1.
India
–
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
2.
Madhya Pradesh
–
Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, nicknamed the heart of India due to its geographical location in India, Madhya Pradesh is the second-largest state in the country by area. With over 75 million inhabitants, it is the fifth-largest state in India by population and it borders the states of Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the southeast, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest. Its total area is 308,252 km², subsequently, the region was ruled by the major dynasties of India. By the early 18th century, the region was divided into small kingdoms which were captured by the British and incorporated into Central Provinces and Berar. This state was the largest in India by area until 2000, in recent years, the states GDP growth has been above the national average. Rich in mineral resources, MP has the largest reserves of diamond, more than 30% of its area is under forest cover. Its tourism industry has seen growth, with the state topping the National Tourism Awards in 2010–11. Isolated remains of Homo erectus found in Hathnora in the Narmada Valley indicate that Madhya Pradesh might have been inhabited in the Middle Pleistocene era, painted pottery dated to the later mesolithic period has been found in the Bhimbetka rock shelters. Chalcolithic sites belonging to Kayatha culture and Malwa culture have been discovered in the part of the state. The city of Ujjain arose as a centre in the region. It served as the capital of the Avanti kingdom, other kingdoms mentioned in ancient epics — Malava, Karusha, Dasarna and Nishada — have also been identified with parts of Madhya Pradesh. Chandragupta Maurya united northern India around 320 BCE, establishing the Mauryan Empire, ashoka the greatest of Mauryan rulers brought the region under firmer control. After the decline of the Maurya empire, the region was contested among the Sakas, the Kushanas, the Satavahanas, Heliodorus, the Greek Ambassador to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra erected the Heliodorus pillar near Vidisha. Ujjain emerged as the predominant commercial centre of western India from the first century BCE, the Satavahana dynasty of the northern Deccan and the Saka dynasty of the Western Satraps fought for the control of Madhya Pradesh during the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. The Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni inflicted a defeat upon the Saka rulers and conquered parts of Malwa. Subsequently, the region came under the control of the Gupta empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, and their southern neighbours, the attacks of the Hephthalites or White Huns brought about the collapse of the Gupta empire, which broke up into smaller states. The king Yasodharman of Malwa defeated the Huns in 528, ending their expansion, later, Harsha ruled the northern parts of the state
3.
Vehicle registration plate
–
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
4.
Malwa
–
Malwa is a natural region in west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, the historical Malwa region includes districts of western Madhya Pradesh, the definition of Malwa is sometimes extended to include the Nimar region north of the Vindhyas. The Malwa region had been a political unit from the time of the ancient Malava Kingdom. It has been ruled by several kingdoms and dynasties, including the Avanti Kingdom, the Mauryans, the Malavas, the Guptas, the Paramaras, the Malwa sultans, the Mughals and the Marathas. Malwa continued to be a division until 1947, when the Malwa Agency of British India was merged into Madhya Bharat state of independent India. Although its political borders have fluctuated throughout history, the region has developed its own culture, influenced by the Rajasthani, Marathi. Ujjain had been the political, economic, and cultural capital of the region in ancient times, overall, agriculture is the main occupation of the people of Malwa. The region has one of the important producers of opium in the world. Wheat and soybeans are other important cash crops, and textiles are a major industry, several early stone age or Lower Paleolithic habitations have been excavated in eastern Malwa. The name Malwa is derived from the name of the ancient Indian tribe of Malavas, the name Malava is said to be derived from the Sanskrit term Malav, which means “part of the abode of Lakshmi”. The location of the Malwa or Moholo, mentioned by the 7th-century Chinese traveller Xuanzang, is identified with present-day Gujarat. The region is cited as Malibah in Arabic records, such as Kamilu-t Tawarikh by Ibn Asir, Ujjain, also known historically as Ujjaiyini and Avanti, emerged as the first major centre in the Malwa region during Indias second wave of urbanisation in the 7th century BC. Around 600 BC an earthen rampart was built around Ujjain, enclosing a city of considerable size, Avanti was one of the prominent mahajanapadas of ancient India. The region was conquered by the Maurya Empire in the mid-4th century BC, Ashoka, who was later a Mauryan emperor, was governor of Ujjain in his youth. After the death of Ashoka in 232 BC, the Maurya Empire began to collapse, although evidence is sparse, Malwa was probably ruled by the Kushanas, the Shakas and the Satavahana dynasty during the 1st and 2nd century CE. Ownership of the region was the subject of dispute between the Western Kshatrapas and the Satavahanas during the first three centuries AD, Ujjain emerged a major trading centre during the 1st century AD. Malwa became part of the Gupta Empire during the reign of Chandragupta II, also known as Vikramaditya, the Gupta period is widely regarded as a golden age in the history of Malwa, when Ujjain served as the empires western capital
5.
Bhopal
–
Bhopal is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Bhopal district and Bhopal division. The city was the capital of the former Bhopal State, Bhopal is known as the City of Lakes for its various natural as well as artificial lakes and is also one of the greenest cities in India. It is the 17th largest city in the country and 131st in the world, a Y-class city, Bhopal houses various institutions and installations of national importance, including ISROs Master Control Facility and BHEL. Bhopal is home to the largest number of Institutes of National Importance in India, namely IISER, MANIT, SPA, the Bhopal disaster continues to be a part of the socio-political debate and a logistical challenge for the people of Bhopal. The city has been adjudged as the 21st cleanest city in India, according to folklore, Bhopal was founded in 11th century by the Paramara king Bhoja, who ruled from his capital at Dhar. This theory states that Bhopal was originally known as Bhojpal after a dam constructed by the kings minister, an alternative theory says that the city is named after another king called Bhupala. In the early 18th century, Bhopal was a village in the Gond kingdom. The modern Bhopal city was established by Dost Mohammad Khan, an Afghan soldier in the Mughal army, after the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region. In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate, Khan received the territory of Bhopal from the Gond queen Kamlapati in lieu of payment for mercenary services and usurped her kingdom after her death. In the 1720s, he built the Fatehgarh fort in the village, Bhopal became a princely state after signing a treaty with the British East India Company in 1818. Between 1819 and 1926, the state was ruled by four women, qudsia Begum was the first woman ruler, who was succeeded by her only daughter Sikandar Begum, who in turn was succeeded by her only daughter, Shahjehan Begum. Sultan Jahan Begum was the last woman ruler who, after 25 years of rule, abdicated in favour of her son, the rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system, and a municipality constituted in 1907. Bhopal State was the second-largest Muslim-ruled princely state, the first being Hyderabad, after the independence of India in 1947, the last Nawab expressed his wish to retain Bhopal as a separate unit. Agitations against the Nawab broke out in December 1948, leading to the arrest of prominent leaders including Shankar Dayal Sharma, later, the political detainees were released, and the Nawab signed the agreement for Bhopals merger with the Union of India on 30 April 1949. The Bhopal state was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949, on December 1984, a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which led to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was recorded around 4,000. The higher estimates have been challenged, the impact of the disaster continues to this day in terms of psychological and neurological disabilities, blindness, skin, vision, breathing, and birth disorders. The soil and ground water near the site have been contaminated by the toxic wastes
6.
Indore
–
Indore /ɪnˈdɔər/, is the largest and most populous city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division, Indore was described by the Economic Times as the commercial capital of the state. It is also considered as a hub of the state. With a census-estimated 2011 population of 1,994,397 and 2,170,295, the city is distributed over a land area of just 530 square kilometers making Indore the most densely populated major city in the central province. It comes under Tier 2 cities in India, Indore traces its roots to its 16th century founding as a trading hub between the Deccan and Delhi. The city and its surroundings came under Hindu Maratha Empire on 18 May 1724 after Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I assumed the control of Malwa. During the days of the British Raj, Indore State was a 19 Gun Salute princely state ruled by the Maratha Holkar dynasty, Indore served as the capital of the Madhya Bharat from 1950 until 1956. Indores financial district, anchored by central Indore, functions as the capital of the Madhya Pradesh and is home to the Madhya Pradesh Stock Exchange. It has also qualified the first round of Smart Cities Mission and has selected as one of the first twenty cities to be developed as Smart Cities. By 1720, the headquarters of the local pargana were transferred from Kampel to Indore, on 18 May 1724, the Nizam accepted the rights of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I to collect chauth from the area. In 1733, the Peshwa assumed the control of Malwa. Nandlal Chaudhary accepted the suzerainty of the Marathas, on 29 July 1732, Bajirao Peshwa-I granted Holkar State by merging 28 and half parganas to Malhar Rao Holkar, the founder ruler of Holkar dynasty. His daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar moved the capital to Maheshwar in 1767. In 1818, the Holkars were defeated by the British during the Third Anglo-Maratha War, a residency with British resident was established at Indore, but Holkars continued to rule Indore State as a princely state mainly due to efforts of their Dewan Tatya Jog. During that time, Indore was established the headquarters of British Central Agency, Ujjain was originally the commercial centre of Malwa. But the British administrators such as John Malcolm decided to promote Indore as an alternative to Ujjain, because the merchants of Ujjain had supported anti-British elements. In 1906 electric supply was started in the city, fire brigade was established in 1909 and in 1918, first master-plan of city was made by noted architect and town planner, Patrick Geddes. During the period of Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar II efforts were made for the planned development, with the introduction of Railways in 1875, the business in Indore flourished till the reign of Maharaja Shivaji Rao Holkar, Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar III and Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar
7.
Princely state
–
A princely state, also called native state or Indian state, was a nominally sovereign monarchy under a local or regional ruler in a subsidiary alliance with a greater power. At the time of the British withdrawal,565 princely states were recognised in the Indian subcontinent, apart from thousands of zamindaris. Rulers of salute states entitled to a gun salute of eleven guns and above received from the British the style of Highness, while the Nizam of Hyderabad had the unique style of Exalted Highness. At the other end of the scale, the principality of Lawa covered an area of 49 km2, or smaller than Bermuda. Some two hundred of the states had an area of less than 25 km2. The era of the princely states effectively ended with Indian independence in 1947, by 1950, almost all of the principalities had acceded to either India or Pakistan – thirteen to Pakistan and the rest to India. During this time, the princely states were merged into unions, each of which was headed by a former ruling prince with the title of Rajpramukh. In 1956, the position of Rajpramukh was abolished and the federations dissolved, the Indian Government formally derecognised the princely families in 1971, followed by the Government of Pakistan in 1972. The widespread expansion of Islam during this time brought many principalities into tributary relations with Islamic sultanates, notably the Delhi Sultanate, in the south, however, the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire remained dominant until the mid-17th century, among its tributaries was the future Mysore Kingdom. The Turco-Mongol Mughal Empire brought a majority of the existing Indian kingdoms and principalities under its suzerainty by the 17th century, beginning with its foundation in the early 16th century. The advent of Sikhism resulted in the creation of the Sikh Empire in the north by the early 18th century, at the same time, the Marathas carved out their own states to form the Maratha Empire. Through the 18th century, former Mughal governors formed their own independent states, India under the British Raj consisted of two types of territory, British India and the Native states or Princely states. In general the term British India had been used also to refer to the regions under the rule of the East India Company in India from 1774 to 1858, the term has also been used to refer to the British in India. More prestigious Hindu rulers often used the title Raja, Raje or a variant such as Rana, Rao, also in this class were several Thakurs or Thakores and a few particular titles, such as Sardar, Mankari, Deshmukh, Sar Desai, Raja Inamdar, Saranjamdar. The most prestigious Hindu rulers usually had the prefix maha in their titles, as in Maharaja, Maharana, Maharao, etc. The states of Travancore and Cochin had queens regnant styled Maharani, generally the female forms applied only to sisters, spouses and widows, there were also compound titles, such as rajadhiraj, Raj-i-rajgan, often relics from an elaborate system of hierarchical titles under the Mughal emperors. For example, the addition of the adjective Bahadur raised the status of the one level. Furthermore, most dynasties used a variety of titles, such as Varma in South India
8.
Maratha
–
The Maratha is a group of castes in India found predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Marathas are people of India, famed in history as yeoman warriors and they reside primarily in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The general body of lists are often at variance with each other. The term Maratha originally referred to the speakers of the Marathi language, in the 17th century, it emerged as a designation for soldiers serving in the armies of Deccan sultanates. A number of Maratha warriors, including Shivajis father, Shahaji, by the mid-1660s, Shivaji had established an independent Maratha kingdom. After his death, Marathas fought under his sons and defeated Aurangzeb in the war of 27 years, the Confederacy remained the pre-eminent power in India until their defeat by the British East India Company in the Third Anglo-Maratha War. By 19th century, the term Maratha had several interpretations in the British administrative records, in the Thane District Gazetteer of 1882, the term was used to denote elite layers within various castes, for example, Maratha-Agri within Agri caste, Maratha-Koli within Koli caste and so on. In the Pune District, the words Kunbi and Maratha had become synonymous, the Pune District Gazetteer of 1882 divided the Kunbis into two classes, Marathas and other Kunbis. The 1901 census listed three groups within the Maratha-Kunbi caste complex, Marathas proper, Maratha Kunbis and Konkani Marathas, the Kunbi class comprised agricultural workers and soldiers. The upper-class Marathas proper claimed Rajput descent with Kshatriya status, and included princes, some of the Maratha clans claiming Rajput descent include Bhonsales, Chavans, and Pawar. Gradually, the term Maratha came to denote an endogamous caste, from 1900 onwards, the Satyashodhak Samaj movement defined the Marathas as a broader social category of non-Brahmin groups. These non-Brahmins gained prominence in Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement, in independent India, these Marathas became the dominant political force in the newly-formed state of Maharashtra. The empire also resulted in the relocation of substantial numbers of Maratha and other Marathi-speaking people outside Maharashtra. Today several small but significant communities descended from these live in the north, south. These descendant communities tend often to speak the languages, although many also speak Marathi in addition. Notable Maratha families outside Maharashtra include Scindia of Gwalior, Gaekwad of Baroda, Holkar of Indore, Puar of Dewas & Dhar, Ghorpade of Mudhol, and Bhonsle of Nagpur. These Brahmins supported the Maratha claim to Kshatriya status, but their success in political alliance was sporadic. Marathas have dominated the politics of Maharashtra since its inception in 1960
9.
Chamunda
–
Chamunda, also known as Sachchi Mata, Chamundi, Chamundeshwari, and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas. She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, the name is a combination of Chanda and Munda, two monsters whom Chamunda killed. She is closely associated with Kali, another aspect of Devi. She is sometimes identified with goddesses Parvati, Chandi or Durga as well, the goddess is often portrayed as haunting cremation grounds or fig trees. The goddess is worshipped by ritual animal sacrifices along with offerings of wine and in the ancient times, as the times have changed, meat, and wine are no longer offered. As of today it has known that animal sacrifices have been discouraged by texts such as the Ramayan. Originally Devi Chamunda was discovered in Hinduism and later entered the Jain pantheon too, though in Jainism, the rites of her worship include vegetarian offerings, and not the meat and liquor offerings. Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar says that Chamunda was originally a form of Devi worshipped by the Munda peoples of the Vindhya range of central India and these tribes were known to offer goddesses animal as well as human sacrifices along with ritual offerings of liquor. These methods of worship were retained in Tantric worship of Chamunda and he proposes the fierce nature of this goddess is due of her association with Vedic Rudra, identified with fire god Agni at times. The black or red coloured Chamunda is described as wearing a garland of severed heads or skulls. She is described as having four, eight, ten or twelve arms, holding a Damaru, trishula, sword, a snake, skull-mace, thunderbolt, standing on a corpse of a man or seated on a defeated demon or corpse. Chamunda is depicted adorned by ornaments of bones, skulls, serpents and she also wears a Yajnopavita of skulls. She wears a jata mukuta, that is, headdress formed of piled, matted hair tied with snakes or skull ornaments, sometimes, a crescent moon is seen on her head. Her socket eyes are described as so intense that it burns the evil of all three worlds and she is accompanied by fiends and goblins. She is also shown to be surrounded by skeletons or ghosts and beasts like jackals, the jackal are her fearsome companions. The severed head and corpse represents the severing of the ego, the corpse hence is conquered by the Devi, showing that the Ego is conquered. The symbolism of the Devi is made as to one is given the impression of the reality of life. This form as well as many of the other Eight Matrikas all show the reality of life and they show the bareness, non sugar coated version of reality
10.
Deva (Hinduism)
–
Deva means heavenly, divine, anything of excellence, and is also one of the terms for a deity in Hinduism. Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. In the earliest Vedic literature, all beings are called Asuras. The concepts and legends evolve in ancient Indian literature, and by the late Vedic period, in post-Vedic texts, such as the Puranas and the Itihasas of Hinduism, the Devas represent the good, and the Asuras the bad. In some medieval Indian literature, Devas are also referred to as Suras and contrasted with their powerful but malevolent half-brothers. Devas along with Asuras, Yakshas and Rakshasas are part of Indian mythology, Deva is a Sanskrit word found in Vedic literature of 2nd millennium BCE. Monier Williams translates it as heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of excellence, exalted. The concept also is used to refer to deity or god, the feminine form of *deiwos is *deiwih2, which descends into Indic languages as devi, in that context meaning female deity. The bode of the Devas is Dyuloka, according to Douglas Harper, the etymological roots of Deva mean a shining one, from *div- to shine, and it is a cognate with Greek dios divine and Zeus, and Latin deus god. Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea, when capitalized, Devi or Mata refers to goddess as divine mother in Hinduism. Deva is also referred to as Devatā, while Devi as Devika, the word Deva is also a proper name or part of name in Indian culture, where it refers to one who wishes to excel, overcome or the seeker of, master of or a best among-. Savitr, Vishnu, Rudra, and Prajapati are gods and hence Devas, saraswati and Ushas are some Devis or goddesses. Many of the deities taken together are worshiped as the Vishvedevas, max Muller states that the Vedic hymns are remarkable in calling every single of different devas as the only one, the supreme, the greatest.163.3, Trita art thou by interior operation. All powerful beings, good or evil, are called Asuras in the oldest layer of Vedic texts, a much studied hymn of the Rigveda states Devav asura, and contrasts it with Asura adevah. They are born from the father, Prajapati, the primordial progenitor, the elder sons are envisioned as the Asuras. The oldest Upanishads mention Devas, and their struggle with the Asuras, the Kaushitaki Upanishad, for example, in Book 4 states that Indra was weaker than the Asuras when he did not know his own Atman. Chandogya Upanishad, in chapter 1.2, describes the battle between Devas and Asuras on various sensory powers, finally, the Deva-Asura battle targets the soul, where Asuras fail and Devas succeed, because soul-force is serene and inherently good, asserts Chandogya Upanishad
11.
E. M. Forster
–
Edward Morgan Forster OM CH, known as E. M. Forster, was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. Many of his novels examined class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society and his novel A Passage to India brought him his greatest success. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 16 different years, Forster was born into an Anglo-Irish and Welsh middle-class family at 6 Melcombe Place, Dorset Square, London NW1, in a building that no longer exists. He was the child of Alice Clara Lily and Edward Morgan Llewellyn Forster. His name was registered as Henry Morgan Forster, but at his baptism he was accidentally named Edward Morgan Forster. To distinguish him from his father, he was always called Morgan and his father died of tuberculosis on 30 October 1880, before Morgans second birthday. In 1883, Forster and his moved to Rooksnest, near Stevenage. This house served as a model for Howards End, because he had fond memories of his childhood there, among Forsters ancestors were members of the Clapham Sect, a social reform group within the Church of England. He inherited £8,000 from his paternal great-aunt Marianne Thornton, the money was enough to live on and enabled him to become a writer. He attended Tonbridge School in Kent, as a day boy, the theatre at the school has been named in his honour. At Kings College, Cambridge, between 1897 and 1901, he became a member of a society known as the Apostles. They met in secret, and discussed their work on, many of its members went on to constitute what came to be known as the Bloomsbury Group, of which Forster was a peripheral member in the 1910s and 1920s. There is a recreation of Forsters Cambridge at the beginning of The Longest Journey. The Schlegel sisters of Howards End are based to some degree on Vanessa, after leaving university, he travelled in continental Europe with his mother. They moved to Weybridge, Surrey where he wrote all six of his novels, in 1914, he visited Egypt, Germany and India with the classicist Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, by which time he had written all but one of his novels. In the First World War, as an objector, Forster volunteered for the International Red Cross. Forster spent a spell in India in the early 1920s as the private secretary to Tukojirao III. The Hill of Devi is his account of this period
12.
Peshwa
–
A Peshwa was the equivalent of a modern Prime Minister in the Maratha Empire. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati, but later, they became the de facto leaders of the Marathas, and the Chatrapati was reduced to a nominal ruler. During the last years of the Maratha Empire, the Peshwas themselves were reduced to titular leaders, and remained under the authority of the Maratha nobles, all the Peshwas during the rule of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Chhatrapati Sambhaji belonged to Deshastha Brahmin family. The first Peshwa was Moropant Pingle, who was appointed as the head of the Ashta Pradhan by Chhatrapati Shivaji, the initial Peshwas were all ministers who served as the chief executives to the king. The later Peshwas held the highest administrative office and also controlled the Maratha confederacy, under the Chitpavan Brahmin Bhat family, the Peshwas became the de facto hereditary administrators of the Confederacy. The Peshwas office was most powerful under Baji Rao I, under Peshwa administration and with the support of several key generals and diplomats, the Maratha Empire reached its zenith, ruling most of the Indian subcontinent. However, after the Peshwa Raghunathrao allied with the British, the Peshwas power declined substantially, later on many provinces were controlled and administered either by the Maratha nobles such as Daulat Rao Sindhia, or by the East India Company. During this period, the Maratha confederacy came to its end through its formal annexation into the British Empire in 1818, clever Deshasthas were happy with the downfall as they were kept away from power by talented Chitpavans for a long time. The word Peshwa is from Persian پیشوا pēshwā, meaning foremost, after the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1674, he appointed Moropant Trimbak Pingle as the first Peshwa. Shivaji Maharaj renamed this designation as Pantpradhan in 1674 but this term is commonly used. The first Peshwa was Moropant Trimbak Pingale who served the monarch and his son, Nilopant Pingale, was appointed Peshwa by the second Chhatrapati Sambhaji after Moropants s death in 1683. The second Peshwa, Ramchandra Amatya, received royal status from Chhatrapati Rajaram as Hukumatpanha from 1689 to 1699 and he was a sound administrator who rose from the level of a local Kulkarni to the ranks of Ashta Pradhan due to guidance and support from Shivaji. Amatya is a Sanskrit term denoting counselor, guide, supervisor or overseer of both personal and governmental affairs and he recaptured many forts from the Mughals between 1690 and 1694, some in person, as well as personally conducting guerilla war techniques. When Chhatrapati Rajaram fled to Jinji in 1689, before leaving from Maharashtra, Ramchandra Pant managed the entire state under many challenges such as the Mughal influx, the betrayal of Vatandars, and scarcity of food. With his help, Sachiv kept the Maratha State on an economic footing. Pant got tremendous military help from Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav, in 1698, he happily stepped down from the post of Hukumatpanha and Rajaram offered this post to his wife Tarabai. Tarabai gave an important position to Pant in the administration of Maratha State and he wrote a book called Adnyapatra मराठी, आज्ञापत्र which explained different techniques of war, maintenance of forts and administration etc. The concepts in Adnyapatra and the wisdom and leadership of ] greatly helped the Maratha empire in building the foundation of state, as he was more loyal to Tarabai than Shahu, he was sidelined after the arrival of Chhatrapati Shahu
.jpg)
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dewas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 137.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 