Indian History

  1835  - On 2 February 1835, British historian, politician and colonial administrator Thomas Babington Macaulay presented his ‘Minute on Indian Education’ that underscored the need to impart English education to native Indians.  1887 - Birth of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, the first Health Minister of India in independent India, on 2nd  February. A member of India's Constituent Assembly that was responsible for the framing the Constitution of India, she played an important role in the Indian freedom struggle and was imprisoned by the British on several occasions.  

1681   - Maratha ruler Sambhaji, son of Shivaji, attacks and sacks Burhanpur, then under Mughal dominion, from 31 January to 2 February in 1681.  1689 -  Sambhaji was captured in  Samgamneshwar   by the Mughals on 1st February in 1689 and was executed by Aurangzeb on 11 March. 

1561 - Death of Bairam Khan, the preceptor to Mughal emperor Akbar and Mughal military commander, on 31st January 1561 on his way to Mecca. Bairam Khan was relieved of his post and was ordered by Akbar to go to Mecca.   Bairam Khan was instrumental in establishing the Mughal rule after Humayun's exile from India during the reign of Sur rulers.   

Mahendravarman I Mattavilas-prahasana (the Sport of Drunkards ) is a Sanskrit one-act play which comes lauded as a play to have been enacted for more than 1,300 years.  Mattavilasa-prahasana was written by Mahendravarman I  (590– 630CE) of the Pallava dynasty of south India, according to the Mamandur Cave temple inscription in Tamil Nadu. Mahendravarman I, also known as Mahendravikramavarman, was a contemporary of Harshavardhan of Kanauj . The Pallava ruler is credited with the introduction of the cave style of architecture. He is known for assuming the significant title of Vichitrachitta , “curious minded.”  Mahendravarman I was also the author of the play Bhagavad-Ajjuka Prahasana , or ‘The Farce of the Pious Courtesan.'  One of the masterpieces of Sanskrit literature, Mattavilasa prahasana is full of rollicking satire. Set in the Pallava capital of Kanchipuram , this little farce tells the story of a drunken Shaivite (follower of Shaivism, the cult of the god S...

  1948  - Death of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January, 1930. Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on 30 January, 1948. 

1780   - On   29 January 1780 , India's and Asia's first printed newspaper ' Hicky's Bengal Gazette ' began its publication. Started by an Irishman named   James Augustus Hicky , Hicky's Bengal Gazette was a weekly English newspaper which ran for two years from 1780 to 1782. It was published from Kolkata. 1791 -  Lord Cornwallis  had  assumed command of the British troops on 29th January, 1791 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. 

                          Clive meeting Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, (By Francis Hayman) Ghaseti Begum, originally named Mehar un-Nisa, was the eldest daughter of Alivardi Khan, the Nawab of Bengal. She was married to Nawazish Muhammad Khan. Ghaseti Begum went all out to conspire against her nephew Siraj-ud-Daula who was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. Siraj-ud-Daula was defeated by the British under Lord Clive in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and was killed on the orders of Miran, the son of Mir Jafar who was now made the Nawab of Bengal by the British.   Ghaseti  Begum was called the Begum of Motijheel  due to her residence at the bend of this reservoir in Murshidabad. Motijheel or Pearl Lake is an oxbow lake in Murshidabad. The lake was created by her husband Nawazish Muhammad Khan. Nawazish Muhammad Khan died of grief when his adopted son Ekram-ud-Daulah succumbed to smallpox at a yo...