1/ Gurudham Temple, situated in a busy part of Varanasi, is so unique that it is ignored by both pilgrims & tourists! Its architecture is heavy with symbolism; it stands in its now shrunken 3-acre space; much of the original 13 acres been encroached upon. A thread. 2/ It was built by the noted zamindar, Maharaja Jaynarayan Ghoshal of Bhukailash at Khidderpur in Kolkata in 1827. Ghoshal had a serious malady & moved to Varanasi seeking favourable climate. His was an interesting personality, his story in detail later.

Pic: Bhukailash rajbari

1/ This is Nitai Pandit, a purohit for the local community in Bengali Tola, Varanasi. He is holding a very large, very thick and a very old book. I will write about this venerable gentleman in a later thread, this one is about the book he is holding. Shabd Kalpadruma. 2/ This is no ordinary book. It was the first dictionary- actually an encyclopedia- in Sanskrit. It was a compilation of words from the shastras in Sanskrit covering a whole spectrum of knowledge- Jyotish, vastu, neetishastra, natyashastra & alankarshastra to name just a few.

Bengalis in Varanasi have centuries old history. no surprises that the city has the oldest Durga Puja outside Bengal. One contender is the much storied Bengali Deodhi in Chaukhamba area which has a history of Pujas here for 251 years, maybe more! The Mitra family, owner of Bengali Deodhi is now in its 10th generation in Varanasi. They have been performing the Durga Puja ever since 1773. I met gen 8, 9, 10 at the Deodhi last morning, all traditionally dressed, and busy with the proceedings.

1/ This 19th century British polymath lived for 41 yrs, 19 of them in India. He dabbled in fields as diverse as civil engineering, metallurgy, town planning, numismatics, demography & epigraphy. And his deciphering of the ancient Brahmi script. Story of James Prinsep: 2/ He was born in a poor family. His father, an indigo planter in India, lost all his money when we returned to England. He architecture study was cut short, due to poor eyesight. He finally found a job as an assay master in East India Company mint in Calcutta.

1/ If you fret about the taxes you pay to the government, spare a thought for the poor farmers in Bihar in the 17th and 18th centuries. They not only suffered appalling indignities at the hands of the zamindars (landlords) but had to pay levies at the drop of a hat. A few: 2/ Marriage at home? Cough up biyahdani (बियाह दानी) to the zamindar. Going rate: Girl’s marriage: 1 rupee and 4 annas Boy’s: Ten annas. A widow remarriage, if and when it happened, attracted the levy sagaura (सगौरा) , a sum of Rupees Five.

1/ To understand the rather complicated Maratha history as relevant to our story, let’s get back in time, all the way the Shivaji who was coronated Chhatrapati in 1674. Shivaji’s monarchy was “centralized”; the king headed the military as well as the government. 2/ Chhatrapati or his selected person commanded the army. Government departments like revenue, customs, justice, etc were headed by official selected & supervised by the king. They were paid from the state treasury. While it sounds simple & obvious, it was to change later.

1/ Many of us think of Bengal in early modern age of India starting with the Battle of Plassey in 1757 & the machinations of East India Company in the times just preceding it. This story is very interesting & has high impact on the future of India. It has been told by many. 2/ Let us look at the decades preceding 1757 when Bengal was a focus of many interested parties; a period was just right for the power seekers to stake their claims. Which they did. This thread tells their story in brief.

#vadnagarstory (contd.) Thread 5

1/ So far, we saw how Scythians (Shakas or Kshatrapas) reached Gujarat all the way from Central Asia. We now dive into Kshatrapa period of Vadnagar which spanned from 1stcentury CE to 4th century CE.

Pic: Replica of Vadnagar "wall". 2/ An urbanizing Vadnagar had to be protected further. There was already a mud rampart around the city. In the early part of this period, it was veneered with burnt bricks in certain areas. We will see evidence of why it was becoming rich a little later in this thread.

#vadnagarstory (Period 3: Kshatrapa period)
1/ We now move to Period III of Vadnagar’s history. It is also called Kshatrapa period & spans 1st to 4th century CE. To understand this period, a brief backstory of the tumultuous origins Kshatrapas. I will keep it simple & brief. 2/ During the closing centuries of the BCE era and the early years of the first millennium CE, there was a series of interconnected upheavals and movements in Central Asia. This would have an impact on India, particularly North and West India.

#vadnagarstory (continued)

1/ What is the likelihood of a Goddess worshipped in the coastal areas of Gujarat being named after a distant island off the coast of Yemen? And what does the discovery of a shrine to the Goddess say about the history of Vadnagar? Let us dive in. 2/ A team of archaeologists of ASI, led by Dr Abhijit Ambekar, Superintending Archaeologist, noticed a shrine- a shrine to Goddess Sikotara Mata- during their excavation work. What was so significant about this?

#vadnagarstory (continued)

1/ So far, we saw Period I of Vadnagar from 750 BCE to 200 BCE. Now this settlement was changing, from just a cluster of people to an urban center. But how do we know this? Time to talk about the rampart which came up around 200 BCE. Period 2. 2/ A rampart is a protection (defense) structure. Protection of the inhabitants and the settlement’s prosperity. What caused the prosperity? This period (200 BCE to 100 CE) was a “happening” time. Archaeological findings of tell the story.

#vadnagarstory

1/ The fascinating story of Vadnagar, a small town, 100 km north of Ahmedabad. It used to be a fortified town; some fortification is still visible. Rest is covered with debris deposits. The town is old, at least 2500 years old. ASI excavations tell the story. 2/ Let us start with a lake, Sharmishtha Lake, in the North of the town. The town is perched on the ancient remains where all the action has been, historically. The settlement of the town, just south of the lake, got its water for drinking, agriculture etc from the lake.

1/ This is no ordinary picture, it is a dig deep into 2500 years history. A continuously inhabited place from the pre-Mauryan times to the present age. Xuan Zang visited it in 7th century and found a flourishing commerce & religious hotspot. Welcome to Vadnagar, Gujarat. 2/ You will find remains here of Sakas (Indo-Scythians) or the Western Satraps, Maitrakas came after the demise of the Gupta empire, the Solankis of Gujarat followed by Sultans and the Mughal Empire and finally the Gaekwads in the 18th/19th century and then the modern age.

1/ It “looked like mud” & “smelled like sewage”, but it was gold for the European merchants who would ship it out of India by the tons. That sewage smell was the aroma of political power.. and wealth and wretched poverty and exploitation. Read on… 2/ Saltpetre, or Potassium Nitrate, a key ingredient of gunpowder, besides other applications has been known since ancient times featuring even Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Hemu, who nearly thwarted Akbar before losing in the second battle of Panipat traded in saltpetre.

Pic: Hemu

1/ This building might look decrepit, but it is no ordinary building. Juna Mahal is perhaps the oldest palace in India, maybe in the world. For 650 years, from the beginning of the 13th century to mid 20th century, it was home to the ruling family of Dungarpur State (Rajasthan). 2/ Dungarpur was a tiny state in the southern part of Rajasthan. It was ruled by a branch of Guhilot Ahara Rajputs of Mewar. The current Maharawal Mahipal Singh II is the 35th “ruler”. Each ruler made modifications and additions to the palace. Some vignettes from the palace:

1/ She lived in a tumultuous period of Indian history, a daughter-in-law of a valiant king in Rajasthan, a staunch devotee of Krishna, a rebel with utter disregard for established institutions and norms, and a celebrated “bhakti” poet. 2/ Gandhiji admired her & even named one of his British disciples after her, her poetry is loved even after several centuries and sung by top singers. Her life has inspired many movies & TV serials. Mirabai’s life and political milieu of her times. Warning: A LONG thread ahead.

1/ Karnataka dynasties are common; Kadambas, Chalukyas (Badami and Kalyani lines being the big ones), Hoysalas, Vijayanagara, Wodeyars and maybe a few more. A relatively unknown Kannadiga established a dynasty, 950 years ago. In distant North Bihar. A thread. 2/ In the 8th to 10th century, Rashtrakutas started out as vassals of the Badami Chalukyas controlling the Northern boundaries of the Karnataka based Chalukya Empire. They were Kannada-speaking people from Osmanabad, Maharashtra, close to the modern-day border with Karnataka.

1/ He inherited a mighty Empire from his father who had subjugated rivals & ruled the region for 50 yrs. He himself ruled for 12 & wrote one of the 1st ever Indian cookery book about 900 years featuring dishes still in use in Rajasthan, Bengal, Maharashtra and South India. 2/ Someshwara III was mild and scholarly. He took over from Vikramaditya VI, the great emperor who had extended the boundaries of the Western Chalukya Empire, bested their archrivals, the Cholas, and ruled for fifty years.

1/ A 7th century Bihari Brahmin youngster gets summons by the last great Hindu emperor of North India (his plans to conquer the South thwarted famously by a Kannadiga king) for his bohemian ways, becomes his court poet; a fellow courtier being a Chinese pilgrim. 2/ He embeds his own life story into two books; a biography of the king and a romantic novel, studied now by historians and Sanskrit scholars.

His own “autobiography” is written by a renowned 20th century Hindi writer with an American expert on Indian Art playing a key role.

1/ A quick quiz: What is common to Arindam, Arunava and Anindya, Buddhadev, & Biswadeep? Or Sushmita, Sucharita, Suparna & Sudeshna? Vikas, Viraat and Vipul? All names from North India, typically from around Delhi. As are below-mentioned ladies : Sushma, Sapna, Nutan, Manisha. 2/ Try this: Where are these gents from; Dharmesh, Hemal, Keyur. All from Gujarat, right? As are, Bijal, Snehal, Minal.
Ramakrishnan, Gopalan, Karthikeyan. Srividya, Soundarya, Sreedevi. All are from South India
Dattatreya, Ajinkya, Avadhoot. All Maharashtrians.

1/ I write travel stories. Here is my latest story in Outlook Traveller, the leading travel magazine, in the April-May 2024 issue. It is on Hindu Temples of Bali. Some excerpts. 2/ “2000 years ago, sailors, merchants, & mendicants from India sailed to distant lands, spreading Hindu philosophy & later, Buddhism. These religions dominated the Indonesian archipelago till the advent of Islam in the 14th century.”
Pic: Relief of sailing boat, Borobudur Temple