The tireless builder of the Taj — Shah Jahan’s reign is well-known for his many marvellous buildings. However, even art, especially under Shah Jahan [who was born #OTD in 1592], also acquired a renewed political role.
Corinne Lefèvre notes how Shah Jahan tried to distance himself from his father’s ‘seditious’ reign in terms of art. “In expressing his universal rule over the world, Shah Jahan used far fewer portraits of foreign monarchs in the “divan of kings” motif and instead introduced European-inspired globes and the biblical figure of Solomon as a royal model,” writes Lefèvre.
“The potential of art to bolster the notion of kingship was most systematically and consistently explored by Shah Jahan. He can be seen as a great sympathizer of Mughal art, or as one art historian described him “a master aesthetician”, writes Ebba Koch.
Shah Jahan’s court historian, Qazwini, writes that the emperor held daily morning sessions with his artists in the Daulat Khana-i Khas or the Hall of Private Audiences which included the close inspection of the work of his painters. Among the most amazing expressions of the miniature realism produced during his reign are the landscapes of royal processions or the royal hunt, which also reflect the imperial patron’s own personal experience of nature. They are highly complex creations with each episode in these miniatures depicting a historical reference.
Moving to architecture, Mehreen Chida-Razvi confronts us with the discontinuity between the reigns of father and son. Stressing that Jahangir’s mausoleum in Lahore “is clearly not a part of Shah Jahan’s oeuvre,” she implicitly distinguishes between Jahangir’s more erratic designs and Shah Jahan’s superb sense of “symmetry, perfection of design, and hierarchical placement.”
Moreover, art historians deduce that his buildings were charged with great symbolic meaning. For example, during his Jharoka appearances, the jharokha took the place of
With mentors such as #GopalKrishnaGokhale, Rabindranath Tagore and #MahatmaGandhi, Sarojini Naidu became one of the most prominent voices of the freedom movement. As accorded by V.V. John, she was “one of the most delightfully articulate spokesmen of India's freedom struggle” who spoke on innumerable issues, including women’s rights and the just treatment of tribal communities and minorities.
Naidu never missed an opportunity to express with her “eloquent power” what she expected Indian society to be. She spoke and inspired millions to break down social barriers. At national addresses and international conferences, including this speech (from the Prasar Bharati archives) in the Constituent Assembly (1946), she emphasized that tribes and minorities have their birthright of equal opportunities in this country.
In an address entitled “The Hope of Tomorrow” given at the Madras Students Convention, Naidu expresses her vision that the young men and women of her country should grow up to be true Indians and rise above narrow local, linguistic, racial, and religious identities. She was also aware of the fact that work had to be done to uplift the masses {especially tribes and minorities) so that the average quality of the people continues to rise higher.
In her address on “Time Brotherhood” at Pachaiappa’s College in 1903, she states “... Having travelled, conceived, hoped… having contacts with all communities, religions, civilisations… my vision is clear. I have no prejudice of race, creed, caste or colour… Be an Indian and not a madrasee.” She believed that everyone is equal and no one, especially minorities like women or tribal communities, deserved to lose their rights to discriminatory societal norms that inhibited them, using their gender or caste as an impediment.
Was Gandhi’s awe-inspiring Dandi march merely an action to protest draconian salt taxes and the British salt monopoly? Or was it much more?
On March 12, 1930, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and 78 other members of his ashram in Sabarmati set out to walk across Gujarat to the coastal village of Dandi, to break the salt laws by producing their own salt. This ‘Salt Satyagraha’, a legendary act of nonviolent civil disobedience, was a carefully constructed event and to understand its dynamics one has to imagine how Gandhi would have thought of the event. Suchitra, in an article titled, ‘What moves Masses: Dandi March as Communication Strategy’ writes that, for Gandhi, independence was more than mere political emancipation. The Indian populace, his primary audience, comprised a fractured society made up of disparate groups. To bring these groups together on one platform against the British government, Gandhi had to make the concept of swaraj less abstract for the masses. Therefore, he wrote a letter to Viceroy Irwin which spelt out his vision of swaraj in the form of 11 demands. The fourth of these demands, which ranged from total prohibition to protective tariff on foreign cloth, was the call for the abolition of the salt tax.
During the 25 days of the march Gandhi visited 40 villages and at each village he gave a speech, reaching an estimated 5 lakh people. In these speeches, he presented salt as the epitome of British exploitation and attempted to exhort people to break the law.
"It was the cultural appeal of salt which was Gandhi's trump card," Suchitra writes. "In both Indian and Western tradition, salt is the symbol of all that is vital to human life."
However, she also points out that using the salt tax as an axis for the freedom movement wasn’t a new idea. It had been employed earlier by leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji and Gopal Krishna Gokhale. What was new was the way in which Gandhi was able to transform it into a spectacle; a powerful tool for commun
It is an accepted fact that Pushyamitra Sunga founded the Sunga dynasty after assassinating the last Mauryan Emperor, Brihadratha Maurya, in 187 BC. What remains debatable, among historians, is whether this was an act of “Brahmanical reaction” against the Mauryas or Buddhists, or was it, as HC Raychaudhuri posits, a mere “coincidence” that Sunga was a Brahmin?
DN Jha writes, “Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam.”
The evidence for Sunga being a persecutor of Buddhists comes directly from Buddhist texts such as ‘Divyavadana’, ‘Manjusrimulakalpa’ and the history of Buddhism as written by Taranatha.
According to EJ Rapson, “Pushyamitra”, in Buddhist literature, “figures as a great persecutor of Buddhists bent on acquiring fame as the annihilator of Buddhist doctrine.” ‘Manjusrimulakalpa’ mentions "Gomimukhya", 'the chief of the Gomis”, who is identified with Pushyamitra Sunga by historians like KP Jayaswal. Gomimukhya is noted for his anti-Buddhist activities.
However, HK Prasad outrightly denies this evidence. According to him, “Pushyamitra Sunga cannot be identified with Pushyamitra of the Divyavadana and Taranatha and with Gomimukhya of Manjusri-Mulkalpa.”
Exploring these debates, RK Mishra lays bare the truth that ‘Divyavadana’ is not a reliable source since it is written at a later point in time and the question that constantly remains unanswered is whether there is “any sound reason for identifying Pushyamitra of the Divyavadana with Pushyamitra Sunga, the commander-in-chief (mentioned in the Puranas)?” According to him, ‘Divyavadana’ never mentions Pushyamitra as ‘Senani’ or ‘Senapati’— the epithets Pushyamitra Sunga used and is referred to by in other sources such as the Ayodhya inscription, ‘Malavikagnimitram’, the Puranas, and ‘Harshacharita’.
What are your thoughts on w
‘Women’s History Wednesday’
With the Cabinet recently clearing the proposal to increase #women’s legal #ageofmarriage from 18 to 21, we take you back to the landmark case of 1891 that laid the foundation for the #ageofconsent debate— the #PhulmoniDasi rape case.
#ChildMarriage had been a prickly issue in British India. While the 1860 Criminal Code set the age of consent for both married and unmarried girls at ten years, the number of deaths of child wives, due to forced intercourse, were on the rise.
In the famous Rukhmabai and Dadaji Bhikaji case, 1884, the latter filed a suit for the restitution of conjugal rights over his wife. #Rukhmabai questioned the legality of the marriage systems. Colonial law was defended Bal Gangadhar #Tilak, who saw this law to be in line with the Dharmasastras. Nevertheless, with the intervention of Queen Victoria, Rukhmabai won the case and the marriage was declared illegal.
However, the case that acted as a catalyst for the passing of the Age of Consent Act in 1891—raising the age bar from ten to twelve years—was the one that began with the death of 11 year old Phulmoni Dasi, due to violent sexual intercourse by her 35 year old husband, Hari Mohan Maity. Rape laws in India at that time, tended to place a great deal of emphasis on “documented proof of the victim’s character & prior sexual experience, the marks of violation… ”. I Pande analyses the medico-legal aspects of this case in detail in her essay ‘Phulmoni's body: the autopsy, the inquest and the humanitarian narrative on child rape in India.’
The Act was criticised by conservative sections of society. The opposition to it was so powerful that it was difficult (almost impossible) to enforce. P Chatterjee writes that a woman’s body was politicised to such an extent that it demarcated the “frontier” of “inner sphere” of the nation & therefore the orthodoxy had to control this frontier, as opposed to the “outer/material sphere”.
The ort
‘Travellers from the Past’
“I have indeed—praise to God—attained my desire in this world, which was to travel through the earth, and I have attained in this respect what no other person has attained to my knowledge.” —Ibn Battuta
You could call him a traveler, a pilgrim, an explorer, or a migrant in search of a job, for #IbnBattuta, our first in a new social media series titled #TravellersfromthePast, manifested all these identities in the thirty years of his life, spent traveling around the world mostly. A devout Muslim, Ibn Battuta’s original aim, T C Bro tells us, was to “fulfill his moral duty and perform the Hajj”. He set out in 1325, at the age of 21, from Tangier, Morocco.
Having visited Mecca, he continued traveling towards the east, going through Iraq, Iran, Arabia, Somalia, Anatolia and Central Asia, before finally turning towards Delhi in 1333, during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. His book, titled ‘Rihla’, is one of the most authentic sources for Tughlaq’s reign, as he presents fascinating details about the history, politics, society, and Muslim religious life of the sultanate (he was appointed as a ‘qadi’, or judge, by the Sultan). A lack of chronological framework, however, historians say, is something that disrupts the narrative.
Moving about in the subcontinent at that time, RE Dunn writes, was not secure: “Seven years of famine, repeated rebellion, and the disastrous government had left the rural areas of what remained of the empire more and more difficult to control.” Battuta undertook the mission of traveling towards China at this time. Taking his leave from Delhi, he went towards Koel (modern-day Aligarh region), where, he narrates, his caravan was attacked by ‘infidels’, who then kidnapped him.
“I was afraid that they would all shoot me at once if I fled from them, and I was wearing no armor,” he writes.
The bandits were determined to kill him, and appointed 3 assassins for the deed. Luckily f
“In matters of social reform…I have always sought to encourage the emancipation and education of women…Everywhere I have always encouraged girls' schools, even in regions where otherwise they were completely unknown.” —#AgaKhan III
Born #onthisday in 1877, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III, was the 1st president of the All-India Muslim League. He became the 48th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims at the age of eight, upon the passing away of his father Aga Ali Shah Aga Khan II. He eventually went on to become an influential politico-religious leader of #Muslims, well-known today for calling upon the British to consider Muslims as a separate nation within India.
Aga Khan’s contribution as a #socialreformer working towards redefining the identity of Muslim #women through education, however, is rarely mentioned. Shenila S. Khoja-Moolji, through her study of Aga Khan’s reforms, tells us that he opposed the social, #religious, #political and #cultural structures and institutions that “excluded women from the public sphere, deprived them of opportunities to make a living, or limited their rights.”
His vision of women’s #reform was ahead of that of many other social reformers of the time, who may have encouraged the education of women, but held the view that this education should be such that it keeps them confined to their households. In his own memoir, Aga Khan writes, “I am trying to guide our young women’s lives into entirely new channels. I want to see them able to earn their living in trades and professions, so that they are not economically dependent on marriage, nor a burden on their fathers and brother.”
On his #birthanniversary, we bring you one of his videos from the archives of British Pathé, where he expresses his feelings about proposals on Indian reform (1934). He seems “pleased with the fact that versatile lifestyles of peoples of India were accounted for and accommodated in the proposal.”
To read the Report of the Joi
Firaq Gorakhpuri | An interview
‘Firaq’ Gorakhpuri was the pen name adopted by Raghupati Sahay, a modern Urdu poet, born #onthisday in 1896 in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. K Tejaswani tells us that Sahay’s separation from the beauty of life may have been a reason for choosing a pen name that roughly translates to “quest.”
Firaq has been seen as a symbol of synthesis and communal harmony. When the states were being reorganized after Indian independence on the linguistic basis, Urdu did not get a state of its own. Firaq is known to have been instrumental in fighting against the then government's effort to brand Urdu as a Muslim-specific language.
Although a champion of Urdu language, Firaq also expressed his views on the lifelessness of Urdu. CJS Jossan mentions that his work in Urdu used an amalgamation of Hindi and Sanskrit words, which often invited attacks. He balanced his limitations of Urdu poetry by using regional work, and at the same time, by using the knowledge of the Western world that he had gained as a Professor of English at Allahabad University.
“bahut pahle se un qadmoñ kī aahaT jaan lete haiñ
tujhe ai zindagī ham duur se pahchān lete haiñ”
For the longest time, however, there has been a reluctance on discussing Firaq's sexuality, though Firaq himself had been open about it. The late journalist Vinod Mehta wrote about his homosexuality in his autobiography, ‘Lucknow Boy.’
Saleem Kidwai tells us about an essay, written by Firaq in 1936, in response to an attack on the ghazal written by someone using the pseudonym "Naqqad" (the Critic). “The Critic” apparently, had criticized ghazal for representing men as boy lovers, which was disgusting and "unnatural." Firaq, in his response, addressed this "fear of homosexuality." Kidwai’s reading of Firaq tells us that the latter argued that the poets could not be dictated by the "Instruments of instruction for the British Government" or "army Regulations." Ghazal writers did not have to apologize for homosexual emo
1946 - Dr. Sarojini Naidu's Constituent Assembly Speech
For the sixth episode of our series on ‘speeches around Indian independence’ we bring to you (from the Prasar Bharati archives) Dr. Sarojini Naidu’s Speech in the Constituent Assembly, in 1946, where she speaks highly of Dr. Rajendra Prasad's wisdom, and regards him as ‘the guardian of the house’. She also emphasizes that tribals and minorities have their birthright of equal opportunities in this country.
When Rabindranath Tagore renounced the knighthood he was awarded by King George V, after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Sarojini Naidu had also stepped forward in the spirit of Nationalism to return the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal awarded to her by the British. With mentors such as Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, she became one of the most prominent voices of the freedom movement.
As a writer and orator, she was known for her poetic, yet fierce commentary. Not only was she the first Indian woman President of the Indian National Congress, in its 1925 Kanpur session, she also presided over the East African and Indian Congress’s 1929 session in South Africa and the Asian Relations Conference, in March, 1947. Along with Annie Besant, she was a founder of the Women's Indian Association in 1917. In the Constituent Assembly debates, her contributions lay mostly in the areas of women’s education and the abolition of child marriage. She was also an active supporter of the Hindu Code Bill.
While inviting Naidu to take the floor, the Chairman of the Assembly, Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha said, “I shall now request Bulbul-i-Hind, the Nightingale of India, to address the House not in prose but in poetry.” But when she began speaking, she remarked, “Mr. Chairman, the manner of you calling me is not constitutional. It is poetic. It reminds me of some lines of a Kashmiri poet who said, ‘Bulbul ko gul mubarak, gul ko chaman mubarak, rangeen tabiaton ko range sukhan mubarak.’ ”
Mahatma Gandhi in AIR Studios on 12 November 1947
#RadcliffeLine was declared as the boundary between India and Pakistan #onthisday in 1947, following the Partition of India - a political boundary that left thousands of refugees on either side of it; their identity erased with a single line drawn on a map. In the fifth episode of our series on ‘speeches around Indian independence’ we bring to you Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi’s broadcast from AIR Studios to one such group of refugees at Kurukshetra Camp.
Gandhi had met Lord Mountbatten on June 4th, 1947: the day the plan for partition was announced by Mountbatten. “We would not accept Pakistan under the threat of violence,” he asserted. And yet, in a prayer meeting speech later on the same day, he sympathised with Lord Mountbatten, and said “the Viceroy has had no hand in this decision… he never wanted partition.” Having maintained throughout the Freedom Movement, since the 1920s, that his mission was to bridge the gap between Hindus and Muslims, partition meant a betrayal of his lifelong work. “You should not feel sorry at heart that India is to be divided into two,” he added in the same speech. “The demand has been granted because you asked for it.”
Gandhi, known for his methods of resistance, believed in the idea of 'self-suffering' as a means of attaining peace, studied extensively by scholar David Hardiman in his book, ‘Gandhi in his time and ours.’ In this address to refugees, delivered on 12th November, 1947, Gandhi refers to a similar idea of suffering. “To suffer with the afflicted,” he says, “and try to relieve their suffering has been my life’s work.” Even after 3 months of partition, Gandhi was hopeful about the return of all those who had left their homes with honour and safety. “The dead cannot be brought back to life, but we can work for those who are alive. If we do not do so it will be an eternal blot on both India and Pakistan and therein will lie ruin for both of us.”
Since this was the
Dr. Rajendra Prasad's Message to the Nation | Eve of 1st Independence Day
In the fourth episode of our series on ‘speeches around Indian independence’ we bring to you Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s Message to the Nation (from the Prasar Bharati Archives) on the eve of India’s first independence day, in 1947.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, in this message, addresses the social and economic difficulties that lay ahead for the independent India while aiming for her “self-improvement and self-realisation.” He highlights the role of workers, peasants, merchants, and educationists, and asks for their “peaceful, constructive efforts” in taking the nation forward.
While acknowledging the fact of food scarcity in many regions of India, he supplements this problem with that of increased prices: the deficit being 12 ½ %. The reason for this, he says, is the interdependence of prices of all commodities as well as shortage of goods, while there is an abundance of purchasing power. Thus, he proposes an increased production in all directions.
Welcoming the Princely States, he assures the princes and rulers of the states that the Central Government has “no designs against them.” Following the example of the King of England, he envisions the smooth functioning of constitutional rule. The Constitution, according to him, when completed, may become the nation’s “private pride and privilege.”
To the minorities, he envisages a “fair and just treatment, and their rights will be respected and protected.” Dr. Prasad also sends his best to the Indians settled abroad.
“The future”, he wishes, “will be as great as, if not greater than, what it has ever been before.”
The inaugural session of the first constituent assembly of Pakistan
In the second episode of our series on ‘speeches around Indian independence’ we bring to you the inaugural session of the first constituent assembly of #Pakistan, held in Karachi on 14th August 1947, in which Quaid-e-Azam #MohammedAliJinnah envisioned a state that will treat all nationals equally and work for the welfare of all communities.
The partition of India has traditionally been attributed to an ‘inevitable’ culmination of the long-drawn historical divisions between Hindus and Muslims, since pre-colonial times. Scholars from the Conservative school of historiography believe that the Partition was the most eloquent and compelling instance of the Islamic sense of separate identity.
The Revisionists, however, challenge this and give varying answers to the question regarding the crucial turning point that led to the formation of Pakistan. While historians like Stanley Wolpert and BR Nanda blame Jinnah for partition, scholars like Mushirul Hasan and Ayesha Jalal argue that the transformation of Jinnah’s political strategy had more to do with “tangible material considerations” and “power sharing” rather than any “ideological” urge to create a separate Islamic State. According to Jalal, the Lahore Resolution of 1940 served as a “bargaining counter” for the Muslim League. She also notes that there was no mention of “Pakistan” in the Resolution in actuality. Jinnah’s rejection and acceptance, respectively, of the Cripps Mission, 1942, and the Cabinet Mission, 1946, Jalal further argues, were ostensibly in opposition to his perceived desire for Pakistan.
Asim Roy questions the focus of the revisionists on the "high politics" of the decade before the Partition and not of its impact on the growth of "popular communalism." According to him, the idea of a separate Islamic State appealed to popular Muslim sentiments and thus contributed to the growth of communal sentiments as well.
The emergence of Pakistan on 14/15 August, 1947, therefor
Lord Mountbatten’s Oath as Governor General of India
In the first episode of our series on ‘speeches around Indian independence’ we bring to you (from the Prasar Bharati Archives) the oath taken by Lord Mountbatten, on 15th August, 1947 as the first Governor-General of free India.
When the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Attlee, invited Lord Mountbatten to succeed Lord Wavell as the Viceroy of India in 1947, and put the task of transferring power to the Indian people in motion, Mountbatten was apprehensive of the invitation. He was later convinced by the then King-Emperor George VI, on account of him being a member of the royal family. Sent against his wishes, #LordMountbatten thus arrived in Delhi on 22 March 1947. He had convinced the PM to give him full authority to act completely independently, and not have to send every proposal to the India Office in London for a decision. Never before had a Viceroy been granted such autonomy.
The situation in India persuaded him to act quickly. Among the events that had a huge impact on him were the demonstrations in Peshawar, where a crowd of 70,000 to 100,000 Pathan tribesmen was about to march on Government House, waving the green-and-white flag (illegal at the time) of Pakistan and shouting “Pakistan Zindabad.” His presence at the demonstrations brought the proceedings to a halt with minimal violence, but resulted, at the same time, in convincing him that there was no hope of handing over a united India.
The date chosen by the British Government for Indian independence was in June, 1948, which as history has witnessed, was preponed to 15th August, 1947. On 4th June, 1947, however, Lord Mountbatten announced the ‘solution for India’ in a Press Conference, and cut down a 15-month period to merely 10 weeks.
“History will be the judge,” said Mountbatten, in response to the accusations later put against him for being ‘in too much of a hurry’ to approve the plan for Partition, which divided the people of Hindustan.
Rajendra Prasad, Preside
"She's about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There's nothing like her, I think, in the world,” said famed British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler about our chosen icon.
The ‘Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro’ was found in 1926, not long after the city itself had been ‘discovered’ by RD Banerji. It has been dated to c. 2300 - 1750 BCE.
Unlike most other statues from the Indus Valley, which are made of terracotta, the Dancing Girl is a copper-bronze sculpture, created through the lost wax casting technique.
Along with the ‘Priest King,’ it is one of the most distinctive statuettes from the Indus Valley civilisation and has enabled important discoveries about the civilisation: it’s incredible metal working technologies and the place of entertainment in its culture.
That said, even though she's referred to as the 'dancing girl' whether she is really a dancer or not is a matter of debate - as is often the case with historical artefacts. But as archaeologist Gregory Possehl said, "We may not be certain that she was a dancer, but she was good at what she did and she knew it.”
We, at IHC, are in love with the confidence and defiance she exudes. It is just what need as we navigate our way through the choppy waters of Indian history, attempt to sift scholarship from propaganda, and bring complexity into severely polarised narratives.
#indianhistorycollective #indianhistory #history #mohenjodaro #harrapa #bronze #archeology #indianpolitics #womenicons #statue #indianart #sculpture #ancienthistory
