties with the Portuguese.
- The foreign travellers who visited Vijayanagar during Krishnadeva Raya’s reign were Domingo Paes and Duarte Barbosa.
Muslim Sultanate of Kashmir
Before the emergence of the Muslim rulers on the political landscape of Kashmir, the province was a famous centre of Shaivism. Maumud of Ghazni made unsuccessful attempts to conquer the vale of Kashmir. With the passage of time, the area began to attract Muslim settles, many of whom entered the service of its Hindu rulers. One such Muslim adventurer was Shah Mir, who after the death of his Hindu ruler seized the throne for himself and became the king in 1339 under the title of Shamsuddin Shah. Thus was founded the Shah Mir dynasty of Kashmir.
After his death in A.D. 1349, Shamsuddin Shah was succeeded by his sons, Jamshid, Alauddin, Shihabuddin, and Qutb-ud-din. Alauddin transferred his capital from Indrakot to Alauddinpur (Srinagar). Qutb-ud-din was succeeded by his son Sikandar who ascended the throne of Kashmir in 1394 after his father’s death. It was during Sikandar’s reign that Mangol leader Timur Lang or Tamerlane invaded India in 1398. He, however, by way of exchanging envoys with the invader, managed to save the people of Kashmir from his bloody massacres which he indulged in after invading different parts of India.Though generous towards the men of his own faith, Sikandar was a bigot. His prime minister, Suha Bhatta, was a new covert and worked with a missionary zeal for the spread of Islam. This resulted in the dismissal of the Kashmiri Brahmins from the top positions. During his tenure, desecration of a number of temples including the famed Sun-temple of Martand, took place. The Hindus were confronted with the jezia tax for the first time. He earned the title of But-shikan or idol breaker.
Sikandar died in 1416 was succeeded by his eldest son Ali Shah. Ali Shah deposed by his brother, Shahi Khan, who seized the throne for himself in 1420 and assumed the title of Zain-ul-Abidin. Zain-ul-Abidin ruled for fifty long years and during the period Zain-ul-Abidin initites a lot of projects for the benefit his subjects. He is credited with the construction of the engineering marvel of Zaina Lanka, an artificial island in Woolur Lake.
Unlike his predecessors, he was an enlightened ruler with a liberal attitude. He ordered the rebuilt of some of the temples destroyed by his father Sikandar. He exhorted the Kashmiri Brahmins, who had left the kingdom during his father's reign, to return to their homeland. Well versed in Persian, Hindi, and Tibetan, besides his own language, he was a patron of learning and education. At his instance, the Mahabharata and the Rajatarangini were translated from Sanskrit into Persian. All these qualities have earned him the title of “Akbar of Kashmir’ by historians.
Cosmas Indicopleustes
World map by Cosmas Indicopleustes / Image Credit: upload.wikimedia.org Cosmas Indicopleustes (literally: "who sailed to India") ...
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Books Authors Abhigyan Shakuntalam (Recognition of Shakuntala) Kalidasa Aihole ...
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Amir-i-Chahalgani, known variously as Turkan-i-Chahalgani and Chalisa (The Forty), was a group of 40 faithful slaves which came into existen...
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Women occupied a very honourable position in the Viajayanagr society. Some of them were very learned and were eminent litterateurs. Monogamy...