Category Archives: History

The kind of history that cannot be bulldozed into dust

Posted on January 9, 2017 by rumachak

The al-Barmaki family who worked for the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad in the eighth century were descended from Sanskrit speaking, Buddhist, Ayurvedic physicians and scholars from Balkh who originally came from Kashmir. Khalid al-Barmaki would probably have been known as … Continue reading →

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Flowers and Flower Gardens: Instructions for the Anglo-Indian Flower Garden

Posted on September 18, 2016 by rumachak

“But it is not until he arrives at a bend of the river called Garden Reach, where the City of Palaces first opens on the view, that the stranger has a full sense of the value of our possessions in … Continue reading →

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Manusher Ghorbari: Atin Bandopadhyay

Posted on September 3, 2016 by rumachak

“After we had been without food the whole day, my younger brother Piloo came back with news of a network of cucumber vines on a trellis beside a house. He took me to the place in the afternoon and showed … Continue reading →

Posted in Bengal, Calcutta, Food, History, Translated Fiction | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Today is not Calcutta’s birthday, thank you.

Posted on August 25, 2016 by rumachak

According to the High Court and a panel of eminent historians in 2003, this is not the day that Calcutta was founded by Job Charnock, that sullen Lancastrian who was disliked by his peers but so appreciated as an honest … Continue reading →

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Tyger Tyger, burning bright; but for how long?

Posted on August 3, 2016 by rumachak

The destruction of the tiger and its habitat is possibly another of those things we picked up from the British. I mean one would have to first have a pile of dead tigers to then find out that they were … Continue reading →

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The Romanovs

Posted on July 17, 2016 by rumachak

In the bleak morning hours of today back in 1918, Tsar Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs who had ruled Russia for three centuries, was executed along with his wife, Alexandra and their five children by Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg. … Continue reading →

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When brothers learn to hate: Dara Shikoh

Posted on July 12, 2016 by rumachak

It might merely be wishful thinking at this stage in time, but I wonder how different the course of Indian history might have been if Dara Shikoh had been allowed to succeed Shah Jehan instead of being brutally put to … Continue reading →

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Shiladitya, Rajkahini: Abanindranath Tagore’s tales of the Rajputs

Posted on July 1, 2016 by rumachak

Long before Shiladitya’s birth, when the last king of Kanaksen’s lineage was still ruling at Ballavipur, there was a great tank in that city whose waters were said to be very sacred indeed. This was known as Suryakund or the … Continue reading →

Posted in A Good Thing, History, Indigenous history, Mythology, Our history, Tagore, Translated Fiction | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rajkahini, Abanindranath Tagore’s tales of the Rajputs

Posted on June 30, 2016 by rumachak

‘When Maldev brought Hambeer to the court where his father and his father’s father had ruled their kingdom from, one cannot begin to describe what was going through Hambeer’s mind. He felt as though all the brave men of the … Continue reading →

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Clive of India

Posted on June 23, 2016 by rumachak

Seeing that it is the anniversary of the Battle Of Plassey, Robert Clive was born in September 1725 at Styche Hall, near the village of Moreton Say near Market Drayton. His father, Richard, was a lawyer and a former MP, … Continue reading →

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