FREDA BEDI CONT'D (#4)

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Ramram Basu [Boshu] [Boshoo]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/26/24

[William Carey (missionary)] " Yesterday Ram Boshu was here to revise his piece against Brahmans, in order to its being printed. It is very severe; but it must be so to make them feel ...." ...

In 1801 Carey was appointed as the Professor of Bengali and Sanskrit at the Fort William College of Calcutta....His new appointment induced him to turn his attention to printing books on non-religious subjects for the use of his students. In the following passage taken from a letter dated June 15, 1801, he refers to his new appointment as "a very important charge," and indicates how his duties in that connection made it necessary for him to set about preparing text-books for the use of his students: —

"You must know, then, that a college was founded, last year, in Fort William, for the instruction of the junior civil servants of the Company who are obliged to study in it three years after their arrival. ... to my great surprise, I was asked to undertake the Bengali professorship. When the appointment was made, I saw that I had a very important charge committed to me, and that I had no books or helps of any kind to assist me. I therefore set about compiling a grammar, which is now half printed. I got Ram Boshu to compose a history of one of their kings, the first prose book ever written in the Bengali language; which we are also printing...

I am appointed teacher of the Sunscrit language; and though no students have yet entered in that class, yet I must prepare for it. I am, therefore, writing a grammar of that language which I must also print, if I should be able to get through with it; and perhaps a dictionary which I began some years ago." 13 [Eustace Carey, op. cit., pp. 414-17.]

-- The Printing Press in India: It's Beginnings and Early Development Being a Quatercentenary Commemoration Study of the Advent of Printing in India (In 1556), by Anant Kakba Priolkar

Ramram Basu (c. 1751 – 7 August 1813) (Bengali: রামরাম বসু) was born in Chinsurah, Hooghly District in present-day West Bengal state of India.[1] He was the great grandfather of Anushree Basu, notable early scholar and translator of the Bengali language (Bangla), and credited with writing the first original work of Bengali prose written by a Bengali.

Ramram Basu initially joined as the munshi (scribe) for William Chambers [1748-93], Persian interpreter at the Supreme Court in Kolkata.

William Chambers, 1748 — 1793.
by whowaswho-indology.info
Accessed: 7/26/24

British Colonial Official and a Pioneer of Indology. Son of Robert Ch. (d. 1749), an attorney in Newcastle, and Anne Metcalf, younger brother of Robert Ch. Educated in Newcastle. Went to India before 1774. Political servant of E.I.C., apparently first in Madras. In 1775-92 interpreter of the Supreme Court at Bengal (in the As. Misc. called judge). Member of A.S.B. [Asiatic Society of Bengal] from its foundation. He was married with Charity Fraser and had a son, William Frederic Ch. (1786-1855, a physician), born in India. A good Persian and Hindūstānī scholar, apparently also knew Telugu.

Publications: Ed. with Sir William Jones: The Asiatic Miscellany. Calcutta 1787, himself contributed two translations: “An account of embassies and letters that passed between the Emperor of China and Sultan Shahrokh, son of Amir Timur. Extracted from the Malta us Sadein of Abdur Rezak”, 100-125, and “A short account of the Marratta State. Written in Persian by a Munshy, who accompanied Colonel Upton on his Embassy to Poonah”, 127-133.

– “A short History of the Origin and Progress of the Marratta State. Extracted from the Khazanah e Aamerah”, The Asiatic Miscellany vol. 2, Calc. 1786, 87-122 (transl. with text and notes).

– “Some Account of the Sculptures and Ruins at Mavalipuram”, As. Res. 1, 1788, 8° reprint 1798, 145-170 (originally written in 1784).

Sources: Briefly in D.N.B. 10, 1887, under his brother. Not in Br. Biogr. Arch. 1st ser. – but several articles on his brother and son, both also in Wikipedia.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk has the years of birth and death.

-- William Chambers, whowaswho-indology.info

Sir Robert Chambers (14 January 1737 – 9 May 1803 [brother to William Chambers] was an English jurist, Vinerian Professor of English Law, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal....

Chambers was the son of Robert Chambers, an attorney. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle and awarded an exhibition at Lincoln College, Oxford, in May 1754. Chambers was admitted to the Middle Temple in the same year, and was called to the bar in 1761. In that year, he was also appointed to a fellowship at University College, Oxford. On 7 May 1766 he was appointed Vinerian Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford, in succession to William Blackstone....

Chambers left no publications, though he did consolidate a valuable collection of Sanskrit manuscripts while in India.

-- Robert Chambers (English judge), by Wikipedia

In 1781–82 Antoine-Louis-Henri Polier, a Swiss Protestant who served in the English East India Company’s army until 1775, had had copies of the Vedas made for him at the court of Pratap Singh at Jaipur. Polier’s intermediary was a Portuguese physician, Don Pedro da Silva Leitão… Jai Singh had assembled a substantial collection of manuscripts from religious sites across India, and in the time of his successor Pratap Singh the library had contained the samhitas of all four Vedas in manuscripts dating from the last quarter of the seventeenth century…

Polier records that he had sought copies of the Veda without success in Bengal, Awadh, and on the Coromandel coast, as well as in Agra, Delhi, and Lucknow and had found that even at Banaras “nothing could be obtained but various Shasters, [which] are only Commentaries of the Baids”…

It is perhaps significant that it was in a royal library, rather than in a Brahmin pathasala, that Polier found manuscripts of the Vedas. But the same is not true of the manuscripts acquired in Banaras only fifteen years later by Henry Thomas Colebrooke, during the period (1795–97) when he was appointed as judge and magistrate at nearby Mirzapur…

I cannot conceive how it came to be ever asserted that the Brahmins were ever averse to instruct strangers; several gentlemen who have studied the language find, as I do, the greatest readiness in them to give us access to all their sciences. They do not even conceal from us the most sacred texts of their Vedas.

The several gentlemen would likely have included General Claude Martin, Sir William Jones, and Sir Robert Chambers. These were all East India Company employees who obtained Vedic manuscripts (Jones from Polier) in the last decades of the eighteenth century.

Why was it so much easier for Polier, Colebrooke, and others to obtain what it had been so difficult for the Jesuits and impossible for the Pietists?...

-- The Absent Vedas, by Will Sweetman

-- Chambers's Information for the People, edited by William and Robert Chambers, Vol. 1, 1848

Then he worked as the munshi and Bengali teacher for Dr. John Thomas, a Christian missionary from England at Debhata in Khulna. Subsequently, he worked from 1793 to 1796 for noted scholar William Carey (1761–1834) at Madnabati in Dinajpur.[2] In 1800 he joined Carey's Serampore Mission Press with its celebrated printing press, and in May 1801 was appointed Munshi, assistant teacher of Sanskrit, at Fort William College for a salary of 40 rupees per month. As college pundits were charged not only with teaching but also with developing Bengali prose, there he began to produce a respected series of translations and new works and continued to hold that post until his death.

Basu created a number of original prose and poetical works, including Christastava, 1788; Harkara, 1800, a hundred-stanza poem; Jnanodaya (Dawn of Knowledge), 1800, arguing that the Vedas were fundamentally monotheist and that the departure of Hindu society from monotheism to idolatry was the fault of the Brahmins;[3] Lippi Mālā (The Bracelet of Writing), 1802, a miscellany; and Christabibaranamrta, 1803, on the subject of Jesus Christ.

In 1802, his Bengali textbook Rājā Pratāpāditya-Charit (Life of Maharaja Pratapaditya), written for the college's use, received a cash prize of 300 rupees. It was printed at the Serampore Mission Press, and is now credited as the first Bengali to create a work in prose and also as the first historiography in Bengali.[4] Basu also created Bengali versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and aided in Carey's Bengali translation of the Bible.

Despite his active engagement with western missionaries and Christian texts, Basu remained a Hindu [!!!], and died in Kolkata on 7 August 1813.

Other media

Bengali novelist Pramathanath Bishi wrote a historical novel named Carey Saheber Munshi (Sahib Carey's Munshi) based on Ramram Basu's life.[5] This was filmed in 1961 by Bikash Roy as Carey Saheber Munshi.

References

1. Murshid, Ghulam (2012). "Ramram Basu". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
2. Murshid, Ghulam (2012). "Ramram Basu". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
3. New religious movements, religious plurality, and the Bengal Renaissance
4. Guha, Ranajit (2013). History at the limit of World-History. University Press. quote (dedication): To the memory of Ramram Basu who introduced modern historiography in Bengali, his native language, by a work published two hundred years ago
5. Kunal Chakrabarti, Shubhra Chakrabarti (22 August 2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. ISBN 9780810880245. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
• Sachindra Kumar Maity, Professor A.L. Basham, My Guruji and Problems and Perspectives of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Abhinav Publications, 1997, page 218. ISBN 81-7017-326-4.

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Panchanan Karmakar [Punchanon]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/26/24

Karmakar was born in Balagarh in Hooghly in the mid-18th century; later, he shifted to Bansberia. His forefathers had been blacksmiths, but his grandfather Nimai Karmakar had chosen to change his profession. Nimai made a living from carving designs on swords, shields and armour of Mughal soldiers. Legend has it that he was awarded the title “Mullick” by the Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan.

-- For the tongue, the design: Panchanan Karmakar, blacksmith, birthed Bengali letter but was himself denied place in footnotes

Panchanan Karmakar
পঞ্চানন কর্মকার
Born: Jirat, Hooghly, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died: 1804

Panchanan Karmakar (Mallick) (died c. 1804) was an Indian Bengali inventor, born at Tribeni, Hooghly, Bengal Presidency, British India,[1] hailed from Serampore. He assisted Charles Wilkins in creating the first the Bangla type.[2] His wooden Bengali alphabet and typeface had been used until Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar proposed a simplified version.[3] Apart from Bangla, Karmakar developed type in 14 languages, including Arabic, Persian, Marathi, Telugu, Burmese and Chinese.[2]

Early life and career


Book cover of A Grammar of the Bengal Language (1778) first printed Bengali book using Bengali font.

Karmakar was born in Tribeni.[4] His ancestors were calligraphers; they inscribed names and decorations on copper plates, weapons, metal pots, etc.[2]

Andrews, a Christian missionary, had a printing press at Hughli. In order to print Nathaniel Brassey Halhed's A Grammar of the Bengal Language, he needed a Bangla type.[2] Under the supervision of English typographer Charles Wilkins, Karmakar[5] created the first Bengali typeface for printing.[6][7][8]

In 1779, Karmakar moved to Kolkata to work for Wilkins' new printing press.[2] in Chinsurah, Hooghly. In 1801, he developed a typeface for British missionary William Carey's Bangla translation of the New Testament.[9] In 1803, Karmakar developed a set of Devnagari script, the first Nagari type to be developed in India.[2]

External links

Panchanan_Karmakar in Banglapedia

References

1. "Panchanan Karmakar - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
2. Islam, Sirajul (2012). "Panchanan Karmakar". In Islam, Sirajul; Hossain, Ayub (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
3. Ghulam Morshed. "Vidyasagar, Pundit Iswar Chandra". Banglapedia. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
4. "পঞ্চানন কর্মকার". onushilon.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
5. Greenspan, Ezra; Rose, Jonathan (September 2003). Book History - Ezra Greenspan, Jonathan Rose. ISBN 0271023309. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
6. Works [ed. by E.R. Rost]. - Horace Hayman Wilson -. 1865. p. 273. Retrieved 2015-06-02 – via Internet Archive. charles wilkins.
7. "পঞ্চানন কর্মকার, তাঁর হাতেই ছাপার হরফ পেল বাংলা". Eisamay (in Bengali). Retrieved 2024-06-10.
8. Sarkar, Krishna Kumar (2024-01-01). "Bangla Haraf Nirmata Panchanan Karmakar". Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad.
9. TNN (February 9, 2012). "Flower power resurrects Carey legacy". The Times of India. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2016.

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Gedrosia
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/28/24

-- The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian Q. Curtius Diodorus Plutarch and Justin: Being Translations of Such Portions of the Works of These and Other Classical Authors as Describe Alexander's Campaigns in Afghanistan the Panjab Sindh Gedrosia and Karmania With An Introduction Containing a Life of Alexander Copious Notes Illustrations Maps and Indices, by J.W. McCrindle M.A., Late Principal of the Government College Patna and Fellow of the Calcutta University Member of the General Council of the University of Edinburgh

Map showing Gedrosia in the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great


A map of Gedrosia from Munster's edition of Ptolemy's 'Geographia'

Gedrosia (/dʒɪˈdroʊʒə/; Greek: Γεδρωσία or Balochi: گِد رۏچ) is the Hellenized name of the part of coastal Balochistan that roughly corresponds to today's Makran. In books about Alexander the Great and his successors, the area referred to as Gedrosia runs from the Indus River to the north-eastern edge of the Strait of Hormuz. It is directly to the south of the countries of Bactria, Arachosia and Drangiana, to the east of the country of Carmania and due west of the Indus River which formed a natural boundary between it and Western India. The native name of Gedrosia might have been Gwadar as there are two towns by that name and a bay (Gwadar Bay) in central Makran.

Geography

Pliny the Elder while explaining the extent of India included four satrapies Arachosia, Gedrosia, Aria and Parapanisidae as western borders of India.[1]

People

According to Arrian, Nearchus mentions a race called Ichthyophagi ("fish-eaters") as inhabiting the barren shores of the Gwadar and Pasni districts in Makrān. During the homeward march of Alexander the Great, his admiral, Nearchus led a fleet in Arabian Sea along the Makrān coast and recorded that the area was dry and mountainous, inhabited by the Ichthyophagoi or Fish-Eaters.[1][2] They are also identified on the 4th century Peutinger Map, as a people of the Baluchistan coast. The existence of such tribes was confirmed by Sir Richard F Burton.[3]

Another group of people named as Oreitans were mentioned inhabiting modern Lasbela District in Balochistan province of Pakistan. Alexander the Great crossed Hub River through Lasbela on his way back to Babylon after conquering Northwestern India. Alexander mentions the river name as Arabius, and local people as Oreitans.[4]

History

Gedrosia (satrapy)

Main article: Gedrosia (satrapy)


Territory of Gedrosia, among the eastern territories of the Achaemenid Empire.


Gedrosia on the Peutinger Map

Gedrosia is a dry, mountainous country along the northwestern shores of the Indian Ocean. It was occupied in the Bronze Age by people who settled in the few oases in the region. Other people settled on the coast and became known in Greek as Ichthyophagi. The Persian king Cyrus the Great attacked to conquer this country but was defeated and lost his entire army (559-530 BCE). Finally after the defeat of the sons of Cyrus this country conquered by Darius the Great. although information about his campaign is comparatively late. The capital of Gedrosia was Pura, which is probably identical to modern Bampur, forty kilometers west of Irânshahr.

Several scholars have argued that the Persian satrapy Maka is identical to Gedrosia (which is a Greek name). One argument is the similarity of the name Maka to the modern name Makran, a part of Pakistan and Iran that is situated a bit more to the east. However, it is more likely that Maka is to be sought in modern Oman, which was called Maketa in Antiquity.[5]

Alexander's campaign

Gedrosia became famous in Europe when the Macedonian king Alexander the Great tried to cross the Gedrosian desert and lost one third of his men.

Following his army's refusal to continue marching east at the Hyphasis River in 326 BCE, Alexander the Great crossed the area after sailing south to the coast of the Indian Ocean on his way back to Babylon. Upon reaching the Ocean, Alexander divided his forces in half, sending half back by sea to Susa under the command of Nearchus.[6] The other half of his army was to accompany him on a march through the Gedrosian desert, inland from the ocean.[7] Throughout the 60-day march through the desert, Alexander lost at least 12,000 soldiers, in addition to countless livestock, camp followers, and most of his baggage train.[8] Some historians say he lost three-quarters of his army to the harsh desert conditions along the way.[9] However, this figure was likely based on exaggerated numbers in his forces prior to the march, which were likely in the range of no fewer than 30,000 soldiers.[10]

There are two competing theories for the purpose of Alexander's decision to march through the desert rather than along the more hospitable coast. The first argues that this was an attempt to punish his men for their refusal to continue eastward at the Hyphasis River.[11] The other argues that Alexander was attempting to imitate and succeed in the actions of Cyrus the Great, who had failed to cross the desert.[10]

After the death of Alexander, this region became part of the holdings of Seleucus, who held Aria, Arachosia, and Gandhara, in addition to Gedrosia.

Mauryan Empire

The territories, known collectively as Ariyana were later lost to the Mauryan Empire of ancient India under the reign of Chandragupta Maurya.[12] Gedrosia, along with Saurashtra, were regions in ancient India that formed an important part of the Maurya Empire, before being attacked by Indo-Greeks from the west.[13]

Delu is said to have been a prince of uncommon bravery and generosity; benevolent towards men, and devoted to the service of God. The most remarkable transaction of his reign is the building of the city of Delhi, which derives its name from its founder, Delu. In the fortieth year of his reign, Phoor, a prince of his own family, who was governor of Cumaoon, rebelled against the Emperor, and marched to Kinoge, the capital. Delu was defeated, taken, and confined in the impregnable fort of Rhotas.

Phoor immediately mounted the throne of India, reduced Bengal, extended his power from sea to sea, and restored the empire to its pristine dignity. He died after a long reign, and left the kingdom to his son, who was also called Phoor, and was the same with the famous Porus, who fought against Alexander.

The second Phoor, taking advantage of the disturbances in Persia, occasioned by the Greek invasion of that empire under Alexander, neglected to remit the customary tribute, which drew upon him the arms of that conqueror. The approach of Alexander did not intimidate Phoor. He, with a numerous army, met him at Sirhind, about one hundred and sixty miles to the north-west of Delhi, and in a furious battle, say the Indian historians, lost many thousands of his subjects, the victory, and his life. The most powerful prince of the Decan, who paid an unwilling homage to Phoor, or Porus, hearing of that monarch's overthrow, submitted himself to Alexander, and sent him rich presents by his son. Soon after, upon a mutiny arising in the Macedonian army, Alexander returned by the way of Persia.

Sinsarchund, the same whom the Greeks call Sandrocottus, assumed the imperial dignity after the death of Phoor, and in a short time regulated the discomposed concerns of the empire. He neglected not, in the mean time, to remit the customary tribute to the Grecian captains, who possessed Persia under, and after the death of, Alexander. Sinsarchund, and his son after him, possessed the empire of India seventy years. When the grandson of Sinsarchund acceded to the throne, a prince named Jona, who is said to have been a grand-nephew of Phoor, though that circumstance is not well attested, aspiring to the throne, rose in arms against the reigning prince, and deposed him.

-- The History of Hindostan, Translated from the Persian. To Which are Prefixed Two Dissertations; The First Concerning the Hindoos, and the Second on the Origin and Nature of Despotism in India, by Alexander Dow, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel in the Company's Service, 1812

References

1. Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. ISBN 978-0-391-04173-8.
2. Arrian, Indica, 29:
3. El-Medinah, p. 144
4. The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander
5. "Gedrosia". Archived from the original on 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
6. Bosworth (1988), p. 139
7. Bosworth (1988), p. 142
8. Bosworth (1988), p. 145
9. Plutarch, The Life of Alexander, 66.
10. Bosworth (1988), p. 146
11. Heckel (2002), p. 68
12. ^Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2003). The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-01109-9. In spite of the vagueness of the historical texts, the consensus among scholars is that the treaty concluded between Candragupta Maurya and Seleucus acknowledged Indian control of territories to the west of the Indus. These included Gedrosia, Paropamisadae (the region of Kabul and Begram) and Arachosia (the Kandahar region).
13. The Journal of the Bihar Research Society. Bihar Research Society. 1949. p. 74. Gedrosia and Saurashtra had formed important parts of the Mauryan empire before the Indo-Greek adventurers attacked in on the west.

Bibliography

• Bosworth, A. B. (1988). Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great. Canto. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521406796.
• Heckel, Waldemar (2002). The Wars of Alexander the Great. Essential Histories. Osprey. ISBN 9781841764733.
• Saul, David (2009). War: From Ancient Egypt to Iraq. Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 9781405341332.

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Alexandria Carmania
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/28/24

Alexandria Carmania
Αλεξάνδρεια η εν Καρμανία
City

The area of Carmania where the Alexandria Carmania was located, noted with red colour on the map of the Empire of Alexander the Great
Country: Iran
Founded by: Alexander the Great

Alexandria Carmania (Greek: Αλεξάνδρεια η εν Καρμανία, Alexandreia hē en Karmania) was one of the seventy-plus cities founded or renamed by Alexander the Great.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

The town was founded by Alexander in January 324 BC after his army had reunited with Nearchus and his men who had beached their boats near the mouth of the Minab River.[8][9][10]

Location

The exact site of the city in Carmania is still unknown but several locations have been proposed:

• The most commonly cited location is the village of Gulashkird, Iran[11] (Lat. 27° 56' 57"N Long. 57° 17' 57"E)
• The unexplored ruins to the north and northwest of Gulishkird.[12]
Mercator 1569 world map showing Alexandria.
• The village of Gav Koshi nearby to the east of Gulishkird has also been popular.
• Sykes says it was in Rudbar 5km north of Gulishkird, based on surface finds of Greek pottery he made in that location.[13]
• A less likely option is the village of Shahr-i Dakyanus (Town of the emperor Decius) near Jiroft, Iran.[14][15][16][17]
• Sites at Sirjan and Tepe Yahya have also been postulated.[18]
• Fraser, taking a typically conservative position thinks that Alexandria in Carmainai never existed.[19]
• The 1569 world map of Gerardus Mercator, taken from Ptolemy's second century world map, shows Alexandria Carmania further to the west on the Salarus River, in the arid area north of the modern town of Haregī, Iran.


Mercator 1569 world map showing Alexandria.

The main contenders are all within a few kilometres of each other and that area would seem a logical one. Provided with reliable water from the Minab river, the location was on the convergence of the main passes from Afghanistan, the route into Gedrosia and had good access to the nearby Indian Ocean ports at Hormosia. The location would also provide control of the arable parts of Carmania.

The city still existed in the medieval period being known as Camadi, when Marco Polo visited.[20] If Galashkird is the now lost city it was described by Arab geographer Mukaddasi who described it as "a strongly fortified town with a castle Kushah," and lush orchards and fields supported by extensive qanat irrigation.

See also

• List of cities founded by Alexander the Great

References

1. Getzel M. Cohen, The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia, University of California Press 2013 page 200
2. William Woodthorpe Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India (Cambridge University Press, 2010) p481.
3. P. Leriche, “Alexandria,”, Encyclopædia Iranica, I/8, pp. 830-831.
4. J. G. Droysen, Geschichte des Hellenismus, (1878).
5. V. Tscherikower, Die hellenistischen Städtegrunden, (1927).
6. E. Badian, Alexander the Great, (1950).
7. G. A. Koshelenko, Grecheskiĭ polis na ellinisticheskom vostoke, (1979.)
8. Ammianus Marcellinus XXIII 48
9. Ptolemy VI 8 14
10. Pliny, Natural History 6. 107 110
11. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge University Press 2011. page 317
12. Lewis Vance Cummings, Alexander the Great (Grove Press, 2004)page 402 p402
13. Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes, A History of Exploration from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Taylor & Francis, 1949
14. I. Gershevitch, The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 2 Cambridge University Press 1985 page 248.
15. Cook, J. M., The Persian Empire, (Book Club Associates, London, 1983)
16. Ala-ad-Din Ata Malik Juvaini, The History of the World Conqueror. (Harvard University Press, 1958) page477.
17. William Vincent, Samuel Horsley, William Wales, ----- de La Rochette, The Voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates: Collected from the Original Journal Preserved by Arrian, and Illustrated by Authorities Ancient and Modern (T. Cadell (jun.) and W. Davies, 1797) page 304
18. Alexandria at Encyclopedia Iranica.
19. Fraser, P. M., Cities of Alexander the Great, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996)
20. The travels of Marco Polo vol 1, chapter16.

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The 1,000-year-old manuscript and the stories it tells: One of the greatest treasures of Cambridge University Library is a Buddhist manuscript that was produced in Kathmandu exactly 1,000 years ago. The exquisitely-illustrated Perfection of Wisdom is still revealing fresh secrets.
by University of Cambridge
May 9, 2015
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features ... s-it-tells

When Sujātabhadra picked up his reed pen and put his name to the manuscript, he was part of a rich network of scholarship, culture, belief and trade

-- Camillo Formigatti

One thousand years ago, a scribe called Sujātabhadra put his name to a manuscript known as the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight-Thousand Stanzas (Skt. Aṣṭasahāsrikā Prajñāparamitā). Sujātabhadra was a skilled craftsman working in or around Kathmandu – a city that has been one of the hubs of the Buddhist world from around 500 CE right up until the present day.

The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight-Thousand Stanzas is written in Sanskrit, one the of the world’s most ancient languages, using both sides of 222 oblong sheets made from palm leaf (the first missing sheet has been replaced with a paper sheet). Each leaf is punctured by a pair of neat holes, a reminder that the palm leaf pages were originally bound together with cords passing through these holes. The entire palm leaf manuscript is held between richly ornate wooden covers.

Today the fabulous manuscript that would have taken Sujātabhadra and fellow craftsman many months — perhaps even a year — to complete is held by the Manuscripts Room at Cambridge University Library. Over the past 140 years, it has been studied by some of the foremost specialists of the medieval Buddhist world.

A digitisation project has now made the manuscript accessible online to scholars worldwide and has revealed fresh evidence about the origins of some of the earliest Buddhist texts.



The presence of the Perfection of Wisdom, safe in the temperature-controlled environment of one of the world’s greatest libraries, many thousands of miles from its birthplace, is especially poignant at a time when the people of Nepal are struggling to survive in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.

Buddhist texts are more than scriptures: they are sacred objects in themselves. Many manuscripts were used as protective amulets and installed in shrines and altars in the home of Buddhist followers. Examples include numerous manuscripts of the Five Protections (Skt. Pañcarakṣā), a corpus of scriptures that includes spells, enumerations of benefits and ritual instructions for use, particularly sacred in Nepal.

Manuscripts produced in Nepal, Tibet and Central Asia during the period from the 5th until the 19th century are evidence of the thriving ‘cult of the book’ that was the subject of a recent exhibition at Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The Perfection of Wisdom is also an important historical document that provides valuable information about the dynastic history of medieval Nepal. Its textual content and illustrations, and the skills and materials that went into its production, reveal the ways in which Nepal was one of the most important hubs within a Buddhist world that spanned from Sri Lanka to China.

The text is lavishly illustrated by a total of 85 miniature paintings: each one is an exquisite representation of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (beings who resolve to achieve Buddhahood in order to help other sentient beings) – including the historical Buddha Śākyamuni and Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future. The figures represented in the miniatures include also the embodied Perfection of Wisdom goddess (Prajñāparamitā) herself on the Vulture Peak Mountain near Rājagṛha, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Māgadha, in today’s Bihar state.

The settings in which these deities are depicted are drawn in meticulous detail. The Bodhisattva Lokanātha, surrounded by White and Green Tārās, is shown in front of the Svayambhu stupa in Kathmandu – a shrine sacred for Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhists, damaged in the recent earthquake. The places depicted in the miniatures represent a kind of map of Buddhist lands and sacred sites, from Sri Lanka to Indonesia and from South India to China.

The Perfection of Wisdom is one of the world’s oldest illuminated Buddhist manuscripts and the second oldest illuminated manuscript in Cambridge University Library. Its survival – and its passage through time and space – is little short of miraculous.

Without the efforts of a certain Karunavajra, quite probably a Buddhist lay believer, it would have been destroyed in 1138 — in that period the governors challenged the king in a struggle for power over the Kathmandu Valley.

“We know that Karunavajra saved the manuscript because he added a note in verse form,” said Dr Camillo Formigatti of the Sanskrit Manuscripts Project. “He states that he rescued the ‘Perfection of Wisdom, incomparable Mother of the Omniscient’ from falling into the hands of unbelievers who were most probably people of Brahmanical affiliation.”

Cambridge University Library acquired the manuscript in 1876. It was purchased for the Library by Dr Daniel Wright, a civil servant working for the British government in Kathmandu.

“From the second half of the 19th century, western institutions were hugely interested in the orient - and museums and libraries were busy building collections of everything eastern,” said Dr Hildegard Diemberger of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit. “Colonial administrators were almost literally given ‘shopping lists’ of manuscripts to acquire in the course of their travels.”

A new phase in the study of ancient Asian materials began in earnest at the end of the seventeenth century, around the time when Jean-Paul BIGNON (1662-1743) became president of the Academie des Sciences (1692), began his reform of the Academy of Sciences (1699), became director of the Journal des Savants, gave it its lasting form (1701), and reorganized Europe's largest library (the Royal Library in Paris that evolved into the Bibliotheque Nationale de France). It was Bignon who stacked the College Royal with instructors like Fourmont (Leung 2002:130); it was Bignon whom Father Bouvet wanted to get on board for his grand project of an academy in China (Collani 1989); it was Bignon who employed Huang, Freret, and Fourmont to catalog Chinese books at the library and to produce Chinese grammars and dictionaries; it was Bignon who ordered Calmette and Pons to find and send the Vedas and other ancient Indian texts to Paris (see Chapter 6); and it was Bignon who supported Fourmont's expensive project of carving over 100,000 Chinese characters in Paris (Leung 2002). The conversion of major libraries into state institutions open to the public, which Bignon oversaw, was a development with an immense impact on the production and dissemination of knowledge, including knowledge about the Orient. So was the promotion of scholarly journals like the Journal des Scavans (later renamed Journal des Savants) that featured reviews of books from all over Europe and fulfilled a central function in the pan-European "Republique des lettres"....

From the early 1730s Father Calmette devoted himself intensively to the study of the Vedas and wrote on January 24, 1733:

Since the King has made the decision to form an Oriental library, Abbe Bignon has graced us with the honor of relying on us for research of Indian books. We are already benefiting much from this for the advancement of religion; having acquired by these means the essential books which are like the arsenal of paganism, we extract from it the weapons to combat the doctors of idolatry, and the weapons that hurt them the most are their own philosophy, their theology, and especially the four Vedam which contain the law of the brahmins and which India since time immemorial possesses and regards as the sacred book: the book whose authority is irrefragable and which derived from God himself. (Le Gobien 1781:13.394)

...
Pons and Calmette, who came from the same little town of Rodez in southern France, had both been eager to find the Vedas, and both collaborated closely with Abbe Bignon in procuring precious Indian books for the Royal Library in Paris....

It was Pons who had tried to buy a copy of the Veda for 60 rupees in 1726, only to find out that he had fallen victim to a scam. From 1728 to 1733, he was superior of the Bengal mission, and it is during this time that he studied Sanskrit. As superior in Chandernagor he became an important channel for the European discovery of India's literature. He spent on behalf of Abbe Bignon and the Royal Library in Paris a total of 1,779 rupees for researchers, copyists, and manuscripts in Sanskrit and Persian. They included the Mahabharata in 17 volumes, 24 volumes of Puranas, 31 volumes about philology, 22 volumes about history and mythology, 7 volumes about astronomy and astrology, and 8 volumes of poems, among other acquisitions (Castets 1935:47).

-- The Birth of Orientalism, by Urs App

Scholars are able to pinpoint with remarkable precision the date that Sujātabhadra recorded his name as scribe in the ‘colophon’ (details about the publication of a book).



“Using tables that convert the dates used by Nepalese scribes into the calendar we use today, we can see that Sujātabhadra added his name and the place where he completed the manuscript on 31 March, 1015. The study of mathematics, astrology and astronomy were central aspects of ancient and medieval South Asian culture, and time reckoning was very accurate — both the lunar and the solar calendar were employed,” said Formigatti.

-- Rules of the Siamese Astronomy, for calculating the Motions of the Sun and Moon, translated from the Siamese, and since examined and explained by M. Cassini, a Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Excerpt from "A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam", Tome II, by Monsieur De La Loubere

-- Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India About A.D. 1080, by Dr. Edward C. Sachau, Professor in the Royal University of Berlin and Principal of the Seminary for Oriental Languages; Member of the Royal Academy of Berlin, and Corresponding Member of the Imperial Academy of Vienna, Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London, and of the American Oriental Society, Cambridge, USA, 1910

-- Ancient Indian Astronomy in Vedic Texts, by R.N. Iyengar

-- Royal Astronomical Society [Astronomical Society of London], by Wikipedia

-- Some Purana References, from "Astronomical Dating of the Mahabharata War, by Dieter Koch"

-- Astronomical Dating of the Mahabharata War, by Dieter Koch

-- Determination of the Date of the Mahabharata: The Possibility Thereof, [Reprinted from Vishveshvaram and Indological Journal, Vol. XI

-- French Jesuit Scientists in India: Historical Astronomy in the Discourse on India, 1670-1770, by Dhruv Raina

[Al-Biruni] wrote an extensive commentary on Indian astronomy in the Taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind mostly translation of Aryabhatta's work.

-- Al-Biruni, by Wikipedia

In India Alberuni recommenced his study of Indian astronomy, this time not from translations, but from Sanskrit originals, and we here meet with the remarkable fact that the works which about A.D. 770 had been the standard in India still held the same high position A.D. 1020, viz., the works of Brahmagupta. Assisted by learned pandits, he tried to translate them, as also the Pulisasiddhanta (vide preface to the edition of the text, § 5), and when he composed the [x], he had already come forward with several books devoted to special points of Indian astronomy. As such he quotes: —

(i.) A treatise on the determination of the lunar stations or nakshatras, ii. 83.

(2.) The Kayal-alkusufaini, which contained, probably beside other things, a description of the Yoga theory, ii. 208.

(3.) A book called The Arabic Khandakhadyaka, on the same subject as the preceding one, ii. 208.

(4.) A book containing a description of the Karanas, the title of which is not mentioned, ii 194.

(5.) A treatise on the various systems of numeration, as used by different nations, i. 174, which probably described also the related Indian subjects.

(6.) A book called “Key of Astronomy,” on the question whether the sun rotates round the earth or the earth round the sun, i. 277. We may suppose that in this book he had also made use of the notions of Indian astronomers.

(7.) Lastly, several publications on the different methods for the computation of geographical longitude, i. 315. He does not mention their titles, nor whether they had any relation to Hindu methods of calculation.

Perfectly at home in all departments of Indian astronomy and chronology, he began to write the [x]. In the chapters on these subjects he continues a literary movement which at his time had already gone on for centuries; but he surpassed his predecessors by going back upon the original Sanskrit sources, trying to check his pandits by whatever Sanskrit he had contrived to learn, by making new and more accurate translations, and by his conscientious method of testing the data of the Indian astronomers by calculation. His work represents a scientific renaissance in comparison with the aspirations of the scholars working in Bagdad under the first Abbaside Khalifs.

Alberuni seems to think that Indian astrology had not been transferred into the more ancient Arabic literature, as we may conclude from his introduction to Chapter Ixxx.: "Our fellow-believers in these (Muslim) countries are not acquainted with the Hindu methods of astrology, and have never had an opportunity of studying an Indian book on the subject,” [!!!] ii. 211. We cannot prove that the works of Varahamihira, e.g. his Brihatsamhita and Laghujatakam, which Alberuni was translating, had already been accessible to the Arabs at the time of Mansur, but we are inclined to think that Alberuni’s judgment on this head is too sweeping, for books on astrology, and particularly on jataka, had already been translated in the early days of the Abbaside rule. Cf. Fihrist, pp. 270, 271.

As regards Indian medicine, we can only say that Alberuni does not seem to have made a special study of it, for he simply uses the then current translation of Caraka, although complaining of its incorrectness, i. 159, 162, 382. He has translated a Sanskrit treatise on loathsome diseases into Arabic (cf. preface to the edition of the original, p. xxi. No. 18), but we do not know whether before the [x] or after it.

What first induced Alberuni to write the [x], was not the wish to enlighten his countrymen on Indian astronomy in particular, but to present them with an impartial description of the Indian theological and philosophical doctrines on a broad basis, with every detail pertaining to them. So he himself says both at the beginning and end of the book. Perhaps on this subject he could give his readers more perfectly new information than on any other, for, according to his own statement, he had in this only one predecessor, Aleranshahri. Not knowing him or that authority which he follows, i.e. Zurkan, we cannot form an estimate as to how far Alberuni’s strictures on them (i. 7) are founded. Though there can hardly be any doubt that Indian philosophy in one or other of its principal forms had been communicated to the Arabs already in the first period, it seems to have been something entirely new when Alberuni produced before his compatriots or fellow-believers the Samkhya by Kapila, and the Book of Patanjali in good Arabic translations. [!!!] It was this particular work which admirably qualified him to write the corresponding chapters of the [x]. The philosophy of India seems to have fascinated his mind, and the noble ideas of the Bhagavadgita probably came near to the standard of his own persuasions. Perhaps it was he who first introduced this gem of Sanskrit literature into the world of Muslim readers.

Preface:

Over the past forty years or so, a theory has been forged in university departments of history and cultural studies that much of what is thought to be ancient in India was actually invented -- or at best reinvented or recovered from oblivion -- during the time of the British Raj. This of course runs counter to the view most Indians, Indophiles, and renaissance hipsters share that India's ancient traditions are ageless verities unchanged since their emergence from the ancient mists of time. When I began this project, I was of the opinion that "classical yoga" -- that is, the Yoga philosophy of the Yoga Sutra (also known as the Yoga Sutras) -- was in fact a tradition extending back through an unbroken line of gurus and disciples, commentators and copyists, to Pantanjali himself, the author of the work who lived in the first centuries of the Common Era. However, the data I have sifted through over the past three years have forced me to conclude that this was not the case.

The present volume is part of a series on the great books, the classics of religious literature, works that in some way have resonated with their readers and hearers across time as well as cultural and language boundaries, far beyond the original conditions of their production. Some classics, like the works of Shakespeare for theater, are regarded as having defined not only their period but also their genre, their worldview, their credo. As the sole work of Indian philosophy to have been translated into over forty languages, the Yoga Sutra would appear to fulfill the requirements of a classic. But if this is the case, then the Yoga Sutra is a very special kind of classic, a sort of "comeback classic." I say this because after a five-hundred-year period of great notoriety, during which it was translated into two foreign languages (Arabic and Old Javanese) and noted by authors from across the Indian philosophical spectrum, Patanjali's work began to fall into oblivion. After it had been virtually forgotten for the better part of seven hundred years (700), Swami Vivekananda miraculously rehabilitated it in the final decade of the nineteenth century. Since that time, and especially over the past thirty years, Big Yoga -- the corporate yoga subculture -- has elevated the Yoga Sutra to a status it never knew, even during its seventh- to twelfth-century heyday. This reinvention of the Yoga Sutra as the foundational scripture of "classical yoga" runs counter to the pre-twentieth-century history of India's yoga traditions, during which other works (the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Vasistha, and various texts attributed to figures named Yajnavalkya and Hiranyagarbha) and other forms of yoga (Pashupata Yoga, Tantric Yoga, and Hatha Yoga) dominated the Indian yoga scene. This book is an account of the rise and fall, and latter day rise, of the Yoga Sutra as a classic of religious literature and cultural icon.

-- The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, by David Gordon White

As regards the Puranas, Alberuni was perhaps the first Muslim who took up the study of them. At all events, we cannot trace any acquaintance with them on the part of the Arabs before his time. [!!!] Of the literature of fables, he knew the Pancatantra in the Arabic edition of Ibn Almukaffa.

Judging Alberuni in relation to his predecessors, we come to the conclusion that his work formed a most marked progress. His description of Hindu philosophy was probably unparalleled. His system of chronology and astronomy was more complete and accurate than had ever before been given. His communications from the Puranas were probably entirely new to his readers, as also the important chapters on literature, manners, festivals, actual geography, and the much-quoted chapter on historic chronology. He once quotes Razi, with whose works he was intimately acquainted, and some Sufi philosophers, but from neither of them could he learn much about India.

In the following pages we give a list of the Sanskrit books quoted in the [x]: —

Sources of the chapters on theology and philosophy: Samkya, by Kapila; Book of Patanjali; Gita, i.e. some edition of the Bhagavadgita.

He seems to have used more sources of a similar nature, but he does not quote from them.

Sources of a Pauranic kind: Vishnu-Dharma,Vishnu Purana, Matsya-Purana, Vayu-Purana, Aditya-Purana.

Sources of the chapters on astronomy, chronology, geography, and astrology: Pulisasiddhanta; Brahmasiddhanta, Khandakhadyaka, Uttarakhandakhddyaka, by Brahmagupta; Commentary of the Khandakhadiyaka, by Balabhadra, perhaps also some other work of his; Brihatsamhita, Pancasiddhantika, Brihat Jutakam, Laghu-jatakam, by Varahamihira; Commentary of the Brihatsamhita, a book called Srudhava (perhaps (Sarvadhara), by Utpala, from Kashmir; a book by Aryabhata, junior; Karanasara, by Vittesvara; Karanatilaka, by Vijayanandin; Sripala; Book of the Rishi (sic) Bhuvanakosa; Book of the Brahman Bhattila; Book of Durlabha, from Multan; Book of Jivasarman; Book of Samaya; Book of Auliatta (?), the son of Sahawi (?); The Minor Manasa, by Puncala; Srudhava (Sarvadhara?), by Mahadeva Candrabija; Calendar from Kashmir.

As regards some of these authors, Sripala, Jivalarman, Samaya (?), and Auliatta (?), the nature of the quotations leaves it uncertain whether Alberuni quoted from books of theirs or from oral communications which he had received from them.

Source on medicine: Caraka, in the Arabic edition of 'Ali Ibn Zain, from Tabaristan.

In the chapter on metrics, a lexicographic work by one Haribhata (?), and regarding elephants a “Book on the Medicine of Elephants,” are quoted.

His communications from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the way in which he speaks of them, do not give us the impression that he had these books before him. He had some information of Jaina origin, but does not mention his source (Aryabhata, jun. ?) Once he quotes Manu’s Dharmasastra, but in a manner which makes me doubt whether he took the words directly from the book itself. 1 [The places where mention of these books occurs are given in Index I. Cf. also the annotations on single cases.]

The quotations which he has made from these sources are, some of them, very extensive, e.g. those from the Bhagavadgita. In the chapter on literature he mentions many more books than those here enumerated, but does not tell us whether he made use of them for the [x]. Sometimes he mentions Hindu individuals as his informants, e.g. those from Somanath, i. 161, 165, and from Kanoj, i 165; ii. 129.

In Chapter i. the author speaks at large of the radical difference between Muslims and Hindus in everything, and tries to account for it both by the history of India and by the peculiarities of the national character of its inhabitants (i. 17 seq.). Everything in India, is just the reverse of what it is in Islam, “and if ever a custom of theirs resembles one of ours, it has certainly just the opposite meaning” (i. 179). Much more certainly than to Alberuni, India would seem a land of wonders and monstrosities to most of his readers. Therefore, in order to show that there were other nations who held and hold similar notions, he compares Greek philosophy, chiefly that of Plato, and tries to illustrate Hindu notions by those of the Greeks, and thereby to bring them nearer to the understanding of his readers.

The role which Greek literature plays in Alberuni’s work in the distant country of the Paktyes and Gandhari is a singular fact in the history of civilisation. Plato before the doors of India, perhaps in India itself! A considerable portion of the then extant Greek literature had found its way into the library of Alberuni, who uses it in the most conscientious and appreciative way, and takes from it choice passages to confront Greek thought with Indian. And more than this: on the part of his readers he seems to presuppose not only that they were acquainted with them, but also gave them the credit of first-rate authorities. Not knowing Greek or Syriac, he read them in Arabic translations, some of which reflect much credit upon their authors. The books be quotes are these: —

Plato, Phaedo.
Timoeus, an edition with a commentary.
Leges. In the copy of it there was an appendix relating to the pedigree of Hippokrates.
Proclus, Commentary on Timoeus (different from the extant one).
Aristotle, only short references to his Physica and Metaphysica. Letter to Alexander.
Johannes Grammaticus, Contra Proclum.
Alexander of Aphrodisias, Commentary on Aristotle’s [x].
Apollonius of Tyana.
Porphyry, Liber historiarum philosophorum (?).
Ammonias.
Aratus, Phoenomena, with a commentary.
Galenus, Protrepticus.
[x]
[x]
Commentary on the Apophthegms of Hippokrates.
De indole animoe.
Book of the Proof.
Ptolemy, Almagest.
Geography.
Kitab-almanshurat.
Pseudo-Kallisthenes, Alexander romance.
Scholia to the Ars grammatica of Dionysius Thrax.
A synchronistic history, resembling in part that of Johannes Malalas, in part the Chronicon of Eusebius. Cf. notes to i. 112, 105.

The other analogies which he draws, not taken from Greek, but from Zoroastrian, Christian, Jewish, Manichaean, and Sufi sources, are not very numerous. He refers only rarely to Eranian traditions; cf. Index II. (Persian traditions and Zoroastrian). Most of the notes on Christian, Jewish, and Manichaean subjects may have been taken from the book of Eranshahri (cf. his own words, i. 6, 7), although he knew Christianity from personal experience, and probably also from the communications of his learned friends Abulkhair Al- khammar and Abu-Sahl Almasihi, both Christians from the farther west (cf. Chronologic Orientalischer Volker, Einleitung, p. xxxii.). The interest he has in Mani’s doctrines and books seems rather strange. We are not acquainted with the history of the remnants of Manichaeism in those days and countries, but cannot help thinking that the quotations from Mani’s “Book of Mysteries” and Thesaurus Vivificationis do not justify Alberuni’s judgment in this direction. He seems to have seen in them venerable documents of a high antiquity, instead of the syncretistic ravings of a would-be prophet.

That he was perfectly right in comparing the Sufi philosophy — he derives the word from [x], i. 33 — with certain doctrines of the Hindus is apparent to any one who is aware of the essential identity of the systems of the Greek Neo-Pythagoreans, the Hindu Vedanta philosophers, and the Sufis of the Muslim world. The authors whom he quotes, Abu Yazid Albistami and Abu Bakr Alshibli, are well-known representatives of Sufism. Cf. note to i. 87, 88. ...

P. 225. Vasishtha, Aryabhata.—The author does not take the theories of these men from their own works; he only knew them by the quotations in the works of Brahmagupta. He himself states so expressly with regard to Aryabhata, Cf. note to p. 156, and the author, 1. 370.

-- Al-Beruni's India, Vol. 1, by Dr. Edward C. Sachau

... the Sufi-Vedanta-Neoplatonic amalgam of Prince Dara as reported by Bernier.

-- The Birth of Orientalism, by Urs App

Aryabhata (476–550 CE)[5][6] was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy....

Aryabhata mentions in the Aryabhatiya that he was 23 years old 3,600 years into the Kali Yuga, but this is not to mean that the text was composed at that time. This mentioned year corresponds to 499 CE, and implies that he was born in 476. [6th century][6] Aryabhata called himself a native of Kusumapura or Pataliputra (present day Patna, Bihar)...

It has been claimed that the aśmaka (Sanskrit for "stone") where Aryabhata originated may be the present day Kodungallur which was the historical capital city of Thiruvanchikkulam of ancient Kerala.[11] This is based on the belief that Koṭuṅṅallūr was earlier known as Koṭum-Kal-l-ūr ("city of hard stones"); however, old records show that the city was actually Koṭum-kol-ūr ("city of strict governance"). Similarly, the fact that several commentaries on the Aryabhatiya have come from Kerala has been used to suggest that it was Aryabhata's main place of life and activity; however, many commentaries have come from outside Kerala, and the Aryasiddhanta was completely unknown in Kerala.[9] K. Chandra Hari has argued for the Kerala hypothesis on the basis of astronomical evidence.[12]...

It is fairly certain that, at some point, he went to Kusumapura for advanced studies and lived there for some time.[14][/i] Both Hindu and Buddhist tradition, as well as Bhāskara I (CE 629), identify Kusumapura as Pāṭaliputra, modern Patna.[9] A verse mentions that Aryabhata was the head of an institution (kulapa) at Kusumapura, and, because the university of Nalanda was in Pataliputra at the time, it is speculated that Aryabhata might have been the head of the Nalanda university as well.[9] Aryabhata is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the Sun temple in Taregana, Bihar.[15]

What Does Megasthenes Say About The Kings Who Ruled?

1. He calls Sandracottus the king of the Prassi and he mentions the names of Xandramus as predecessor and Sandrocyptus as successor to Sandracottus. There is absolutely no resemblance in these names to Bindusara (the successor to Chandragupta Maurya) and Mahapadma Nanda, the predecessor.

2. He makes absolutely no mention of Chanakya or Vishnugupta, the Acharya who helped Chandragupta ascend the throne.

3. He makes no mention of the widespread presence of the Baudhik or Sramana tradition [Rishi tradition] during the time of the Maurya empire.

4. He claims the capital is Palimbothra or Palibothra, and that the city exists near the confluence of the Ganga and the Eranaboas (Hiranyabahu). But the Puranas are clear that all the 8 dynasties after the Mahabharata war had their capital at Girivraja (Rajagriha), located in the foothills of the Himalayas. There is no mention of Pataliputra in the Puranas. So, the assumption made by Sir William that Palimbothra is Pataliputra has no basis in fact and is not attested by any piece of evidence. If the Greeks could pronounce the first P in (Patali) they could certainly have pronounced the second p in Putra, instead of bastardising it as Palimbothra. Granted the Greeks were incapable of pronouncing any Indian names, but there is no reason why they should not be consistent in their phonetics.

5. The empire of Chandragupta was known as Magadha Empire. It had a long history even at the time of Chandragupta Maurya. In Indian literature, this powerful empire is amply described by its name but the same is absent in Greek accounts. It is difficult to understand as to why Megasthenes did not use this name “Magadha” and instead used the word Prassi, which has no equivalent or counterpart in Indian accounts.

-- Historical Dates From Puranic Sources, by Prof. Narayan Rao

The Mahaguru saw that it was time to tame the vicious King Ashoka, who was controlling vast swathes of India with brutal displays of force. He approached the king’s residence in the city of Kusumapura, taking on the guise of a monk named Indrasena collecting alms.

-- Kusumapura, by nekhor.org

Unfortunately, we do not have rich, reliable historical sources for the Mauryas. We have only extremely tenuous information about them -- most of it about "Asoka" -- from very late Buddhist "histories", which are in large part fantasy-filled hagiographies having nothing to do with actual human events in the real world. Moreover, as Max Deeg has argued, not only did the inscriptions remain in public view for centuries, but their script and language remained legible to any literate person through the Kushan period (at least to ca. AD 250). This strongly suggests that the inscriptions influenced the legendary "histories" of Buddhism that began to develop at about that time.

-- Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter With Early Buddhism in Central Asia, by Christopher I. Beckwith

The German translation of Lama Taranatha's first book on India called The Mine of Previous Stones (Edelsteinmine) was made by Prof. Gruenwedel the reputed Orientalist and Archaeologist on Buddhist culture in Berlin. The translation came out in 1914 A.D. from Petrograd (Leningrad).

The German translator confessed his difficulty in translating the Tibetan words on matters relating to witchcraft and sorcery. So he has used the European terms from the literature of witchcraft and magic of the middle ages viz. 'Frozen' and 'Seven miles boots.'

He said that history in the modern sense could not be expected from Taranatha. The important matter with him was the reference to the traditional endorsement of certain teaching staff. Under the spiritual protection of his teacher Buddhaguptanatha, he wrote enthusiastically the biography of the predecessor of the same with all their extravagances, as well as the madness of the old Siddhas.

The book contains a rigmarole of miracles and magic….

"Vikrtideva was a well-informed Bengali-Pandita. He went to Nalanda and busied himself much about Dharma and all the Upadesas. Though, when he left his motherland, he promised his original Guru to be a monk, he did it later, as he had desire of the flesh, took a wife and had three children: One boy and two girls. But in dream AvaIokitesvara said as he had broken the order of his Guru, he would die within three years of an infectious disease and would go to hell, he got very much frightened, cut himself off from his family and took vows. But the prophesy was fulfilled, after three years he got the contagion and died. There his acarya saw in his mind, how he was taken away by the beadles of the Yama, but five gods and Hayagriva with Aryavalokitesvara at their head struck the hell-beadles and Aryavalokitesvara shed tears and ran towards him to bring his body back. And while he was brought back visibly to the Parivara of the Arya, he came back to life again. As he had seen the face of Avalokitesvara, he had greater power, gained success in his spiritual dignity and the Siddhi…"

-- Mystic Tales of Lama Taranatha: A Religio-Sociological History of Mahayana Buddhism, by Lama Taranatha

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryabhata

Again, in the context of the war, it is natural for writers, especially of epics, to describe portents as happening to presage evil. The Samhitas devote chapters to describe these portents. The Ketucara, on the appearance of comets, is full of portents, as also separate chapters devoted to portents like rare or unnatural, impossible or terrible phenomena. These have been included in the work.11 [See, e.g., Udyoga, 143; Bhisma, 2, 3; Karna, 94, 100; S'alya, 11, 27; Mausala, 2.] But most investigators have not interpreted these portions properly, for which a detailed study of the chapters on Ketucara and Utpatas in the Brhatsamhita of Varahamihira would be advantageous. For example, the mention of the new moon together with solar eclipse occurring on Trayodasi, the sun and the moon being eclipsed on the same day (the same month), and that on Trayodasi, Mercury moving across the sky, (i.e., north-south), the dark patch on the moon being inverted, the lunar eclipse at Karttika full moon, the solar eclipse at Karttika new moon, and again the solar eclipse at the time of the mace-fight, are all intended by the writer to be impossible things occurring. The mention of the red moon indistinguishable from the red sky (digdaha), eagles falling on the flag, appearances of comets of different colours and in groups are all portents. Ignorance of the fact that the ‘grahas’ of different colours mentioned in Bhismaparva, chapter 3, are not planets but comets, has added to the confusion, because these scholars do not realise that, in the Samhitas, the word ‘graha’ means primarily comets, (vide the chapter on Ketucara in the Brhatsamhita).

It would be clear from the above, that all the skill shown in distorting the meanings of words and trying to show when these impossible or rare phenomena and contradictory planetary combinations would actually occur, has been wasted. Excepting the time of the year when the war might have happened, there is nothing in the Mahabharata [3rd century BCE–4th century CE] to fix the year definitely. We do not have adequate data to fix either the happenings or when the work, even part by part, was written.

-- Determination of the Date of the Mahabharata: The Possibility Thereof, [Reprinted from Vishveshvaramand Indological Journal, Vol. XIV (1976) pp. 48-56.], Excerpt, from Collected Papers on Jyotisha, by T.S. Kuppanna Sastry (Former Hony. Professor, Sanskrit College, Madras), 1989

A thousand years on from its production, the manuscript is still yielding secrets. In the course of digitising the manuscript in 2014, Formigatti identified 12 of the final verses to be the only surviving witness of the Sanskrit original of the Ripening of the Victory Banner (Skt. Vajradhvajapariṇāmanā), a short hymn hitherto considered to have survived only in its Tibetan translation. The popularity of this hymn is borne out by the fact that the Tibetan version of the text is also found in manuscript fragments found in Dunhuang, a city-state along the Silk Route in China.

The production of this precious manuscript is evidence not only of the thriving communication channels that existed across the 11th century Buddhist world but also of a well-established network of trade routes. The leaves used to make the writing surface came from palm trees. Palms do not flourish in the dry climate of Nepal: it’s thought that palm leaves would have come from North East India.

“The University Library’s manuscript of Perfection of Wisdom shows us that ten centuries ago Nepal, which westerners often perceive as ‘remote’ and ‘isolated’, had flourishing connections stretching many thousands of miles,” said Formigatti.

“When Sujātabhadra picked up his reed pen and put his name to the manuscript, he was part of a rich network of scholarship, culture, belief and trade. Buddhist manuscripts and texts travelled huge distances. From the fertile plains of Northern India, they crossed the Himalayan range through Nepal and Tibet, reaching the barren landscapes of Central Asia and the city-states along the Silk Route in China, finally arriving in Japan.

“The Perfection of Wisdom is perhaps the most representative textual witness of the Buddhist cult of the book, and this manuscript written, decorated and worshipped in 11th century Nepal, is one of the finest specimens of Buddhist book culture still extant.”

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ART. XIV.-Brief Notes on the Age and Authenticity of the Works of Aryabhata, Varâhamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhaṭṭotpala, and Bhâskarâchârya.
by Dr. Bhau Daji, Honorary Member R.A.S.
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, New Series, Volume the First
1865
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jo ... frontcover

[Communicated by F. HALL, Esq., July 4, 1864].

I. ÂRYABHATA.

THE name of this celebrated astronomer is written either

Aryabhata or Aryabhatta, but generally with one t only. In an old manuscript of the Brahma Sphuța Siddhânta of Brahmagupta, copied in Samvat 1678, or A.D. 1621, the name occurs about thirty-three times,1 and is invariably written Âryabhaṭa; and a double ț cannot be introduced without violating the Âryâ metre. Bhaṭṭa Utpala, in his commentary on the Vârâha Sanhitâ, cites a passage from Varâha Mihira as follows:

लङ्कार्धरात्रसमये दिनप्रवृत्तिं जगाद चार्यभटः ।

Here the word has only one ț, and would not scan with two. This scholiast almost always writes, when quoting Âryabhata, :. In a commentary by Someṣvara on the Aryabhatîya Sûtra, of which the manuscript in my possession was copied about three hundred years ago, the name is spelt with only one ț:

आचार्यार्यभटोक्तसूत्रविवृतिः ।

In a copy of the Mahâ Aryasiddhânta, dated Şaka 1676, A.D. 1598, is the following line:

इत्यार्यभटप्रोक्तात्सिद्धान्ताद्यन्महाकालात् ।

Bhaṭṭa Utpala and Someșvara sometimes call him Âchâryabhața or Âchârya Âryabhaṭa; Brahmagupta, in his Siddhânta, chap. x. 62, Âryâḥ, and in chap. xxi. 40, Âchâryabhața. In his Khanda Khâdya Karana, copied Samvat 1783, he is called Acharya Aryabhata or Aryabhata. In a commentary on it by Âmarâja, he is simply called Achâryabhata. Hence it appears to me clear that the proper spelling of this name is Âryabhaṭa.

1 Colebrooke states that Brahmagupta cites Aryabhata "in more than a hundred places by name." Misc. Ess. vol. ii. p. 475. He evidently includes citations or allusions by the learned commentator Chaturveda Pṛthůdaka Svâmin, whose commentary I regret I do not possess.

The works attributed to Aryabhata, and brought to light by European scholars, are :—

An Aryasiddhânta (Mahâ Ârya Siddhânta), written, according to Bentley, in the year 4423 of the Kali Yuga, or A.D. 1322.1

Another Aryasiddhânta, called Laghu, a smaller work, which Bentley supposed was spurious, and the date of which, as stated in the text, was interpreted to mean the year of the Kali Yuga 3623, or A.D. 522. Of both these works Mr. Bentley possessed imperfect copies. He assumed a comparatively modern work, attributed to Âryabhața, and written in A.D. 1322, as the genuine Aryasiddhânta, and, reasoning on this false premiss, has denounced as spurious the real and older work, and has, further, been led into the double error of condemning the genuine works of Varâha Mihira, Brahmagupta, Bhaṭṭa Utpala, and Bhâskarâchârya, containing quotations and references to the older work, as modern impostures, and of admitting as genuine a modern treatise (the Jâtakârnava) as the work of Varâha Mihira.

Colebrooke, not having the works of Aryabhața before him, suggested that the older work might be a fabrication, but, from citations and references to Âryabhața in the works of Brahmagupta and Bhaṭṭa Utpala, came to a singularly accurate conclusion as to the age of Aryabhata, whose works he thought were different from either treatise in the possession of Bentley. "We shall, however," writes Colebrooke, "take the fifth [century] of Christ as the latest period to which Âryabhaṭṭa can, on the most moderate assumption, be referred."3 In one place, indeed, Colebrooke correctly guesses that the Laghu Ârya Siddhânta is either the Âryâshtaṣata or the Daṣagîtikâ.*

-- Colebrooke's Misc. Ess. vol. ii. p. 477.

1 A Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy. London, 1825, p. 128 2 Ibidem, pp. 168, 169.

4 Ibid. p. 467.

The following passage in the Mahâ Âryasiddhânta explains itself:

इत्यार्यभटप्रोक्तात्सिद्धान्ताद्यग्रहाकालात् ।

पाठैर्गतमुच्छेदं विशेषितं तन्मया स्वोक्त्या ॥

"That (knowledge) from the Siddhânta, propounded by Aryabhata, which was destroyed, in recensions, by long time, I have, in my own language, thus specified." [???]

In another copy, the verse commences differently, having Vrddha for iti; i.e. the first Aryabhata is called Vṛddha, or old, whilst himself is the modern Aryabhata.

Strange to say, the date corresponding to A.D. 1322, mentioned by Bentley, is not to be found in my copies. But I believe he was here, for once, correct.

In the first volume of the Transactions of the Madras Literary Society, a paper was published by Mr. Whish, evidently founded on the works of Aryabhața senior. But, although Mr. Whish's paper is not available to me, I am positive he did not recognize his Aryabhaṭîya Sûtra as the work of Aryabhața senior.[???]

Professor Lassen has some admirable remarks on Aryabhata.1 He observes: "Of Aryabhatta's writings we have the following. He has written a short outline of his system, in ten strophes, which composition he therefore called Daṣagitaka; it is still extant. A more extensive work is the Aryashṭaṣata, which, as the title informs us, contains eight hundred distichs, but has not yet been rediscovered [???]. The mean between these works is held by the Aryabhaṭṭiya, which consists of four chapters, in which the author treats of mathematics in one hundred and twenty-three strophes.3 In it he teaches the method of designating numbers by means of letters, which I shall mention again by and by. Besides, he has left a commentary on the Sûrya Siddhânta, which has been elucidated by a much later astronomer, and is, probably, the work called Tantra by Albîrûnî.[??? This may be the same which was communicated to the Arabs, with two other Siddhântas, during the reign of the Khalif Almansûr, (which lasted from A.D. 754 till 775), by an Indian astronomer who had come to his court, but of which only the book properly so called, i.e. that of Brahmagupta, had been translated into Arabic, by order of that Khalif, by Muhammed bin Ibrâhîm Alfazârt, and had received the title of the great Sind-hind. (See Colebrooke's Misc. Ess. ii. p. 504 seqq.) From this juxtaposition it appears that sufficient materials are at hand for investigating the doctrines of this founder of mathematical and astronomical science in India. Therefore it would be very desirable if a mathematician and astronomer, provided with a competent knowledge of Sanskrit, were to undertake to fill up this great gap in the knowledge which we have hitherto possessed of the history of both these sciences."

1 Indische Alterthumskunde, vol. ii., p. 1136.

2 See Colebrooke's Misc. Ess. ii. p. 467. To the friendly offices of Mr. Gundert, a German missionary in India, I am indebted for a copy of this work, from a MS. in the possession of the Râjâ of Kerkal, in Malabar. It is here called Daşagitaka Sutra. I have also received from him a copy of the Aryabhaṭṭiya.

3 C. M. Whish names this work in the first dissertation mentioned in note 1, p. 1134, as well as in the second: On the Quadrature of the Circle, etc., in Trans. of the Roy. As. Soc. iii. p. 509. Also Masûdî and Albîrûnî record it; see Reinaud's Mémoire, etc., pp. 321 and 322,

To my learned friend Dr. Fitzedward Hall we are indebted for the first and accurate statement that, "as reference is made, in the Arya Siddhânta, to Vṛddha Âryabhaṭṭa, there should seem to have been two writers called Aryabhaṭṭa." This correct reference Dr. Hall was enabled to make from having possessed himself of "two copies of the Arya Siddhânta, both imperfect, and very incorrect." "This treatise is in eighteen chapters; and I more than suspect it to be the same composition which Mr. Bentley also had seen in a mutilated form," & [i.e. the Mahâ Ârya Siddhânta].

Āryabhaṭa (c. 920 – c. 1000)[1] also known as Arya Diya Jankhi was an Indian mathematician and astronomer, and the author of the Maha-Siddhanta. The numeral II is given to him to distinguish him from the earlier and more influential Āryabhaṭa I. Scholars are unsure of when exactly he was born, though David Pingree dates of his main publications between 950–1100.[1][2] The manuscripts of his Maha-Siddhanta have been discovered from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Bengal, so he probably lived in northern India.[2]

-- Aryabhata II, by Wikipedia

1 See Wilson's Mackenzie Coll. i. p. 119, No. v. The title is Sûrya Siddhântaprakâşa, and it contains the Sûtras of the Sûrya Siddhânta, with Aryabhatta's commentary, and explanations of it by a later author of the sixteenth century. The work contains three chapters with the superscriptions: Ganita, i.e. Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry, Kálakriya, by which very likely the doctrine of the calculation of the great periods must be understood; the title Gola of the third chapter designates the Globe, but is intended to denote Astronomy, Albirûnî mentions a Tantra of Aryabhatta;, see Reinaud's Mémoire, p. 335. In the commentary of Paramadisvara on Aryabhatta's explanation of the Surya Siddhânta (called Surya-Siddhânta-vyâkhyâna, and surnamed by the special title Bhattiyadipika, the title of which Mr. Gundert has communicated to me, and which work is likely to be the same with the one adduced in the Mackenzie Collection, vol. ii. p. 121, named Aryabhaṭṭa-vyâkhyâna), the work of Aryabhatta is called TantraBhaṭṭîya.

2 On the Arya-Siddhânta. By Fitzedward Hall, Esq., M.A. Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. vi. p. 559.

In an "Additional Note on Aryabhaṭṭa and his Writings," by the Committee of Publication, appended to Dr. Hall's paper, the learned writer under the initials W. D. W. [???] brings to light the contents of Bhûta Vishnu's "Commentary on the Daṣagîtikâ of Aryabhaṭṭa," from a manuscript of the Berlin Library, a copy of which was supplied to him by Prof. Weber.

From the nature of the contents given in Appendix A, it is clear to me that the treatise which is described as "a brief one, containing only about one hundred and fifty stanzas," consists not only of the Daṣagîti Sûtra, with a commentary by Bhúta Vishņu, but also of the Aryâshṭasata of Aryabhata, which was hitherto believed to be unrecovered. The learned writer correctly remarks that the treatise is undoubtedly the same as Bentley's Laghu Ârya Siddhânta, and also that "the other Arya Siddhânta, judging it from the account given of it by Bentley, appears to be, in comparison with this, a quite ordinary astronomical treatise, representing the general Hindu system with unimportant modifications." Yet he falls very nearly into the same error as Colebrooke, when he proceeds to remark: "Yet it seems clear that Brahmagupta and others have treated them as works of the same author, and have founded upon their discordances a charge of inconsistency against Âryabhaṭṭa." The fact is, as we shall see, that Brahmagupta, Bhaṭṭa Utpala, and Bhâskara Âchârya know and cite only the elder Aryabhata.

The next and last paper is on some fragments of Âryabhaṭṭa, by Dr. H. Kern in the Jour. Roy. As. Soc. vol. xx. pp. 371 seqq. After briefly noticing the works known to former writers as the works of Aryabhaṭa, and after alluding to the conclusion Dr. Hall arrived at, that there were two authors of the same name, he adds: "If the same course were adopted in regard to all the works ascribed to Aryabhaṭṭa, or to an Âryabhaṭṭa, if the contents were compared with the numerous fragments scattered in different works, chiefly commentaries, one might indulge the hope that the question of the authorship of Aryabhaṭṭa would be settled in a satisfactory manner."

1 Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. vi. pp. 561 and 564.

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Sardars of the Peshwas: The Mehendales
by Ashutosh Potnis
Sep 2, 2019
Updated: Oct 2, 2020
https://ashutoshpotnis.wixsite.com/home ... mehendales

Towards the end of the 17th century, two families crossed the Sahyadris, leaving behind their homes in the Konkan belt, in search of better opportunities on the Desh plateau. They were the Bhats & the Bhanus, two families that would go down in history as the Peshwas & Phadanvis's. Not well known is the fact that a third family, the Mehendales, accompanied them on this journey. The Mehendales had familial ties to both the Peshwa & the Phadanvis families that spanned many generations. Bhairavbhat Mehendale was Balaji Vishwanath's Pratinidhi (viceroy), appointed for looking after his the deshmukhi of Dandarajpuri. Balaji Vishwanath’s sister was married to Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale I and Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale I's sister Godavaribai was married to Balaji Vishwanath's brother, Krushnaji Vishwanath Bhat, probably according to the erstwhile 'saata-lota' practice.

Watta satta or shighar is an exchange marriage common in Pakistan and Afghanistan [and India].

The custom involves the simultaneous marriage of a brother-sister pair from two households. In some cases, it involves uncle–niece pairs, or cousin pairs. Watta satta is more than just an exchange of women from two families or clans; it establishes the shadow of mutual threat across the marriages. A husband who abuses his wife in this arrangement can expect his brother-in-law to retaliate in kind against his sister. Watta satta is cited as a cause of both low domestic violence in some families, and conversely for extreme levels of reciprocal domestic violence in others.

-- Watta satta, by Wikipedia

The Peshwa[a] was second highest office in the Maratha Confederacy, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati [Chhatrapati is a royal title from Sanskrit used to denote a king. The word "Chhatrapati" is a Sanskrit language compound word of chhatra (parasol or umbrella) and pati (master/lord/ruler). This title was used by the House of Bhonsle, between 1674 and 1818, as the heads of state of the Maratha Confederacy.]. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary after the death of Shahu in 1749. During the reign of Shahu, the office of Peshwa grew in power and the Peshwas came to be the de facto rulers of the Maratha Confederacy. However following the defeat of the Marathas in 1761, the office of the Peshwa became titular as well and from that point onwards served as the ceremonial head of the Confederacy underneath the Chhatrapati.

-- Peshwa, by Wikipedia

The place where Godavaribai Peshwa lived in Shaniwar Wada is still known as 'Godubaicha Chowk'. Balwantrao Mehendale’s sister, Umabai was married to Sadashivraobhau while his second sister, Rakhmabai was married to Janardan Phadanvis. Their son Balaji Janardan Phadanvis would go down in history as Nana Phadanvis, the regent of Sawai Madhavrao.

The exact meaning of the surname Mehendale cannot be confirmed for sure. However it has been linked to the town of Hindale in Konkan, which is said to be the village of their origin.

Ganapatrao Mehendale I

The Mehendales enlisted themselves in the services of the Peshwas, and contributed to the cause of the expansion of the Maratheshahi. Ganapatrao Mehendale I, Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale I's son accompanied Bajirao Peshwa & Chimajiappa Peshwa on a campaign to Malwa in 1728.

Balwantrao Mehendale

Balwantrao Mehendale, Ganapatrao I's son, was perhaps the most fabled warrior from this family. He was the commander of the Huzurat and one of the many Maratha generals who were delegated with leading the campaigns in the south. He led the campaign against the Nawab of Kadappah in 1757 & also participated in the Battle of Sindhakhed in the same year. During one of his campaigns into Gujarat an ancient Trivikram sculpture was discovered and brought back to Maharashtra. He later built a temple dedicated to Trivikram at Kalyan. He also built a Shiva temple in Kalyan along with a wada.



Balwantrao Mehendale's role in the Battle of Udgir in 1760 & his support of the Peshwas during the revolt of Tarabai & Damaji Gaekwad earned him a position as an aide to Sadashivraobhau along with a reward of 400 horses and an additional force of 5000 soldiers. He was one of the many generals who embarked upon the fatal campaign in the north that would conclude with the defeat at Panipat. In one of the numerous skirmishes prior to the battle of Panipat, in December 1760, after inflicting heavy losses on the enemy & driving them away, a chance bullet struck Balwantrao which ended up being fatal. His part-mutilated body was recovered by Sardar Khanderao Nimbalkar. Balwantrao’s death was a blow to the morale of the Maratha troops. His wife, Lakshmibai, greatly struck by this tragedy, chose to commit Sati. Before ascending her husband's pyre, she placed her 12 year old son Krushnarao under the care of Sadashivraobhau, who promised to make him a better warrior than Balwantrao.

Nana Phadanvis, in a letter he wrote before the battle at Panipat remarked,

"The battle went well for us, but for Balwantrao's death, which caused them to emerge victorious."


Omkareshwar Temple, Malgund

Appa Balwant Mehendale

After the debacle at Panipat, Krushnarao, also known as Appa, managed to escape the violence ensued by the Afghans & return to Pune. The Battle of Panipat had orphaned him. In his time of need, it was the Peshwa family who looked after him. The Peshwas also built the Omkareshwar temple in Malgund in memory of Balwantrao, close to the Musala Devi Temple, their Kuladaivat (family deity).


Appa Balwant Mehendale

In 1771, he was given the charge to lead a campaign along with Trimbakmama Pethe against Hyder Ali by Madhavrao Peshwa. It was during this campaign that at the Battle of Moti Talav, Haider & Tipu had to flee the battlefield under the guise of beggars. Appa Balwant Mehendale was one of the generals leading the Marathas in this battle.

After Madhavrao's death, his brother Narayanrao became the Peshwa. His reign was destined to be short-lived. His own uncle, Raghunathrao plotted against him and orchestrated his assassination. A council of 12 ministers deposed him and chased him and his supporters, including Bajaba Purandare and Appa Balwant Mehendale beyond the Vindhyas. Due to the efforts of Nana Phadanvis and Haripant Phadke, Appa Balwant Mehendale along with several others left Raghunathrao's faction and joined the Barbhai's.

He rose into prominence during the reign of Sawai Madhavrao. His name features quite frequently in the records of that time.

Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II


Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II

Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II was the nephew of Balwantrao Mehendale. He along with Sardar Shinde & Sardar Holkar was instrumental in negotiating the alliance between the Marathas and the British against Tipu Sultan in 1790. Charles Malet, then an officer of the East India Company presented this treaty at the court of Sawai Madhavrao and got it ratified. He later commissioned a painting of the ratification of this treaty & paintings of the generals, including Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II, who had negotiated the treaty on behalf of the Marathas. Incidentally, these paintings by James Wales are the only available paintings of both Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II's & Shaniwar Wada.


Sir Charles Malet presents the treaty between the Marathas and the British to Sawai Madhavrao; Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II's is seated to the left of Sawai Madhavrao and Nana Phadanvis

Later, in 1792, Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II's brother, Bachhaji Mehendale and Appa Balwant Mehendale along with other Maratha sardars like Haripant Phadke and Govindrao Kale, were a part of another series of peace talks between the British, the Marathas and Tipu. Appa Balwant Mehendale's cousin, Ganapatrao Mehendale II, was a part of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1798, in which Tipu was killed.

From these instances, it can be confirmed that several members of the Mehendale family played an influential role in the wars of the Marathas with Tipu in the latter half of the 18th century.

The Death of Appa Balwant Mehendale and the fall of the Peshwai

After the premature death of Sawai Madhavrao, Bajirao II, the son of Raghunathrao was installed on the throne by Nana Phadanvis and Daulatrao Shinde. It was their intention that Bajirao II be a puppet ruler while the real power lay in their hands. However, with time, the forces of Bajirao II and Daulatrao got united against Nana Phadanvis. He was treacherously captured along with several of his associates in 1797 and imprisoned. In the quest for revenge and Nana Phadanvis's considerable wealth, they imprisoned, interrogated and tortured Nana Phadanvis and his many associates and extracted huge sums of money from them. His wada in Sadashiv Peth was demolished and dug up while goats were slaughtered in the prayer room of his wada in Kasba Peth. They also harassed and looted the general populace of Pune, inflicting indescribable atrocities on them. Appa Balwant Mehendale, who was an ally of Nana, was also subjected to these interrogations and brutalities. When it was evident that they would not stop, he chose to commit suicide by consuming poison in April 1798.

It is said that towards the end of his reign, Bajirao II realized many of his follies and tried to make amends. He reorganized his military along with the help of his generals like the Gokhales, Rastes and Patwardhans to prepare for what would be the third and final Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-18. He brought back veteran diplomats like Bhairav Raghunath Mehendale II's son Anyaba Mehendale along with Govindrao Kale and Raghunath Sadashiv Gadre. Unfortunately, the amends he tried to make did not prove to be fruitful in the end. Pune was annexed by the British in 1818.

The Mehendale Wada


A Map of the Mehendale Wada

The Mehendale Wada in Pune was built in the 1750s by Balwantrao Mehendale. The Mehendales also had wadas in Saswad and Roha. Sadly, these do not exist today either. The Wada in Pune was a 3 storey structure with 4 chowks (courtyards) and 64 staircases. Unfortunately, today this wada exists only in its descriptions.

The wada had a beautiful façade of finely carved teak pillars & a hude Dindi Darwaza adorned with iron spikes on its ground floor. The first floor housed a Diwankhana which was used for official ceremonies. Adjoining the diwankhana was a room called Panchkhani which was occupied by the women of the house. The second floor had an Arse Mahal (Hall of Mirrors).

Out of the 4 chowks, 3 chowks were occupied by the Mehendales while the 4th one was used by the help. The chowks had Ukhals (large stone basins), Tulshi Vrindavans and what are said to be the entrances of secret tunnels leading to Parvati and Shaniwar Wada. Life in a wada revolved around a chowk and the rooms used daily, such as the Majghar, Osari (Verandah), Mudpakkhana(Kitchen), Devghar(Prayer Room), Lonchyachi Kholi (Cold Room) were constructed around it. Beyond these rooms, towards the back of the wada were the stables and the grounds of the wada.

The façade of wada, which was its most beautiful section, was demolished in the 60s for the widening of Bajirao Road. The aesthetically rich parts of the wada such as the Diwankhana, the Panchkhani & the Arse Mahal were lost forever. The rest of the wada was demolished recently, giving way to the building that stands there today.

A part of the grounds of the Wada was donated to the Nutan Marathi Vidyalay Primary School in the 20th century.


The Ganeshpatti of the Mehendale Wada

All that remains of this beautiful Wada today is the Ganeshpatti (wooden lintel with an image of Ganapati carved on it) of an inner door along with a couple of stone bases that once supported finely carved teak pillars.

Adjacent to the site of the Mehendale Wada is the bustling Appa Balwant Chowk. How the chowk got its name has a story behind it. It is said that Sawai Madhavrao was returning to the city after a visit to Parvati, accompanied by Appa Balwant Mehendale. Seated on the back of an elephant, the Peshwa was about to fall from the Ambari when Appa pulled him by his Angarkha just in time to save him from what might have been a fatal fall. Pleased with Appa, the Peshwa announced that the chowk where Appa had saved him would henceforth be known as Appa Balwant Chowk.

Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal



The renowned historian, Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade conceived the idea of founding an institution that would collect and preserve historically significant objects & documents to preserve them for posterity & provide a space for the study of history. Rajwade took this idea to Khanderao Mehendale who decided to patronize this institution. This is how Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal started in 1910 in Mehendale Wada, with 10 wooden cupboards filled with books that were donated by Khanderao Mehendale from his private collection. It later moved to its present location in Sadashiv Peth.

The Present

A great part of the Mehendale relics & heirlooms were either lost or stolen during the 20th century. Some of them have survived, and are scattered across various museums in Pune. Balwantrao Mehendale’s angarkha along with some parts of the Mehendale Daftar (including important bakhars like Bhausahebanchi Bakhar and Ramdas Swaminchi Bakhar along with several takariras, jantris, shakavalis and books of accounts) are at Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal. Another part of the daftar is at the Deccan College Museum of Maratha History while some parts of the wada’s façade including its Dindi Darwaza along with some parts of the carved wooden ceilings are at Raja Kelkar Museum. Unfortunately, along with material possessions, a great deal of information about this family has also been lost since it was never recorded in the form of a formal 'Gharanyacha Itihas'. The Mehendales also had a wada at Saswad which was demolished a few years ago.

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Madhavrao II
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/24/24

Shrimant Peshwa
Maharajadhiraj
Vakil-ul-Mutlaq (Regent of the Empire)
Madhavrao II

Portrait of Madhavrao II c.1790–1792, 12th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy
In office: 28 May 1774 – 27 October 1795
Monarch: Rajaram II of Satara
Preceded by: Raghunathrao
Succeeded by: Baji Rao II
Personal details
Born: 18 April 1774
Died: 27 October 1795 (aged 21), Shaniwar Wada, Pune, Maratha Empire
Parents: Narayanrao Peshwa (father); Gangabai Sathe (mother)
Relatives: Vishwasrao (uncle); Madhavrao I (uncle); Nanasaheb Peshwa (grandfather); Gopikabai (grandmother)
Residence(s): Shaniwarwada, Pune, Maratha Empire
Profession: Peshwa

Madhavrao II (18 April 1774 – 27 October 1795) was the 12th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy, from his infancy. He was known as Sawai Madhav Rao or Madhav Rao Narayan. He was the posthumous son of Narayanrao Peshwa, murdered in 1773 on the orders of Raghunathrao. Madhavrao II was considered the legal heir, and was installed as Peshwa by the Treaty of Salbai[1] in 1782 after First Anglo-Maratha War.

Early life

Main article: Peshwa § Appointed_and_Hereditary_Peshwas

Madhavrao II was the posthumous son of Peshwa Narayanrao by his wife, Gangabai. After Narayanrao's murder by Raghunathrao's supporters, he became the Peshwa. But he was soon deposed by Nana Phadnavis and 11 other administrators in what is called "The Baarbhaai Conspiracy" (Conspiracy by the Twelve). Raghunathrao was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by the justice Ram Shastri Prabhune but the sentence was never carried out. They instead installed Gangabai's newborn son, Madhavrao II, as the Peshwa. The twelve then formed a council of the state known as the Bara Bhai for the conduct of the affairs of the state in the name of the new Peshwa, Sawai Madhav Rao, as he was made Peshwa when he was barely 40 days old. His time in power was dominated by the political intrigues of Nana Fadnavis.

Portrait of Nana Fadnavis by John Thomas Seton

Nana Fadnavis; also Phadnavis and Furnuwees and abbreviated as Phadnis) (12 February 1742 – 13 March 1800), born Balaji Janardan Bhanu, was a Maratha minister and statesman during the Peshwa administration in Pune, India. James Grant Duff states that he was called "the Maratha Machiavelli" by the Europeans.

-- Nana Fadnavis, by Wikipedia

Reign


Madhav Rao Narayan with Nana Fadnavis.

First Anglo-Maratha War

After the British loss in 1782 in the First Anglo-Maratha War, Mahadji Shinde got Madhvrao recognized as Peshwa by the British. However, all powers of the Peshwa were in the hands of ministers like Nana Fadnavis, Mahadaji Shinde and others.

Mahadaji Shinde (23 December 1730 – 12 February 1794), later known as Mahadji Scindia or Madhava Rao Scindia, was a Maratha statesman and general who served as the Raja of Gwalior from 1768 to 1794. He was the fifth and the youngest son of Ranoji Rao Scindia, the founder of the Scindia dynasty. He is reputed for having restored the Maratha rule over North India and for modernizing his army.

Mahadji was instrumental in resurrecting Maratha power in North India after the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, and rose to become a trusted lieutenant of the Peshwa, leader of the Maratha Confederacy. Along with Madhavrao I and Nana Fadnavis, he was one of the three pillars of Maratha Resurrection. During his reign, Gwalior became the leading state in the Maratha Confederacy and one of the foremost military powers in India. After accompanying Shah Alam II to Delhi in 1771, he restored the Mughal Empire in Delhi and became the Naib Vakil-i-Mutlaq (Deputy Regent of the Empire). Mahadji Shinde's principal advisors were all Shenvis.

Mahadji Shinde Fought about 50 Battles In His Lifetime against various opponents. He defeated the Jats of Mathura and during 1772-73 Pashtun Rohillas in Rohilkhand and captured Najibabad. His role during the First Anglo-Maratha War was greatest from the Maratha side since he defeated the British in the Battle of Wadgaon which resulted in the Treaty of Wadgaon and then again in Central India, single handed, which resulted in the Treaty of Salbai in 1782, where he mediated between the Peshwa and the British.

-- Mahadaji Shinde, by Wikipedia

This resulted in the Treaty of Salbai, which was signed on 17 May 1782, and was ratified by [Warren] Hastings in June 1782 and by Nana Phadnavis in February 1783. The treaty ended the First Anglo-Maratha War, restored the status quo, and established peace between the two parties for 20 years.[2]: 63 [3]

Involvement in Anglo-Mysore Wars

Main article: Maratha–Mysore Wars

Mysore had been attacking the Maratha Confederacy since 1761.

To counter the menace presented by Mysore's Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan the Peshwa supported the English.

The Maratha-Mysore War ended after the final conflict during the siege of Bahadur Benda in January 1787, and later settled for peace with the kingdom of Mysore, to which Tipu Sultan obliged with the signing of the treaty of Gajendragad in April 1787. Tipu had to pay an annual tribute of 12 lakhs per year to the Marathas, thus ending hostilities with them, which allowed him to focus on his rivalry with the British. The Battle of Gajendragadh was fought between the Marathas and Tipu Sultan from March 1786 to March 1787 in which Tipu Sultan was defeated by the Marathas. By the victory in this battle, the border of the Maratha territory extended till Tungabhadra river.[4][5]

Maratha-Mysore war ended in April 1787, following the finalizing of treaty of Gajendragad, as per which, Tipu Sultan of Mysore was obligated to pay 4.8 million rupees as a war cost to the Marathas, and an annual tribute of 1.2 million rupees. In addition to returning all the territory captured by Hyder Ali,[6][7] Tipu also agreed to pay 4 year's arrears of the tribute, which Mysore owed to the Marathas, through Hyder Ali.[8]

Tipu would release Kalopant and return Adoni, Kittur, and Nargund to their previous rulers. Badami would be ceded to the Marathas. Tipu would also pay an annual tribute of 12 lakhs per year to the Marathas. In return, Tipu would get all the places that they had captured in the war, including Gajendragarh and Dharwar. Tipu would also be addressed by the Marathas by an honorary title of "Nabob Tipu Sultan, Fateh Ali Khan".[9][10]

During the Third Anglo-Mysore War the British East India Company was alarmed by the strength and the gains made by the Maratha Confederacy not just against Mysore but also in India.

Chaos in Delhi, Mughal Darbar

In 1788, Isma'il Beg, a Persian who served as a general in the Mughal army along with a few hundred Mughal-Rohilla troops led a large-scale revolt against the Marathas, who dominated North India at the time. However, the revolt was immediately crushed and Isma'il Beg was defeated and executed by the Scindian armies. Thereafter, a Rohilla warlord named Ghulam Qadir, descendant of the infamously treacherous Najib-ud-Daualh and an ally of Isma'il Beg, captured Delhi, capital of the Mughals and deposed and blinded the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, placing a puppet on the imperial throne. He unleashed untold atrocities on the royal family and common populace, slaughtering thousands and looting about 22 Crores. However, on 2 October 1788, Mahadji Scindia, upon hearing this news, quickly re-assembled his army and captured Delhi, torturing and eventually, killing Ghulam Qadir and restoring Shah Alam II to the throne.[11][12][13]

Subjugation of Rajput

In 1790, the Mahadji Shinde won over Rajput States in the Battle of Patan & Battle of Merta. After the death of Mahadaji Shinde In 1794, the Maratha power got concentrated in the hands of Nana Fadnavis.[14]

Defeat of Nizam

Main article: Battle of Kharda

The Battle of Kharda took place in February 1795 between the Nizam of Hyderabad, Asaf Jah II, and Peshwa Madhavrao II, in which the Nizam was badly defeated. Governor General John Shore followed the policy of non-intervention despite the fact that the Nizam was under his protection. This led to the loss of trust with British and the rout of the Hyderabad army. This was the last battle fought by all Maratha chieftains together.

Doji bara famine

The oldest famine in Deccan with local documentation sufficiently well-preserved for analytical study is the Doji bara famine of 1791–1792.[15] Relief was provided by the ruler, the Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao II, in the form of imposing restrictions on export of grain and importing rice in large quantities from Bengal[16] via private trading,[15] however the evidence is often too scanty to judge the 'real efficacy of relief efforts' in the Mughal period.[17]

Zoo

Madhavrao was fond of the outdoors and had a private collection of exotic animals such as lions and rhinos.

The area where he hunted became later the Peshwe Park zoo in Pune. He was particularly fond of his herd of trained dancing deer.[18]

Death

Madhavrao committed suicide at the age of 21 by jumping off from the high walls of the Shaniwar Wada in Pune.[19]

Shaniwar Wada is a historical fortification in the city of Pune, India. Built in 1732, it was the great seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha Empire until 1818. Following the rise of the Maratha Empire, the palace became the center of Indian politics in the 18th century. The fort itself was largely destroyed in 1828 by an unexplained fire, but the surviving structures are now maintained as a tourist site.


An equestrian statue of Peshwa Baji Rao I, Prime Minister of the Maratha Empire, in the Shaniwar Wada complex. He was the first resident of the fortified palace.

The Shaniwar Wada was normally the seven-story capital building of the Peshwas of the Maratha Empire. It was supposed to be made entirely of stone. However, after the completion of the base floor or the first story, the people of Satara (the national capital) complained to the Chhatrapati Shahu I (Emperor) saying that a stone monument can be sanctioned and built only by the emperor himself and not the Peshwas. Following this, an official letter was written to the Peshwas stating that the remaining building had to be made of brick and not stone.

By 1758, at least a thousand people lived in the fort. In 1773, Narayanrao, who was the fifth and ruling Peshwa then, was murdered by guards on orders of his uncle Raghunathrao and aunt Anandibai. A popular legend has it that Narayanrao's ghost still calls for help on full moon nights. Various people, working around the area, have allegedly reported the cries of "Kaka mala vachava" (Uncle, save me) by Narayanrao Peshwa after his death.

In June 1818, the Peshwa, Bajirao II, abdicated his Gaadi (throne) to Sir John Malcolm of the British East India Company and went into political exile at Bithoor, near Kanpur in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. On 27 February 1828, a great fire started inside the palace complex. The conflagration raged for seven days. Only the heavy granite ramparts, strong teak gateways and deep foundations and ruins of the buildings within the fort survived.

-- Shaniwar Wada, by Wikipedia

The cause of the suicide probably was that he could not endure the highhandedness of Nana Fadnavis. Just before his suicide, it is said that in ordering the execution of the despised police commissioner, Ghashiram Kotwal, Madhavrao was able to defy the wishes of Nana for the first time.[20]


A Representation of the delivery of the Ratified Treaty of 1790 by Sir Chas Warre Malet Bart to His Highness Soneae Peshwa, in full Durbar or Court as held upon that occasion at Poonah in the East Indies on 6 July 1790

Succession

Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao II died in 1795 with no heir. Therefore, he was succeeded by Raghunathrao's son, Baji Rao II.

See also

• Nana Fadnavis
• Mahadaji Pant Guruji
• Mahadaji Shinde
• Narayan Rao

References

1. Thorpe, S.T.E. (2009). The Pearson General Studies Manual 2009, 1/e. Pearson Education. p. 96. ISBN 9788131721339. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
2. Naravane, M. S. (2006). Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj. APH Publishing. ISBN 978-81-313-0034-3.
3. "Anglo-Maratha Wars" (PDF). Noida International University. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
4. Hasan, Mohibbul (2005). History of Tipu Sultan. Aakar Books. ISBN 9788187879572.
5. Naravane, M.S. (2014). Battles of the Honorourable East India Company. A.P.H. Publishing Corporation. p. 175. ISBN 9788131300343.
6. Naravane, M. S (1 January 2006). Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj. APH. ISBN 978-81-313-0034-3.
7. Anglo-Maratha relations, 1785-96
8. Sailendra Nath Sen (1994). Anglo-Maratha Relations, 1785-96, Volume 2. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 9788171547890.
9. Hasan, Mohibbul (2005). History of Tipu Sultan. Aakar Books. ISBN 978-81-87879-57-2.
10. Sen, Sailendra Nath (1994). Anglo-Maratha Relations, 1785-96. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-7154-789-0.
11. Sarkar 1952, p. 323.
12. Malik 1982, p. 565.
13. Sarkar 1952, pp. 329–330.
14. Dikshit, M. G. (1946). "Early Life of Peshwa Savai Madhavrao (Ii)". Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute. 7 (1/4): 225–248. JSTOR 42929386.
15. Bombay (India : State) 1883, p. 105.
16. Bombay (India : State) 1885, p. 85.
17. Drèze 1991, p. 12.
18. Parasanisa, Dattatraya Balavanta (1921). Poona in Bygone Days. Bombay: Times Press.
19. Marathas (Peshwas)
20. Kotani, H., 2005. The Death of Ghasiram Kotwal: Power and Justice in the Maratha Kingdom. Minamiajiakenkyu, 2004(16), pp.1-16.[1]

Works cited

• Bombay (India : State) (1883). Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Nasik. Vol. 16. Bombay: Printed at the Govt. Central Press.
• Bombay (India : State) (1885). Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Poona. Printed at the Government Central Press.
• Drèze, Jean (1991), "Famine Prevention in India", in Drèze, Jean; Sen, Amartya (eds.), The Political Economy of Hunger: Famine prevention, Oxford: Oxford University Press US, pp. 32–33, ISBN 978-0-19-828636-3
• Malik, Zahiruddin (1982). "Persian Documents pertaining to the tragic End of Ghulam Qadir Rohilla, 1780–1789". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 43: 565–571. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44141288.
• Sarkar, Jadunath (1952). Fall of the Mughal Empire. Vol. III (2 ed.). Calcutta: M. C. Sarkar & Sons.

External links

• Jayapalan, N. (2001). History of India. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Limited. p. 79. ISBN 9788171569281. Retrieved 12 October 2014.

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Serampore Mission Press
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/25/24

The Serampore Mission Press was a book and newspaper publisher that operated in Serampore, Danish India, from 1800 to 1837.

The Press was founded by William Carey, William Ward, and other British Baptist missionaries at the Serampur Mission. It began operations on 10 January 1800. The British government, highly suspicious of missionaries, discouraged missionary work in their Indian territories.[1] However, since Serampore was under Danish rule, the missionaries and the Press were able to operate freely.

The press produced 212,000 books between 1800 and 1832. In August 1800, the press published a Bengali translation of the Gospel according to St Matthew. The press published religious Christian tracts, Indian literary works, translations of the Bible in twenty five Indian vernaculars and other South Asian languages. However, its major activity was the publication of vernacular Textbooks. The Press printed books on grammar, dictionaries, history, legends and moral tales for the Fort William College and the Calcutta School-Book Society. In 1818, the Press also published the first Bengali newspaper and magazine. It published books in almost forty five languages.

The press closed in 1837 when the Mission ran into heavy debts. According to essayist Nikhil Sarkar in "Printing and the Spirit of Calcutta", the Press merged with the Baptist Mission Press.

Gangakishore Bhattacharya, considered the first Bengali printer, began his career as a compositor at the press.

History

Printing in Bengal had started in Hoogly where the press of the bookseller Andrews used Bengali types. N. B. Halhed's A Grammar Of the Bengal Language was published from this press in 1778. Sir Charles Wilkins had mastered the art of cutting types and he also taught Panchanan Karmakar. The printing press was in the immediate charge of Ward, who left detailed accounts of its day-to-day running. Between 1800 and 1834, the press printed Bible translations in almost 50 languages, 38 of which were translated at Serampore by Carey and his associates. There were altogether 117 printings, of which 25 were in Bengali. The press supplied Bibles to almost all significant Baptist missions in the region, from Indonesia in the east to Afghanistan in the west. From a memoir of 1813, it may be seen that a Malay Bible in roman characters was in preparation, while a five-volume reprint of the entire Bible in Arabic was being undertaken for the lieutenant-governor of Java. The memoir of 1816 claims that a Chinese Pentateuch was in the press and that ‘the new moveable metal type, after many experiments, are a complete success’. The 1820 memoir records the printing of the New Testament in Pushtoo, and also the setting up of a paper factory.

William Carey arrived in Calcutta on 11 November 1793. His early attempts to set up a mission on the soil of British India failed, as the company was hostile towards missionary activity. Eventually, Carey was permitted to set up his mission in Danish-controlled Serampore—then known as Fredericksnagar—where he was joined by two other Baptists, William Ward and Joshua Marshman. In the meantime, Carey had acquired a wooden hand press, gifted by George Udny, the indigo planter who had supported Carey and his family. He wanted to print the New Testament in Bengali and therefore purchased ink, paper and Bengali fonts from the type cutting foundry of Panchanan Karmakar in Calcutta. Panchanan Karmakar, the goldsmith trained in type making by Wilkins, was ‘borrowed’ by Carey from Colebrooke and then put under virtual house arrest in Serampore. With the help of Panchanan and his son-in-law Manohar, a type foundry was set up in March 1800. In the first ten years of its life, the foundry produced type in at least thirteen languages. The press was set up in Mudnabatty where Carey had settled, but he could not begin the printing because he did not have an expert printer.

The then Governor-General of India, Lord Wellesley, did not object to any printing presses being set up outside British occupied land but was strictly against any in English territory. Rev. Mr. Brown was informed that Lord Wellesley would enforce censorship on any publication done on English territory outside Calcutta. The British government threatened to arrest missionaries who would trespass on the East India Company’s territory. The Danish Government of Serampore assured Ward that they would provide protection for the missionaries. In 1798 Carey suggested that the missionaries could establish the Mission's headquarters in Serampore.

In 1799 William Ward and Joshua Marshman came to Calcutta. In the face of rigid resistance from the company, Ward and Carey decided to establish the Mission and printing press in Serampore. Carey's press and other printing paraphernalia were transported to Serampore. Ward was a printer and therefore work on the printing of the Bengali Bible was immediately started in March 1800. Ward also doubled up as the type setter during the early days. In spite of the high rents in Serampore, the missionaries were able to purchase a suitable premise.

To appease Lord Wellesley, Rev. Brown had to assure him of the purely evangelical intentions of the press since they had refused to publish a pamphlet that criticized the English government. Rev. Brown also convinced Wellesley that the Bengali Bible published by the press would be useful for the students of the about to be opened Fort William College. Thus began a fruitful and long association between the Serampore Press and the Fort William College.

William Carey was appointed as the professor of Sanskrit in the college and after that he published a number of books in Bengali from the press.

Infrastructure

The press initially started work with some fonts that Carey had purchased from Punchanon. In 1803 Carey decided to publish a Sanskrit Grammar in Dev Nagree type which required 700 separate punches. Carey therefore employed Punchanon and then an assistant Monohar. The two later established a type foundry in Serampore. Monohar created beautiful scripts of Bengali, Nagree, Persian and Arabic. Types were designed and cut for all the languages in which books were published. In fact, movable metal types for Chinese were also developed which were more economical than the traditional wooden block types.

In 1809 a treadmill that was run by a steam engine was set up in Serampore to produce paper.

Printing and publishing

The first published work of the Serampore Mission Press was the Bengali New Testament. On 18 March 1800, the first proof sheets of the translation were printed. In August, the gospel of Matthew was completed as Mangal Samachar. The bulk of publication consisted of Bibles, but even more significant than the Bibles were the Bengali translations of the two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. These were published during 1802–3, and marked the first ever appearance of the epics in printed form, in any language. The press also published dictionaries, grammars, dialogues or colloquies, Sanskrit phrasebooks, philosophy, Hindu mythological tales, tracts, and the first ever newspaper in Bengali, the Samachar Durpun or the "Mirror of News". The first number of this biweekly, bilingual (Bengali and English) paper was published in May 1818. According to a calculation made by the missionaries themselves, a total of 212,000 items of print in 40 languages were issued by the press from 1800 to 1832. Along with the mission's own publications, the press also executed orders by Fort William College. During the first two decades of the nineteenth century, the college played a crucial role in producing grammars and Lexicons in all the major Indian languages, a task carried out both by Indian and European scholars. Altogether 38 such works were produced in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu, Braj, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Telugu and Kannada. The last sheets of the work were published on 7 February 1801. The printing of the volume was completed within nine months.

Translations of the Bible

At the beginning of 1804, the missionaries decided to publish translations of the Bible in Bengali, Hindoostanee, Mahratta, Telinga, Kurnata, Ooriya and Tamul. Between 1800 and 1834, the press printed Bible translations in almost 50 languages, 38 of which were translated at Serampore by Carey and his associates. There were altogether 117 printings, of which 25 were in Bengali. By 1804 the Bible had been printed in Bengalee, Ooriya, Hindoostanee and Sanskrit. A type font for the Burman language was being developed. Translations in Telinga, Kurnata, Mahratta, Punjabi (in Gurmukhi) and Persian were at various stages.[2] In 1811 the translation of the New Testament in Cashmere was started. By 1818, the Assamese New Testament had been printed. By March 1816, the printing of St. Mathew was finished or nearly so in Kunkuna, Mooltanee, Sindhee, Bikaneer, Nepalese, Ooduypore, Marwar, Juypore, Khasee and Burman. By 1817 the entire Bible had been printed in Armenian. The New Testament in Pushtoo or Affghan and Gujuratee was completed by 1820. By 1821, the New Testament had been printed in Bhugulkhund and Kanoje. In 1826 the Magadh, Oojuyeenee, Jumboo and Bhutneer New Testament were printed. By this time the Bruj, Sreenugur, Palpa and Munipore New Testaments had also been printed. The New Testament was also printed in Bagheli, Bhatneri, Bhotan, Dogri, Garhwali, Javanese, Kumauni, Lahnda, Magahi, Malay, Malvi, Mewari, Siamese and Singhalese.

Mr. Buchanan, the vice-provost of the Serampore College suggested Carey that he should take up the translation of the Bible to Chinese after learning the language from Mr. Lasser. Carey appointed Mr. Marshman to this task and he was engaged in the Chinese translation for fourteen years. In April 1822 the printing of the Chinese Bible was completed using moveable metallic types.

The translations were ridden with heavy criticisms from the very beginning. Various societies including the Baptist Society and Bible Society questioned the accuracy of the translations. The missionaries themselves accepted that their work was flawed and whole-heartedly accepted constructive criticism while renouncing detractors.

Vernacular publications

Ram Bosoo under the persuasion of Carey wrote the History of King Pritapadityu and was published in July 1801. This is the first prose work printed in Bengali. Towards the end of 1804 Hetopudes, the first Sanskrit work to be printed was published. In 1806 the original Sanskrit Ramayana with a prose translation and explanatory notes compiled by Carey and Mr Marshman was published.

Historical books in Sanskrit, Hindi, Maratha and Ooriya were nearly printed by 1812. Assamese and Kasmiri historical books were published in 1832. A Grammar of the Bengali Language compiled by Carey was first published in 1801. Carey's Bengali dictionary in three volumes was first published in 1825. Other texts published in Bengali are The Butrisha-Singhasun in 1802, Bengali translations from the original Sanskrit of The Moogdhubodha and The Hitopudesha, Raja Vuli in 1838, The Gooroodukhina in 1818 and a Bengali translation of a collection of Sanskrit phrases titled Kubita Rutnakar. In 1826 A Dictionary and Grammar of the Bhotanta or Bhutan Language was published. A Comparative Vocabulary of the Burman, Malayau and Thai Languages was published in 1810 in Malay, Siamese and Burmese. The original Chinese text with a translation of The Works of Confucius was published in 1809. A geographical treatise called Goladhya was published. The second edition of Sankhya Pruvuchuna Bhashya in Sanskrit was published in 1821.

The Serampore missionaries decided to publish the Bengali newspaper Samachar Durpun to study the pulse of the public authorities. They started with ‘Dik-darshan’, a monthly magazine which received approbation. There was a bilingual (English-Bengali) and a Bengali edition.

Funding

Initially the missionaries faced problems to raise money for printing. In 1795, Carey wrote to the Mission in England that the printing of 10,000 copies of the translated New Testament would cost Rs 43,750, a sum that was beyond his means. In June 1800, the printing work of the Bengali Bible had to be restricted because of the shortage of funds. The missionaries sought to raise money by selling copies of the Bengali Bible for 2 gold mohurs each to the Englishmen in Calcutta. They raised Rs 1500 from this enterprise. From 1804, the Society in England raised Rs 10,000 every year in England to fund the printing of the Bible in seven Indian vernaculars.

Once the books became popular, the press started earning enough money to cover costs and leave some profit. This money was entirely devoted for furthering the work of the Mission.

Fire at the press

On 11 March 1812, a devastating fire caused mass destruction in the printing office. Important documents, accounting papers, manuscripts, 14 types in Eastern languages, a bulk of types sent from England, 12 hundred reams of paper and other essential raw materials were destroyed. The manuscripts of the translation of the Ramayana were also destroyed and the project was never resumed. The manuscripts of the Polyglot Dictionary and the blue print of the Telinga Grammar were also destroyed. Luckily the presses themselves were unharmed. It is estimated that property worth Rs 70,000 was lost.

Closing

Though the press was formally closed down in 1837, publications from the press continued to flow till later on. At the close of 1845, the King of Denmark surrendered Serampore to the British Government. The spearheads associated with the conception and execution of the Mission Press had all died by 1854. Owing to the lack of staff to take initiative, the press was gradually bereft of financial as well as expert guidance. All printing activities came to a standstill by 1855. After 1857 the British government was reluctant to encourage missionary education. There was a feeling that any strong attack on local customs, practice and beliefs or religious ideas might enrage "native" opinion.

See also

• Early phase of printing in Calcutta
• Ludhiana Mission Press

References

1. "(William Carey) worked in India despite the hostility of the British East India Company
2. Afshar, Sahar (April 2022). "4. The onset of Gurmukhi printing in India". Gurmukhi printing types: an historical analysis of British design, development, and distribution in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (PDF). Birmingham City University. pp. 115–153.
• Marshman, John Clark. The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward: Embracing the History of the Serampore Mission (2 vols). London: Spottiswood & Co., 1859.
• Grierson, G.A. “The Early Publications of the Serampore Missionaries" The Indian Antiquary (June 1903): 241–254.
• Gupta, Abhijit. "The History of the book in the Indian Subcontinent." In The Book: A Global History. Edited by Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H.R Woudhuysen, 1–34. UK: Oxford University Press, 2013.

External links

• Serampore Mission Press in Banglapedia

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Ramram Basu
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/25/24

Ramram Basu (c. 1751 – 7 August 1813) (Bengali: রামরাম বসু) was born in Chinsurah, Hooghly District in present-day West Bengal state of India.[1] He was the great grandfather of Anushree Basu, notable early scholar and translator of the Bengali language (Bangla), and credited with writing the first original work of Bengali prose written by a Bengali.

Ramram Basu initially joined as the munshi (scribe) for William Chambers, Persian interpreter at the Supreme Court in Kolkata. Then he worked as the munshi and Bengali teacher for Dr. John Thomas, a Christian missionary from England at Debhata in Khulna. Subsequently, he worked from 1793 to 1796 for noted scholar William Carey (1761–1834) at Madnabati in Dinajpur.[2] In 1800 he joined Carey's Serampore Mission Press with its celebrated printing press, and in May 1801 was appointed Munshi, assistant teacher of Sanskrit, at Fort William College for a salary of 40 rupees per month. As college pundits were charged not only with teaching but also with developing Bengali prose, there he began to produce a respected series of translations and new works and continued to hold that post until his death.

Basu created a number of original prose and poetical works, including Christastava, 1788; Harkara, 1800, a hundred-stanza poem; Jnanodaya (Dawn of Knowledge), 1800, arguing that the Vedas were fundamentally monotheist and that the departure of Hindu society from monotheism to idolatry was the fault of the Brahmins;[3] Lippi Mālā (The Bracelet of Writing), 1802, a miscellany; and Christabibaranamrta, 1803, on the subject of Jesus Christ.

In 1802, his Bengali textbook Rājā Pratāpāditya-Charit (Life of Maharaja Pratapaditya), written for the college's use, received a cash prize of 300 rupees. It was printed at the Serampore Mission Press, and is now credited as the first Bengali to create a work in prose and also as the first historiography in Bengali.[4] Basu also created Bengali versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and aided in Carey's Bengali translation of the Bible.

Despite his active engagement with western missionaries and Christian texts, Basu remained a Hindu, and died in Kolkata on 7 August 1813.

Bengali novelist Pramathanath Bishi wrote a historical novel named Carey Saheber Munshi (Sahib Carey's Munshi) based on Ramram Basu's life.[5] This was filmed in 1961 by Bikash Roy as Carey Saheber Munshi.

References

1. Murshid, Ghulam (2012). "Ramram Basu". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
2. Murshid, Ghulam (2012). "Ramram Basu". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
3. New religious movements, religious plurality, and the Bengal Renaissance
4. Guha, Ranajit (2013). History at the limit of World-History. University Press. quote (dedication): To the memory of Ramram Basu who introduced modern historiography in Bengali, his native language, by a work published two hundred years ago
5. Kunal Chakrabarti, Shubhra Chakrabarti (22 August 2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. ISBN 9780810880245. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
• Sachindra Kumar Maity, Professor A.L. Basham, My Guruji and Problems and Perspectives of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Abhinav Publications, 1997, page 218. ISBN 81-7017-326-4.