Gandhinagar-based National Forensic Sciences University has tied up with US’s Department of Defense to recover and identify the remains of over 400 missing US military personnel in India during World War II. How will they go about doing so?
Category: History
** Assam’s 500-year-old theatre tradition
Ankia Bhaona, a theatre form that blends classical and folk idioms, presents a unique dimension of Assamese culture
“Go to Guwahati for the Ankia Bhaona Samaroh. You will have a rare experience and a new vision of Assamese culture,” Raju Das, an officer of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, who hails from Assam, had told me.
** How a Quaker from America gained fame and fortune in Ranjit Singh’s court (and was then banished)
Heartbroken and chagrined, the young man set sail again and ended up in Calcutta, where the British East India Company was headquartered. The Company was about to get involved in a war in Burma and needed surgeons.
Lacking a formal medical training, Harlan presented himself to the medical board for examination and through self-study, even managed to pass. He was appointed surgeon to the Calcutta General Hospital and for the next two years, served in Burma until he was injured and sent back.
After he had recovered, Harlan was posted to Karnal, north of Delhi. Restless and eager to make his fortune, he started chafing at the business of taking orders and decided to leave the Company’s employment. Harlan had always had an ambivalent attitude towards his employer; while he had a romantic love for the pomp and ceremony of the British monarchy, which the Company represented, he was fiercely independent and very proud that his country was a republic. Right around this time, he stumbled upon a colourful account of Afghanistan, written by Mountstuart Elphinstone, a representative of the East India Company. Harlan was fascinated by the account of the Afghan court and had a deep desire to observe a real monarchy in operation. The Indian rajas that he had encountered seemed to wield no real power and were effectively puppets of the Company.
** New geometrical lines discovered in Thar Desert
The authors also suggest that the lines could be contemporary with the neighbouring memorial stones
Using Google Earth images, drone observations and field visits, two independent researchers from France have identified eight sites around Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert, that show linear features resembling geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are large, un-explained geometrical patterns on land usually proposed to be man-made features.
** Day of lunar eclipse 1,402 years ago marked Chalukya king’s victory over Vardhana emperor
Inscriptions on a copper plate owned by Mumbai-based Raghuveer Pai became a vital link in establishing the day and year in which Chalukya king Pulakeshin II emerged victorious over emperor Harshvardhana.
** Indian English is a Prakrit, not a creole, says linguist Peggy Mohan
Her new book speaks of how Indian languages evolved via generations of migratory patterns
Migration has shaped the arc of Indian history in myriad ways, from the day the Vedic Aryans first alighted from their chariots to the arrival of Namboothiri Brahmins in Kerala to the Persianised Turkic conquerors of the Middle Ages.
For linguist Peggy Mohan, all this finds a strong echo in the evolution of the subcontinent’s languages. In her new book, Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India Through Its Languages, she delves into the often surprising sounds and structures of what we conventionally call Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages, and relates these to the deep pasts of their speakers.
** 6 UNESCO heritage sites added in India
Six sites, including the Ganga ghats in Varanasi , temples of Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu and the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, have been added to India’s tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites, Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said on Wednesday.
Mr. Patel said six of the nine sites submitted by the Archaeological Survey of India had been accepted by UNESCO for inclusion in the tentative list, which is a requirement before the final nomination of any site.
** INS Rajput to be decommissioned on Friday after 41 years of service
** Column | A Russian prince in Travancore
Peter the Great welcomed the idea of Indian traders living within the boundaries of the Russian Empire, and the city of Astrakhan had a small but thriving community of Indians from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, visited India, where he was disgusted with the sight of “redcoats.”
Going against European convention, he also had a very close friendship with King Rama V of Siam.
Russia managed to get one of its best glimpses of India when Prince Alexey Saltykov, a former diplomat, visited the country twice in the 1840s.
He wrote a book in French titled Voyages dans L’Inde (Journeys in India), which is a compilation of his letters and notes, accompanied by his drawings.
** Nilgiris’ last surviving freedom fighter, J. Halli Gowder, dies
Mr. Gowder, who was a fixture at Independence Day and Republic Day events till a few years ago, was more than 90-years-old. He had stopped attending public events organised by the district administration in recent years due to failing health.
He was active in protests against the British government and was even arrested and lodged in jail in Coimbatore and Bangalore (now Bengaluru), said officials from the district administration.
“Official records show that nearly 83 leaders from the Nilgiris were arrested, fined or imprisoned… with a few of the prominent leaders being Rao Sahib V.I. Munuswamy Pillai from Ooty (who served as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development), Bokkai Gowder of Bikkaty village (elected Coonoor MLA in 1967) and M.K.Nanja Gowder of Ketti (elected as MP in 1971).