History Vignettes

This episode lists and narrates the story of several lineages of inscription-writers and engravers and the immortal service they have rendered to our history

An understudied chapter of our history is the role of and function played by inscription-writers and engravers

From 1924 - 26, M.N. Roy used a variety of terror tactics and propaganda as the forerunners to establishing the Communist Party of India (CPI)

In 1933, the Home Department of the colonial British Government brought out a brief dossier on M.N. Roy, India's first Communist terrorist

A thrilling story narrating the little-known history of how a Greek artist of the 2nd Century CE had engraved an image of Bharata Mata on a silver dish in Lampsacos, Turkey

An inscription dated 1580 CE narrates a rather delightful, real-life story of how a potter's wedding was finalised in a pot of boiling ghee

The final episode of our series on Murshid Quli Khan narrates some horrific stories of Hindu persecution in Bengal under his regime.

Murshid Quli Khan was a fanatical Shia who ran his administration strictly according to the diktats of the Quran

Raja Sitaram Ray was a self-made Hindu king who built a small empire by the dint of his talent, bravery and leadership. He was also the last Hindu king of Bengal, executed by Murshid Quli Khan.

In its most profound conception and in enlightened practice, Dharma was the foundation of bureaucracy in Ancient India

An overview of how statecraft worked in ancient India in both theory and practice

Murshid Quli Khan elevated talented Hindus to high positions in his civil and military administration and created a new Zamindari class in Bengal

Murshid Quli Khan adopted extremely savage methods of torture to extract revenue from the Bengal province

Murshid Quli Khan's radical Ijtara revenue system outrages the old elite of Bengal who complain to the Mughal emperor