Brief post ahead of the weekend…in which I discover a new meaning of the words “Shuddho” and “Aushuddho”. Extracted from Sh CJS Walia’s review of Arun Shourie’s “EMINENT HISTORIANS: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud”
Several of Shourie’s chapters appeared first as columns. One of his readers sent him a copy of a circular sent by the West Bengal Government Secondary Board ordering revisions of Class IX History textbooks..
The accompanying pages contained two columns: Aushuddho (Errors) and Shuddho (Corrections).
Shourie provides numerous examples from these pages.
From Bharuter Itihash by Shobhankar Chattopadhyaya, published …

Start your weekend with these excerpts from a conversation between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and an IAS probationer, Shri Yuvaraj Karan in 1950, reproduced from the print edition of the monthly magazine “Secularism Combat” (thanks Jiggs).
…Shri Yuvaraj Karan, a former IAS Officer, who is also one of the escapees from Pakistan has written a book “Understanding Partition” published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. When he was at the IAS training institute in Dehradun, in the first batch IAS trainees, Jawaharlal Nehru was invited to address them. At the end of Shri …

From the first part of this story:
As Guru-ji returned to Punjab in 1670, news of his increasing influence reached Aurangzeb. Royal reporters mentioned how “For years by now…he (Guru Tegh Bahadur) has been conducting an extensive whirlwind tour of the country. He has been going about with many thousand men. He is also collecting funds”
Aurangzeb received these reports in the North-west where he was dealing with the rebellion of Pathans. As Kartar Singh-ji notes:
He (Aurangzeb) had no time to make intensive enquiries about allegations. …

Many of you would remember the promise I made some days ago to share  the inspiring story about the life of Guru Tegh Bahadur-ji on this blog.
I was hoping to do last week but my visit to North-East delayed this post. That said, Guruji’s story is timeless…and will no doubt be retold many many times…What follows is my humble attempt at depicting the life of this saint.  Although we are all very familiar with Guru Tegh Bahadur’s name, his deeds – like hundreds of other proud chapters from Indian history …

I first became aware of Mata Gujri after reading a poem by my friend Gurmeet which she shared on Facebook. The poem was a tribute to Mata Gujri-ji on the occassion of Mothers’ Day. It was enough to spark my curiousity. I decided to find out more…and was not disappointed. Here – in excerpts – is the extraordinary story of Mata Gujri Ji, from the almost forgotten pages of Indian History.
In a talk Gurmeet delivered in 2004, she called Mata Gujri a  perfect woman,a “Puran Istree“.
The word “Stree” originates …

Extracts from a thought-provoking interview of Pavan Varma by Kanchan Gupta: (emphasis added):
…“Those who have never been colonised can never really know what it does to the psyche of a people. Those who have been are often not fully aware of — or are unwilling to accept — the degree to which they have been compromised,” he writes in this book. That, in a sense, is the theme of Becoming Indian.
Pavan K Varma:…I must confess I profess a fair degree of anguish at our low threshold of satisfaction and self-congratulation. …

Start your weekend with Sandhya Jain’s review of Prof BB Lal’s latest book which traces the continuity of Indian culture since the dawn of the Saraswati-Sindhu civilisation. Excerpts from Discovery of India by Sandhya Jain (emphasis mine):
Barely seven years after Prof BB Lal penned The Sarasvati Flows On: The Continuity of Indian Culture (2002), the defiantly-in-denial UPA has been forced to admit the existence of the Vedic Saraswati. In response to a parliamentary question, the Government revealed that a study by scientists of ISRO, Jodhpur, and the Rajasthan Government’s Ground …

…the ones who ought to be remembered today.
*** 79 years ago on this date ***
BHAGAT SINGH, RAJGURU AND SUKHDEV EXECUTED
NO “LAST INTERVIEW” WITH RELATIONS
DEAD BODIES SECRETLY DISPOSED OF

Front Page of the Lahore Tribue, March 1931 (Thanks Amitabh).

All photographs courtesy (and copyright) ShahidBhagatSingh.org
Oh, today also happens to be the 70th anniversary of the infamous Lahore Declaration that put paid to any hopes of a united independent India. 16 years after that resolution, Pakistan declared itself the world’s first Islamic Republic. Some of you may know that Lahore traces its name …

The final part of  “What is Dharma” by Harapriya. Today, can one fight a dharma yudh against adharma?
*** What is “Dharma”? – Concluding Part by K Harapriya ***

Can one fight a dharma yudh against adharma?
The Mahabharata gives a pretty clear answer —-yes, we can fight a dharmic war mostly although some acts of adharma will be committed.
This will seem like equivocation to most people because we tend to believe two prevailing myths:   one, that dharmic people should be held to much higher standards than the totally adharmic;   and two,  that …

Continuing from Part-I that appeared earlier this week. Today, lessons from the MahaBharata.
*** What is “Dharma”? – Part II by K Harapriya ***

Lessons of the Mahabharata
One epic which still holds profound lessons for us,  is the Mahabharata.  Here is an epic where a central character, Duryodhana, is an ambitious king who seeks wealth and power.  These desires, in themselves,   are the hallmark of a kshatriya and therefore befitting a king.  He, as the first born son of the first born Dhritarashtra ,  considers himself the rightful heir to Hastinapura.  Leaving …

Adarniya BalaSaheb, Pranaam.
I would have written this letter in Marathi but most of my blog readers are Indians.
I have never done a survey to find out how many of them are Maharashtrians – nor made any attempt to block non-Maharashtrians from reading what I write. Indeed most of my writing is in English. This is not because I am ashamed or embarrassed about my mother tongue. On the contrary, I am grateful to my parents for cultivating in me a love of languages and for helping me learn a language …

On the occassion of Martyr’s Day
Please take a moment to remember the ones who did not come back
And have a look at this series on National Heroes
|| Jai Hind, Jai Bharat ||

Start this weekend with a story on Hyderabad’s links to Islamic terrorism
Next, read Sandhya Jain on the apparent unravelling of Jammu & Kashmir
Then read a retelling of the story of Shantanu by Jai Joshi
and finally, a personal request from Sanjeev Sabhlok, founder-member, Freedom Team of India.
Excerpts from all the articles below, as always.
.
*** Excerpts from How Indian-born Islamic …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post by Kedar. It takes a fresh look at the Battle of Sinhgad from the perspective of game theory. Read on. Have a safe, refreshing weekend.
*** Game theory and battle of Singhad ***

By Kedar Soman

In March of 1670, in the middle of one night, Tanaji Malusare attacked Singhad on Shivaji’s orders. He , his brother Suryaji and his maternal uncle Shelar mama, and the soldiers climbed the cliffs to enter the fort and caught the fort army by surprise. In …

While trawling the web looking for something else a few days ago, I stumbled on an account of a meeting between Swami Samarth Ramdas and Guru Har Gobind ji that took place in Kashmir almost 400* years ago.
This was an unexpected discovery. I was not aware that such a meeting had taken place…and I wondered whether the encounter had a role to play in Samarth Ramdas’ later life when he came in contact with Shivaji Maharaj.
Unfortunately there was not much I could find about the meeting, except a few links. …

Start this weekend with excerpts from Kashmir: Propagation of Islam and the Terror of the Sufis” by M A Khan (emphasis mine):
How did Islam come to Kashmir?
“It came through the peaceful missionary preaching of the Sufis,” comes the answer.
Sufis have been universally credited with the peaceful propagation of Islam around the world. An Islamic legend tells us that there was a king in Kashmir, at an unknown point in time, who had no religion. One day, he wished to adopt a religion. Both Muslims and Hindus came to convince him. …

In the first part of this post, I cited evidence contrary to Sh Sanghvi’s assertion that “Hindu kings destroyed Buddhist monasteries…”
Sh Sanghvi’s second point was that, as a consequence of such destruction (which we now know is not supported by historical records) Buddhism declined in India – that land of its birth.
Let us start by what Dr B R Ambedkar had to say on the decline of Buddhism in India:
“..There can be no doubt that the fall of Buddhism in India was due to the invasions of the Musalmans…Islam came …

This post was triggered by Vir Sanghvi’s misleading article “Ayodhya for dummies” that he wrote in response to his “younger readers…(who are) mystified by the fuss and annoyed by the refusal of journos to tell them what it (Liberhan Report) was all about”
RC has already done a masterful dissection of Vir Sanghvi’s seemingly clever play with words. So I will limit myself to a specific flippant remark made by Vir Sanghvi viz. “…Hindu kings destroyed Buddhist monasteries, more or less throwing Buddhism out of India”
Before I begin, I must stress …

Please read this post in continuation of Revisiting Ram Janmabhoomi – Part II and Revisiting Ram Janmabhoomi – Part I.
This post contains further references and evidence supporting the presence of a ShriRam Mandir at the disputed site. In the next part, I will strive to summarise evidence exchanged between VHP and AIBMAC in 1991. I believe the VHP subsequently submitted a rejoinder in reponse to AIBMAC’s evience but the the AIBMAC did not do so – I am not absolutely certain of this though so if any of you …

Start this weekend reading about “Maccha Yantra” – which might have been the precursor to the mariner’s compass of today…
Next, read former Governor of J&K, Jagmohan’s account of  his trek to Amarnath…
…and finally, ponder over Chandan Mitra’s provocative piece on the purpose of history
Excerpts from all the three articles below, as always.

This post is dedicated to Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar – perhaps the greatest of any warrior queens we had in history.

Many of you must have heard about her….but unfortunately her story is largely unknown and has not got the attention it deserves.  Although her 30-year reign is widely regarded as the model for a benevolent and effective government and administration, her rule is usually a  footnote in medieval history – which is a shame considering her astounding achievements and philosohpy of governance.
Devi Ahilya was born into a Patil …