Bhosales of Nagpur began their campaign to liberate Jagannath Puri
On Vijayadashami, military campaign would start after worshipping weapons and the Shami tree.
Pandavas in Mahabharat had hid their weapons in a Shami tree and took them after their exile to go to war
Pic credit : ePhotoCorp
Theology apart, it made sound practical sense to launch campaigns from this date.
It usually falls in September - October.
Monsoons have ended, water bodies are full. Crops are standing or just harvested.
Roads are dry and accessible.
The monsoons was a difficult time to move around. Added to it was the problem of diseases and epidemics (which were common in cramped military camps of those days) .
The summers had their own problems.
Hence most campaigns began on Dusshera and arrived at their conclusion few months later in Feb - April period.
Painting : Mahishasur Mardini
Read about Palkhed and many other battles in Battles of the Maratha Empire
To understand the full enormity of this, read Battles of the Maratha Empire
Portuguese version of “Islam was not always imposed, just look at Taj Mahal”
Well not quite, for as Pliny The Elder says in the 1st Century AD
“In no year does India drain our empire of less than five hundred and fifty million sesterces, giving back her own wares in exchange, which are sold to us at fully hundred times their prime cost”
Military control of trade routes was a new dynamic that Europeans brought in. Earlier that control happened via an interdependent economy. Involving India, Arabia and the East African coast.
Where India failed was in recognising this new form of mercantilist behaviour.
While environmental concerns should be addressed, buddhi jeevis should not be allowed to hijack India's Inland Water Transport and destroy it.
We are already behind the whole world.
Canada and United States
St Lawrence seaway. Runs for 600 km and raises ships 170m via a series of locks between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Superior.
Ships of considerable size - 200m long, can transport goods from anywhere in the world right into America's Midwest using the St Lawrence seaway system.
For a route that shaved 3000 miles off the distance to India and provided a short cut that brought a months long voyage to weeks, the main opposition to it came from... Great Britain !
A canal through the desert had been given serious by Napolean Bonaparte during his Egypt invasion. His engineers had told him it was not feasible. Finally, it was another Frenchman - Ferdinand Lesseps who built it.