Foreign Visitors to Vijayanagar

                                                UNESCO World Heritage - Hampi

The splendor and affluence of the Vijayanagara city and empire has been described in the accounts of travellers who visited this South Indian Hindu Kingdom at regular intervals. Prominent among them are the Italian Nicolo dei Conti and Abdur Razzaq (15th century AD) and the Portuguese travelers Paes and Nuniz who visited India in the 16th century. 

Nicolo Conti, First European Visitor To Vijayanagar 

Born at the coastal town of Chioggia in Italy, Nicolo Conti was an Italian and the earliest European visitor to the mighty Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. The ruins of the great city of Vijayanagar are found at Hampi in the state of Karnataka. Nicolo Conti reached the city in 1420 -21 in the reign of Devaraya I. His original travel account in Latin is lost. Conti gives a vivid account of the city of Vijayanagar, its court, customs, currency, festivals and other matters. 

Abdur Razzaq 

Abdur Razzaq was a Persian who was sent by Timur's son and successor Shah Rukh as ambassador to the Zamorin of Calicut. In April 1443, Abdur Razzaq also visited Vijayanagar during the reign of Devaraya II. Abdur Razzaq was overawed with the size and grandeur of the city of Vijayanagar. He says, “The city is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. It is so built that it has seven fortified walls, one within the other.” His narrative supplies valuable information on the topography, administration and social life of Vijayanagar at that time. 

Duarte Barbosa

Duarte Barbosa was another Portuguese traveller who came to Vijayanagar during the reign of Krishnadeva Raya. He was proficient in Malayalam. Barbosa returned to Portugal between 1517 and 1518. His work "An Account of Countries Bordering the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants" was completed in 1518.

Domingo Paes 

He was a Portuguese traveler who visited Vijayanagar during the reign of its greatest ruler Krishnadeva Raya in 1520. Paes saw the glory of Vijayanagar and has written what he saw, without relating legends, fables, stories, etc. The narrative of Domingo Paes provides an eyewitness account to the reign of Krishnadeva Raya. Paes found the city of Vijayanagar “as large as Rome, and very beautiful to sight. This is the best provided city in the world…”

Fernao Nuniz

Fernao Nuniz was a Portuguese horse-dealer and chronicler who spent three years in Vijayanagar during the reign of Achyuta Deva Raya from 1535 to 1537.  

Caesar Frederick 

Caesar Frederick was a Venetian traveler who visited Vijayanagar a couple of years after the famous battle of Rakshasa Tangadi or Talikota in 1565. 

Reference:

Prof K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar

Preserve the Gandhara Civilization

An astonishingly beautiful place, the Swat valley in Pakistan, the ancient seat of Gandhara civilization, is no longer the popular tourist destination as it used to be before the Taliban seized the valley in 2006 and effective power in 2006. Since then, area has become synonymous with violence.

It all started with the defacing of a 23-foot high statue of the Buddha by Fazlullah’s militants on October 8, 2007 on the pretext that Islam permits no graven images. This 7th century seated Buddha is carved in a rock in the lap of a mountain in Jehandabad village in the region.

During the rule of great Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, Buddhism became a force to reckon with in the Swat valley. The region is full of Budhist stupas, monasteries, pottery and coins. The world famed Gandhara art flourished under the Buddhist Kushan dynasty. Today Batkara Stupa in the Swat Valley is in a state of disarray due to the neglect of the authorities concerned. Beautifully situated in the serene ambience of Jambil Valley the Batkara Stupa is one of the most famous and oldest seats of Buddhist learning in Swat Valley.

It is high time the people at the helm of affairs in Pakistan should come forward to preseve this great civilization that is an asset not only to Pakistan but also to the world.

Faqir Uprising of Bengal

The Sepoy munity of 1857, also known as First War of Indian Independence, was not the first movement of various classes of people to overthrow the British rule. Anti-British sentiments emerged shortly after the annexation of the province of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa by Warren Hastings in 1772. One such revolt that was of a great significance was the Faqir Uprising of Bengal that took place in 1776-77 and had the potential of shaking the very foundation of the nascent British rule in India.

Soon after the annexation of Bengal, in 1776-77 a group of wandering Muslim religious mendicants known as faqirs, started against the British authority an agitation which came to be known as Faqir Uprising of Bengal. Manjum Shah was the pioneer of this revolt, these faqirs under his leader began to levy tax on the zamindars and peasants. This was in defiance of the British authority. After Manjum Shah’s death, Chirag Ali Shah became the leader of the group and under his leadership the uprising spread to the northern districts of Bengal. The uprising was supported by the Pathans, Rajputs and disbanded Indian soldiers.

The Hindus also actively participated in the faqirs uprising. Bhawani Pathak and Devi Chaudhurani were among the prominent Hindu leaders who lent their support to this movement. The faqirs, led by Chirah Ali Shah, gained considerable strength and attacked the English factories and succeeding in seizing their goods, cash and ammunition. The faqirs and the company’s troops entered into a number of skirmishes. The faqirs uprising was finally crushed at the beginning of the 19th century.

Mir Taqi Mir, Great Urdu Poet

The comparison of Mir Taqi Mir with Mirza Ghalib reminds me of the debate on Christopher Marlowe vs Shakespeare. As a matter of fact, Mirza Ghalib himself says that Mir Taqi Mir is really great. He wrote a couplet about this:

Reekhta kay tumhi ustaad nahi ho Ghalib
Kehte hain agle zamane me koi Mir bhi tha

You are not the only master of poetry, Ghalib
They say there used to be a Mir in the past

Known as Khuda-e-Sukhan'(God of poetry), Mir Taqi Mir was born in Agra in 1723 and died in 1810 in Lucknow. This year marked the 200th death anniversary of Mir. He moved to Delhi at the age of 11 after his father's death.

When the prestige of the Mughal Empire began to wane and chaos began to reign supreme due to the constant invasions from the foreign powers including Ahmad Shah Abdali, Mir moved to the court of Asaf-ud-Daula Nawab of Oudh in Lucknow.

In 1782 Mir came to Lucknow, where he breathed his last on September 21, 1810.

One of Mir’s ghazals, `Dikhaai diye yun ke bekhud kiya, hamen aap se bhi juda kar chale’ has been rendered to music by Khayyam, one of the leading lights of Bollywood music in the movie Bazaar. Enjoy the song.

Ashokan Inscriptions

The importance of Ashokan inscriptions is immense. This can be gauged from the fact that till the decipherment of the languages of the his inscriptions by James Prinsep, the world had been cracking their brains as to historicity of this great king, referred to as ‘Piyadassi’ in the Sri Lankan chronicles Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa. 

James Prinsep, an official of the Calcutta Mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, was able to read the inscriptions in 1837. In fact, the inscriptions of Asoka are the oldest surviving written documents of any historical significance. These inscriptions comprise a series of edicts engraved on rocks and pillars throughout different places in his empire which stretched from the valley of Oxus to Kaveri delta in south India. The Asokan edicts are in the nature of official pronouncement of policy, and instructions to his officers and subjects. 

The inscriptions of Ashoka are written in two scripts known as Brahmi and Kharosthi. Like the European scripts, Brahmi is written from left to right, the Kharosthi is a cursive script read from right to left. Kharosthi script has been used in the inscriptions found at Shahbazgarhi (in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan) and Manshera (in Pakistan).

Mahavamsa: The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka

Written in Pali language in the fifth century AD, the Sri Lankan Chronicle Mahavamsa is mainly a history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Composed by Mahanama Thera, the Buddhist Chronicle also gives reliable information on political history of India.

Mahavamsa has also great literary merit. It contains several passages of immense beauty. The passage describing the capture of Vijitanagara, the capital of the Tamil invader Elara, by the Sinhalese national hero, King Dutthagamani (161-137 BC) with aid of his favourite elephant, Kandula. is indeed one of the jewels in the crown.

Mahavamsatika or Vamsatthapakasini, a commentary on Mahavamsa, was composed in the 10th century AD.

Images of The Buddha

Before the introduction of the Buddha’s images, wheel, an empty throne, footprints, pipal trees, stupas were the symbols used for his remembrance. Why the Buddha was symbolized in such a way even many centuries after his death is not known. One reason may be that he was so venerated that it was blasphemous to depict the Buddha. However, there is no evidence to confirm this.

Hence, there are no image of the Buddha at the Buddhist sites of Bharhut, Sanchi and Gaya that are dated between c 150 BC and the end of the 1st century AD.
The earliest images of the Buddha in human form belong to the Gandhara School. However, some experts are of the view that Mathura school produced the first images of the Buddha. Both the schools flourished under the Kushana dynasty.
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The most beautiful images of the Buddha were carved out in the Gupta School of art. Nalanda in Bihar was the richest source of the well-known smooth images of the Buddha in black salt and an extensive series of Buddhist bronzes.