Dolls Display During Dasara/Navratri

Posted on October 3, 2025 by V. Ananya

The term “Navratri” literally means “nine nights” in the Sanskrit language – “nava” means “nine” and “ratri” means “night”.

Navratri or Dasara often means a ten-day vacation for schools and colleges across India; and a few holidays here and there for non-academic sectors. I grew up with a display of dolls in my home and others in the neighbourhood. I remember in my early days when my paternal grandmother used to display her collection of the dolls she made, from scratch, herself across the years… until she finally abandoned the tradition, and let it be followed by another line of her family. When we shifted away to another state, my mother brought up the idea of doing a display ourselves; and that once we started it, we should try and keep doing it every year. I was all up for it!

After all, they were toys and dolls, and which kid didn’t love them?!

And so, we resumed the tradition ourselves. We put something every year even if it was just for the last three days of the festival.

This tradition of displaying dolls is mostly southern; you’ll find northern people fascinated by this; some wouldn’t even have heard of it!

But why is Navratri celebrated with a display of toys?

The easy answer is that it is a chance to showcase children’s creativity – it’s an activity that involves kids, mostly, with adults just looking from the background and helping where needed. Hence, the entire household comes and works together on it. This year was my sister-in-law’s first Dasara, and since she had an extremely creative mind, we were happy to have her on board. And she, too, was happy to involve herself. I think she loved the end result.

The other easy answer is that, when we call relatives, friends, and neighbours to come and see the display, it works out as an excuse to meet other people and catch on their daily lives.

The tough answer? That’s a long one and involves some research.

The dolls mostly depict stories from mythology and folklore, something that guests sit and discuss when they visit each other’s houses. This way, children get introduced to the variety of oral traditions and stories. With time, these displays have evolved to depict the Indian Freedom Movement and Operation Sindhoor.
Craftsmen and artisans will have be able to display and sell their wares. This is the best time for them to show off and make money out of the beautiful things they make. These days, local crafts from various states in India are accessible, and so, this creates a variety in the display.

That is all for to-day.

Thanks for reading!

What You Need to Know About the Age of Discovery

Posted on April 25, 2024 by V. Ananya

The Age of Discovery is a reference to the time in the history of the world, when regions such as India, America, Africa, and Australia were discovered by the Europeans, that is around 15^th century to 18^th century. This initially started with the advent of Industrialisation, which started in France and was popularised by England. The economic concepts of capitalism and mercantilism emerged in this period.

The Europeans invented machines and industries to make their commodities for them, so that manpower was reduced by a great degree. But, the big change that came with this was that these machines produced far more number of products in a short time, than manpower could ever dream of. So, the European traders needed markets outside of their continent to sell their commodities. They sent explorers to discover lands outside Europe; these explorers were backed by royal patronage. Columbus made the first major discovery and that was the North America. He was followed by Vasco da Gama, who discovered India. Many such discoveries were made and the Europeans traded goods with them. This eventually led to colonisation and the complete transformation of the colonies.

Here are a few facts about the Age of Discovery that one must keep in mind while studying World History:

Christopher Columbus landed in America, thinking it was India. He was an Italian explorer, sent by the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabelle of Castile. It was by then already known that Europeans could reach Asia by rounding the tip of Africa (the Cape of Good Hope), but Christopher Columbus had a different idea. He thought that they could reach Asia by travelling west. This was, of course, faulty, as we know to-day, but Columbus went ahead anyway, because the waters at the Cape of Good Hope were choppy and unpredictable; it was worth a shot, if European traders could avoid that. So, Columbus sailed his Santa Maria across the Atlantic in the year 1492. But then, he reached the lands of America and not India! The land is part of what we now call the Bahaman Islands.
Columbus was not the first person to discover America. Long before him, the Vikings and the Normans had visited the land in the 10^th and 11^th In fact, it has also been discovered that the Normans actually colonised America for some time. The first Normans landed on what they later called Newfoundland.
Hernan Cortez discovered the Aztec Civilisation. The Aztec Civilisation was located in what is to-day called Latin America. When the Spaniards, led by explorer Hernan Cortez, landed on the continent in 1522, they had the advantage of new and advanced weaponry and new diseases over the Aztecs. The Aztecs were still using bows and arrows. Nonetheless, they were the most powerful of the empires in South America and Mexico. Many other small tribal leaders tried to oust them, but in vain. When they realised that the Europeans wanted to overthrow the Aztecs as well, these native leaders joined them, and together, they defeated the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc. Among the others loyal to him, half died with the new diseases that the Europeans brought with them.
There were many scientific inventions made during this period. The Age of Discovery overlapped with the Scientific Revolution in Europe. There were a lot of new tools used in navigation, such as the compass, the astrolabe, and the new ships, such as the caravel.
Religion was one main reason for the explorations. Apart from trade purposes, the European missionaries also wanted to spread their respective Christian faiths to new lands far and wide. There were also explorers who were interested in fame, wealth and glory, and there were some who were merely curious.

The Age of Exploration also brought out the competitiveness in the rulers of the European nation-states. So, each of them was racing against one-another to find new lands and start trading and spreading their religious faiths. They were all economically and religiously intolerant towards one-another as well as the lands they discovered. They forcefully converted the natives into their own religion and regarded the native religion as primitive and repulsive.

One has to keep in mind that the very concept of the Age of Exploration is Euro-centric and thus, mostly talks about the European achievements.

Ugadi – Southern India’s New Year

Posted on April 9, 2024 by V. Ananya

We all know that New Year’s Day falls on 1 January of every year. That is when a new year begins – the calender refreshed and new resolutions made.

But what if I told you that there are multiple new year days celebrated on different days of the year?

Yep – that’s the case with India, owing to the different cultures present, each state celebrates its own new year’s day on a day other than the western standard.

One such day is Ugadi – celebrated by the people of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. In Maharashtra and Goa, it is called “Gudi Padwa”. Like many Telugu festivals in India, Ugadi one is based on the lunar calendar, as opposed to the solar/Hindu calender of many other festivals that are common throughout India, such as Holi. In the year 2024, Ugadi fell on Tuesday, 09 April.

So, what is the significance of Ugadi?

Ugadi signifies new beginnings – since it marks the beginning of a new Telugu year.
It also holds torch to the concept of creation, since it is believed that it was on this day that Brahma, the god of creation, created the world.
Ugadi symbolises prosperity and growth – hence, when people wish new year, they say “Wish you a happy and prosperous new year”.

Festivals all over India have one thing in common: Food – and lots of it! When it comes to Ugadi, the main traditional item is the Ugadi pachhadi.

The beauty of the Ugadi pachhadi is that it has six flavours all mixed together in one bowl:

Tamarind: sour
Jaggery: sweet
Raw mango: tangy
Neem flowers: bitter
Black pepper: spicy
Salt: salty

This is the first item that is eaten on the day of Ugadi before anything else – yes, even breakfast. It’s the first taste of the brand new year!

Other special dishes are prepared, such as tamarind rice, mango pickle, and sweets.

Why is so much mango used? Because this is the time of the year that they’re arrive in the market. In India, summer is the often synonymous with mangoes. I have lots of memories of eating mangoes in the summer, as I’m sure a lot of people do.

Ugadi is one of the many Hindu festivals that keeps changing its date every year. Every year, it is expected to fall either in March or in April; the best way to tell is that it falls in one month alternatively. So, since Ugadi has come in April this year, it’ll be in March the next year. It falls whenever the month of Chaitra begins in the Telugu calendar. As you may have expected, the month of Chaitra is the first month of the Telugu calnder year.

So… Happy Ugadi to all readers!

Do come back for more History in the future!

Sources:

The Signboard of Dholavira

Posted on February 21, 2024 by V. Ananya

In western India, in the Kutch district of the state of Gujarat, is an Indus Valley Civilisation archaeological site known as Dholavira.

We do not know if this was what it was called at the time, because, as I stated in the Ancient Civilisations: The Indus Valley, the language of this civilisation is not known. But this place is called Dholavira to-day and by the evidence found, it was declared to be one of the oldest sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation, most likely the Early Harappan Phase (approximately between 3200 BCE and 2600 BCE).

Dholavira is considered to be an important site of the civilisation because of this very theory.

Now, this article is about the one archaeological find that the site of Dholavira is known for: a signboard.

The signboard at Dholavira

You might wonder what is so special about a signboard. That is true: a signboard is a board with signs. Say, beside a road annoucing a hump or a bridge. So, what was special about the signboard at Dholavira?

It consists of a string of characters that make no apparent sense to us in the modern times. It is the Harappan script that has not yet been deciphered.

Can you make any sense of this? I know I can’t.

Where is the signboard found?

What does it contain?

Having been discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India team led by Dr B S Bisht, the famous signboard of Dholavira is proof of the amount of socio-cultural advancement that the people of the Indus Valley knew. It is essentially ten large symbols on a wooden board – possibly the first in the world – each of them being 37cm high. These symbols were said to be crafted in white gypsum. This signboard is significant to historians, because they feel it shows how important education was to people of the Indus Valley Civilisation. That and public messaging.

It is beyond doubt one of the most important discoveries, not only in Dholavira, but in the entire Indus Valley Civilisation. The Dholavira Signboard was found just outside the northern entrance of the citadel, thus earning its nickname by the experts. So far, it is considered to be one of the longest inscriptions of the civilisation. It measured to be about 3m long. Dr Bisht suggested that it was possibly used during the Classic Age of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Indology expert Rekha Rao suggests that each of the symbols on this sign board indicate specific information about a yagna and that perhaps their order is irrelevant. However, as you may have already guessed, it has not been proven or disproven, so the signboard still remains a mystery.

References:

Queen Victoria

Posted on April 20, 2023 by V. Ananya

Queen Victoria was the longest reigning monarch of Great Britain, only after the present Queen Elizabeth II, having ruled for 64 years from 1837 to 1901. She was the daughter of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. She lost her parents at a very young age. She was fifth in the line of succession and ascended the throne at the age of 18, when her brothers before her died without heirs.

Three years after becoming queen, Victoria married Prince Albert of Germany. Their nine children married the children of various nobles and royal families, including Russia, thus dubbing her the “Grandmother of Europe”.

She is associated with what is known to-day as the Queen Victoria Proclamation. This was issued on 01 January 1858, regarding the the Revolt of 1857 in most parts of northern and Deccan India. She received the title “Empress of India” in the year 1876.

Queen Victoria has also been credited with starting the tradition of white weddings and white bridal gowns when she selected a white gown for her wedding to Prince Albert. This was quickly carried on by wealthy brides and continues to this day.

Queen Victoria was a carrier of haemophilia. Haemophilia is a disease that prevents the clotting of blood even in the smallest of wounds. The queen, as a carrier, was not affected, but eventually, her future great-grandson, Alexei, heir to the throne of the Russian Empire, and the youngest son of the last Tsar Nicholas II, was haemophilic. Most often, it is women who carry this disease, so a male affected by it would be as a result of his mother being the carrier. In Alexei’s case, it was his mother, Tsarina Alexandra (granddaughter of Queen Victoria), who was the carrier.

Queen Victoria was so committed to her husband that, when Albert died in 1861, she became very depressed and reclusive, to the point of nearly abandoning her subjects. Nonetheless, she eventually managed to pull through and rule for the next 40 years. She was a such an influence in the British society that the period of reign is referred to as the “Victorian era“. Women and girls looked up to her for a lot of things. An entire set of social mannerisms has been attributed to her by historians to-day.

Images from History Extra and Town & Country Magazine.

Krishna – Myth or Reality?

Posted on April 14, 2023 by V. Ananya

In a previous article, we have seen the existence of the legend of Krishna in the Indian subcontinent. His story to-day exists as a legend and mentioned in enough sources to convince a large amount of the populace of his actual life on Earth.

Now, let us explore this question: Was Krishna real or just a myth?

While trying to answer these questions, I’m certain we’ll also explore the answers to questions such as:

When did Krishna live?
Are the stories surrounding Krishna and his valour true?
What was life like during the time of Krishna’s supposed existence?

As we have already seen, Krishna is regarding as an avatar of Vishnu, one of the three major gods of the Hindu pantheon, and highly reversed amongst Hindus for a long time – even to this day. The most obvious sources of his stories are The Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, and the Puranas (particularly The Bhagavata-Purana).

A current political map of India (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map-of-india-political-enlarge-view.gif)

Coming to actual historical sources, the legend of Krishna seems to be a combination of several other deities worshipped in ancient India, the earliest version being that of Vasudeva. Vasudeva was supposed to have been a hero-god belonging to the Vrishni tribe, one of their heroes – an attestation of this had been done by Panini in the 5th and the 6th centuries BCE and by an epigraphy in the 2nd century BCE Heliodorus pillar. He was said to be one of the Vrishni heroes.

The Vrishni heroes – also known as the Pancha-viras (literally meaning “five heroes”) – are a group of five heroes who were deified and worshipped with proves verfiable by archaeological and literary sources. According to these sources, the Vrishnis worshipped them near Mathura in 4th century BCE. Even coins and inscriptions in ancient India attest to their importance. The coins were discovered in the ruins of Ai-Khanoum or modern-day Afghanistan. Historians believe that perhaps at some point in time, the Vrishnis fused with the Yadava tribe, who had their own hero-god named Krishna. Eventually, Krishna and Vasudeva may have been fused together to form the deity Krishna we know to-day. Somewhere around the 4th century CE, the cult of Gopala-Krishna of the Abhiras was absorbed into this legend, making the newly formed Krishna as the protector of cattle.

Vāsudeva-Krishna, on a coin of Agathocles of Bactria, c. 180 BCE. This is “the earliest unambiguous image” of the deity.

More on the coins discovered in Afghanistan: It seems that in c. 180 BCE, Agathocles, an Indo-Greek king issued coins bearing deities that we interpret to-day as being that of Vaishnva imagery. (In case you were wondering, there was a time in the history of the Indian subcontinent when Greeks ruled parts of it. That’s a story for another day.) Some of these coins seemed to have represented Balarama with his pace and plow – two of the objects we associate with him to-day. Some also appeared with the images of Krishna with his typical Shankha (conch shell) and Sudarshana chakra (wheel).

Regarding the Heliodorus pillar: It was during the colonial era in India that a pillar was discovered by archaeologists in Besnagar (or Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh), perhaps dated between 125 and 100 BCE.

Heliodorus Pillar in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, erected about 120 BCE.

It was named after Heliodorus, an Indo-Greek ambassador of the Greek king, Antialcidas, to the Indian king, Kasiputra Bhagabhadra. The pillar was more fully excavated in the 1960s. It was identified to have been the foundations of a much larger ancient elliptical temple complex consisting of a sanctum, mandapas, and seven more pillars. The inscription on the Heliodorus pillar suggests that it is a private religious dedication by Heliodorus to the hero-god, Vasudeva. It refers to the king as “the Bhagavata Heliodorus” and that to the pillar itself as a Garuda pillar. What was the significance? The Bhagavata Purana is a text about Vaishnavism and Garuda is the eagle vehicle of Vishnu. Hence, both are associated with Krishna.

Dated in the 1st century BCE, the Hathibada Ghosundi inscriptions found near the state of Rajasthan in India also mention Balarama and Krishna. A stone slab that was found at a Mathura-Vrindavan archaeological site in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has a Brahmi inscription, dated to the 1st century BCE. It mentions and even names the Pancha-viras of the Vrishni tribe. However, the first known depiction of the life of Krishna comes to us as late as the 1st and the 2nd centuries CE, on a relief found in Mathura. It seems that this relief shows Vasudeva carrying infant Krishna across the Yamuna River in a basket.

Hence, it is safe to assume at the moment that there is no concrete proof of Krishna’s real-life existence beyond the mythological legends and stories merged and passed on in stories and fairy tales.

That means, we did not get to answer our questions, either. I don’t know about you, but it is not very disappointing to me, since I have been expecting it. I would’ve known of a breakthrough on the Krishna legend if there ever really was a major one.

I hope this article has been satisfactory and that you shall keep coming to this blog for more updates on the events in History all across the world!

Sources:

My Opinion About Introducing English in India

Posted on March 2, 2023 by V. Ananya

As a historian, this is just an opinion: Maybe Lord Macaulay introduced English in India with some foresight that English would become a global language.

Think about it. He introduced English in India somewhere between 1835 and 1840. What was the position of Britain at the time? It had more or less the whole world at its feet. And Britain’s official language was English. Naturally, English would be dominant at this time. There was no way Britain would lose hold of these territories in the near future; its power was too great.

Am I supporting Lord Macaulay? No. I’m merely looking at the issue with a neutral mindset. Macaulay could’ve encouraged the Indian languages, alongside English, but let’s face it: he was loyal mostly to the British people.

So yea, not an entirely negative action, eh?

Please comment below your opinions; but let’s make this a constructive discussion, eh?

Krishna and the Avatars of Vishnu

Posted on February 23, 2023 by V. Ananya

We went to a Krishna temple this Saturday, just for some peace and quiet. (Well, we were supposed to go to a park, but I fell asleep and woke up too late.) Here’s a view of the sunset from the hill where the temple is.

This post began because a friend of mine online asked me about it.

In the Hindu mythology, there are three major gods, much like the three major gods of the Greek Civilisation. These are: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma is known as the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. They are the main trinity people following Hinduism worship.

Perhaps due to the nature of his job, Vishnu tended to be born on Earth as some form of living creature; it often happened when the humanity was on the verge of grave danger or destruction. These are called avatars of Vishnu. In Sanskrit, he is said to have “Dasavatar” – that is ten avatars or forms. That means, he was to be reborn on Earth ten times to preserve and cherish humanity. Interestingly, the tenth form is yet to be revealed – nobody knows what it is or the story behind it, because it hasn’t happened yet. It is said the Vishnu will come in his tenth form when the world is about to end. So, it figures, I guess.

Krishna was supposed to have been the eighth form of Vishnu, born to a royal couple – Queen Devaki and King Vasudeva – of the Yadava clan in a place called Mathura (to-day, located in northern India, in the state of Uttar Pradesh). Unlike most of his other forms, Krishna is well aware of his divine status from his birth and manages to astonish a lot of people around him with his supernatural powers. He was born at a time when Devaki’s brother, Kamsa, overthrew her husband and took a tyrannical hold over the kingdom. There was, however, a prophecy that stated a child of Vasudeva would one day be Kamsa’s undoing. Hence, Kamsa starts keeping tabs on this royal couple, whom he had thrown in his dungeon; the moment he finds out that Devaki is pregnant, he ensures to kill the baby as soon as it is born.

Devaki, the mother that she is, prays very hard to the gods that her next child shouldn’t be killed by Kamsa. At the end of this segment of the legend, three children are kept alive – the seventh Balrama, the eighth Krishna, and the nineth Subhadra. (That means, Devaki was supposed to have given birth nine times.) Balrama features a lot in the stories about the life of Krishna, but Subhadra is mentioned the most only in the Indian epic, The Mahabharata, written by Veda Vyasa, a sage in Ancient India.

The eighth child, Krishna, grows up in secret, in a village called Gokulam, adopted by Nanda and his wife, Yashoda. When he comes of age, he realises the prophecy he was born with; he goes to the royal palace to challenge Kamsa, who is still the same tyrannic ruler with Krishna’s parents in lockup. Kamsa gladly accepts the challenge. After a good long struggle, Krishna kills Kamsa and frees his parents.

Krishna eventually becomes the ruler of Mathura and becomes a major character in The Maharabharata, helping the sons of Pandu gain their kingdom back from their cousins, the sons of Dasaratha.

To-day, Krishna is worshipped as a deity and many temples have been constructed in his honour. There is also Krishna Janmasthami – the birth of Krishna, or his birthday – that is celebrated by some faithful followers. Krishna also features in a lot of other legends and myths in Hinduism.

I’ll probably explain more on Krishna’s life and romances in later blog posts; this was just supposed to highlight his existence and some major points about his life as we know it. Honestly, I don’t even know what the truth around him is – was he really an avatar of god? – did he really have supernatural powers? – do gods really exist? – but I choose to see him only as a human being. Who knows what is truly correct and truly incorrect when something dates as long a time as a few thousand BCE? Things tend to get too filtered and watered down, exaggerated by people who tell them. It’s like the game of Chinese whisper: the sentence or word the starting person has said becomes warped into something else entirely by the person who ends it! After all, these stories may not have been written down, but passed on orally by people, possibly poets and tradesmen, who are by nature known to exxagerate everything they see and hear, just for aesthetic purposes. Don’t creative people do that to-day, too? They make very good stories, right?

The difference is, with to-day’s stories, we are able to tell what is completely fictional – the price tag tells us that – but with ancient legends, nobody really knows. No real evidence has been found so far, for all I know. There has been some archaeological evidence that suggests Krishna was based on the legend of another man or deity named Vasudeva. Or possibly a combination of several gods.

No matter, it is always nice to listen to and read stories about legendary characters like Krishna. They are usually filled with moral values that we can learn from and teach from. Also, they tend to contain some amount of truth about the history of that region to which we have concrete evidences.

That’s all for to-day. See you all in my next post!

Why Indians Celebrate Republic Day

Posted on February 19, 2023 by V. Ananya

On 26 January every year, Indians celebrate Republic Day. For this year, I wrote a poem about it on my main blog that you can find here. It is based on my knowledge and research about the nationalist movement and the independence and post-independence period of Indian history.

Now, in this History blog, I’m going to answer some questions one may have the Indian Republic Day:

Why do Indians celebrate Republic Day?

When was the first Republic Day?

How was the first Republic Day celebrated?

Why was 26 January chosen as the Republic Day of India?

What is known as India to-day was once just a large subcontinent – a part of the continent of Asia. There was actually no country then; it was just a mass piece of land in the world’s largest continent. This sub-continent had been a source of rich wealth in many ways… and that came with a price. Over the centuries, many leaders from other parts of Asia and Europe invaded this sub-continent at various points of time and plundered Indian wealth and treasure. The end of this came when Europeans entered India in the 15th-16th centuries as traders and, a few years later, colonised it.

There were four major groups of Europeans who were prevalent in India at one point – the Dutch, the Portuguese, the British, and the French – who fought each other over territorial occupation. It was finally the British who came out victorious in this series of battles; the French and the Portuguese managed to retain their hold over minor parts of the subcontinent, namely Goa, Daman and Diu, and Pondicherry. These were in fact tiny parts in comparison to the huge portions that the British won.

Indians didn’t keep quiet though, especially not the kings who ruled various parts of the subcontinent. First, there was the 1806 Vellore Revolt in the region that is to-day called Tamil Nadu, then the all-India Revolt of 1857. The latter took the British colonisers completely by surprise and scared the heck out of them for months, before they manage to call reinforcements and fight back. In the end, in both the revolts, it was the British who won and the Indians who lost. However, this did not discourage the Indians–they in fact resorted to get on the good side of the British government and passively make them change their minds and leave India. The British, too, learnt their lesson with the 1857 Revolt and decided they didn’t want it to repeat. Hence, they jointly formed the Indian National Congress (INC), which is now a major political party in the present-day India. The INC underwent a lot of internal changes and divisions to become what it is to-day, even after independence.

Two centuries later, in 1947, the British finally left the subcontinent, but not without partitioning on the basis of religion. The reason for this is a long story – which I shan’t get into now – but it is very similar to the issue in Palestine in the pre-war era. For now, think that India met a fate the same as Palestine.

So, on 15 August 1947, at the stroke of midnight, India received its independence from the British rule.

However, things did not end there. There was a political void, an economic and financial crisis, and social instability. Riots between Hindus and Muslims were everywhere throughout the country. There had to be stable government and constitution to bring the country to some form of order and normalcy.

Hence, since 1946, when it was evident that India would finally get its sovereignty, a group of politicians and intellectuals were elected to form the Indian Constituent Assembly. Dr B R Ambedkar headed this committee. They spent nearly three years trying to gather information and examples from other existing constitutions across the world – and finally, on 26 November 1949, after several revisions, the final draft of the Constitution of India was ready to be released.

The next year, on 26 January 1950, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru formally addressed the Indian citizens and officially declared the Indian Constitution to the world. Why 26 January? Because it was on this day in 1930 that the INC had declared “Poorna Swaraj” (total independence) of India, as part of its nationalist movement. So, to honour that day, the Constitution of India was officially released to the public on that day.

It is therefore safe to consider that 26 January 1950 was the day when India celebrated its first Republic Day. It was also on this day that the post of the Governor-General, a British-created post, was abolished and in its place, the post of the President of India was introduced. Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected to hold this position for the very first time.

Every Republic Day is celebrated with a parade in Delhi along the Kartavya Path. In 1950, the venue of this parade was at the Irwin Amphitheatre, now called Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, and was led by the then Brigadier of the Gorkha Regiment, Moti Sagar. The then President of Indonesia, Sukarno, was invited to be the chief guest of this event. Sukarno was one of the five founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), alongwith Nehru.

So, this much has answered all the questions I have listed in the beginning of this article. I shall definitely speak more about the parts I skipped out. And hopefully, I shall be on time the next time onwards, LOL. Thanks a lot for reading this article and hope you have learnt something from it. My idea for this blog is to reveal the history of India, which is surprisingly unknown to many people across the world, even the Indians themselves.

I can’t help but do some advertising here about my fiction-writing. You can follow my main blog and/or check out my author website.

Bye! See you in next blog post!

Fun Historical Facts About India!

Posted on January 13, 2023 by V. Ananya

Everybody in the ancient world knew about the natural numbers – 1 to 100. Even the Romans came up with symbols for them – I to C. But it was Aryabhatta, an ancient Indian mathematician, who invented and implemented the concept of “Zero”, the most useful one that the entire world uses even to-day!
The Indus Valley Civilisation – also known as the Harappan Civilisation – that existed in the ancient territorial boundaries of India was the first to ever use a proper toilet system.
Ancient India was the first to ever pratice yoga, now a great concept followed in the western part of the world.
The oldest universities in the world are set to have been in India, the best known being the Nalanda University. There were foreigners who came just to study here with the best of faculty and resources, which they later wrote about and spread to the rest of the world. Examples were Fa-Hein and Xuang Zang.
According to the exisiting ancient texts, unlike the modern India, ancient India accepted homosexuality and even spoke about them as easily as they did about heterosexual partnership.
The “Kama Sutra”, an ancient Indian text on sexuality and the philosophy of love, was written around 400 BCE.
Charaka, an ancient Indian physician, was the one who developed Ayurveda, the first form of medicine to ever be practiced in India.
It is said that the game of chess was played by Krishna and his consort, Radha, in ancient India.
India was once known to be very wealthy and this attracted a lot of inquisitive traders as well as invaders.
Bhaskaracharya was the first mathematician to calculate the the time taken by the Earth to orbit around the Sun.

Sources:

Parchments of the Times Past

All You Want to Know About Your Past!