Mirat-i-Sikandari is a Persian work describing the political history of Gujarat from the inception of the Muzaffarid dynasty by Muzaffar Shah (Jafar Khan). The work was composed by Sikander bin Muhammad Manzu and completed in 1611.
Sikander bin Muhammad Manzu served in the army of Aziz Koka, a leading noble and Mughal Subahdar of Gujarat.
Mirat-i-Sikandari also describes the cultural and social life of Gujarat.
Born in 1540, Mulla Abdul Qadir Badauni, also spelt Badayuni, was a contemporary historian of Akbar in the Mughal empire. He had entered his court in 1574.
Badauni had studied together with Abdul Fazi and both had been trained by Abul Fazal’s father, Shaykh Mubarak. He had joined Man Singh’s army against Maharana Pratap in the Battle of Haldighati in 1576.
A Sunni Muslim, he was an inveterate enemy of Akbar. He had charged Akbar of working against Islam.
His most important work was Tarikh-e Badauni (“Badauni’s History”), also called the Muntakhab al-Tawarikh (“Selection from History”). It is a general history of India from the time of the the Ghaznavids to the 40th year of Akbar’s reign (1595-96). He also wrote Kitāb al-Ḥadīth (“Book of Ḥadīth”), the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad. .
Tarikh-i-Alfi (“History of Thousand Years”) is another famous work by Badauni who is also credited with the translation of Singhasan Battisi, Ramayana and Mahabharata into Persian.
Hoshang Shah's Tomb|Wikimedia Commons
Hoshang Shah was known as Alp Khan before his accession to the throne in 1406. He was the son of Husain Ghuri on whom Tughlaq Sultan, Firuz Shah Tughlaq, had bestowed the title of Dilawar Khan and appointed him a noble.
Hoshang Shah ruled for thirty years. After his accession, he had to face invasion from Sultan Muzaffar Shah (reigned 1407-1411) of Muzaffarid dynasty of Gujarat. In medieval times, Malwa was the bitterest rival of the Gujarat Sultanate. The invasion resulted in the defeat of Hoshang Shah and he was taken prisoner by Muzaffar Shah who, however, restored the kingdom to him. Back in his kingdom, Hoshang Shah shifted his capital from Dhar to Mandu.
Hoshang Shah invaded Narsingh Rai of Kherla, a vassal of the Bahmani ruler Ahmad Shah (1422-35), and killed him. He forced Muzaffarid Sultan Shihabuddin Ahmad Shah to retreat from Mandu. He besieged the Gagron Fort (in the Jhalawar district of Rajasthan).
However, his attempt to conquer Gwalior was met with failure when Mubarak Shah, the second ruler of the Sayyid Dynasty, relieved the besieged fort.
Hoshang Shah died in 1435 and is buried in his tomb at Mandu.
Hoshangabad city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, named after Hoshang Shah, will be now called Narmadapuram.
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Kakatiya’s well at Warangal|Wikimedia Commons/Aravind Pakide
A famous kingdom of eastern Deccan in South India, Kakatiya dynasty rose in prominence in the 12th and 13th centuries. Ruling over an area corresponding to the modern day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and parts of southern Odisha and eastern Karnataka, the Kakatiya dynasty produced rulers who created some exquisite pieces of temple architecture in India like the Ramappa temple and Thousand Pillar temple (Sri Rudreshwara Swamy Temple).
Ganapati Deva transferred the Kakatiya capital city from Anmakonda to Orugallu or Warangal. He had nominated his daughter Rudrama Devi to succeed him. He used to call her by the masculine name Rudradeva Maharaja. She became the first woman ruler to accede to the throne in South India. The early years of her reign were marked by rebellions of the feudatories but they were suppressed. According to K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, she was defeated by the Yadava ruler, Mahadeva. Rudrama Devi has been praised in glowing terms by the contemporary Venetian traveller Marco Polo who had visited the Kakatiya kingdom during her reign.
There is divergence of views regarding the date of the death of Rudrama Devi. Discovery of a portrait sculpture of Rudrama Devi in 2018 in the sanctum sanctorum of Trikuta temple in Siddjipet district in Telengana reinforces the belief that she was killed by her once loyal Kayashtha chieftain Ambadeva.
Rudrama Devi was succeeded by her grandson Prataparudra or Pratap Rudra Deva II who was the last ruler of the Kakatiya dynasty. He was defeated by Malik Kafur, the general of Khilji ruler Alauddin Khilji, in 1309-10. In 1321, Jauna Khan (later on known as Muhammad bin Tughluq) was deputed by his father Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320-1325) for the conquest of Kakatiya kingdom which was duly annexed to the Delhi Sultanate. Pratap Rudra Deva II was sent to Delhi and imprisoned.
Born in 1869, Amir Chand was a revolutionary arrested in connection with the Delhi Conspiracy case, also known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy. The case refers to an alleged plot to kill the then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge, in 1912.
Amir Chand along with Bhai Bal Mukand, Awadh Behari and Basant Kumar Biswas was sentenced to death and hanged at Delhi Jail on May 8, 1915.
Born in 1848 in Calcutta, Surendranath Banerjee was an educationist, journalist and political leader. In 1868 he successfully competed for the Indian Civil Service but on technical grounds he was disqualified. After a court judgment that went in his favour, he was inducted into the Civil Services but not long after, was dismissed over a procedural error.
After dismissal, he became more politically active. In 1876, together with Anand Mohan Bose they formed the Indian Association of Calcutta.
In 1879, he became editor of The Bengalee, an English language newspaper in Kolkata.
He was a vocal critic of the partition of Bengal in 1905.
One of the founders of the Indian National Congress, Surendranath Banerjee became its president on two occasions in 1895 at Poona and in 1902 at Ahmedabad.
He left Congress following the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian political scene. After accepting a knighthood from the British in 1921 he was appointed as minister of local self-government and health in the Bengal government becoming the first Indian to hold that position. His acceptance of office was met with strong protest by the nationalists.
He passed away on 6th August 1925.
World map by Cosmas Indicopleustes / Image Credit: upload.wikimedia.org Cosmas Indicopleustes (literally: "who sailed to India") ...
