Vaishno Devi

One of the most revered pilgrim places for the Hindus, the Vaishno Devi shrine on the Trikuta hills is a steep ascent of 5200 feet from Katra, which is 45km from Jammu. 

The journey to the holy cave shrine of Vaishno Devi in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is full of intense religious activity, thrill and joy. 

700-year old Moidams of Assam’s Ahom Dynasty Inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List

The 700-year-old mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty in Assam ‘Moidams’ has been included in the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List, becoming the first cultural site from the Northeast India to make it to the coveted list.

The decision to include Moidams in the list was taken during the ongoing 46th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) being held in Delhi.

Till date, the World Heritage Committee has inscribed 1,199 sites in 168 countries on the list. India has 43 of its sites on the list.

Moidams are a burial system, pyramid-like in shape, with hollow vaults that contain the remains of Ahom kings and royals. The Ahom dynasty ruled Assam from the 13th to the 19th centuries.

The greatest king of the Ahom dynasty was Sukhrungpha or Sworgodeu Rudra Singha (c.1696-1714 AD). Except for those of Rudra Singha and his father Gadhadhar Singha, most moidams remain unidentified.

“The gavel is struck! Moidams - Ahom dynasty's unique Mound-Burial system in Assam has become the 43rd site from India to be inscribed on @UNESCO's World Heritage List. Nearly 700 yrs old, Moidams are hollow vaults of brick, stone or earth & contain the remains of kings & royals,” announced United Nations in India.

 

 

Khirachora Gopinath temple, Remuna, Odisha

Khirachora Gopinath Temple, Remuna, Balasore, Odisha / Image Credit

Remuna is 9km from Balasore in Odisha and an important Vaishnava centre. The place has been a seat of Vaishnavite culture for centuries. The place’s claim to fame is the famous shrine of Khirachora Gopinath temple that draws devotees in a large number.

Remuna was visited by the greatest Vaishnavite saint of Bengal, Chaitanya, on his way to Jagannatha Puri. 

Qutb Minar: Signature Monument of Delhi

An Illuminated Qutab Minar

A signature monument of Delhi, Qutub Minar is a minaret that forms part of the Qutb complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of Delhi. 

Made of red sandstone and marble, Qutub Minar is a 73-metre (240 feet) tall tapering tower of five storeys, with a 14.3 metre (47 feet) base diameter, reducing to 2.7 metres (9 feet) at the peak. It contains a spiral staircase of 379 steps. Its design is thought to have been based on the Minaret of Jam, in western Afghanistan.

Qutb-Ud-Din-Aibak, founder of the Delhi Sultanate and first Muslim ruler of Delhi, started construction of the Qutub Minar's first storey around 1192. In 1220, Aibak's son-in-law, Shamsuddin Iltutmish, completed a further three storeys. (chaugan). Iltutmish had ascended to the throne of Delhi Sultanate after a brief reign of Aram Shah after the death of Qutb-ud-din in 1210. 

In 1369, a lightning strike destroyed the top storey of the structure. Firoz ShahTughlaq (1309-1388) replaced the damaged storey, and added one more.

Qutb Minar is named after Qutb-Ud-Din-Aibak. However, according to some historians, the tower derives its name from the famous Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, a disciple of Moinuddin Chisti, the founder of the Chisti order in India. The tomb of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki is half km from Qutb Minar. 

Nalanda university As Related by Chinese traveler Hiuen-Tsang

 

Established in 5th century AD, Nalanda was a famous university of ancient India. During the rule of Harsha, the fame of university reached far and wide. Under the Pala ruler Dharampal, the glory of the university reached its zenith. 

The renowned Chinese traveler Hiuen-Tsang who came to India during the rule of Harshvardhan and studied at Nalanda, has mentioned the Nalanda university in glowing terms. From his accounts it can be said that the university was a great centre of education and was famous even in far-off countries. According to Hiuen-Tsang, the number of students at the university was ten thousand and the faculty consisted of great minds drawn from different parts of India.

Separate buildings were used for the study of the students. Some buildings had the sitting capacity of ten thousand students. The library of the university was very big and consisted of three buildings, one of them nine storied.

Admission to Nalanda university was a tough affair. The rules of the university were tough and had to be obeyed. Students were not required to pay any fee. The expenses of the university were met by the donations given by the rulers and the rich.

Lok Sabha Elections Results of Bilaspur Parliamentary Constituency

A BJP bastion, all elections to Bilaspur has been won by the party since 1996. Punnulal Mohle, a minister in the Raman Singh led BJP government in Chhattisgarh, emerged victorious from this parliamentary seat in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004.

Dilip Singh Judeo of the BJP represented the seat from 2009 to 2014. 

Contesting Candidates for Bilaspur Lok Sabha Elections 2024

Party	Candidate	Votes Polled	% of Votes Polled
BJP	Tokhan Sahu
Congress	Devendra Yadav

Lok Sabha Elections Results of Amethi Parliamentary Constituency

BJP	Smriti Irani
Congress	Kishori Lal Sharma
BSP	Nanhe Singh Chauhan

Amethi is one of the most popular parliamentary constituencies in India. The seat is mostly represented by a member of the Gandhi Nehru family. This Lok Sabah seat in Uttar Pradesh has been represented four times by Rajiv Gandhi who won it in 1980, 1984, 1989 and 1991. Dynastic politics, though an antithesis of democracy, is an integral part of Indian politics, though loved by people. 

The constituency has been won by Congress except in 1977, 1998 and 2019. In 1977 Ravindra Pratap Singh won the seat for Janata Party. Sanjay Singh and Smriti Irani won the seat for BJP in 1998 and 2019 respectively.

Sanjay Gandhi, who lost the seat to Ravindra Pratap Singh in 1977 general elections for the sixth Lok Sabha thanks to the backlash Congress faced as a result of imposition of emergency, won the seat in 1980 by defeating him. He became the first member of the family to win the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.

After  Sanjay’s death in a plane crash in June 1980, his brother Rajiv Gandhi, a reluctant entrant into politics, won the seat in the bye-election by defeating Sharad Yadav of Bhartiya Lok Dal. 

In 1984 general elections, Rajiv won the seat by defeating his sister-in-law and Sanjay Gandhi’s wife Menaka Gandhi by a huge margin. 

In 1989 general elections, Raj Mohan Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, contested against Rajiv Gandhi in which the former was utterly defeated.  The electoral battle was billed as the fight between Jawaharlal Nehru’s grandson vs Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson. Congress under Rajiv lost Lok Sabha elections and V P Singh became Prime Minister.

In general elections of 1991, Rajiv won the Amethi seat by defeating Ravindra Pratap Singh of BJP. After the death of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 during the elections, the bye-election to the seat was won by Captain Satish Sharma. In 1996 general elections Satish Sharma emerged victorious by defeating Raja Mohan Singh.

In 1998  Lok Sabha elections, Sanjay Singh , once a close confidante of Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi, switched sides and contested the Amethi Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate and defeated Satish Sharma of the Congress. However, in the next general elections in 1999 Sonia Gandhi defeated Sanjay Singh who later returned to the Congress.

In 2004 Lok Sabha elections which saw the coming of UPA to power Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, won the Amethi seat. He went on to win the seat in 2009 and 2014. He was defeated by Smriti Irani of BJP in 2019.