Today In Indian History (2nd January)

1878- Mannathu Padmanabhan, social reformer and freedom fighter from Kerala, was born on 2nd January 1878 in Perunna, Kottayam district of Kerala. He was the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS). He participated in the Vaikom (1924–25) and Guruvayoor (1931) temple-entry Satyagrahas and the anti-untouchability movements. 

1954 – India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan. They were instituted on 2nd January. 

The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna were: C. Rajagopalachari (last Governor-General of India and founded the Swatantra Party),  Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Nobel laureate C. V. Raman. They were honoured in 1954.

The first recipients of the Padma Vibhushan award were Satyendra Nath Bose, Nand Lal Bose, Zakir Husain, Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, and V. K. Krishna Menon, who were honoured in 1954. 

Today In Indian History (1st January)

1877 - The first Delhi Durbar, also known as the Imperial Durbar, was held on 1st January 1877.  Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.

1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist and mathematician, was born on 1st January. 

1923- The Swaraj Party or the Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party was formed on 1st January 1923 by Chittaranjan Das (C R Das) and Motilal Nehru. Chittaranjan Das had defended Aurobindo Ghosh in the Alipur Bomb Conspiracy case. The Alipore Bomb case conspiracy, also known as the Manicktolla bomb conspiracy or Muraripukar conspiracy, was a criminal trial took place in 1908. C R Das had presided the annual session of the Indian National Congress in 1922.

1978 – On 1 January 1978, Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Bombay due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, killing all 213 people on board.

Today in History (31st December)

•  In 1600, the British East India Company was incorporated by an English royal charter on December 31.

Today In Indian History (30 December)

1906: The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan.

1943 – Subhash Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair 

Jivaka Cintamani: One of the Five Epics in Tamil

Jivaka Cintamani (also known as Civaka Cintamani) is a Tamil poem written by a Jain ascetic Tiruttakrdeva in the 10th century. This Jain epic is considered one of the five classic Tamil epics. The poem means “fabulous gem” and is also known as Mana Nool (Book of Marriages).

According to the experts, Jivaka Cintamani served as a poetic model for Kamban's Ramayana, the first Tamil Ramayana.

Caeser Frederick: Venetian Visitor to Vijayanagar

Caeser Frederick or Caesaro Federici was a Venetian traveller who had visited the Vijayanagara empire just after the Battle of Rakshasa Tangadi or Talikota in 1565, in which Vijayanagar army was defeated by the combined forces of the five Muslim Sultanates of Deccan. After this battle the  Vijayanagara kingdom lost its grandeur and glory. During his travel to the Vijayanagara  empire Sadasiva Raya was the ruler of this Hindu Kingdom in South India. 

Caeser Frederick had visted the Sandwip island (now near Barisal in Bangladesh) which he found densely  inhabited. He mentioned that Sandwip was famous for its salt and ship-building manufacturing. 

From Bengal Frederick journeyed to Pegu (Myanmar) and a number of other places before returning to Venice in 1581.

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.