Today in Indian History (29th December)

 

December 29, 1844

• Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee or Umesh Chandra Banerjee, the first president of Indian National Congress in 1885, is born in Calcutta. He was also the first Indian to fight the election to British Parliament.

Notable Alumni And Teachers of the Nalanda Mahavihara

Ruins of Nalanda

Established in 5th century AD by Gupta ruler Kumara Gupta I (reigned 415-455 AD), Nalanda was a centre of scholarship in ancient India. During the rule of Harsha, the fame of Nalanda university reached far and wide. Under the Pala ruler Dharampal, the glory of the university reached its zenith. 

During its heyday, the Mahavihara used to accommodate over 10,000 students and over 2000 teachers. 

Given the Nalanda University's standing in the world of education, it’s no wonder that it had some of the most famous alumni and teachers throughout history. 

Here is a look at some of the most notable Nalanda Monastery alumni and teachers and what they have accomplished.

Nagarjuna, a famous 2nd century AD Buddhist philosopher who was an authority on the Mahayana form of Buddhism, had studied at Nalanda. He propounded the world famous Buddhist philosophy of Sunyata (the Void). He wrote Madhyamika Karika which forms the basic text of the Madhyamika (Intermediate), one of the two philosophical schools of Mahayana Buddhism, other being Yogacharya.  

The Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu (4th to 5th century C.E.) was a Buddhist philosopher  during the rule of  Gupta empire. Vasubandhu and his half brother Asanga are amongst the Seventeen Pundits of Nalanda Mahavihara who were the most important and influential Mahayana Buddhist masters. 

Dharmapala was a sixth century Buddhist scholar who studied at Nalanda. 

Dharmakirti was a seventh century AD Buddhist philosopher who was a teacher at the Nalanda University.  He is associated with the Yogacara and Sautrantika schools of Indian Buddhism.

Hiuen-Tsang or Xuanzang was a renowned Chinese traveler who came to India during the rule of Harshvardhan (606 AD- 647AD) and studied at Nalanda. 

Candrakīrti or Chandrakirti

Chandrakirti was a Buddhist scholar in the monastery of Nalanda. He was a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna. Prasannapadā is his famous work. 

Today in Indian History (28th December)

 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

December 28 1885

• The Indian National Congress (INC) is Founded by A.O. Hume in Mumbai. First session of INC was held in Mumbai from 28 –31 December in 1885.

• Indian industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Tata was born on 28 December , 1937

Athanasius Nikitin: First Russian to Visit India in 1469

Three decades before renowned Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in India, Afanasy Nikitin or Athanasius Nikitin journeyed to India in 1469, becoming the first Russian traveller to do so. He came to India for trade. 

A monument to Afanasy Nikitin has been erected in Chaul (now called Revdanda) near Alibagh in Maharashtra to commemorate his extraordinary journey from Russia. Nikitin had reached Chaul from Persia. Then from Chaul he travelled to the Bahmani Kingdom which was then ruled by Muhammad Shah III. Afanasy Nikitin spent four years in Bidar from 1470 to 74 and his minute observations include details of courtly life, army, trade activities, the customs and condition of the general populace under the Bahmani rule. 

Nikitin has referred to the sanguinary wars that took place between the Bahmani Sultanate and the Vijayanagar Empire at regular intervals. 

A film, titled Pardeshi in Hindi, based on his life was made in 1956.  

Born in 1433 in Tver in Russia, Athanasius Nikitin has described his voyage in a narrative known as  Journey Beyond Three Seas.

Nikitin's writings offer insights into the political conditions, trade activities, social customs, and religious practices prevalent in parts of India during the 15th century. 

Today in Indian History (27th December)

The famous Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib during the Mughal period was born in Agra on 27 December 1797. Today is Ghalib's 227th birth anniversary.

Today in Indian History (26th December): Udham Singh Was Born

Today is 125th birth anniversary of  Udham Singh, an Indian freedom fighter with association with Ghadar Party, a political movement founded by expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India. 

Born on 26th December in Sunam Village in Sangrur district of the north-western Indian state of Punjab, Udham Singh is known for avenging the infamous Jalianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar by murdering Michael O’Dwyer after 21 years.

Michael O’Dwyer , who was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in 1919 when Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar, had ordered the firing on the innocent people who have gathered here to protest the arrest of Congress leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satya Pal under Rowlatt Act.

1919 soldiers of the British Army in India had opened fire on the crowd in a walled public garden and killed over 1,000 of them. This became known variously as the Amritsar Massacre or the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The bloodbath was endorsed by Michael O’Dwyer who had called it “correct action”.

On 13 March 1940, Udham Singh shot O’Dwyer at London's Caxton Hall where he was attending a meeting of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asian Society. O’Dwyer was killed instantly 

He was tried  and sentenced to death by hanging. V K  Krishna Menon who was India's defence minister during the Indo Sino War in 1962,  was part of Udham Singh's defence team. He was executed on 31 July at Pentonville Prison, where he was also buried. In 1974, his body was repatriated to India and cremated in his home village of Sunam in the Sangrur district of Punjab. He was born on December 26th, 1899. 

Cosmas Indicopleustes

World map by Cosmas Indicopleustes / Image Credit: upload.wikimedia.org

Cosmas Indicopleustes (literally: "who sailed to India") was a 6th-century merchant and geographer who sailed to India and traded as far as Sri Lanka. His work Topographia Christiana or Christian Topography provides an invaluable description of the India and Sri Lanka in the sixth century.

This geographer from Alexandria in Egypt had visited the Kingdom of AxumOffsite Link in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea, India and Sri Lanka. 

The author Topographia Christiana provides a description of India and Sri LankaOffsite Link during of the 6th century. According to Cosmas Indikopliustes, the world was flat as opposed to Ptolemy and pre-Christian geographer who believed that the earth is spherical.