The Indian Panorama

Tag: Tipu Sultan

  • India in history this Week-May 6, 2022, to May 12, 2022

    06 MAY

    1944          Gandhiji released from Aga Khan Palace in Pune.

    1967          Zakir Hussain became the first Muslim President of India.

    2010          Ajmal Amir Kasab, convicted for the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, was sentenced to death.

    1861          Motilal Nehru was born.

    1964          Khajan Singh, one of the famous swimmers of India, was born.

    1589          The great musician Mian Tansen died.

    1946          Eminent jurist, prominent parliamentary leader and trusted aide of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhulabhai Desai died.

    07 MAY

    1861          Rabindranath Tagore was born into a prosperous family in Calcutta. Tagore is the first person in Asia to receive the Nobel Prize.

    1907          The first electric tram car operated in Bombay.

    1973          The foundation stone of the new capital of Arunachal Pradesh was laid at Itanagar.

    1989          Diplomatic contact between Britain and Iran broke in 1989 after an Iranian fatwa against Indian-origin writer Salman Rushdie.

    2002          The International Religious Freedom Commission expressed serious concern over the violence in Gujarat.

    1889          Renowned freedom fighter and founder of ‘Hindustani Sevadal’ N. s. Hardiker was born.

    1880          The great Indian Sanskritist and scholar Pandit Pandurang Vaman Kane was born.

    08 MAY

    1933          Mahatma Gandhi kept 21 days fast against British rule.

    1929          Birth of India’s famous Thumri singer Girija Devi.

    1963          The centenary celebrations of the Indian Red Cross Society were celebrated.

    1954          The central government included Chandranagar in the state of West Bengal.

    2000          69-year-old Lord Swarajpal of Indian origin was appointed the vice-chancellor of Britain’s fourth-largest university in Britain.

    1895          Famous revolutionary and Gandhian activist of Orissa Gopabandhu Chaudhary was born.

    1916          Swami Chinmayananda, the famous spiritual thinker of India and world-renowned scholar of Vedanta philosophy was born.

    1915          India’s freedom fighter Amir Chand passed away.

    1915          One of the revolutionaries who fought for India’s independence, Bhai Balmukund, died on that day.

    1926          Famous historian Tapan Rai Chaudhary was born.

    09 MAY

    1540          King of Shishodia dynasty Maharana Pratap was born in Udaipur, Mewar, who struggled with Mughal Emperor Akbar for many years.

    1866          Freedom fighter, philanthropist, thinker and reformer Gopal Krishna Gokhale was also born on this day.

    2010          India’s Vandana Shiva was selected for the Sydney Peace Prize for women’s empowerment and environmental protection in developing countries.

    1653          The world-famous historical building and the Taj Mahal, one of the world’s wonders, was completed after 22 years of continuous work.

    1874          The first horse-drawn tram car started in Bombay (now Mumbai).

    1946          The first Satyagraha movement against the Portuguese rule started in Goa under the leadership of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia.

    1986          The first person to reach Mount Everest, Himalaya, Tenzing Norgay died in 1986.

    1998          Famous Indian Ghazal singer and actor Talat Mehmood died in 1998.

    10 MAY

    1526          After victory in the first battle of Panipat, Babur entered Akbarabad (Agra), the capital of erstwhile India.

    2002          India’s famous poet Kaifi Azmi passed away.

    1993          Santosh Yadav became the first female climber to reach Everest, the world’s highest mountain peak twice.

    1857          The first battle of freedom struggle started from the cantonment of Meerut.

    1857          Indian fighters started a revolt in Delhi from the British East India Company.

    1946          Jawaharlal Nehru was elected the leader of the Congress party in India.

    11 MAY

    1784          Treaty between the British and Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore.

    1951          President Rajendra Prasad inaugurated the newly constructed Somnath Temple.

    1962          Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was elected the President of India. He succeeded Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

    1998          India announced three nuclear tests at Pokaran in Rajasthan.

    2000          According to the population clock, India’s population reached one billion.

    2007          The Bahujan Samaj Party secured a majority in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and party leader Mayawati took over as the chief minister.

    1960          The first contraceptive pill market was made available in 1960.

    2005          In 2005, the World Bank appointed a neutral expert on the Baglihar project to settle Indo-Pak differences.

    2011          India and Pakistan agreed to start a bus service between Lahore and Amritsar.

    1918          India’s famous classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai was born in 1918.

    2002          Princess of Bhopal politics and India’s first female pilot Abida Sultan died in 2002.

    12 MAY

    1459          Rao Jodha founded Jodhpur.

    1666          Under the treaty of Purandar, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj reached Agra to meet Aurangzeb.

    1915          The revolutionary Rasbihari Bose left India aboard the Japanese yacht Sanuki Maru.

    1993          Famous Hindi poet Shamsher Bahadur Singh passed away.

    1921          The first National Hospital Day was celebrated.

    1926          Airship Norgay became the first vessel to fly to the North Pole.

    1949          Vijayalakshmi Pandit became the first foreign woman ambassador of independent India.

  • Happy 4th – India and America have a special bond

    By Mike Ghouse

    America is the greatest nation on the Earth. Indeed, India is a part of the American Heritage from the very beginning. Upon declaration of our Independence on July 4, 1776, one of the first three heads of State who recognized the sovereignty of the United States was Tipu Sultan from India.

    Morocco was the first country to recognize the Independence of the United States of America and signed the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, the first of its kind. Friesland, one of the seven United Provinces of the Dutch Republic were the next to recognize, and Tipu Sultan, the King of Mysore State (India), was the third.

    Today, we celebrate our Independence and democracy. Indians and Americans have a shared heritage. America is the oldest democracy in the world, and India is the largest democracy.

    Both George Washington and Tipu Sultan fought our common enemy Lord Cornwallis – Washington chased him out of America, and Tipu Sultan defeated him in one of three wars but lost to him in the 4th war of Mysore. Cornwallis bribed Tipu’s confidant Mir Sadiq to get information about Tipu’s whereabouts and hit him from the back. Had Mir Sadiq not betrayed Tipu Sultan, India would have achieved her freedom in 1799, right behind America in 1776.

    Tipu Sultan, ruler of the kingdom of Mysore in India, was one of the first three heads of State who recognized the sovereignty of the United States

    Tipu Sultan also sent a congratulatory message to George Washington, which I believe is in the National Library of France. I am seeking a copy of the same as a record.

    Both George Washington and Tipu Sultan died in the same year, 1799, Washington on December 14, 1799, and Sultan on May 4, 1799.

    Dr. Chik Range Gowda, an authority on Tipu Sultan in Bangalore, whom I met several times, believes that Tipu Sultan funded George Washington’s Army. So, we have to find that document, and I welcome the reader to do the research.

     Dr. Gowda also presented me with a brass bust of Tipu Sultan made on the Bicentenary of Tipu’s death in 1999, and it is one of my cherished possessions. I had let go of many of my collections to choose to live a minimalist life, but I have kept Tipu’s bust. So, I may have to present this to the Smithsonian to preserve it. But unfortunately, my kids will have no value for it.

    The Mysorean Rocket was Tipu Sultan’s invention. He also invented the Torpedo, known as Bangalore Torpedo, which is considered the precursor for American rockets that went to the Moon.

    Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal Declaration of our Independence on July 4, 1776. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

    Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar also made an immortal declaration about India’s Preamble on January 22, 1947. “It was, indeed, a way of life, which recognizes liberty, equality, and fraternity as the principles of life, and which cannot be divorced from each other: Liberty cannot be divorced from equality; equality cannot be divorced from liberty. Nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity. Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Equality without liberty would kill individual initiative. Without fraternity, liberty and equality could not become a natural course of things.”

    Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution says that all citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one’s own convictions and opinions freely by words of mouth, writing, printing, pictures, or any other mode.

    “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The first amendment of the Constitution of the United States

    Both India and America have identical Human Rights – the right to equality, right to freedom, rights against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, and constitutional remedies.

    Indeed, the objectives stated by the Preamble are to secure justice, liberty, equality for all citizens and promote fraternity to maintain unity and integrity of the nation.

    The above declarations resonate with Muslims as well. Prophet Muhamad (pbuh) made a similar announcement on March 6, 632 AD, Eleven hundred forty-four (1144) years before Jefferson’s declaration. “All mankind is from Adam and Eve; an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also, a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.”

    When Mahatma Gandhi was seeking Independence from the British, Churchill had said nasty things about Indians. He did not believe Indians can handle democracy, and they have proven him wrong repeatedly. Indians are inherently democratic in their views.

    Until 2014, India was a stable democracy and was on track to become a great nation as a non-aligned leader. However, India is going through a turbulent time now, and we pray for her recovery. Prime Minister Modi has failed the Indians on the economy, social cohesion, human rights, and democracy, and he will be voted out in the 2024 elections. Indians believe in freedom, and fascism is anathema to them. Indian democracy is resilient.

    India and the United States will continue to have a strong relationship to bring peace and security to the world.
    As Indian Americans, and Muslim Americans, we uphold, protect, defend, and celebrate the values enshrined in the U.S. constitution. We believe in the creed of “One Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.” God bless America, India, and the humanity.

    Happy 4thhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXYK3hcm2kE

    (Dr. Mike Ghouse is the founder and president of the Center for Pluralism. He is a speaker, thinker, author, peacemaker, community consultant, pluralist, activist, newsmaker, and interfaith wedding officiant. Mike is deeply committed to Free speech, Human Rights, and Pluralism in Religion, Politics, Societies, and the workplace. He has dedicated his life to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions to the media and policymakers. He can be reached at mikeghouse@gmail.com

    More about him at www.TheGhousediary.com.)