Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route from Europe to India by sailing around Africa, bypassing Arab intermediaries. He landed at Calicut (Kozhikode) with the help of a Gujarati pilot. His arrogance angered the Zamorin (ruler of Calicut) and local Muslim traders, pushing him toward alliances with their rivals in Cochin and Cannanore. The Portuguese later defeated an Egyptian Mamluk fleet at Chaul, near Mumbai in 1508, weakening Arab dominance over the Indian–Arab trade. Da Gama eventually became Portuguese viceroy after Goa was conquered. He thought Hindus were debased Christians and, like many of his contemporaries, carried deep hostility toward Muslims. His fleet even burnt pilgrims aboard a ship returning from Mecca. The Wikimedia image of a painting in National Library of Portugal shows Vasco da Gama before the King of Portugal.

At Aranmula, a unique mirror making tradition survives. Here a cast bronze of 33% tin is made without lead. It has a highly reflective property comparable to modern mercury coated glass mirrors. Bronze mirrors have been found elsewhere but they have much less tin (25%) and more lead and thus don’t have great reflection.
Ancient India was a great centre for alloys like bronze & brass. The mastery over bronze is reflected in the dancing girl from the 3rd millenium BCE Indus Valley to the 9th- 10th cent CE Chola Bronze Natarajas made from five metals. Greeks from Alexander’s time also observed that Indians had bronze vessels to store food. This requires making bronze with precise 23% tin which needs to be quickly cooled in oil after mixing. If not, the vessel is brittle and also gets oxidized and cannot store food.
Indians made true brass (>30% zinc content) durable ‘pital’ vessels which were considered family heirlooms till a few decades back. This was because at Zewar in Rajasthan, a technique was developed to distil pure zinc on a commercial scale since 9th cent CE. This zinc making appeared in China & Europe many centuries later. Other parts of the world made brass through cementation that had zinc <30%.
Source: You Tube lecture on Indian metallurgy by Dr Anil Suri, Aalborg, Denmark
Picture Credit: Aranmulakannadi.org

Visvesvaraya was born near Bengaluru and studied engineering in Pune. He worked in Surat, Bombay, Hyderabad, Aden and Tanzania. In 1909, he was invited to be Chief Engineer of Mysore state. He proposed the Krishna Raja Sagara dam. Though expensive, it was approved by the Mysore Maharaja Krishna Raja Wodeyar. It took 20 years to build was opened in 1931.
He became the Dewan (Prime Minister) of Mysore in 1912 and served the Maharaja. He transformed Mysore into one of the most modern places in India – building industries, universities, power supply, banks etc. He was knighted by the British government & honored with Bharat Ratna by free India.
It is said that on being appointed Diwan, he called his relatives and said that he would accept the appointment only if they swore not to ask for favours. He remains one of the most recognizable figures in Karnataka. Engineer’s day is celebrated in Tanzania and Sri Lanka as well on September 15th honouring his contributions. The image from Wikimedia by Ashwin Kumar is of the majestic Krishna Raja Sagara.

As Vishnu approached Bali’s Yajna, the sacrificial fires stopped accepting the offerings of demons. They feared that Vishnu would destroy the Yajna like Shiva had done before. Bali then asked his Guru Sukracharya, why the sacrificial fires are behaving in this manner. Sukracharya tells Bali that demons are now enjoying Yajna offerings. These no longer reach the Devas. Vishnu is coming to correct this. He tells Bali that Vishnu will deprive him of everything and give it to Indra. Sukracharya instructs Bali that he should not offer anything to Vishnu. Bali disagrees, saying how can he deny anything to Vishnu himself.
The story of Sukracharya entering the Kamandalam to obstruct the flow of water and stop the vow of Bali is not in Vamana Purana but it is narrated in other Puranas.

Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In a surprising comparison, Tulsi compares wicked people to the beautiful peacock. He writes in the Uttara-Kaand,
“झूठइ लेना झूठइ देना। झूठइ भोजन झूठ चबेना। बोलहिं मधुर बचन जिमि मोरा। खाइ महा अहि हृदय कठोरा॥ i.e.
They are wrongful in all their dealings; whether at home, in business, or during meals. Their words are sweet as honey, much like the peacock, which, despite its beauty, has a ruthless heart and consumes even the most venomous snake.”
The peacock is normally associated with beauty & royalty, it is Karthikeya’s mount and Krishna uses its feather as an adornment. But it is also remarkable in being able to subdue a snake. Tulsi uses this fact to make an earthy comparison. Tulsi uses homespun analogies, most are endearing. But a few about women and some communities, can be double edged and scholars have commented on the same. But the great poet has humbly submitted, “सुजन सुचित सुनि लेहु सुधारी” – noble people can refine (reinterpret) his work, if required.

One morning, baby Hanuman felt ravenous. Spotting a bright red, glistening sphere in the sky, he mistook it for a juicy fruit and leapt to grab it. That sphere was the rising sun! Indra, angered by this audacity, struck Hanuman with his thunderbolt, hitting his chin. Hanuman fell to earth, lifeless, with a broken jaw. His father, Vayu, the wind god, grew furious and withheld air from all beings. Shiva intervened, reviving Hanuman, and Vayu relented. However, Hanuman’s jaw remained disfigured.

Source: “The Story of Hanuman,” Durham University

Picture is Raja Ravi Varma’s painting

In popular narrative, Ravana carries Sita in a Pushpaka-Vimana or a flying chariot. In Valmiki Ramayana, he carries her in a magical chariot pulled by donkeys. However, Jatayu fights Ravana, smashes his chariot, slays the donkeys and kills the charioteer. Ravana then carries Sita physically and flies away to Lanka.

The popular narrative that Ravana carried Sita scooped the earth around Sita and carried her is also not in the original Valmiki Ramayana. He holds her by the hair and thigh and carries her in his lap. The narrative only reminds us of the link that Sita has with her mother earth. No one would be able to separate Sita from mother earth and therefore she had to be carried along with earth.

Picture: Ravana slays Jatayu by Raja Ravi Varma

Gangadhara is associated with the perseverance of Bhagiratha. Siva is depicted bearing and sustaining the furious torrents of the river Ganga, as she descends from heaven to grace Bhagiratha.

Bhagiratha’s sixty thousand ancestors had wrongly accused that Sage Kapila had stolen their father’s horse. Therefore they were burnt to ashes by Sage Kapila. The ancestors would attain redemption only when Gangaji washed their ashes. Bhagiratha did penance to bring Ganga to earth.

Even though Bhagiratha managed to convince Ganga to come to earth, someone had to stop the fury of Ganga as she descends from heaven. So Bhagiratha prayed to Shiva and convinced him to absorb the fury of Gangaji. As Gangadhara, Shiva stood astride with his feet firmly on the ground. He untied his plait of hair and loosened it so as to bear the mighty torrents of Ganga.

Bhagiratha’s troubles were not over yet. Gangaji had inundated the hermitage of Sage Janhu who then swallowed all the flow of Ganga. Bhagiratha then begged forgiveness from Sage Janhu who then let out Gangaji through his ears. She would eventually reach the ashram of Sage Kapila and wash the ashes of Bhagiratha’s ancestors.

Bhagiratha thus stands as a symbol of perseverance. He is endowed with courage, confidence, determination, endurance, tenacity of purpose, holy mission and a holy vision. He is a hero bearing an exemplary character to be emulated by everyone on earth.

This is in Elephanta island off Mumbai.

Picture Credit: Rangan Datta

In the 1890s, a site called Kankali Tila near Mathura was excavated. Numerous Jain structures and artefacts dating from the Kushana period (early 2nd cent CE) were discovered. Among them was a headless moorthy of Jain Saraswati or Shrut Devi with an inscription. Jain Saraswati is the goddess of wisdom and knowledge. The goddess is shown sitting and holding a manuscript on a rectangular pedestal. Inscriptions provided the name of donor who gave this deity to the Jain temple. This record is a good example of Jain art and it is the most ancient moorthy of Jain Saraswati found till date. It is also one among the earliest carvings of Saraswati with a manuscript.

Shrut Devi represents the embodiment of the entire canonical knowledge of Jainism. Jainism does not believe in deities with divine powers. However, Saraswati & Lakshmi, the Sasan deities, and demigods like Yaksha, Yakshini, and Nagas are given a place in their sculptures and mythology.

The picture is the deity from Mathura.

Source: https://incrediblejainism.com/blogs/f/mathuras-kankali-tila-and-jainism. Development of Hindu Iconography, JN Banerjea.

Among other things, Puranas describe the family relationships of Gods. Sarasvati is described in some texts as Brahma’s wife, while in others as his daughter. Different stories occur to explain why Brahma is not widely worshipped, one being that Sarasvati cursed him as he did not wait for her at a yajna and created a co-wife Gayatri. In some stories, Sarasvati is said to be created by Vishnu. But unlike other Gods, these family stories of Sarasvati have not stuck much in the public imagination. And unlike other Shaktis, Sarasvati is hardly associated with fertility or power or fearsome aspects.

Her nature is most sattvic and that’s why She is venerated as Goddess of Learning and the patron of arts & culture. Besides Basant Panchami, Sarasvati is worshipped during Navratri which happens over nine days. The first three days are associated with Durga and the tamas (inertia, steadfastness) element, the next three with Lakshmi and rajas (activity, passion) and the last three with Sarasvati and sattva (knowledge, purity).

The picture is a Brahma-Saraswati sculpture from Basaralu Hoysala temple

Source: “Hindu Goddesses,” David Kinsley

The Preamble of the Indian Constitution was based on the Objectives Resolution introduced by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It was later amended during the Emergency in 1976 by the Indira Gandhi government to include the words “socialist” and “secular.”

Beohar Rammanohar Sinha, a graduate of Santiniketan from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, played a key role in illustrating the original handwritten Constitution. Under the guidance of Acharya Nandalal Bose, Sinha was tasked with traveling across the country to gather inspiration for illustrations that reflected India’s rich cultural heritage. He contributed significantly to many of the Constitution’s artistic elements. His crowning achievement was designing the distinctive Preamble page. This iconic page bears his short signature, “Ram” written in Devanagari script, discreetly placed in the lower-right corner in a very small font—so subtle that it is easy to miss without zooming in on the original page. This signature serves as a lasting mark of his contribution to one of India’s most celebrated documents.

The original Preamble page remains accessible online, showcasing Sinha’s exceptional artistry and the enduring legacy of his work.

Source:

Sarojini Naidu, alongside other women members, ensured that all adult Indian women got the right to vote. This was achieved ahead of some Western nations, such as Greece and Switzerland, and only six years after France. During her political life, she fought vigorously for women’s voting rights. Despite repeated British delegations ignoring this demand, Naidu persevered.

Born in a Bengali family in Hyderabad, she studied in England and married a Telugu. After independence, she was appointed Governor of the United Provinces and passed away in 1949 in Lucknow.

There were 15 women in the Constituent Assembly: Ammu Swaminathan, Annie Maccarene, Begum Aizaz Rasul, Dakshayani Velayudhan, Durgabai Deshmukh, Hansa Jivraj Mehta, Kamala Chaudhary, Leela Roy, Malti Chaudhary, Poornima Banerji, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Renuka Ray, Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kriplani, and Vijaylaxmi Pandit.

Source: “Indian Constitution”, PIB Research Unit