Canberra, 23 January 2022 While the Persian adventurer Ahmad Shah Abdali was repeatedly attempting to make inroads into North India, and the French were laying the foundations upon which the English would later build their Eastern Empire, the Maratha king Shahu continued to dither as an indecisive head of the greatest power of the time […]
Continue readingThe Marathas Part 14 Peshwa Balaji Rao Section I: A Hesitant Start
Canberra, 7 January 2022 On the untimely death of Baji Rao, the Deccan faction in the Maratha court once again attempted to stop the hereditary appointment of the Chitpavan Brahmin Bhat family as Peshwas. This faction was led by Raghuji Bhonsle, who was also one of King Shahu’s favourite nobles. Raghuji had been at loggerheads […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 80 Humayun Section II: Trouble Brews in the East
Canberra, 12 April 2020 Although no material gains had been made in the campaign that he had mounted to Gujarat and Malwa, on his return to Agra Humayun celebrated his ‘victory’ with full-fledged revelry that lasted for nearly a year. Meanwhile Afghan power was resurgent in Bihar, now under the able leadership of Sher Khan. […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 56 Section I: Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq Shah
Canberra, 22 April 2017 Ghiyas ud-Din’s accession to the throne calmed the paroxysm that had become commonplace in the sultanate from the last days of Ala ud-Din’s rule. Ghiyas had come up from humble origins—his father was a Qaraunah Turk and mother a Jat lady. The Qaraunah were a clan of the broader Mongol tribes […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 47 KASHMIR: A KINGDOM APART Section I: The Karkota Dynasty
Canberra, 8 January 2016 The history of Kashmir is almost inextricably intertwined with the greater history of the broader region of which it forms a part—Central Asia, Afghanistan, China and Tibet—as much as it does of the Indian sub-continent. Kashmir by itself covers a large territory, which is mountainous, rugged and in places completely […]
Continue reading
Recent Comments