Today In Indian History (26th March)

1552  -  Amar Das became the third Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552 at the age of 73. Born on 5 May 1479 at Basarke in Amritsar district, Guru Amar Das was raised in an orthodox Hindu family. He established his headquarters in Goindwal. He introduced the ceremony of the Anand Karaj Marriage. He died on 1st September 1574, at the age of 95. 

Today In Indian History (25rd March)

1931 - Death of Indian journalist and politician Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi on 25 March in 1931.  Founder-editor of the Hindi language newspaper, Pratap, Vidyarthi was killed in 1931 in the communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in Kanpur.

Today In Indian History (24rd March)

1946 - Cabinet Mission arrives in India on 24 March 1946. In September 1945, the newly elected Labour government under Clement Atlee in Britain expressed its intention of creating a Constituent Assembly for India, that would frame India’s Constitution. The Cabinet Mission was sent to India to make this happen. Cabinet Mission arrives in New Delhi on 24 March 1946

The members of the Cabinet Mission were Lord Penthick-Lawrence, Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, and A.V Alexander, First Lord of Admiralty.

The Cabinet Mission's plan failed due to the disagreement between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. 

1776 - Death of Carnatic classical music composer Muthuswami Dikshitar on 24 March in 1776. He was one of the trinity of Carnatic music. Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri are the other two. Dikshitar mainly composed in Sanskrit with the exception of a few kritis in Telugu and Manipravalam. Manipravalam is a combination of the Sanskrit and Tamil languages.

He had written Sanskrit lyrics to colonial tunes that had arrived with the British East India Company.

Muthuswami Dikshitar passed away in 1835 at the age of 60 at Ettayapuram in Tamil Nadu.  

Today In Indian History (23rd March)

1351 - Firuz Shah Tughlaq, the third ruler of the  Tughlaq dynasty, succeeded the throne on 23 March 1351 at the age of forty-six.  He became sultan after the demise of his cousin Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq who had become second Tughlaq sultan in 1325 AD. 

Firuz Shah Tughlaq is credited with the founding of the cities of Jaunpur in 1359 (Uttar Pradesh), Hissar and Fatehabad (Haryana), Firozpur (Punjab). Jaunpur was named after Muhammad bin Tughluq who was known by the name of Juna Khan before his accession to the throne.

Firuz Shah Tughlaq was a religious bigot and this prevented him from being just to his non–Muslim subjects by imposing Jizya tax on them. Firuz died in 1388, aged eighty-two.  His tomb is located in Hauz Khas in Delhi.

1931 - Death of revolutionary leaders Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev on 23rd March, 1931. They were were hanged to death by the British government at the Lahore Central Jail in Lahore in 1931. They were given the death sentence in the Lahore conspiracy case. 

‘Shaheed Diwas’ is commemorated every year on March 23 to remember the unparalleled sacrifice made by Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Hari Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar.

Today In Indian History (22nd March)

1739- Military leader Nader Shah sacks Delhi on 22 March 1739 during the reign of Mughal emperor Mohammad Shah by killing thousands of the inhabitants of the city.  

1894 - Birth of Surya Sen, an Indian revolutionary, on 22 March 1894. He is best known for leading the Chittagong Armoury Raid in 1930.

A revolutionary leader from Bengal, Surya Sen had founded the Chittagong Republic Army with a view to freeing Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) from the British rule. A teacher by profession, Surya Sen led an armed uprising and organized simultaneous attacks on the British strongholds.

On April 18, 1930, the Chittagong (or Indian) Republican Army, founded by  Surya Sen, raided two government armories. The telegraph, telephone and railway station were disrupted. As a result, Chittagong was completely cut of from the rest of India. After these daring raids and attacks, Surya Sen declared the formation of a free National Revolutionary Government.

But his venture did not last long. As a result successive defeats, he went for guerilla warfare and in the meantime extended his fight to the adjoining districts of Chittagong. After nearly three years of valiant struggle, he was captured in February 1933 due to the betrayal by one his followers. He was sentenced to death in 1934.

Today In Indian History (21st March)

1887- Birth of Manabendra Nath Roy, better known as M. N. Roy, on 21 March 1887. M. N. Roy was a revolutionary, philosopher, radical activist and political theorist. Roy was the founder of the Mexican Communist Party and the Communist Party of India (Tashkent group).

M. N. Roy died on 25 January in 1954.

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).