Article/Essay
 20 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
He deciphered India’s past.
By Kanwarjit Singh Kang
The Tribune - 2010

Besides unlocking the mystery of the Brahmi and Kharoshti scripts, JAMES PRINSEP deciphered numerous inscriptions, including those used during Emperor Ashoka’s reign, writes Kanwarjit Singh Kang.

WHEN James P... Read More
 17 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
Alexander the Great
By Nayanjot Lahiri
Hindustan Times - August 10, 2011

It was 10.30 in the morning, the first Monday of August. I was on a routine visit to the library, tracking references for an article that I was writing. The library, that of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)... Read More
 15 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Hiuen Tsang's (Xuanzang) Pilgrimage Route from China to India and return.

Source: Murshidabad.net

Travels in India:

Xuanzang left Adinapur, which had few Buddhist monks, but many stupas and monasteries. His travels included, passing through Hunza and the Khyber Pass to the east, reaching the ... Read More
 14 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Kumbh Mela in Hinduism is celebrated four times every 12 years, the site of the observance rotating between four pilgrimage places on four sacred rivers: at Haridwar on the Ganges River, at Ujjain on the Shipra, at Nasik on the Godavari, and at Prayag (Allahabad) at the confluence of the Ganges, ... Read More
 14 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Kumbh Mela featured in the LIFE Magazine - 1 May 1950
Vol. 28, No. 18

Read online:

http://bit.ly/WFu1jE Read More
 14 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Millions of devout Hindus plunge into Ganges River in festival ritual to wash away their sins.

Washington Post: January 14, 2012

ALLAHABAD, India — Millions of devout Hindus led by naked ascetics with ash smeared on their bodies plunged into the frigid waters of India’s holy Ganges River on... Read More
 9 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
Spies in monks’ clothing

During the 19th century, fear of invasion from the north led officials in British India to enlist locals to fill in blanks in their maps. Jules Stewart tells the story of the pundits.

The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India was a key instrument of Brita... Read More
 9 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
A Bengali scaled the Everest first
By Sanjay Suri
Outlook - 2003

An Indian exhibition recounts the glorious past of British mapmaking in the subcontinent. But no one's talking about the Indian contribution.

How round is the earth? Until the 19th century, that was a serious quest... Read More
 8 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
History: The Great Trigonometrical Survey

Tim Middleton explores how India was mapped and the world’s tallest mountain named.

It was July 1819 and the monsoon was due. Lieutenant George Everest was in the middle of the Indian jungle between the Godavari and Kristna rivers with a team of 150... Read More
 8 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
SURVEY SAGA
By R.Ramachandran
The Hindu - 2002

One of the most stupendous tasks in the history of science, started 200 years ago by William Lambton and completed four decades later by George Everest, resulted in the Great Indian Arc of the Meridian. It also established that the Him... Read More
 8 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
THE TRIGONOMETRICAL SURVEY
By F. C. Danvers

THE surveys of India may be divided into two classes - viz. the Great Trigonometrical, and the Geological. In connection with the former, other minor operations are undertaken under the title of topographical and revenue surveys, to which we shall ... Read More
 7 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
Sardar Lehna Singh Majithia: The purest gem of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s court
By Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

The city, being the spiritual capital of the Sikh religion, had received special attention from Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Sikh Raj was considered the “Golden Era” f... Read More
 13 Nov 2012 Article/Essay
Harriet Christina Earle (1828 - 1907)

Harriet was the fourth daughter of Lieutenant Colonel John Lucas Earle (the eldest son of Captain Solomon Earle) and Mary Jane Lempriere (sister of Thomas Lempriere who subsequently became Assistant Commissary General of Tasmania). She was born in Secrora, O... Read More
 13 Nov 2012 Article/Essay
Robert Christopher TYTLER (25 September 1818 – 10 September 1872) was a British soldier, naturalist and photographer. His second wife HARRIET is well known for her work in documenting the monuments of Delhi and for her notes at the time of the 1857 revolt in India. A species of bird, Tytler's Lea... Read More
 1 Nov 2012 Article/Essay
Article:
The truth about Aurangzeb
By Francois Gautier
Rediff.com - February 16, 2007

Thus, we thought we should get at the root of the matter. History (like journalism) is about documentation and first-hand experience. We decided to show Aurangzeb according to his own documents. There are an i... Read More
 31 Oct 2012 Article/Essay
Bibi-Ka-Maqbara

The Bibi-Ka-Maqbara (19°55’ N; 75°15’ E) is a beautiful mausoleum of Rabia-ul-Daurani alias Dilras Banu Begum, the wife of the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb (1658-1707 A.D.). This mausoleum is believed to be constructed by Prince Azam Shah in memory of his mother between 1651 and 1... Read More
 30 Oct 2012 Article/Essay
Over all, so exquisite is the workmanship that it is said - “having been designed by the giants and finished by jewelers“.

Emperor Shah Jahan himself described the Taj in these words:

Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to th... Read More
 29 Oct 2012 Article/Essay
Article:
Mystery of Italian ‘designer’ hanged in Lahore
By Majid Sheikh
Dawn Newspaper | 10th April, 2011

In the small ancient Christian graveyard behind the famous Ewing Hall at Nila Gumbad, where also lie buried many European indigo planters of the Mughal era, is a lonely grave to one side. T... Read More
 29 Oct 2012 Article/Essay
Italian Architect of Taj Mahal Myth

The Taj Mahal of Agra that has been illuminating heavenly for the past three centuries and more, and attracting and inspiring millions of people from across the world. It was built up by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who wanted his beloved wife to be rememb... Read More
 29 Oct 2012 Article/Essay
...one more theory on the Taj Mahal !!

GERONIMO VERONEO, the Taj Mahal Italian
By di Ghileana Galli

YET ANOTHER TESTIMONY OF ITALIAN CREATIVITY WINNING THE WORLD OVER. Is it possible that the structure symbolising India is the work of an Italian architect? It might be...

Italians have a... Read More
 29 Oct 2012 Article/Essay
...who designed the Taj Mahal

Though the Taj Mahal is considered to be the zenith of Mughal architecture, the identity of its architect remains a mystery, in part perhaps because Shah Jahan seems to have played such an active role in its design. In his obsessive drive for perfection, he may ... Read More