Indian History Carnival – 16

The Indian History Carnival, published on the 15th of every month, is a collection of posts related to Indian history and archaeology.

1. Recently about 70 Harappan graves were discovered in Farmana, Haryana. From this is it possible to find out if Harappan were an indigenous population or migrants? Suvrat Kher says, “My money is that they were like the rest of us living Indians, mostly native but with little pieces from outside as well.”
2. “There are also no historical records of slave trades, prices, quantities, ownership anywhere in India. In fact, Sanskritic Indian languages have no word for slaves,” writes Anuraag in a post about Demons, Satan and Ogres and Monsters.
3. While we know details of Chandragupta Maurya’s death, less is know about the last days of Chanakya. At varnam, there is one story of Chanakya’s death.
4. “We do think now, that Akbar had not only finally managed to come out of the prison of Islam, and returned to his own roots, but that he was also determined to stamp out Islam from India, forcefully if needed, just before his life came to a premature end when he died of poisoning
   (killed?).” Sarvesh K Tiwari explains this in a multi part post, A Ghazi turned Kafir: the Case of Akbar’s U-Turn (Part 1, 2, 3)
5. A Mughal painting from 1625 shows Holi being celebrated including a “drunk Jahangir being carried to to bed.”
6. According to Thomas Hervey Baber (1777 to 1843), the man who tracked Pazhassi Raja, “the natives of the Malabar Coast were more strict observers of truth than the other inhabitants of Hindostan”
7. “The irony can’t be harsher: While the Muslim League demanded — and got — separateness, the Hindu Mahasabha was reprimanded for fighting against this very demand for separatism.” Sandeep explains the importance of the Lucknow Pact of 1916 and Pirpur Report of 1938.
8. In a post about Nagas in World War II Feanor says, “It is a sad fact that Indian history (at least as taught when I went to school there) has nothing at all to say about the Northeast.
9. As India goes to the polls, Hari, based on excerpts from Ramachandra Guha’s India After Gandhi looks at the first election of 1951.
10. Is there any difference between Manmohan Singh and Flavius Belisarius? Arby finds out
11. Combining mythology and history, Kamini Dandapani has a travelogue about Kanya Kumari.

f you find any posts related to Indian history published in the past one month, please send it to jk AT varnam DOT org or use this form. Please send me links which are similar to the ones posted, in terms of content.The next carnival will be up on May 15th.
See Also: Previous Carnivals