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THE SOUL OF THE BUSINESS
A PRIVATE FAITH MADE DANGEROUSLY PUBLIC
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By SHOMA CHAUDHURY
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Passages... Passages... Passages...
Mulk Raj Anand: laureate of the downtrodden
Namita Gokhale assesses a fulsome life and a writer of integrity, whose passion for justice will outlive his prose
Mulk Raj Anand was born on December 12, 1905. In the 99 years of his packed life, he examined a society in transition, its social struggles and cultural archives. Long before Midnight’s Children reclaimed the English language from its colonial past, an earlier generation of Indian writers like Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and RK Narayan were establishing the voice of Indo-Anglian writing for an international audience. Novels like Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936) were written with an intense sense of ideological engagement, and Mulk Raj was described as ‘the laureate of the downtrodden.’
Mulk Raj’s legacy must be examined in the context of the multi-layered genealogy of recent Indian literature. Sarojini Naidu’s The Golden Threshold was published in 1905, the year of Mulk Raj’s birth. In a trajectory familiar to those times, Naidu abandoned poetry for politics. Some of the novels of Bankim Chandra Chatterji and Romesh Chunder Dutt appeared in English as well as Bengali, as did Tagore’s The Home and the World (1919) and Gora (1923).
But in the 1930’s, the trinity of Mulk Raj, Narayan and Raja Roy dominated the literary space of the day. Gandhian economics and politics charged the novels with varying degrees of purpose and propagandist intent. Now forgotten writers like KS Venkatramani published fiction like Murugan the Tiller (1927) and Kandan the Patriot (1932). Raja Rao’s Kanthapura, still a definitive text in many curricula, was a saga of the satyaagraha. Shanker Ram’s The Love of Dust (1938) was also an emotional panegyric to the peasantry. Only RK Narayan peppered the mood of the day with gentle irony.
To quote VS Naipaul, in another context, “We look back to the golden age and we are aware that we are looking at historical events.” An obituary is not an occasion for sentimentality, but an opportunity to remember, assess and understand. To be truthful, time has not been kind to Mulk Raj’s work. His bleeding heart prose and the passionate involvement and fervent archaisms of his writing have not weathered the distance of literary perspective. To understand the spirit of the age, Nehru’s and Gandhi’s writings remain the appropriate prose classics, rendering the fictionalised interpretation slightly irrelevant.
This is not to belittle Mulk Raj’s progressive views, his charismatic personality, his extraordinary understanding of and engagement with his times. As the author of Persian Painting (1930) and The Hindu View of Art (1936), as founder-editor of the highly respected art quarterly, Marg, and as Tagore professor of art at Punjab University, Mulk Raj fostered a holistic and integrated appreciation of India’s cultural and aesthetic tradition. The journey from Khalsa College, Amritsar to Cambridge and London, the friendships with Forster, Virginia Woolf, Henry Miller and Henry Read, the interventions in social issues and espousal of the disenfranchised, all document a prolific life, well lived. Mulk Raj fought untouchabilty, casteism, child labour and the Spanish Civil war. Unfortunately, good causes do not make for enduring literature. In an interview with The Times of India during Orwell’s centenary year, Mulk Raj is quoted to have said “In recall, I feel our friendship was an example of independent writers from the imperial country and the subject country getting together.” The imperial moment has passed, the literary torch moved on to more confident appropriation. A new generation of readers might well rediscover the body of work that this astonishing and prolific writer left behind. What really survives is the image of an unquenched anger, a passion for equity, and an uncompromised integrity in aesthetics, politics, and the lived life.
October 09, 2004
Related Stories
• Arun Kolatkar: the death of mystery
• Shobha Gurtu: a rare raga
• Mulk Raj Anand: laureate of the downtrodden
Jambudveep's BlogDecember 14, 2010
How many Indians died in the genocides committed by the British Raj?
Filed under: British Misrule — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 8:48 pm
Tags: British raj, Famines, Freedom Struggle, Independence, India History
In Memoriam: In memory of the countless millions of Indians who perished in the genocides conducted by their British tormentors. You shall not be forgotten.
Approximate Number of Indians Killed by the British
Cause of Deaths Number of Deaths
Comments
British-made Famines
85 million (approximately)
Please see Appendix I for a detailed breakup with references. For an explanatory article on the famines click here.
Epidemics induced by Famines Information is being gathered
-
Anglo-Indian Wars[i] Information is being gathered
-
Indians Killed fighting for the British
Information is being gathered -
Freedom Fighters martyred by the British
Information is being gathered -
A short poem in memory of the dead:
You Shall not be Forgotten
Voices of the past call out to us,
“Remember us, Remember us!”
Each voice has a tale to tell,
Of English “humanity” and “justice”.
With a heavy heart I hear their tales of woe,
“Stabbed with an English bayonet was I!”
“I was raped and left to die!”
“Dying of hunger, I was left to rot,
While my crops provided fodder for the English horse!”
“Did you see my village?
The firangis burnt it down in 1857.”
“I sold myself to save my child.”
There is no end to the mountain of grief,
Which befell our people in times gone by.
“There is no justice in this world,” they say in a voice,
“But let not our memories wither away,
What is more cruel than to be forgotten by one’s own?”
“Remember us, Remember us!”
“Your memory shall be kept alive!”I say to them,
“On our shoulders the burden rests,
For we shall not let your memory fade!”
A brief Note on the rationale behind conducting this count…
“How many Indians were killed off by the British Raj?”
This deceptively simple question was asked by a gentleman in the Bharat Rakshak forum. This got me thinking, “Surely there has to be a tally of the number of Indians killed by the British?” After all haven’t other mass genocides like that of the Jews by Nazi Germany been documented? A simple internet search will give you estimates on how many Jews died in the Holocaust.
So why isn’t there any information on the total number of Indians killed off by the British in their “civilising” wars, manmade famines etc? Why have the “eminent” historians who set our educational syllabuses from their ivory towers in JNU (Jawaharlal University, Delhi) not brought out a simple tally of the Indians killed due to British imperialism? Have they done anything other than being Congress cronies and apologists for the Islamic mob? There is no surprise on their studied silence on British atrocities in India. After all some of the more “eminent” historians owe their sustenance and publicity to their lords overseas.
For the British government it is imperative that only the so called “positive” aspects of their tyranny in India are highlighted. Who would want to own up to being responsible for multiple genocides?
At the end of the Second World War, a completely shattered Germany was forced to publicly atone for its war crimes. But the British pulled out of India completely intact, hence there was no “pressure” on them to repent for their genocides in India. Additionally, British academics and historians have played a pivotal role in denying outright or defending the role of their ancestors in the genocide .For e.g. take the case of our First war of Independence of 1857.It is only recently that the Indian viewpoint has begun to emerge (“Operation Red Lotus” is a book I would recommend). For more than 150 years after the event the British version dominated mainstream narration of history.
Similarly in the case of other “Made in Britain” disasters, such as the terrible famines which hit India from 1768 till 1943 CE ( the last one occurred only four years before they left India in 1947 CE), British academia and their “brown sahibs” in India continually try to deny the British role in the deaths of millions. Case in point is the Wikipedia entry for “Famines in India”. The lowest estimate of deaths is usually presented as the true one and every effort is made to absolve the British of the blood on their hands. One wonders who is editing those entries and why aren’t our people turning out in force to tell our version of history?
But the body of evidence regarding the deliberate murder of millions in the “good” times of the British Raj continues to pile up. It is heartening to see more and more mainstream books coming out outlining in detail the racist and deliberate policies pursued by British which directly led to the genocide of millions of Indians.
I am neither a historian nor anything of that sort. I try to live by two principles in life: “Truth” and “Justice”. As far as the telling of our history is concerned, none of these two principles is present. This is my humble attempt to keep the memories of those who have passed away alive.
I have made a start on this long journey of compiling the number of our dead from a variety of different sources. The task is mind numbing and very painful for me personally, but it must be done.
I have started off with populating the total number of Indians killed in British-Made famines. As I populate each section I will add an Appendix which gives a detail break up with references and a short note from me. Each of the other casualty figures will be populated as I gather more information.
वन्दे मातरम्
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[i] I believe the term “Anglo-Indian” war has been coined by Parag Tope in his book “Operation Red Lotus” for the war of 1857.However I have appropriated it to cover all the wars from the beginning of East India Company till the final suppression of large scale resistance in 1858 CE.
Comments (1)
December 12, 2010
Appendix I: Breakup of the Famine death Total, with a list of Good books on the subject
Filed under: British Misrule — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 8:53 pm
Tags: 1857, Berar, British raj, Famines, Freedom Struggle, Independence, India History
1. Breakup of the Total Deaths:
Name of Famine Time Span of the Famine Areas Affected by the Famine Maximum Estimate of Deaths
Intermediate Estimate of Deaths
Minimum Estimate of Deaths
Most likely Estimate of Deaths
Bengal Famine of 1770 1769-1772
Bengal (east and west),Bihar,parts of Orissa and Jharkhand
10 million[i] - - 10 million
Madras Famine of 1782 & Chalisa Famine
1782-1783,
1783-1784
Madras Famine affected areas surrounding Chennai and parts of Karnataka. Chalisa affected Uttar Pradesh,parts of Rajasthan,Delhi and Kashmir
11 million[ii] - - 11 million
Doji Bara (Skull Famine)
1791-1792
Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat,Rajasthan
11 million[iii]
11 million
Famine in Bombay Presidency
1802-1803
Maharashtra
High mortality but number of deaths not known[iv]
- - High mortality but number of deaths not known
Famine in Rajputana
1803-1804
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan
Low mortality but number of deaths not known[v]
- - Low mortality but number of deaths not known
Famine in Madras Presidency
1805-1807
Tamil Nadu?
High mortality but number of deaths[vi] not known
- - High mortality but number of deaths not known
Famine in Rajputana
1812-1813
Rajasthan
2 million[vii]
- 1.5 million[viii]
2 million
Famine in Bombay Presidency of 1813
1813-1814
Maharashtra, Gujarat(not sure?)
High mortality but number of deaths not known[ix]
- - High mortality but number of deaths not known
Famine in Madras Presidency
1823
Tamil Nadu?
High mortality but number of deaths not known[x]
-
-
High mortality but number of deaths not known
Guntur Famine/Famine in Madras Presidency
1833-1834
Modern day Guntur and related districts of Andhra Pradesh which formed the Northern part of Madras Presidency during British Rule
High mortality but number of deaths not known
- 2 lakhs (this estimate is only for Guntur,many deaths in Nellore, Masalipatnam & Chennai not accounted for)[xi]
2 lakhs (this estimate is only for Guntur,many deaths in Nellore,
Masalipatnam & Chennai not accounted for)
Agra Famine of 1837-38
1837-1838
Uttar Pradesh,parts of Rajasthan,Delhi,
parts of Madhya Pradesh,parts of Haryana
1 million[xii]
- 8 lakhs
1 million
Famine in Madras Presidency
1854
Tamil Nadu?
High mortality but number of deaths not known[xiii]
- - High mortality but number of deaths not known
Famine in Northern India
1860-1861
Uttar Pradesh,Punjab
2 million[xiv]
- - 2 million
Orissa Famine of 1866
1865-1868
Orissa,Parts of coastline of
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
parts of Bihar and Bengal
1.8 million[xv]
- - 1.8 million
Rajputana famine of 1869
1868-1870
Rajasthan? 2.7 million[xvi]
- 1.2 million[xvii] 2.7 million
Bihar Famine of 1873-74
1873-1874 Bengal, Bihar ,Uttar Pradesh
no recorded deaths[xviii]
- - no recorded deaths
Great Indian Famine of 1876-78
1876-1879
Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Karnataka,
Haryana,
Madhya Pradesh
10.3 million[xix]
8.2 million[xx]
6.1 million[xxi]
10.3 million
Famine of 1880
1880
Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh (old Hyderabad state),Madhya Pradesh,Chattisgarh,
Uttar Pradesh
Famine was severe but number of deaths not known[xxii]
- - Famine was severe but number of deaths not known
Famine of 1884-1885
1884-1885
Punjab,Bengal,Bihar
,Jharkhand, parts of Karnataka
7.5 lakhs[xxiii]
-
-
7.5 lakhs
Madras Famine of 1888-1889
1888-1889
Orissa,parts of Bihar
1.5 million[xxiv]
- - 1.5 million
Famine of 1892
1891-1892
Old Madras presidency (not sure if coastal Andhra which used to be part of Madras presidency and parts of Karnataka were affected),Maharashtra,Rajasthan,Bengal,
Upper Burma
1.62 million[xxv]
- - 1.62 million
Famine of 1896-1897
&
Famine of 1899-1902
1896- 1897 &
1899- 1902
Uttar Pradesh,Tamil Nadu(?Old Madras Presidency),Bengal,
Madhya Pradesh,
Chattisgarh,
Maharashtra,
Punjab,Gujarat,
Rajasthan,parts of Orissa,Sindh,
Karnataka
19 million[xxvi]
8.4 million[xxvii]
6.1million[xxviii]
19 million
Famine of 1907-1908
1907-1908 Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand
3.2 million[xxix]
2.1 million[xxx]
3.2 million
Bengal Famine of 1943
1942-1944
Bengal
7 million[xxxi]
3.5 million[xxxii]
1.5 million[xxxiii]
7 million
Total Deaths - - - - - 85 million (approx.)
Essential Reading:
Before we go any further, I would like to recommend a few books which are essential reading for every Indian, irrespective of whether you like history or not.
1. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World, Mike Davis, Verso Books.
The book has excellent research drawing on a variety of sources, both Indian and foreign to show the true nature of British rule in India. Gives detail explanations of the deliberate policy of maximising revenue while millions of Indians perished in the famines. Also explodes some myths of “progress” due to the British such as railways, telegraph etc. Get your hands on one and read from beginning till the end.
2. “Famines and Land Assessments in India”, Romesh Chunder Dutt. Available for free download from : http://www.archive.org/stream/faminesandlanda00duttgoog
R C Dutt was a brilliant Bengali economic historian who had served for as a civil servant in the British government in India. His books lay bare the British policy of funnelling wealth and food out of India at the expense of millions of Indian lives.
3. The Economic History of India Under Early British Rule. From the Rise of the British Power in 1757 to the Accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Vol. I, Romesh Chunder Dutt.
The Economic History of India in the Victorian Age. From the Accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 to the Commencement of the Twentieth Century, Vol. II, Romesh Chunder Dutt.
The above two books are specifically focused on the economic loot of India from the time of East India Company (1757 CE onwards) till 1901-1902 CE.A must read to get an idea of the resources and wealth looted from India by the British.
4. Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire and the Forgotten Indian Famine of World War II, Madhusree Mukherjee, 2010.
The above books is about the terrible Bengal Famine of 1943 and presents evidence of British deliberately starving nearly 7 million Bengalis to death.
I believe the book is available at a very reasonable rate in India. We need to buy such books to encourage Indian authors to research and write the true version of our history.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References for Figures Listed in Table 1:
[i] Dutt, Romesh Chunder (1908). The economic history of India under early British rule, Pg 52
[ii] Grove, Richard H. (2007), “The Great El Nino of 1789–93 and its Global Consequences: Reconstructing an Extreme Climate Event in World Environmental History”, The Medieval History Journal 10 (1&2): 75–98
[iii] ibid
[iv] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.3
[v] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.4
[vi] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.4
[vii] Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127
[viii] RC Dutt.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.4
[ix] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.5
[x] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.5
[xi] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.6
[xii] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.6-7
[xiii] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.7
[xiv] Fieldhouse, David (1996), “For Richer, for Poorer?”, in Marshall, P. J., The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 400, pp. 132
[xv] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.127.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.9
[xvi] Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.128.
[xvii] Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.9
[xviii] Reference 1: Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.128.
Reference 2 : Dutt,RC.Famines and Land Assessments in India,Pg.9
[xix] Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.128
[xx] A Maharatna, The Demography of Famine. quoted by Mike Davis,Late Victorian Holocausts,El Nino Famines and Making of the Third World,pg 7,table P1.
[xxi] R Seavoy,Famine in Peasant Societies,New York 1986,quoted by Mike Davis,Late Victorian Holocausts,El Nino Famines and Making of the Third World,pg 7,table P1.
[xxii] Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.128
[xxiii] Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.128
[xxiv] Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.129
[xxv] Digby,William.Prosperous British India,Pg.129
[xxvi] The Lancet 16 may 1901, quoted in Mike Davis.Late Victorian Holocausts,El Nino Famines and Making of the Third World,pg 7,table P1
[xxvii] A Maharatna, The Demography of Famine. quoted by Mike Davis,Late Victorian Holocausts,El Nino Famines and Making of the Third World,pg 7,table P1.
[xxviii] Cambridge Economic History of India,Cambridge 1983;quoted by by Mike Davis,Late Victorian Holocausts,El Nino Famines and Making of the Third World,pg 7,table P1.
[xxix] Maharatna quoted by Mike Davis,.Late Victorian Holocausts,El Nino Famines and Making of the Third World,pg 174
[xxx] Ibid
[xxxi] Bengal Tiger and British Lion: An Account of the Bengal Famine of 1943,Richard Stevenson,Pg.139
[xxxii] Famines in Bengal:1770-1943,K C Ghosh,pg.111
[xxxiii] Famine Inquiry Commision Report,1943.Pg.110
Comments (4)
December 4, 2010
Did the British Civilise us? Part 1:Science and Technology in India
Filed under: British Misrule — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 10:28 am
Tags: British raj, Dharampal, Indian science and technology
Did the British civilise us? The general impression carried by most British people is that they “civilised India”, whatever that means. Even the more intellectual amongst them carry this opinion. The thrust of the education system in the United Kingdom is to disseminate the myth amongst the British public that the British Raj was some kind of a charitable organisation. The general thinking is, “We gave you railways, education, telegraph, your democracy and we didn’t even charge you for it!!” (The first two were set up primarily to make the economic loot of India easier and enable rapid movement of British troops to any part of British India, their “modern education” destroyed any kind of basic educational access for millions of Indians, while the last one is an outright lie: what was the whole point of the freedom struggle if the British gave us democracy!! In my eyes justifying British colonialism is like saying: “Tough luck you got raped, but look at the bright side: now you know what sex feels like!!)
Confront any British on the atrocities committed by the British in India and all you are going to get a hostile look of disbelief. For in their mind that is simply not possible: after all the British Empire was a force for good in the world!!
Or the more common reaction from those who are more aware of the destructive nature of British rule is along the lines of, “Grow up and stop ranting about the past!” .Sanctimonious advice free of cost!
But why blame the British for covering up their genocides, rapes and loot in India? This is after all expected behaviour from a hardened criminal. They will never acknowledge their crimes till somebody brings them to book.
What should really cause us to hang our heads in shame is the utter failure of our “esteemed” historians to educate Indians in the real character of the British rule. Not that common Indians need educating in how bad British rule was. Thankfully civilisational memories are stronger than the machinations of corrupt academics and apologists of the British raj. Memories of the genocide committed by the British in the suppression of the war of independence of 1857 still linger on in the collective consciousness of Indian people.
More than the common people it is the English educated elite of India which needs to be “educated” in the history of India, whether that is of Islamic or British misrule. The statement by Dr. Manmohan Singh while accepting an honorary degree from his alma mater Oxford University in 2005 that, “Today, with the balance and perspective offered by the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, it is possible for an Indian Prime Minister to assert that India’s experience with Britain had its beneficial consequences too[i]” is indicative of the mental colonisation of the Indian mind. I’m sure that the millions of perfectly avoidable deaths, the billions looted were some of the “beneficial consequences” our esteemed Prime minister had in mind when he made the statement .Physical freedom is relatively easy to obtain however becoming mentally free is another thing all together.
Coming back to our topic: How do we define the word “civilise”? A definition I picked up from the Cambridge online dictionary defines it as: “to educate a society so that its culture becomes more developed”.
So when the British gained supremacy in India in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were we a barbarous, primitive people who needed to be educated in the ways of modern society, science, technology, living etc? Were our educational institutions outdated and irrelevant? Was the administration system of the country a disorganised mess? Were we completely lacking in any kind of technological and scientific capability?
These and many more questions rose in my mind. And I found at least some of them answered in Shri Dharampal’s excellent books. This great son of mother India was not a professional historian but the research he did and the findings he presented in his books on the nature of Indian society in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is unmatched. His biography and quite a few of his books can be found on this site: http://www.samanvaya.com/dharampal/
As a first step I will post some of the information regarding indigenous science and technology I gleaned from Sri Dharampal’s book. Below I am posting some extracts from his book “Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century” (you can download the pdf version of the book here: Indian Science and Technology-Dharampal. As far as I am aware there are no copyright restrictions. However if there are please let me know and I will take it down ASAP).
Part I: Extracts from “Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century”
Sri Dharampal’s book has original reproductions of several observations made by British administrators, travellers etc about the science and technology of the Indian people. I am only posting these here to stimulate curiosity, for a fuller appreciation reading the book is highly recommended.
1. Inoculation against Smallpox in mid and late 18th century India:
The following passage from 1767 CE is a small fragment of an eye witness account to the process of inoculation against small pox carried out in India before the British supremacy. It describes how trained Brahmins from various major cities like Varanasi etc spread out once a year all over the country to inoculate common people against small pox.
“Inoculation is performed in Indostan by a particular tribe of Bramins, who are delegated annually for this service from the different Colleges of Bindoobund, Eleabas, Benares, & c. over all the distant provinces; dividing themselves into small parties, of three or four each, they plan their travelling circuits in such wise as to arrive at the places of their respective destination some weeks before the usual return of the disease; they arrive commonly in the Bengall provinces early in February, although they some years do not begin to inoculate before March, deferring it until they consider the state of the season, and acquire information of the state of the distemper.”[ii]
The writer of the manuscript further elaborates on the actual process of inoculation, “The inhabitants of Bengall, knowing the usual time when the inoculating Bramins annually return, observe strictly the regimen enjoined, whether they determine to be inoculated or not; this preparation consists only in abstaining for a month from fish, milk, and ghee (a kind of butter made generally of buffalo’s milk); the prohibition of fish respects only the native Portuguese and Mahomedans, who abound in every province of the empire. When the Bramins begin to inoculate, they pass from house to house and operate at the door, refusing to inoculate any who have not, on a strict scrutiny, duly observed the preparatory course enjoined them. It is no uncommon thing for them to ask the parents how many pocks they choose their children should have: Vanity, we should think, urged a question on a matter seemingly so uncertain in the issue; but true it is, that they hardly ever exceed, or are deficient, in the number required. They inoculate indifferently on any part, but if left to their choice, they prefer the outside of the arm, midway between the wrist and the elbow, for the males; and the same between the elbow and the shoulder for the females. Previous to the operation the Operator takes a piece of cloth in his hand, (which becomes his perquisite if the family is opulent) and with it gives a dry friction upon the part intended for inoculation, for the space of eight or ten minutes, then with a small instrument he wounds, by many slight touches, about the compass of a silver groat, just making the smallest appearance of blood, then opening a linen double rag (which he always keeps in a cloth round his waist) takes from thence a small pledget of cotton charged with the variolous matter, which he moistens with two or three drops of the Ganges Water, an applies it to the wound, fixing it on with a slight bandage, and ordering it to remain on for six hours without being moved, then the bandage to be taken off, and the pledget to remain until it falls off itself; sometimes (but rarely) he squeezes a drop from the pledget, upon the part, before he applies it; from the time he begins the dry friction, to tying the knot of the bandage, he never ceases reciting some portions of the worship appointed, by the Aughtorrah Bhade, to be paid to the female divinity before mentioned, nor quits the most solemn countenance all the while. The cotton, which he preserves in a double callico rag, is saturated with matter from the inoculated pustules of the preceding year, for they never inoculate with fresh matter, nor with matter from the disease caught in the natural way, however distinct and mild the species”[iii].
The description given by the Brahmins about what causes the disease is a perfect description of the small pox virus.
“They lay it down as a principle, that the immediate (or instant) cause of the smallpox exists in the mortal part of every human and animal form; that the mediate (or second) acting cause, which stirs up the first, and throws it into a state of fermentation, is multitudes of imperceptible animalculae floating in the atmosphere; that these are the cause of all epidemical diseases, but more particularly of the small pox; that they return at particular seasons in greater or lesser numbers; that these bodies, imperceptible as they are to the human organs of vision, imprison the most malignant tribes of the fallen angelic spirits: That these animalculae touch and adhere to everyhing, in greater or lesser proportions, according to the nature of the surfaces which they encounter; that they pass and repass in and out of the bodies of all animals in the act of respiration, without injury to themselves, or the bodies they pass through; that such is not the case with those that are taken in with the food, which, by mastication, and the digestive faculties of the stomach and intestines, are crushed and assimilated with the chyle, and conveyed into the blood, where, in a certain time, their malignant juices excite a fermentation peculiar to the immediate (or instant) cause, which ends in an eruption on the skin”[iv].
2. Observatory at Varanasi:
Another account describes the existence of a large observatory at Varanasi.
“We entered this building, and went up a staircase to the top of a part of it, near to the river Ganges, that led to a large terrace, where, to my surprise and satisfaction, I saw a number of instruments yet remaining, in the greatest preservation, stupendously large, immoveable from the spot, and built of stone, some of them being upwards of twenty feet in height; and, although they are said to have been erected two hundred years ago, the graduations and divisions on the several arcs appeared as well cut, and as accurately divided, as if they had been the performance of a modern artist. The execution in the construction of these instruments exhibited a mathematical exactness in the fixing, bearing, and fitting of the several parts, in the necessary and sufficient supports to the very large stones that composed them, and in the joining and fastening each into the other by means of lead and iron.”
About the antiquity of the observatory the writer further observes, “This observatory at Benares is said to have been built by the order of the emperor Ackbar; for as this wise prince endeavoured to improve the arts, so he wished also to recover the sciences of Hindostan, and therefore directed that three such places should be erected; one at Delhi, another at Agra, and the third at Benares”[v].
This observatory is apparently still in existence in a very sorry state in Varanasi and is known as “Man Mandir”.
3. Process of making Ice:
A novel Indian method of making ice is described in a manuscript from 1775 CE. The writer further says that this method was used on a large scale to preserve sherbets etc.
“The methods he pursued were as follows: on a large open plain, three or four excavations were made, each about thirty feet square and two deep; the bottoms of which were strewed about eight inches or a foot thick with sugar-cane, or the stems of the large Indian corn dried. Upon this bed were placed in rows, near to each other, a number of small, shallow, earthen pans, for containing the water intended to be frozen. These are unglazed, scarce a quarter of an inch thick, about an inch and a quarter in depth, and made of an earth so porous, that it was visible, from the exterior part of the pans, the water had penetrated the whole substance. Towards the dusk of the evening, they were filled with soft water, which had been boiled, and then left in the afore-related situation. The ice-makers attended the pits usually before the sun was above the horizon, and collected in baskets what was frozen, by pouring the whole contents of the pans into them, and thereby retaining the ice, which was daily conveyed to the grand receptacle or place of preservation, prepared generally on some high dry situation, by sinking a pit of fourteen or fifteen feet deep, lined first with straw, and then with a coarse kind of blanketing, where it is beat down with rammers, till at length its own accumulated cold again freezes and forms one solid mass. The mouth of the pit is well secured from the exterior air with straw and blankets, in the manner of the lining, and a thatched roof is thrown over the whole”[vi].
In addition to the above there are a lot of other British eye witness accounts of Indian astronomy, knowledge of the binomial theorem by Indians, paper manufacture, agricultural inventions such as the drill plough, manufacture of iron etc are detailed in the book. As Dharampal points out in his introduction, these accounts only list those everyday innovations which were useful to the British. All the accounts are clear that these activities were part of the everyday life of the people and not niche activities confined to isolated pockets.
As I said, reading the book is an absolute must for every right minded Indian. I will keep posting further extracts regarding administration, economics etc as I read Sri Dharampal’s other books.
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[i] http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/nic/0046/pmspeech.htm , extracted on 03/12/10.
[ii] Dharampal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, page 154.
[iii] Dharampal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, page 156-157.
[iv] Dharampal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, page 160-161.
[v] Dharampal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, pages 39-40.
[vi] Dharampal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, pages 171-172.
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November 18, 2010
Hammira Mahakavya
Filed under: Ebooks — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 10:46 am
Below is the .pdf version of the english translation of Nayanchandra Suri’s “Hammira Mahakavya”.This historical Mahakavya or poem describes Maharana Hammira’s valiant fight against Alauddin Khilji .
Hammira Mahakavya
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October 29, 2010
Aaj Ka Popat
Filed under: Uncategorized — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 6:39 pm
I have started a different blog with cartoons which satire the current political & social situation in India.
The cartoons are drawn and inked by me.I will be updating them on a regular basis.
Have a look:
www.aajkapopat.wordpress.com
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October 10, 2010
VIjayanagar – Chapter 5
Filed under: Vijayanagar — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 4:22 pm
Tags: Ala-ud-din, Delhi Sultanate, Deogiri, Ghiyath al din Tughlaq, Gujarat, Hoysala, India, India History, Invasions of South India, Kakatiya, Kampili, Kampilideva, Khusrau, Madurai, Mohammed Tughlaq, Mubarak khilji, Pandya, Prataparudra, Ramanatha, Veera Ballala, Warangal
Vijaynagar
Chapter 5
Fig.1 Major Kingdoms of South India 1320 CE.
The map above shows the rough extent of the Delhi Sultanate and the extent of the major South Indian kingdoms.
In Delhi tectonic changes were taking place. In 1320 CE, Khusrau Khan assassinated Sultan Mubarak Khilji and proclaimed himself Sultan Nasir-ud-din. From the venom heaped upon him by Muslim historians like Barni, it is clear that Khusrau Khan had converted back to Hinduism. Khusrau Khan is an enigmatic character who deserves an article on his own; I will touch very briefly on him.
Assisting Khusrau Khan in reasserting Hindu might in Delhi were fifty thousand Gujarati Hindus who had been enslaved by Ala-ud-din Khilji during his conquest of Gujarat. These are the Parwárís referred to by Muslim historians.
That the occasion of Sultan Nasir-ud-din’s accession to the throne of Delhi was a moment of joy for the despairing Hindus in the North is given by the following passage of Barani, “In those dreadful days the infidel rites of the Hindus were highly exalted, the dignity and the importance of the Parwárís were increased, and through all the territory of Islám the Hindus rejoiced greatly, boasting that Dehlí had once more come under Hindu rule, and that the Musulmáns had been driven away and dispersed”. (Baranī)
But this joy was short lived.Khusrau Khan was defeated in battle by Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq and excecuted .Devala Devi who had married Khusrau Khan committed suicide by taking poison.
After killing Khusrau, Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq took over the reins of the Delhi Sultanate in 1320 CE. Once the Gangetic plains were subdued, he was able to direct his attentions to the south which had shaken off even nominal allegiance to the sultanate. Taking advantage of the chaos in Delhi, Prataparudra had thrown off the Muslim yoke. It is apparent that all the previous Muslim expeditions had not dented Warangal’s power much.
Third Invasion of Warangal
Once the gangetic plains were subdued, Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq turned his attention onto Deccan and further down south. Mubarak Khilji had completely wiped out the Yadava ruling family in Devagiri, which was now completely subdued. As mentioned previously Devagiri had become a stronghold of Muslims, who were encouraged to come and settle.
Keeping in line with the genocidal policies of the sultans, Hindus were pushed to bare subsistence levels wherever the Muslims gained a strong foothold. A detailed explanation of the economic and social catastrophe that befell Hindu society can be found on Dikgaj’s blog (http://dikgaj.wordpress.com/).
Fig 2 First Tughlaq invasion of Warangal in 1321 CE
Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq sensed that Warangal would not be easy to subdue. For this purpose a large army was assembled from the Muslim strongholds of Baduan, Oudh, Kara, Dabmu, Bangarmu, Chanderi etc. This sea of Muslim armies marched towards Warangal in 1321 CE led by Ulugh Khan (later on known as Mohammed Tughlaq).
This expedition was clearly with a view of conquering the Kakatiya kingdom, not just looting it. Ulugh Khan was accompanied by a host of other nobles and their retinues. After two months they reached Deogiri, where they were reinforced by other Muslim amirs and the invasion force rolled on towards Warangal.
At this point it needs to be appreciated that this was the third full scale invasion of Warangal in a short time of eleven years. Muslims could generate and sustain massive armies on the back of relentless exploitation of the Hindus of the north and the looting of existing Hindu kingdoms. The enslavement of Hindu men and women was big business for the Delhi sultans. Northern India (Punjab and Gangetic plains) was stripped bare of resources after being raped for over three centuries by the Muslims.
It was official policy of the Delhi sultans to reduce the Hindus to bare subsistence levels. This is illustrated by a quote by Barani about Ala-ud-din Khiljis policy towards Hindus, “The Hindú was to be so reduced as to be left unable to keep a horse to ride on, to carry arms, to wear fine clothes, or to enjoy any of the luxuries of life.” (Baranī)
On the other hand the Kakatiya kingdom was hard pressed to generate the same level of military resource without adversely affecting other sections of society i.e. agriculture, trades etc. Despite their obvious resource handicap the hardy Kakatiya warriors put up a fierce fight to the advancing Muslim host.
As on previous occasions Prataparudra along with his nobles took shelter in the formidable Warangal fort. Prataparudra was well prepared to withstand a long siege. In any event the siege dragged on for eight months. Roving bands of Kakatiya warriors disrupted the Muslim postal system and harassed the invaders from the rear.
I will deviate to give a brief description of the Delhi sultanates postal system. It is necessary to get an idea of how the Sultans were able to take rapid military action on the basis of speedy communications. Ibn Battuta says the sultans postal service was of two types:
1. Mounted Couriers: The first type was mounted couriers on horses. There were relays every 4 miles.
2. Runners on foot: - Every third of a mile there was a village outside which three pavilions in which runners sat ready to move off. Each runner had a staff (yard and half long) with bells at the top. When a runner ran he had the message in the fingers of the free hand and the rod in the other. The bells alerted the men sitting in the next village of the runners approach and someone in the next pavilion took over the message. As per Ibn Battuta this was faster than mounted couriers. Fruits and criminals were also transported in this way to the sultan. This seems to have been only used for the sultan’s personal needs/military communications/government communications.
While the siege of Warangal was in progress, dissensions and intrigues broke out in the Muslim camp. Distrustful of Ulugh Khans motives, a group of rebels led by Tighin and Timur conducted secret negotiations with Prataparudra. As per their pact with Prataparudra, the rebels would abandon the camp and lift the siege of Warangal, provided Prataparudra allowed them to leave unmolested through his territory. Once assured of their safety the rebel faction rolled up their camp, destroyed the wooden stockades and left Ulugh Khan to face the wrath of the Kakatiya forces.
As soon as Prataparudra was sure that the rebels had left the Muslim camp for good, a ferocious sally issued forth from Warangal fort. This caused great slaughter in Ulugh Khans camp. Ulugh Khan had to depart in haste, all the while being pursued by the avenging Hindus.
Thus ended the fifth invasion of Warangal in total ignominy for the “ever victorious” armies of Islam.
Final invasion of Warangal: End of the Kakatiya Kingdom
When the news of the ignominious defeat reached Delhi, Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq made sure that the rebels who were responsible for the debacle were executed in the most painful way possible.Barani says, “The Sultán held a public darbár in the plain of Sírí, when ‘Ubaid, the poet, and Káfúr, the seal-keeper, and other rebels, were impaled alive;* some of the others, with their wives and children, were thrown under the feet of elephants.” (Baranī)
Fig 3 First Tughlaq invasion of Warangal in 1322 CE
Within six months a more formidable invasion force was raised and Ulugh Khan swept into the Deccan. This time Prataparudra was taken unawares and was completely unprepared for the attack!
It is difficult to explain this failure in the light of the fact that on every previous occasion he had been well prepared to meet the Muslim attack. The Kakatiya soldiers had been sent back to their villages and the granaries emptied, even Warangal fort was not properly provisioned. This can be only described in that oft repeated phrase of modern India as an “intelligence failure”!!
The Muslim force stormed Badrakot (Bidar) and besieged Warangal. The siege went on for five long months, but the breaking point for the brave Hindus came due to lack of food within the fort. Prataparudra surrendered on condition of amnesty.
While being taken as a prisoner to Delhi, Prataparudra committed suicide. Rather death than a life of dishonour!! This is a message strangely lost on modern India wherein “compromise” and “adjustment” are the buzz phrases of the secular mob.
Thus fell the great Kakatiya kingdom which was a focal point of Hindu resistance against Islamic imperialism for nearly a quarter of a century. Ulugh Khan promptly renamed Warangal as Sultanpur. A typical act of Islamic vandalism wherein anything created by other cultures is appropriated as their own!! Ishwa from India forum has written a nice series of articles analysing Islamic vandalism (http://www.india-forum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2468-scheme-of-muslim-rule-in-india/page__pid__108412__st__0&#entry108412). Myths like the golden age of Islamic science etc which are being bandied about these days are a pretty good example of gross distortion of history.
Resistance in Andhra
Although Prataparudra’s death brought the curtains down on the Kakatiya kingdom it did not extinguish Hindu resistance. In south western Andhra, Jagatapi Gangayadeva resisted the Muslims from his capital at Gutti. But in due course he was forced to submit to Ulugh Khan.
Fighting continued in the coastal Andhra region. Ulugh Khan established his authority and extracted tribute from the Hindu populace with the help of Muslim governors and the usual Hindu collaborators. Ulugh Khan also retained the key decision makers of the old Kakatiya kingdom to help govern the newly captured province. What limited freedom of movement the old Hindu officials had, would be closely watched by strong Muslim garrisons posted in key cities.
After the fall of Andhra, Ulugh Khan captured Madurai. In 1323 CE, Parakaramdeva the Pandya king of Madurai was defeated and his family taken prisoner. A strong Muslim garrison was posted at Madurai and the administration passed into the hands of Muslim amirs.
Change at Delhi
In 1325 CE, Sultan Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq was killed when a wooden structure erected to welcome him from his Bengal expedition collapsed on his head. The hand of Ulugh Khan in his father’s death has been strongly suspected by historians. With this Ulugh Khan ascended the throne of Delhi and proclaimed himself Sultan Mohammed Tughlaq.
Fig 4 South India in 1325 CE
At the time of Mohammed Tughlaqs ascension to the throne of Delhi the major Hindu kingdoms still in existence were (see map above):
North: Rajputana ( I am clubbing all the existing Rajput states together, as I have not read enough of the situation in the North to give a clear picture)
South: Kampili (Karnataka), Dvarasamudram (major portion of Karnataka, parts of Andhra & parts of Tamil Nadu), Kandhyana (present day Pune region, not shown on map), Calicut.
East: Jajnagar (Orissa), Kamarupa (Assam, not shown on map).
The map above gives a rough idea of the size and location of the remaining Hindu kingdoms in the south of India. I make no claims to the accuracy of the map; hence take it as a rough guide.
Mohammed Tughlaqs behaviour towards the Hindus was no less cruel and atrocious than the other Muslim sultans. Then why is so much opprobrium heaped on him? The Muslim historian Barani statement clearly illustrates the reason for his infamy:
“The punishment of Musulmáns, and the execution of true believers, with him became a practice and a passion. Numbers of doctors, and elders, and saiyids, and súfís, and kalandars, and clerks, and soldiers, received punishment by his order. Not a day or week passed without the spilling of much Musulmán blood, and the running of streams of gore before the entrance of his palace” (Baranī)
Its one thing if kafir Hindus are cut down like animals, but a different thing if a “true believer” i.e. a Muslim is killed!!
In recent times the secular lobby has tried to rehabilitate Mohammed Tughlaq by portraying him as a misunderstood visionary who was ahead of his time! The same “eminent historians” are responsible for this reprehensible whitewash. On a side note many of these pseudo historians testified from the Muslim side in the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi court case which was decided recently upon by Allahabad High court. The way the Honourable judges tore apart their lies can be found in the extracts of the judgement posted in this thread in Bharat Rakshak (http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5697).
What the secular historians neglect to mention is gems like these: “At this time the country of the Doáb was brought to ruin by the heavy taxation and the numerous cesses. The Hindus burnt their corn stacks and turned their cattle out to roam at large. Under the orders of the Sultán, the collectors and magistrates laid waste the country, and they killed some landholders and village chiefs and blinded others. Such of these unhappy inhabitants as escaped formed themselves into bands and took refuge in the jungles. So the country was ruined. The Sultán then proceeded on a hunting excursion to Baran, where, under his directions, the whole of that country was plundered and laid waste, and the heads of the Hindus were brought in and hung upon the ramparts of the fort of Baran. (Baranī)
In the above poassage, Barani is talking about the atrocious taxes levied by Mohammed Tughlaq and their effect on the Hindus of Uttar Pradesh.
So the “enlightened” Sultan first taxes Hindus till they have virtually no incentive to till their fields (It must be kept in mind that even in this day, land is everything to the Indian farmer.He will only abandon it in the most extreme circumstances: either when it does not provide even subsistence level food or under extreme force by external factors).Next when the Hindus flee inhuman persecution,the Sultan promptly organizes “shikaars” and hunts them down like wild animals!!
The Kampili wars
Kampili was a small but powerful kingdom founded by Mummadi Singeya from the fragments of the disintegrating Devagiri kingdom. Kampilideva succeeded Mummadi Singeya in 1313 CE. Please see the map for a rough idea of the kingdom of Kampili. It was tiny compared to the Delhi sultanate, but it punched well above its weight. It took three well equipped invasions before Kampili faded into the night.
Kampilideva is one of those unacknowledged heroes of our history who fought tooth and nail against the Muslim invaders. A staunch defender of dharma, he fought with even those Hindu chiefs who paid tribute to the Delhi sultans. Kampilideva fought many battles with bigger kingdoms such as Dvarasamudram and Warangal.
Mohammed Tughlaq decided to put an end to Kampili before it became the focal point of resurgent Hindu power in the Deccan. An ideal pretext for invasion was found in Baha-ud-din Garhasp’s rebellion. Baha-ud-din was a cousin of Mohammed Tughlaq and had been made governor of the Sagar town (Karnataka) by Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq .A brave warrior; he had fought with distinction against the Mongols in 1324 CE.
Baha-ud-din was disaffected with his treatment by Mohammed Tughlaq and rebelled in order to carve a separate kingdom for himself. All this while, he had been careful to cultivate excellent relations with Kampilideva. In 1327 CE, a pitched battle between the Delhi sultanates army and Baha-ud-din took place on the banks of the Godavari River in Karnataka. Garhasp was defeated and fled with his family to Kampilideva for protection.
Like on previous occasions in our history, the flight of a fugitive to the protection of a Hindu state was enough excuse for the Muslim sultans to attack the Hindu kingdoms. In Kampili’s case the excuse came in the form of Baha-ud-din Garhasp.
The outstanding moral character of Kampilideva is clearly demonstrated in the assurance of safety which he gave to Garhasp, “Now so long as the pulse moves in my body, I won’t take in a breath except in friendship to you. I swear by the sun, the sacred thread (I wear) and the idols (I worship) that you shall find me faithful. If all (the people of the world) were to join together to take your life, they cannot cause you as much injury as a grain of barley.”
I have taken the descriptions of the three invasions straight from N Venkataramanayya’s book. Apologies if it sounds ad verbatim, as for most part it is.
First Invasion of Kampili
The first invasion of Kampili took place shortly after Garhasp’s rebellion in 1327 CE. Malik Zada aided by Malik Rukn- ud- din crossed the Krishna and mounted an attack on Kummata, which was the chief fortress of Kampilideva. At this time, Kampilideva was in his capital Hosdurg (Anegondi). Kampilideva sent a strong force headed by his minister Baicappa, his sons Ramanatha and Katanna, and Garhasp to reinforce Kummata.
On arrival Rukn- ud- din pitched his tents around the fort. Katanna conducted a surprise sally from the fort on the first day of the siege, inflicting heavy losses on the Muslims and capturing two thousand horses in the process. The next day the Muslims tried to storm the fort but were decisively beaten back by Ramanatha and Katanna. The Muslim army was completely routed and Rukn-ud- din forced to retreat back to Devagiri.
Thus ended the first invasion of Kampili; a complete failure for the world conquering armies of Islam.
Second invasion of Kampili
Incensed by the failure of the “mighty” armies of Islam to subdue the small kingdom of Kampili, Mohammed Tughlaq promptly despatched another well equipped invasion force under Malik Qutb-ul-Mulk. The Muslims moved as before to attack Kummata.
Kampilideva was well prepared to meet the second invasion as well. Both the forts of Kummata and Hosdurg were strengthened. This time Kampilideva himself led the defence of Kummata against the Muslims.
On the night of first day of the siege a surprise night attack by a band of Kampili warriors threw the Muslim camp into confusion. On the second day Qutb-ul-Mulk attacked the fort with all his forces from three sides. They managed to take the outer wall, but were pushed out by the vigorous defenders led by Kampilideva.
On the third day of the siege Kampilideva arranged his troops in battle order outside the fort gates. Facing him was the Muslim army with their Turkish horse archers in the centre, cavalry to the right and elephants to the left. Ramanatha attacked the Turkish centre first throwing them into disarray. As they desperately tried to flee from the attack, they caused confusion in the cavalry and elephants stationed on their sides. Ramanatha charged the Muslim forces cutting most of them down and killing their top commanders. Qutb-ul-Mulk saved himself by escaping from the battlefield.
Final Invasion of Kampili
Within a short time Mohammed Tughlaq despatched an even larger force under his minister Malik Zada. There seems to have been a drought during this time in Kampili, as the Portuguese historian Nunes says that the Muslims had to wait for the rainy season before they could proceed further. This would perhaps explain why the two strong forts: Kummata and Hosdurg ran out of provisions relatively quickly.
The Muslims laid siege to Kummata first. Although Kampilideva and Garhasp sallied forth and assaulted the Muslims, they were defeated and forced to pull back inside the fort. Conditions inside Kummata got dire as the Hindus began to run out of provisions.
The Muslims stormed the fort in an all out assault forcing Kampilideva to abandon Kummata and seek shelter in his capital Hosdurg. Kampilideva relocated the fifty thousand citizens of Hosdurg to other places in Kampila, only keeping five thousand soldiers for the defence of Hosdurg.
Hot on Kampilideva’s trail, Malik Zada laid siege to Hosdurg. After one month the situation inside the fort got dire. The situation got even more precarious when the Muslims stormed their way into the fort.
Kampilideva realised all was lost, but this great man first made sure his friend Garhasp escaped with his family to the Hoysala kingdom of Dvarasamudra, which was ruled by Veera Ballala III. Garhasp escaped with his family to Dvarasamudra.(Garhasp seems to have been quite an accomplished warrior, as he is described tying three-four horses together, putting his family on them and riding out of Kummata, only turning back to cut down his pursuers).
I am quoting this passage written by Ibn Battuta about the last hours of this great sovereign. It is extremely stirring to read, “Then he (Kampilideva) commanded a great fire to be prepared and lighted. Then he burned his furniture, and said to his wives and daughters, “I am going to die, and such of you as prefer it, do the same.” Then it was seen that each one of these women washed herself, rubbed her body with sandal-wood, kissed the ground before the ráí(Raya) of Kambíla (Kampila), and threw herself upon the pile. All perished. The wives of his nobles, ministers, and chief men imitated them, and other women also did the same.
The ráí, in his turn, washed, rubbed himself with sandal, and took his arms, but did not put on his breastplate. Those of his men who resolved to die with him followed his example. They sallied forth to meet the troops of the Sultán, and fought till every one of them fell dead.” (Batuta).
As can be seen from the above passage the ladies of Kampila performed “jauhar” to save their honour. Ibn Batuta heard about this incident from a trusted source, but he was an eye witness to another incident wherein the Hindu ladies burnt themselves on their husband’s pyre. Ibn Batuta clearly describes their fearlessness and devotion to their husbands in the face of the raging flames.
Kampilideva fought extremely bravely in battle before falling dead of his many wounds. Malik Zada had his head stuffed and sent to Mohammed Tughlaq as a gift. The Muslims conducted a general massacre of the remaining residents of Hosdurg. Those who survived like the eleven sons of Kampilideva; were converted to Islam.
Thus was the end of the kingdom of Kampili, but the lowest ebb for the Southern Hindus was yet to come.
What of Baha-ud-din Garhasp? Veera Ballala III was unwilling to take the risk of inviting a full scale Muslim invasion by sheltering a fugitive. He promptly handed over Garhasp to Malik Zada.
As is illustrated by this passage Garhasp met a terrible end, “ He (Mohammed Tughlaq) ordered the prisoner (Garhasp) to be taken to the women, his relations, and these insulted him and spat upon him. Then he ordered him to be skinned alive, and as his skin was torn off, his flesh was cooked with rice. Some was sent to his children and his wife, and the remainder was put into a great dish and given to the elephants to eat, but they would not touch it. The Sultán ordered his skin to be stuffed with straw, and to be placed along with the remains of Bahádur Búra,* and to be exhibited throughout the country”. (Batuta)
References:
i. The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N. Venkataramanayya, edited by Prof. K A N Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
ii. Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354; HAR Gibb; George Routledge & Sons, 1929.
Works Cited
Baranī, Ż. a.-D. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2010, from http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main
Batuta, I. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2010, from http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main
Map References:
1. Schwartzberg, Joseph E. A Historical Atlas of South Asia ,http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/
2. The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N. Venkataramanayya, edited by Prof. K A N Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
Comments (3)
September 12, 2010
Kabul Shahi-The Hindu Kings of Kabul & Zabul
Filed under: History — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 5:36 pm
Tags: Afghanistan, Ancient India, Kabul, Kabul Shahi, Kapisa, Sindh, Taxila, Zabul
I have updated the map with more cities in Kashmir and the major rivers of Punjab.
The above map shows the extent of the Hindu kingdoms of Kabul and Zabul in the period of 600-700 CE.I was spurred to create the map as I wanted to a graphical representation of what area came under these two ruling houses.it is a different matter reading on paper that Kabul ruled this area and that,and a completely different aspect seeing it highlighted on a map.
I will keep updating the map with more cities in Sindh,Punjab and Kashmir.Plus will do more maps for the later periods of the Shahi rule where there kingdom shrunk considerably,till this glorious dynasty was extinguished while fighting against Mohammed Ghazni in 1026 CE.
I first came to know of the Hindu Shahi kings of Kapisa (later on their capital moved to Kabul) an article in India Today more than a decade back.
My curiosity was aroused as I never knew that there ever existed a Hindu ruling house in Afghanistan,let alone two powerful Hindu kingdoms.Later on I found more references to the ferocious resistance these two Hindu dynasties offered to the Islamic invaders.Sri Sita Ram Goels books on Voice of India website were an excellent source of information.
The first Islamic invasion of the Arabs which lasted for almost three hundred years broke apart on these two formidable break waters.It was the Turk invasion starting somewhere around 900 AD which proved to be the undoing of these two great Kingdoms.
The 12th Century historian of Kashmir kalhana eloquently describes the ruling house of Kabul as below,
“Where is the Shahi dynasty with its ministers, its kings & its great grandeur…The very name of the splendour of the Shahi kings has vanished. What is not seen in a dream, what even our imagination cannot conceive, that dynasty accomplished with ease.”
Kalhana’s Rajatarangini
Thus were the great defenders of the gates of India, the kings of Kabul and Zabul, whose name has been all but forgotten by an ungrateful people. These were men of peerless courage and a soul of steel forged in the fire of war. They were the sword arm of Dharma, defending the land of the Bharatas against those who would seek to defile it by their touch.
It is not surprising that most of us have never heard of them,our “secularised” education system makes sure we never come to know that there was any kind of resistance offered by our ancestors.It is a part of the social engineering programme to brain wash entire generations with the completely bogus message of “tolerance” and “turning the other cheek”!!
These glorious names have not been forgotten by history, but only pushed into the shadows by those who would seek to rewrite history of Sanatana Dharma to suit their own ends.
Map References:
The primary reference i have used is ALexander Cunningham’s “Geography of Ancient India”.It is availaible for free download from Internet archive.
A secondary reference has been the excellent ” Digital South Asia Library” series of maps.
The base map used for to trace the above was sourced from the Perry Castaneda collection. (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/pakistan.html)
Comments (6)
August 3, 2010
Some ebooks on the Mughals
Filed under: Ebooks — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 7:50 pm
Tags: Aurangzeb, History of Aurangzib, Jadunath Sarkar, Mughals
Some intresting books by Sri Jadunath Sarkar,the doyen of Mughal history.
India of Aurangzeb
History of Aurangzeb vol 1
History of Aurangzeb vol 2
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June 26, 2010
Battle of Raichur
Filed under: Historical Battles — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 10:11 pm
Tags: Adil Shah, Ahmednagar, Battle of Raichur, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, Goa, Golconda, Imad Shah, India, India History, Krishnadeva Raya, Nizam Shah, Portuguese, Qutb Shah, Raichur, South India, Vijayanagar
The pdf of the following article is available here: Battle of Raichur
Preface
The battle of Raichur was fought in 1520 CE between the Vijayanagar Empire and the Bijapur sultanate. Given the miserable state of our education system, this will be unknown to a vast majority of my countrymen. I have tried to give a Hindu perspective to the narration, as the narratives for the battle are only from Portuguese (Christian) and Muslim sources. The Portuguese narration based on an account by Fernao Nunes (a Portuguese horse trader) is the closest we can get to an eyewitness account. The Islamic narrative written by Ferishta (Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah) is unreliable, given his convenient habit of overlooking defeats sustained by the Islamic Ghazis.
You might ask: What about the Hindu narrative? Most likely these can be found in Kannada and Telugu records and published works. At present I am hampered in not being able to access the works written in these languages. Once I can get access to the relevant works, rest assured I will update this narrative. This is essentially a work in progress, I will keep updating and correcting as more details come to my knowledge.
There could be other reasons for the lack of Hindu records. The foremost that comes to mind is the destruction of records when the city of Vijayanagar was annihilated (there is no other word to describe the destruction wrought by the Islamic barbarians) by the confederation of Deccan sultanates in 1565 CE. Or the manuscript could be gathering dust in a family collection or lying unread in a library due to a lack of scholars to decipher it.
In the following passages I will endeavour to try and present details of the battle as given in Nunes account and do a critical analysis. I neither claim to be an expert nor a specialist; my endeavours are only motivated by the ardent desire to see our history written by us and not by foreigners.
A note on the maps: Except for the Google Earth Map and the shaded relief map of India (I have used as a background to show the extent of Vijayanagar empire, taken from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_relief_location_map.jpg, many thanks to the person who took the trouble to create the shaded relief map) all the other maps have been drawn/traced by me using the US Army topographic map of Raichur. (Available for free download: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/).I have tried to be as accurate as possible when depicting locations on the map, however errors will exist.Images of the Portugese sailing ships have been taken from the Wikipedia pages of the same.
1. Raichur: Location &Significance
1.1 Where is Raichur?
Figure 1 Location of Raichur, Vijayanagar & Bijapur
Raichur city is located in Raichur district in Karnataka (location coordinates: latitude 16.200000, longitude 77.370000Address:).The Google Maps snapshot above gives a good idea of the location of Raichur relative to Vijayanagar and Bijapur.
1.2 Background & History
Raichur district falls in a doab created by Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. The land is extremely fertile and yields many types of crops including oilseeds, cotton, sesame, sorghum, pulses, chillies, groundnut etc. Since historic times Raichur has been famous for growing cotton. Even today Raichur is primarily known for its cotton and cotton processing mills.
Figure 2 Rough Map of Raichur and Surroundings
Its fertility made Raichur a strategic asset for any Kingdom. Having control over the Raichur doab meant access to plentiful revenues. The key to controlling the doab was to have possession of Raichur city and its formidable fort.
Historically Raichur belonged to the Hoysala kingdom of Karnataka. After the dissolution of the Hoysala kingdom in the fourteenth century Riachur’s possession was hotly contested by the Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga and the Vijayanagar Empire. Starting from 1490 CE onwards the Bahmani Sultanate split into five different sultanates i.e. Adil Shahi (Bijapur), Qutb Shahi (Golconda), Imad Shahi (Berar), Barid Shahi (Bidar) and Nizam Shahi (Ahmednagar). The most powerful of theses sultanates was Bijapur founded by Yusuf Adil Shah. Raichur changed hands many times in the course of two centuries till the battle of Raichur in 1520 CE and even beyond. Please see fig 3 below to get an idea of the extent of Vijayanagar empire and the Deccan sultanates.
Figure 3 Extent of Vijayanagar Empire
2. What is the Importance of the Battle?
The significance of the Battle of Raichur in the history of India is due to the following factors:
2.1 Use of Modern Gunpowder Artillery
For the first time on the Indian mainland extensive use was made of European (Portuguese) and Ottoman Turkish artillery and firearms. This battle preceded the first battle of Panipat (between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi in 1526 CE) by six years. A general misconception has been created that gunpowder cannons were used for the first time by Babur. Gunpowder use was not unknown in South India. Both Vijayanagar and the Bahmani sultanate used explosive mines, cannons and firearms in their wars in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (FIRISHTA).
But this was the first time that the most technologically up to date artillery was used by both the opponents. The way in which artillery was procured by Vijayanagar and the Bijapur sultanate was different albeit arising from the same set of circumstances: the arrival of the Portuguese in India.
Bijapur was able to access the latest innovations in artillery by employing expert Ottoman gunners and manufacturers. How the Ottoman gunners came in Bijapur service is an interesting story.
2.1.1 Sources of European & Ottoman Artillery
The appearance of the Portuguese with their imperial ambitions led to the introduction of the latest innovations in artillery in India.
In the early 1500’s the Portuguese were actively trying to gain control over the spice trade from India and the lucrative horse trade of the Arabs. To gain control over the spice trade they had to neutralize the power of Saamoothirippād (anglicised as Zamorin) who was the ruler of Calicut. The Saamoothirippād was a powerful Hindu sovereign and maintained excellent relations with the Muslims states such Egypt who were his partners in the spice trade. The Portuguese unsuccessfully tried to assault Calicut but were beaten back. However their superior ocean going ships managed to wreak havoc on the sea trade. They also terrorised fishermen and trade ships with senseless acts of brutality.
The Saamoothirippād realised early on that he could not take on the heavily armed Portuguese caravels (small highly manoeuvrable sailing ships, see fig.3) and carracks[i] (four masted ships, see fig.4) and. To decisively end the Portuguese menace, he asked for the aid of the Mamluk sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri of Egypt. Egypt was among the main trading partners of Calicut and in the scenario of the Portuguese gaining dominance over the spice trade they would suffer the most. Additionally Sultan Mahmud Begada (Abu’l Fath Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah I) of Gujarat also allied with the Mamluk forces against the Portuguese.
Figure 4 A typical Caravel
Figure 5 . A typical Carrack
Mamluks lacking the sea power appealed to the Ottoman sultan of Turkey Bayezid II. The Ottomans at this point in history were the leaders in the application and development of gunpowder artillery. Their military might was threatening Europe itself.
Thus an alliance comprising of the Saamoothirippād’s forces, Ottoman, Mamluk’s and the Sultanate of Gujarat’s forces prepared for a decisive face off with the Portuguese.
Subsequently two decisive naval engagements took place, one near the port of Chaul[ii] (Maharashtra) in 1508 CE and the second one off the coast of Diu[iii] in 1509 CE. The Portuguese were defeated in the first battle but were victorious at Diu in 1509 CE. This led to the dispersal of the Ottoman and Mamluk forces.
Many of the Ottoman gunners and craftsman then landed at Goa and took up service with the Sultan of Bijapur (Previously Goa was in the hands of the Bahmani Sultans, succeeded later on by the Bijapur sultans)[iv]. A gun foundry was established at Goa and Ottoman gunners manned the Bijapur sultan’s artillery.
The most direct impact of the Portuguese victory was that they came to control the trade in horses on which the Deccan sultanates and Vijayanagar Empire relied. In fact after the capture of Goa in 1510 CE the Portuguese viceroy tried to play the Sultan of Bijapur and Krishna Deva Raya in a bidding war for the horses!!
In 1510 CE with the tacit approval of Vijayanagar the Portuguese captured Goa (only the city known as Velha Goa or Old Goa) from Bijapur. On capturing Goa, the gun foundry established by the Bahmanis fell into their hands.
2.1.2 Artillery of the Sixteenth Century
Before going further, it would be pertinent to briefly understand the nature of artillery in the early sixteenth century. By artillery I am specifically referring to cannons.
When we think of artillery the picture that comes to our mind is of a large calibre gun which can fire off multiple rounds in quick succession. For e.g. the Bofors FH-77B 155mm self propelled howitzer which the Indian Army uses, can fire upto 10 rounds a minute[v]!!
The artillery of the early sixteenth century was nothing like this. The rate of fire was at most 8-12 rounds in an hour[vi].Plus due to imperfections in manufacture; cannons were liable to explode and kill the gun crew.
A large cannon was a logistical nightmare which could weigh hundreds (sometimes thousands) of kilos and require many animals to transport it to the battlefield. The cannons had to be mounted on carts and transported to the battlefield. (Nunes does speak of gun carriages being used in the Bijapur army. Whether these were modified carts or proper gun carriages is not known). Depending on its size a cannon would need anywhere between three and ten men to operate it. The Indian cycle of seasons meant they had to be used during the dry season. In the rainy season it was impossible to move and fire the cannons.
Being extremely heavy and immobile, artillery was vulnerable to attack by fast moving cavalry and infantry. Typically artillery was protected by means of erecting wooden stockades and trenches or placing it behind carts and chaining the carts together (this tactic was used by Babur at the battle of Panipat in 1526 CE)[vii].Infantry had to be stationed to protect the artillery position.
Artillery was thus closely clustered together and its primary role was to deliver a devastating barrage and break up tightly packed masses of infantry/cavalry. Once the enemy was in a state of disorder, fast moving cavalry would mow them down[viii].
But here was the catch: if the first barrage did not have the intended effect, long reloading times made it possible for enemy cavalry to overrun the artillery position. The fleeing army usually used to leave the guns on the battlefield, as there would have been no time to retrieve them.
2.2 The Number of Men Involved
The total number of combatants involved exceeded one million. The table below gives the numbers of soldiers etc for the Vijayanagar Empire and the Bijapur armies.
Combatant Infantry Cavalry Heavy cannons Smaller Calibre Cannons War Elephants Camp Followers Total Strength(includes only Infantry & Cavalry)
Bijapur 120,000 18,000 400 500 (?) 150 Unknown 138,000
Vijayanagar 581,000 60,600 Unknown Unknown 551 Unknown 641,600[1]
Table 1 A comparison of the Vijayanagar and Bijapur armies
From the above table it can be seen that the total number of fighting men on both sides came close to a million. The above figure does not include any camp followers. Adding camp followers the figure easily touches a million .Camp followers on the Vijayanagar side included 20,000 courtesans, 12,000 water carriers, merchants, washer men etc.
Each cannon would require a crew of at least ten men to operate it. Nunes mentions that several cannon were carried by the Vijayanagar forces into war, but does not elaborate on the exact number of cannon in the Vijayanagar camp.
The total number of cannon on the Bijapur side was nearly nine hundred. Nunes mentions the fact that the Bijapur army left all the artillery on the battlefield after the battle and that there were nine hundred gun carriages abandoned by the fleeing army.
2.3 Weakening of Bijapur
Ismail Adil Shah barely escaped with his life and his army was virtually annihilated in the course of the battle. Till he was alive he did not dare to make a move on Vijayanagar and the annual jihad was more or less abandoned. The extent to which he feared Krishnadeva Raya is illustrated by the fact that in 1523 CE Krishnadeva Raya marched upto Bijapur and occupied it, Ismail Adil Shah having fled in advance of the invading armies[ix].
2.4 Supremacy of Vijayanagar
This battle cemented Vijayanagar’s power for another forty five years till the catastrophe at Rakshaka- Tangadi (better known as Talikota) in 1565 CE. Even after the destruction of Vijayanagar city in 1565 CE, the weakened empire protected Southern Hindus till the death of the Sriranga III in 1672 CE. Sriranga III was the last of this glorious line of the defenders of Dharma.
But by the time the exhausted Sriranga breathed his last he had the satisfaction of seeing Deccan back under Hindu rule after a span of three hundred years under the lion of Sahyadri: Chattrapati Shivaji. It is only due to the protection of Vijayanagar that Hindu culture remained intact in South India, remaining relatively uncorrupted from the influence of Islam .The extent to which Islamic rule can subvert and corrupt Hindu society is seen from those parts of North India which were under Islamic rulers for long periods of time.
3. The Main Protagonists
3.1 Tuluva Sri Krishnadeva Raya (ruled 1509-1529 CE)
Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana Krishnadeva Raya was one of the greatest emperors in Indian history who ruled over an empire that covered all of south India (including Sri Lanka) and parts of Orissa( see map above). He saved Vijayanagar empire at a critical juncture of its history. Sri Krishnadeva Raya was the second ruler of the Tuluva line (also known as the third dynasty) of Vijayanagar kings who ruled from 1505-1542 CE. He was chosen by his half brother Vira Narasimha (ruled 1505-1509 CE) to succeed him to the throne of Vijayanagar. His coronation day was on 10th August 1509 CE, which was Janmashtami.
Coronated in his early twenties, he was an extraordinary figure by all accounts. Almost every account left about this great king extols his virtues on and off the battlefield. To quote the Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes, Sri Krishnadeva Raya was “gallant and perfect in all things” (Sewell). Leading his armies from the front, Sri Krishnadeva Raya exhibited fearlessness in face of mortal danger. Loved by his people, he was a man of great justice. A master strategist and a humane ruler, Vijayanagar reached the zenith of its prosperity under his stewardship. His rule is considered to be the golden age of Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit literature in the middle ages. Fluent in many languages, Krishnadeva Raya authored many scholarly works. He reorganised the army and turned it into an effective fighting force.
The empire at the time of his coronation was in crises. The Bahmani sultanate which was nearing dissolution was still a powerful enemy. The Bahmani sultanate conducted a yearly jihad starting from 1501 CE against Vijayanagar, in which by some accounts 100,000 Hindus were slaughtered every year. The aggression by the Gajapatis of Orissa and the revolt of the chief of Ummattur only added to the empires troubles. The arrival of Portuguese on the scene further complicated matters.
The first task was to repel the Bahmani army which had entered Vijayanagar’s boundaries in 1509 CE with intent to wreak large scale destruction. In an engagement near Diwani the Muslim army was routed and the Bahmani Sultan narrowly escaped being killed. The founder of the Bijapur dynasty Yusuf Adil Khan was killed in battle at Kovilkonda. This had the salutary effect of putting a stop to the annual jihad against Vijayanagar. Krishnadeva Raya did not stop here; in further engagements he took Raichur, Gulbarga and captured Bidar from the Barid Shahi sultan.
By 1512 CE the rebellious chieftain of Ummattur Gangaraya was subdued and died while trying to flee Sivanasamudram. The problem of the aggressive Gajapatis of Orissa was solved in a series of brilliant campaigns beginning in 1513 CE and culminating in the surrender by the Gajapati king Prataparudra in 1516 CE. However while the Orissa campaign was ongoing, Ismail Adil Shah (the Sultan of Bijapur) recaptured Raichur.
3.2 Ismail Adil Shah (ruled from 1511-1534 CE)
Ismail Adil Shah (Sultan Abul Fatah Ismail Adil Khan) was the son of Sultan Yusuf Adil Shah. Like quite a lot of Muslim tyrants he was born to a Hindu mother. His mother was the sister of Mukund Rao, a Maratha chief who had risen against Yusuf Adil Shah. Mukund Rao was killed and his family captured by Yusuf Adil Shah.
Ismail came to the throne in the blood soaked fashion typical of the Muslim sultanates. After Yusuf’s death in 1509 CE while fighting Krishnadeva Raya, Ismail was put on the throne of Bijapur. He was between 13 – 14 years old at this time. But the real power behind the throne was the regent Kamal Khan, a person who himself had imperial ambitions .Kamal Khan came very near to usurping the throne, but Ismail’s mother had him assassinated in 1512 CE. Kamal Khans son Safder Khan attacked the young prince in his palace but was killed in the fight that followed.
Meanwhile the fledgling Bijapur sultanate was already under attack from the Sultans of Berar, Ahmednagar, Golconda and Bidar. The combined forces of the four sultanates prepared to lay siege to Bijapur. The leader of this motley force was Amir Barid; the sultan of Bidar. The young Ismail faced his opponents with a force of 12,000 cavalry and in the battle that followed defeated them. With the rival sultans pacified he looked towards recapturing Raichur, which was now in the possession of Vijayanagar. The opportunity came in 1516 CE when the bulk of Vijayanagar forces were fighting in Orissa. The recapture of Raichur sowed the seeds for the decisive battle of Raichur in 1520 CE.
Ismail Adil shah was no different from the other Deccan sultans in the persecution of Hindus. Much like the Muslim nobility of the Deccan he looked towards Persia and Turkey for inspiration. It must be remembered that for most part the Deccan ruling elite were either foreigners or Hindu converts to Islam (frequent fights used to occur between these two rival parties). Gribble has described him as a prudent, patient and generous man. He also is said to have been skilled in poetry and music[x]. These traits of character were reserved only for fellow Muslims, not for Hindus who formed the vast majority of his subjects.
The condition of Bijapur was such that the nobility used to live in great luxury whereas the numberless Hindu peasants of the countryside were barely able to survive. The lot of the Hindus under the Deccan sultanates was miserable with their lives at the tender mercies of the genocidal sultans.
4 .Causes of the Conflict
4.1 Possession of Raichur
Raichur had historically been part of the Hoysala kingdom of which Vijayanagar was a natural successor. In the tectonic upheavals’ of Deccan in the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries Raichur changed hands many times between the Vijayanagar and Bahmani Sultanates.
Krishnadeva Raya had recaptured Raichur in 1510 CE. But while he was on his Orissa campaign, Ismail Adil Shah saw his chance and recaptured Raichur.
4.2 Syed Maraikar
The most direct reason for the invasion of Raichur by Vijayanagar was the theft of 40,000 gold coins by a Muslim merchant called Syed Maraikar. Syed Maraikar had been entrusted by Krishnadeva Raya with buying horses from the Portuguese at Goa and was given forty thousand gold coins for this purpose.
But the faithless Maraikar promptly absconded to Bijapur with the money. An enraged Raya requested Ismail Adil Shah to hand over the merchant along with the gold. In spite of the peace treaty in force between Vijayanagar and Bijapur, Ismail on the counsel of his advisors refused to apprehend and hand over Syed Maraikar. His decision no doubt was based on the fact that Syed Maraikar was a Muslim. One cannot discount the possibility of the Sultan keeping some gold in return for giving Maraikar refuge.
Ismail also helped the merchant to escape to Dabhol (Goa). When the facts of the matter were brought to the Raya’s notice, he decided to launch a major campaign to win back Vijayanagar’s territory and teach Adil Shah a lesson.
5. The Battle of Raichur
The description given by Nunes is extremely graphic and as Sewell has pointed out it seems he was an eyewitness to the battle or knew someone who was present at the battle.
I have divided it into different stages to make for easier comprehension. I have quoted mostly ad verbatim from Nunes and have also attached my own analysis after the description of the battle.
5.1 Stage One: Departure from Vijayanagar & Arrival at Raichur
Figure 6 Stage One: Arrival of Vijayanagar army at Raichur
Sri Krishnadeva Raya seems to have left Vijayanagar sometime in early February 1520 CE [xi].The entire army was divided into different columns depending on the Nayaka (chief) who commanded them. The following table gives the order in which the different contingents marched, their break up and their Nayaka. The leading contingent is at the top and the last contingent to leave the city at the bottom.
Leader of Contingent Infantry Cavalry Elephants Notes
Pemmasani Ramalinga Nayaka(Kama Nayaka) 30,000 1000 6 Kama Nayaka was the Chief of guards (commander in chief)
Trimbicara(?) 50,000 2000 20 This is the Portuguese version of the Indian name .I have not been able to find the proper Indian name
Timappa Nayaka 60,000 3500 30
Adapa Nayaka 100,000 5000 50
Comdamara(?) 120,000 6000 60 This is the Portuguese version of the Indian name. I have not been able to find the proper Indian name
Ganda Raja 30,000 1000 10 Ganda Raja was the governor of Vijayanagar city
Three eunuchs (?) 40,000 1000 15 No names are given
Krishnadeva Raya’s page 15,000 200 - No name is given
Kumara Virayya 8000 400 20 Kumara Virayya was Krishnadeva Raya’s father in law and the chief of Srirangapatanam
Sri Krishnadeva Raya 40,000 6000 300
Table 2 Breakup of the Vijayanagar contingents.
In addition to the above were contingents of various chiefs, but Nunes has not given any names. From the Wikipedia article on the Battle of Raichur, I got the names of the following chiefs who accompanied the main army: Rana Jagadeva, Rayachuri Rami Nayudu, Hande Mallaraya, Boya Ramappa, Saluva Nayudu, Tipparasu Ayyappa Nayudu, Kotikam Viswanatha Nayudu,Chevvappa Nayudu, Akkappa Nayudu, Krishnappa Nayudu, Velugoti Yachama Nayudu, Kannada Basavappa Nayudu, Saluva Mekaraja, Matla Ananta Raja, Bommireddy Nagareddy, Basava Reddy, Vithalappa Nayudu and Veerama Raja[xii].
Also accompanying the army were dancing girls, washer men, water carriers and merchants. Twelve thousand water carriers stood at the sides of the road to supply water to the thirsty soldiers and camp followers. Approximately fourteen kilometres ahead of the main army were fifty thousand scouts who kept a watch for the enemy ahead of the army.
Nunes has given a detailed description of the armour and clothing worn by the warriors. To quote Nunes, “All were equally well armed, each after his own fashion, the archers and musqueteers with their quilted tunics and the shieldmen with their swords and poignards (curved daggers) in their girdles; the shields are so large that there is no need for armour to protect the body, which is completely covered; the horses in full clothing, and the men with doublets, and weapons in their hands, and on their heads headpieces after the manner of their doublets, quilted with cotton. The war-elephants go with their howdahs from which four men fight on each side of them, and the elephants are completely clothed, and on their tusks they have knives fastened, much ground and sharpened, with which they do great harm. Several cannon were also taken” (Sewell).
The army arrived near Malliabad and set camp there for a few days. Sri Krishnadeva Raya allowed his men to rest and set off for Raichur after the Brahmana’s confirmed it was auspicious to do so. Fig.5 above shows the arrival of the army at Raichur.
5.2 Stage Two: Commencement of the Siege of Raichur Fort
Figure 7 Siege of Raichur begins
As per Nunes, on arriving at the outskirts of Raichur, Kama Nayaka was the first to set up camp near to the defensive ditches which encircled Raichur fort. The siege was begun from the eastern side of the fort as it was here that the fort was weakest. He was shortly followed by other Nayakas (chiefs) and the siege of Raichur began in earnest.
Raichur was a heavily defended fortress with three lines of fortifications and the main citadel stood on top of a hill inside the fortifications. The fort was well provided with water due to a perennial spring which ran inside and fed many tanks and wells. The provisions inside the fort were enough to last five years. The garrison was composed of eight thousand men, four hundred cavalry, twenty elephants and thirty trebuchets (also known as manjaniq-i-maghribi). The trebuchets of that age could hurl stones between 1000-2000 kgs in weight causing great destruction in enemy ranks. More importantly the battlements and towers of the fort had over two hundred heavy artillery (cannons) and a number of smaller cannon (presumably for anti personnel use).Additionally the walls were manned by musketeers, archers and soldiers armed with flintlocks. All of these combined to launch a devastating battery on to the besieging army. The main gate of the city was sealed after letting in some reinforcements which had arrived from Bijapur.
As per the description given by Nunes, the firing of artillery from the fort took a heavy toll of the brave Vijayanagar soldiers who were trying to assault the city. The soldiers were apparently paid between 10-50 fanams (silver coins) to remove the stones from the fort walls. Many perished in the process due to the incessant fire from the fort battlements, but the courageous men continued their work relentlessly.
The siege continued in this manner for three months till the arrival of Ismail Adil Shah’s army in May 1520 CE. Long sieges were normal for those times e.g. the Moguls with all their firepower and army were only able to capture the fortress of Jinji in Tamil Nadu after a long siege of seven years[xiii]!! This was in 1698 CE, more than a hundred and seventy years after the Battle of Raichur.
We will divert here for a brief description of the camp set up by the Vijayanagar army. The entire camp was more like a large city and was divided into different sectors to accommodate the different contingents. Along the streets were craftsmen and merchants who sold gold, jewels, clothes, weapons etc. The logistical train was so good that there was no shortage of fodder for animals even in a barren terrain like Raichur. To quote Nunes, “Indeed no one who did not understand the meaning of what he saw would ever dream that a war was going on, but would think that he was in a prosperous city” (Sewell).
5.3 Stage Three: Arrival of Adil Shah
Figure 8 Arrival of Adil Shah
As the siege was in progress, news came that Ismail Adil Shah had arrived with his forces and was encamped across the Krishna River (see fig 8 above). The besieging Vijayanagar army was at this time 15 miles from the river. The movement of the Bijapur army was carefully monitored by Vijayanagar’s scouts.
It seems Adil Shah expected Krishnadeva Raya to attempt an attack as soon as he heard news of the arrival of Bijapur army. The Bijapur plan was to attack when the Vijayanagar troops would be in the middle of the river crossing. But Krishnadeva Raya being a master strategist did not rise to the bait and on his part made no effort to make the first move.
This threw the Bijapur camp into confusion and after lengthy debates it was decided to cross the river and give battle. As enumerated in table 1 the Bijapur army was numerically inferior to the Vijayanagar forces, but qualitatively equal and in some aspects even better e.g. the Bijapur cavalry. From Nunes narrative it seems Adil Shah set great store on his artillery which numbered nearly nine hundred pieces, both big and small[xiv].
Crossing the river Adil Shah pitched his camp close to the river bank to have ready access to water supplies. Strengthening his camp by digging large trenches around it, he arranged his cavalry and infantry in battle positions. Artillery which was supposed to deliver a decisive victory to Bijapur was positioned in the front line. As explained before with artillery of the age you could at most get 8-12 shots in an hour. This meant that the first artillery barrage had to be devastating enough to cause the maximum damage in enemy ranks.
5.4 Stage Four: The Battle
Krishnadeva Raya divided his army into seven wings. Kumara Virayya who was his father in law as well as the Nayaka (chief) of Srirangapatanam was given the honour of commanding the vanguard of the army. Kumara Virayya with his sons (he had thirty sons as per Nunes) and his forces pitched camp about 4.8 km from Adil Shahs frontline.
On the advice of the Brahmana’s it was decided to launch the attack on Saturday May 20th 1520 CE. The reason being it was an auspicious day. Krishnadeva Raya instructed the two divisions under Kumara Virayya to be battle ready at the first crack of dawn on Saturday morning.
While the Vijayanagar forces were preparing for battle, a small force of Bijapuri cavalry and infantry sneaked out from Raichur fort. It comprised of two hundred horses, unknown infantry and some elephants. The Bijapuri noble who led this troop was a eunuch and decided to shadow the Vijayanagar forces from a safe distance, all the while keeping close to the river bank. His plan seems to have been to ambush the Vijayanagar army at a turning point in the battle, either on its flanks or from the rear.
With the first crack of daylight entire atmosphere resounded with the sounds of martial music played by war drums, orders being shouted, excitement of animals and the trumpeting of elephants. Nunes describing this says, “It seemed as if the sky should fall to the earth (because of the noise)” and “if you asked anything you could not hear yourself speak and you had to ask by signs (Sewell).”
By the time the entire camp had moved forward it was already 8 or 9 am of Saturday morning. At this point Krishnadeva Raya ordered his two forward divisions to commence the attack and destroy the enemy.
Figure 9 Kumara Virayya’s attack on the Bijapur frontline
The brave Kumara Virayya launched a vigorous attack on the Bijapur army forcing it into the defensive trenches it had dug in the fields (see fig 9 above).
Adil Shah expected the great Raya to attack with all his forces and not just send two divisions in front. Adil Shahs game plan was to sacrifice a large part of his army to the Vijayanagar attack. He was certain that a large body of his troops would be cut to pieces in the initial onslaught. It is interesting to note that Adil Shah himself stayed safely at the back of his army and took no part in the battle.
Adil Shahs confidence rested on his trump card: his considerable artillery .At a crucial point in the battle when the main body of Vijayanagar troops including Krishnadeva Raya would be completely exposed, all the nine hundred large and small cannons would open simultaneous fire. This tremendous artillery barrage would could large scale destruction amongst the Vijayanagar troops and most probably quite a few of the leading chiefs would be killed. Krishnadeva Raya himself might be killed and Vijayanagar troops would flee the battlefield.
But Krishnadeva Raya did not play by Adil Shahs rules and kept five divisions in reserve. Meanwhile the Muslim defences were crumbling under the vigorous attack by Kumara Virayya’s forces.
Figure 10 Bijapur’s devastating artillery barrage
Ismail Adil Shah saw that unless he brought his artillery into play now, he risked the complete rout of his army. Accordingly the entire Bijapur artillery opened simultaneous fire into the densely packed masses of Vijayanagar infantry, cavalry and elephants (see fig.10 above).
The artillery bombardment killed and wounded considerable numbers of Vijayanagar troops and as a consequence they began to retreat from the battlefield. Sensing victory, Bijapur cavalry and infantry pursued the retreating army, slaughtering everyone in their path.
At this crucial moment in the battle, the great Raya rallied all his remaining divisions and moved to attack the enemy (see fig 11 below). The fleeing frontline stabilised on seeing the entire army move forward. As per Nunes, Krishnadeva Raya gave orders to his troops to cut down any of the frontline that were fleeing the battlefield. This does not seem consistent with the Raya’s nature.
The fleeing frontline now turned back on its pursuers. Bijapur troops flush with the prospect of victory and in hot pursuit were in a complete state of disarray. They were swept aside much like the rising tide sweeps away flotsam.
Figure 11 Vijayanagar’s Counter Attack
Nunes says, “The confusion was so great amongst the Moors (Muslims) and such havoc was wrought (in their ranks) that they did not even try to defend the camp they had made so strong and enclosed so well; but like lost men they leaped into the river to save themselves. Then after them came large numbers of the King’s troops and elephants, which latter worked amongst them mischief without end, for they seized men with their trunks and tore them into small pieces, whilst those who rode in the castles (howdahs) killed countless numbers” (Sewell).
The Bijapur artillery does not seem to have had the time to reload and fire a second barrage. Bijapur camp followers which included women fled towards the river .In the melee many were drowned and countless slaughtered by the Vijayanagar troops.
Salabat Khan who was the commander of the Bijapur forces tried in vain to stop his army from fleeing. He managed to collect a band of five hundred Portuguese mercenaries and in a desperate battle cut his way through the Vijayanagar army. This motley band almost reached near the Raya’s personal bodyguard before it was exterminated. Salabat Khan was badly wounded and taken prisoner. Nunes is profuse in praising the bravery of Salabat Khan and the Portuguese.
While all this was going on, the “brave” Adil Shah had already fled the battlefield escorted by his confidant Asad Khan. The wily Asad Khan seeing that defeat was certain, helped the Sultan escape on an elephant. In this he was accompanied by four hundred horsemen. Contrast the conduct of the great Raya who led his troops from the front and fought alongside them, with Adil Shah who did not participate in the battle at all!!
With the Bijapur army completely routed, Krishnadeva Raya occupied Adil Shahs tent and asked his Nayakas to desist from further slaughter of the defeated army. Even though general opinion amongst the Nayakas was to pursue and completely exterminate the Bijapur army, Krishnadeva Raya remained firm and tasked his men with getting back to besiege Raichur.
Befitting a man of his stature, Krishnadeva Raya was extremely humane with the captured prisoners. He made sure the captured women were not molested and made arrangements to return them. This was in stark contrast to the behaviour of the Muslims, for whom it was common practice to dishonour captured Hindu women and distribute amongst themselves ( the last time this took place on an enormous scale was during the partition riots of 1946-47 and during the genocide of nearly 2 million Hindus in Bangladesh in 1971).
The war booty captured was considerable, including four hundred large cannons, many small ones, nine hundred gun carriages, four thousand Arabian horses, countless pack animals (oxen, mules etc) and camp equipment (tents, pavilions etc).
The casualties on the Vijayanagar side were approximately 16,000 dead. There is no number for the dead on the Bijapur side, but taking even the most conservative estimate of 30% of their army being destroyed, it amounts to nearly 42,000 dead. Of course the real toll would have been much greater as many drowned in the river in the course of their desperate flight.
Sri Krishnadeva Raya oversaw that those warriors of Vijayanagar who had attained Veeragati were cremated with honour. The great Raya also distributed alms in memory of the martyrs.
5.4 Stage Five: Raichur falls
After the battle, the Vijayanagar army got back to the siege of Raichur. As per Nunes at this point the entire complexion of the siege was changed by the arrival of Christovao de Figueiredo along with a troop of twenty musketeers. Christovao was a Portuguese captain who was in Vijayanagar to deliver horses. Seeing the defenders on the walls of Raichur fort firing with impunity upon the Vijayanagar soldiers, Christovao offered his services to Sri Krishnadeva Raya.
The Portuguese musketeers picked off the defenders on the battlements one by one, till it became near impossible for the defenders to use the wall without being shot. This allowed Vijayanagar soldiers to bring down portions of the fort wall without fear of getting shot. The cannons mounted on the fort wall were in fixed positions and could not be manipulated to fire on the Vijayanagar sappers working at the foot of the fort walls.
The governor of the fort was killed by a musket shot when he tried to look over the battlements in order to observe the Portuguese musketeers. This led to a complete collapse of moral within the fort and the city surrendered soon after.
According the Nunes, Christovao was richly rewarded by Sri Krishnadeva Raya for his efforts. Sri Krishnadeva Raya treated the people of Raichur with great kindness and did not allow any looting to take place. Those soldiers who resorted to looting were suitably punished.
6. Aftermath
Sri Krishnadeva Raya departed for Vijayanagar after ensuring that the damage to the fort was repaired and leaving behind a strong contingent to guard the fort.
The complete defeat of Bijapur sent shockwaves throughout India, as it was known to be a powerful sultanate. The people most concerned were the other Deccan sultans i.e. Nizam Shah, Qutb Shah, Barid Shah and Imad Shah. Even though they had no love for Bijapur, they feared Sri Krishnadeva Raya would attack them next. Accordingly they sent a message to Sri Krishnadeva Raya asking him to return Raichur or they would combine in battle against him. Sri Krishnadeva Raya wrote back saying they should not take the trouble of marching to Vijayanagar, for he himself would come to their kingdoms!!
Ismail Adil Shah sent an ambassor to the Raya’s court to demand that everything he had lost be restored. The ambassador had to wait a month before he was allowed to see Sri Krishnadeva Raya. Adil Shah’s message was typically arrogant and put the blame for the conflict squarely on the Raya’s shoulders. The great Raya relied that he would restore everything back to the Adil Shah if he came and kissed his feet!!
Predictably Adil Shah dilly dallied till Krishnadeva Raya marched onto Bijapur itself. But that goes beyond the scope of this article.
7. Analysis of Nunes Account
Nunes account of the siege raises serious doubts that he deliberately downplayed the role of Vijayanagar artillery to give undue importance to his fellow Portuguese. The following points have come to my attention while reading the translation done by Robert Sewell:
Artillery: On one hand Nunes is meticulous about the numbers he gives for the cannon/firearms in the service of Bijapur. On the other he says nothing about the number of cannon carried by the Vijayanagar forces, except a single statement that “there were many cannon”!! It is quite inconceivable that he would not have known the numbers of artillery carried by Vijayanagar. Artillery in that century much as today was definitely quantifiable. Nunes has gone to the trouble of putting precise numbers to the innumerable infantry, cavalry and elephants in the Vijayanagar army. But fails to put his finger on the nature of Vijayanagar artillery, even though he was clearly alive to the importance of artillery on the field.
Artillery required an extensive support mechanism, with large cannon taking upto ten people to maintain it and the slow movement of the artillery carriages slowed down the main army as well. What was the point of taking all the trouble to drag artillery to the battlefield and not use it? This is equivalent to India taking the trouble to develop the Arjun tank, deploy it on the borders and when war breaks out do nothing with it!!
Siege of Raichur: The mention of Vijayanagar soldiers being paid to chisel out stones from the fort walls is incomprehensible. By the 1500’s siege weapons had already matured and Vijayanagar was definitely in possession of siege weapons such as trebuchets etc. These would have been complemented by teams of sappers to mine the fort walls. To assume that the richest empire in Asia (if not the world) did not have any siege machinery and had to rely on its soldiers chiselling out stones is unbelievable. And to further imply that a few Portuguese mercenaries were responsible for the fall of a formidable fortress is laughable to say the least!
Krishna Deva Raya was the most far sighted and visionary monarch of his time. It simply does not fit into his character that he would not use Vijayanagar’s artillery to launch a counter bombardment of Raichur fort. He would have been alive to the fact that the Bijapur sultans had built up a formidable artillery arsenal .To counter this he would have secured up to date artillery from the Portuguese, who were eager to sell arms and horses to the highest bidder. Ferishta himself talks of cannons being used in the Vijayanagar-Bahmani sultanate wars of the late 1400’s[Y1] .
The “Kiss my Foot” anecdote: The incident of Sri Krishnadeva Raya asking Ismail Adil Shah to come and kiss his feet is inconsistent with the character of such a magnanimous and large hearted ruler. If Krishnadeva Raya wanted to humiliate Adil Shah he would have followed up immediately after the battle and completely destroyed Adil Shah. It must be remembered that Nunes was a horse trader and not an ambassador at the court of Vijayanagar. As such some parts of his narrative would be coloured by common gossip and rumours.
And supposing the great Raya did send this answer, I fail to see what is wrong with that. Muslim sultans are routinely excused of any excesses whether rape, mass murder or loot. Whereas a Hindu emperor who has won a brilliant victory is accused of arrogance when he asks his defeated adversary to come and submit to him. When Hindus assert themselves they are portrayed as arrogant, selfish and deserving of whatever bad happens to them!! Talk about intellectual perversion.
Directly related to the above is the opinion of historians like Robert Sewell,that the alliance of the Deccan sultanates which led to the defeat of Vijayanagar at Talikota in 1565 CE arose from the “arrogance” of the Hindus after Raichur.
This would be a complete misreading of the situation. The Deccan sultanates were offspring of the Bahmani Sultanate which was unremitting in its objective to carry out destruction of Vijayanagar. Even though the Deccan sultans fought amongst themselves and struck alliances even with Vijayanagar at times, their overall objective never changed i.e. the despoliation and destruction of Vijayanagar at the first opportunity.
In fact the prime cause of the defeat at Rakshaka- Tangadi (Talikota) can be directly traced back to the pursuit of a number of short sighted policies by Aliya Rama Raya (the then emperor of Vijayanagar and successor to Krishna Deva Raya) which included:
1. Hiring a large number of Muslims in the army and appointing them to strategic positions. This was the prime reason why the battle of Rakshaka- Tangadi (Talikota) was lost in 1565 CE. The Muslim contingents of the Vijayanagar army switched sides at a crucial moment at Talikota and attacked their former employer[xv]. The confusion that followed enabled Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar to capture and behead Sri Rama Raya, which was followed by the Vijayanagar army fleeing the battlefield. Another tragic occasion in our history when we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory!!
2. Instead of completely destroying the sultanates one by one, Sri Rama Raya kept playing them off against one another. It was only a matter of time before they united against the kafir Hindus!!
8. In Conclusion
It is telling of the double standards employed by western historians that Ferishta’s account is rightly called into question, but Nunes is taken at face value!! Even for a person like me with a very superficial knowledge of Vijayanagar, entire parts of Nunes chronicle seem out of sync with contemporary reality.
This is what happens when foreigners whether whites or Muslims write our history. No wonder Hindus are cast as villains and ever ready to be conquered, when the reality is exactly the opposite.
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[1] The total given by Robert Sewell for Vijayanagar comes to 736,000 .I have come to the above by totalling the numbers given by Nunes in the translation by Robert Sewell. The higher number would be due to the other chiefs joining the main army on route to Raichur.
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Citations:
FIRISHTA, M. K. (n.d.). Persian Literature in Translation–History of India,Volume 6. Retrieved June 11, 2010, from PHI Persian Literature in Translation: http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main
Sewell, R. (n.d.). A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): a contribution to the history of India. Retrieved June 19, 2010, from internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/aforgottenempire03310gut
References:
[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrack
[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chaul
[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diu_%281509%29
[iv] Pg.157,The Book of Duarte Barbosa, Volume 1,Mansel Longworth Dames, retrieved from http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/handle/1/2543
[v] http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Equipment/Artillery/354-155mm-Bofors-Fh-77b.html
[vi] Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and High Roads to Empire, Jos Gommans, Routledge, 2002. The author states the rate of fire of Mughal artillery to be 2-3 shots every fifteen minutes. In the chaos of battle this would probably be lower.
[vii] Pg.157, Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and High Roads to Empire ,Jos Gommans,Routledge,2002
[viii] Pg.62, Firearms: A Global History to 1700, Kenneth Chase, Cambridge University Press, 2003. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in why the western world was able to gain technological superiority in firearms.
[ix] A History of South India, page 285, Prof KAN Shastri, Oxford University Press, Third Edition, 1966.
[x] Pg.167,History of the Deccan ,J.D.B Gribble,1896,available at http://www.archive.org/details/ahistorydeccan00pendgoog
[xi] The distance from Vijayanagar to Raichur is approximately 165 km. Such large armies would have been very slow to move e.g. the rate at which a fully equipped Mughal army could march was only 6-8 km a day. Provided it was dry season and the ground was firm.
[xii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raichur
[xiii] Pg.50-109,History of Aurangzib, Jadunath Sarkar, retrieved from http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/handle/1/7549
[xiv] A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): a contribution to the history of India, Robert Sewell, retrieved from http://www.archive.org/details/aforgottenempire03310gut
[xv] A History of South India ,page 295,Prof KAN Shastri, Oxford University Press, Third Edition,1966
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Comments (14)
June 2, 2010
Vijayanagar Chapter 4
Filed under: Vijayanagar — Yogeshwar Shastri @ 4:40 pm
Tags: Vijayanagar, Delhi Sultanate, Ala-ud-din, Khilji, Deogiri, Warangal, Mamluk, Gujarat, Kakatiya, Jambudveep, India, Pandya, KAN Sastri, South India, Invasions of South India, India History, Mubarak khilji, Haripala Deva, Raghava, Khusrau
Vijayanagar
Chapter 4
Disintegration of Deogiri
In 1312 CE Rama Raya of Deogiri died and his son Sangama (some accounts call him Bhillama) took over the throne. The first thing Sangama did like his late brother Shankara Deva was to rebel against the Muslims and declare independence.
Ala-ud-din promptly despatched Kafur to dispose of the rebel. Kafur ravaged the lands of Deogiri .Sangama deciding discretion was the better part of valour fled from Deogiri.
However this time no scion of the Yadava dynasty was installed on the throne. Deogiri lost its independence and was annexed to the Delhi sultanate for good. Malik Kafur made himself the governor of Deogiri and instituted an aggressive policy of Islamisation of the Deccan. The imperialism of the Muslims entailed settling large numbers of Muslims from the north and foreign countries in and around Deogiri. Deogiri like Delhi was fast becoming a Muslim city. Hindus were marginalised and terrorised. Kafur was an enthusiastic breaker of Hindu temples and took great delight in breaking them down and erecting mosques in their place.
As the Deogiri kingdom passed out of existence, various Hindu chiefs formerly under it refused to bow down to the Islamic oppressors. The hilly region of the Sahyadri Mountains, particularly around Pune was under the Koli king Naga Nayaka, who retained his independence in face of Muslim assaults.
In the southern part of the kingdom Mallideva the chief of Rayadurga was a relation of Rama Raya. He declared himself the king of Maharashtra. Mallideva’s attempt at opposing the Muslims ended in failure, Mallideva being killed in battle by rival chiefs Mummadi Singeya of Kampili and Jagatapa Gangayadeva of Gutti.
Mummadi Singeya’s son Kampili Raya established the powerful kingdom of Kampili, which covered present day Dharward, Bellary and Raichur districts. Kampili stood as a bulwark against Muslim invasions till it was overwhelmed by Muhammad Tughlaq.
Malik Kafur departed for Delhi soon after leaving Ain –ul- Mulk as the governor of Deogiri.
Change at Delhi
In 1316 Ala-ud-Din Khilji died and the administration of the sultanate was taken over by Kafur. In the bloody succession struggles which were typical of the Delhi sultanate, he had two of Ala-ud-dins older sons Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan blinded. Imprisoning them in Gwalior he proclaimed Ala-ud-dins infant son as the sultan. Mubarak Khilji was thrown into prison and expected to meet the same fate as his brothers.
Kafur being a man of many enemies thought it wise to recall Ain-ul-Mulk to Delhi. Ain-ul-Mulk gathered all the Muslims of Deogiri and started his march to Delhi. As I have pointed out before the Muslim community was almost completely militarised, which meant each and every Muslim played the role of a soldier in battle. Hence for a brief period of time Deogiri was left completely to the Hindus.
However before Ain-ul-Mulk could reach Delhi, Kafur was assassinated by his bodyguards. They raised Mubarak to the throne, who proclaimed himself as Sultan Qutb-ud-din Mubarak Khilji. Mubarak himself had a male slave on whom he lavished his attentions. Known as Hasan he was subsequently given the title Khusrau Khan by Mubarak. Khusrau Khan was one of the enigmatic characters of the Delhi Sultanate.
Mubarak was a debauch and spent his time drinking or with women. He had his brothers Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan killed and took their wives for his own pleasure. The unfortunate Devala Devi was amongst these and Mubarak forcibly married her. With a fetish for cross dressing he used to appear in his court dressed in a woman’s clothes!!
But he was of one mind on the question of pursuing Jihad against the Hindus.
Haripala Deva
With the bulk of the Muslim forces departing with Ain-ul-Mulk (the governor of Deogiri), a war of independence was waged in Deogiri by the valiant Haripala Deva.
Haripala Deva was the son in law of the late Rama Raya. The situation for Hindus had become intolerable with their day to day lives being dependent on the whims and fancies of the Muslim rulers. Hindu women were abducted in broad daylight and the peasantry taxed to death.
Haripala Deva was joined in his efforts by Raghava, a minister of Rama Raya .For a brief period under the kingship of Haripala Deva, Deogiri regained its independence. He succeeded in defeating various Muslim amirs to the extent that Sultan Mubarak himself had to lead an army from Delhi to recapture Deogiri.
In 1318 CE, Mubarak accompanied by his lover Khusrau Khan started from Delhi with a large army. Entering Maharashtra they had to fight tough battles with Haripala Deva and Raghava.
Raghava was defeated by Khusrau and his army destroyed. But Haripala Deva defeated Khusrau twice in battle. Making intelligent use of the mountainous terrain Haripala Deva with his strong army gave the Muslims a tough time.
Haripala Deva was finally cornered in Devagiri fort and agreed to surrender after Sultan Mubarak promised to spare his life. On surrendering this lion of the Yadava clan met a most gruesome end.
Mubarak in flagrant violation of his own promise, had Haripala Deva skinned alive and his lifeless corpse hung from the gates of Deogiri fort .The entire royal family of the Yadavas was massacred to prevent any future uprisings. Maharashtra was distributed to various Muslim chiefs as their reward.
Malik Yak Lakhy was made the governor of Deogiri and military garrisons were posted at Sagar, Gulbarga and other places. But the garrison meant to subdue Dvarasamudram was defeated by Katari Saluva Raseya Nayaka who was an officer in Veera Ballala’s army. Khusrau Khan was despatched to collect tribute from Prataparudra and Sultan Mubarak departed for Delhi on 5th August 1318 CE.
Thus ended the great line of the Yadavas of Deogiri. With them came to an end the golden age of Maharashtra. For the next three hundred years the life of Hindus in the Deccan slipped into a dark age. The life of the common Hindu becoming worse than that of animals, as ravaging Muslim armies swept across the landscape. Maharashtra passed from one genocidal sultan to the next, till divine deliverance came in the form of Chattrapati Shivaji in the seventeenth century.
Khusrau’s forays into the South
As soon as Sultan Mubarak was back in Delhi, Malik Yak Laky proclaimed himself Sultan Shams-ud-din and even minted coins in his own name. The Sultan promptly sent Khusrau khan with a large army to imprison the usurper. For a man with royal ambitions Malik Yak fell short of loyal friend’s .Betrayed by his own subordinates, he was imprisoned by Khusrau Khan who sent him to Delhi. There his ears and nose were cut off and would be sultan was deprived of all his wealth. Khusrau Khan appointed Ain-ul-Mulk as the viceroy of Deccan.
Khusrau Khan was further entrusted to attack the Pandya kingdom which was in a state of complete chaos. After Kafurs foray in 1311 CE the Pandya brothers resumed their power struggles. However this time Vira Pandya gained the upper hand and Sundara Pandya was forced to flee into exile. Soon Vira Pandya himself was dethroned following an invasion by the Chera king of Kerala Ravivarman Kulashekhara. Ravivarman was forced to retire back to Kerala following troubles there and the Pandya kingdom was again in the hands of Vira Pandya.
Meanwhile in 1317 CE Prataparudra taking advantage of the disorder sent a powerful army under his general Muppidi Nayaka. The Kakatiya army successfully captured Kanchi from the Pandyas. Thus on the eve of Khusrau’s invasion the Pandya kingdom was in an even worse state of chaos than before.
As in Kafurs time the Pandyan army refused to fight a set piece battle with Khusrau. Civilians wise from previous experiences of the Muslims fled before the advance of the enemy, taking along their possessions .Khusrau managed to capture a hundred elephants and the city of Pattan. The governor of Pattan was a Muslim named Siraj-ud-din. This did not stop Khusrau from confiscating his wealth and taking his daughter!!
With the beginning of the rains and internal squabbles breaking out in his camp, Khusrau was forced to move back to Delhi. Khusrau’s southern campaign thus ended in failure without producing any tangible results.
For Chapter 5 click here.
References:
The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N. Venkataramanayya, edited by Prof. K A N Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandyan_Dynasty
South India and Her Mohemmedan Invaders, S Krishnaswami Iyengar, S Chand & Co,1921, http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
TÁRÍKH-I FÍROZ SHÁHÍ, ZÍÁU-D DÍN BARNÍ, Packard Humanities Institute, retrieved on 03-04-2010, http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main
A History of South India, Prof K A N Sastri, Oxford University Press, 1966. Study Guides and Lesson PlansStudy smarter.
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Romesh Chunder Dutt
Born August 13, 1848Calcutta
Disappeared
Died November 30, 1909Baroda
Resting place
Occupation Historian, economist, linguist,
civil servant, politician
Spouse Manomohini Dutt (nee Bose)
Romesh Chunder Dutt, CIE (Bengali: রমেশচন্দ্র দত্ত) was a Bengali civil servant, economic historian, writer, and translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Contents
1 Formative years
2 Civil Service
3 Politics
4 Literature
4.1 Bengali culture
5 History
6 See also
7 Works
8 References
9 External links
Formative years
Dutt was born into a distinguished Bengali Kayastha family well known for its members' literary and academic achievements. His parents were Thakamani and Isam Chunder Dutt. His father, Isam Dutt, was a Deputy Collector of Bengal, whom Romesh often accompanied on official duties. Romesh was educated in various Bengali District schools, then at Hare School, Calcutta, founded by the philanthropist, David Hare. After his father's untimely death in a boat accident in eastern Bengal, Romesh's uncle, Shoshee Chunder Dutt, an accomplished writer, became his guardian in 1861. Romesh wrote about his uncle, "He used to sit at night with us and our favorite study used to be pieces from the works of the English poets."[1] He was a relative of Toru Dutt, one of nineteenth century Bengal's most prominent poets.
He entered the University of Calcutta, Presidency College in 1864, then passed the First Arts examination in 1866, second in order of merit, and won a scholarship. While still a student in the B.A. class, without his family's permission, he and two friends, Beharilal Gupta and Surendranath Banerjee, left for England in 1868.[2] Only one other Indian, Satyendra Nath Tagore, had ever before qualified for the Indian Civil Service. Romesh aimed to emulate Satyendranath Tagore's feat. For a long time, before and after 1853, the year the ICS examination was introduced in England, only British officers were appointed to covenanted posts.[3] The 1860s saw the first attempts, largely successful, on the part of the Indians, and especially members of the Bengali intelligentsia, to occupy the superior official posts in India, until then completely dominated by the British.
At University College London, Dutt continued to study British writers. He studied law at Middle Temple, London, was called to the bar, and qualified for the Indian Civil Service in the open examination in 1869,[4] taking third place.[5]
Civil Service
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Queen Victoria's Proclamation
Dutt entered the Indian Civil Service, or ICS, as an Assistant Magistrate of Alipur in 1871. His official career was a test and a proof of the liberal promise of equality to all her Majesty's subjects "irrespective of color and creed" in Queen Victoria's Proclamation of November 1, 1858,[6] which often contrasted with an implicit distrust of Indians, especially from those in positions of authority within the elite colonial administrative system.
A famine in Meherpur, District of Nadia in 1874 and another in Dakhin Shahbazpur (Bhola District) in 1876, followed by a disastrous cyclone, required emergency relief and economic recovery operations, which Dutt managed successfully. By December, 1882, Dutt achieved his appointment to the executive branch of the Service, the first Indian to achieve executive rank. He served as administrator for Backerganj, Mymensingh, Burdwan, Donapur, and Midnapore. He became Burdwan's District Officer in 1893, Commissioner (offtg.) of Burdwan Division in 1894, and Divisional Commissioner for Orissa in 1895. Dutt was the first Indian to attain the rank of divisional commissioner.[7]
As Dutt's biographer commented, "In the absence of even the rudiments of representative institutions entry into the higher Civil Services presented the only opportunity to an Indian to influence the government of his own country."[8] He sat for a time in the Bengal Legislative Council. Although he won high praise for his administrative work, and the Companionship of the Indian Empire was awarded him in 1892,[9] Dutt did not always agree with official views on the causes of poverty in India or on the problems of administration. As his official recommendations and reports reflected, Dutt was especially troubled by the lack of assured tenants' rights or rights of transfer for those who tilled the land. He considered the land taxes to be ruinous, a block to savings, and the source of famines. He also felt the effectiveness of administrators was limited by the absence of representative channels for the concerns of the population being governed.
Dutt retired from the ICS as the Commissioner of Orissa in 1897 while only 49 years of age. Retirement freed him to enter public life and pursue writing. After retirement in 1898 he returned to England as a Lecturer in Indian History at University College, London where he completed his famous thesis on economic nationalism. He spent the next six years in London before returning once again to India as Dewan of Baroda state, a post he had been offered before he left for Britain. He was extremely popular in Baroda where the Maharaja, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III and his family members and all other staff used to call him the Babu Dewan, as a mark of personal respect. He also became a member of the Royal Commission on Indian Decentralisation in 1907.[10][11]
While still in office, he died in Baroda at the age of 61 on November 30, 1909.
Politics
He was active in moderate nationalist politics and was an active Congressman in that party's initial phase. He was twice the president of the Indian National Congress. He was president of the Indian National Congress in 1899.
This section requires expansion.
Literature
Bengali culture
Dutt served as the first president of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad (Bengali: বঙ্গীয় সাহিত্য পরিষদ) in 1894, while Rabindranath Tagore and Navinchandra Sen were the vice-presidents of the society.[12] This was the society founded by L. Leotard and Kshetrapal Chakraborty in 1893 to cultivate Bengali literature. Enriched by contributions from Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Romesh Chunder Dutt, Satyendranath Dutt, Binoy Krishna Deb, Ritendranath Tagore, Premsundar Bose and Jatindranath Pal, its collections include over 150,000 books and important Bengali and Sanskrit manuscripts and cultural artifacts, including the only manuscript of Shrikrsnakirtana.
Dutt's The Literature of Bengal presented "a connected story of literary and intellectual progress in Bengal" over eight centuries, commencing with the early Sanskrit poetry of Jayadeva. It traced Chaitanya's religious reforms of the sixteenth century, Raghunatha Siromani's school of formal logic, and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's brilliance, coming down to the intellectual progress of the nineteenth century.[13] This was presented by Thacker, Spink & Co. in Calcutta and Archibald Constable in London in 1895, but it had formed in Dutt's mind while he managed famine relief and economic recovery operations in Dakhin Shahbazpur and originally appeared under the disguise of an assumed name in 1877. It was dedicated to his esteemed uncle, Rai Shashi Chandra Dutt Bahadur.
Dutt considered Ram Mohan Roy, the religious reformer of Bengal, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Akshay Kumar Datta to be the founders of Bengali prose literature [14]
This section requires expansion.
History
Poverty and low wages were among the indirect products of colonial rule. Romesh Dutt traced a decline in standards of living to the nineteenth-century deindustrialization of the subcontinent and the narrowing of sources of wealth which followed:
India in the eighteenth century was a great manufacturing as well as great agricultural country, and the products of the Indian loom supplied the markets of Asia and of Europe. It is, unfortunately, true that the East Indian Company and the British Parliament ... discouraged Indian manufactures in the early years of British rule in order to encourage the rising manufactures of England . . . millions of Indian artisans lost their earnings; the population of India lost one great source of their wealth.[15]
Radhakamal Mukerjee and Romesh Dutt directed attention to the deepening internal differentiation of Indian society appearing in the abrupt articulation of local economies with the world market, accelerated urban-rural polarization, the division between intellectual and manual labor, and the toll of recurrent devastating famines.[16]
See also
Wikisource has original works written by or about: Romesh Chunder Dutt
Bengal Renaissance
Economic History of India
Indian National Congress
Works
Romesh Chunder Dutt (1896). Three Years in Europe, 1868 to 1871. S. K. Lahiri. http://books.google.com/?id=1XkjAAAAMAAJ&dq=Dutt+%2B%22Three+Years+in+Europe%22.
Romesh Chunder Dutt (1874). The Peasantry of Bengal. Thacker, Spink & Co.. http://books.google.com/?id=GlYOAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22the+peasantry+of+bengal%22&printsec=frontcover. ; ed. Narahari Kaviraj, Calcutta, Manisha (1980)
Romesh Chunder Dutt (1895). The Literature of Bengal. T. Spink & co.. http://books.google.com/?id=ClUMAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22the+literature+of+bengal%22. ; 3rd ed., Cultural Heritage of Bengal Calcutta, Punthi Pustak (1962).
Mādhabī kaṅkaṇa in Bengali (1879)
Rajput jivan sandhya (1879); Pratap Singh: The Last of the Rajputs, A Tale of Rajput Courage and Chivalry, tr. Ajoy Chandra Dutt. Calcutta: Elm Press (1943); Allahabad, Kitabistan, (1963)]].
Rig Veda translation into Bengali (1885): R̥gveda saṃhitā / Rameśacandra Dattera anubāda abalambane ; bhūmikā, Hiraṇmaẏa Bandyopādhyāẏa, Kalakātā , Harapha (1976).
Hinduśāstra : naẏa khaṇḍa ekatre eka khaṇḍe / Rameśacandra Datta sampādita, Kalikātā, Satyayantre Mudrita, 1300; Niu Lāiṭa, 1401 [1994].
A History of Civilization in Ancient India, Based on Sanscrit Literature. 3 vols. Thacker, Spink and Co.; Trübner and Co., Calcutta-London (1890) Reprinted, Elibron Classics (2001).
A Brief History of Bengal, S.K. Lahiri (1893).
Lays of Ancient India: Selections from Indian Poetry Rendered into English Verse. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner (1894); Rupa (2002). ISBN 8171678882
Reminiscences of a Workman's Life: verses Calcutta, Elen Press, for private circulation only (1896); Calcutta: n.p. (1956).
England and India: a record of progress during a hundred years, 1785-1885 (1897); New Delhi, India : Mudgal Publications, 1985.
Mahabharata: the epic of India rendered into English verse, London: J. M. Dent and Co., 1898. Maha-bharata, The Epic of Ancient India Condensed into English Verse Project Gutenberg, on line.
The Ramayana: the epic of Rama rendered into English verse, London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1899.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata: the great epics of ancient India condensed into English verse, London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1900. Everyman's Library reprint (London: J.M. Dent and Sons; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1910). xii, 335p. Internet Sacred Texts Archive.
Shivaji; or the morning of Maratha life, tr. by Krishnalal Mohanlal Jhaveri. Ahmedabad, M. N. Banavatty (1899). Also: tr. by Ajoy C. Dutt. Allahabad, Kitabistan (1944).
Open Letters to Lord Curzon on Famines and Land Assessments in India, London, Trübner (1900) 2005 ed. Adamant Media Corporation, Elibron Classics Series, ISBN 1-4021-5115-2.
The lake of palms. A story of Indian domestic life, translated by the author. London, T.F. Unwin (1902); abridged by P.V. Kulkarni, Bombay, n.p. (1931).
The Economic History of India Under Early British Rule. From the Rise of the British Power in 1757 to the Accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Vol. I. London, Kegan Paul, Trench Trübner (1902) 2001 edition by Routledge, ISBN 0415244935. On line, McMaster ISBN 8185418012
The Economic History of India in the Victorian Age. From the Accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 to the Commencement of the Twentieth Century, Vol. II. London, Kegan Paul, Trench Trübner (1904) On line. McMaster ISBN 8185418012
Indian poetry. Selected and Rendered into English by R.C. Dutt London: J. M. Dent (1905).
The Slave Girl of Agra: An Indian Historical Romance, Based on Madhavikankan. London: T.F. Unwin (1909); Calcutta, Dasgupta (1922).
Vanga Vijeta; in translation, Todar Mull: The Conqueror of Bengal, trans. by Ajoy Dutt. Allahabad: Kitabitan, 1947.
Sachitra Guljarnagar, tr. by Satyabrata Dutta, Calcutta, Firma KLM (1990)
References
↑ R. C. Dutt, Romesh Chunder Dutt, (1968) Internet Archive, Million Books Project, p. 10.
↑ Jnanendranath Gupta, Life and Works of Romesh Chandra Dutt, CIE, (London: J.M.Dent and Sons Ltd., 1911); while young Romesh came out unnoticed, Beharilal, possibly his closest friend ever, was chased all the way down to the Calcutta docks by his "poor" father, who could not, however, successfully persuade his son to return to the safety of his parental home. Later, in England, both the friends took the civil service examination successfully, becoming the 2nd and 3rd Indians to join the ICS. The third person in the group, Surendranath Banerjee, also cleared the test, but was incorrectly disqualified, as being over-age.
↑ Nitish Sengupta, History of the Bengali-speaking People, UBS Publishers’ Distributors Pvt. Ltd. (2002), p. 275. ISBN 8174763554.
↑ "Selected Poetry of Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848-1909)", University of Toronto (2002) On line.
↑ S.K. Ratcliffe, "A Note on the Late Romesh C. Dutt," in the Everyman's Library edition The Ramayana and the Mahabharata Condensed into English Verse (London: J.M. Dent and Sons and New York: E.P. Dutton, 1910), ix.
↑ Queen Victoria's Proclamation, November 1, 1858
↑ S.K. Ratcliffe, loc. cit.
↑ R. C. Dutt, Romesh Chunder Dutt, (1968) Internet Archive, Million Books Project, p. 51.
↑ J. K. Ratcliffe "A Note on the Late Romesh C. Dutt", The Ramayana and the Mahabharata condensed into English Verse (1899) at Internet Sacred Texts Archive
↑ Hansard, HC Deb 26 August 1907 vol 182 c149
↑ "Selected Poetry of Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848-1909), Notes on Life and Works," Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto (2002) On line.
↑ "Vangiya Sahitya Parishad", Banglapedia
↑ Romesh Chunder Dutt (1895). The Literature of Bengal. T. Spink & Co. (London); Constable (Calcutta). http://books.google.com/?id=ClUMAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22the+literature+of+bengal%22. ; 3rd ed., Cultural Heritage of Bengal Calcutta, Punthi Pustak (1962).
↑ Romesh Dutt, "Vidyasagar, Iswar Chandra", Encyclopædia Britannica 1911.
↑ The Economic History of India Under Early British Rule, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (1906) pp. vi–vii, quoted by Prasannan Parthasarathi, "The Transition to a Colonial Economy: Weavers, Merchants and Kings in South India 1720–1800", Cambridge U. Press. On line, excerpt.
↑ Manu Goswami, "Autonomy and Comparability: Notes on the Anticolonial and the Postcolonial", Boundary 2, Summer 2005; 32: 201 - 225 Duke University Journals.
External links
Works by Romesh Chunder Dutt at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Romesh Chunder Dutt in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
J. K. Ratcliffe "A Note on the Late Romesh C. Dutt", The Ramayana and the Mahabharata condensed into English Verse (1899) at Internet Sacred Texts Archive
J. N. Gupta, Life and Works of Romesh Chunder Dutt, (1911) Digital Library of India, Bangalore, barcode 2990100070832 On line.
M Mofakharul Islam, "Dutt, Romesh Chunder", Banglapedia
R. C. (Rabindra Chandra) Dutt, Romesh Chunder Dutt, (1968) Internet Archive, Million Books Project
"Selected Poetry of Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848-1909)," Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto (2002) On line.
Bhabatosh Datta, "Romesh Chunder Dutt", Congress Sandesh, n.d.
Shanti S. Tangri, "Intellectuals and Society in Nineteenth-Century India", Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Jul., 1961), pp. 368-394.
Pauline Rule, The Pursuit of Progress: A Study of the Intellectual Development of Romesh Chunder Dutt, 1848-1888 Editions Indian (1977)
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Persondata
Name Dutt, Romesh Chunder
Alternative names Dutt, R.C.; Dutt, Romesh; Dutta, Ramesh Chandra
Short description Historian, economist, writer, translator, civil servant, politician
Date of birth 13 August 1848
Place of birth Calcutta, India
Date of death 30 November 1909
Place of death Baroda, India
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