Bharat Ki Kahani

  Ghurs who inhabited the remote highlands of Central Afghanistan had always been at loggerheads with the Ghaznavids. Due to the relatively inaccessible nature of their mountainous homeland, they had managed to retain independence from the empire based in Ghazni for a long time; many of them had remained non-Muslim as well. In the year 1010, Sultan Mahmud, who would later raid and desecrate the holy Somnath temple, marched on to Ghur and forced its ruler to accept his suzerainty. Some decades later, his descendant Behram Shah had the Ghur king brought over to Ghazni and publicly executed. The next Ghur king, who was the former king's brother, tried to avenge his death. However, he was captured through treachery, paraded on the streets of Ghazni on the back of an old cow and put to death. The succeeding Ghur king, Alauddin Hussain avenged these murders by occupying Ghazni for seven days and putting its inhabitants to the sword. Women, children, elderly, none were spared. By the time

The Story of Pratap Rudra: The Last Sovereign of the Kakatiya Dynasty in the Telegu-Speaking Region (1289-1323) As the sun ascended on a clear morning in the year 1318, Pratap Rudra, the reigning monarch of the Telegu-Kakatiya dynasty found himself at the endgame of the medieval game of thrones. His citadel at Warangal was surrounded by a massive and modernized war machine that had rolled down from the plains of North India to enforce submission on his proud kingdom. Realizing any further resistance to be futile, Pratap Rudra agreed to discuss terms with his invaders. A settlement was soon reached, according to which the Kakatiya kingdom would cede to the Sultan of Delhi a single fortress of Badrkot, a vast amount of gold and jewels, 12,000 horses and a hundred war elephants ‘as huge as the demons’.   Negotiations settled, the Kakatiya king ascended the eighteen steps leading to the parapets of his massive fort. There, in full view of the serried ranks of his intrepid Telugu wa

“The thoroughness of the sabotage had to be seen to be believed, wrote Sir T Stewart, governor of Bihar on August 20, 1942. Chaos prevailed all through the province.” What baffled the authorities above all was the faceless and leaderless character of the uprising. Alarmingly still, there seemed to be a method to the madness. Means of transportation and communication were systematically targeted. In Bihar, the disturbances were so widespread that for several days authorities at Patna were left clueless about what was going on in different regions of the province. People swarmed from rural areas to attack roads, telegraph and rail lines. Unarmed crowds had taken to overpowering the accompanying troops and high-jacking trains. Strikes were being observed all over the province, led by owners and foremen and joined by class C employees and sweepers. All symbols of imperial authority came under attack. Prisons were attacked and the police didn’t seem to respond with the usual alacrity. Durin

  Shivaji's plunder of Surat (6-10 th  January 1664) Surat was arguably one of the richest cities in the world during the seventeenth century. It was the principal port of the most prosperous empire in the world. Gujarati merchants traded across all major trade routes of the world, and their wealth was legendary. Surat fortress was impregnable for a cavalry force. But the city adjacent to it was entirely undefended. There was not even so much as a wall by way of a defensive structure. The Mughal empire was at the peak of its power at the time, and it was not imagined that some group of brigands could dare to mount a raid on its principal port. Early in the morning of Tuesday, 5 th  January 1664, Surat city administration received the alarming news that Shivaji was encamped with a cavalry force 28 miles to the south of Surat and seemed poised to advance over the city. Panic spread throughout the city. The poor were seen moving across the Tapti River with their valuables, women and c

I n the year 1607, Mirza Nathan, a young man barely out of his teens accompanied his father Ihtimam Khan to the eastern frontier of the empire, where he was to serve as  Mir Bahr  (commander of the imperial war fleet). Ihtimam’s armed riverboats were deployed to consolidate the imperial hold over recently conquered areas in Bengal, where restive Afghan zamindars still dreamt of restoring the Afghan Sultanate displaced by the Mughals during the previous century. Shortly after their arrival, Mirza Nathan fell seriously ill. His condition deteriorated rapidly till the seventh night when he had a life-changing vision. In his dream, ‘ the ruler of the spiritual and temporal domain ’, Emperor Jahangir appeared, and thus addressed himself to him, ‘O Nathan! Is this the time for a tiger to lie down? Arise, I have granted you security from pain and trouble through my prayers to the Almighty and Omnipresent Lord. Be quick, rise, and embrace manliness. Be a sincere comrade to your great father. B