To celebrate India achieving 10 million doses of #COVID19 vaccine delivered yesterday, we are publishing this thread on the history of innoculation in India. Two 18th century accounts by early English residents in India give descriptions of inoculations done by itinerant Brahmins (a) Found in a letter from R. Coult to Dr. Oliver Coult in An account of the disease of Bengal (dated Feb. 10, 1731), and (b) in 1768, an account of the manner of inoculating for the smallpox in the East Indies. Printed for T. Becket, and P.A.Q. de Hondt, near Surry Street in the

#InternationalDogDay Indian ancient texts have many interesting dog examples. Below: Dattatreya, ascetic, avatar, and one of the lords of Yoga, with his four dogs. In the Mahabharata, only a dog was the final companion of Yudhisthira in his final leg to heaven. He refused to enter heaven without the loyal dog, who later turned out to be Dharma himself, taking Yudhisthira's test of loyalty.

Today is the anniversary of the fall of Chittor - one of the greatest forts ever built in India, and the capital of Mewar. The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells. In 1303, Alauddin captured Chittor after an eight-month-long siege. (Images: current day; painting of the fort; painting