The
object of education –
1.
Whether enlightenment. 2. Whether wisdom 3. Whether character assassination. 4.
Whether upliftment of character. 5. Whether for national growth. 6. Whether for
diversification from other evils. 7. Whether for lead discipline life. 8.
Whether for developing the resistance against exhertion. 9. Whether for
expenditure of money. 10. Whether for having the uniform. 11. Whether for
development of tolerance. 12. Whether for killing the time. 13. Whether for
reading of books. 14. Whether for develop friendly. 15. Whether for development
mental agony.
Subject
of History.
1.
Whether for advancement of the ancestral cultural heritage. 2. For knowing the
traditions. 3. For knowing our ancestors. 4. To knowing the past, its import and
the expectation for the future. 5. History is 3 fold presents / 3 dimensional
picture. (i) having the present with past memory. (ii) having the present with
present existence in compared to past. (iii) our present in anticipation of
future development.
Archaeological Remains and
Monuments
Archaeology is the study of things
left in the past, whether on the ground or buried under it. The things include
buildings, statues, pictures, scriptures, ornaments, decorative pieces of
pottery, etc. The remains of stupas and temples help the study of art and
architecture and the culture and religious life of the people. The Ajanta
paintings tell us about the costumes, jewellery, hair-styles, things found
inside the houses, the architecture, etc. the digging of Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro changed our old idea of Indian History. The excavation (digging)
at Nalanda showed the glory of our past system of education. The digging out of
the temples of Deogarh, in Jhansi gave evidence of the splendour of the Gupta
emperors.
What is History?
History
is the story of the people of the past. To be history in the true sense, it
must be a record of their life and culture. History is no longer limited to the
story of kings and the way they ruled, the wars they fought and the expansion or
contraction of their empire. Along with these, history now helps us to know the
condition and pattern of the lives of the common people – how they met the
basic needs of their life, what difficulties and challenges come before them,
what way they solved them, what they thought, felt and believed, what new ideas
awakened them, as expressed in their literature, architecture and art, what way
they contributed to the progress of our civilization, etc.
Why do we study the past?
It
is a natural urge and curiosity in man. Think of the great men and women you
adore and admire. You surely love to know or read about their lives – their
childhood, their growing up, the hardships and challenges that came in their
way, their devotion to a cause, their suffering and sacrifices, their iron
will, untiring work and great ideals before them and their great achievements
and successes.
We love to know the past.
You love to know the past of your
favourite sportsman, favourite singer, favourite film star, your ideal man or
woman. So is the case with your country that you love so much. You love to know
its dazzling glories and great creations, the heights it reached in the realm
of thought and realizations, its dark days under foreign domination’s, its
devotions to great causes, its sacrifices and sufferings, its galaxy of great
men and women and its unique way of bringing different people closer and
establishing unity in diversity. Would you not like to know all these and more
about your beloved motherland?
The past is an inspiration for
us:
India’s
ancient history is very rich and glorious. Once India was considered the most
prosperous and civilized country of the world. We had a very rich and vast
literature, the Rigveda is considered
to be the oldest book in the world. We had institutions of higher learning. It
attached scholar form foreign lands. We had reached great heights in astronomy,
mathematics, medicine, and surgery. We had a long tradition of fine textiles.
In the past, India could develop a sense of cultural and emotional unity. We
believed then that there is only one God and the same God can be worshiped in
many names, forms, and manners. Ashoka, Kanishka, Harsha and even the Mughal
emperor Akbar were very tolerant and secular. The great awakening and
realisation came with Jainism and Buddhism, and the influence of the later
spread far and wide beyond our boundaries. A. L. Basham, a great historian,
praised our country in these words, “India was a cheerful land whose people
reached a higher level of orderliness and gentleness than any other nation. In
no other country the relations of man and man and of man and the state were so
far and humane.” So our past is a source of inspiration for us.
The past is a lesson for the
present:
Wise
men take lessons from their past problems and mistakes. So our country can take
care that past mistakes are not repeated. Our past warns us of the danger of
getting entangled in our internal quarrels and neglecting the defence of our
frontiers. It opens our eyes to how caste system divides our society in many
parts and sows seeds of separation and ill feeling. It reminds us that
complicated social and religious customs may lead to the break up of our
society. If in the past, India could become the world leader, there is no
reason that it should not be able to play a constructive role in the present
day world.
Sources of Indian History
Our history is of several thousand
years. We learn about our past from the various sources left behind by our
ancestors and not destroyed by time. History has to be based on facts and
evidence of various kinds. The evidences can be searched from literary sources,
inscriptions, coins, accounts of foreign people or visitors and archaeological
remains and monuments.
1. Literary
Sources
Among
the religious literature, the Vedas, the Upanishads and the two epics, Ramavana
and Mahabharata tell us mostly of the history and culture from the Vedic age to
the Gupta period. Buddhist literature and Jain literature also give us glimpses
of the times. Puranas give us some ideas of the political history of those
times. Dramas, poems and books written on law, administration, economics and
grammar provide us very interesting information about the life, habits,
customs, punishments and the normal problems of the people.
2. Accounts
of Foreign People
Herodotus
(5th century B. C.) gave a detailed description of the political
conditions of North-West India, through he never visited India. Aursian (4th
century B. C.) gave details of the invasion of Alexander. No Indian gave any
account of this great happening. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador in
Chandragupta Maurya’s court (4th century B. C.) described in
detailed the economic, political and social life of the people. Among the
several Chinese travellers, the accounts of Fa-hiem (beginning of the 5th
century AD) who came to the court of Chandragupta II and Hieum-Tsang (7th
century AD) who was patronized by Harsha gave valuable accounts of the life of
the people and the administration of rulers.
3. Inscriptions
Inscriptions
are written records engraved on rocks, stone, pillars and walls of temples.
Most of the early inscriptions are in Brahmi or Kharosti script. They provide
enough material about the economic, religious and social life of the people
besides administrative statements of kings. The inscriptions of Ashoka are the
best examples of administrative and religious types.
54 Muslims ostracised for
supporting ‘Vande Mataram’
FIFTY-FOUR
pro-BJP Muslims were excommunicated and their marriages nullified by a local
Mufti after they reportedly expressed the view that singing of national song
Vande Mataram was not un-Islamic, a fatwa which has sent ripples in the
community in Agra.
While issuing the fatwa, Mufti Abdul
Quddus Rumi declared that singing of the national song “would lead them (Muslims)
to hell.”
It was wrong for Muslims to sing Vande
Mataram, the Mufti said, adding, those advocating the song were deviating from
the religion.
The fatwa also nullifies the wedding
of those ex-communicated. Muslims who statement in favour of the national song
should offer prayers to renew their faith in Islam and remarry according to
Islamic rites, he said.
That around 1963-64 one of P. N. Oak
articles published in some Gujarati papers claimed that all of Ahmedabad’s 1000
mosques were 1000 captured temples and the mains Bhadrakali temple was being
misused by Muslims as their Jama Masjid.
Since Muslims are tutored to find
every excuse to pick up a quarrel with the Hindus. This was quite a novel,
unheard of and unabashed plea Thanks to Allah, perhaps no building by laws of
any country demand that every building must be shorter than the local mosque.
Yet the Muslims everywhere are a law unto themselves. Their nurture trains them
to be on a perpetual prowl and keep up a continuous growl to terrify everybody
and force every non-Muslim to declare himself a Muslim that is how Islam was
spread.
On further effort they ascertained the
writer’s name as P. N. Oak and found out my address. The owner of the firm then
wrote a pathetic letter describing his anguish and shock at the Muslim demand
and requesting me to help him tide over the predicament by my historical
acumen.
The Ahmedabad Muslim got the shock of
their life. Never in history had they ever got such a stunning retort and
rebuff.
A
practical instance is provided by the description in Muslim chronicles of a
magnificent Krishna temple in Mathura which Mohammad Ghazni says could not have
been completed even in 200 years, and another in Vidisha (modern Bhilsa) which
could take 300 years to build.
Any
identifiable details in earlier records of what is at present known as Taj
Mahal, luckily, Babur, the founder of the Moghul dynasty in India, who was the
great great grandfather of emperor Shahjahan, has left us a disarming and
unmistakable description of the Taj Mahal, if only we have the inclimation and
insight to grasp it.
On
page 192, Vol. II, of his Memories emperor Babur tells us Pp. 192 and 251,
Memoirs of Zahir-Ed-Din Mohamad Babur, Emperor of Hindustan, Vol. II, written
by himself in the Chaagatai Turki. Translated by John Layden and Willian
Erskine; annotated and revised by Sir Lucas King, in two volumes. Humphrey
Milford, Oxford University Press, 1921. “On Thursday (May 10, 1526) afternoon I
entered Agra and took up my residence at Sultan Ibrahim’s palace.” Later on
page 251 Babur adds : “A few days after the Id we had a great feast (July 11,
1526) in the grand hall, which is adorned with the peristyle of stone pillars,
under the dome in the centre of Sultan Ibrahim’s palace.”
It
may be recalled that Babur captured Delhi and Agra by defeating Ibrahim Lodi at
Panipat. As such he came to occupy the Hindu palace which Ibrahim Lodi, himself
an allien conqueror, was occupying. Babur, therefore, calls the palace at Agra
which he occupied as Ibrahim’s palace.
In
describing it Babur says that the palace is adorned the peristyle of pillars.
Ornamental towers at the corners of the Taj Mahal plinth. “Great hall” which is
obviously the magnificent room which now houses the cenotaphs of Mumtaz and
Shahjahan. Further tells that in the centre it had a dome. Thus it is clear
that Babur lived in the palace currently known as the Taj Mahal from May 10,
1526, until his death on December 26, 1530, intermittently. That means that we
have a clear record of the existence of the Taj Mahal at least 100 years before
the death of Mumtaz (the so-called Lady of the Taj) around 1630.
Vincent
Smith tells us that “Babur’s turbulent life came to a peaceful end in his
garden palace at Agra.” This again is emphatic proof that Babur died in the Taj
Mahal. Taj Mahal is the only palace in Agra which had a spectacular garden. The
Badshahnama refers to the garden as “sabz zamini” meaning verdant, spacious,
lofty, lush garden precincts.
“In
the large octagonal hall (of the Mystic House) was set the jewelled throne, and
above and below it were spread out hangings embroider with gold, and wonderful
strings of pearls.”
The
octagonal hall of the Mystic House is obviously the central octagonal hall of
the Taj Mahal in which a hundred years later Sahajahan raised the tomb of
Mumtaz, and in 1666 Aurangzeb buried his father emperor Shahjahan. The Taj
Mahal is called the Mystic House because it originated as a Shiva temple
replete with Vedic motifs. The same building was also called the Great House
because it was a magnificent royal residence.
There
are two sepulchral mounds in the central chamber of the Taj which look like
Muslim tombs, and could very well be those of Mumtaz Mahal, one of thee
thousands of consorts of Shahjahan, and of Shahjahan himself. It is well known
that many such mounds are fake. Such mounds have sometimes been found on the
terraces of historic buildings where no dead person could be buried by one
chance. Another reservation is that no specific burial date of Mumtaz being on
record it is highly doubtful whether she was at all buried in the Taj. Period
is mentioned a between six months to nine years of her death. Such vagueness,
even after a special palatial mausoleum is stated to have been constructed for
her body, is highly suspicious. Manuchi, an officer in the service of the East
India Company during Aurangzeb’s time, has recorded that Akbar’s tomb is empty.
Who knows then whether Mumtaz’s supposed tomb is not empty too. In spite of
such weighty reservations we are ready to presume that the two tombs could be
those of Mumtaz and Shahjahan.
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