The Hindu Gods of Ancient Syria

In the summer of 1913, archaeologists made a stunning discovery: a clay tablet from 1350 BC, bearing the earliest known written references to Hindu gods—Indra, Varuna, Agni, Mitra, and Nasatya—in Vedic Sanskrit. With that one tablet, they proved the language and belief system of the Rig Veda were already well established by 1350 BC.

Indeed it confirmed Vedic Sanskrit as the oldest surviving Indo-European language.

The Temples of Mughal Delhi

Delhi was once one of the great pilgrimage sites in the medeival world. A centre of pilgrimage for Muslims, it was also sacred to Hindus, who see it as the site of the legendary city Indraprastha, as well as Sikhs, who mourn their gurus here The historic Hindu and Jain temples in the Indian capital are probably my favourite hidden gems in the city.

The Brahmin Sultan of Maharashtra

In 1422, a young Marathi-speaking Brahmin called Tima Bhat, who had grown up in the Vijayanagara Empire, was taken hostage by the Bahmani general Ahmad Shah Wali and converted to Islam by force. Conscripted as a military slave, things weren't looking good for Tima Bhatt, who now took the name Malik Hasan Bahri.

But in 1463, he was appointed the personal servant of the Bahmani Sultan, and over time, he gained the emperors favour.

The Greatest Empire You've Probably Never Heard Of

The Gupta Empire is often extolled as the 'Golden Age' of Ancient India, but it was arguably their predecessors who did more to put India on the world map. The Kushans (30-375AD) are an empire that few people have heard of today.

Beginning as nomads in northwest China, they were forced across the Himalayas by the Huns and, around 100 AD, they adopted Greek customs from the descendents of Alexander the Great.

The Ethiopian Ruler of Maharashtra

Malik Ambar, buried a five minute walk from the Ellora Caves, is of the most extraordinary figures in world history. Born with the name 'Chapu" in Har into Ethiopia's Oromo tribe, Ambar was "captured as a boy and sold to an Arab for twenty ducats."

"He has a stern Roman face" recalled one traveller, "and is tall and strong of stature", thought his white glassy eyes... do not become him."

The Melon Palace

In a small corner of Burhanpur, near the city's municipal rubbish dump, stands a rather gorgeous tomb known as the Kharbuja Mahal, or Melon Palace.

In actual fact it's not a Palace at all, but rather the Tomb Bilqis Bano Begum, the wife of Price Shah Shuja. Shuja's parents, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, are buried in the Taj Mahal, and the Tomb of Shujas wife shows the same aesthetic attention to detail.

The Sultans of Sanskrit

Asirgarh is renowned as one of the most ancient and impregnable forts in India, and even to climb up to the citadel from the village below takes a fair bit of puff. Most pilgrims were heading to a Maratha temple dedicated to Shiva and Ashwathhama. What's most remarkable, however, is what's on top.

The Most Impregnable Fortress in Maharashtra

A short drive from the Ellora Caves you'll come across Daulatabad, an absolutely crazy fortress that was centre of political machinations in the Deccan for centuries. The reason it was so Impregnable was that it's builders (either the Rashtrakutas or the Yadavas) had excavated the walls of the fortress away, transforming it into a giant Shiva lingam.

They essentially terraformed this hill into a series of sheer cliffs.

Why is the Tomb of the Last Ottoman Caliph at Ellora?

A few months ago, I read an extraordinary article by @Imran_posts

On a hill above the Ellora Caves, he revealed, stands the abandoned Tomb of the Last Ottoman Caliph. Its a fascinating symbol of Ellora' global past, and in my opinion the Turkish Embassy should get involved to help restore it. It's a fascinating symbol of Turkish-Indian ties.

@TC_YeniDelhiBE

The Source of the World's Diamonds

When the first East India Company merchants arrived on India’s shores, ‘Golconda’ was already a byword for unimaginable wealth. Indeed since the late 15th century, this fabled fortress had lain at the beating heart of the Qutb Shahi Sultanate, an Indian kingdom that ruled over all the known diamond mines in the world.

The Oldest Tombs in South Asia

In the villages around Multan, the sacred Sufi city in central Pakistan, lies three of the oldest tombs in all of South Asia Until twenty years ago, they were largely unknown. But today scholars regard them as among the earliest masterpieces of Islamic art in the region

The Hindu Kings of Vietnam

A thread Until just five hundred years ago, Vietnamese speakers were mostly limited to the Red River Basin of Northern Vietnam.

South Vietnam, meanwhile, was dominated by a constellation of Hindu states known as Champa, the eastern-most Hindu states in mainland Asia