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Malabar Rebellion

• The recommendation also included the names Variamkunnaathu Kunhahamad Haji and Ali Musliyar. 

What is the Indian Council of Historical Research?

• About: It is an autonomous organization, established under Societies Registration Act,1860 in 1972.  It is under the Ministry of Education.
• Objectives: To bring historians together for exchange of views. € To give a national direction to an objective and scientific writing of history.
  To promote, accelerate and coordinate research in history and ensure its dissemination. € The council also provides grants, assistance and fellowships for historical research.

What is the Background?

• In the sixteenth century when Portuguese traders arrived on the Malabar coast, they noted the Mappilas to be a mercantile community concentrated in urban centres and fairly segregated from the local Hindu population.
• However, with the rise in Portuguese commercial power, the Mappilas found themselves a competitor and increasingly started moving inland in search of new economic opportunities.
• The shifting of the Mappilas led to a clash of religious identities both with the local Hindu population and the Portuguese.

Who was Moplahs/Mappilas?

• The name Mappilla (lit. son-in-law; anglicized form Moplah) is given to Malayali-speaking Muslims who reside along the entire length of the Malabar Coast of northern Kerala.
• By 1921, the Moplahs formed the largest and fastest growing community in Malabar. With a population of one million, 32% of that of Malabar as a whole, the Moplahs were concentrated in South Malabar.

What was Mapillah Revolt?

• About: Fuelled by the fiery speeches by Muslim religious leaders and anti-british sentiments, the Mopillahs launched a violent rebellion. Numerous acts of violence were reported and a series of persecutions were committed both against the British and the Hindu landlords.
  • While there are some who call it a case of religious fanaticism, there are others who look at it as an instance of struggle against British authority, and then there are others who perceive the Malabar rebellion to be a peasant revolt against unfair practices of the landlords.
  • While historians continue to debate on the matter, the broad consensus on the episode notes it to have started off as a struggle against political power, which later took on a communal colour.  Most of the landlords were Namboodiri Brahmins while most of the tenants were Mapillah Muslims.
  • The riots led to the mass killings of over 10,000 Hindus, raping of women, forced religious conversions, destruction or damage of nearly 300 temples, loot and arson of properties worth crores of rupees and burning of houses belonging to the Hindus.
• Support: In the initial stages, the movement had the support of Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian nationalist leaders, but as it turned violent they distanced themselves from it.
• Collapse: By the end of 1921, the rebellion was crushed by the British who had raised a special battalion, the Malabar Special Force for the riot.
• Wagon Tragedy: In November 1921, 67 Moplah prisoners were killed when they were being transported in a closed freight wagon from Tirur to the Central Prison in Podanur. They died of suffocation. This event is called the Wagon Tragedy.

What were the Reasons behind the Mapillah Revolt?

• Non-Cooperation & Khilafat Movement: The trigger of the uprising came from the NonCooperation Movementlaunched by the Congress in 1920 along with the Khilafat agitation. The anti-British sentiment fuelled by these agitations affected the Muslim Mapillahs.
• New Tenancy Laws: After the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Malabar had come under British authority as part of the Madras Presidency.
  The British had introduced new tenancy laws that tremendously favoured the landlords known as Janmis and instituted a far more exploitative system for peasants than before. The new laws deprived the peasants of all guaranteed rights to the land, share in the produce they earlier got and in effect rendered them landless.

Shaheed Diwas

• This Day should not be confused with the Martyrs’ Day observed on 30th January, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.

What is the History behind Shaheed Diwas?

• It was on this day that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed by the British government in 1931. They were hanged to death for assassinating John Saunders, a British police officer in 1928. They had mistaken him for British police superintendent James Scott.
  It was Scott who had ordered lathi charge, which eventually led to the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. While Bhagat Singh, who had publicly announced avenging Lala Lajpat Rai’s death, went into hiding for many months after this shootout, he resurfaced along with an associate Batukeshwar Dutt, and the two, in April 1929, set off two explosive devices inside the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi.
• Allowed themselves to be arrested, while shouting the famous slogan: “Inquilab Zindabad“, or “Long live the revolution”.
• Their lives inspired countless youth and in their death, they set an example. They carved out their own path for independence, where individual heroism and their aggressive need to do something for the nation stood out, departing from the path followed by the Congress leaders then.

Who was Bhagat Singh?

• Early Life: Born as Bhaganwala on the 26th September, 1907, Bhagat Singh grew up in a petty-bourgeois family of Sandhu Jats settled in the Jullundur Doab district of the Punjab.
  He belonged to a generation that was to intervene between two decisive phases of the Indian national movement - the phase of the ‘Extremism’ of Lal-Bal-Pal and the Gandhian phase of nonviolent mass action.
• Role in Freedom Struggle: In 1923, Bhagat Singh joined the National College, Lahore which was founded and managed by Lala Lajpat Rai and Bhai Parmanand. The College was set up as an alternative to the institutions run by the Government, bringing to the field of education the idea of Swadeshi.
  • In 1924 in Kanpur, he became a member of the Hindustan Republican Association, started by Sachindranath Sanyal a year earlier. The main organiser of the Association was Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh became very close to him. It was as a member of the HRA that Bhagat Singh began to take seriously the philosophy of the Bomb.
  • Revolutionary Bhagwati Charan Vohra wrote the famous article philosophy of the Bomb. Including the philosophy of bomb he authored three important political documents; the other two were Manifesto of Naujawan Sabha and Manifesto of HSRA.
    Armed revolution was understood to be the only weapon with which to fight British imperialism. € In 1925, Bhagat Singh returned to Lahore and within the next year he and his colleagues started a militant youth organisation called the Naujawan Bharat Sabha.
    In April 1926, Bhagat Singh established contact with Sohan Singh Josh and through him the ‘Workers and Peasants Party’ which brought out the monthly magazine Kirti in Punjabi.
  • For the next year Bhagat Singh worked with Josh and joined the editorial board of Kirti. In 1927, he was first arrested on charges of association with the Kakori Case, accused for an article written under the pseudonym Vidrohi (Rebel). He was also accused of being responsible for a bomb explosion at Lahore during the Dussehra fair.
  • In 1928, Bhagat Singh changed the name of Hindustan Republican Association to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). In 1930, when Azad was shot, the HSRA collapsed.  Naujawan Bharat Sabha replaced HSRA in Punjab.
  • His time in the prison was spent protesting, seeking better living conditions for inmates. During this time, he gained the sympathy of the public, especially when he joined fellow defendant Jatin Das in a hunger strike.  The strike ended with Das’ death from starvation in September 1929. Two years later, Singh was convicted and hanged at the age of 23.

Bamiyan Buddhas

• Mes Aynak is also the site of a copper mine where the Taliban are hoping for Chinese investment.
• The Taliban’s position is in marked contrast to the time they ruled Afghanistan earlier, when, in the face of global outrage, they brought down the centuries-old Buddha statues in Bamiyan using artillery, explosives, and rockets.

What is Background of Taliban’s Destruction of Bamiyan?

• The hardline Taliban movement, which emerged in the early 1990s, was in control of almost 90% of Afghanistan by the end of the decade.
• While their governance supposedly curbed lawlessness, they also introduced so-called “Islamic punishments’’ and a regressive idea of Islamic practices, which included banning television, public executions, and lack of schooling for girls aged 10 and above. The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was part of this extremist culture.
• On 27th February 2001, the Taliban declared its intention to destroy the statues.

What is the Status After Destruction?

• In 2003, UNESCO included the remains of the Bamiyan Buddhas in its list of world heritage sites.
• On 9^th March 2021, the statue of Salsal was “recreated” — a 3D projection was beamed at the corner where it had stood.

What are Bamiyan Buddhas?

• Legacy of the Bamiyan Buddhas: The Bamiyan Buddha statues, cut from sandstone
  cliffs, are said to have dated back to the 5th century AD, and were once the tallest standing Buddhas in the world.
  In their Roman draperies and with two different mudras, the statues were great examples of a confluence of Gupta, Sassanian and Hellenistic artistic styles.
  Called Salsal and Shamama by the locals, they rose to heights of 55 and 38 metres respectively.  Salsal means “light shines through the universe”, while Shamama is “Queen Mother”.
• Significance: Bamiyan is situated in the high mountains of the Hindu Kush in the central highlands of Afghanistan. The valley, which is set along the line of the Bamiyan River, was once integral to the early days of the Silk Roads, providing passage for not just merchants, but also culture, religion and language.
  • When the Buddhist Kushan Empire spread, acting as a crucible of sorts, Bamiyan became a major trade, cultural and religious centre. As China, India and Rome sought passage through Bamiyan, the Kushans were able to develop a syncretic culture. € In the rapid spread of Buddhism between the 1st to 5th centuries AD, Bamiyan’s landscape reflected the faith, especially its monastic qualities.
  • The two colossal Buddhas were only a part of several other structures, such as stupas, smaller seated and standing Buddhas, and wall paintings in caves, spread in and around surrounding valleys.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

• He asserted that their unparalleled courage and sacrifice will keep motivating the coming generations. 13th April, 2022 marks the 103 years of the incident.
• Earlier, the Gujarat government marked 100 years of the Pal-Dadhvav killings, calling it a massacre “bigger than the Jallianwala Bagh”.

What is the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre?

• About: The Jallianwala Bagh massacre or the Amritsar massacre of 13th April 1919 accounts for the gruesome execution of hundreds of innocent people by the Gurkha British Indian army on the orders of the then Anglo-Indian Brigadier R.E.H. Dyer.
  These people were protesting peacefully against the Rowlatt Act 1919.

What was the Rowlatt Act 1919?

• During World War I (1914–18) the British government of India enacted a series of repressive emergency powers that were intended to combat subversive activities.
  In this context, this act was passed on the recommendations of the Sedition Committee chaired by Sir Sidney Rowlatt. It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
• Background: Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would start with a hartal on 6th April 1919. In Punjab, on 9th April 1919, two nationalist leaders, Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal, were arrested by the British officials without any provocation except that they had addressed protest meetings and taken to some unknown destination.
• This caused resentment among the Indian protestors who came out in thousands on 10th April to show their solidarity with their leaders. To curb any future protest, the government put martial law in place and law and order in Punjab was handed over to Brigadier-General Dyer.
• Day of the Incident: On 13th April, Baisakhi day, a large crowd of people mostly from neighbouring villages, unaware of the prohibitory orders in Amritsar gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh.
  • Brigadier- General Dyer arrived on the scene with his men.
  • The troops surrounded the gathering under orders from General Dyer and blocked the only exit point and opened fire on the unarmed crowd killing more than 1000 unarmed men, women, and children.
• Aftermath/Significance of the Incident Jallianwala Bagh became a key point in the history of India’s struggle for independence and it is now an important monument in the country.€ The Jallianwala Bagh tragedy was one of the causes that led Mahatma Gandhi to begin organising his first large-scale and sustained nonviolent protest (satyagraha) campaign, the Non Cooperation Movement (1920–22).
• The Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore renounced the knighthood that he had received in 1915. The then government of India ordered an investigation of the incident (the Hunter Commission), which in 1920 censured Dyer for his actions and ordered him to resign from the military.

Jyotirao Phule

Who was Jyotirao Phule?

• Brief Profile: Birth: Phule was born on 11th April, 1827 in presentday Maharashtra and belonged to the Mali caste of gardeners and vegetable farmers.
• Education: In 1841, Phule was enrolled at the Scottish Missionary High School (Pune), where he completed education.
• Ideology: His Ideology was based on: Liberty; Egalitarianism; Socialism.
• Phule was influenced by Thomas Paine’s book titled The Rights of Man and believed that the only solution to combat the social evils was the enlightenment of women and members of the lower castes.
• Major Publications: Tritiya Ratna (1855); Powada: Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosle Yancha (1869);
• Gulamgiri (1873), Shetkarayacha Aasud (1881). Related Association: Phule along with his followers formed Satyashodhak Samaj in 1873 which meant ‘Seekers of Truth’ in order to attain equal social and economic benefits for the lower castes in Maharashtra.
• Municipal Council Member: He was appointed commissioner to the Poona municipality and served in the position until 1883. Title of Mahatma: He was bestowed with the title of Mahatma on 11th May, 1888 by a Maharashtrian social activist Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar.

Social Reformer

• In 1848, he taught his wife (Savitribai) how to read and write, after which the couple opened the first indigenously run school for girls in Pune where they both taught.
• He was a believer in gender equality and he exemplified his beliefs by involving his wife in all his social reform activities.
• By 1852, the Phules had established three schools but all of them had shut by 1858 due to the shortage of funds after the Revolt of 1857.
• Jyotiba realised the pathetic conditions of widows and established an ashram for young widows and eventually became an advocate of the idea of Widow Remarriage.
• Jyotirao attacked the orthodox Brahmins and other upper castes and termed them as “hypocrites”. In 1868, Jyotirao constructed a common bathing tank outside his house to exhibit his embracing attitude towards all human beings and wished to dine with everyone, regardless of their caste. He started awareness campaigns that ultimately inspired the likes of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, stalwarts who undertook major initiatives against caste discrimination later.
• It is believed by many that it was Phule who first used the term ‘Dalit’ for the depiction of oppressed masses often placed outside the ‘varna system’. He worked for abolishment of untouchability and caste system in Maharashtra.

Death: 28th November, 1890. His memorial is built in Phule Wada, Pune, Maharashtra

Mahavir Jayanti

What is Mahavir Jayanti?

• About: Mahavir Jayanti is one of the most auspicious festivals in the Jain community. This day marks the birth of Vardhamana Mahavira, who was the 24th and the last Tirthankara who succeeded the 23rd Tirthankara, Parshvanatha. € According to Jain texts, Lord Mahavira was born on the 13th day of the bright half of the moon in the month of Chaitra.
  As per the Gregorian calendar, Mahavir Jayanti is usually celebrated during the month of March or April. A procession is called with the idol of Lord Mahavira called the Rath Yatra. Reciting stavans or Jain prayers, statues of the lord are given a ceremonial bath called abhisheka.
• Lord Mahavira: Mahavir was born to King Siddhartha of Kundagrama and Queen Trishala, a Lichchhavi princess in the year 540 BC in the Vajji kingdom, identical with modern day Vaishali in Bihar. Mahavira belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty. There are several historians who believe that he was born in a place called Ahalya bhumi and the land has not been plowed for hundreds of years by the family that owns it. Lord Mahavir was named Vardhamana, which means “one who grows”.
  • He abandoned worldly life at the age of 30 and attained ‘kaivalya’ or omniscience at the age of 42. Mahavira taught ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (chastity) and aparigraha (non-attachment) to his disciples and his teachings were called Jain Agamas.
  • Ordinary people were able to understand the teachings of Mahavira and his followers because they used Prakrit.€ It is believed that the Mahavira passed away and attained moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death) at the age of 72 in 468 BC at a place called Pavapuri near modern Rajgir in Bihar.

What is Jainism?

• The word Jaina comes from the term Jina, meaning conqueror.
• Tirthankara is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘Ford maker’, i.e., one who is able to ford the river, to cross beyond the perpetual flow of earthly life.
• Jainism attaches utmost importance to ahimsa or non-violence.
• It preaches 5 mahavratas (the 5 great vows):
  (i) Ahimsa (Non-violence)
  (ii) Satya (Truth)
  (iii) Asteya or Acharya (Non-stealing)
  (iv) Aparigraha (Non-attachment/Non-possession)
  (v) Brahmacharya (Celibacy/Chastity)
• Among these 5 teachings, the Brahmacharya (Celibacy/Chastity) was added by Mahavira.
• The three jewels or Triratna of Jainism include:
  (i) Samyak Darshana (right faith).
  (ii) Samyak Gyana (right knowledge).
  (iii) Samyak Charitra (right conduct).
• Jainism is a religion of self-help. There are no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings.€ It does not condemn the varna system.
• In later times, it got divided into two sects:€ Shvetambaras (white-clad) under Sthalabahu. Digambaras (sky-clad) under the leadership of Bhadrabahu.
• The important idea in Jainism is that the entire world is animated: even stones, rocks, and water have life.
• Non-injury to living beings, especially to humans, animals, plants, and insects, is central to Jaina philosophy.
• According to Jain teachings, the cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma
• Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma and achieve the liberation of the soul.
• The practice of Santhara is also a part of Jainism. € It is the ritual of fasting unto death. Swetambara Jains call it Santhara whereas Digambars call it Sallekhana.

Excavations of Iron in Tamil Nadu

• Recent carbon dating of excavated finds in Tamil Nadu pushes evidence of iron being used in India back to 4,200 years ago.
  • Before this, the earliest evidence of iron use was from 1900-2000 BCE for the country, and from 1500 BCE for Tamil Nadu.
  • The latest evidence dates the findings from Tamil Nadu to 2172 BCE.

What are the Findings?

• The excavations are from Mayiladumparai near Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu.
• Mayiladumparai is an important site with cultural material dating back between the Microlithic (30,000 BCE) and Early Historic (600 BCE) ages.
• Among the other important findings is evidence that the late Neolithic phase in Tamil Nadu has been identified to have begun before 2200 BCE, based on a cultural deposit of 25 cm below the dated level.
• Archaeologists also found that black and red ware pottery was introduced in the late Neolithic phase itself, rather than the widely held belief that this occurred in the Iron Age.

What is the Historical Significance?

• Invention of iron technology led to the production of agricultural tools and weapons, leading to production required for a civilisation ahead of economic and cultural progress. There is no known record of iron being used in the Indus Valley, where copper was first utilized by Indians (1500 BCE).

2. Useful in Deforestation

• Deforestation occurred only after humans began using iron tools to clear dense forests and bring land into agriculture, because copper tools would have been difficult to use to clear dense forests and bring land into agriculture.

3. Socio-economic Changes

• With the latest evidence tracing our Iron Age to 2000 BCE from 1500 BC, it can be assumed that the cultural seeds were laid in 2000 BCE.
• Around 600 BCE, iron technology led to massive production triggered by socio-economic changes the Tamil Brahmi script.
• The Tamil Brahmi scripts were once believed to have originated around 300 BCE, until a landmark finding in 2019 pushed the date back to 600 BCE. This dating narrowed the gap between the Indus Valley civilisation and Tamilagam/South India’s Sangam Age.

Lingaraja Temple

• It is a Shaivite temple of Kalinga style.
• It is the oldest temple of Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Built by King Jajati Keshari in 10th Century and completed by King Lalatendu Keshari in 11^th Century.
• Bhubaneswar is called the Ekamra Kshetra as the deity of Lingaraja was originally under a mango tree (Ekamra) as noted in Ekamra Purana, a 13thcentury Sanskrit treatise.
• Lingaraja temple is maintained by the Temple Trust Board and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• The harmony between the two sects of Hinduism, Shaivism, and Vaishnavism, is seen in this temple where the deity is worshipped as Harihara, a combined form of Vishnu and Shiva.
• One of the finest examples of purely Hindu Temple in India” by noted critic and historian James Fergusson (1808-1886).
• Temple marks the culmination of the temple architecture in Bhubaneswar which was the cradle of the Kalinga School of Temple Architecture. The sprawling temple complex has one hundred and fifty subsidiary shrines.
• Temple can broadly be divided into four main halls. Garba Griha (Sanctum Sanctorum), Yajana Mandapa (the hall for prayers), Natya Mandapa (dance and music hall) and Bhoga Mandapa (where devotees can have the Prasad (offering) of the Lord).
• The other attraction of the temple is the Bindusagar Lake, located in the north side of the temple
• Festivals associated are Shivaratri and Ashokastami. 

About Kalinga Temple Architecture Style

• An inscription in the Amrtesvara Temple at Holal in Karnataka refers to four temple styles, Nagara, Kalinga, Dravida and Vesara. This inscription is dated to 1231 CE and belongs to the reign of the Seuna king Singhana.
• Kalinga style is identified as a sub-class under the Nagara category.
• As the name suggests, this temple style was mostly confined within the then Kalinga region, present Odisha.
• N K Bose’s “Canons of Orissan Architecture” was a milestone in understanding the Kalinga temple architecture.
• Silpaprakasha (written by Ramachandra Kaulachara in 10th-11th century CE) contains guidelines on Kalinga temple construction.
• Each temple has two sections, one describing the construction and decoration of jagamohana (praying hall) and garbha-grha (sanctuary).
• Other structures included nata-mandira (dance hall) and bhoga-mandira (kitchen).

Structural forms

• Kalinga temple style is broadly classified into three main categories, namely Rekha, Pidha and Khakhara.
• Rekha-deul (temple) is distinguished with its square plan topped with a curvilinear tower.
• Pidha-deul, also referred as Bhadra deul, also has a square plan topped with a pyramidal tower composed of horizontal tiers arranged in receding manner. 
• Khakhara deul is surmounted with a barrel-shaped (vault-shape) tower over a rectangular plan. Usually, these temples are dedicated to a form of Devi. (Note: Most of the Kalinga temples fall under the Rekha category.) 
• Pitha is the platform over which the entire structure of the temple stands. It was not a mandatory part of a temple and many temples, early as well as late, do not have pitha in their plan.
• Bada is the vertical wall over which tower is supported.
• Gandi is the lower part of the tower.
• Mastaka is the upper part of the tower.
• Pabhaga is consisted of a set of mouldings. Early period temples used to have three mouldings at pabhaga which later increased to four and five in the later period temples. 
• Jangha is the main and the largest portion of the bada. It is portion where most of the images of subsidiary deities are placed.
• Baranda is composed of a set of mouldings, varying from seven to ten, connecting the bada to the gandi. In later period temples, the jangha portion got divided into two storeys, tala-jangha and upara-jangha, separated by a madhya-bandhana. 

Deoghar Baidyanath Jyotirlinga

• It is one of the twelve Jyotirlings. Jyotirlingas are holiest sites of Shaivism.
• They are often connected by mythological stories with Lord Shiva.
• Deoghar Jyotirlinga is a place known for healing of Ravana by Lord Shiva. Hence, Lord Shiva was called Vaidya/Baidya.
• This place is also known as one of the Shaktipeeth.
• It was praised by Adi Shankara.
• Annual pilgramage known as Kanwar yatra is organised.
• Mughal emperor Akbar’s brother-in-law built a pond at Deoghar known as Mansarovar.
• The main temple has a pyramidal tower with three gold vessels set compactly. These were gifted by the Maharaja of Giddhaur, Raja Puran Singh. There are also five knives in a trident shape (Punchsula) as well as a lotus jewel with eight petals called Chandrakanta Mani.
• Along with the main temple of Baba Baidyanath, there are also 21 other temples. Some of the shrines you will find here are for Parvati, Ganesha, Brahma, Kalabhairav, Hanuman, Saraswati, Surya, RamLakshman-Janaki, Ganga, Kali, Annapurna, and Lakshmi-Narayan.
• TheMaa Parvati temple is tied to the Shiva temple with red sacred threads.

Other Eleven Jyotirlingas in India

1. Somnath - Gujarat
2. Mallikarjuna - Andhra Pradesh
3. Mahakaleshwar - Madhya Pradesh
4. Omkareshwar - Madhya Pradesh
5. Kedarnath - Himalayas
6. Bhimashankar - Maharashtra
7. Vishveshwar/Vishwanath - Uttar Pradesh
8. Triambakeshwar - Maharashtra
9. Nageshwar - Gujarat
10. Rameshwaram - Tamil Nadu
11. Ghrishneshwar – Maharashtra