Rise of Chandragupta Maurya

 Chandragupta Maurya

The rise of Chandragupta to power is mostly known from the Buddhist resources. According to the Buddhist accounts, the boy Chandragupta was living in Pataliputra in hardship and poverty, and was employed by a hunter to look after his cattle. But while playing with other boys he showed extraordinary intelligence. He held mock courts and delivered judgments like a learned judge.

                                      It was at that time the wise Chankya one day saw the boy while he was playing the role of king among his fellow players and giving judgement. Chankya was also not an ordinary man. He was a vastly learned Brahmin of Taxila who had came to Pataliputra for higher recognition. 

                                                     When Chanakya saw the boy Chandragupta in his game, he felt impressed at his intelligence as well as his individuality. He took the boy with him from Pataliputra to far-away Taxila to educate and train him there for a big role in future with an aim at the destruction of the Nanda dynasty. Why he want to destroy Nanada dynasty is that because the ruling king Dhana Nanada neither paid him respect nor accepted him for a position to which others had selected him. Instead, the king offended and insulted him to wound his feelings deeply.

 Chanakya’s vanity and personal dignity were so much affected that he took a vow for revenge. When Chankya saw Chandragupta in his game, he felt impressed at his intelligence as well as his individuality. He took the boy with him from Pataliputra to far-away Taxila to educate and train him there for a big role in future with an aim at the destruction of the Nanda dynasty. Chandragupta spent his youth in the frontier city of Taxila, undergoing military training and acquiring knowledge at that great centre of learning. Chankya encouraged Chandragupta to take over the throne of Magadha. Using his intelligence network he gathered many young men from across Magadha and other provinces, who were upset over the corrupt and oppressive rule of King Dhana, as well as the resources necessary for his army to fight a long series of battles. 

    A battle was announced and the Magadhan army was drawn from the city to a distant battlefield in order to engage Chandragupta Maurya’s forces. Meanwhile, Maurya’s general and spies bribed the Nanda’s corrupt general, and created an atmosphere of civil war in the kingdom, which culminated in the death of the heir to the throne. Upon the civil unrest in the kingdom, Dhana Nanda resigned and disappeared into exile.

                                                          Upon the civil unrest in the kingdom, Nanda resigned and disappeared into exile. Chanakya contacted the prime minister, Rakshasa, and convinced him that his loyalty was to Magadha, not to the Nanda Dynasty, and that he should remain in office. Chanakya reiterated that choosing to resist would start a war that would severely affect Magadha and destroy the city. Rakshasa accepted Chanakya’s reasoning, and Chandragupta Maurya was legitimately installed as the new King of Magadha in 321 BCE, at the age of 21. Rakshasa became Chandragupta’s chief advisor, and Chanakya assumed the position of an elder statesman.

This blog typically talks about how Chandragupta a common boy came to power and his rise. Hope this blog helped you in getting brief knowledge about Chandragupta Maurya and role of Chankya in his life.

Thankyou

Anshu

Life Story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

                     Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (1630-1680)

🐎Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha Clan. He was born in the hill-fort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in what is now Pune District. Shivaji was named after a local deity, the goddess Shivai. Shivaji's father Shahaji Bhonsle was a Maratha general who served the Deccan Sultanates.

🐎 The period of 17th century was an era of chaos and general discontent among the Hindu population of Deccan. People desired that there must be a savior  who could eliminate the injustice and promise them the land to call their own. The liberator armed with the concept of Hindavi Swarajya arosed. History knows him as “The Great Maratha Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj”.

🐎Starting from a small Jagir, he built a powerful kingdom from the declining Adilshahi Sultanate of Bijapur and fought against the Mughals as well as the foreign powers. The Marathas, under the leadership of Shivaji Maharaj, consolidated their territories during the Mughal-Maratha Wars pioneering the guerrilla warfare methods and later controlled a large part of the Indian subcontinent.

🐎At the age of 15, he seized the Torna Fort and gradually started annexing the neglected forts of Adilshahi in the vicinity of Pune.

🐎 His next target was Raigad which was formerly known as Murumbadevacha Dongar.  After a period of time this fort became an important part of Shivaji's contest.

🐎For the next couple of decades, he successfully tackled the two mightiest dynasties- The Adilshahi in the South and The Mughals in the North.

🐎Step by step Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj secured the forts in the Western Ghats and Konkan coast.

30 PAISA STAMP

🐎In 1961, Indian post issued a 15 Naya paisa
commemorative stamp of Shivaji riding a horse. Another stamp was issued of Shivaji coronation or ‘Rajya-Abhishek in 1974. A 30 paisa stamp depicts Shivaji as a regal and just ruler against the backdrop of Raigad Fort.

CORONATION OF SHIVAJI

15 NAYA PAISA

🐎Shivaji Maharaj established a competent and progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organizations. He also introduced new military tactics which pioneered guerrilla warfare methods. 

🐎The coronation of Shivaji took place on the 13th day (Trayodashi) of the first fortnight of the month of Jyeshtha on 6th June 1674 at Raigad Fort. Shivaji formally assumed the title of a king and became the first Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire. As a symbol of sovereignty, the Rajyaabhisheka Shaka (The Coronation Era) was started.

🐎In less than 40 years, Shivaji Maharaj consolidated a kingdom so powerful that it acted as a strong plinth for the Maratha Empire that rose during the early 18th century.

🐎 One of the greatest quality of Shivaji was that while his head always looked up to the sky, his feet were always firmly entrenched on the ground. This was all it took for a hero to be born.

Hope you like this blog and found it interesting and knowledegable. These are some of the main incidents of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's life.

Thankyou

Anshu

Interesting Facts About India

Facts On India That You Had No Idea About

These are some interesting facts about India that I am sharing with you. These will surely adds to your general knowledge and as a citizen of India we all must be aware of these facts about our country.

🔆The first rocket in India was transported on a cycle: The first rocket in India was transported on cycle as it was so light and small and was transported to the Thumba Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

🔆The wettest inhabited place in the world: Mawsynram, a village on the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, receives the highest recorded average rainfall in the world. Cherrapunji which is also a part of Meghalaya, holds the record for the most rainfall. It holds Guinness record for highest average annual rainfall.

🔆 Floating Post Office: India is not only known for the most significant number of post offices in the world, but it has its very own floating post office on Dal Lake in Srinagar. It also includes philately museum within itself.

🔆 Kumbh Mela gathering visible from space: The Kumbh Mela is a spiritual event which is held once in 12 years in Northern India. In 2011, this religious gathering was so vast that it was visible in space through a satellite. It attracted over 70 million people.

🔆 Biggest Family in the World: Mr. Ziona Chana from Baktawng village of Mizoram lives in 100 room mansion having 39 wives 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren. He is the head of the world's biggest family consisting of 181 members. 

🔆 A Huge Lake formed by Meteor: One of the best kept secret in Maharashtra state is the Lonar Lake that was created when a meteor plummeted into it around  52,000 years ago.

🔆 Shampooing, an Indian Concept: The word shampoo has been derived from the Sanskrit word "Champu", which means to massage. It was invented in India, not the commercial liquid ones but the method by use of herbs.

🔆 There are Over 300,000 Mosques in India: On around 14.2% of the country's population being from Muslim community India happens to have the most number of mosques in the world. Some of the famous ones being Jama Masjid in New Delhi, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, Taj-Ul-Masjid in Bhopal and many more.

🔆 Tulsi Shyam - The Hills that Defy Gravity: The strange phenomenon was discovered on a stretch of road near Tulsi Shyam in Gujarat. Signs at the road instruct drivers to park their cars and leave them in neutral, and the cars begin to roll up the hill against the pull of gravity. Interesting, Isn't it?

🔆India as the Second Largest English-speaking Nation: With around 125 million speakers about 10% of the population, India is second only to the USA, which currently has more than 300 million English speakers. This statistic is expected to quadruple(fourfold) in the next decade.

🔆Bandra-Worli Sea Link Has steel Wires Equal to Earth's Circumference: Many of us are unaware about the fact that the cables have the capability of holding 900 tons of weight. The entire establishment's weight is equivalent to that of 50,000 African elephants.

🔆Village called Snapdeal.com Nagar: Shiv Nagar village in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh was renamed ‘Snapdeal.com Nagar’ after snapdeal.com, the e-commerce company installed 15 hand-pumps in the village so that the villagers wouldn’t have to walk for miles to fetch water. The village has the Snapdeal logo branded everywhere.

These interesting and amazing facts will surely adds to your knowledge. Hope in this blog you found something of great value to you and helped you in increasing your knowledge.

Thankyou

Anshu

 

Facts about Mahabharata

         Interesting & Unknown Facts About the Epic Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two greatest epics of India, the other being the Ramayana. Many of us have been watching this from our childhood and we were told and retold this epic many times but still there are many unknown and interesting facts from "The Mahabharata" that you will be amazed to know. Some of which are as follows:

👉The Youngest from Pandavas Brother, Sahdev could see the future:  Panadava youngest brother Sehdev knew everything about the future and all events of the Kurukshetra war. But, he kept silent because he was under a curse that if he revealed anything to anybody he would die.

👉In Mahabharata, Vidur was the Avatar of Yamraj: Vidura was the half-brother to the kings Dhritarashtra and Pandu of Hastinapura. He was a great scholar of Dharma and Artha Shastra but in fact he was an incarnation of Yamraj. Vidur was under a curse that Yamraj had to take birth in human form as Vidur.

👉Mahabharata was originally known as Jaya: Mahabharata was originally known as Jayam or Jaya. The original epic was called Jaya, then it was called Vijaya, then Bharata and finally Mahabharata.

👉 Pandu's Knowledge Transfer: Pandu who was the father of Pandavas wished his sons must eat his flesh post death so that all the knowledge may transfer to them which he had collected after so many years. Only Sahadeva ate a piece and the moment he ate he was able to see the future but stopped by God. He was a blessed astrologer and able to see the future and its happenings.

👉 Krishna's Chariot: Krishna rode a chariot which was very potent(powerful) and when Arjun was done with the war, krishna asked him to get off from the chariot first. As soon as he got off, the chariot exploded into a huge fireball. That’s when he explained to Arjun why he asked him to get off the chariot first. All the fires, missiles and arrows directed towards Arjun's Ratha was stopped by Shri Krishna himself.

👉 Narration of Bhagavad Gita: The narration of Bhagavad Gita was heard firsthand not only by Arjun but also Hanuman and Sanjay. hanuman was perched on top of Arjuna's chariot throughout the battle of Kurukushetra and Sanjay was blessed by Ved Vyas with divine vision in order to narrate the events of battle to Dhritrashtra.

👉Dhritrashtra, a Tyrant King: In his previous life, Dhitrashtra was a tyrant king, who one day while walking on the lake side saw a swan bird surrounded by hundred young swans. Dhritrashtra ordered to ewmove the Swan bird's eyes and kill all the hundred swans just for his own entertainment. Therefore, in his next birth he was born blind and all his sons were killed in the war.

👉 Duryodhana’s real name was Suyodhana: We all are familiar with the rest of the clan of Kuravas which includes Sushaasana, Suchala, Dusshaasana and Dusshala, etc. They were all given nicknames that suit their bad reputation. Words starting with Du in Hindi and Sanskrit have a negative undertone and the opposite is true for words starting with Su. 

👉 Draupadi asking for a husband with 14 qualities: In her previous birth, Draupadi prayed Lord Shiva to get husband with 14 qualities. Lord Shiva granted her a boon. But as no man could possess all the qualities so Lord Shiva  told her  that she will be the wife of five men who collectively possess all the qualities. Draupadi had asked Lord Shiva to bless her with a husband who had five of the best qualities a man can have: dharma, strength, archery skills, good looks, patience etc. So in her next birth she married to 5 pandavas with all these qualities that she wished for.

These are some of the interested facts that I have shared. Most of us are unaware from these hidden facts. Hope you all like it.

Thankyou

Anshu