Junagadh had 80% Hindu population but a muslim ruler. Nawab Mahabat Khan of Junagadh was an easy going man. He loved his dogs so much that he would have wild celebrations when his dogs gave birth.

Egged on by Jinnah, Junagadh acceded to Pakistan. Patel decided to use force. The Nawab escaped with the treasury and his dogs to Karachi. His Dewan handed over the territory to India and he too left for Pakistan. A referendum was held in Junagadh along with a few other neighbouring princely States. Out of about 2 lakh voters, only 91 voted to join Pakistan.

The Dewan was Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto. His son, grand daughter and grand son in law went on to be leaders of Pakistan.

Source: Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel – A Life.
Sandeep Bamzai, Princestan.

Picture: Natioal Virtual Digital Library. Celebration of Junagadh referendum resuts.

Gokarna is a popular tourist and pilgrimage place in Northern Karnataka. The famous Gokarna linga, a piece of solid reddish rock is twisted like an old stump. Here Ravana had to perform his evening rituals and gave the linga that he was carrying to Ganesha who was in disguise. Ganesha put the deity down and Ravana could not pick it up again. He tried so hard to remove the linga forcibly from the place where it was stuck. In this process the lingam was twisted.

Source: India: A Sacred Geography by Diana Eck

PicureCredit:

In Gujarat prevalence of the sun worship is indicated by the number of inscriptions and remains of stone sculptures. The temple at Modhera is the most important of all sun-temples built in the whole of Gujarat.  It enjoys the same significance as other two well known sun-temples in Kashmir (Martand) and Orissa (Konark).  According to the Skanda Purana (3.2.40-67) after defeating Ravana, Lord Rama consulted Muni Vasishta to show him a place of pilgrimage where he could go and purify himself.  The Muni showed him dharmaranya, where Modherak or Modhera is situated. The famous sun temple was constructed in 1026-27 A.D. during the reign of Chalukya King Bhima I (1022-1063 A.D.). Though the temple has suffered extensive damages due to invasions, it still retains its original grandeur. But apart from its material beauty, its designer has succeeded in communicating to it an atmosphere of spiritual grace.  The temple faces the east. The rising sun at the equinoxes filters in a golden cadence through its openings, from door way to corridor, past columned vestibules finally to fall on the image in its innermost chamber.

Source: Dr. Advaitavadini Kaul, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts

Picture Credit: S. R. Ramanujam

Ghaffar Khan, also called Baadshah Khan or Bacha Khan, was a leader of Pashtuns who live mostly in what was the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. A great pacifist like Gandhi, he is sometimes referred as the Frontier Gandhi. He raised the Khudai Khidmatgars (Servants of God) or Red Shirts, a 100,000 strong organization wedded to non violence and strict discipline. Gandhi called it a miracle as the Pashtuns were considered to have a code of revenge of violence.

Along with Gandhi, he was the most inveterate opponent of partition. Unlike Gandhi, he survived partition by 40 years. He spent the post partition years working for the rights of Pashtuns and was viewed with suspicion by the Pakistan government. He boycotted the 1947 referendum in the province since it did not provide an option of independence or joining Afghanistan. He was twice nominated for the Nobel price for peace and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1987.

One of his biographers J Bright wrote that he was so wedded to non violence that Gandhi should be called the ‘Indian Khan’ and not the other way round.

Source: The Print, thefrontiergandhimovie.com.

Picture: The Wikimedia image shows Ghafar Khan with Gandhi and Kasturba.

In December 1947, Patel was negotiating with the roughly 40 small states of Odisha and today’s Chattisgarh. Most of them were too small. Patel conceded that it was “elementary justice that some form of quid pro quo should be conceded to them.”

Patel offered the rulers a privy purse for their maintenance. It would also continue to their successors and would be in perpetuity. When the princes wanted more, he advised them to keep it reasonable as a high amount will attract attacks on the very concept.

The Privy Purse was made a part of the constitution. Nevertheless, twenty years later, Mrs. Indira Gandhi found a way to abolish these purses, as part of her socialist agenda. The courts agreed with her stand.

Source: Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel – A Life.

Picture: National Virtual Library. Shankar Pillai cartoon depicting Sardar Patel as Pied Piper leading the princes

On the day following Diwali, Govardhan Puja is celebrated in northern and western India. Several varieties of food are heaped in the shape of a mountain representing Govardhan Giri. The feast is known as Annakoot, meaning mountain of food.

The picture is that of an see ISCKON celebration of Govardhan Puja in Vrindavan – see the recreation of the Govardhan mountain with food on it.

Source: Bhoga Naivedyam, Sujata Shukla

Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Odisha celebrates its new year on April 14 or 15, following the solar calendar. Pana is made during the festival. It is a drink made with bel fruit pulp (wood apple) or sweet mango. Milk or yoghurt and coconut water are the other ingredients. Open the fridge and look for Pana now.

Picture Credit: Kamalakanta777, Wikimedia Commons

The popular Char Dham Yatra is actually a chota (small) char dham yatra featuring the four Uttrakhand temples. The Original Char Dhams mark four extremes of India, Badrinath, Puri, Dwarka and Rameswaram. This yatra is very sacred and said to provide moksha (salvation). Yatris aim to do it at least once in their lifetime.

Each of Dhams came into prominence in a particular Yuga. Badrinath came into prominence when Nar-Narayana, a Vishnu incarnate, did penance in a plum (badri) forest during Satya yuga. Rameshwaram came into prominence in the Treta-Yuga when Lord Rama bathed and worshipped Shiva. Dwarka Dham got its prominence in the Dwapara Yuga when Lord Krishna made Dwarka his residence instead of Mathura. Jagannath Puri Dham is famous for its chappan bhog (56 course) prasad (offering) and it is the dham for Kaliyuga (age of enjoyment). Thus, the char dhams are associated both with the four directions and the four ages of time.

Source: Immotral India, J.J Dave.

Anuradha Goyal’s You Tube lecture on Tirthas

Picture Credit: Swarajya

Kamasutra mentions the Yaksha-ratri as among the three grand festivals celebrated across the country in contrast to local festivals. Later writers like Hemachandra (11th century CE) have explicitly equated Yaksha-ratri to Diwali or Dipalika. Yaksha-ratri was celebrated on the full moon night of Kartika and involved yagyas and gambling. In some parts of the country, diyas or earthen lamps are laid out outside the house on the night of Dhanteras. They are laid in the southern direction by the lady of the house. The diya burns the whole night to drive away evil spirits, Yakshas who can be both nice or malevolent. This practice is called Yam ka diya, Yama’s lamp.

Source: Some Notes on the History of Diwali Festival, P.K. Gode

Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons

As per Mahabharata, King Dhritarashtra gifted the region of modern-day Gurugram to Dronacharya. It was a token of the King’s gratitude to the respected teacher for taking on the task of training the Kuru princes in the art of warfare. Dronacharya opened his school in the village, eventually settling here. Thus, the place was called ‘guru ka gaon’ meaning the teacher’s village. Over time, the name got shortened to Gurgaon, and in 2016, it was officially renamed Gurugram by the Haryana government.

Source: https://www.amarchitrakatha.com/mythologies/how-gurgaon-got-its-name/

Picture Credit: The Quint

The powerful Sassanian empire fell to the Arabs in the mid 7th century CE. Facing religious persecution, a band of Zoroastrians from Persia undertook a perilous journey across the then pirate infested Arabian sea to land on the island of Diu. After 16 years, they are said to have been settled in a place called Sanjan in Gujarat, generally thought to be in 716CE, though alternate dates 70 and 200 years later are also mentioned. The oral history about this emigration was written down as Qissa-i-Sanjan, a small account of 864 lines, by Bahman Kaikobad, a priest from Navsari, after 8 centuries. There are two other sources, both later – an account by an Englishman Henry Lord in 1621 CE and a Gujarati manuscript of the 18th century. Needless to say, the stories differ. But Parsis generally follow the Qissa-i-Sanjan.

Source: “Parsis of India”, SK Hodivala.

Rewalsar is the location of the conference of hill rulers of present day Himachal Pradesh. They feared the Mughal army. At their request Guru Gobind Singh presided over a conference of the hill rulers in Rewalsar. He extracted a promise from them that they would stay united and would not accept supremacy of Mughal rulers in any manner.

Buddhists venerate Rewalsar as the location where he emerged unharmed from an immolation attempt. The daughter of a king had fallen in love with Padmasambhava. The enraged king attempted to burn both Padamashabhava and his daughter alive, but the pyre had turned into a lake from which both emerged alive seated on a lotus. Padmasambhava is believed to have flown from Rewalsar lake to Tibet.

Rewalsar is also the location where Rishi Lomas, who is mentioned in Skanda Purana, meditated on Shiva.

Two small grassy islands float within the lake and these are considered to be divine manifestations.

Source: Anandpur Sahib, Harjinder Singh Dilgeer
Buddhist Monasteries of Himachal, OC Handa
Mandi Gazatteer, 1904

Picture Credit: RTPR9 Wikimedia Commons

Krishna sheltered the villagers of Gokul under the GovardhanGiri for seven days and seven nights. During this entire period, he did not eat and was focused on protecting his people. Normally he is fed eight times a day. Therefore 56 items were prepared to quench his hunger after the Leela representing each of the meals he had missed.

Source: Bhoga Naivedyam by Sujata Shukla

British rule in India was marked by series of famines & plagues. In 1897, a plague raged through Pune region. In the name of firm administration soldiers committed many excesses. Pune already was a hotbed of revolt under the influence of Lokmanya Tilak. The Chapekar brothers, Damodar & Balakrishna assassinated William Rand, the plague commissioner and his assistant on Ganeshkind Road as they attended a program to celebrate Queen Victoria’s jubilee. The British clamped down. The Chapekar brothers were betrayed by some friends, arrested and hanged. Tilak was tried and sent to prison for incitement. But the incident inspired the first generation of revolutionaries.

The Wikimedia image shows the Chapekar memorial in Pune.

Rig Veda has the famous Frog Hymn. It describes the onset of the rainy season with the croaking of frogs. In tropical countries, frogs bury themselves in sand during summer and await the rains. They emerge with the coming of rains and croak in chorus. The Frog Hymn describes the emergence of frogs and their behaviour at the advent of rains. The hymn also mentions the riches that frogs will deliver, an allusion to rains which will revive the earth and grant all riches.

Even today, Jyapus, the farmers of the Kathmandu valley, perform frog worship during the rainy season in order to secure their harvest. The Jyapu puts cooked rice and beans in the cavity of four clay containers resembling the figure of a frog. Then the Jyapu places the containers or the leaves in the four corners of his field. He stands in the middle of the field, looks upward and praises the frogs “O frogs, last year you have provided for us with plenty of rice and other grains. This year too give us plenty.” The concept of this simple ritual is almost exactly as that of the Ṛgvedic Frog Hymn.

Picture: Ganga on a clear monsoon day, upstream of Rishikesh

Source: The Rig Veda, Bibek Debroy and Dipavali Debroy.

The Adaptation of Monsoonal Culture by Ṛgvedic Aryans: A Further Study of the Frog Hymn. Gautama V. Vajracharya

Picture Credit: S. R. Ramanujam