Bangladeshis posted an image today of a headless Mahadeva, right? Shall I tell you the story of Mamarak Khan or Mubarak Khan, one of the last great commanders of Karrani Dynasty? He was sacrificed to Mahadeva himself. That was one of the last gasps of Muslim power of Bengal and it ended up a Mughal province for the centuries to come. So, Mamarak Khan's story goes thus.
After a major defeat at Chatogram in the hands of Bijaya Manikya, the Pathans ruling the area fled to Bengal and petitioned Suleiman Karrani.

Again, an old topic. Mahmud of Ghazni and Somnath. What is the sequence of events? Mahmud, who was known for his physical ugliness according to chronicles got his window of opportunity to pillage India proper after the collapse of Shahi enterprise. So, by 1026, he has decided to pick one of the prized temples of India as a glorious conclusion of his career - Somnath. Accordingly, he entered India through Punjab and skirting the desert, crashed on Somnath. Except for people like Romila Thapar,

In 1542, Vijayanagara fought the Bahmanid coalition and defeated it. It was a massive battle and sensing a window, the three brothers - Ramaraya split the army into three and he along with his brothers Tirumala and Venkatadri marched in three directions chasing the big three - Ramaraya went on Golconda, Tirumala on Ahmednagar and Venkatadri on Bijapur. Venkatadri clashed with the fleeing troops at Adoni, Kurakacherla and Manuva - in fact, Asad Khan who was holding Adoni abandoned the fort - while he fled with a select troop to raid Venkatadri's camp, he ordered the garrison to join the Adil Shah and Barid Shah.

Vira Narasingaraya who held the coast from Pulicat till almost Rameshwaram earned a revenue of 11 lakhs under Krishnaraya. Sewell gives it to around 3.5 rupees. He paid one third in tribute, maintained 30000 foot, 3000 horse, 30 elephants.
This is a good metric for Indian troop strengths.
39 lakh rupees revenue - 30000 infantry - 3000 horse - 30 elephant
Considering 30 lakhs, we will have a decent ratio -
1 lakh revenue - 1000 infantry - 100 horse - 1 elephant
While this is the number from around 1500, I don't see why this number should be different all history. There is only one counter metric. How does 30 lakh revenue translate to a cavalry based army. Example, consider Battle of Raichur where Krishnaraya threw the full weight of the Empire. Now, if Narasinga Raya's contribution is 30k infantry, total Tamil country can be no more than a lakh. And total Vijayanagara, 3-3.5 lakh. Now, assuming he fielded a third of his army there(which is the maximum because of his logistics and the need for domestic security), the best Vijayanagara can field is 1-1.1 lakhs. We have another metric there to help us. Vijayanagara camp size is 7.36 lakh soldiers. Now, if we assume 10 camp followers for every soldier( you have shopkeepers, food supplies, barbers, grooms, everyone - some are capable of fighting anyways), we arrive at 73,600 troops. 75000 troops against a projection of 1 lakh seems a decent approximation. Now, what is this number? It's one-fifth of Vijayanagara's capacity. Can we assume A kingdom can field 20% of it's strength for a campaign? In case of Vijayanagara, it can be 75k troops, 7500 horse and 75-100 elephants with a 20% margin.

Another story. When Krishna Raya was ruling, the Chola country was ruled by Virashekhara Chola and Pandya country was ruled by Chandrashekhara Pandya. But, Virashekhara invaded Pandya country and ejected the Pandya out. The Pandya went to Vijayanagara and petitioned Krishna Raya. Krishna Raya chastised Nagama Nayaka as the Tamil Country was under his mandate, how did things go this bad? And he asked Nagama Nayaka to take an army personally and fix the things. He told that the Chola country will have to be annexed into the royal territory and order should

The Story of the Ahoms
A Mong Mao prince Sukhapha was appointed as the heir apparent in absence of succession and when the king Pao Meo Pung. Pao Meo Pung got a son after nineteen years, to avoid a conflict, Sukhapha left the kingdom in 1215 and crossed the Paktai Mountains. He and his followers were generally migrants and not invaders, and though they had to force their way through, they eventually settled in Kamarupa, which eventually came to be known as Assam after them. The traditional dating of the kingdom’s foundation is given as 1228. They called their kingdom Mong Dun Shun Kham – the Casket of Gold. Sukhapha moved from place to place till he finally settled in Charaideo which would emerge as the ritual capital of the Ahoms even after they shifted the capital city from there. He would divide the administration into two parts, each headed by one of the Dangaria – Burhagohain and Borgohain. The Ahoms stayed as vassals of Mong Mao till Mong Kwang succeeded it.

Ambedkar is a really tricky topic. He was born with a silver spoon - his family was the traditional palanquin bearers of the village temple in his place and he spent most of his childhood in a cantonment where his father was a teacher - what persecution are we talking here? Now, as like many of the aspiring class of that India including a bulk of Indian freedom fighters, he went to England to study and returned back exactly how the main names like Jinnahbhai or Gandhi or Sardar Patel returned back. But, unlike the rest, he had another baggage with

Let me propose a slightly different theory over Brahmin hatred in India. We understand that they being the guardians of Hinduism had to face the ire of Buddhists and Jain's during their days of ascendancy but then these cults were just corrective actions on Hinduism. Their retreat was chaotic and still had local support. On the other hand, Rashtrakutas are one of the first kingdoms in India who expanded that massively and rapidly. This introduced a level of low level churning in the government. To establish control in the kingdom

Another of Nehru's stupidities. When the Islamic Jinnahate of Pakistan was being formed, Kalat was dead against joining it. Ahmed Yar Khan in fact went to the extent of influencing the formation of independent Balochistan and Pashtunistan. What did Nehru do? Nothing. Pakistan had the support of Kalat's Prime Minister Aslam Khan and Foreign Minister Douglas Fell but even after Jinnah appeared in Quetta in person, he wasn't able to achieve anything. Ahmed Yar Khan was supposed to meet Jinnah with the accession treaty but he feigned illness and

Want to know how the concept of propaganda and narrative works? Try to find about the Dhulap family online. You will find literally nothing. Because according to the mainstream narrative, they are pirates. Reality? They headed Maratha Navy and oversaw both Salsette and Kolaba. How is Sarjerao Dhulap related to Harji Dhulap? Are Krishnaji, Janoji and Rudraji brothers? Who succeeded Anandrao? Who ruled Vijaydurg in 1818? In fact, Brits said Vijaydurg fell in 1812 but somewhere else they wrote, they were chased away even in 1818 just before the war!!

Superficially, yes. But, its much more nuanced than that. Singh Sabha, Arya Samaj, Congress - all came at the same time. All of them directly or indirectly did the same thing - dilute Hinduism. Let's focus on Congress. Congress was created as a

https://twitter.com/bhootkrit/status/1708683880415301860

vehicle that Indians don't go the wrong way. If you look at the earliest crop of Congress leaders, almost all of them are bible inspired Hindi social reformers. Ranade used bible to teach his wife English, Chandavarkar was excommunicated 15 years after he returned, Gokhale,

I just can't understand. How can one be so stupid? For Murshidabad, India surrendered Khulna. Siliguri Corridor became leaner. Chittagong Hill Tracts were written off. Are we really saying India didn't have a visibility for all this or are we saying people had zero clue? And Nehru didn't invade Noakhali and cut off Chittagong as a response to 1947 Pakistani Invasion of Kashmir. Seriously? Its a different thing that Sneha Kumar Chakma has already given him ideas and he was horrified at that.

A synopsis of the genesis of Manipur troubles.
1. Mizoram is carved out of two territories - North Lushai Hills which was illegally taken over from Tripura and South Lushai Hills which was carved out of Chakma Hills 2. The gap between Manipur and Chakma Hills is known for migration of tribes from the direction of Yunnan. Every few decades, a new clan becomes the master of the hills and either ejects or absorbs the last power of the area.

How many of you heard about a certain Hope Cooke, a filthy rich, politically connected American woman who married the widowed crown prince of Sikkim and in lust for power, poked repeatedly at India and when India annexed Sikkim, left her husband for good, with her children? Oh!! Nothing much. Born to a flight instructor, she shifted to her grandfather's place on her mother's death. Her grandfather, the an international shipping brokerage firm died soon leaving her a decent fortune.

https://twitter.com/omarali50/status/1670882534933295104

The problem with British imperialism is, it didn't have enough people to run the vast administration. The direct consequence of that is broken trusts and unnecessary wars. Take for example, John Claude White. He made a mess out of Sikkim in the role of Regent all his tenure. Of not so great antecedants, he was born to a doctor in Calcutta and studied at Royal Indian Engineering College before joining Bengal Govt as an Assistant Engineer in PWD in 1876. Such a nobody, simply because there were no enough people became the Resident in Khatmandu in 1883

Three old but random topics which I had to touch upon yesterday - all ended with the same theme Bachebaazi.
1. The last Crown Prince of Byzantine Empire and his sister were raped by the Ottomans and then killed on the altar of Jagia Sophia 2. The last Hindu commander of Kabul at the time of capitulation set two conditions for surrender and conversion - no bachebaazi and no cow slaughter
3. The the British Governor of Andamans sent an expedition to raid Sentinelese Island.

The geography of Talikota. The Battle is called Talikota because Muslims decided to call it so. Muslim armies were based in Talikota, the army was spread between Rakkasi and Tangadi and the first crossing was effected at Islampur. Venkatadri possibly died there. Vijayanagara armies were stationed at Karadi and the whole battlefront extended from Kudalasangama to Islampur. After the lines are breached, first to fall was the small hill fort of Gudur and then, the fortress of Mudgal. With the fall of Mudgal, Vijayanagara position collapsed.

Sarvam Daivechha. A story goes that Vidyaranya cast the horoscope of Vijayanagara and established a Muhurta for its inauguration. The city was supposed to last 1000 years. Vidyaranya told to Harihara Raya, he will blow a conch at the right time and

https://twitter.com/AstroAmigo/status/1661223167782973441

the king was to break a coconut at that time. But, it so happened that an Aghori blew his conch and the king broke coconut on that Muhurta. Soon after, he heard the second conch - that of Vidyaranya. Confused, Harihara sent men to understand what happened.

Three of the most problematic things I have read in all my life. Even if you ignore the religion angle in them, they are still very troublesome, especially when one reads them together
1. Mosaic distinction: If you are not with me, you are against me. 2. There is no crime for those who have Christ - Shenoute
3. Sassanid Shapur once said, christians of Persia are more loyal towards Byzantines than Persia
I am really curious what kind of modelling creates such kind of a mindset - penchant to ignore law and be a fifth columnist.

So, came across an old article. Two ex-Prime Ministers of Armenia said they would go to Moscow and cut a better deal.
Pashinyan says, what should I answer Putin if he asks me, what is it that you can't tell me directly but want to convey through special envoys? Pashinyan then proposed a ceremonial visit of the two leaders as ex heads. Naturally, they weren't interested.
In spite of this, they got in touch with Lavrov. Pashinyan is unbothered - Kocharyan's passport is impounded by courts - he said let him apply to get his passport back!

This fellow knows what happened in Nakchivan and Kars. And still he plans to gift Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Who is driving him towards these anti-civilizational decisions? Armenians will surely remember him for generations.

https://twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1660582197319835648

By the way. You forgot to mention. Nobody is ready to fight because he poked at the only two allies in the whole area - Russia and Iran. Even when Iran threatened Aliyev recently, Armenia didn't even bother to join voices.

https://twitter.com/L8zyboy108/status/1660590305073037312