chakravarthy

After the Battle of Chamkaur in 1704, the Khalsa founder penned 111 verses in Persian that praised God, criticised the Mughal emperor and detailed the battle. "All modes of redressing the wrong having failed, raising of sword is pious and just", writes Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru of Sikhism, in Zafarnama . It is an argument for justice written in the form of a letter to Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor, after the Battle of Chamkaur in the 18th century. The tenth Guru is predominantly known for founding the Khalsa and instituting the idea of the five articles of the Sikh faith - kesh (hair), kacchera (a specific type of undergarment), kangha (comb), kada (iron bracelet) and kirpan (small sword). But he was also a scholar and poet, well-versed in multiple languages - Sanskrit, Persian, Punjabi, Arabic, Awachi and Braj Bhasha.  Although Guru Hargobind Singh, the sixth Guru, was the one who began militarising the Sikh community, Guru Gobind Singh introduced the idea o...

From Cambridge to Khilafat, Saifuddin Kitchlew was instrumental in bridging Hindu-Muslim unity during the freedom movement. Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, a frontine freedom fighter, an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity and a barrister, is remembered today as the face of the protests against the Rowlatt Act that the British passed exactly 100 years ago in 1919. He was also an educationist who played a major role in the founding of Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University. Kitchlew was the guiding force behind the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, an organisation founded by Sardar Bhagat Singh in 1926. Introduction to nationalist movement : Kitchlew was born in 1888 in a Kashmiri family of businessmen and governmentservants. A student of sharp intelect, Kitchlew completed his bachelor's from Cambridge University and obtained his Ph.D from Germany. He then returned to Amritsar and started practicing law. His revolutionary aspirations dated back to his Cambridge days, when he actively participated ...

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891) was as one of the pillars of Bengal Renaissance who managed to continue the social reforms movement that was started by Raja Rammohan Roy in the early 1800s. Vidyasagar was a well-known writer, intellectual and above all a staunch supporter of humanity. He had an imposing personality and was revered even by the British authorities of his time. He brought about a revolution in the Bengali education system and refined the way Bengali language was written and taught. His book, 'Borno Porichoy' (Introduction to the letter), is still as the introductory text to learn Bengali alphabets. The title 'Vidyasagar' (Ocean of Knowledge) was given to him due to his vast knowledge in several subjects. Poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta while writing about Ishwar Chandra said: "The genius and wisdom of an ancient sage, the energy of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother".  Early Life and Education : Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyaya w...

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was the second Jana Sangh leader to die under mysterious circumstances - the first being the founder, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who also died mysteriously on 23rd June, 1953. Mookerjee too was 52 at the time of his demise. Syama Prasad Mookerjee walked out of Nehru's cabinet due to ideological differences and started the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) in 1950. When he approached the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for support, the leadership decided to second some of its best pracharaks, including Deen Dayala Upadhyaya, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Sundar Singh Bhandari and Nanji Deshmukh. Upadhyaya, who would have turned 103 on 25th September, 2019, became the General Secretary of the BJS in the party's very first session in December 1951 and worked in that capacity for 16 years. The emergence of BJS was a historic development. The BJS was not just another political outfit but a party with a distinct philosophy and programme. The Congress was th...

[ Based on an article written by Samar Halarnkar] . The marginalisation of Indian Muslims and the indifference of Hindus can be stemmed by those who defy the tide. My friend was one of those Indians who proudly waved the flag, sang the anthem and believed there were - despite its obvious infirmities - few better places on earth to raise his daughter. The first shock to a lifetime of patriotism was delivered this year by a child who taunted his six-year-old. You are a Muslim and a terrorist, said the child, who was unlikely to have understood what a terrorist was. But children only parrot their parents, so it was obvious where these accusations came from. Many Muslims, especially in North India, will tell you taunts like these are not new. At some point, they have had to endure the tired but hurtful trope of Muslim, Pakistani, terrorist. But these encounters were largely regarded as exceptions and tolerated because their country and its large majority of Hindus embraced the idea of ...

The ancient hominins shared many traits with Neanderthals: Low foreheads and wide rib cages, an elongated face and a wide pelvis; but differed in the structure of jaw and skull .  Scientists have for the first time restructured Denisovans skeletal features, using DNA methylation (chemical changes), to understand how the long-lost human relative looked like, the Nature reported. A team of computational biologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found DEnisovans shared Neanderthal's facial features, but had a wider jaw and skull. Until now, only bone fragments and teeth were discovered from Siberia's Denisova cave, which was likely occupied by the ancient humans from more than 2,00,000 years ago to around 50,000 years ago. Earlier this year (2019), researchers discovered a jaw bone from the Tibetan Plateau and a human like finger. However, these fossils were not large or complete enough for scientists to reconstruct their facial features.  In the study, a team co-led...

Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has tried to disassociate itself from Godse and Hindu Mahasabha. Senior functionaries of RSS contest claims of those who accuse ideological mentor of the BJP for being antithetical to Gandhian philosophy. In August 2017, 69 years after it was first banned in independent India for its alleged role in the assassination of Gandhiji, the RSS through its think tank Prajna Pravah organised a two-day meeting at Gandhi Darshan, neighbouring Raj Ghat, in the national capital. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was among those present. Critics of the Sangh fumed at what they saw as insolvence to the memory of Gandhiji, but the Sangh - accused of mentoring Nathuram Godse, who shot Gandhiji in cold blood in the evening of 30th January, 1948 - stuck to its argument. Its relationship with Gandhiji is wrongly perceived. Since its first ban was revoked in 1949 (the organisation was banned thrice since Independence, the first in the immediate aftermath of the Mahatma's assa...