Chhatrapati Shivaji: A courageous Maratha who fought for India first, and then his kingdom

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Chhatrapati Shivaji? A Marathi icon who was great with guerrilla warfare tactics. Is that it? Unfortunately, no historical figure has been so disfigured by his so-called followers as Shivaji. He has been regionalized by Marathi politicians and reduced to a “Great Maratha Ruler” rather than acknowledging his pan India contributions, which include how he braved both Mughal and British Empire.

Shivaji didn't strive for an independent Marathi Kingdom, but fought for Hindavi Swarajya, or self-rule. It would be thus important to highlight his genuine position that he deserves, in regards to his contributions in Indian history.

Though Islam came to India in about 8th Century, it was limited to the Sindh province. Our history books often glorify the Islamic Invasion by pointing towards how Muslims ruled India for over 1,000 years. However, the truth is that only the northern part of India came under Muslim domination.

Shivaji was one such 17th C.E Indian stalwart, who posed a great threat to both the Mughal and British Empire. Thus, it was always in their interests to play down the Marathas.  In one of his Historical Essays, Lord Macaulay described Marathas as a formidable race, who if wanted could dominate the entire region in India.

Chattrapati Shivaji contributed towards revolutionizing the art of warfare in India. His concept of war was much different from what followed in the preceding 1,000 years. It is sad that his Dharma Yudha (war for the righteous case) was reduced to an individual glory. If someone who has studied and scrutinized history well, they would realize that he was truly a Maratha who fought for India first, and then his kingdom, believes the renowned nationalist Sanjay Dalmia.

Shivaji was a great statesman, who always fought against the misrule of the Muslim sultans and emperors. That said, he was never partial towards a particular religion as he had sizeable number of Muslims to his side. Against the fanatic Aurangzeb, he found an ally in Bahamani Kingdom of Golconda. It's due to some of these reasons, that Shivaji is regarded as the founder of the modern secular state of India.

He ensured that all the Muslim shrines and scriptures are well protected. Additionally, Shivaji, didn't allow any form of extremism in his kingdom and expected the same in return from others as well in the neighborhood. It's for these reason, when Aurangzeb re-started the hated Jizya, Shivaji regretted it. He wrote to him: "In this land Muslims, Hindus, Christians and other people have stayed together without any problem. Your imposing of Jizya would lead to hardships. The Quran is God's revelation and it doesn't make any distinction between God's children.”

He relied on swift movement and discarded war elephants. Additionally, for strengthening maritime security, he even laid the foundations of the fort at Sindhudurg-Maratha navy headquarters.

Shivaji realized that English people were here to maximize the benefits no matter what the cost. He was amongst the few Indians who understood the long-term threat posed by the British. His last fight was also with British, which was meant to keep their ill-intentions in checks. Unfortunately, we didn't have more people like him at that time, otherwise, India would have gained more prominence at the world stage, way before 1947, says Sanjay Dalmia.

It's for the resistance, smart and secular thought process that Shivaji should be remember for. There is a lot that can be covered and instead of reducing his contributions to Maharashtra, we should highlight his contributions towards Hindavi Swarajya.

How legislative bombing by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt changed the course of Indian Independence movement?

It was like any other day in the unruly British Raj, they were busy, trying to implement stringent rules and policies to make the life of Indians, a living hell. However, it wasn’t going to be similar as something big, something that would shake the British Empire forever were to take place soon. It was their regular meeting, when all of a sudden people sitting in the Central Legislative Assembly witnessed a small-scale explosion. It was on April 8, 1929, two brave Indians, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt decided to take an action in form of Delhi Central Legislative Assembly Bombing against the passing of atrocious bills, the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Dispute Bill.

Bills that led to the Bombings:

People were tired and wanted freedom, for this they were abiding by and following the footsteps of Gandhian liberalism. However, the continues repression and passing of repressive bills, gave masses an idea of how irrelevant it was to remain liberal against the forces whose penultimate aim was to extract maximum wealth from India and treat its citizens as second class people. 

Thus, about 90 years ago, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt took an action. Our history books often acknowledge the contributions from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru, which is significant however, it was these small efforts as well, that led to the freedom. One significant effort was from Bhagat Singh, as he was certainly responsible towards giving freedom movement a new trajectory.

He was an avid follower of Mahatma Gandhi, for him like most other Indians Gandhi was the one, who could get rid of the evil British forces. However, soon these hopes were destroyed, when in 1920, Mahatma Gandhi launched Non-cooperation movement. Bhagat Singh, though, was just around 13 years old, decided to be a part of the movement and showed immense interest by burning all of his books that were authored by the British writers. Little did he knew that Gandhi would call off the Non-cooperation Movement after Chauri-Chaura incident?

Upset with the decision, Bhagat Singh lost all of his faith in non-violence. The young man then joined the Young Revolutionary Movement that believed in getting rid of the British Empire by means of force. “The movement of Indian freedom which was looking sluggish got a new life after the emergence of revolutionary leaders like Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Sukhdev Thapar, etc.,” says Sanjay Dalmia, who is a renowned nationalist and a proud Indian.

The Judgement Day:

The bombing was carried out by the two rock-ribbed fighters of Indian freedom struggle, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt on the pre-planned date. What’s more impressive is the way Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt responded during the trail for the bombing. “If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud”.

The bombing was not aimed at causing harm as it was meant to protest against the two despotic bills— the Public Safety Bill and Trade Dispute Bill, which were supposed to be passed on the day of bombing. But the success of this valiant incident by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt brought the British Rule in India on back foot. It instigated thousands of other young Indian souls as they turned revolutionaries in no time to give the colonizers a taste of their own medicine.

The oppressive Britishers, who were somewhat enjoying a free hand due to the Gandhian philosophy of Ahimsa, got a sense of repelling revolution spreading across the country. Although the taste of the revolutionary fruit came on August 15^th, 1947, the journey of Indian independence got a huge upsurge 18 years ago on April 8^th, 1929 with Inquilab Zindabad, deems Sanjay Dalmia.

Although, Bhagat Singh and Dutt were 23 and 19 years old respectively at the time of the Assembly bombing, it had tremendous impact on the freedom struggle, giving it a new shape.

Forward Bloc: Legacy of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose that doesn’t form part of History Textbooks

World War 2 was about to start and the world was witnessing a huge turmoil. Leaders, especially French and Britishers, with their greed to gain maximum ground in the world economy were ready to take on any country. And then the inevitable happened, as Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany invaded Poland. This was unacceptable to France, United Kingdom, for they were ruling the major part of the world. So, the broader cause of the war was German aggression and French & British appeasement.

Back in India, British repressive policies were continuing with excessive looting. Gandhi's liberal mendicant approach was not bringing any results. Masses were behind him and the nation was certainly more united against the British oppression but how credible can an armless crowd be against the ruthless Britishers.

Indian freedom movement needed more strength, and some people were unhappy with Congress's approach. This is when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian stalwart, rose to the occasion with his All India Forward Bloc. Emerging as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, it was soon re-established as an independent political party.

Bose had many differences with Mahatma Gandhi in terms of ideology as Gandhi was ready to support Britishers in the World War 2. Disgusted by the idea, Bose decided to take advantage of the situation and cause damage to Britishers. Bose said that those who are joining Forward Bloc, must never turn back to the British and sign the pledge form with their blood. Interestingly, 17 young girls were amongst the first ones to sign the form.

It was a difficult time and the nation needed an impetus in the form of aggression to remove the unruly British Empire from India. Britishers were always about maximizing profits, even if it meant killing millions of innocent civilians, sometimes with arms, sometimes with excessive taxes, which also led to plague in Bihar and Bengal, says Sanjay Dalmia, who is a renowned nationalist.

It was in Nagpur session, held in the year 1940 that Netaji Bose gave a concrete plan for winning Purna Swaraj or complete Independence. The legacy continued with formation of Indian National Army, which was contrary to what history books tell us, as it was one major reason behind British defeat. Had it not been for the aggressive approach by the likes of Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, Bose, India may have been under British raj for more few years.

Our history books have been manipulated for they don’t give enough credit to these real war heroes. It's good to recollect nationalist ideas but it is incomplete without Forward Bloc's immense contribution, says Mr. Dalmia.

Why British Empire atrocities should be compensated with a formal apology

Learning from past mistakes of British exploitative nature, why modern citizens should be apologetic about their ancestral doings. Today's intelligentsia believes that India benefited under British Raj, when in reality it drained all its wealth and resources.

Battle of Plassey 1757 saw the British Empire consolidating their position as rulers in India. They first came to India to trade goods but soon realizing the benevolent nature of the masses, they showed their true colors. India, which once was the major exporter of finished products became an importer of British goods. "Sone Ki Chidiya" was looted and by the time the colonial rulers were kicked out of India in 1947, its overall share in the world economy which once stood at about 23%, dropped to less than 4%.

What caused all of this? It's a myth that British imperialism benefited one of its richest colonies, India. Be it Railways, harbor development or maintenance of police, they all were structured to maximize the profits and take all the primary goods away from India, says Sanjay Dalmia, who is a renowned nationalist.

As per a recent YouGov poll, 43 per cent of British citizens thought the existence of the British Empire was a good thing, while only 19 per cent agreed. This is the common belief among the modern day Britishers, imagine how it must have been 100 years ago.

For many years, at least till the 1890s, many princely states, zamindars or even people associated with Indian Independence movement remained bewildered with the fact that India would prosper under the British raj. However, soon realizing how wrong they were with their prediction, they started losing their hopes. Amidst this crisis, came the man who gave the much needed impetus to Indian national movement, Dadabhai Naoroji.

His concept of wealth drain from India during British rule got huge attention. He mentioned the same concept in his book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. Naoroji was the first person to say that internal factors were not the sole reason for poverty in India as it was the colonial rule that was draining the wealth and prosperity of the country. He further stated that India lost about 200-300 million pounds of revenue to Britain.

This was the very foundation of British Empire, all they ever wanted was to drain our resources, so that they can prosper. Modern British people should apologize and refrain from stating that their ancestors did any good for India. We don’t want any compensation, all we want is respect and a formal acknowledgment that it was the Britishers who looted us, destroyed our artistic culture, feels Mr. Sanjay Dalmia.

If it weren’t for them, India would have remained “Sone Ki Chidiya” and perhaps would have been the world leader. That said, thanks to our current leadership, we are moving in the right direction and perhaps in the next few years, we may become the world leader which believes in doing the right things — a precursor to our ancient wisdom.

Indian festivals and their evolution: How eco- friendly Ganesh Chaturthi celebration symbolizes New India

India. What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of it? The Culture? The Contrasting Colors? The Food? The festivals? Sure, these are few of the things that come to mind. But what surprises foreigners and many Indians in general, is the number of festivals and types of celebrations that one gets to witness.

We have festivals like Shivratri, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Dusshera that exhibit our range of celebrations. From Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata, everywhere people celebrate these festivals with a lot of fervor and enthusiasm. However, very few nations can demonstrate this kind of symbolism in modern times — a testament to our diversity and uniqueness.

Today we shed light on one of India's greatest festivals i.e. Ganesh Chaturthi Vinayaka Chaviti. We all know how enthusiastically people celebrate our beloved elephant-headed Lord Ganesha's festival, but very few would have knowledge about its significance. As per our traditional belief system, the festival celebrates the arrival of Ganesha to earth from Kailash Parvat with his mother goddess Parvati/ Gauri.

Known as the God of wealth, sciences, knowledge and wisdom, most Hindus always seek Lord Ganesha's blessings before starting any important work. The main essence of Ganesh Chaturthi is that devotees who pray to him are set free of the sins and it leads them on the path of knowledge and wisdom.

Our religion and cultural values have stood the test of time. In spite of several invasions, our values remained strong as ever. Both the British and Sultanate invasions couldn't understand that it's not a single school of thought like theirs but an amalgamation of several philosophies. It' is not dependent on a single book, scripture, god or principle, says Sanjay Dalmia, a renowned nationalist and Chairman of Dalmia Group.

As Lord Ganesha is known to remove all obstacles in the pursuit of an objective, we should also remove all obstacles that come in the way of our life goals, added Vijay Kuppa, Co- founder at Orowealth. Such is the power of Ganpati that people from all walks of life believe in him.

With increasing environmental awareness over the years, people of India have become more conscious and have started celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi in an environmental friendly way. As per the recent trends, Bappa's murti is made with chocolate, natural items, so that it can be used to feed poor people.

With India advancing towards eco-friendly ways, it is important that every celebration is in sync with the principle. This year, let's celebrate the festival with an environment friendly Bappa.

"Bolo Ganpati Bappa Morya"!

Mangal Pandey: The first martyr of our Independence struggle

“Yeh Azaadi ki Ladai Hai… Ghuzre Hue Kal Se Azaadi… Aane Waale Kal ke Liye...” Did you just experience a wave of emotions? If these words can still motivate you then imagine the impact they might have had in the “Era of darkness in India” i.e. British Empire. These golden words were spoken for the first time by our hero, Mangal Pandey. A soldier in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry, he might have been just a sipahi in East Indian Company's eyes, but he was a lot superior in his intentions.

Born in a small village of Nagwa, Pandey joined the Bengal Army at just the age of 19. He was ambitious and viewed himself reaching good heights in the infantry. However, his ambitions soon came into conflict with his religious beliefs when an infamous Enfield rifle was inducted in the Bengal Army. The bullet cartridge was thought to be greased with the fat of cows and pigs, thereby hurting sentiments of both the Hindus and Muslims alike.

This caused huge resentment among Indians with Mangal Pandey becoming the first sipahi to fire a bullet at his senior, Sargent Major of East India Company. Contemporary British opinion denounced him as a traitor and mutineer but his actions were immensely appreciated in the form of “Revolt of 1857”, a.k.a India’s first war of Independence”. Sepoy, Zamindars, Maharajas, everyone came forward and fought against the atrocities of Britain. They showed a great character despite of fighting without proper arms and ammunition.

Mangal Pandey was a true patriot, who identified himself with his motherland and sought his inspirations from ancient Indian scriptures. We are proud to have a compatriot, who united and gave a voice to the Indian national movement of 1857. He is a truly a modern Indian hero and will remain immortal in our hearts, said Sanjay Dalmia, who is a renowned nationalist.

In India, Mangal Pandey is celebrated as the country’s first freedom fighter against the British Empire. A commemorative postal stamp was issued in his name by the Indian government in the year 1984. Since then, his life and actions have formed a part of several cinematic ventures and he is regarded very highly by all contemporary Indians. It is because of such sacrifices that we can now breathe in an independent and democratic nation, India!

Iron Pillar of Delhi: A Curious Tale of Ancient Indian Craftsmanship

Qutub Minar, a UNESCO site, is one of the most famous monuments of India. It’s a part of the Qutub complex which also includes marvels such as Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, Alai Darwaza, the tomb of Iltutmish, among the others.

A 7.2 meters tall marvel gracing the Qutub Complex, the iron pillar is one of the world's foremost metallurgical curiosities. It is well- known for its unique rust- resistant composition and holds a testimony of the ancient Indian craftsmanship. The pillar exhibits no signs of its age at first glance, however the detailed analysis of the inscriptions by historians links it to the Golden Age of Gupta Empire, says the well-known industrialist Sanjay Dalmia.

To this day, no one has been able to solve the mysteries of this ancient pillar. It still stands tall in spite of many foreign invasions and drastic climate change.

As per the translations of the verses of Brahmi script engraved on the pillar, the structure was constructed by Chandragupta II of Gupta Empire in 4^th century.

It describes the king as a devotee of the god “Vishnu” and records the erection of a dhvaja of Vishnu, on a hill called “Vishnupada”.

Based on paleographic similarity of the Gupta-era iconography, few historians also theorized that this pillar was initially erected at Udayagiri (Odhisa) and was later transferred to Delhi.

One theory also suggests that the pillar was moved from its original location and erected in the main temple at the fortress city of Lal Kot at Delhi when it was found by the Tomar king, Anangapala II, in A.D. 1050. This information is based on an inscription on the pillar itself. When in the Second battle of Tarain, Prithiviraj Chauhan lost to Qutb-ud-din Aibak, Qutb celebrated it by erecting a mosque, called the Quwwat-ul-Islam in Lal Kot on a temple’s base. Fortunately, the pillar wasn’t removed or destroyed otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to witness such ancient structure.

Mr. Dalmia added that as per an estimate the pillar weighs over 5 tons, so the question of how it was moved still remains a mystery. The questions still haven’t been answered, thereby leaving people more curious about the capability of the ancient India, making it a subject of scholarly discussion.

Alongside the above dynamic mysteries, the most talked about topic would always remain its anti-corrosion properties. It’s difficult to analyze the techniques which were used in the Ancient India, says Sanjay Dalmia. How well advanced were they to have erected such a heavy pillar, made up of 98% wrought iron?

The presence of humidity is among the major factors for rusting of iron. Hence a general consensus is that Delhi’s non- humid weather has aided the pillar’s ability to resist the corrosion. Scientific discoveries however show that the corrosion resistance results from an even layer of crystalline iron hydrogen phosphate hydrate forming on the high-phosphorus-content iron, which protects it from the effects of the Delhi climate.

All of these questions can make any one curious with an urge to re visit the bygone era. But at the end, all we can do is appreciate and bow down to their advanced craftsmanship in metallurgy. We need to acknowledge the achievements of our ancestors and thank them for such monuments which take us back to that glorifying era.