Today In Indian History (20th March)

1351 - Death of Muḥammad bin Tughluq on 20th March in 1351. Muhammad bin Tughluq was the second ruler of the  Tughluq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. He was the son of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. He ascended the throne after killing his father. Born Jauna Khan aka Ulugh Khan, Muhammad bin Tughluq died 20th March in 1351 while fighting against the rebels in Thatta in Sindh. 

Muhammad bin Tughluq was among the most remarkable, enigmatic and controversial figures among the Sultans of Delhi. To his contemporaries, he was a mixture of cruelty and kindness.   

1602 - Dutch East India Company was established on 20 March 1602 to facilitate trade between the Netherlands and the rest of the world. Chinsurah (now Chuchura) in Hooghly district in West Bengal was a famous Dutch settlement. 

A View of Chinsurah  | Wikimedia Commons

1782 - 20th March marks the anniversary of the birth of the Oriental Scholar, Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod (20 March 1782 – 18 November 1835). He was an author and researcher of Rajput history.

 His magnum opus is Annals and Antiquities of Rajast’han’ (1829). 

Today In Indian History (19th March)

1919 - Rowlatt Act was passed by the British government in Delhi on 18 March 1919. The Rowlatt Act made it legal for British forces to arrest and hold Indians without a trial and judicial review. 

Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Amritsar to protest against the Rowlatt Act on 13th April in 1919.

In 1919, Satyagraha Sabha was formed by Mahatma Gandhi in Bombay to protest against the Rowlatt Act.  

Today In Indian History (17th March)

1920 - Birth of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 17 March 1920. Also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist, who was the first president of Bangladesh.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was voted as the Greatest Bengali of all time in the 2004 BBC opinion poll. 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed during a military coup in 1975, along with most of his family.

Today In Indian History (16th March)

1527 - The Battle of Khanwa was fought on 16 March 1527 at Khanwa, a village in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. Khanwa is 60 km west of Agra. The battle was fought between Babur, the first Mughal emperor, and the Mewar ruler Rana Sanga for supremacy of Northern India. The battle resulted in the victory of the Mughal forces.

1559 - Birth of Maharana Amar Singh I on 16 March in 1559. Amar Singh was the son and successor of Maharana Pratap of Mewar Kingdom. The first military campaign undertaken by Jahangir, the Mughal emperor and son of Akbar, was against Rana Amar Singh. The Mughal expeditions sent against Mewar in 1606 and 1608-09 proved indecisive, but in 1613-14 the campaign led by Jahangir's third son Khurram (later Shah Jahan) proved decisive and Rana Amar Singh submitted to the Mughals in 1615. Jahangir offered most liberal terms to Mewar and thus ended a long struggle between Mewar and the Mughals. The emperor installed two life-size marble statues of Rana Amar Singh and his son Karan in the garden of his palace at Agra. However, the glory and pride of Mewar was gone.

1693 - Birth of Malhar Rao Holkar on 16th March in 1693.  Malhar Rao Holkar was a noble subedar of the Maratha Empire and was the founder of the Holkar dynasty that ruled Malwa.

Malhar Rao Holkar died on 20 May 1766 at Alampur in Madhya Pradesh. Chhatri of Malhar Rao Holkar was built by his daughter-in-law Ahilya Bai Holkar at Alampur.

Today In Indian History (15th March)

1206 - Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori was stabbed to death at Damyak (in modern Pakistan) on the 15th March, 1206. Muhammad Ghori was the next prominent invader on India after Mahmud of Ghazni. Muhammad Ghori took the title of Mu'izzuddin Muhammad ibn Sam after he became sultan.

Today In Indian History (14th March)

1878 - The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 was introduced by Lord Lytton, then Viceroy of India, and was passed on March 14, 1878. The Vernacular Press Act was enacted to curtail the freedom of the Indian press and prevent the expression of criticism toward British policies. 

The Vernacular Press Act was repealed in 1881 by Lord Ripon, the then viceroy of India. 

Today In Indian History (13th March)

1742 - Death of Nana Phadnavis (also spelt as Nana Fadnavis) on 13 March 1800 in Pune. Nana Fadnavis was a brilliant Maratha minister and statesman during the Peshwa administration in Pune. He is often referred to as "the Maratha Machiavelli".  

Nana Phadnavis was born in Satara on 12th February in 1742. 

1940 - Michael O’Dwyer was killed in London on 13th March 1940 by Udham Singh.

Udham Singh was a great revolutionary who avenged the infamous Jalianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar by murdering 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.

Udham Singh killed O’Dwyer in London on 13th March 1940. He was arrested on the spot and sentenced to death on 21st July in the same year.