1/ The 16th-century Varanasi buzzed with ideas. Saints, scholars & courtiers from every corner of India debated faith & philosophy on the Ganga’s ghats, blending calm devotion with the thrill of intellectual ferment. 2/ The preceding decades had set the stage. Kabir the weaver & Ravidas the leatherworker shook orthodoxy with sharp dohas on Nirguna (formless) bhakti—songs that cut through caste & ritual to reach a direct love of the divine.

1/ This widow from Bengal straddled 18th-century Benares like a colossus. Alongside another widow, Ahilya Bai Holkar, she revived the city’s sacred sites. The incredible story of Rani Bhabani—a thread. 2/ Even today she’s on screen and in speech: films, a hit TV series, folk proverbs, and a Benares post office bear her name. Rani Bhabani blends piety, generosity, sharp business sense—and sheer charisma.

1/ This Andhra Pradesh born ascetic- some say he lived for over 250 years- was a towering personality in the 19th century Varanasi, was seen as a living incarnation of Shiva by Ramkrishna Paramhansa himself who called him “Sachal Vishwanath”. Trailanga Swami, a thread. 2/ He was born Shivaram near Vizianagaram to a religious couple. His mother Vidyavati was a strong influence on him; he would join her when she would meditate. Her passing away impacted him deeply and after her cremation he spent 20 years at the cremation ground in meditation.

1/ This 16th century intellectual giant was the first Bengali who was held in awe in Varanasi for his penetrating intellect and knowledge. A towering Advait Vedanta expert, he also straddled the Bhakti tradition; he was a Krishna bhakt. The story of Madhusudan Saraswati. 2/ He was born in Kotalapada village of Faridpur district, now in Bangladesh, in 1540. Still young, he moved to Nabadwip in Nadia district; a major center for Sanskrit learning. Nabadwip, birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (in pic) who was a strong influence on Vaishnavism.

1/ He featured prominently in a best-selling book, showed up on the cover of an iconic Beatles album, had a regular govt job & was a householder. He was a Yoga practitioner whose techniques popularized yoga across the world long after he was gone. Lahiri Mahasaya, a thread. 2/ He was born Shyamacharan Lahiri in 1828 in Ghurni village, Bengal; the eldest child of Gourmohan Lahiri, & Muktkeshi Devi. His mother died when Shyamacharan was 5 years old. The distraught Gourmohan left for Varanasi with his family.

1/ Born in the mid 18th century Athens, he studied at in Seminary in Greece, sailed to India to teach children of Greek Merchants near Dhaka and spent the last 40 years of his life Benares mastering Sanskrit. The incredible story of Dimitrios Galanos, the 1st Greek Indologist. 2/ Galanos was born in Athens, then a small town under Ottoman rule. He studied philosophy. Latin, oratory & eccelsistical music at a Seminary, & went to Constantinople to teach resident Greek children. A meeting with a merchant would change his life forever.

1/ Veena is an ancient musical instrument. It has existed in one form or the other since very ancient times. This thread is about a veena player whose music sent the great Ramkrishna Paramhansa into a trance. A thread on Mahesh Chandra Sarkar. 2/ Mahesh Sarkar’s grandfather, Balaram Sarkar, migrated from Burdwan dist, Bengal, to Varanasi in the 1700’s. He acquired property close to the Ganges river in the Madanpura area.

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