1.
Urdu
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Urdu is a persianized standard register of the Hindustani language. It is the language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 official languages recognized in the Constitution of India, hyderabad, Rampur, Bhopal and Lucknow are noted Urdu-speaking cities of India. Urdu is historically associated with the Muslims of the northern Indian subcontinent, apart from specialized vocabulary, Urdu is mutually intelligible with Standard Hindi, another recognized register of Hindustani. Urdu, like Hindi, is a form of Hindustani, Urdu developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages, both of which have contributed a significant amount of vocabulary to formal speech. Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit, Urdu words originating from Chagatai and Arabic were borrowed through Persian and hence are Persianized versions of the original words. For instance, the Arabic ta marbuta changes to he or te, nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, Urdu did not borrow from the Turkish language, but from Chagatai. Urdu and Turkish borrowed from Arabic and Persian, hence the similarity in pronunciation of many Urdu, Arabic influence in the region began with the late first-millennium Arab invasion of India in the 7th century. The Persian language was introduced into the subcontinent a few centuries later by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties including that of the Delhi Sultanate. With the advent of the British Raj, Persian was no longer the language of administration but Hindustani, still written in the Persian script, the name Urdu was first used by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century Urdu was commonly known as Hindi, the language was also known by various other names such as Hindavi and Dehlavi. The communal nature of the language lasted until it replaced Persian as the language in 1837 and was made co-official. Urdu was promoted in British India by British policies to counter the previous emphasis on Persian and this triggered a Brahman backlash in northwestern India, which argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script. At independence, Pakistan established a highly Persianized literary form of Urdu as its national language, English has exerted a heavy influence on both as a co-official language. Owing to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localized wherever it is spoken, similarly, the Urdu spoken in India can also be distinguished into many dialects like Dakhni of South India, and Khariboli of the Punjab region since recent times. Because of Urdus similarity to Hindi, speakers of the two languages can understand one another if both sides refrain from using specialized vocabulary. The syntax, morphology, and the vocabulary are essentially identical. Thus linguists usually count them as one language and contend that they are considered as two different languages for socio-political reasons
2.
Court (royal)
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The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure. It can also refer to the residence of the monarch where the court resides or a series of complexes. In the largest courts, the households, many thousands of individuals comprised the court. Foreign princes and foreign nobility in exile may also seek refuge at a court and this is shown above Near Eastern and Eastern courts often included the harem and concubines as well as eunuchs who fulfilled a variety of functions. At times the harem was walled off and separate from the rest of the residence of the monarch, in Asia concubines were often a more visible part of the court. Lower ranking servants and bodyguards were not properly called courtiers though may be included as part of the court or royal household in the broadest definition, entertainers and others may have been counted as part of the court. A royal household is the highest ranking example of this, a group of individuals dependent on the patronage of a great man, classically in ancient Rome, forms part of the system of clientage that is discussed under vassal. Individual rulers differed greatly in tastes and interests, as well as in political skills, accordingly, some founded elaborate courts based on new palaces, only to have their successors retreat to remote castles or to practical administrative centers. Personal retreats might arise far away from official court centres, etiquette and hierarchy flourish in highly structured court settings, and may leave conservative traces over generations. Most courts featured a strict order of precedence often involving royal and noble ranks, orders of chivalry, some courts even featured court uniforms. One of the markers of a court is ceremony. Most monarchal courts included ceremonies concerning the investiture or coronation of the monarch, some courts had ceremonies around the waking and the sleeping of the monarch called a levée. Orders of chivalry as honorific orders became an important part of court culture starting in the 15th century and they were the right of the monarch to create and grant as the fount of honour. Two of the earliest titles referring to the concept of a courtier were likely the ša rēsi, the imperial court of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople would eventually contain at least a thousand courtiers. The courts systems became prevalent in other such as those in the Balkan states, the Ottoman Empire. Byzantinism is a term that was coined for this spread of the Byzantine system in the 19th century, however, by the Sui Dynasty the functions of the royal household and the imperial government were clearly divided. During the Heian period, Japanese Emperors and their families developed an exquisitely refined court that played an important role in their culture. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, a court culture can be recognized in the entourage of the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great
3.
Delhi
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Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi or NCT, is a city and a union territory of India. It is bordered by Haryana on three sides and by Uttar Pradesh to the east, the NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres. According to 2011 census, Delhis city population was about 11 million, Delhis urban area is now considered to extend beyond the NCT boundary to include an estimated population of over 26 million people making it the worlds second largest urban area. As of 2016 recent estimates of the economy of its urban area have ranked Delhi either the top or second most productive metro area of India. Delhi is the second wealthiest city after Mumbai in India, with a wealth of $450 billion. Delhi has been inhabited since the 6th century BC. Through most of its history, Delhi has served as a capital of various kingdoms and it has been captured, ransacked and rebuilt several times, particularly during the medieval period, and modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region. New Delhi is jointly administered by the government of India and the local government of Delhi. Delhi is also the centre of the National Capital Region, which is a unique interstate regional planning area created by the National Capital Region Planning Board Act of 1985, Delhi ranks among the cities with the worst air pollution in the world. There are a number of myths and legends associated with the origin of the name Delhi, one of them is derived from Dhillu or Dilu, a king who built a city at this location in 50 BC and named it after himself. The coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called dehliwal, according to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and later named the fort dehali, another theory suggests that the citys original name was Dhillika. The people of Delhi are referred to as Delhiites or Dilliwalas, the city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Dilli dilwalon ka shehr or Dilli Dilwalon ki meaning Delhi belongs to the large-hearted/daring, aas-paas barse, Dilli pani tarse, literally meaning it pours all around, while Delhi lies parched. An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty. The area around Delhi was probably inhabited before the second millennium BC, the city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to Mahabharata, this land was initially a huge mass of forests called Khandavaprastha which was burnt down to build the city of Indraprastha, the earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period, in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of eight cities have been discovered in Delhi
4.
Coronation Park, Delhi
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Coronation Park is a park located on Burari Road near Nirankari Sarovar in Delhi, India. The park is referred to as the Coronation Memorial, it was the venue of the Delhi Durbar of 1877 when Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India. This last celebration had all the states in attendance. The monument is now being restored, also, Coronation Park, by a quirk of circumstances, has the largest and tallest statue of King George V, adorning as it does a lofty pedestal. The statue was moved here in the mid-1960s from a site opposite India Gate in the centre of New Delhi, Delhi was chosen as the site of the park because the city boasted a great historical legacy for such royal activities. The site was developed as a park and venue to hold the first Durbar, or imperial pageant, Durbars were an invented tradition to showcase the prowess of the British by perpetuating a tradition of previous Hindu, Muslim and Mughal rulers. Three Durbars were held by the British monarchy during a period of forty years in the park, the three Durbars were held near a ridge where the British won a great victory during the Indian rebellion of 1857. In addition, the location helped emphasise the grandeur of the British monarchy to the native rulers and the people who attended the Durbars. First Durbar, initiated by Lord Lytton, the then Viceroy of India, was held on 1 January 1877 at the Coronation Park in Delhi to mark the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India. Lord Lytton conceived the procession in order to represent the British Raj as bringing “order and discipline, the Durbar was an extravaganza of pomp and ceremony including a parade on a decorated elephant by Lord and Lady Lytton in the presence of nearly 70,000 people. The imperial gathering consisted of royalty from all the provinces of India, the second and third Durbars were held at the same location to celebrate the Coronation of British Monarchs. The second Durbar was organised for 1 January 1903 to celebrate the Coronation of King Edward VII, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy and the chief architect of the show, planned meticulously what was considered an extravagant display of pomp and splendour. Lord Curzon converted the drab and dry land of the park into a virtual tented city by establishing huge encampments with colourful tents, firework displays, exhibitions and glamorous dances were organised. Special postage stamps were issued on the occasion, post offices, telegraph and telephone communications were provided. Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief, India, organised daily parades, band practice, the élite of the world media were present, but the intended Chief Guest, the King-Emperor himself, did not attend the celebrations held in his honour. Instead, His Britannic Majesty was represented by his brother, H. R. H, field Marshal The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. The Duke arrived from Bombay with a contingent of dignitaries. The festivities lasted for a fortnight and the Delhi Durbar parade became a feature of early 20th century spectacle in India
5.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
6.
Emperor of India
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The term Emperor of India is also used to refer to pre-British Indian emperors. The new title was proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877, the title had been eagerly assumed by Victoria in 1876, after she had been pressuring Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli to agree to her assuming the title for some years. The idea of having Victoria proclaimed empress of India was not new as Lord Ellenborough had already suggested it in 1843 on becoming governor-general of India. The Queen, possibly irritated by the sallies of the republicans, the tendency to democracy, by January 1876, the Queens insistence was such that the Prime Minister felt he could procrastinate no more. Another reason Queen Victoria was titled Empress of India was because her daughter Victoria was to be eventually Empress of Germany so she didnt want to be ranked behind her daughter. The new styling would underline the fact that the states were no longer a mere agglomeration. When Victorias successor Edward VII ascended the throne in 1901, he continued to use the title Emperor of India, the title continued after India became independent on 15 August 1947 until it was formally abandoned on 22 June 1948 during the reign of King George VI. When signing off Indian business, the reigning British King-Emperors or queen-empress used the initials R I or the abbreviation Ind, when a male monarch held the title his wife, the queen consort, used the style queen-empress, though she was not herself a reigning monarch. British coins and those of the Empire and Commonwealth routinely included the abbreviated title Ind, imp. although in India itself the coins said Empress, and later King Emperor. When in 1947 India became independent all coining dies had to be changed, canadian coins, for example, were minted well into 1948 stamped 1947, the new years issue indicated by a small maple leaf in one corner. In Great Britain itself the title appeared on coinage through 1948
7.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
8.
George V
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George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, on the death of his grandmother in 1901, Georges father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910 and he was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar. His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, the Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, in 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations. He had health problems throughout much of his reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son. George was born on 3 June 1865, in Marlborough House and he was the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra. His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and he was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley. As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was expectation that George would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, George was only 17 months younger than Albert Victor, and the two princes were educated together. John Neale Dalton was appointed as their tutor in 1871, neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually. For three years from 1879, the brothers served on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the British Empire in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, and visited Norfolk, Virginia, as well as South America, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton recorded a sighting of the Flying Dutchman, after Lausanne, the brothers were separated, Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge, while George continued in the Royal Navy. He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire, during his naval career he commanded Torpedo Boat 79 in home waters then HMS Thrush on the North America station, before his last active service in command of HMS Melampus in 1891–92. From then on, his rank was largely honorary
9.
Mughal Empire
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The dynasty, though ethnically Turco-Mongol, was Persianate in terms of culture. The Mughal empire extended over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the victory by its founder Babur over Ibrahim Lodi, the Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claimed direct descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur. During the reign of Humayun, the successor of Babur, the empire was briefly interrupted by the Sur Empire, the classic period of the Mughal Empire started in 1556 with the ascension of Akbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir, the region enjoyed economic progress as well as harmony. Akbar was a warrior who also forged alliances with several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to the Mughal dominance of northwestern India, the reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, between 1628 and 1658 was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several monuments, the best known of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi. By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, during the following century Mughal power had become severely limited, and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. He issued a firman supporting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East India Company for treason, imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon. Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid empire, which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, another name was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari, and which has been described as the closest to an official name for the empire. In the west, the term Mughal was used for the emperor, and by extension, the use of Mughal derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol, and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists, similar terms had been used to refer to the empire, including Mogul and Moghul. Nevertheless, Baburs ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture, ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, Baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the Mughal Empire, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayuns triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River
10.
Durbar (court)
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Durbar is a Hindi-Urdu word, equally common in all North Indian languages and many other South Asian languages. It was the used for the place where Indian Kings and other rulers had their formal and informal meetings, i. e. in European context. Durbar is a Persian-derived term meaning the kings or rulers noble court or a meeting where the king held all discussions regarding the state. It was later used in India and Nepal for a court or feudal levy as the latter came to be ruled. A durbar may be either a state council for administering the affairs of a princely state, or a purely ceremonial gathering. The most famous Durbars belonged to Great Emperors and Kings, in the North, cities like Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaiselmer, and Agra have palaces that adorn such magnificent halls. The Mughal Emperor Akbar had two halls, one for his ministers and the other for the general public, usually Durbar halls are lavishly decorated with the best possible materials available at the time. In the south of India, the Mysore Palace had a number of halls, especially the Peacock Hall, having colour tinted glasses imported from Belgium. The Durbar Hall in the Khilawat Mubarak, in the city of Hyderabad, beneath the main Dome of the Rastrapati Bhavan is present, the grand Durbar Hall, where many state functions presided by the President of India are held. A durbar could also be the council of a native state. There was some overlap between the two groups and this was originally another word for audience room and council, but in India it also applies to a privy council and chancery. The practice was started with Lord Lyttons Proclamation Durbar of 1877 celebrating the proclamation of Queen Victoria as the first Empress of India, Durbars continued to be held in later years, with increased ceremony and grandeur than their predecessors. In 1903, for instance, the Coronation Durbar was held in Delhi to celebrate the accession of Edward VII to the British throne and this ceremony was presided over by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The King and Queen attended the Durbar in person and wore their Coronation robes and they were the only British monarchs to visit India during the period of British rule. No durbar was held for later British monarchs who were Emperors of India, Edward VIII reigned only a brief time before abdicating. In Malaysian history, the Durbar was the council comprising the four rulers of the Federated Malay States under British protectorate, first held in 1897, it was a platform for the rulers to discuss issues pertaining state policies with British officials. When the Federation of Malaya was formed in 1948, the Durbar transformed into the Conference of Rulers with the inclusion of the states of Malaya. The membership was enlarged with the addition of new states in the formation of Malaysia in 1963
11.
Queen Victoria
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Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her fathers three brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already a constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments, publicly, Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together, after Alberts death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength and her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and it was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victorias father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, until 1817, Edwards niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl and Feodora —by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen and her brother Leopold was Princess Charlottes widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kents only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a. m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace and she was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina, Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Dukes eldest brother, George, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent married on the same day in 1818, but both of Clarences daughters died as infants. Victorias father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old, a week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son, George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, when George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive
12.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
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Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton GCB GCSI GCIE PC was an English statesman and poet. He served as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880, during which time Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India and his son Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, who was born in India, returned as Governor of Bengal and was briefly acting Viceroy. He was a son of the novelists Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton and his parents split up when he was a small boy, and the separation was acrimonious. His mother, who under the laws of the time lost access to her children, caricatured his father in 1839 novel Cheveley, or the Man of Honour. Many years later, when he was a man, his father had his mother placed under restraint as insane. She chronicled this in her memoirs and he was educated at Harrow School and at the University of Bonn. In 1849 he entered the Diplomatic Service, aged 18, when he was appointed as attaché to his uncle, Sir Henry Bulwer and it was at this time he met Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. He began his diplomatic career in 1852 as an attaché to Florence, followed by Paris in 1854. In 1858 he was transferred to St Petersburg, Constantinople and Vienna, in 1860 he was appointed British Consul General at Belgrade. In 1862 Lytton was promoted to Second Secretary in Vienna, during this time he twice acted as Chargé dAffaires in the Schleswig-Holstein conflict. In 1864 he was transferred to the Greek court to advise the young Danish Prince, in 1865 he advanced to Lisbon where he concluded a major commercial treaty with Portugal. After an appointment to Madrid he became Secretary to the Embassy at Vienna and, in 1872, by 1874 he was appointed British Minister Plenipotentiary at Lisbon where he remained until being appointed Governor General and Viceroy of India in 1876. Midway on his journey he met, by prearrangement, in Egypt, after this the Queen conferred upon him the honor of the Grand Cross of the civil division of the Order of the Bath. In 1879 an attempt was made to assassinate Lord Lytton, the principal event of his viceroyalty was the Afghan war. In 1877, Lord Lytton convened a durbar in Delhi which was attended by around 84,000 people including princes, in 1878, he promulgated the Vernacular Press Act, which empowered him to confiscate the press and paper of a local language newspaper publishing seditious material. The act resulted in public outcry in Calcutta led by the Indian Association and his son-in-law, and one of Britains most outstanding architects, Edwin Lutyens, played a major role in the creation of New Delhi. Lord Lytton arrived as Viceroy of India in 1876, in the same year, a famine broke out in south India which claimed between 6.1 million and 10.3 million people. His implementation of Britains trading policy has been blamed for increasing the severity of the famine, critics have further attested that Lyttons belief in Social Darwinism regards the plight of the starving and dying Indians
13.
Maharaja
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Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a great ruler, great king or high king. It has also been the title of emperors, including Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh empire, the female equivalent, Maharani, denotes either the wife of a Maharaja, and also in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajmata queen mother, Maharaj Kumar generally denotes a son of a Maharaja, but more specific titulatures are often used at each court, including Yuvaraj for the heir. The form Maharaj indicates a separation of noble and religious offices, the word Maharaja originates in Sanskrit and is a compound karmadhāraya term from mahānt- great and rājan ruler, king). It has the Latin cognates magnum great and rex king, the Sanskrit title Maharaja was originally used only for rulers who ruled a considerably large region with minor tributary rulers under them. Since mediaeval times, the title was used even by monarchs of smaller states claiming to be the descendants of ancient Maharajas, the word Maharaja may be understood simply to mean ruler or king, in spite of its literal translation as great king. The word, however, can also mean emperor in contemporary Indian usage, two Rajas who became Maharajas in the twentieth century were the Maharaja of Cochin and the legendary Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. Variations of this include the following, each combining Maha- great with an alternative form of Raja king, so all meaning Great King, Maharana, Maharawal, Maharawat, Maharao. Maharajah has taken on new spellings due to change and migration. It has even been shortened to Mahraj and Maraj but the most common is Maharajah, despite its literal meaning, unlike many other titles meaning Great King, neither Maharaja nor Rajadhiraja, nor even its equivalent amongst. Maharaja, Maharajadhiraja, never reached the standing required for imperial rank, dharma-maharaja was the devout title of the rulers of the Ganga dynasty. In the Mughal Empire it was common to award to various princes a series of lofty titles as a matter of protocolary rank. The british would, as partamaount power, do the same, Maharajadhiraja, Great Prince over Princes, a title of honour, one degree higher than Sawai Maharaja Bahadur. Sawai Maharaja Bahadur, a title of honour, one higher than Sawai Maharaja. Sawai Maharaja, a title of one degree higher than Maharaja Bahadur. Maharaja Bahadur, a title of honour, one higher than Maharaja. Maharaja itself could also be grahted as a personal, non-hereditary style, like Raja and various other titles, Maharaja was repeatedly awarded to notables without a princely state, such as zamindars. g. The Diwan Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad, held such a Maharaja-title, Maharaj Kumar means son of a Maharaja or Heir-Apparent, the female equivalent is Maharaj Kumari, daughter of a Maharaja
14.
Nawab
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Nawab or nawaab is an honorific title ratified and bestowed by the reigning Mughal emperor to semi-autonomous Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. Nawab usually refers to males, the equivalent is begum or nawab begum. The primary duty of a nawab was to uphold the sovereignty of the Mughal emperor along with the administration of a certain province, in some cases, these titles were also accompanied by jagir grants, either in cash revenues and allowances or land-holdings. During the British Raj, some of the chiefs or Sardars of large or important tribes were given the title. The term nawab was originally used for the subahdar or viceroy of a subah or region of the Mughal empire. It is a Hindustani term, used in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali and many other North-Indian languages, borrowed via Persian from the Arabic, being the plural of naib. In some areas, especially Bengal, the term is pronounced nobab and this later variation has also entered English and other foreign languages. The term nawbab is often used to refer to any Muslim ruler in north or south India while the term nizam is preferred for a senior official—it literally means governor of region. The Nizam of Hyderabad had several nawabs under him, Nawabs of Cuddapah, Sira, Rajahmundry, Kurnool, Chicacole, Nizam was his personal title, awarded by the Mughal Government and based on the term Nazim as meaning senior officer. Nazim is still used for a collector in many parts of India. The term nawab is still technically imprecise, as the title was awarded to Hindus and Sikhs, as well. With the decline of empire, the title, and the powers that went with it. Other former rulers bearing the title, such as the nawabs of Bengal, some princes became Nawab by promotion, e. g. the ruler of Palanpur was diwan until 1910, then nawab sahib. Other nawabs were promoted are restyled to another style, or to and back. The style for a queen is begum. Most of the dynasties were male primogenitures, although several ruling Begums of Bhopal were a notable exception. Before the incorporation of the Subcontinent into the British Empire, nawabs ruled the kingdoms of Awadh, Bengal, Arcot and Bhopal. The title nawab was also awarded as a distinction by the paramount power, similarly to a British peerage, to persons
15.
East India Company
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The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
16.
The Crown
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The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their sub-divisions, although the term is not only a metonym for the State. The Crown is a sole that represents the legal embodiment of executive, legislative. These monarchies are united by the union of their monarch. The concept of the Crown developed first in the Kingdom of England as a separation of the crown and property of the nation state from the person. The concept spread through English and later British colonisation and is now rooted in the lexicon of the other 15 independent realms. In this context it should not be confused with any physical crown, the concept of the Crown took form under the feudal system. Though not used this way in all countries that had this system, in England, all rights, land, for instance, was granted by the Crown to lords in exchange for feudal services and they, in turn, granted the land to lesser lords. One exception to this was common socage—owners of land held as socage held it only to the Crown. The Crown as ultimate owner of all property also owns any property which has become bona vacantia, the monarch is the living embodiment of the Crown and, as such, is regarded as the personification of the state. He office cannot exist without the office-holder, the Crown also represents the legal embodiment of executive, legislative, and judicial governance. While the Crowns legal personality is usually regarded as a sole, it can, at least for some purposes. Historically, the Crown was considered to be indivisible, two judgments—Ex parte Indian Association of Alberta and Ex parte Quark —challenged that view. The Crown in each of the Commonwealth realms is a similar, because both Canada and Australia are federations, there are also crowns in right of each Canadian province and each Australian state. The Succession to the Crown Law 2013 defined the Crown, for the purposes of implementing the Perth Agreement in Jersey law, as the Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Jersey. Legislation in the Isle of Man also defines the Crown in right of the Isle of Man as being separate from the Crown in right of the United Kingdom and this constitutional concept is also worded as the Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The reserve powers of the Crown for each territory are no longer considered to be exercisable on the advice of the UK government, often cases are brought by the Crown according to the complaint of a claimant. The title of the case follows the pattern of R v Y. Thus R v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union is R v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, where Miller is Gina Miller, in Scotland, criminal prosecutions are undertaken by the Lord Advocate in the name of the Crown
17.
Victoria Memorial, Kolkata
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The Victoria Memorial is a large marble building in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, which was built between 1906 and 1921. It is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria and is now a museum, the memorial lies on the maidan by the bank of the Hooghly River, near Jawaharlal Nehru road. In January 1901, on the death of Queen Victoria, George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and Viceroy of India and he proposed the construction of a grand building with a museum and gardens. The Prince of Wales, later King George V, laid the stone on 4 January 1906. In 1912, before the construction of the Victoria Memorial was finished, thus, the Victoria Memorial was built in what would be a provincial city rather than a capital. The Victoria Memorial was funded by Indian states, individuals of the British Raj, the Victoria Memorials architect was William Emerson, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The design is in the Indo-Saracenic revivalist style which uses a mixture of British and Mughal elements with Venetian, Egyptian, Deccani, the building is 338 feet by 228 feet and rises to a height of 184 feet. It is constructed of white Makrana marble, the gardens of the Victoria Memorial were designed by Lord Redesdale and David Prain. Emersons assistant, Vincent J. Esch designed the bridge of the north aspect, Emerson was a pupil of William Burges and an architectural theorist. He first visited India in about 1860, Emerson designed the Crawford Market, Mumbai, the All Saints Cathedral, Allahabad, and Muir College. Emerson moved to the state of Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and designed the Takhtsingji Hospital. There, he learned to include Hindu architectural elements in his works, in 1899, Esch was appointed assistant engineer at the Bengal Nagpur Railway, a job which gave him much practical experience in large-scale construction and costings. In 1902, Emerson engaged Esch to sketch his original design for the Victoria Memorial, after designing the temporary exhibition building for the Delhi Durbar of 1903, Curzon found Esch to be a suitable assistant for Emerson. Esch had also won a competition to design the Bengal Club building at Chowringhee, the Victoria Memorials foundation stone was set in 1906 and the building opened in 1921. The work of construction was entrusted to Messrs, work on the superstructure began in 1910. After 1947, when India gained independence, additions were made, atop the central dome of the Victoria Memorial is the 16 ft figure of the Angel of Victory. Surrounding the dome are allegorical sculptures including Art, Architecture, Justice, like the Taj Mahal, the Victoria Memorial is built of white Makrana marble and is a memorial to an empress. In design, it echos the Taj Mahal with its dome, four subsidiaries, octagonal-domed chattris, high portals, terrace, the Victoria Memorial has 25 galleries
18.
Kolkata
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Kolkata /koʊlˈkɑːtɑː/ is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. In 2011, the city had a population of 4.5 million, while the population of the city and its suburbs was 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. Recent estimates of Kolkata Metropolitan Areas economy have ranged from $60 to $150 billion making it third most-productive metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai, in the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading licence in 1690, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Calcutta in 1756, and the East India Company retook it the following year. In 1793 the East India company was enough to abolish Nizamat. Calcutta was the centre for the Indian independence movement, it remains a hotbed of contemporary state politics, following Indian independence in 1947, Kolkata, which was once the centre of modern Indian education, science, culture, and politics, suffered several decades of economic stagnation. Many people from Kolkata—among them several Nobel laureates—have contributed to the arts, the sciences, Kolkata culture features idiosyncrasies that include distinctively close-knit neighbourhoods and freestyle intellectual exchanges. Though home to major cricketing venues and franchises, Kolkata differs from other Indian cities by giving importance to association football, there are several explanations about the etymology of this name, The term Kolikata is thought to be a variation of Kalikkhetrô, meaning Field of Kali. Similarly, it can be a variation of Kalikshetra, alternatively, the name may have been derived from the Bengali term kilkila, or flat area. The name may have its origin in the words khal meaning canal, followed by kaṭa, according to another theory, the area specialised in the production of quicklime or koli chun and coir or kata, hence, it was called Kolikata. The discovery and archaeological study of Chandraketugarh,35 kilometres north of Kolkata, Kolkatas recorded history began in 1690 with the arrival of the English East India Company, which was consolidating its trade business in Bengal. The area occupied by the city encompassed three villages, Kalikata, Gobindapur, and Sutanuti. Kalikata was a village, Sutanuti was a riverside weavers village. They were part of an estate belonging to the Mughal emperor and these rights were transferred to the East India Company in 1698. In 1712, the British completed the construction of Fort William, facing frequent skirmishes with French forces, the British began to upgrade their fortifications in 1756. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, condemned the militarisation and his warning went unheeded, and the Nawab attacked, he captured Fort William which led to the killings of several East India company officials in the Black Hole of Calcutta. A force of Company soldiers and British troops led by Robert Clive recaptured the city the following year, declared a presidency city, Calcutta became the headquarters of the East India Company by 1772. In 1793, ruling power of the Nawabs were abolished and East India company took control of the city
19.
Empress of India Medal
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The Empress of India Medal, also referred to as KIH Medal, was a commemorative medal awarded to mark the occasion of the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India in 1877. The first official medals to commemorate the coronation of a British sovereign were distributed in 1547 and these medals were medallions or commemorative coins, not intended for wear. The first official medal, commemorating an occasion, which could be worn, was the Empress of India Medal. This medal marked the occasion of the proclamation at the Delhi Durbar of Queen Victoria as Empress of India on 1 January 1877, the medal was made in both gold and silver. It measures 58 millimetres in diameter, nearly 20 mm more than a campaign medal, the obverse of the medal depicts the diademed effigy of Queen Victoria, wearing a veil which falls over the back of the head and neck. Around the beaded edge of the medal is inscribed Victoria 1st January 1877, the reverse bears the inscription Empress of India in English and Hind-ka-Kesar in Hindustani and Persian. Around the edge is a decorative design. It was worn on a 42 millimetres ribbon around the neck, the ribbon is crimson, with thin yellow stripes at the edges. The medal was not permitted to be worn by officers and soldiers of the British and Indian armies in uniform, although it was worn by Indian princes. Empress of India Medal,1877, gold, OMSA Medal Database Empress of India Medal,1877, silver
20.
Poona Sarvajanik Sabha
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Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was founded by Mahadev Govind Ranade. The Pune Sarvajanik Sabha provided many of the prominent leaders of national stature to the Indian freedom struggle including Bal Gangadhar Tilak and it was formed in 1870 by S. H. Chiplunkar, Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi, Mahadev Govind Ranade, et al. The ruler of the Aundh State, Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi was the first President of the organisation, many eminent personalities such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Maharshi Annasaheb Patwardhan, etc. served as the Presidents of the organisation. In 2016, Meera Pavagi was elected as the first woman President of the organisation, madras Mahajana Sabha bipin chandra pal The Pune Sarvajanik Sabha, the early phase, 1870-1880 - S. R. Mehrotra Johari, JC
21.
Indian National Congress
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The Indian National Congress is one of two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress was founded in 1885 during the British Raj, its founders include Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, there have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru, and the most recent Manmohan Singh. The partys social liberal platform is considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics. From 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, a coalition of regional parties. As of March 2017, the party is in power in five states, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, in Bihar, it is a part of the ruling coalition. The Congress has previously directly ruled Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, in the 2014 general election, the Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member house. The party primarily endorses social liberalism—seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice, the Congress was founded in 1885 by Indian and British members of the Theosophical Society movement, including Scotsman Allan Octavian Hume. It has been suggested that the idea was conceived in a meeting of 17 men after a Theosophical Convention held in Madras in December 1884. Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 the first notice convening the first Indian National Union to meet in Poona the following December was issued. Its objective was to obtain a share in government for educated Indians and to create a platform for civic. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in Poona, Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of the Congress, the first session was held from 28–31 December 1885, representing each province of India, the Partys delegates comprised 54 Hindus and 2 Muslims, the rest were of Parsi and Jain backgrounds. It also included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mohammed Ali Jinnah—later leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. The Congress was transformed into a movement by Surendranath Banerjea and Sir Henry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in 1905. Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, in 1923 following the deaths of policemen at Chauri Chaura, Gandhi suspended the agitation. In protest, a number of leaders, Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant, the Khilafat movement collapsed and the Congress was split. Although its members were predominantly Hindu, it had members from other religions, economic classes, at the Congress 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, Purna Swaraj was declared as the partys goal, declaring 26 January 1930 as Purna Swaraj Diwas, Independence Day. The same year, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the party for demanding full independence, the British government allowed provincial elections in India in the winter of 1936–37 under the Government of India Act 1935
22.
Mahadev Govind Ranade
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Mahadev Govind Ranade was a distinguished Indian scholar, social reformer and author. As well known figure, his personality as a calm. Mahadev Govind Ranade was born in Niphad, a town in Nashik district in a Chitpavan Brahmin family. He spent much of his childhood in erstwhile Kolhapur state where his father was a minister and he began studies at the Elphinstone College in Bombay, at the age of fourteen. Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar was his classmate, Ranade later got his MA degree at the top of his class. From 1885 until he joined the High Court, he was a member of the Bombay legislative council, Ranade held the offices of syndic and dean in arts at Bombay University, where he displayed much organizing power and great intimacy with the needs of the student class. A thorough Marathi scholar, he encouraged the translation of standard English works and tried, with some success and he published books on Indian economics and on Maratha history. He saw the need for industry for economic progress and believed in Western education as a vital element to the foundation of an Indian nation. Reform of Indian culture and use of an adaptation of Western culture, in Ranade’s view, and fusion of thoughts, amongst all men. Along with his friends Atmaram Pandurang, R. G, Bhandarkar and Vaman Abaji Modak, Ranade founded the Prarthana Samaj, a Hindu movement inspired by the Brahmo Samaj, espousing principles of enlightened theism based on the ancient Vedas. Prarthana Samaj was started by Keshav Chandra Sen, a staunch Brahma Samajist and he presided a function to honor his friend, Virchand Gandhi, who had defended Indian culture and Hinduism in 1893s world religion parliament in Chicago, USA. He was one of the founders of the Widow Marriage Association in 1861, Ranade attempted to work with the structure of weakened traditions, reforming, but not destroying the social atmosphere that was India’s heritage. Ranade valued India’s history, having had a great interest in Shivaji and the Bhakti movement, Ranade encouraged the acceptance of change, believing traditional social structures, like the caste system, should accommodate change, thereby preserving India’s ancient heritage. An overall sense of regeneration was what Ranade desired. Though Ranade criticised superstitions and blind faith, he was conservative in his own life and he chose to take prayaschitta in case of Panch-houd Mission Case rather than taking a strong side of his opinions. Upon the death of his first wife, his friends expected him to marry a widow. However, he adhered to his familys wishes and married a bride, Ramabai Ranade. After his death, she continued his social and educational reform work, Ramabai Ranade in her memoirs has stated that when one equally prominent Pune personality, Vishnupant Pandit, married a widow, Ranade entertained him and a few guests at his home
23.
George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
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As Viceroy of India, he is noted for the creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam. As Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, he drew the Curzon Line as the eastern frontier of Poland. He was passed over as Prime Minister in 1923 in favour of Stanley Baldwin and his character polarised opinion amongst his contemporaries, sow gratitude and resentment along his path with equally lavish hands. He quarrelled endlessly and his arrogance and inflexibility made even more enemies, critics have been negative in contrasting his enormous talents and energy on behalf of British imperialism with his mixed results and unrealized ambitions. He was born at Kedleston Hall, built on the site where his family and his mother, worn out by childbirth, died when George was 16, her husband survived her by 41 years. Neither parent exerted an influence on Curzons life. Lord Scarsdale was an austere and unindulgent father who believed in the family tradition that landowners should stay on their land. He thus had little sympathy for those journeys across Asia between 1887 and 1895 which made his son one of the most travelled men who sat in a British cabinet. Paraman periodically forced him to parade through the wearing a conical hat bearing the words liar, sneak. Curzon later noted, No children well born and well-placed ever cried so much and he was educated at Wixenford School, Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford. At Eton he was a favourite of Oscar Browning, a relationship that led to his tutors dismissal. While at Eton, he was a figure who was liked and disliked with equal intensity by large numbers of masters. This strange talent for both attraction and repulsion stayed with him all his life, few people ever felt neutral about him, at Oxford he was President of the Union and Secretary of the Oxford Canning Club. Although he failed to achieve a first class degree in Greats, he won the Lothian and Arnold Prizes and he was elected a prize fellow of All Souls College in 1883. Whilst at Oxford, he was a contemporary and close friend of Cecil Spring Rice and Edward Grey. While at Oxford, Curzon was the inspiration for the following Balliol rhyme and my cheeks are pink, my hair is sleek, I dine at Blenheim once a week. Curzon became Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Salisbury in 1885, subsequent performances in the Commons, often dealing with Ireland or reform of the House of Lords, received similar verdicts. He was Under-Secretary of State for India in 1891–92 and Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1895–98
24.
Mary Curzon, Baroness Curzon of Kedleston
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Mary Victoria Curzon, Baroness Curzon of Kedleston, CI was a British peeress of American background who was Vicereine of India, as the wife of Lord Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India. As Vicereine of India, she held the highest official title in history of any American woman up to her time, on her fathers side, she was of Swiss-German descent. Her family moved to Washington, D. C. in 1881 and they lived for several years in the former home of James G. Blaine on Dupont Circle. She was taught dancing, singing, music, and art at home by tutors, a Columbia University professor taught her history, arithmetic, and chemistry. Travel and prolonged residence abroad cultivated her powers of observation and breadth of vision at an early age. Her poise and finish made her charming to those with mature, Mary was a striking six feet tall presence with a curvy figure. She had large eyes set in an oval face, glossy chestnut-brown hair drawn back into a loose knot at the nape of her neck. Her debut was in winter of 1888 and she was regarded an equal in beauty and breeding, and, frequently, superior in manner and intellect of daughters of better known and longer established families in eastern U. S. society. Prior to her marriage, her closest friend Frances Folsom Cleveland was six years her senior, the United States Ambassador to the Court of St. Jamess, Thomas F. Bayard, introduced Mary to London society in 1894. She met a man, George Curzon, a Conservative Member of Parliament who was thirty-five years old, had been representing Southport for eight years. Mary Leiter and George Curzon were married on 22 April 1895 at St. Johns Episcopal Church in Washington, D. C. by Bishop Talbot, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Mackay Smith, the pastor of the church. They had three daughters, Mary Irene, in 1896, Cynthia Blanche, on 23 August 1898, lastly, Alexandra Naldera, on 20 April 1904, best known as Baba Metcalfe. Her husband accepted the position of Viceroy of India and was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Curzon of Kedleston in the summer of 1898 at age thirty-nine, on 30 December they arrived in Bombay to the greetings of royal salutes and great excitement. She instantly made an impression of beauty and respect that soon all over India. She gained the title vicereine, as wife of the viceroy and they were greeted in Calcutta a few days later with great enthusiasm. It was estimated that one hundred thousand people witnessed the magnificent spectacle of their reception at Government House. The Indian poet, Ram Sharma referred to her in his address to Lord Curzon of Kedleston, as. Another declared her to be, Like a diamond set in gold the full moon in a clear autumnal sky, in 1901 Charles Turner first raised the Lady Curzon rose in her honor, which was a hybrid
25.
Edward VII
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Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, before his accession to the throne, he served as heir apparent and held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long reign of his mother, he was excluded from political power. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial duties, and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and the Indian subcontinent in 1875 were popular successes, as king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War. He reinstituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised and he died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords. Edward was born at 10,48 in the morning on 9 November 1841 in Buckingham Palace and he was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle and he was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known as Bertie to the family throughout his life. As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall, as a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 8 December 1841, Earl of Dublin on 17 January 1850, a Knight of the Garter on 9 November 1858, and a Knight of the Thistle on 24 May 1867. In 1863, he renounced his rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favour of his younger brother. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a constitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on an educational programme devised by Prince Albert. Unlike his elder sister Victoria, Edward did not excel in his studies and he tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. Although Edward was not a diligent student—his true talents were those of charm, sociability and tact—Benjamin Disraeli described him as informed, intelligent, after the completion of his secondary-level studies, his tutor was replaced by a personal governor, Robert Bruce. After an educational trip to Rome, undertaken in the first few months of 1859, he spent the summer of that year studying at the University of Edinburgh under, among others, in October, he matriculated as an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. Now released from the strictures imposed by his parents, he enjoyed studying for the first time
26.
Alexandra of Denmark
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Alexandra of Denmark was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India as the wife of King-Emperor Edward VII. At the age of sixteen, she was chosen as the wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. They married eighteen months later in 1863, the year her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX. She was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has held that title. Largely excluded from wielding any political power, she attempted to sway the opinion of British ministers and her husbands family to favour Greek. Her public duties were restricted to uncontroversial involvement in charitable work, on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Albert Edward became king-emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as queen-empress. She held the status until Edwards death in 1910 and she greatly distrusted her nephew, German Emperor Wilhelm II, and supported her son during World War I, in which Britain and its allies fought Germany. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel, although she was of royal blood, her family lived a comparatively normal life. They did not possess great wealth, her fathers income from a commission was about £800 per year and their house was a rent-free grace. Occasionally, Hans Christian Andersen was invited to call and tell the stories before bedtime. In 1848, King Christian VIII of Denmark died and his only son, Frederick was childless, had been through two unsuccessful marriages, and was assumed to be infertile. A succession crisis arose as Frederick ruled in both Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein, and the rules of each territory differed. In Holstein, the Salic law prevented inheritance through the female line, Holstein, being predominantly German, proclaimed independence and called in the aid of Prussia. In 1852, the great powers called a conference in London to discuss the Danish succession, Prince Christian was given the title Prince of Denmark and his family moved into a new official residence, Bernstorff Palace. Alexandra shared a draughty attic bedroom with her sister, Dagmar, made her own clothes, Alexandra and Dagmar were given swimming lessons by the Swedish pioneer of womens swimming, Nancy Edberg. At Bernstorff, Alexandra grew into a woman, she was taught English by the English chaplain at Copenhagen and was confirmed in Christiansborg Palace. She was devout throughout her life, and followed High Church practice, Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were already concerned with finding a bride for their son and heir, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. They enlisted the aid of their daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Alexandra was not their first choice, since the Danes were at loggerheads with the Prussians over the Schleswig-Holstein Question and most of the British royal familys relations were German
27.
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
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Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the British Army, where he served for some 40 years, seeing service in various parts of the British Empire. During this time he was created a royal duke, becoming the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. In 1911, he was appointed as Governor General of Canada and he occupied this post until being succeeded by the Duke of Devonshire in 1916. After the end of his tenure, Arthur returned to the United Kingdom and there, as well as in India, performed various royal duties. Though he retired from life in 1928, he continued to make his presence known in the army well into the Second World War. He was Queen Victorias last surviving son, Arthur was born at Buckingham Palace on 1 May 1850, the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The prince was baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Bird Sumner, as with his older brothers, Arthur received his early education from private tutors. It was reported that he became the Queens favourite child, following his arrival at Halifax, Arthur toured the country for eight weeks and made a visit in January 1870 to Washington, D. C. where he met with President Ulysses S. Grant. Arthur made an impression on many in Canada, as he became the 51st chief on the council, his appointment broke the centuries-old tradition that there should only be 50 chiefs of the Six Nations. Arthur was promoted to the rank of colonel on 14 June 1871, substantive lieutenant-colonel in 1876, colonel on 29 May 1880 and. He gained military experience as Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army from December 1886 to March 1890 and he went on to be General Officer Commanding Southern District, at Portsmouth, from September 1890 to 1893. The Prince had hoped to succeed his first cousin once-removed, the elderly Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, as Commander-in-chief of the British Army, upon the latters forced retirement in 1895. But this desire was denied to Arthur, and instead he was given, between 1893 and 1898, command of the Aldershot District Command, the regiment had recently been converted to the infantry role from the 2nd Battalion, 5th British Columbia Regiment of Canadian Artillery. With the Princes agreement the unit was renamed 6th Regiment, Duke of Connaughts Own Rifles on 1 May 1900 and he was subsequently appointed colonel-in-chief of the regiment, then known as The British Columbia Regiment, in 1923. He held that appointment until his death, on his mothers birthday in 1874, Arthur was created a royal peer, being titled as the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex. Through his childrens marriages, Arthur became the father-in-law of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, arthurs first two children predeceased him, Margaret while pregnant with his sixth grandchild. For many years, Arthur maintained a liaison with Leonie, Lady Leslie, sister of Jennie Churchill, alongside his military career, he continued to undertake royal duties beyond, or vaguely associated with, the army. On the return from a posting in India, he again and he also toured Canada in 1906
28.
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
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His term as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in India saw him quarrel with another eminent proconsul, the Viceroy Lord Curzon, who eventually resigned. Kitchener then returned to Egypt as British Agent and Consul-General, in 1914, at the start of the First World War, Kitchener became Secretary of State for War, a Cabinet Minister. Kitchener died on 5 June 1916 when HMS Hampshire sank west of the Orkney Islands and he was making his way to Russia in order to attend negotiations when the ship struck a German mine. He was one of more than 600 killed on board the ship, Kitchener was born in Ballylongford near Listowel, County Kerry, in Ireland, son of army officer Henry Horatio Kitchener and Frances Anne Chevallier. His father had recently bought land in Ireland under a scheme to encourage the purchase of land after selling his commission. They then moved to Switzerland where the young Kitchener was educated at Montreux, then at the Royal Military Academy, pro-French and eager to see action, he joined a French field ambulance unit in the Franco-Prussian War. His father took him back to England after he caught pneumonia after ascending in a balloon to see the French Army of the Loire in action. Commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1871, his service in France had violated British neutrality, and he was reprimanded by the Duke of Cambridge, the commander-in-chief. He served in Palestine, Egypt, and Cyprus as a surveyor, learned Arabic, Sir Walter Kitchener, had also entered the army, and was Governor of Bermuda from 1908 to 1912. In 1874, at age 24, Kitchener was assigned by the Palestine Exploration Fund to a mapping-survey of the Holy Land, replacing Charles Tyrwhitt-Drake, who had died of malaria. Conder and Kitchener’s expedition became known as the Survey of Western Palestine because it was confined to the area west of the Jordan River. The survey collected data on the topography and toponymy of the area, as well as local flora, the results of the survey were published in an eight-volume series, with Kitchener’s contribution in the first three tomes. This survey has had an effect on the Middle East for several reasons, The ordnance survey serves as the basis for the grid system used in the modern maps of Israel. The collection of data compiled by Conder and Kitchener are still consulted by archaeologists, the survey itself effectively delineated and defined the political borders of the southern Levant. For instance, the border between Israel and Lebanon is established at the point in upper Galilee where Conder and Kitchener’s survey stopped. In 1878 having completed the survey of Western Palestine, Kitchener was sent to Cyprus to undertake a survey of newly acquired British protectorate. Then in 1879 he became vice-consul in Anatolia, in 1883 Kitchener became a Freemason. On 4 January 1883 Kitchener was promoted to captain, given the Turkish rank bimbashi, Egypt had recently become a British puppet state, its army led by British officers, although still nominally under the sovereignty of the Khedive and his nominal overlord the Sultan of Turkey
29.
Cinema of India
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The cinema of India consists of films produced across India. Cinema as a medium has gained popularity in the country. Indian films have come to be followed throughout South Asia. Dadasaheb Phalke is known as the father of Indian cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, for lifetime contribution to cinema, was instituted in his honour, by the Government of India in 1969, and is the most prestigious and coveted award in Indian cinema. In the 20th century, Indian cinema, along with the Hollywood and Chinese film industries, as of 2013, in terms of annual film output, India ranks first, followed by Nollywood, Hollywood and China. In 2012, India produced 1,602 feature films, the Indian film industry reached overall revenues of $1.86 billion in 2011. This is projected to rise to $3 billion in 2016, in 2015, India had a total box office of US$1.6 billion, the fourth largest in the world outside North America. Enhanced technology paved the way for upgrading from established norms of delivering product. Visual effects based, super hero science fiction, and epic films like Enthiran, Baahubali, Indian cinema found markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened. The Indian government extended film delegations to countries such as the United States of America. The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in India. By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock Exchange of India, the South Indian film industry defines the four film cultures of South India as a single entity. They are the Tamil, the Telugu, the Malayalam and the Kannada industries, although developed independently over a long period, gross exchange of film performers and technicians as well as globalisation helped to shape this new identity. Music in Indian cinema is another substantial revenue generator with the music rights alone accounting for 4–5% of the net revenues generated by a film in India. Following the screening of the Lumière moving pictures in London, cinema became a sensation across Europe, in the next year a film presentation by one Professor Stevenson featured a stage show at Calcuttas Star Theatre. With Stevensons encouragement and camera Hiralal Sen, an Indian photographer, made a film of scenes from that show, the Wrestlers by H. S. Bhatavdekar showing a wrestling match at the Hanging Gardens in Bombay was the first film ever to be shot by an Indian. It was also the first Indian documentary film, the first Indian film released in India was Shree Pundalik a silent film in Marathi by Dadasaheb Torne on 18 May 1912 at Coronation Cinematograph, Bombay. The female roles in the film were played by male actors, the film marked a historic benchmark in the film industry in India
30.
Mary of Teck
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Mary of Teck was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress of India as the wife of King-Emperor George V. Although technically a princess of Teck, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, she was born and her parents were Francis, Duke of Teck, who was of German extraction, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III. She was informally known as May, after her birth month, the following year, she became engaged to Albert Victors next surviving brother, George, who subsequently became king. Before her husbands accession, she was successively Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall and she supported her second son, Albert, who succeeded to the throne as George VI, until his death in 1952. She died the year, during the reign of her granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was born on 26 May 1867 at Kensington Palace and her father was Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg by his morganatic wife, Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde. Her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, the child and younger daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. She was baptised in the Chapel Royal of Kensington Palace on 27 July 1867 by Charles Thomas Longley, before she became queen, she was known to her family, friends and the public by the diminutive name of May, after her birth month. Mays upbringing was merry but fairly strict and she was the eldest of four children, the only girl, and learned to exercise her native discretion, firmness, and tact by resolving her three younger brothers petty boyhood squabbles. They played with their cousins, the children of the Prince of Wales, may was educated at home by her mother and governess. Although her mother was a grandchild of King George III, May was only a member of the British Royal Family. Her father, the Duke of Teck, had no inheritance or wealth, however, the Duchess of Teck was granted a parliamentary annuity of £5,000 and received about £4,000 a year from her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge. Despite this, the family was deeply in debt and lived abroad from 1883, the Tecks travelled throughout Europe, visiting their various relations. They stayed in Florence, Italy, for a time, where May enjoyed visiting the art galleries, churches, in 1885, the Tecks returned to London, and took up residence at White Lodge, in Richmond Park. May was close to her mother, and acted as an secretary, helping to organise parties. She was also close to her aunt, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, during the First World War, the Crown Princess of Sweden helped pass letters from May to her aunt, who lived in enemy territory in Germany until her death in 1916. In December 1891, May was engaged to her second cousin once removed, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. The choice of May as bride for the Duke owed much to Queen Victorias fondness for her, as well as to her strong character, however, Albert Victor died six weeks later, in a recurrence of the worldwide 1889–90 influenza pandemic
31.
Gentry
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Gentry are well-born, genteel and well-bred people of high social class, especially in the past. In the United Kingdom, the term refers to the social class of the landed aristocracy or to the minor aristocracy whose income derives from their large landholdings. The idea of gentry in the sense of noblesse is extinct in common parlance in modern day Britain. Though the untitled nobility in modern day Britain are normally termed gentry, the older sense of nobility is that of a quality identical to gentry. The fundamental social division in most parts of Europe in the Middle Ages was between the nobiles, i. e. the tenants in chivalry, and the ignobles, i. e. the villeins, citizens and burgesses. The division into nobles and ignobles in smaller regions of Europe in the Middle Ages was less due to a more rudimentary feudal order. After the Reformation, intermingling between the class and the often hereditary clerical upper class became a distinctive feature in several Nordic countries. Besides the gentry there have been other analogous traditional elites, the Indo-Europeans who settled Europe, Western Asia and the Indian subcontinent conceived their societies to be ordered in a tripartite fashion, the three parts being castes. Castes came to be divided, perhaps as a result of greater specialisation. The classic formulation of the system as largely described by Georges Dumézil was that of a priestly or religiously occupied caste, a warrior caste. Dumézil divided the Proto-Indo-Europeans into three categories, sovereignty, military, and productivity and he further subdivided sovereignty into two distinct and complementary sub-parts. One part was formal, juridical, and priestly, but rooted in this world, the other was powerful, unpredictable, and also priestly, but rooted in the other, the supernatural and spiritual world. The second main division was connected with the use of force, the military, finally, there was a third group, ruled by the other two, whose role was productivity, herding, farming, and crafts. This system of roles can be seen in the castes which flourished on the Indian subcontinent. Emperor Constantine convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 whose Nicene Creed included belief in one holy catholic and apostolic Church, emperor Theodosius I made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica of 380. In this power vacuum, the Church rose to become the dominant power in the West, the classical heritage flourished throughout the Middle Ages in both the Byzantine Greek East and Latin West. During the Middle Ages it was customary to classify the population of Christendom into laboratores, bellatores, the last group, though small in number, monopolized the instruments and opportunities of culture, and ruled with almost unlimited sway half of the most powerful continent on the globe. The clergy, like Platos guardians, were placed in authority, in the latter half of the period in which they ruled, the clergy were as free from family cares as even Plato could desire
32.
Imperial Crown of India
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The Imperial Crown of India is the crown used by King George V in his capacity as Emperor of India at the Delhi Durbar of 1911. The British constitution prohibits the Crown Jewels from leaving the country, there are also considerable risks involved in transporting the historic regalia by sea and land over such a great distance. The Crown Jewellers at the time, Garrard & Co, made the crown at a cost of £60,000, the Imperial Crown of India weighs 920 g and is set with emeralds, rubies, sapphires and 6,100 diamonds. In the centre of the front cross is a very fine Indian ruby, the king wrote in his diary that it was heavy and uncomfortable to wear, Rather tired after wearing my crown for 3½ hours, it hurt my head, as it is pretty heavy. Similar to other British crowns, it consists of a circlet with four crosses pattée, however, the eight half-arches on top, which join at a typical monde and cross pattée, point upwards in the form of a Gothic ogee arch. It has not been used since George V returned from India and is now a part of the Crown Jewels on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, Imperial crown The Imperial Crown of India at the Royal Collection
33.
Diamond
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Diamond is a metastable allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at standard conditions. Diamond is renowned as a material with superlative physical qualities, most of which originate from the covalent bonding between its atoms. In particular, diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any bulk material and those properties determine the major industrial application of diamond in cutting and polishing tools and the scientific applications in diamond knives and diamond anvil cells. Because of its extremely rigid lattice, it can be contaminated by very few types of impurities, such as boron, small amounts of defects or impurities color diamond blue, yellow, brown, green, purple, pink, orange or red. Diamond also has relatively high optical dispersion, most natural diamonds are formed at high temperature and pressure at depths of 140 to 190 kilometers in the Earths mantle. Carbon-containing minerals provide the source, and the growth occurs over periods from 1 billion to 3.3 billion years. Diamonds are brought close to the Earths surface through deep volcanic eruptions by magma, Diamonds can also be produced synthetically in a HPHT method which approximately simulates the conditions in the Earths mantle. An alternative, and completely different growth technique is chemical vapor deposition, several non-diamond materials, which include cubic zirconia and silicon carbide and are often called diamond simulants, resemble diamond in appearance and many properties. Special gemological techniques have developed to distinguish natural diamonds, synthetic diamonds. The word is from the ancient Greek ἀδάμας – adámas unbreakable, the name diamond is derived from the ancient Greek αδάμας, proper, unalterable, unbreakable, untamed, from ἀ-, un- + δαμάω, I overpower, I tame. Diamonds have been known in India for at least 3,000 years, Diamonds have been treasured as gemstones since their use as religious icons in ancient India. Their usage in engraving tools also dates to early human history, later in 1797, the English chemist Smithson Tennant repeated and expanded that experiment. By demonstrating that burning diamond and graphite releases the same amount of gas, the most familiar uses of diamonds today are as gemstones used for adornment, a use which dates back into antiquity, and as industrial abrasives for cutting hard materials. The dispersion of light into spectral colors is the primary gemological characteristic of gem diamonds. In the 20th century, experts in gemology developed methods of grading diamonds, four characteristics, known informally as the four Cs, are now commonly used as the basic descriptors of diamonds, these are carat, cut, color, and clarity. A large, flawless diamond is known as a paragon and these conditions are met in two places on Earth, in the lithospheric mantle below relatively stable continental plates, and at the site of a meteorite strike. The conditions for diamond formation to happen in the mantle occur at considerable depth corresponding to the requirements of temperature and pressure
34.
Sapphire
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Sapphire is a gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide. It is typically blue in color, but natural fancy sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, the only color which sapphire cannot be is red - as red colored corundum is called ruby, another corundum variety. This variety in color is due to amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry and they also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary, a sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years. Sapphire is one of the two gem-varieties of corundum, the other being ruby, although blue is the best-known sapphire color, they occur in other colors, including gray and black, and they can be colorless. A a pinkish orange variety of sapphire is called padparadscha, significant sapphire deposits are found in Eastern Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Madagascar, East Africa, and in North America in a few locations, mostly in Montana. Sapphire and rubies are often found in the geological setting. Every sapphire mine produces a range of quality - and origin is not a guarantee of quality. For sapphire, Kashmir receives the highest premium although Burma, Sri Lanka, the cost of natural sapphires varies depending on their color, clarity, size, cut, and overall quality. For gems of exceptional quality, an independent determination from a respected laboratory such as the GIA, gemstone color can be described in terms of hue, saturation, and tone. Hue is commonly understood as the color of the gemstone, saturation refers to the vividness or brightness of the hue, and tone is the lightness to darkness of the hue. Blue sapphire exists in various mixtures of its primary and secondary hues, various tonal levels, blue sapphires are evaluated based upon the purity of their primary hue. Purple, violet, and green are the most common secondary hues found in blue sapphires, violet and purple can contribute to the overall beauty of the color, while green is considered to be distinctly negative. Blue sapphires with up to 15% violet or purple are generally said to be of fine quality, gray is the normal saturation modifier or mask found in blue sapphires. Gray reduces the saturation or brightness of the hue, and therefore has a negative effect. The 423-carat Logan sapphire in the National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, sapphires in colors other than blue are called fancy or parti colored sapphires. Fancy sapphires are found in yellow, orange, green sapphires, brown, purple
35.
Emerald
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Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7. 5–8 on the Mohs scale, most emeralds are highly included, so their toughness is classified as generally poor. The word emerald is derived, from Vulgar Latin, esmaralda/esmaraldus, a variant of Latin smaragdus, emeralds, like all colored gemstones, are graded using four basic parameters–the four Cs of Connoisseurship, Color, Clarity, Cut and Carat weight. Before the 20th century, jewelers used the water, as in a gem of the finest water. Normally, in the grading of colored gemstones, color is by far the most important criterion, however, in the grading of emeralds, clarity is considered a close second. A fine emerald must possess not only a pure verdant green hue as described below, in the 1960s, the American jewelry industry changed the definition of emerald to include the green vanadium-bearing beryl as emerald. As a result, vanadium emeralds purchased as emeralds in the United States are not recognized as such in the UK, in America, the distinction between traditional emeralds and the new vanadium kind is often reflected in the use of terms such as Colombian Emerald. In gemology, color is divided into three components, hue, saturation, and tone, emeralds occur in hues ranging from yellow-green to blue-green, with the primary hue necessarily being green. Yellow and blue are the normal secondary hues found in emeralds, only gems that are medium to dark in tone are considered emerald, light-toned gems are known instead by the species name green beryl. The finest emerald are approximately 75% tone on a scale where 0% tone would be colorless, in addition, a fine emerald should be well saturated and have a hue that is bright. Gray is the normal saturation modifier or mask found in emerald, Emerald tends to have numerous inclusions and surface breaking fissures. Unlike diamond, where the standard, i. e. 10× magnification, is used to grade clarity. Thus, if an emerald has no visible inclusions to the eye it is considered flawless, stones that lack surface breaking fissures are extremely rare and therefore almost all emeralds are treated to enhance the apparent clarity. The inclusions and fissures within an emerald are sometime described as jardin, imperfections are unique for each emerald and can be used to identify a particular stone. Eye-clean stones of a vivid primary green hue, with no more than 15% of any hue or combination of a medium-dark tone. The relative non-uniformity motivates the cutting of emeralds in cabochon form, faceted emeralds are most commonly given an oval cut, or the signature emerald cut, a rectangular cut with facets around the top edge. Most emeralds are oiled as part of the process, in order to fill in surface-reaching cracks so that clarity and stability are improved. Cedar oil, having a refractive index, is often used in this widely adopted practice
36.
Ruby
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A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires, Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, together with amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond. They word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red, the color of a ruby is due to the element chromium. The quality of a ruby is determined by its color, cut, and clarity, the brightest and most valuable red called blood-red or pigeon blood, commands a large premium over other rubies of similar quality. After color follows clarity, similar to diamonds, a stone will command a premium. Ruby is the birthstone for July and is usually more pink than garnet. The worlds most expensive ruby is the Sunrise Ruby, rubies have a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Among the natural gems only moissanite and diamond are harder, with diamond having a Mohs hardness of 10.0, when a chromium atom replaces an occasional aluminum atom, it too loses 3 electrons to become a chromium3+ ion to maintain the charge balance of the Al2O3 crystal. However, the Cr3+ ions are larger and have electron orbitals in different directions than aluminum, the octahedral arrangement of the O2− ions is distorted, and the energy levels of the different orbitals of those Cr3+ ions are slightly altered because of the directions to the O2− ions. Those energy differences correspond to absorption in the ultraviolet, violet, if one percent of the aluminum ions are replaced by chromium in ruby, the yellow-green absorption results in a red color for the gem. Additionally, absorption at any of the above wavelengths stimulates fluorescent emission of 694-nanometer-wavelength red light, after absorbing short-wavelength light, there is short interval of time when the crystal lattice of ruby is in an excited state before fluorescence occurs. If 694-nanometer photons pass through the crystal during that time, they can stimulate more fluorescent photons to be emitted in-phase with them, thus strengthening the intensity of that red light. By arranging mirrors or other means to pass emitted light repeatedly through the crystal, all natural rubies have imperfections in them, including color impurities and inclusions of rutile needles known as silk. Gemologists use these needle inclusions found in natural rubies to distinguish them from synthetics, simulants, usually, the rough stone is heated before cutting. These days, almost all rubies are treated in some form, untreated rubies of high quality command a large premium. Some rubies show a three-point or six-point asterism or star and these rubies are cut into cabochons to display the effect properly. Asterisms are best visible with a source and move across the stone as the light moves or the stone is rotated. Such effects occur when light is reflected off the silk in a certain way and this is one example where inclusions increase the value of a gemstone
37.
Kaikhusrau Jahan, Begum of Bhopal
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Hajjah Nawab Begum Dame Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan GCSI GCIE GBE GCStJ CI was a notable and progressive Begum of Bhopal who ruled from 1901 to 1926. Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan was born at Bhopal as the elder and only surviving child of Nawab Begum Sultan Shah Jahan and her husband General HH Nasir ud-Daula, Nawab Baqi Muhammad Khan Bahadur. In 1868, she was proclaimed heir apparent to the Bhopal musnaid following the death of her grandmother, Sikander Begum, in 1901, Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan succeeded her mother at her death, becoming Nawab Begum of Dar-ul-Iqbal-i-Bhopal. During her reign, she had a focus on public instruction. She built many technical institutes and schools and increased the number of qualified teachers, from 1920 until her death, she was the founding Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. Even till today, she is the only female Chancellor ever served for Aligarh Muslim University, also, she established an Executive and Legislative State Council in 1922 and began open elections for the municipalities. In 1914, she was the President of the All-India Muslim Ladies Association, owing to her numerous activities, she was the recipient of numerous honours and awards. In 1926, after a reign of 25 years, Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan abdicated the throne in favour of her youngest child and only surviving son and she died four years later, aged 71. The couple had three sons and two daughters,1, sahibzadi Bilqis Jahan Muzaffar Begum Sahiba 2. Colonel Ali Jah, Nawab Hafiz Sir Muhammad Nasrullah Khan Sahib Bahadur, Wali Ahad Bahadur, Heir Apparent of Bhopal, granted a personal salute of 9-guns in 1901, commissioned a Major in 1912, promoted to Colonel in 1918. Named Chief Conservator of Forests in 1924, he was married twice and had two sons and a daughter 3, Major-General Al-Haj Mohsin ul-Mulk, Nawab Hafiz Muhammad Ubaidullah Khan Sahib Bahadur, CSI. Brigadier and C-in-C of the Bhopal State Forces and Imperial Service Troops,1905, commissioned a Captain in the Indian Army in 1909, promoted to Major in 1911 and to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1921, married and had four sons and a daughter 4. Sahibzadi Asif Jahan Begum Sahiba 5
38.
Shamiana
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Shamiana is a popular Indian ceremonial tent shelter or awning, commonly used for outdoor parties, marriages, feasts etc. The external fabric can be multicolored or can hold exquisite designs, the four corners are supported with wooden poles. The history of Shamiana dates back to the Mughal era
39.
Sayajirao Gaekwad III
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Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III was the Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939, and is notably remembered for reforming much of his state during his rule. He belonged to the royal Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas which ruled most of present-day Gujarat, Sayajirao was born in a Maratha family at Kavlana in Malegaon Tahsil Dist. Nashik as Shrimant Gopalrao Gaekwad, second son of Meherban Shrimant Kashirao Bhikajirao Dada Sahib Gaekwad and his branch of the Gaekwad dynasty was a cadet branch descended from a morganatic marriage of the first Raja of Baroda and so was not expected to succeed to the throne. Following the death of Sir Khanderao Gaekwad, the popular Maharaja of Baroda, in 1870, it was expected that his brother, Malharrao, however, Malharrao had already proven himself to be of the vilest character and had been imprisoned earlier for conspiring to assassinate Khanderao. As Khanderaos widow, Maharani Jamnabai was already pregnant with a posthumous child, the child proved to be a daughter, and so upon her birth on 5 July 1871, Malharrao ascended the throne. Malharrao spent money liberally, nearly emptying the Baroda coffers and soon reached the Resident of Malharraos gross tyranny. Malharrao further attempted to cover up his deeds by poisoning the Resident with a compound of arsenic, by order of the Secretary of State for India, Lord Salisbury, Malharrao was deposed on 10 April 1875 and exiled to Madras, where he died in obscurity in 1882. Kashirao and his three sons, Anandrao, Gopalrao and Sampatrao walked to Baroda from Kavlana -a distance of some 600 kilometers- to present themselves to Jamnabai. It is reported that when each son was asked the reason for presenting themselves at Baroda, Gopalrao unhesitatingly stated. He was selected by the British Government as successor and was adopted by Maharani Jamnabai. He was also given a new name, Sayajirao and he ascended the gadi at Baroda,16 June 1875 but being a minor reigned under a Council of Regency until he came of age and was invested with full ruling powers on 28 December 1881. In this period Madhava Rao restored the state to its normal conditions following the chaos in which it had left by Malharrao. Not a little credit for what the Maharaja achieved during his life in every sphere of activity must be given to F. A. H. Elliot. On assuming the reins of government, some of his first tasks included education of his subjects, uplifting of the downtrodden, and judicial, agricultural and social reforms. Fully aware of the fact that he was a Maratha ruler of Gujarat, he identified himself with the people and shaped their cosmopolitan attitude and progressive, reformist zeal. His rich library became the nucleus of todays Central Library of Baroda with a network of libraries in all the towns and villages in his state. He was the first Indian ruler to introduce, in 1906, compulsory and free education in his state. To commemorate his vision and administrative skills, Baroda Management Association has instituted Sayaji Ratna Award in 2013 and he was granted the title of Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia on 29 December 1876
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Partition of Bengal (1905)
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The decision to effect the Partition of Bengal was announced in July 1905, by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took place on 16 October 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. The Hindus of West Bengal who dominated Bengals business and rural life complained that the division would make them a minority in a province that would incorporate the province of Bihar, the partition animated the Hindus and led the Muslims to form their own national organisation on communal lines. Bengal was reunited in 1911, in an effort to appease the Bengali sentiment and have easier administration. The provincial state of Bengal had an area of 189,000 mi2 and it included the Hindi-speaking regions of Bihar, the Odia-speaking regions of Odisha as well as the Assamese-speaking region of Assam, making it a huge administrative entity. Moreover, the capital, Calcutta, was also the capital of the entire British India and this he hoped would reduce the administrative pressures and divide the population on religious grounds, quelling the Indian Independence Movement. The government announced the idea for partition in January 1904, the idea was opposed by Henry John Stedman Cotton, Chief Commissioner of Assam 1896–1902. The partition was made on 16 October, by Viceroy Curzon, the former province of Bengal was divided into two new provinces Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam with Dacca as the capital of the latter. Partition was promoted for administrative reasons since Bengal was geographically as large as France and had a larger population. Curzon stated the eastern region was neglected and under-governed, by splitting the province, an improved administration could be established in the east, where subsequently, the population would benefit from new schools and employment opportunities. Most of the factories and mills in Bengal were established in and around Calcutta, furthermore, most of the educational institutions of the Province were in Calcutta, including the lone university in Bengal. As a result of the partition, Dacca, the capital of East Bengal and this included the construction of administrative buildings like the Curzon Hall and High court, as well as the foundation of educational institutions in East Bengal and Assam. The opposition to the partition was led by the middle class of western Bengal. Following the partition, a movement formed in opposition to the Partition. This involved non-violent and violent protests, boycotts and even an attempt against the Governor of the new province of West Bengal. The opening years of the century were stormy. The political scenario was undergoing a change, and the British were beginning to feel a bit uneasy, political discontent was growing from the inability of the government to organise effective relief during the period of plague and famine. To stem the discontent, the British played the political trump card with great aplomb, for the first time, they used their divide-and-rule political game with great force
