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Category: Indian History

De Lannoy's Chapel in Udaygiri Fort
De Lannoy – The Great Captain or Valliya Kappitan

De Lannoy – The Great Captain or Valliya Kappitan

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Dutch the Colonizers There is a lot of noise about British rule and history being written and read about them. But have you heard about the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or the Dutch East India Company, one of the first joint stock companies. They were the most profitable companies of their time 1602 to 1796 and sent more people and ships during that period. They were the leaders and even bigger than British East India company. They had presence all over…

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Sahib, Sindh and Sultan

Sahib, Sindh and Sultan

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Sahib, Sindh and Sultan: Steam Engines of the First Passenger Train Its 3:35PM on April 16th, 1853 and Sahib, Sindh and Sultan, three steam engines of India’s first passenger train were ready, all spick and span new, between then Bombay now Mumbai, then Victoria Terminus now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to cover 21 miles in 57 minutes to Thane. The train was filled with more than 400 invited dignitaries including the Amelia Cary, Viscountess Falkland, wife of Governor of Mumbai Lucius…

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Who were the officers of Mughals?

Who were the officers of Mughals?

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Mughals and Daudnagar Recently I had a chance travel through a small town of Daudnagar in Bihar, about 100 kms from Patna. I was not planning to visit that place but found out that it had a fort built between 1664 to 1673 by Daud Khan and  his grandson Ahmed Khan  and we went inside the town to see this place. Now like other places in Bihar even this place is in a dilapidated condition that you can see in…

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Mother Tongue and Languages

Mother Tongue and Languages

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Mother Tongue There must be a reason why we call the language that one speaks as a kid as mother tongue. In ancient times women folks were generally no that mobile and were not migrating as much as men. So when a bunch of men migrated and displaced local population, they took the local women as their wives and the young kids learnt first the language of their mother and hence the mother tongue. India and its languages कोस-कोस पर…

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The Story of Sunya to Sifr to Zero

The Story of Sunya to Sifr to Zero

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Zero: The Backdrop Zero is a unique number. Technically every number is unique but Zero as a number and concept was considered dangerous by many for millenniums and we will delve little more looking at its history and its rise in application in various technology. Many would have heard that Mathematics is called the Queen of Science and Number Theory is Queen of Mathematics. This quote is attributed to gifted Mathematician called Gauss. Our very own Srinivasan Ramanujan explored number…

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The Battle of Buxar – A Commemoration

The Battle of Buxar – A Commemoration

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The Battle Battle of Buxar fought in October 1764 that set out, a greedy private enterprise East India Company headquartered in London, on a path that changed the South Asia forever and the after shocks are even felt today including what we see today in Afghanistan in 2021. As a kid I have been to the place and unfortunately there wasn’t much there except agricultural fields and few graves for British Officers reminiscent of the bloody battle. Lets look at…

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Excerpts from History: Then and Now

Excerpts from History: Then and Now

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“He diagnosed the disease as Influenza. But he has never seen Influenza like this. This was violent, rapid in its progress through the body, sometimes lethal. This Influenza killed. Soon dozens of his patients – the strongest, the healthiest, the most robust people in the county – were struck down as suddenly as if they had been shot”   “All Influenza viruses mutate constantly”   “On September 27, the day before the parade, hospitals admitted 200 people sufferings from Influenza….

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Jagat Seth or Banker of the World

Jagat Seth or Banker of the World

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The Beginnings Indian history has many stories and that of the Jagat Seth one of the most interesting with many twists and turns.  Hiranand Sahu was a jeweller turned money lender from Nagaur, Rajasthan from the Gailarha family of the tribe of Oswals, who moved to Patna in search of better prospects around 1650. He started as a banker and trader of Saltpetre. Patna and a neighboring town Chapra were the center for the refining of Saltpetre, an essential ingredient…

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India Technology and History – A perspective

India Technology and History – A perspective

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Why was the knowledge was lost? Indian subcontinent has had a civilization for thousands of years and when we look at the remains of Indus Valley civilization there seems to be existence metropolis and intercontinental trade. There were cities like Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, Lothal that had drainage systems which can rival any of the current cities of India. Today a day of rain can flood any modern city in India whereas Indus Valley civilization used floods for their benefit. Why…

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Egon sketched this drawing of his dying Edith Schiele as he lay dying himself of Influenza in 1918
Indian Dispatches from 1918 Pandemic

Indian Dispatches from 1918 Pandemic

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1918 Pandemic Great Influenza 1918 was the year of the great influenza which spread all over the world leading to estimated death of 50 million people worldwide and of this the country that was most affected was India that had alteast one-fifth of this death toll. In the history of world of pandemics there are only two which have taken more lives than this pandemic. The plague of Justinian that lasted for fifty years around AD 542 killed 100 million…

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Leaf of Bodhi Tree
A Visit to Bodhi Tree Temple Complex of Bodh Gaya Bihar

A Visit to Bodhi Tree Temple Complex of Bodh Gaya Bihar

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I was heading out to a place called Aurangabad in Bihar and nearest Airport was Bodh Gaya. Now I had about 2-3 hours in my hand as this trip was a real quick one. But I knew that I can’t miss going to the tree where Siddhartha became Buddha and I have to say it was worth the time. All this was a long time back in the month of February when the world was very different and nobody could…

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The Great Divisions of the World Part 2 (Shia-Sunni Divide)

The Great Divisions of the World Part 2 (Shia-Sunni Divide)

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Disclaimer: I am no expert in the subject and idea is to share a point of view. Any errors & omissions will be graciously accepted and updated swiftly If you want to read up Part 1, I wrote about the Aryan-Dravidian divide sometime back and here is the link if you would like to see that. The world is divided in so many aspects race, religion, region, countries and many more. There is one such divide that I have been…

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The Stilwell Road aka Ledo Road

The Stilwell Road aka Ledo Road

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I remember, in the year of 1998 while going to Miao to visit some family friends while passing Margherita there was a board calling out Stilwell Road. From that point of time it remained on the back of my mind. The Books Recently I was reading a travel book “Land of Dawnlit Mountains” by Antonia Bolingbroke Kent, a British journalist who went on to solo bike trip on Hero Impulse throughout Arunachal Pradesh. It brought my memories fresh and pushed…

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What is the truth of India’s Partition?

What is the truth of India’s Partition?

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There are three players on the Indian side Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah who played deciding role in the partition of India, all of them studied law in Britain and came back to serve India. Gandhi left his suits and became Mahatma preaching his non-violent method for fighting British rule, Nehru was the charming man close to Gandhi and Jinnah a rational and intellectual man. Important actors on the British side were Churchill, Atlee, Wavell and Mountbatten. The clamor to  independent…

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The Strange Case of Indian Feminism

The Strange Case of Indian Feminism

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As a kid I remember both my grandmother were smokers and me going and buying the Indian version of cigarette called “Beedi” from the nearby shop was common. Now I am not sure when and how they had started and unfortunately by the time I was old enough to ask them they were not around anymore. There is no doubt about them being devout enough. My dad’s mother would religiously go to Ganga every morning before the sun rises and…

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