know your past

hullow all, this is a thought provoking and very much informative article. The Hindu : Magazine : Khusrau: The shadow of power




Power, then as now, brings its own price. Neither life nor death was kind to this unfortunate son of Jehangir. AROON RAMAN recounts one of the most tragic yet inspiring stories to come out of Mughal India…




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At 18, Khusrau was everything his father was not: personable, brave, and a talented battlefield commander.


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Photo: Subir Roy

FORGOTTEN PRINCE: Khusrau's tomb in Allahabad.


The Great Fort, Agra, August 28 1605. Inside the gilded chambers of the Royal Quarters a man lay on his bed, dying. Select queens of the zenanaand senior courtiers were gathered around, as was a younger man of royal countenance in his mid-thirties. It was upon him that the gaze of the sinking man finally rested. He was not to know, even if he was in any position to reflect on it, that the prince had been smuggled into the room in the nick of time.

He raised his head painfully and nodded, beckoning the prince forward. With a servant supporting him reverently, the sick man placed the robes and turban of kingship in the younger man's hands in a formal yet curiously tender gesture. Then he fell back on the cushions; his eyes roved around the room one last time before glazing forever.

The wails of the women from the anteroom began, marking the end of one of the defining reigns in the annals of Hindustan. For almost half a century, Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar had been master of the largest empire since Asoka. He was the greatest of the Mughals, an empire-builder of genius, whose name shines undimmed through the passage of centuries not just for what he achieved by force of arms, but for the brilliant administrative edifice through which he governed, and for the religious syncretism and tolerance that he brought to polity.

Akbar was a man far in advance of his time. So potent was his persona that only those most gifted and possessed of a strong sense of self-worth could stand up to him. It was a trait that was to have fateful consequences for his heirs.

Akbar had three sons: Salim, Murad and Daniyal, born to him in 1569, 1570 and 1572 respectively. Yet, by 1605 only Salim still lived; the other two had self-destructed through addiction to opium and alcohol. At the time of his father's death, Salim too had become over-fond of stimulants and subject to the most capricious mood swings when in the grip of arrack and opium. Between 1600 and 1605 he also led a series of revolts against Akbar, and war between father and son was averted only through the intervention of Akbar's senior begums, and by Salim's own realisation that he was militarily no match for his father.

In despair over the succession, Akbar's mind turned to one who, by widespread consent, had all the requisite qualities to succeed him: Salim's eldest son Khusrau. Khusrau was born in October 1587 to Salim and Man Bai, a Rajput princess from Amber. She was reportedly highly strung, but no trace of this showed in her son in the early years. Khusrau soon grew up to be a court favourite. Edward Terry, a clergyman at the Mughal court writes of him: “He had a pleasing presence and excellent carriage, was exceedingly beloved of the common people, their love and delight”. At 18, Khusrau was everything his father was not: personable, brave, and a talented battlefield commander.

Struggle for power


Inevitably, in the years just prior to Akbar's death his court was a political cauldron, “a snake-pit of intrigue” between the rival camps of Salim and Khusrau. So distressed was Man Bai at the vicious infighting that she committed suicide by an overdose of opium in May 1605.

By October, the succession was poised on a knife-edge. Salim was backed by Akbar's senior wives who wielded considerable power behind the scenes; Khusrau by the duo of Man Singh, the Raja of Amber, and Aziz Khan Koka (Khusrau's uncle and father-in-law respectively). These two were amongst the most influential nobles in the Mughal durbarand Khusrau's star seemed clearly in the ascendant. Khusrau himself was convinced that he was destined to be the next ruler of Hindustan, addressing his own father in terms of equality as ‘Bhai' or brother rather than as a father.

No sooner was Akbar laid to rest than events began to move at breakneck speed. At a meeting of the senior umracalled to decide the succession, Akbar's handing of the robes of kingship to Salim tipped the scales in favour of the Salim faction, which carried the day. On November 2, 1605, Salim ascended the Mughal throne as Nuruddin Mohammed Jahangir Padshah Ghazi. One of the first acts of the new Emperor was to have Prince Khusrau confined to his quarters in the fort, with only his wife to keep him company.





Succession intrigues:Emperor Jahangir receiving his two sons; an album painting in gouache on paper, c1605-06.


Chroniclers at Jehangir's court record dismissively Khusrau's descent into melancholy at this time, even attributing it to deficiencies in character inherited from his mother's side. But this was a young man who had been offered a giddy vision of power afforded to very few, encouraged by many, including his illustrious grandfather, to believe in his manifest destiny — only to have it crushed in the space of just hours.

Whatever be the reason, Khusrau's character now underwent a shift as the disappointment ate into him like a cancer. Goaded on by a wide network of informants and sympathisers, he made his move on April 15, 1606. During a visit to the tomb of his grandfather Akbar at Sikandra near Delhi, he slipped past his guards and, with a small band of soldiers faithful to him, struck out northwest towards Lahore.

The rebellion


The news of Khusrau's flight sped through the country like wildfire. Malcontents of every kind — disaffected Chugtai and Rajput clans and several frontier tribes — flocked to his banner as did some senior Akbar loyalists.

However, Khusrau did not foresee the swiftness of the Mughal response. For once, Jahangir acted with speed and decision. The newly appointed governor, Dilawar Khan, raced from Agra to Lahore in just 11 days and strengthened and sealed the defences before Khusrau's army could reach the city. Simultaneously, a punitive force of over 50,000 was assembled at Agra and launched towards the enemy. Unable to break Lahore's defences, Khusrau had no option but to turn and fight.

The armies met on the north bank of the Ravi on April 27, 1606. Fighting in heavy rain, which turned the battlefield into a mud soup, the rebels were routed and Khusrau captured and brought before his father in chains. Jahangir's retribution was ruthless. The rebel soldiers and their commanders were impaled alive on stakes by the hundreds, and Khusrau forced to ride between the screaming men to witness their agony up close.

A more fateful outcome was the summary execution of the Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, whose only fault was to bless Khusrau on his way to Lahore; an act dictated purely by the canons of hospitality, and which in no way could be construed as supportive of the rebellion. The result was a scarring of the Sikh psyche that would reverberate for centuries.

Khusrau's life was spared, but he was condemned to a fate almost as terrible. Either immediately after the rebellion or a year later, holding him complicit in a further plot against him, Jahangir ordered Khusrau blinded.

In a measure of the popular feeling that Khusrau could still arouse, several voices at court, including those of Jahangir loyalists, pleaded for him to be spared. But the Emperor was adamant and in one contemporary account, the act was done by wire inserted into his eyes, causing a pain “beyond all expression”. He was then thrown into a dungeon. Through it all, the victim bore himself stoically, uttering not a word of remonstrance.

Thus was a much-loved prince of Hindustan cauterised from the circles of power and condemned to live out the remainder of his life in darkness and obscurity. But the saga of Khusrau was not ended. Its highest moments were yet to come, and would stand testament to the extraordinary transcendence of the human spirit.

Soon after the blinding of Khusrau, Jahangir — possibly in a fit of remorse — ordered his physicians to see if they could restore his son's vision. With their efforts, Khusrau was spared the horror of total blindness; a thin haze of light penetrated his eyes so that he lived in a shadow world where people moved as ghost images across a screen. Jehangir then even began to allow Khusrau into court, but to little effect. As the monarch observed, “He showed no elevation of spirit and was always downcast and sad, so then I forbade him to see me any further…”

Still, Khusrau was far from being reduced to a non-entity. Significantly, whenever the Mughal Emperor travelled out of Agra, the royal convoy would more often than not have Khusrau in its wake, shuffling along in leg chains. Once when Jahangir embarked on a long hunting trip, he had Khusrau walled up in a tower. This was a prince whom the ruling elite still feared for his hold on the popular imagination. Admiration for the prince had even grown since his blinding, his stoicism then and after widely commented on by observers at the time.

Khusrau had another priceless asset: his wife, the daughter of Aziz Khan Koka. In the years that followed, through all their trials and tribulations, husband and wife remained passionately devoted to each other. Though Jahangir had made it clear that she was free to do as she pleased, she refused to leave Khusrau, instead tending to him lovingly, and remaining by his side even when he was walled up in the tower.

The Khusrau affair


And so the years passed. Then, in 1616, there occurred a series of events that came to be known as ‘ the Khusrau affair'. Jahangir had been now on the throne for 11 years. Apart from Khusrau, he had sired three sons, two of whom, Pervez and Shahriyar, were effete. The last, Khurram, was a brilliant general with exceptional military and administrative gifts. In 1615, he had covered himself with glory by subjugating Mewar, which had been a thorn in Mughal flesh for decades, and his claim to succeed an ageing Jahangir seemed complete.

However, by this time the Emperor was only a figurehead. Real authority had long since passed, with his consent, to the woman who ruled in all but his name — the Empress Nur-Jahan. And in the rise of Prince Khurram she saw a threat to her dominance.

Nur-Jahan was a consummate player in the game of power. In a bid to neutralise Khurram, she approached Khusrau for the hand of Ladli Begum, her daughter by her first husband. The adventurer Pietro Della Valle has left a fascinating account of what followed. First Nur-Jahan informed Khusrau of that which he knew already: that Khurram had demanded the custody of Khusrau from Jahangir. Khurram claimed that he feared another plot against Jahangir by his half-brother. This fooled no one, for by now it was patently clear that Khusrau was incapable of mounting anything like a conspiracy. Khurram was simply taking steps to remove all rivals in his path.

But Khusrau still commanded many loyalties. The same begumswho had supported Jahangir against Khusrau earlier now worked hard for his safety, and, as a compromise measure, Khusrau's custody had been given to Nur-Jahan's brother, Asaf Khan. Now if only Khusrau would consent to marry her daughter, Nur-Jahan promised him not only his freedom but also that she would throw her weight behind him in the succession.

It was a master stroke by a master strategist, except that Khusrau refused. His reason for doing so stunned Nur-Jahan and her clique: love. His wife was his beacon, the one person who had stood by his side through all the years and he would have nothing whatever to do with another woman. Remember this was an age when large harems and polygamy were the undisputed norm. And the Prince's options were very likely laid out starkly before him: the throne, or at the very least freedom and luxury versus certain death. Then perhaps we can get a glimmer of the incredulity that Khusrau's answer must have evoked. His wife, according to Della Valle, begged him on bended knee to accede to Nur-Jahan's plan and save himself, but Khusrau “could never be prevailed with”.

Throughout 1616–17, Nur-Jahan and Asaf Khan worked on Khusrau, but he remained steadfast in his refusal to contemplate another woman. Finally they gave up and turned instead to the pliable Shahriyar. Khusrau's usefulness to the Empress was at an end, and now she made no further effort to stall his transfer to Khurram's custody. Khusrau had effectively signed his own death warrant. In 1617, he was given over to Khurram (known now by the honorific Shah Jahan) who had him quickly moved to Burhanpur in the Deccan. Khusrau was now a man on borrowed time.

The end came in January 1622. The most widely accepted account is that a slave of Shah Jahan's named Raza Bahadur sought to enter Khusrau's chambers in the middle of the night. When Khusrau refused him entry, Raza Bahadur broke open the door and rushed in with some accomplices and fell upon Khusrau. Khusrau shouted out to wake his servants and, despite his partial blindness, defended himself bravely but to no avail. He was strangled and then re-arranged on his bed to make it appear as if his death was natural.

The aftermath


Early next day, his wife was the first to discover him. Her shrieks soon wakened the palace. On January 29, Jahangir received word from Shah Jahan that Khusrau had died of qalanj, colic pains. But, as word of Khusrau's death swept across the empire, there was a public outpouring of grief as had not been seen for a long time. The popular verdict was overwhelming: murder. As far west as Gujarat, people were heard to cry for vengeance against those who had shed the blood of an innocent. Jahangir himself seems to have not been unduly distressed at the news; his ire was reserved for Shah Jahan for seeking to conceal the truth of Khusrau's death from him. On the Emperor's orders, Khusrau's body was exhumed from his makeshift grave, sent to Allahabad and consigned in a mausoleum next to his mother's in a garden, now called Khusrau Bagh.

A movement soon came into being that proclaimed Khusrau a martyred saint and shrines sprang up wherever his body had rested on its way to Allahabad. So popular were these shrines that a contemporary Dutch observer wrote that “both Hindus and Moslems went there in vast numbers in procession each Thursday … to his worship”. Until, that is, Jahangir ordered them destroyed and the worshippers driven away.

Despite this attempt at canonisation, it seems fair to say that, as with life, death has not been kind to this unfortunate prince. In one of history's great ironies, the man who most likely killed him — Shah Jahan — is universally celebrated for leaving us with that sublime monument to man's love for a woman: the Taj Mahal. Devoted though he was to his wife Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan had liaisons with many women after her death. Rather, it is in the unfolding of his brother's life, in Khusrau's searing affirmation of the centrality of one love, that we see its most enduring monument.




The author is a research and innovation entrepreneur. Email: raman.aroon@gmail.com

hey all this is the article i came across in newspaper "the hindu" dated 06/03/10 on the front page.
Escape route near royal harem found at Bidar Fort



T.V. Sivanandan



Recent excavations reveal 150-meter-long tunnel









The deceptive looking escape tunnel found during the excavation near the royal harem in Bidar Fort in Bidar City.

BIDAR: The excavations in some portions of the sprawling 15th Century Bidar Fort constructed by Sultan Ahmed Shah of the Bahamani Dynasty has further strengthened the belief of historians that the fort had many tunnels and escape routes for the royals.

The excavations on the north side of Bidar fort adjacent to the royal harem has revealed the existence of a 150-meter-long tunnel cutting through solid laterite soil. It is assumed that could have been used by the women of the harem as an escape route in the event of an attack on the fort by enemies.

According to senior conservationist of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Anandtheerth, who is supervising the excavation work in three identified locations, and the Bidar Deputy Commissioner Harsh Gupta, who was instrumental in persuading the ASI to take up the excavation, the recent findings would through light on the history of the Bidar Fort and the Bahamani Sultanate.

The tunnel dug in a zig-zag form has at least two deep wells without protective walls. This could have been dug to trap enemy warriors who may have followed the escaping royals to give them enough time to escape. The height of the tunnel suddenly narrows down and one would have to creep through the passage to escape to the moat at the other end of the fort. Mr. Anandtheerth said that the height of the tunnel had been deliberately narrowed to fool enemy warriors and in the dark interiors it would be hard for them to locate the end of the escape route.

Another find

Mr. Gupta said that another significant find during the excavation was the “Hazar Kotri” (meaning thousand cells), which all these years remained buried under thick mounds of mud and thorny bushes.

The excavations that started a week ago, have revealed the presence of beautifully constructed row cells built with locally available limestone blocks and laterite bricks. So far, the personnel involved in the excavation have recovered several cells, which were probably used to house warriors and their families. They have been so designed that even in the height of the summer, the interiors remain cool.

Wells

At least eight wells have been identified and water was present in almost all of them. These were dug to a depth of 200 to 300 m.

The excavators, during the removal of the debris in one portion of the inner moat adjacent to the Queen's quarters, discovered that a portion of the moat, to a distance of around 400 m, was made into a park by the royals, and a well-laid pipeline to supply water to the water fountain and garden has also been recovered.

“We propose to continue the excavation in a few more identified areas to unravel the mystery surrounding Bidar Fort,” said Mr. Gupta. “Our aim is to prove that the Bidar Fort was one of the important forts in the country and develop this as one of the important tourist destination with all facilities.”

hey all! firstly the download of this book is available in kes format. now some observations about the book.
this book has sought to define orral history in a different way. this is a story of a women Subhashini and her individual and collective community memories about the partition and much more. This book is a biography of a women Subhashini who devoted her whole life to fulfill the dreams of her father and who herself also ran a Gurukul for the girls, but it is not merely a biography about her life, sometimes her story and her experiences of the life also transcends the individual experiences and reveals the collective experiences of the Jat community and popular memories. Therefore, this book has shown a complex relation in between individual memories and collective memories. This is an oral testimony of a daughter. Her memories of different time period has enmeshed in to other events. In a way it has also shown to us the difficulties in writing history through oral stories. Although author has cited many archival sources to make a complete story still as author has herself aptly indicated that there are many versions of different events and there are many inconsistencies in the story. Through her biography we also come to know about the activities of the Arya Samaj, specifically concentrated in the Haryana region and about its popular leaders and activists. In this book we come across to veteran and itinerant popular Jat Arya Samaji of his time in Haryana Bhaghat Phool Singh who was the father of Subhashini herself. In many instances through the life story of Subhashini we are being acquainted with her father Phool Singh. As author indicates that, although, Phool Singh is well known figure in the popular memories but in historical archives and historical works he has been not accorded proper attention.
In the colonial times, present day Haryana was called south east Punjab. At that time it was an arid region and did not having any rivers, canals and any other efficient means of transportation and communication therefore, it was closed region off the world. But still we should remember the fact that it was very near to the Delhi which has been a centre of political activities for a very long time.
As some of the popular proverbs also indicate, in the pre-colonial time or even till the beginning of 20th century Jat identity was comparatively more fluid. After 1857 when Haryana came under the colonial administration as a part of Punjab, Jats lost their relations, bonds and contacts with the other Jats of the surrounded regions particularly of the rajisthan and western up. Sometimes Jats also used to marry their males in to the other caste communities as well. This tradition of marrying outside also shows Jats as fluid community. Phool Singh who did karewa with his bhabhi dhoop kor serves a good example of it. But we should also remember the fact that, it can also be because of the unequal female ratio and scarcity of the women in the region.
ownership of the property was also a very pertinent issue for which people resisted conversions and later it became a major source of animosity among Muslims and Jats, this contentious issue of property ownership may also have got more prominence because Jats were mainly landholders in the region and they use to practice Karewa to protect property from disintegrating. A famous story can be cited here as a good example in which a Muslim landlord tries to make love with a Jat widow in order to get ownership of her property. Issue of morality became another curtail issue and Arya Samaj also educated Jats for being moral and to upheld the honor of the community. Besides the issue of property ownership another issue of being moral and up keeping the honor of the community was also the bone of contention in the heightening community tension among Jats and Muslims. Views expressed by the Subhashini also characterize Muslims as immoral and lascivious her views were not only her own individual views but most probably it may have been the collective voice of the entire Jat community. Therefore, such highly charged atmosphere strengthened and solidified the community bonds. And imagined others in opposition to their community.

As it is very evident that conflicts had great role to play in shaping any community. Jats had also multidimensional conflict with other castes. These multidimensional conflicts shaped the popular collective memories of Jats as a community. We should also look in to the role of the Arya Samaj in to the context of conflicts. on the one hand Jats were at conflict with upper castes, mainly with the Brahmans because they constantly denied them of education, common facilities of public utility, some times they were also called as Shudra by the upper castes and they did not had the right to wear sacred thread. Which was regarded as prerogative of the upper castes or twice born only. Jats were not at conflict with other caste communities only, Due to the encroachment of pastoral land and due to the expansion of agricultural land at the expense of pastoral land it also grow in to a conflict between peasant culture and pastoral culture and Jats were also drawn in to it. Some of the lower castes mainly pastorals such as Gujjars and Rangars had the bad record of paying revenue at the stipulated time. On the other hand Jats had the always good record of paying land revenue at the right time and therefore, British favored the expansion of agricultural land at the expanse of the pastoral land. It was also expected to give them increased and stable revenue returns. Britishers also supported Jats claim on the land because of their importance in the army. There was also a general tendency of the colonial government to promote agricultural land over pastoral land because of the law-and-order problem etc. therefore, expansion of agricultural land helped in sedentarizing the people supposedly it helps to resolve the problem of law-and-order. As I’ve also already stated in one of my previous paper that this region was a major source of supply of animals in the country and otherwise also because of many other reasons British interests lies in the backwardness of the reason. But it is my assumption and imagination without any evidence that, by the 20th century because of the rapid growth in the transportation and communication use of the drafting has become lesser and such circumstances encouraged Britishers for the expansion of agricultural land. Because of the shrinking of the pastoral land, and uprooting of jungles all communities who became dispossessed took agricultural labor or some other occupation such as road building and canal digging etc to earn their livelihood but ultimately all these occupation made them subordinated to the colonial economy or to the Jat agriculturalists. But still some of the other communities resisted. And this resistance of these marginalizing communities came out in form of their conflicts with Jats.
Not only British colonial government but unionist party also supported their claim because it represented the interests of the landlords.
Arya Samaj helped Jats to raise their caste status and to improve their caste status, Jats also adopted the brhamanical norms such as vegetarianism, no drinking, abstinence etc. under the aegis of Arya Samaj not only they adopted Brhamanical norms they also defied some other brhamanical norms and established and made their own cultural practices valid and as more superior to upper castes. Arya Samaj played a key role in this process. To raise their caste status they also imagined the other and their newly adopted cultural practices and validation of all other Jats customs made them to imagine so called lower castes as disgusting and inferior to them. And therefore, they also came in to the conflict with the lower castes.
Jats simply did not adopted the traditions and customs and rituals of Arya Samaj but they also appropriated local customs traditions along with the ethics and traditions of Arya Samaj. E.g. Phool Singh was revered and popularly addressed by the people as Bhagat but, in actual there was no concept of Bhagat in the Arya Samaj. Actually in the pre-colonial tradition there were some Bhaghat or popular revered saints of the people in the region.
Bhagatji also suppose to possess divine and miraculous power which is completely against the notion of equality of all men in the Arya Samaj and against the worship of the single omni powerful god.
They also were averse to Bania community because Banias had the monopoly over trade and commerce with the cities and Jats regarded them as parasitic who were taking undue benefit of the toil of Jats. They were also zealous to the Bania community because of the usury, higher interest rates and indebtedness of the peasants. Although, simultaneously this facts also holds true that Banias were counted among the leading communities who followed the Arya Samaj and their fair share of people adopted Arya Samaj in huge number. But it is my tiny assumption that most of the Banias who took to the Arya Samaj were mostly from the Punjab region. May there be Banias also who followed Arya Samaj in the Haryana region as well but my view is that this question seeks more thorough examination of the relations of the Banias and Jats especially inside the Arya Samaj. Some other questions which still need to be addressed are such as why did only mostly Jats follow the Arya Samaj? Why did other lower caste not follow Arya Samaj? If they have adopted the Arya Samaj, Would the Arya Samaj have not raised their caste status and prestige? Would the Arya Samaj has been based on the principle of equality
?
This book also seems to address few other questions as how and why Arya Samaj did could become so popular in the region? Gurukuls which prevailed in the region played very vital in making Arya Samaj popular in the region. In these gurukuls children’s were molded according to the Arya Samaji life-style, values and traditions. In these gurukuls children were not given education but they were also made trained in using and handling different kinds of arms.
Jat Arya Samaji reformers also did great efforts to spread Arya Samaj ideals in to the region. Force this cause; Phool Singhji gave more stress on preparing brhamacharis in the gurukuls for the service of the country. He also himself wished his daughter to serve the country. Education imparted in the gurukul established by the Bhaghat Singh was different in nature from the education imparted in gurukul kangadi and education which was imparted in the DAV schools. He was also averse to the western education, government jobs, western medicine and use of western goods. He emphasized more on producing reformers and preachers who could the tenets of Arya Samaj.
Zeal of the Arya Samaji reformers and their vows and norms of the Arya Samaj such as sublimation of sexuality, because according to them it distracts the attention. These Arya Samajis were also use to indulge in to the sex only for the procreation. They also believed in to the simplicity and frugality, helping and symphethatic towards others etc these principles of theirs spreaded the Arya Samaj influence in the region.
Martyrdom tradition is very old, and in every religion this tradition of martyrdom has been very effectively and efficiently used by the followers of that religion or community to strengthen the bond of the community and to mobilize people. In the Arya Samaj also martyrdom of Pundit Lekhram Swami Shraddhanand and Bhaghat Phool Singh has been used to strengthen the community. This martyrdom tradition generates a feeling of revenge therefore, only memories of the Jats of partition were different from other communities and for them partition was a revenge of the martyrdom of the Phool Singhji in 1942 and for them this violence in 1947 had nothing to do with partition. This sacrifice or murder of the Phool Singhji by suspected Rangars gave them a reason to perish Muslims and to purify rest of the Muslims who left in India after partition in to the Arya Samaj fold.
according to the author at the time of partition, the all Jats acted and participated in the violence as a community and this brought them closer to their old enemies such as bananas, urban people and Muslims etc. this also molded them as a community. But still as author has shown that in the partition violence their main target of attacks were Muslims only, who were regarded as accountable for the murder of the Phool Singhji. For the Jats of whom most of them were in the army and were having arms was very easy to counter and abolish disarmed people.
Unconsciously and unknowingly, Bhaghatji and some other Jat leaders such as chute ram etc also played role in instigating communal tension. E.g. celebration of Arya Samaj in Laheru against the wish of Nawab, Hyderabad Satyagraha in 1938, and in the kissa Kana Puti gaon etc. at some occasions Phool Singhji also used his political association to control and interfere in to the local affairs and for spreading Arya Samaj principles and ideals. Although in a haryana village Phool Singhji kept a fast unto death for the construction of well for the dalits but still unconsciously goraksha campaign brought them in conflict with the dalits who had no other occupation then trading in animal’s skin.
Goraksha, shuddhi programme, and many processions of the Arya Samaj such as procession in Lahauri against the wish of the nasal of Lahauri may have brought Arya Samaj and its Jat followers in to the conflict with the Muslims and lower castes.
If we talk about the moment of rupture, then in the pre-colonial times cow was the symbol of pastoral cultural life but now under the leadership of the Arya Samaj it became a symbol of unity among the Jats against the others mainly lower castes and Muslims. Obvious question can be raised that if Jats were the mainly cultivators and they had the conflict with the pastorals then how the cow can become a symbol of reverence and unity for the Jat community. But here we should remind ourselves that Jats were not only were cultivators but for them animal husbandry was an equally important source of their livelihood. If we glance more widely then at the bigger level for the entire Hindu upper caste society cow became a symbol against the Dalits and Muslims.
It seems that, Arya Samaj efforts of conversions may also have made the condition more complex and tensed. Ask happen in case of Asghari who was christened Shanti Devi and which led to the murder of swami Shraddhanandji. It was also very difficult to fit so called reconverted and purified Hindu in to the caste structure and people were also not willing to marry their daughters with converted Hindus, therefore, finding suitable girls for the reconverted was also a grim problem. Therefore, it only created complexities and that’s why these reconverted people were discriminated from both sides.

If we are to look as a whole in to this book then firstly it is a story narrated simply from one side and therefore, other sides of the story are not properly represented. The other point is that, the story narrated by the Subhashini is full of inconsistencies. There are different and contradictory versions of various events. the views expressed about the book are my own. feel free to comment.

Came across an interesting article on Newsweek today. Its about a temple complex being excavated in Turkey. It is supposed to be 11,500 years old, predating the pyramids by 7000 years! So old that it predates agriculture and pottery! Interesting read!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/233844

Basic reference on Indian nationalist and revolutionary, documents, with introd.

Guys Welcome back! Today once again I am sharing with you one of my class assignment on identity of refugees and their quest for citizenship. particularly I’ve focused upon borders of west Bengal and east pakisthan what is now called as bangla desh. It is a thought provoking assignment. Here in this assignment I have challenged the categorization of refugees itself. Or more exactly who is a refugee? I have try to present all sorts of different flavors in form of substances from different readings in this assignment. Hope you all will enjoy it very much either from history background or from some other side. Any of the references which I have provided in the end of my assignment you can ask for! Enjoy!

Some useful hints to study.
Study is not just all about reading the text. Everybody should innovate his own way of doing study.
It is very common and often found, Most of the people do study very much but they do not get adequate and satisfactory fruitful results. Many People also often complain of forgetting things after going through the text. Generally problem lies in the fact that most of these people do not do much writing work.
After reading, make some notes in your own language, or just write summery of any chapter, paragraph or unit in keywords. This will help you in retaining what u’ve learned. It’ll also enhance your writing skills, vocabulary and…….
Movement of your fingers also helps you to read faster and with greater speed, while you focus your eyes on text. It also increases your concentration level. Power which emanates as a result of movement of your body parts force your eyes to go faster through the text. Same thing is also applicable while you all people study on your pcs. I.e. movement of your body parts or movement of your fingers on keyboards is important to increase your concentration
Everybody should also need to have critical vision while examining any text. Do not accept the things easily; raise w questions, it’s very important to ask questions. Meaningful discussion is essential to digest knowledge. Feel free to oppose others tell them why you are disagreeing and freely ask questions against them.
Read any text, comprehend, apply in actual circumstances or in real life, evaluate things and establish your own ideas, assumption, and remarks about the text. Do not simpally memorize facts make something of your own out of the same facts. It is also quite possible that through different interpretations, you can find different results from the same facts. Simply do not accept the text as it is. No text is completely truthful or error free.
Sometimes skim reading can also be very useful.
Simply do not believe it! Give your opinions and some other suggestions about it. Come on! Try it out! Let others benefited of your opinion! Feel free to post relevant things and comments!

Hey All! It’s the right place to judge your history knowledge. And you also test others knowledge of history. It’s a great joy! Have a fun! Come on yaar! short note on champaran Champaran has been the site of many historical events, and many historical places are also located in champaran. Presently champaran is divided in to two districts vis-a-vis east champaran and wet champaran. Motihari is the head quarter of east champaran district. After coming back from South Africa and when he well judged the political scenario of the country, and condition of the masses for more then two years, Here Gandhiji waged his first struggle against exploitative British planters. Although, after blue mutiny of Bengal in 1859 forceful indigo production has been abolished in Bengal but still it continued in champaran. In the end of 19thcentury synthetic German dye gave a heavy blow to the indigo cultivation. Still planters were not ready to let the peasant free so easily from these exploitative contracts. Now they were taking illegal dues from peasants to make them free of these contracts. Due to increased competition in the international market and decreasing profits of the planters this system of forceful indigo cultivation was becoming more exploitative and they were extracting more and more from the peasants. According to rules peasants who had signed the contracts with the peasants they had to grow indigo on 3/20th part of their holdings. This system was also known as tinkathia system. Now peasants were not willing to grow indigo any more. Although, resistance against this system was also took place prior in 1908 but finally when gandhiji came back to India a local champaran leader rajkumar shukla requested gandhiji to come to champaran to experience the plight of the peasants. Incessant appeal from the side of rajkumar compelled Gandhiji to visit champaran. Government was already scared of gandhiji’s visit because of his unprecedented success in South Africa. Gandhi sought government permission to enter in to champaran but government strictly prohibited him to do so. Initially gandhiji cleared his objective to the government that he just wants to observe the peasants condition in champaran. Finally government retreated from its earlier position because, government did not want to make it a national issue. Gandhiji took initiative and made his own committee with some other people such as brijlal kishor, rajendra Prasad etc to interrogate the condition of indigo cultivating peasants. Followed by the gandhiji’s enquiry government also made a enquiry committee and gandhiji was also made a member of this committee, and this government committee also found forceful indigo cultivation as exploitative system. This report also proved that planters has exacted illegal dues from the peasants but according to a compromise between gandhiji and planters planters became ready to pay back the 25% of the illegal exactions. Finally this exploitative system was abolished It is worth remembering that this was the Gandhis first movement in India. All the first three campaigns champaran Satyagraha, khera Satyagraha and Ahmedabad Satyagraha waged by gandhiji were all related to the local issues and in all three of the movements ground was prepared by the masses and gandhiji just intervened. From this way of the local politics Gandhiji then emerged in to the national politics. please add more comments of yours about champaran.

besides the english as usual as UGC does the in the question papers questions are in both languages in english and then it is followed by hindi version.

hi all! m sonu yadav doing m.phil in modern indian history from jawahar lal nehru university. basically i want to share and also want you to share all your experiences and reading stuffs, class notes, and all other intresting facts, dates and historical works based on any hypothetical assumptions, and works of the conceptual understanding of any topic of history with everybody, at least who wants to acquire experties or basic knowledge particularly about the indian history. the main reason to limit myself only on to the indian history is because my historical knowledge of the rest of the world is a little bit limited. but, surely i welcome you to all to share your history text, class notes and other readings about the rest of the world or any particular country. all the members of this channel can place their request for the any of the book or text of their need. u r also encouraged to share your innovative and own developed ways and other intresting formulas of retaining certain facts of the history in to your mind. all your valuable suggestions, advice, comments, compliments are welcome to make this channel much better and more interesting and interactive. make learning accessible and easy! make history more lively! so friends hurry up! immediately just join the channel of your very own.