Category: History

** History’s muse – The Empress of Ancient Indian Studies

Some anniversaries wait uneasily to be reached in the calendar. November 30, more than three months away, is one such. As the date when Romila Thapar turns ninety, it asks to be celebrated ahead of its click.

Described as the ‘pre-eminent historian of ancient India’, she is exactly that. Just as Amartya Sen is the pre-eminent exponent of development and welfare economics. ‘Left-leaning’ would be another description of her — and, of course, of him — in a journalistically apt sense. But as a summary of their intellectual resources and energies, it amounts to a flat cliché. Both those descriptions show how the accurate can be incomplete and the correct, inadequate.

Described as the ‘pre-eminent historian of ancient India’, she is exactly that. Just as Amartya Sen is the pre-eminent exponent of development and welfare economics. ‘Left-leaning’ would be another description of her — and, of course, of him — in a journalistically apt sense. But as a summary of their intellectual resources and energies, it amounts to a flat cliché. Both those descriptions show how the accurate can be incomplete and the correct, inadequate.

** Ian Cardozo, who amputated his own leg on the battlefield, writes about the 1971 Indo-Pak War

Indian Army officer Major General Ian Cardozo marks 50 years of the war that defined him and India in his book ‘1971 – Stories of Grit and Glory from the Indo-Pak War’

It is one of the 14 stories that Cardozo, a recipient of the Sena Medal (he was India’s first) and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, has penned for his latest 1971 – Stories of Grit and Glory from the Indo-Pak War (published by Penguin).

Cardozo, who was the first National Defence Academy cadet to win the gold and silver medals for best all round performance and merit — a rare feat.

 first war-disabled Indian Army officer to command a battalion, brigade and a division.

Goa/Bombay

** Gira Sarabhai, co-founder of NID, passes away at 98

Along with her brother Gautam Sarabhai, she laid the foundation for design education in the country.

Gira Sarabhai, co-founder of the renowned National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad and a pioneer of design education in India, passed away in Ahmedabad on Thursday. She played a crucial role in setting up several other institutions and contributed immensely in the field of art and architecture.

With her brother Gautam Sarabhai, she founded the NID and also prepared its academic curricula, which laid the foundation for design education in the country.

Besides NID, another notable institution both Gira and Gautam were involved in setting up is the Calico Museum, one of India’s most famous private museums. The Calico was one of the textiles mills run by their father Ambalal Sarabhai, along with a range of other businesses in Gujarat.

** Chola-era temple in Velachery grabs government’s attention

The dilapidated Vasudevaperumal temple is said to be 1,000 years old

Work to clean the precincts of Sri Vasudevaperumal temple at Ram Nagar in Velachery will be expedited. A large part of the temple is covered with thick layer of dirt.

Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P. Sekarbabu said on Wednesday that officials had been asked to dig out documents and any information relating to the temple.

He said he had visited the temple, which was said to be around 1,000 years old, on the request of the South Chennai Member of Parliament Thamizhachi Thangapandian, who had asked the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation to clean up the premises.

** How India first went to the Olympics in 1920 & other stories: Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian of Tata Sons tells BrandSutra

With the Tokyo Olympics set to begin later this month, one story that becomes most pertinent is how Sir Dorabji Tata, the second Chairman of the Tata Group, personally pushed for and financed the first Indian Olympic team to the Antwerp Olympics in 1920, when India did not even have an official Olympics body, thus setting the course for India’s sports culture and future Olympians.

** India to display relics of St. Ketevan

A part of them were gifted to Georgia on July 10; another part remains in Goa.

Almost 400 years after she was murdered in present day Iran, relics of St. Queen Ketevan that were found in Goa in 2005 are likely to be put on display in India as well as her native Georgia, according to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials.

Queen Ketevan was killed in 1624 in Shiraz for not converting to Islam and parts of her remains were brought to Goa by Augustinian monks. Revered as a martyr, her relics remained lost till 2005 as the St. Augustine Church collapsed in 1842, another official said. A DNA analysis by the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, confirmed their authenticity in 2013.

** A family repertory: The contribution of the Alkazi and Padamsee clans to Indian theatre

The Alkazi and Padamsee clans have played, and continue to play, an extraordinary role in the history of modern Indian theatre

“Oh god, it’s a page turner!” That was the cry from various family members on reading the first draft of Feisal Alkazi’s family memoirs published earlier this year. Titled Enter Stage Right — The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir (Speaking Tiger, 2021), it is an irresistible, exciting read. The narrative details are gripping, the pace exciting, and viewing the times described in the book of the two families in pre- and post-Independence India through the lens of Feisal allows us to enter a world that we can relate to from stories that our parents and grandparents told us of the times they lived through.

** Records of freedom fighters to be digitised to mark 75 years of Independence: Minister

Precaution will be taken to save records during demolition for Central Vista project, says Kishan Reddy.

Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Monday said the National Archives’ records related to freedom fighters would be digitised within a year as a part of the commemoration of 75 years of Independence next year.

Mr. Reddy, who took over the Culture and Tourism Ministries after the Cabinet reshuffle last week, visited the National Archives on Monday morning. After his visit, he told media that the National Archives of India, which houses over 18 crore pages, 64,000 volumes and 1.2 lakh maps, had started the digitisation process, but it would take a long time to complete.

“The records of the freedom movement and freedom fighters would be digitised in the coming year as a part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,” he said, referring to the year-long series of activities leading up to Independence Day 2022.

** Jaishankar hands over relics of 17th century Georgian Queen St. Ketevan to Georgia

Her relics were found in 2005 at the St. Augustine Convent in Old Goa, on the basis of medieval Portuguese records

In heeding to a long-standing request of Georgia, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday handed over to the country the holy relics of 17th century Georgian Queen St. Ketevan nearly 16 years after they were found in Goa.

The relics are believed to have been brought to Goa in 1627 and interred in St. Augustine Complex.

He is also scheduled to unveil the newly-installed statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Tbilisi.