India's Inspirational Personalities

kautilya
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 46
Joined: 11 Apr 2001 11:31
Location: USA

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by kautilya »

Originally posted by Ponniyin Selvan:

Be it as it may, let me restate my greatest Indian inspirational personality: Mahatma Gandhi. As Einstein said, future generations will wonder that such a man as he walked the face of this earth. Of course, Gandhi was only mortal and he had his foibles. Everything that he said does not necessarily apply in the modern world. For instance, I do not wear khadar, although I do own a few khadar kurtas which are great in the northern california summer :-)

If only more people chose the Gandhian approach to agitation, we'd have a saner world. Actually, a Gandhian Palestine movement would be well nigh unstoppable as would a Gandhian Kashmir movement. However, Gandhian movements require courage - they take lots and lots of time, and come with their sacrifices, but they are eventually successful.

Actually I believe that the overall sacrifices, both in terms of human life and local economy are much less with a Gandhian agitation than with a violent uprising.

The proponents of a violent uprising make one crucial mistake. They assume that since their cause is just, if they have infinite patience, with enough time on their side, they will win out. What they miss, is that their opponents generally think their cause is just as well, and with infinite patience they will win out !!

This is what makes Gandhi's movement such an amazing political masterstroke and leaves me amazed everytime I think about it.
Totally with you on that. One thing that must be remebered about Gandhiji is that he was not perfect, but the main thing is that he was true to himself. This may seem like a small thing, but in fact it is the hardest quality to achieve.

He thought of himself as an imperfect person, and that is the reason I believe that he titled his biography as "My experiments with truth" and not something like "The truth that I found" or something else. He even frequently contradicted himself and admitted that he did so because he was still searching for the truth or the correct path. If you look at his life in that light, you can criticise his follies and still see that he was a great man, probably the greatest of the last century.

All of us who claim to have been influenced by Gita(me included), should look at his life as a big example of how Gita is applied in your daily living. While we discuss Gita and what it means, he was almost a living embodiment of it's principles. He may not have been the smartest ecomomist, judge of character or we may critise him on any of his other shortcoming during the time of partition, but I think not one of us can stand up and claim that he was not true to himself. There was no difference in what he thought, what he felt, what he said and what he did. This is what has been expounded as the ideals for a sage by our scriptures and he came closest to it in the recent past.

I will say again if living by the principles of Gita is your aim, study the life of Mahatma Gandhi. For he was the living example of what selflessness and fearlessness mean.
Aditi Parikh
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 06 Mar 2002 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Aditi Parikh »

Originally posted by Sunder:
kautilya has always been my Hero.. perhaps since I read the "Chanakya comic" by Amar Chitra Katha when I was 7 years old.......

Last but not the least.. the Editor of Amar Chitra Katha - Sri ANANT PAI - for bringing to life all the personalities who I would otherwise may not have known.
Sunderji,

A very fitting tribute to the service that Amar Chitra Katha has rendered to the nation and its children for so many decades. It is books like these, along with parental and school teaching, that help develop childhood heroes and more often than not, these heroes are the ones that we continue to revere later in life. When I had first learned to just understand simple sentences, I was given the children’s Ramayana to read. As I read the second chapter in the book, I was so enthralled by the story of Shravan Kumar that I forced my parents to pretend that they were blind so I could show Shravan Kumar’s devotion to them :)

Another inspiring set of tales is those from the Panchtantra. It is really fables describing inspiring values rather than personalities but inspiring just the same.

Panchtantra – A Storehouse of Wisdom
Aditi Parikh
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 06 Mar 2002 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Aditi Parikh »

Reposting the post on India's first woman IPS officer - Dr. Kiran Bedi. I had initially posted this on the old thread which got lost.

Kiran Bedi is the second of four daughters born to visionary parents who encouraged her stepping into the Indian Police Service, a profession which till then comprised exclusively of men. Prior to joining the IPS in 1972, Kiran Bedi held a law degree and was an Asian tennis champion. She also holds a doctorate in “Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence” and has been the author of several books and articles.

She is also the founder of Navjyoti and India Vision Foundation which work in a variety of fields ranging from primary education, vocational education, adult literacy in slums and treatment of drug addiction.

Her brief profile and career highlights are presented on the following webpage:

Dr. Kiran Bedi - A Profile
Career Highlights
* In 1977, she put an end to the Akali-Nirankari Sikh riots at India Gate.
* 1979, as DCP (West Delhi), she broke up a 200-year-old illicit liquor trade.
* In 1981 as DCP (Traffic) she controlled traffic during the 1982 Asian Games efficiently. She didn't hesitate to tow away cars and once even challaned the Prime Minister's car for wrong parking near a car repair shop. (For this she was nicknamed “Crane-Bedi”).
* In 1985, as DCP (Headquarters) she ordered 1600 pending promotions to be made in a single day. Standing instructions were issued that if any file was not cleared within three days the person concerned would be called personally to explain the delay.

* In 1993, as the Inspector General of Asia's biggest jail - the Tihar jail (9100 inmates including 300 women) she turned the unlivable jail into an abode of education. Said Kiran while joining her posting at the jail, "I want to transform this jail into an Ashram within six months". She introduced many classes and programs for the inmates including those on basic education, meditation, yoga besides functions like 'mushairas', 'kavi sammelans', dramas and games, which involved the jail inmates. For her effort to humanise the Tihar jail she was honored with the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award.
The story of her transformation of Tihar Jail for which she received the Magsaysay award is truly heartwarming and is described in greater detail here:

Reforming Tihar

She is amongst those rare officials who desired to change the system and incessantly worked towards that goal. As a police official she has served her profession with integrity, courage and determination; and as a woman police officer she is a role model for other Indian women.
Aditi Parikh
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 06 Mar 2002 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Aditi Parikh »

10 Most Admired Women

From the Cover Story of the Week:
1. Kiran Bedi
2. Lata Mangeshkar
3. Sonia Gandhi
4. Sushma Swaraj
5. P.T. Usha
6. Asha Bhonsle
7. M.S. Subbulakshmi
8. Aishwarya Rai
9. Maneka Gandhi
10. Sister Nirmala
Well, everybody has their own preferences but I don't know what Sonia Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and Sushma Swaraj are doing in the above list. I fail to understand what Aishwarya Rai is doing in the list as well but I am not going to complain since the male population of BR is going to ask me to shut up :)

The next 10 most admired women set has an even more controversial composition -

Mamta Bannerjee
Arundhati Roy
Jayalalitha
Shabana Azmi
Capt. Laxmi Sehgal
Priyanka Gandhi
Medha Patkar
Shakuntala Devi
Karnam Maheshwari
Mahasweta Devi
Women Chosen as Fit to be Prime minister or President
1. Sushwa Swaraj
2. Sonia Gandhi
3. Kiran Bedi
4. Priyanka Gandhi
5. Maneka Gandhi
Indians fascination with the Dynasty continues...there are as many as three women Gandhis considered fit to rule India. Muddur, perhaps your thread needs to be amended - introduce legislation for not just prohibiting naturalized citizens from becoming PM but prohibiting all Dynasty members from becoming PMs :)
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4513
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Tanaji »

Aye KGoan! Take a gander at this:

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=001957

Remind you of anything?

------------------------
Allakh Niranjan!
geeth
BRFite
Posts: 1196
Joined: 22 Aug 1999 11:31
Location: India

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by geeth »

>>>10 Most Admired Women

take the series of Coast Guard vessels named after such women..Ahalya Bhai, Habba Khatun series of vessels. I can't recollect all the names. But I know for sure each one is a story by itself. Yes, they were all eminent personalities, that too women (not abalas)
Krishna
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 26
Joined: 18 Jan 2001 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Krishna »

rajeevnair
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 3
Joined: 27 May 2002 11:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by rajeevnair »

E. M. S

Headed the first democratically elected communist government in the world. Inspirational leader of the masses especially among the poor and downtrodden. First Chief minister to enact the land reforms act where landlords were stripped of their excess lands and given to the agricultural labourers. Started the "Education free" program for all school students in Kerala in the sixties which eventually made it a 100% literate state. A true leader and role model for all. E. M. Sankaran Namboothiripad
Aditi Parikh
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 06 Mar 2002 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Aditi Parikh »

Nice stamp collections depicting the famous women warriors, leaders, saints and rulers.

http://www.geocities.com/dakshina_kan_pa/art31/women1.htm

Some trivia for BRF...
INDIAN WOMEN IN AVIATION

Mrs. Urmila K. Parekh was the first Indian woman to obtain pilot's licence is 1930. Her photograph was published in the magazine "Indian Aviation" in July 1931 as the first Hindu woman to receive the air pilot's licence. The following are some of the major achievement stories of women in aviation after Independence.

Prem Mathur (born on 25-08-1924) obtained commercial pilots license in 1947 and started flying in 1948 at Allahabad joining Deccan Airways. She co-piloted a scheduled flight on 24-10-1951.

Capt. Durba Banerjee started her aviation career flying Dakota as an Air Survey Pilot in 1959,joined Indian Air Lines in 1966 and retired from there on 30-11-1988 and she has to her credit the most flying hours with 18500 hrs.

Cpt. Saudamini Deshmukh with co-pilot Nivedita Bhasin and two air hostesses flow I.C. 258 (Being 737-200) from Silchar to Kolkata on 15-01-1986, and I.C. 169 jet flight (Boeing 737-200) on Mumbai - Goa sector with 126 passengers on board on 16-09-1989

Dr. Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian born Astronaut in 1997.dian
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

http://bengalonline.sitemarvel.com/login.asp?netaji.html

Netaji Subhas Bose


Give me blood, I will give you freedom...

The revolutionary leader of India's War of Independence Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 100th birthday was celebrated throughout India and by Indians all over the world on Thursday the 23rd of January 1997. Millions of proud Indians paid tribute to their hero who founded the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) to drive the British rulers out of India.

Netaji Subhas was born in a refined Bengali family of Cuttack (in the Indian State of Orrisha). He went to a missionary English school. He did not like the upmarket uniform, the un-Indian formal mannerism and the underlying foreignness of the environment and later transferred to a Bengali school. Here he came in close contact with headmaster of the school who harboured the dream of free India. He was the catalyst in sowing the seeds of independent India and revolutionary ideals in the impressionist mind of the youngster.

As a brilliant student Bose was admitted to the Presidency College in Calcutta . He was rusticated for his leadership role in the violent defiance of the egotistical Englishman, Professor Otten, who treated Indian students with contempt, abuse and disdain. Barred from being admitted to any college or university Netaji later met up with the legendary Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, then Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University, who gladly allowed him to enrol in the Scottish Church College. On completion of his degree in philosophy, his father persuaded him to go to England to sit for the Indian Civil Service (ICS) exams on the grounds that he needed to understand the British rulers and their methods more closely from within. He passed the exams in flying colours and was offered an ICS role from which he resigned and on his returned to Calcutta established and became the Principal of the National College.

His revolutionary ideals and the dream of independence continued to burn him inside. He came in close contact of another Bengali leader C.R. Das. Inspired by the call of Mahatma Gandhi's Khadi Movement, he started selling Khaddar (dhoti made of homespun cotton) in the streets of Calcutta - an act that caused much displeasure with the rulers and he was put behind bars. Netaji was by now fully convinced that civil disobedience alone was not going to be enough to bring freedom to India. Armed revolution was the answer! He joined and later was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the National Volunteer Corps.

At the outbreak of the Second World War he visited Germany and met up with Hitler and other Italian and Japanese leaders. He sought their assistance in the fight for India's freedom. Netaji declared open war against the British rulers of India. The Indian National Army (INA) fought shoulder to shoulder against the allied forces in Burma and eastern front of India. Fifty years after India's independence Indians are still asking questions about Netaji (beloved leader) Subhas's sudden and mysterious disappearance following a meeting with Japanese Field Marshal Terauchi in Saigon. According to the official news, Netaji was killed in a plane crash near the Taihoku airport. A popular conspiracy theory, however, disputes that version and suspects that he was assassinated by the British rulers. Another view is that he was slain by the Japanese forces due to his rejection of their conditions of assistance in exchange of economic and political favours to Japan by independent India.

Greatly influenced and inspired by the lives and teachings of India's great philosophers like Ramkrishna, Vivekananda, Naveen Chandra Sen and Sakharam Deuskar, Netaji loved his motherland and its people. His life of formidable courage, determination and dedication to the call of duty remains as a beacon for all oppressed people of the world.

For a fuller account of Netaji's role as the true leader of Free India see our page the Indian National Army.

http://bengalonline.sitemarvel.com/login.asp?netaji.html

The investigations into his death

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010819/spectrum/main1.htm

http://www.the-week.com/22jul21/events9.htm
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

A forgotten hero of India - Shah Nawaz Khan, General officer Commanding of the Indian National Army

http://members.tripod.com/anantmithal/Itihaas/1997/it970903WarhadSavingGraces.html

"After 1857 and until 1947, Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims formed two-thirds of the British Indian Army because they were considered “loyal.” They were the favourites and specific regiments were designated for their employment, training and careers. An example will illustrate this point.

Shahnawaz Khan, General Officer Commanding in the Indian National Army came from a Punjabi Musalman family which had served in the same “Punjab” regiment since 1857. He used to recall that this regiment was officered by English subalterns from one or two families. He was himself grateful to be the first king’s commissioned officer. His loyalty to the British arose due to generations of service to the Raj and personal bonds with British officers for many years.

The betrayal of Indians by the British at Singapore where they took care of their own kind and left Indian officers and men to fend for themselves, destroyed the bond.
Shahnawaz joined the INA and became a trusted lieutenant of Netaji. He was tried for treason against the king-emperor in the Red Fort where the last emperor of India, Bahadur Shah II Zafar had also faced the victorious British after the 1857 revolution failed.

Along with Shahnawaz, a Sikh officer called Dhillon and a Hindu officer Shahgal were facing the same judges. The British effort to create a class loyal to the Raj had failed.

There was thus no alternative other than garrisoning India with white troops in sufficient numbers or quitting. Ten British divisions garrisoned in India were impossible and the only thing to do was to to quit. Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis cannot ignore the role of World War II in making freedom possible and should honour those who suffered for their Indian origin like the gypsies of Europe. "
Krishna
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 26
Joined: 18 Jan 2001 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Krishna »

Here are some of modern India's greatest scientists scientists and inspiring personalities

Kaushal: The following article mentions that Bhatnagar had among the collection of books that he inherited a persian version of the Mahabarata that was donated.
S S Bhatnagar: Life and Times

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar – A Visionary Extraordinary

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya - Engineer, Statesman and Planner

G. N. Ramachandran - BioPhysicist
GNR — A Tribute

All these articles are from different issues of "Resonance" one of the many journals published by the Indian Academy of Sciences .

Krishna
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

The persian version must be the one that Dara Shukoh had authorized to be translated.

Kaushal
Aditi Parikh
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 06 Mar 2002 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Aditi Parikh »

up
Kuttan
BRFite
Posts: 439
Joined: 12 Jul 1999 11:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kuttan »

These two articles may be worth discussing on a feel-good basis, and for the other aspects discussed there:

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/aug/23franc.htm

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/oct/10franc.htm

Hope the Ragging-Traumatized, the Tax-Enthused and the POTA-deprived will all participate.
Aditi Parikh
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 06 Mar 2002 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Aditi Parikh »

http://www.dailypioneer.com/secon3.asp?cat=\opd1&d=oped
Unsung Hero

Balbir K Punj pays tribute to the memory of the gallant Indian soldier, Zorawar Singh

Just how divorced our "secular" education system is from our tradition and history became obvious to me when, during my recent trip to Kailash-Mansarovar, I expressed a desire to pay homage to the memory of Zorawar Singh. I found most of my 10 odd companions had no idea about the gallant hero who had integrated Ladakh, also known as "Little Tibet", with India through his military expedition in 1841. However, once they got to know about Zorawar Singh, their latent patriotic fervour came to the fore.

Our tour leader from Nepal Vikram Pande proved helpful, for he knew the sacred spot built in the memory of Zorawar Singh. Once there, all of us marched to the structure one by one, offering our salutes. Slogans "Zorawar Amar Rahe" and "Zorawar Singh Zindabad" rent the air, creating a fair amount of racket in the wind-swept mountainous spot. Our Tibetan and Chinese drivers were taken aback by this unexpected display of lungpower. They all quickly moved away, ostensibly to distance themselves from this supposedly "political activity" by the Indian tourists.

The "samadhi" of Zorawar Singh, "Sing-ba Ka Chorten" to the locals, is located between Taklakot and Zaidi outside a sleepy village, Toye. It is marked by mountainous topography of Gurla Mandhata range. Oblong Rakshak Tal spans its western side whereas vast Mansarovar spreads on to its East. Mount Kailash is a distance glimmer on further north.

The monument is merely a pyramid of small stones collated together in multiple layers without the use of cement or clay - with the top layer white-washed. Prayer flags are perched atop it and around. It is surrounded by green shrubs and girdle of loose boulders (see photograph). The monument is maintained by the local villagers all by themselves. At prohibitive heights above 16,000 feet, Sing-ba Ka Chorten sounds like a wispy mythic figure. The man whose memory rests here is actually Zorawar Singh Dogra, the general in the army of Maharaja Gulab Singh. His singular - and truly remarkable - contribution to history was bringing Ladakh within the political domain of India.

In 40 years of his monarchy, the phenomenal Sikh ruler, Maharajah Ranjit Singh, had galvanised the region from a hub of vying Sikh chieftains into a strong unified Hindu nation. (All contemporary records and correspondence refer to the Maharaja as a "Hindoo" king). In 1834, five years before Ranjit Singh passed away (on June 27, 1839, at Lahore), his favourite satrap Gulab Singh's general, Zorawar Singh in Kishtwar, took advantage of internal disorders in Leh, and demanded the restoration of an estate supposedly held by a Kishtwar chief in former times.

To quote from History of the Sikhs by General JD Cunningham, contemporary annalist: "He crossed into the southern districts, but did not reach the capital until early in 1835. He sided with one of the contending parties, deposed the reigning Raja and set up his rebellious minister in his stead. He fixed a tribute of 30,000 rupees, placed a garrison in the fort, retained some districts along with northern slopes of the Himalayas, and reached Jammu with his spoils towards the close of 1835. The dispossessed Raja complained to the Chinese authorities in Lhasa; but, as the tribute continued to be regularly paid by his successor, no notice was taken of the usurpation" (p.182, LP Publications, Delhi 1992).

In April 1841, Zorawar Singh demanded Garo's adhesion to Punjab since Garo was a dependency of Iskardu which in turn had become a dependency of Punjab. He desired that Lhasa should pay tribute to Lahore rather than Peking. Zorawar Singh marched to Garo while another column proceeded eastwards along Kumaon hills to severe Lhasa's contact with the British. In June 1841, the Dogras captured Garo. Their victory march continued towards Taklakot. A large Tibetan force that resisted their advance was pummeled. This was the first time the Dogras that penetrated into the heartland of Ladakh - and the flag of Punjab fluttered over Taklakot. However, before they could consolidate their victory, the short-lived campaigning season in the hostile hills came to an end.

The British were alarmed at the astonishing feat of Dogra warfare. As the residency at Ludhiana was busy persuading the Durbar at Lahore to pressurise Dogras out of Ladakh, the Chinese mobilised their armies. With the first arrival of snow they encircled the Dogra advance posts, cut off their supply lines, and locked them in a war of attrition in bleak climactic conditions.

To be stranded at those prohibitive heights was like buying time from death. Soon the Dogras ran out of provisions and many of the brave soldiers succumbed to frostbite. Devitalised and ill-equipped before a hard and hostile Tibetan winter, the Dogras were compelled to fight with a mammoth Chinese force. On December 12, 1841, gallant Zorawar Singh fell to a bullet in the war - his army was massacred with the usual Mongoloid ruthlessness. Taklakot was abandoned. The flag of Lahore Durbar, however, continued to flutter in Leh.

The Sikh-Dogra army, during its brief stay in the region (totalling just a few months), left indelible footprints on the rugged mountains. The last Chinese post, adjoining Nepalese border at Hilsa, is called Sher. The prominent town in the area is Taklakot. Occasionally, one comes across shops playing Hindi film songs and the locals refer to Zorawar Singh as the "Indian king".

The martyrdom of Zorawar Singh did not go in vain. With spring in 1842 arrived reinforcements from Jammu to Leh. Gulab Singh's forces trounced the Chinese opposition convincingly. October 17, 1842, was a red-letter day when an agent of Lahore Durbar and Gulab Singh's personal representative signed a treaty with a representative of the Chinese Emperor at Lhasa. According to this treaty, the boundaries between Lhasa and Ladakh were inviolable.

Posthumously though, Zorawar Singh proved successful in his mission. His purpose far outlived him.Often it is often the bravery of one man that makes a difference to history. Much snow has melted in those hills since the establishment of People Republic of China, the latter country's occupation of Tibet in the 1950s, and China's border war with India in 1962. However, if still the most spacious district of India, the "Little Tibet", is with India, it is owing to the selfless sacrifice of one man, Zorawar Singh. Grateful nations normally salute the memory of such heroes. Thanks to our "secular" education, we are oblivious of them.
I am ashamed to add that I myself knew nothing about this personality.
S Bajwa
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 91
Joined: 11 Jan 1999 12:31
Location: pittsburgh,pa, usa
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by S Bajwa »

In 1834, five years before Ranjit Singh passed away (on June 27, 1839, at Lahore), his favourite satrap Gulab Singh's general, Zorawar Singh in Kishtwar, took advantage of internal disorders in Leh, and demanded the restoration of an estate supposedly held by a Kishtwar chief in former times.
Zorawar Singh indeed was a gallant soldier but Gulab Singh Dogra was no where near Zorawar Singh. Why?

1. He conspired with British after Ranjit Singh's death that resulted in annexation of the Sikh Kingdom., and he got Kashmir as a prize.

2. When the second Anglo-Sikh war was being fought One of his brothers stole 22 cart loads of the Sikh treasury and took it to Jammu.

3. Ranjit Singh had defeated the Afghani rulers of Kashmir and freed Dost Mohammad Khan and got kohinoor as a gift from the wife of Dost Mohammad Khan and appointed the Dogra Brothers as governor of Kashmir.

4. These Dogra brothers (Dhian Singh, Hira Singh, Gulab Singh, Suchet Singh) were Khalsa and full fledged sikhs when Ranjit Singh ruled and no sooner was he dead that they became "Hindu" rulers and chaos resulted.

Ranjit Singh biggest oversight was appointment of Dogra Brothers into his administration.

Sandeep Singh
Sahastra
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 05 Aug 2000 11:31
Location: Berkeley heights, USA

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Sahastra »

Sandeep,

What is the source of your above assertions about the Dogra rulers?
S Bajwa
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 91
Joined: 11 Jan 1999 12:31
Location: pittsburgh,pa, usa
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by S Bajwa »

Ok.. Let me try.
1. He conspired with British after Ranjit Singh's death that resulted in annexation of the Sikh Kingdom., and he got Kashmir as a prize.
This does not need any references since it is a known fact that after British annexes Punjab they give Kashmir to Gulab Singh Dogra and Hari Singh the king who signed accession to India in 1947 was great grandson of Gulab Singh. Other provinces of Ranjit Singh's government were directly ruled by British but for Kashmir. (Multan, Amritsar, Peshawar, Gujarat and Gujranwala were all put under direct control of British).
2. When the second Anglo-Sikh war was being fought One of his brothers stole 22 cart loads of the Sikh treasury and took it to Jammu.
Source of the above is "History of the Sikhs" by Khushwant Singh who quotes Sohan lal Suri the official historian of Ranjit Singh and wrote a book called "Umdat-ut-Tawarikh.
3. Ranjit Singh had defeated the Afghani rulers of Kashmir and freed Dost Mohammad Khan and got kohinoor as a gift from the wife of Dost Mohammad Khan and appointed the Dogra Brothers as governor of Kashmir.
That is again known fact about how Ranjit Singh got Kohinoor and Kashmir., in 1820s. Macauliffe "History of the Sikh" Khushwant Singh "History of the Sikhs" and Umdat-ut-Tawarikh.
4. These Dogra brothers (Dhian Singh, Hira Singh, Gulab Singh, Suchet Singh) were Khalsa and full fledged sikhs when Ranjit Singh ruled and no sooner was he dead that they became "Hindu" rulers and chaos resulted.
All the documents, pictures show them as Sikhs before Ranjit Singh's death.
Sahastra
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 05 Aug 2000 11:31
Location: Berkeley heights, USA

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Sahastra »

Sandeep,

Any other source apart from the "History of the Sikhs" of Khuswant Singh?

Your above citations seem to be inherently biased and with inconsistencies. Or to put it more appropriately, it seems like a narrative as viewed from the prism of a "sikh" and definitely not from a historian.

Anyways, i'll work towards getting the historical accounts of the above.

Thanks for your help.
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

This is Karan Singh's account of his family. Note that the Dogras while being part of the Khalsa army were not part of the Khalsa brotherhood. In fact Ranjit Singh had Muslims also in his army.

The other point is that it was the genius and shrewdness of Ranjit Singh that kept the Sikh empire together. Once he was gone his Ranis conspired with the Khalsa for their respective sons and caused the demise of the Sikh empire. IOW Ranjit Singh did not do a good job with ensuring an able successor. In fact one of his sons ,Duleep Singh, becomes a favorite of Queen Victoria and turns Christian for a while. In the ensuing confusion the Dogra Brothers decide to cut a deal with the British themselves (which everyone else was trying to do) and so began the Dogra rule of J&K.

http://www.karansingh.com/family/gulab01.htm

"The Dogra brothers of Jammu formed one of these groups. They included Gulab Singh, Dhian Singh and Suchet Singh. Starting their careers as ordinary soldiers under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, they gradually rose to the highest positions in the State. In lieu of their outstanding services, all of them were made Rajas. While Dhian Singh came to serve primarily as an administrator and rose to become the Chief Minister or Wazir, Gulab Singh played an eminent role in extending the boundaries of the Maharaja’s kingdom and his reward was the grant of the Raj of Jammu in 1822. Gulab Singh was further authorized to enlarge his boundaries but he had to inform the Maharaja when this happened. Making good use of this authority, the former carried his arms upto Ladakh in 1834. The Dogra brothers thus became the foremost Chiefs of the Lahore Darbar.

After the death of their patron, however, jealousy impelled the Chiefs of the Punjab to dislodge the Dogra brothers from power and position. Intrigues and counter-intrigues were then set afoot, which took the lives of Chet Singh, Maharaja Sher Singh, Dhian Singh, Suchet Singh, Hira Singh, Kashmira Singh and Pishora Singh. The men in power in Lahore despatched an army against Gulab Singh in March 1845. But the only result of this invasion was that the differences between the Lahore Darbar and Raja Gulab Singh were further widened, and Jammu was almost completely hedged off from the Punjab. Almost simultaneously another contender for power in the Punjab also entered the arena. The Khalsa Army began to defy all authority and soon after all traces of an orderly government disappeared from the land.

For his safety and protection, Raja Gulab Singh turned to the British. Overtures to the British by the successors of Ranjit Singh and their Chiefs had by now become almost a routine matter but those of Gulab Singh were not responded to favourably.

Dalip Singh, a boy, became the Maharaja in 1844 and his mother’s brother Regent Sardar Jawahar Singh was made the Wazir. But the Khalsa Army put him to death in 1845. The Rani and her supporters then decided to get rid of this ungovernable army by inciting it to wage a war against the British, and the result was the first Anglo-Sikh war.

The Khalsa Army wanted Raja Gulab Singh to lead them in the war, but he refused to do so. In the first instance, he was opposed to a war with the British. Secondly, as he and many of his near and dear ones had suffered at the hands of the Darbar as well as the Khalsa Army, he was not too inclined to help them now. Thirdly, the Darbar was afraid of him because of his popularity with a number of Chiefs of the Army, and wished to keep him away from the battlefield. Hence, he was forbidden by the Rani to leave Jammu for Lahore without her prior permission.

Ultimately, Raja Gulab Singh was summoned to Lahore where the Khalsa Army had fought and lost three battles. There were two considerations with the British for determining the peace terms. First, they wanted to clip the wings of the Lahore Darbar so that it could not challenge their might again. Secondly, an arrangement had to be made by which the North-West frontier could be defended against the Afghans. Earlier, the Punjab as a useful buffer state between the Afghans and the British. But now it had turned against the British themselves, and could not be depended upon in the future.

More on the exploits of Zorawar Singh

http://www.jammukashmirinfo.com/politics/foundingkash/found4.asp
debjani
BRFite
Posts: 114
Joined: 06 Aug 2000 11:31
Location: calcutta, west bengal, india

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by debjani »

[/QUOTE]Have you noticed the news reports from gujarat of tribals participating in violence for the first time ever? lets see if you can put 2 and 2 together.[/QB][/QUOTE]

I thought that the tribals and the SCs are the most harrassed lot. Tribals supporting Hindu organisation has astounded me. What could be the reason. Unlike the Christian missionaries and the Muslims, the Hindus dont care after they have converted or reconverted. There lies my surprise.

However,in some other thread I rad that Hindus are the best and 'ripe' for conversion by both the religions.

As Alexander the great is said to proclaimed - 'Kaiya Vichitra yeh desh hai, Selucus'
debjani
BRFite
Posts: 114
Joined: 06 Aug 2000 11:31
Location: calcutta, west bengal, india

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by debjani »

[/QUOTE]Have you noticed the news reports from gujarat of tribals participating in violence for the first time ever? lets see if you can put 2 and 2 together.[/QB][/QUOTE]

I thought that the tribals and the SCs are the most harrassed lot. Tribals supporting Hindu organisation has perplexed me. What could be the reason?

Unlike the Christian missionaries and the Muslims, the Hindus don't care for 'after sales service' after they have converted . There lies my surprise.

However,in some other thread I read that Hindus are the best and 'ripe' for conversion by both the religions.

As Alexander the great is said to proclaimed -'Kaiya Vichitra yeh desh hai, Selucus'
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

I dont know how many BRites have visited Vrindavan Gardens IN Mysore city. It is not widely known that they were designed by Sir Mirza Ismail, the then Dewan of Mysore state under the Maharaja. Could not find a whole lot on Sir Mirza ismail, but he was definitely one of the builders of the modern Mysore state, Kaushal

http://travel.indiamart.com/karnataka/gardens/vrindavan-gardens.html

http://www.gardencityonline.com/History_info/history-redention.htm

http://www.mysoresamachar.com/maharajasofmysore.htm

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/08/15/stories/2002081500220200.htm
Sridhar
BRFite
Posts: 838
Joined: 01 Jan 2001 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Sridhar »

The info about Sir Mirza Ismail is certainly valuable. While talking about him, another inspirational personality comes to mind (who I mistakenly thought was also responsible for the Vrindavan Gardens) - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya - another Dewan of the Mysore state and the builder of the Krishnarajasagar dam and many other such projects.

http://www.mysoreonline.com/html/vish.html
Krishna
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 26
Joined: 18 Jan 2001 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Krishna »

This is one more very interesting article about President Dr Kalam written by Dr M. Vidyasagar (formerly of CAIR) reminiscing about his association with Dr Kalam during their DRDO days. Shows that more than a scientist Dr Kalam was a good manager of people.

Prof. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam - A Personal Reminiscence

Krishna
Kaushik_S
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 5
Joined: 07 Jan 2001 12:31
Location: SF Bay Area

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushik_S »

Planet named after Jaipur Boy!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=26391458

Didnt know where to post this, but this kid is an inspiration!!
Sridhar
BRFite
Posts: 838
Joined: 01 Jan 2001 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Sridhar »

Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

One of the unsung heroes of india who was responsible for his own green revolution;

http://www.goodnewsindia.com/Pages/content/inspirational/abdulKareem.html

Abdul Kareem in front of you wends and weaves through the thicket with a proud ease. But then he has been around here - for 25 years in fact. He has seen the 32 acres of a lateritic hillside grow into this wild forest. He had simply dreamed it, willed it, kept vigil, stood guard, ran a few errands- and the forest happened. And is still happening: it's a work in progress. Abdul Kareem has created and saved forever a piece of wilderness for India.

The pull of Kaavu:

Abdul Kareem is one of India's midnight children. He was born in 1947 at Nileswar, a small town on the NH7 between Kasargod and Payyanur in Kerala. His father Abdullah was a small time businessman. After passing his high school and an year in college, Kareem decided to venture out to India's Big Apple - Bombay! He worked in a private dockyard as a labourer to learn the ropes. Just when he thought he had found himself a vocation, he was shaken by parochial riots in 1969. Back in Nileshwar he taught himself book-keeping and typewriting with assistance from the Muslim Waqf board. He began to earn a steady income as an itinerant accountant. Marriage followed and also some good fortune....
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by ramana »

From Tribune 10/30/02....

German author says life is peculiar in India

IF saints and emperors-turned-saints inspired foreigners writing on India in the last century, “promising” politicians and “straightforward” censusmen are filling the gap in the 21st century.

The new repertoire of inspiration include Mohan Chickenwala, who rode on the power of his forever audible voice and promises to become an MLA and the teacher-censusman who asks a woman: “What is your sex?”

Others like the tailor, who refuses to make an evening gown with a low-cut back because it would expose the strap of the bra, and the rich country boys from Haryana who would harness bullocks to make a Mercedes move, also step in.

These characters stare at us from a collection of anecdotes by a German who adopted India as her home.

“Life is Peculiar” by Hamburg-born Roswitha Joshi is a riveting tale of many moments of a clock of life ticking away to meet more new moments of fun, tension and surprise.

The author, who came to Bangalore more than three decades ago after marrying an Indian, fits in 48 tales which range from a day on the Delhi roads to a journey on the Indian Airlines.

Life can be peculiar even for the Hindu gods. After Kamala Das sent the statues of her Hindu gods into the guest room in Kerala following her conversion to Islam, the Hindu gods were on the move again, this time in the author’s friend’s home in Frankfurt.

The forces that sent Radha, Krishna and the Shiva Lingam packing came from India in the form of two nuns from the catholic church! The friend packed them after she received news that the nuns were coming to visit her.

“When I came to India, I initially stuck to my old values. I realised later that people who have ideas entirely different from ours can also lead successful lives,’’ says the author.

Learning to be more tolerant mainly came from the readings of J Krishnamurthy, Osho and Deepak Chopra. “They taught me how to start thinking differently.”

Released by German Ambassador to India Heimo Richter at an impressive launch ceremony at Hotel Ashok last week, the book also offers a peep into how terrorism affected ordinary lives even before September 11 changed the world.

The story “Terror Garb” is an account of the author’s encounter with securitymen at the Frankfurt airport while travelling from India in the early 1970s.

Dressed in a black leather coat and high-heeled boots like those worn by members of the West German revolutionary group Baader-Meinhoff then, she also arose suspicion for a suitcase full of tiny, well-wrapped packets, which turned out to be “sword-weilding Maharaja puppet from Rajasthan, delicately painted papier mache duck from Kashmir and cushion covers of shining brocade”, all Christmas gifts from her German friends to their relatives back home.

The author plans to publish a German translation of the book, which is based on actual events, in her home country. The translation by herself has been completed, she adds.

Her second book, a collection of eight short stories, also is ready. “The stories are relationship dramas based on facts, but with a dose of imagination. I wanted it to be humorous, but has turned out to be suspenseful.” UNI
rajeevnair
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 3
Joined: 27 May 2002 11:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by rajeevnair »

Adi Shankaracharya

A champion of advaita philosophy which led to the revival of Hinduism in India. Born in 680 A.D at Kalady near Cochin in Kerala, Sankaracharya travelled throughout India spreading the gospel of Bhagavath Gita or the Song Divine, stressing on the realisation of the one true God or the "Paramatma" in Sanskrit and liberation of the human soul from all material desires which is the cause of all pain in an individual and society.

Adi Shankaracharya
Aditi Parikh
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 24
Joined: 06 Mar 2002 12:31

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Aditi Parikh »

Ignored figures in history of India
Menon, he rebuked me, was not one of the “heaven-born”, but someone who had come up the hard way, rising from a clerical job in a mining firm to becoming the highest-ranking civil servant in British India.

Captain Nair was right and I was wrong. But I have to confess that I was intrigued how he became such an expert on the life and times of V. Pangunni Menon. There was, as far as I knew, nothing in his career — Army officer, industrialist, and hotelier in succession — to draw any interest in Menon, one of the (unfairly) ignored figures in the history of independent India. Except, perhaps, a mutual inability to bear fools gladly?!

V.P. Menon, for the benefit of those who don’t know, was the Secretary in the newly-created States Ministry in 1947, a post he held at Sardar Patel’s express request. His task was to integrate over 500 princely states into India. History records that the Sardar and Menon succeeded so well that by November, 1947, they had added more territory into the Dominion of India than had been lost three months earlier by Partition.

After he retired Menon fulfilled a promise that the Sardar had extracted from him. He wrote two books, ‘The Transfer of Power’ and ‘The Integration of the Indian States’, on the road to independence and its immediate aftermath.
India Before the Transfer of Power

India After Integration

The grand architect
Our country has no dearth of theoreticians. But it is woefully deficient in the art of execution. It does not understand that the great questions of the day are settled not by speeches and resolutions but by determined and diligent action. Ideas are important. But it is constructive work alone that can “inject meaning into the veins of history and civilisation”.

Sardar Patel was certainly one of the greatest constructive geniuses the country has known. He has often been compared with Chancellor Bismarck who effected German unification in the late 19th century. But Patel’s achievements regarding the integration of states were far more remarkable.

Bismarck wove only about a dozen states into German fabric. Patel had to handle 561 states of a wide variety. While the former resorted to the policy of “blood and iron”, the latter brought about a “bloodless revolution”. Patel’s amazing capacity to size up men and moments and to strike when the iron was hot without splattering blood around, caused about 800,000 square kilometres of land to be added to the Indian Union, besides a population of 86 million.
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

One of the forgotten figures from yesteryear is C Y Chintamani, the longtime editor of the Leader from Allahabad, a once prominent newspaper of British India.

Chirravuri Yagneshwara Chintamani, the dean of Indian journalists, was a journalist during an age when the Indian landscape produced men of great stature , when journalists were not afraid to speak their mind, when political correctness had not numbed the thinking processes and when liberalism was still a respected political ideology.

BRites (and Andhras) will forgive me for being parochial, since Chintamani's grandfather is one of my ancestors. My interest in Sir C Y Chintamani (knighted despite a lifetime of anti-British writings)was perked when i saw a little volume produced by Rupa and Co at a nondescript bookstore in Visakha when i was there recently.

C.Y.Chintamani - The Liberal Editor Politician by Sunil Raman, Rupa and Co., 2002. The book is a virtual goldmine of informational nuggets and is profusely illustrated with the major figures such as Tej Bahadur Sapru, MC Setalvad, Motilal Nehru, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir,Madan Mohan Malaviya,V Srinivasa Sastri among others.

Chintamani was a maverick who was not afraid to speak his mind and disagreed with all the famous people of the day including Gandhi (he was not convinced that fasting was the proper tactic to use and disagreed with him on the Khilafat movement) Motilal Nehru and Madan Mohan Malaviya.

His column on Jinnah,dated April 17,1941, even today rates as a classic (titled 'Insolence') in english prose. He begins 'The address delivered by Mr.Mohamed Ali Jinnah as president of the All India Muslim League conference at Madras on Monday is best characterized by the word we have chosen for this article...'

Despite many prior and subsequent differences with the Mahatma, for whom he had great respect, he is vehement in his elegant denunciation of the arrest of Gandhi in April 12,1919 "We thought that the Government would be wise enough not to touch the person of Mr.Gandhi. But this was not to be. The Governments of India, the Punjab and Delhi all served on him orders restricting his movements. he decided to disobey the orders and has taken the consequences. At the time of writing, we do not know what his destination is and what exactly the intentions of the Government are, whether to release, intern, imprison or deport him. In his message to his countrymen, he has stated that 'it was galling for him to remain free while the Rowlatt legislation disfigured the statute book'."

Chintamani was ahead of his time in social issues having married a widow.

http://www.aptoppers.org/journalists/cychintamani.htm

http://www.rotary3290.org/news/rotaweek305/thoughts.htm

Jehangir Petit was the owner of a Cotton Spinning mill and also the well-known newspaper 'India Daily Mail'. The editor of the newspaper was Shri C Y Chintamani.

Chintamani was a free and fearless editor with rare foresight in contemporary political and social events. He used to give good coverage and due importance to current topics of social religious and cultural events. In politics he had his views, which were frankly expressed, in his 'Daily'. His opinions and comments were always balanced. He would not budge from his considered judgment given on any subject by any pressure whatsoever.

Once there was a big labour strike in which Mr Petit's mill workers too were participating. The atmosphere was very tense. 'The Daily Mail' had also something definite to say about the 'hartal'. Shri Chintamani as an editor declared that the cause of mill workers was right and justice was on their side, not on the side of the mill owners!

Mr Petit was furious about it and summoned him to his cabin and scolded him. "How dare you write like this? How you forgotten that you are in my service?" Mr Chintamani without replying tendered his resignation there and then and left.

http://www.hbti.edu/about.htm

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020728/spectrum/book6.htm

Re-examining Indian polity

Indian Politics Since the Mutiny
by C.Y. Chintamani; published by Rupa and Co. Daryaganj New Delhi; printed in India by Rekha Printers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; Pages: 205. Rs 195.

FIRST a word about the author of the book, Indian Politics Since the Mutiny. C.Y. Chintamani, became an editor at the age of 18, a legislator at 36 and a minister at 41. While continuing to wield his pen like a sword, he dominated Indian journalism in the first three decades of the 20th century. His dominance and influence in public life is all the more remarkable when we consider that at a very young age he crossed the Godawari to make Allahabad his karamakshetra. The present book is the result of a series of lectures delivered by the author in Andhra University in 1935. The seven-hour lecture traced the development of public life and political ideas and institutions of India from 1858 to 1935, and sketches and comments upon the polity, politicians and newspapers of the times.

Though the reformist movement produced men who could be the envy and pride of any society, yet they would have been more than contented had the British administrators in India faithfully implemented the proclamation of Queen Victoria in 1858.

To appreciate that generation of leaders it is pertinent to point out that Queen Victoria had promised that she would bind herself to "our Indian territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects", and that apart from admitting all the Indian subjects, irrespective of race or creed to "the offices in our service", she held out that "in their prosperity will be our strength; in their contentment our security and in their gratitude our best reward." The demand in those early years was primarily focused on having the British fulfil the promises held out in that royal proclamation.




The issues that mattered most were those that concerned the economy. Those who had the welfare of India at heart were extremely uncomfortable with the manner in which "the second Afghan War was embarked upon, for the benefit of England but at the cost of the Indian taxpayer".

In the first session of the Congress, a motion proposed by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta protesting against the annexation of Upper Burma was adopted. In the motion it was urged that, "if it must be annexed, Burma should be treated as Crown colony and should not be made a burden on Indian revenues." The author points out that "history records that after the Indian taxpayer paid the cost of three Burmese wars and finance the government of Burma during its many years of deficit that country was separated from India without any adequate financial reparation." It would also surprise many to read that khaddar as a mark of political protest was first used by Vishwanath Narayan Mandlik when import duty on Lancashire textile was abolished in the name of free trade.

Ironically, public-spirited people were soon to be cast aside by the tidal wave of aggressive Indian natinalism. Even more ironical is the fact that this breed of politicians was to be cast in the nomenclature of Liberals, which for all intents and purposes stood for conservatism in politics. This phase of Indian politics needs to be analysed. Herein lies the inability of our polity to help two powerful and influential schools of political thought to evolve.

A careful perusal of the period shows that we were unable to address the role of religion in public life. The religious fundamentalism that we face today is but the unfinished business of the past though the pen sketches of important leaders of different eras are excellent, one suspects that while portraying Mahatma Gandhi, the author has not been able to forget that he was responsible for casting aside the liberals.

It is not without significance that even T.N. Chaturvedi, presently a BJP parliamentarian, in his introduction has noted that the author questioned the ability of Mahatma Gandhi as a politician. Surely, the success of the Mahatma as a politician cannot be judged by his inability to attain Swaraj within twelve months, as was his expressed intent. The Mahatma’s success also does not depend upon the inability of the liberals to comprehend the power of "non-violent, non-cooperation" as a tool of attaining freedom and dispelling fear from the heart of even the humblest Indian.

Different chapters also contain notes and comments on the newspapers of the time. The one on Tribune makes for interesting reading: "When Sir Dennis Fitz Patrick was Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, The Tribune was almost a power in the province; so much so, that the local (Lahore) Anglo-Indian paper, the Civil and Military Gazette once inquired whether the province was being governed by Sir Dennis or by The Tribune."

Finally, one wishes that the publishers had retained the original spellings and not Americanised them.

Sir Chirravuri Yagneshwara Chintamani(1880-1941) - a giant of a man during an era when India was not lacking men of stature.

Kaushal
sandy
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 12
Joined: 03 May 2002 11:31
Location: Berkeley
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by sandy »

Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

Homi Jehangir Bhabha

http://www.vigyanprasar.com/dream/jan2000/article1.htm

The Architect of India's Nuclear Programme

HOMI JEHANGIR BHABHA

By Subodh Mahanti

" I know quite clearly what I want out of my life. Life and my emotions are the only things I am conscious of. I love the consciousness of life and I want as much of it as I can get. But the span of one's life is limited. What comes after death no one knows. Nor do I care. Since, therefore, I cannot increase the content of life by increasing its duration, I will increase it by increasing its intensity. Art, music, poetry and everything else that consciousness I do have this one purpose - increasing the intensity of my consciousness of life."

H.J. Bhabha
Arvind
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 39
Joined: 28 Nov 2002 12:31
Location: USA

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Arvind »

Did any one name Harihara and Bukka ?

But for them many of us many be indistinguishable from our neighbors in Terroristan and there would have been no forum to discuss all these matters.
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

Two excellent resources on the Vijayanagar empire are

"Forgotten Empire" by Robert Sewell, Asian Educational Services, Delhi,2000.

In fact the book is available on line at

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=3310

http://www.geocities.com/indiahistory25/

He relies on Nuniz and others.There are some maps and other illustrations which are absent in the online version.

I also have Nilakanta Sastri's History of South India which devotes considerable space to the Vijayanagar empire.

Kaushal
Arvind
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 39
Joined: 28 Nov 2002 12:31
Location: USA

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Arvind »

Also see:www.vijayanagaracoins.com/ (good site)
"Forgotten Empire" by Robert Sewell, Asian Educational Services, Delhi,2000.
Yes Sewell is a good source but there are certain issues with this work:

>He relies on Nuniz and others.

Nuniz is rather confused in his account of Mohamed bin Tughlaq. Secondly he aslo relies a lot on Ferishta. Ferishta was a Hindu-hating bigot who exaggerates Muslim victories out of proportion and makes some factual errors too. One major issue is did Maliq Kaffr really reach Rameshwaram?

>I also have Nilakanta Sastri's History of South India which devotes considerable space to the >Vijayanagar empire.

KANS's book is a great one, but he too relies quite a bit on Nuniz, so largely overlaps in originality with the former book.

Newer works are :
Vijayanagara by Burton Stein (But I was unimpressed);

City of Victory: Vijayanagara, the Medieval Hindu Capital of Southern India by John Gollings (Not bad)

New Light on Hampi: Recent Research at Vijayanagara by John M. Fritz, George Michell, Clare Arni

Unesco HAmpi excavations (Good pictures)
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

H^2, thanx for bringing the newer works to my attention. Need to add them to my list (of potential readables).

kaushal
Kaushal
BRFite
Posts: 442
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: SanFrancisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

Another eulogy to HJ Bhabha

http://news.sawaal.com/expertsays/guest/index78.htm

The author who goes by the moniker upinder fotadar, IIRC was a contributor to BR in its early days.

Kaushal
Locked