DOSE (BENGAL REFORMERS AND LITERATURE)

1. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a founder (with Dwarkanath Tagore and other Bengali Brahmins) of the Brahma Sabha in 1828 which engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-religious reform movement. His influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public administration and education as well as religion. He is best known for his efforts to abolish the practice of sati, the Hindu funeral practice in which the widow was compelled to sacrifice herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. It was he who first introduced the word "Hinduism" into the English language in 1816. For his diverse contributions to society, Raja Ram Mohan Roy is regarded as one of the most important figures in the Bengal Renaissance. His efforts to protect Hinduism and Indian rights by participating in British government earned him the title “The Father of the Bengal Renaissance” or “The Father of the Indian Nation.”
2. Dwarkanath Tagore (1794-1846), was one of the earliest entrepreneurs from India, and founder of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family, and is notable for making substantial contributions to the Bengal Renaissance.
3. Debendranath Tagore (Debendronath Ţhakur) was the founder in 1848 of the Brahmo Religion which today is synonymous with Brahmoism the youngest religion of India and Bangladesh.
4. Satyendranath Tagore was the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Service. He was an author, song composer, linguist and made significant contribution towards the emancipation of women in Indian society during the British Raj.
5. Rabindranath Tagore  sobriquet Gurudev was a Bengali polymath. As a poet, novelist, musician, and playwright, he reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature
6. Tagore penned the anthems of Bangladesh and India: Amar Shonar Bangla and Jana Gana Mana.
7. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (Datta), born Madhusudan Dutt, is a famous 19th century Bengali poet and dramatist.  He was a pioneer of Bengali drama. His famous work Meghnadh Badh Kabya (Bengali: মেঘনাদবধ কাব্য), is a tragic epic. It consists of nine cantos and is quite exceptional in Bengali literature both in terms of style and content. He also wrote poems about the sorrows and afflictions of love as spoken by women.
8. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was a Bengali poet, novelist, essayist and journalist, most famous as the author of Vande Mataram or Bande Mataram, that inspired the freedom fighters of India, and was later declared the National Song of India.Kapalkundala (1866) is Chatterjee's first major publication.
9. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar , was a Bengali polymath and a key figure of the Bengal RenaissanceVidyasagar reconstructed the Bengali alphabet and reformed Bengali typography into an alphabet (actually abugida) of twelve vowels and forty consonants.
   Vidyasagar contributed significantly to Bengali and Sanskrit literature.
10. Vidyasagar was one of the first persons in India to realize that modern science was the key to India's future. He translated into Bengali the English biographies of some outstanding scientists like Copernicus, Newton, and Herschel. He sought to inculcate a spirit of scientific inquiry into young Bengalis. A staunch anti-Berkeleyan, he emphasized the importance of studying European Empiricist philosophy (of Francis Bacon) and the inductive logic of John Stuart Mill.
    

Indian History Dose

1. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, CIE , was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society. Through the Society as well as the Congress and other legislative bodies he served in, Gokhale promoted not only or even primarily independence from the British Empire but also social reform. To achieve his goals, Gokhale followed two overarching principles: avoidance of violence and reform within existing government institutions.Gokhale was famously a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi in his formative years. In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi's invitation. As a young barrister, Gandhi returned from his struggles against the Empire in South Africa and received personal guidance from Gokhale, including a knowledge and understanding of India and the issues confronting common Indians. By 1920, Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide.
2. The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:             Knight Grand Commander (GCIE)
   Knight Commander (KCIE)
   Companion (CIE)
3. Nawab Sayyid Hassan Ali Mirza Khan Bahadur, GCIE,was the first Nawab of Murshidabad and the eldest son of Nawab Sayyid Mansur Ali Khan, the last Nawab of Bengal.
4. Nawab Sayyid Mansur Ali Khan was Nawab of Bengal until his abdication in 1880, whereupon he renounced his titles and position as Nawab of Bengal. Bengal had been already occupied by the British for the last 150 years, so he was nothing more than a puppet of the British.
5. Major-General Sahibzada Sayyid Iskander Ali Mirza, CIE, OBE  was the last Governor-General of the Dominion of Pakistan (6 October 1955 to 23 March 1956), and the first President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
6. The Indian General Service Medal (1936 IGSM) was a campaign medal approved on 3 August 1938, for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies.
7. Prabhu Narayan Singh was ruler of the Indian Princely State of Benares State (Royal House of Benares) from 1889 to 1931.'
8. At the time of Indian independence, only five rulers — the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Maharaja of Mysore, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir state, the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda and the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior — were entitled to a 21-gun salute. Five more rulers — the Nawab of Bhopal, the Maharaja Holkar of Indore, the Maharana of Udaipur, the Maharaja of Kolhapur and the Maharaja of Travancore — were entitled to 19-gun salutes. The most senior princely ruler was the (Muslim) Nizam of Hyderabad, who was entitled to the unique style Exalted Highness. Other princely rulers entitled to salutes of 11 guns (soon 9 guns too) or more were entitled to the style Highness. No special style was used by rulers entitled to lesser gun salutes.
9. The Holkar were a prominent Dhangar family, who ruled as Rajas and later Maharajas of Indaur (better known as Indore) in Central India as an independent member of the Maratha Confederacy until 1818, and afterwards as a princely state -under protectorate- of British India with a 19-guns salute (21 guns locally; a rare high rank) until India's independence, when the state acceded to the Indian government.
10. The Maratha Empire (Marathi: मराठा साम्राज्य )or the Maratha Confederacy was a Hindu state located in present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire's territories covered much of South Asia.It expanded greatly after the death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, only to lose in Third battle of Panipat in 1761. Later, the empire was divided into Maratha states which eventually lost to the British in the Anglo-Maratha wars.
    
    

CRIPPS MISSION

Viceroy Linlithgow was convinced that there was no necessity to make any concessions during the war. But with the international situation getting increasingly ominous. President Roosevelt of the US and President Chiang Kai-Shek of China as also Britain’s Labour Party leaders pressurized Churchill to seek Indians ‘cooperation. Moreover, the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 and invaded Burma, reaching closer to India. The British Cabinet was forced to make a declaration of its war aims so as to obtain India’s full support. When Lintithgow saw the draft declaration, he tendered his resignation, which the Cabinet did not want to accept then. Churchill was in a fix. He was saved from making a difficult choice when Sir Stafford Cripps offered to go India as representatives of the War Cabinet. Cripps was credited with having won over the Soviet Union as an ally during his term in Soviet Union as the British Ambassador. His success in India would have presented him as serious rival to Churchill. Churchill could hardly have wished Cripps to solve the Indian problems. However, Winston Churchill announced on March 11, 1942 that British Cabinet was sending a mission to India under Sir Stafford Cripps. Cripps announced that the aim of the British policy was the earliest possible realisation of self-government in India. But the Draft Declaration he brought with him repeated the promise of granting Dominion Status and a Constitution-making body after the war whose members would be elected by provincial assemblies and nominated by the rulers in case of the princely states . On the demand for Pakistan, a provision stated that any province unwilling to accept the new Constitution would be able to have a separate agreement with Britain regarding its future status. But for the present, the British would have sole control over India’s defence.
Negotiations between Cripps and Congress leaders were unsuccessful. Cripps had been told not to go beyond the Draft Declaration. The congress objected to the provision granting Domination Status rather complete independence; the representation of the princely status in the constituent assembly not by the states’ people but by rulers’ nominees; and provision for India’s partition.Britain refused the Indian demand for immediate transfer of power to them and for a real share in the responsibility for the defenCe of India. The Cripps offer (called a ‘post-dated cheque’ by Gandhi) was rejected.

INDIVIDUAL SATYAGRAHA

Gandhi initiated a limited satyagraha on an individual basis in every locality.The carefully -chosen satyagrahis would preach against participation in the war , after informing the district magistrate of the time and place of the anti war speech. Vinoba Bhave was first satyagrahi on 17 October 1940 and Jawarharlal Nehru , the second . if the government did not arrest them, they planned to start moving towards Delhi (the Delhi Chalo movement ). The individual satyagraha not onl;y expressed the indian people's strong political feeling but gave the British the opportunity to accept Indians demands peacefully. By 15 May 1941, more than 25000 satyagrahis had been convicted

Virupaksha Temple

Virupaksha Temple is located in Hampi 350 km from Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka in southern India.

Hampi sits on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the ruins of the ancient city of Vijayanagar, capital of the Vijayanagara empire. Virupaksha Temple is the main center of pilgrimage at Hampi and has been considered the most sacred over the centuries. It is fully intact among the surrounding ruins and is still used in worship. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, known here as Virupaksha, as the consort of the local goddess Pampa who is associated with the Tungabhadra River. There is also a powerful Virupakshini amma temple (mother goddess) in a village called Nalagamapalle, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, approximately 100 km from Tirupati.

AAJ KA DOSE (ANCIENT HISTORY)--1

1. Manusmṛti or Manusmriti (Sanskrit: मनुस्मृति), also known as Mānava-Dharmaśāstra (Sanskrit: मानवधर्मशास्त्र), is the most important and earliest metrical work of the Dharmaśāstra textual tradition of Hinduism.[1] Generally known in English as the Laws of Manu, it was first translated into English in 1794 by Sir William Jones, an English Orientalist and judge of the British Supreme Court of Judicature in Calcutta.[2] The text presents itself as a discourse given by the sage called Manu to a group of seers, or rishis, who beseech him to tell them the "law of all the social classes" (1.2). Manu became the standard point of reference for all future Dharmaśāstras that followed it. According to Hindu tradition, the Manusmriti records the words of Brahma.By attributing the words to supernatural forces, the text takes on an authoritative tone as a statement on Dharma, in opposition to previous texts in the field, which were more scholarly.
2. Vijnaneshwara was a prominent jurist of twelfth century India. His treatise, the Mitakshara, dealt with inheritance, and is one of the most influential legal treatises in Hindu law.
   
   Vijnaneshwara was born in the village of Martur, near Gulbarga in Karnataka. He lived in the court of king Vikramaditya VI (1076-1126), the Chalukya monarch of Basavakalyan.
   
3. Chandragupta I (r. 320-335) was succeeded by his son, Samudragupta (r. 335-380) who conquered the Kushans and other smaller kingdoms and greatly expanded the emerging Gupta Empire. Chandragupta II (r. 380-414), the son of Samudragupta, expanded the Empire even further so that the Gupta Empire was almost as large as that of the ancient and powerful Mauryan Empire.
4. Badami, in the Bagalokot district of Karnataka in South India, was once the capital of the Chalukyas who ruled over a large part of Karnataka from the 6th to 8th centuries. Founded by Pulakesi I in 540 AD
5. - In the 6th century CE, the Hindu Chalukya rulers ruled over much of present South India. The Chalukyan king Pulakesi I established Bagalkote as his administrative headquarters; the district retained its prominent status until the Chalukyan empire was sacked by the Rashtrakutas in 753 CE. The Chinese explorer Hieun-Tsang visited Badami and described the people as "tall, proud,...brave and exceedingly chivalrous".
6. Hiuen Tsang, a Chinese pilgrim who came to India in AD 629, was the most distinguished Buddhist scholar of his times. He stayed in India for 16 long years, travelling extensively and holding discussions with Buddhist scholars all over the country. A keen intellect, an enquiring mind, profound scholarship and, above all, a deep attachment to India, were the hallmarks of his impressive personality. Hiuen Tsang's services to the spread of Buddhist knowledge in China are inestimable
7.  In the year 305 BC, Seleucus I Nicator went to India and apparently occupied territory as far as the Indus, and eventually waged war with the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta Maurya:. Always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander.
8. - Indian troops won their last great victory against a foreign army of importance in 303 BC, when Chandragupta Maurya's army defeated Seleucus Nicator: Alexander's general.
9.  Around 321 BC, the Nanda Dynasty ended and Chandragupta became the first king of the great Mauryan Dynasty and Mauryan Empire with the help of Vishnugupta. The Empire later extended over most of Southern Asia under King Asoka, who was at first known as 'Asoka .
10. In 1646 Shivaji liberated the fort of Torana from the Bijapur commander.A huge treasure came into his possesion.This enabled Shivaji to build a new fort at Raighad and raise a good army.Later Shivaji occupied Chakan and Kondana fortresses.Shivaji also occupied fort of Kalyan in Thana district.Shivaji's military succss brought fear in the Bijapur courtiers,so tocontrol Shivaji they arrested Shahji Bhonsle

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Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928, Punjabi: ਲਾਲਾ ਲਜਪਤ ਰਾਯ,Urdu: لالا لجپت راے; Hindi: लाला लाजपत राय) was an Indian author and politician who is chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian fight for freedom from the British Raj. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari (The Lion of Punjab). He was also the founder of Punjab National Bank and Lakshmi Insurance Company.

Ranjit Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Punjabi: ਮਹਾਰਾਜਾ ਰਣਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ) (November 13, 1780 in Gujranwala, Mughal Empire-June 20, 1839 in Lahore, Sikh Empire) was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire and was also known as Sher-e-Punjab (The Lion of the Punjab).

David Crockett

David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician; referred to in popular culture as Davy Crockett and often by the epithet “King of the Wild Frontier.” He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo.

Who was the richest man in the world in 1937?

Asaf Jah VII (Osman Ali Khan Bahadur), the Nizam of Hyderabad. "During his days as Nizam, he was reputed to be the richest man in the world, having a fortune estimated at $2 billion in the early 1940s. He was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, portrayed as such. It should be noted that in 1950, the newly independent Union government of India's treasury reported annual revenue of merely $1 billion." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osman_Ali_Khan,_Asaf_Jah_VII http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19370222,00.html

Nizam-ul-Mulk

Nizam (Urdu: نظام‌), a shortened version of Nizam-ul-Mulk (Urdu: نظام‌الملک), meaning Administrator of the Realm, was the title of the native sovereigns of Hyderabad State, India, since 1719, belonging to the Asaf Jah dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Mir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi, a viceroy of the Deccan under the Mughal emperors from 1713 to 1721 and who intermittently ruled under the title Asaf Jah in 1724, and After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, the Mughal Empire crumbled and the viceroy in Hyderabad, the young Asaf Jah, declared himself independent.

Indo-Saracenic Revival

The Indo-Saracenic Revival (also known as Indo-Gothic or Mughal-Gothic) was a architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British India. It drew elements from native Indian/Indo-Islamic architecture, and combined it with the Gothic revival style favoured in Victorian Britain.

Examples

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai	Victoria Terminus, now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus	The Gateway of India	Mysore Palace
Madras Museum inMadras (Chennai)	Victoria Memorial inCalcutta	Rambagh Palace, Jaipurby Samuel Swinton Jacob	Ripon Building part of theChennai Corporation inChennai
Bombay GPO	Khalsa College, Amritsar	Daly College, Indore bySamuel Swinton Jacob

Jama Masjid in Kashmir

The Jama Masjid is a revered mosque, located in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. The main pilgrim destination for Muslims in Srinagar, Jama Masjid is located at Nowhatta, in the heart of the old city. Built by the Mughals, the mosque is greatly admired for its timber construction.

This mosque is believed to have been originally a Hindu temple, built in 1398 by Sultan Sikandar, also known as Sikandar Butshikan - the destroyer of Idols. It was later enlarged by his son, Zain-ul- Abidin. Jama masjid is spacious enough to accommodate 30,000 people, and thousands of devotees congregate here for the Friday prayers.

Jama Masjid is a colossal mosque built around a central courtyard and supported by 370 wooden pillars. The serene atmosphere of the mosque is in stark contrast with the hustle bustle of the old bazaars surrounding it.

The mosque structure is a typical example of Indo-Saracenic architecture. The largest mosque in Jammu and Kashmir, Jama Masjid has had an eventful history.

History of Burma

Summary

After the First Burmese War, the Ava kingdom ceded the provinces of Manipur, Tenassarim, and Arakan to the British. Rangoon and southern Burma were incorporated into British India in 1853. All of Burma came directly or indirectly under British India in 1886 after the Third Burmese War and the fall of Mandalay. Burma was administered as a province of British India until 1937 when it became a separate, self-governing colony. The country became independent from the United Kingdom on 4 January 1948, as the "Union of Burma". It became the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" on 4 January, 1974, before reverting to the"Union of Burma" on 23 September 1988. On 18 June, 1989, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) adopted the name "Union of Myanmar" for English transliteration. This controversial name change in English, while accepted in the UN and in many countries, is not recognised by opposition groups and by nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States.