Indian History

1797 - The famous Urdu and Persian poet  Mirza Asadullah Khan popularly known as  Mirza Ghalib was born in Agra on 27 December 1797. Today is Ghalib's 228th birth anniversary.   Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, Mirza Ghalib was patronized by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar (Zafar ascended the Mughal throne in 1837). Mirza Ghalib died in Delhi on February 15, 1869.  He was buried near the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya in Hazrat Nizamuddin locality in Delhi Ghalib was also well versed in Persian.  1911 - The national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana, was first publicly sung on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress. 

Today is 126th 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 as Sher Singh on December 26th, 1899 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 . In 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 ...

1530 - Zahir-ud-din  Muhammad Babur Shah or Babur, as he is generally called, died on 26 th  December at the age of 47 in 1530 in Agra. Babur was the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India in 1526. The Mughal rule in India came to an end in 1857 when it last ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled to Burma by the British. 1704 -  Two sons of 10th Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh (9-year-old  Zorawar Singh  and 6-year-old F ateh Singh ) were bricked alive by the Mughals under their governor Wazir Khan in Sirhind in 1705 for refusing to convert to Islam.  The martyrdom of  Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh is commemorated at Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab.  1831 - Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, founder of Young Bengal Movement, passes away on 26 th  December 1831 at a young age of 22 in Calcutta.

1861- Leading nationalist and patriot Madan Mohan Malaviya was born on 25th December 1861 in Allahabad. He had founded Banaras Hindu University in 1916 and remained its vice-chancellor from 1919 to 1938. Madan Mohan Malaviya was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress four times, (1909, 1918, 1932, and 1933). He was also the founder of Hindu Mahasabha.  1876 - Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, was born on Dec 25, 1876 in Karachi. 

  On 24th December, 1524 , renowned Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama died in Cochin (now Kochi), a major port in India. Pattabhi Sitaramayya , freedom fighter and president of Indian National Congress in 1948, was born in Andhra Pradesh on 24th December, 1880. He was defeated by Subhash Chandra Bose for the post of Congress President in Tripura Session of 1939. Mahatma Gandhi termed Sitaramayya’s defeat as ‘his own’. On 24th December, 1924, famous playback singer Mohammed Rafi was born. Periyar E.V.Ramasami , prominent social worker and freedom fighter, passes away on 24th December in 1973 at the age of 94. He started the Self-Respect Movement, one of the several social movements for the uplift of the society. Melakkath Gopalan Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, dies on 24th December in 1987. A very popular politician, he was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The crowd that gathered in his funeral was one of the largest in Independent India. He was posthumously awarded India’s ...

Born on 23 December 1845 in Khandaghosh village in the Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal in 1845, Rash Behari Ghose was an eminent lawyer, educationist, social worker and philanthropist. His was a brilliant academic career. He proved to be a very successful lawyer. Rash Behari Ghose was a leading leader of the moderate wing of the Indian National Congress. During the freedom struggle for India there were two divisions in the Indian National Congress (INC)- moderate and extremist. He is said to have called the extremists “irresponsible agitators” and “pestilential demagogues”. He was a believer in the British sense of justice.     Rash Behari Ghose was elected President of the Indian National Congress at the Surat session of 1907. It was at the Surat session when INC split into two sections: moderate and extremist. He was again elected president of the INC in its subsequent session in 1908.    Rash Behari Ghose breathed his last on February, 28, 1921....

  December 23 is the death anniversary of Swami Shraddhanand , a pioneer of Indian culture and nationalism. Swami Shraddhanand was a leading member of the famous reform movement Arya Samaj and tried his best to propagate the ideals and teachings of Swami Dayanand Saraswati , who founded the movement in 1875. A nationalist leader from Punjab, he strove hard to reform Hinduism of purging it all later degenerate features that had crept into it.  Born as Munshi Ram Vij on February 22, 1856 at Talwan village in Jalandhar district in Punjab province, Shraddhanand has left an indelible mark on India’s culture which will continue to inspire future generations. Shraddhanand was a courageous social reformer who opposed illiteracy, the prevailing caste system, untouchability, and advocated widow remarriage, national unity and integrity. On 4th April, 1919 , he delivered a speech on the Hindu Muslim unity from the pulpit of Jama Masjid in Delhi. To B R Ambedkar, Shraddhanand was ‘t...