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Tapesh Yadav

@tapeshyadav_usa

Jan 9

⚡️Karachi & Hindus: A History

Now the largest Pakistani city with 20 million people, do you know Sindhi Hindus founded Karachi in 1729?
How Hindus were persecuted in 19th-century Sindh? how they rebelled? How modern media and books narrate their story?

Summary in this 🧵:

⚡️Background
1⃣After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, the Muslim Kalhora dynasty seized power in Sindh.
2⃣Kharak Bandar was the primary port back then, but it had silted up. In 1729, Seth Bhojo Mal, a Sindhi Hindu, founded a new harbor, moved the Hindu community and settled a village. He called it Kolachi-jo-Goth (= village of Kolachi). The name was in honor of Mai Kolachi – a legendary Hindu fisherwoman who inspired Bhojo Mal to create a merchant village thru hard work. Kolachi, over time, morphed into Karachi.
3⃣Sindhi Hindu traders thrived here. They linked Oman, Persia, Arabia, the Dutch, and the British. Trade boomed. The village grew into a small town.
4⃣In 1783, the Talpur Mirs, another Muslim dynasty, overthrew the Kalhoras. Hindus formed about 25%–30% of Sindh's population in late 18th-century. Muslims dominated.

⚡️Systematic Persecution, Anti-Hindu Pogrom
1⃣Seth Naomal Hotchand (1804–1878) descended from early merchants. He documented the Mir dynasty era in his memoirs. British visitors like James Burnes confirmed the accounts.
2⃣Seth Naomal Hotchand's memoir describes systematic persecution. Hindus lived as second-class citizens. Humiliation was constant:
– No horse-riding allowed to Hindus; must use donkeys.
– On roads, Hindus must yield to Muslims; step aside or face violence.
– When a Hindu quarreled with a Muslim, revenge would sometimes start with fake accusations of blasphemy and insult to the Prophet. Blasphemy accusations sparked mobs. Example from memoir: Naomal's brother Pursuram argued with a Syed Muslim. The Syed falsely accused Pursuram of insulting the Prophet. Crowds attacked Hindu homes. Temples desecrated. Wells polluted with trash. The Mir dynasty did not stop the violence or intervene. Pursuram escaped to Jaisalmer for asylum.
– a young Hindu boy's minor mosque transgression triggered widespread anti-Hindu pogrom.
– Naomal's elderly father was kidnapped. Thugs demanded conversion to Islam. They threatened forced circumcision.
– Hindus were not allowed to own weapons to defend themselves.
– Etc
3⃣Parsis suffered too. Discrimination against non-Muslims ran deep.

⚡️Don't Just Suffer, Do Something, Change History
1⃣Seth Hotchand and desperate Hindus had enough. They saw British forces as potential liberators. They formed an alliance with the British, after later promised modernization, fair treatment and equality.
2⃣In 1843, the Sindhi Hindus and Parsis welcomed the British troops warmly. They supplied food, logistics. Hindus in interior Sindh provided intelligence on Mir troop movements and weaknesses. General Charles Napier won swiftly. Sindh joined the Bombay Presidency.
3⃣Naomal, then about 39, helped drive change. Liberation from the Mir dynasty ushered in freedoms for Sindhi Hindus and modernization. They built railways, irrigation canals (like the Jamrao), and expanded port. Karachi's surged into a major city.
4⃣In 1910s Seth Harchandrai Vishandas, and in 1930s Jamshed Mehta were key to creating modern era Karachi. The 1947 partition triggered mass exodus of non-Muslims from Pakistan.

⚡️Epilogue, Modern Narratives
1⃣Hindus and Parsis hailed Seth Naomal Hotchand as a liberator. He modernized Sindh.
2⃣The colonial era British adored him. Critical to Napier's victory, Queen Victoria bestowed upon Seth Hotchand CIE order in a lavish Frere Hall ceremony, along with lands and a pension.
3⃣Muslim nationalists brand him a traitor. He ended Muslim rule, helped replace it with colonial rule.
4⃣To some scholars, Seth Naomal Hotchand memoir offers rare firsthand insights of a Hindu in a Muslim state before the British annexed it into their colony. It illuminates Hindu-Muslim relations, how Sharia laws affected non-Muslims in early 19th-century, how Sindhi Hindus suffered, and civil-war like situation in Asia that enabled Europeans to rapidly gain colonies.
5⃣To Marxist scholars, Seth Naomal Hotchand memoir is evidence of class strife, how a wealthy Hindu minority are to be blamed midst the Muslim masses and Muslim king, how Hindu provocations and income inequality led to political crisis.
6⃣Recent Pak authors and newspapers such as Dawn describe Seth Hotchand as "traitor", as evidence that Hindus "betrayed Sindh" because they lacked "national spirit", and why a small British force so easily colonized Muslim lands.

Sources:
1. Memoirs of Seth Naomul Hotchand of Karachi, Oxford Univ Press (1982)
2. Markovits, The Global World of Indian Merchants
3. Karachi, Megacity of Our Times, pp 119-120
4. Akhtar Balouch, 'Traitor of Sindh' Seth Naomal, The Dawn
dawn.com/news/1116294

A hero to Hindus and Parsis of Sindh, an X-headline from Dawn newspaper in 2014 called Seth Naumal Hotchand (सेथ नौमल होत्छन्द) a traitor:

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Tapesh Yadav

@tapeshyadav_usa

Dec 29, 2025

🛕Ancient Hindu temples found in Swat (Pakistan)
600-700 AD, Vishnu

An Italian team dug mounds near Barikot (Swat river, ~250 km NW of Srinagar J&K). Found "large" hilltop Hindu temple. Surprises (🧵):
1⃣Vaikuntha Vishnu and Chakradevi ruins of marble.
2⃣Vishnu with Varaha and Narasimha forms, similar to those found in 500–900 CE Kashmir
3⃣Temple was on about 75 ft x 50 ft platform. This is large. Some Western Indologists claim such large structural Hindu temples came later. But, Swat valley had them by 7th-century. On a hilltop. With monumental steps (found). Italian team's conceptual drawing for the Hindu temple is below. Only lower parts survive.
4⃣The use of marble for Chakradevi and Vishnu's statue are also remarkable. Vishnu statue was likely life size. See photo and artist's drawing in this 🧵.
5⃣The Bir-Kot-Ghwandai / Vajrasthana sites were excavated between 1995 and 2023 (with long stops due to war in Afghanistan). The dig revealed many Buddhist and Hindu art and monuments ruins. Archaeologists also found temple parts such as "amalakas" and panels etc have been reused in numerous graves in nearby villages.

Vishnu statue (artist drawing, blue colored are ruins found). Marble Chakradevi (actual) with amazing details.

Compare: Vaikuntha Vishnu, ca 400 AD, Mathura
(Brooklyn Museum)

Sources for 🧵:
1. Filigenzi (2005), Stone and stucco sculptures from the sacred building of Bir-kot-ghwandai, Swat
2. Olivieri (2025), Vajirasthana Archaeology of the Barikot Hilltop, Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

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Tapesh Yadav

@tapeshyadav_usa

Mar 17, 2025

This 🧵 is the story of an American born in 1882. He sailed to India as a Christian missionary.

The hypocrisy he saw unraveled his faith. He abandoned the Church, married an Indian, plunged into Hindu texts.

He became a Hindu, Lala Lajpat Rai's friend, and a freedom fighter.

Samuel Evans Stokes, Jr., came into the world in a Quaker Pennsylvania family. His father, an entrepreneur, made a fortune building elevators. Young Samuel grew up wealthy, surrounded by books in a private library. His childhood buzzed with energy—happy, chaotic, and studious.

As a teenager, he cared little for religion. That changed in 1903. A chance encounter with Dr. Carleton, an American missionary tending to leprosy patients in India, lit a spark. Samuel signed up to join him.

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Tapesh Yadav

@tapeshyadav_usa

Mar 5, 2025

In Feb 2002, a historic Arabic manuscript from Egypt was accidentally discovered.

Dated ~1035 AD, it mentions India, Hindu kings, scholars & Indian cities. It includes world’s oldest known colored world maps.

What does it say? A 🧵:

1⃣Titled “Kitab Gharaib ....” (“Book of Curiosities ....”), it contains the impressions of 10th- to 11th-century India among Fatimid elites in Egypt and Persia.
2⃣Authored by unknown Ismaili-Shia Muslim under Fatimid rule, the text is error-prone but ambitious.
3⃣Features some of the world’s oldest colored world maps, including a pioneering rectangular map locating China, India, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, with major oceans and rivers.
4⃣About 10% content relates to India. It predates the Delhi Sultanate and accounts like Al-Biruni’s.
5⃣Declares Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh) as the origin of the science of astronomy, with Indians perfecting stellar observation and celestial data tabulation 400 years before the Prophet.
6⃣Marks Multan and Sindh as Fatimid Muslim frontiers, crediting Ismaili missionaries for their conquest.
7⃣Calls India as “al-Hind,” its language as “bi-l-hindiyah” (likely Sanskrit or Hindi), and Greece’s as “bi-l-yunaniyah.” Curiously, it is silent about northern India’s linguistic diversity.
8⃣Labels India, Sri Lanka, Java, and China as “lands of infidels”, of idol-worshippers. Declares South Asia (including Sri Lanka) as the richest place on earth.

Cities and kingdoms:
1⃣Praises Kannauj as a gloriously large capital, with King Nabatah (possibly Nagabhatta of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty) patronizing scholars in Ujjain and Kannauj to study planetary motion. Says the king patronized many Hindu scholars, ordered them to study planets, observe their motions every night, and tabulate the data every day. Says, this scholar-king joined other scholars in their study of the stars.
2⃣Mentions following 10th-century Indian cities: Bhawalpur, Benisar, Ropar, Mathura, Prayag, Benares, Kapilavastu, Pataliputra, and five in Bengal; says, these are connected by commercial roads.
3⃣Says Assam (Qamarupa) is prosperous. Mentions a Hindu kingdom, Lakshmibur, east of Bengal and Assam, possibly Manipur–Tripura–north Myanmar.
4⃣Erroneously describes the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Indus as a single connected river network that starts in mountains of Tibet and ends in the Indian Ocean; depicts it as connecting the entire country of al-Hind.

Ancient trade routes:
1⃣Prefers the Musk-routes in India over the Silk Route in Central Asia. Discusses two “Musk routes” between India and China—via Assam to South China and across the Himalayas to Tibet.
2⃣Reports regular travel by merchants and monks between Xian, Lhasa, Patna and Kannauj.

Sources: (Rapoport and Savage-Smith)
1. An Eleventh-Century Egyptian Guide to the Universe: The Book of Curiosities (2014)
2. Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh-Century Cairo (2018)
3. Bodleian Library, UK

Below: a colored world map in this manuscript

@dutta_anilk, the text has terms such as al-Hind (folios 4B, 24A e.g.) with descriptive phrases.

Example: al-Hind is "an idolatrous enemy territory, but also a source of wisdom".

That has to do with the structure of manuscript's language. Below is one folio discussing India:

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Tapesh Yadav

@tapeshyadav_usa

Feb 19, 2025

Grok 3, launched on Feb 17 2025, is now ranked as the most powerful AI. It has a "Think" mode.

What has Grok 3 learned about Ancient India & Hinduism? Does it mock Hinduism, while refusing to mock others like woke-AIs?

You decide. A 🧵 with Q&A.

What is Hinduism?

Grok 3: Hinduism is an ancient Indian religion characterized by a diversity of traditions, beliefs, and practices unified by the concept of dharma (duty, righteousness). It includes the worship of numerous deities like Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi, and emphasizes concepts like karma (action and consequence), samsara (cycle of rebirth), and moksha (liberation from the cycle). Central scriptures include the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Hinduism is known for its philosophical depth, with schools like Vedanta and Yoga, and its practice involves rituals, meditation, and festivals, reflecting a broad spectrum of spiritual experiences.

Do Vedic texts approve of Sati ritual?

Grok 3: Vedic texts do not approve of the Sati ritual as it is commonly understood today. The practice of Sati, where a widow would immolate herself on her husband's funeral pyre, is not mentioned or sanctioned in the earliest Vedic literature like the Rigveda.

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Tapesh Yadav

@tapeshyadav_usa

Jan 15, 2025

Numerous grains, vegetables, fruits, spices etc were discovered in Ancient India. Cuisines were invented. This 🧵 complements those by @ShreeHistory, @MumukshuSavitri and others on foods in Ancient India.

There are four ways to establish what foods and cuisines were known in Ancient India:
1⃣Testimonials. This takes the form "Mughals or Sultans or Europeans or Persians or Greeks or Aryans brought this or that to India", often without any verifiable historical source that states who brought what, when, and from where? These allegations can be misinformation, they are sometimes laced with ad hominem.
2⃣Historic Indian texts and manuscripts are better sources. But at best they are tentative. Because, palm leaf and paper manuscripts degrade with time, so need to be copied. The copying can have errors, omissions, insertions, corruption of the original. More confidence comes when the manuscript is in extinct script or archaic Sanskrit or obsolete Prakrit languages. Also, when we have critical editions from different manuscripts for the same text. We can combine these multiple sources for greater confidence on what foods and cuisines were known in India before the 13th-century.
3⃣Inscriptions on stone, copper plates, temple walls, etc, particularly in historic scripts such as Brahmi, Gupta, Sarada, Grantha, etc. These do not need copying and attempts to modify are easy to spot. Many inscriptions mention foods and cuisines (e.g. recipe for Pongal). Another related and fascinating discovery: some cave paintings and rock art in India includes drawings of seeds and food ingredients (these too are as old as the artwork).
4⃣Archaeo-botany studies. This science has emerged within the last 50 years. Archaeological items sometimes contain grains, stuck or charred remains of food ingredients, seeds, etc. Such items include pottery, pans, wares, remains of foundational consecration inside a lost or ruined temple etc. We can often date these discoveries by C-14, thermo- and other methods. When combined with shape, spectral and other studies of grain, seeds and food remains found with these items by SEM, X-ray, DNA and other advanced methods, we get strong evidence of what foods and cuisines women and men of Ancient India had already discovered and invented. These studies also help objectively identify foods discovered in other ancient cultures, that Indians learned and adopted in creative cuisines.

In this thread (Part 1), I summarize some results from archaeobotany research (#4) from sites dated 3000 BC to 300 AD, all from ancient India. Yes, this includes Harappan and Vedic era sites. Summary: Archaeo-botany research on sites excavated in the last 30 years suggest ancient Indians knew, kept and used a lot of food ingredients in sophisticated cuisines.

ShreeHistory, MumukshuSavitri etc are covering #2 above (please follow them).

In future threads, I will give examples of #3. Best scenario: when literature, inscriptions and archaeo-botany corroborate.

Locations: the archaeo-botanical discoveries are from sites all over India: UP, Bihar, Odisha, Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, MH, Haryana, Harappan sites in Pakistan, Assam, Nagaland, TN, AP, Karnataka and Kerala. All pre-300 AD.

Sources: Saraswat, Fuller papers

SEM, X-ray, DNA, etc positively identify the seeds, grains, food ingredients, fibers found inside Harappan and Vedic era pottery, wares and structures. See following as SEM example from Dorian Fuller's paper on archaeobotany studies from India:

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