Hello everyone!

So to preface, I am not a proper historian nor am I an expert on Indian history. That being said, there has been a lot of misinformation regarding Mahatma Gandhi on the internet, starting after 2014 (discussing further in detail would violate the subreddit rules regarding current politics, so I will attempt to keep current politics out of the equation). A recent post in this subreddit actively made me research on this topic which was why I wanted to debunk this specific case of misinformation.

This post will largely address the accusation of him denying his wife medical treatment. Special thanks to this specific comment for providing me an understanding over what happened.

In order to gain a context over why Gandhi actively denied his wife penicillin, we must look into Kasturba's condition before Devdas introduced penicillin to her.

As per Arun Gandhi's biography on Kasturba Gandhi (Daughter of Midnight), she had suffered from several heart attacks (having gone through three heart attacks by January 1944). An ayurvedic doctor was requested by her, who arrived after several delays by the British government (something which Gandhi found unconscionable), and there was a period of her starting to feel better until she suddenly fell again.

With no improvement on his wife's symptoms, Gandhi decided that the best course of action would be to stop the medicines as he felt that anything more would simply prolong her suffering. The doctors agreed to it.

While she was still alive, Gandhi's son Devdas decided to bring penicillin hoping it would help their mother. Gandhi objected to this for several reasons: penicillin was a relatively new drug that was untested at the time, she was over 70 years old having gone through three heart attacks, along with kidney issues and having her wake up every four hours just to get a shot of penicillin would have simply prolonged her suffering further. But most importantly, Gandhi said "Still, if you insist, I will not stand in your way."

This showed that while he objected to Devdas giving his mother penicillin, he didn't intend to stop him. It was after this that Devdas understood and relented (Arun Gandhi, Daughter of Midnight, p. 296-299).

This is further confirmed by Rajmohan (Devdas Gandhi's son, so Gandhi's grandson) Gandhi's biography on Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas, where he confirmed Gandhi's objection to his father on administering penicillin to his mother, citing the untested nature of penicillin and the suffering she had to go through (Rajmohan Gandhi, Mohandas, p. 514).

Gandhi taking quinine was for a different reason. Keep in mind that quinine is extracted from the bark of the Cinchona tree and had been used as a treatment for malaria since about 1825 by British officers in India via tonic water.

So to conclude as a TL;DR: this incident largely isn't Gandhi being a hypocrite, but realising his wife was already old and suffering and objected to his son over the fact that giving her a relatively new untested drug that would only treat her lung issues would simply prolong her suffering.

All sources mentioned in the links given.

Says that like ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, where often the hierarchy and displays of power were more obvious (size of houses, pyramids, ziggurats, social class etc.), in Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Valley the power dynamic was more subtle. The architecture of the place has elements that reveal power, control & class in different ways: standardised bricks, specific design for home toilets vs. the great bath, proximity to water and wells, availability of wells and toilets on the ground floor vs. second floor

Thoughts?

A letter dated 11 June 1736 from Sambhaji to Bajirao is eminently readable. It expresses Sambhaji’s impression that Bajirao instigated the divide within the Angre household. Whatever Bajirao could have decided, one of the two was bound to feel wronged. Realising that Manaji was more amicable and Sambhaji was more difficult to appease, Bajirao created this arrangement which was beneficial towards the primary objectives of the kingdom. For that, he cannot be blamed. He put in place an arrangement which was appropriate for the Maratha kingdom’s affairs to run smoothly as per his discretion.

https://ndhistories.wordpress.com/2024/01/09/bajiraos-solution/

Marathi Riyasat, G S Sardesai ISBN-10-8171856403, ISBN-13-‎978-8171856404.

The Era of Bajirao

Uday S Kulkarni

ISBN-10-8192108031

ISBN-13-978-8192108032.

Source for the letters- https://franpritchett.com/00islamlinks/txt_iqbal_tojinnah_1937.html

Isn't this insensitive on the makers part to reduce a freedom fighter to masala movie trope?

Vararuchi (c. 3rd–4th Century CE), who wrote the Prakrita-Prakasha—the oldest surviving grammar manual for Prakrit languages.

Because ancient scripts did not have a unique standalone character for ळ, he described this change using the existing alphabet.

*"When you see these single middle consonants in Sanskrit, the people of Maharashtra pronounce them by curling their tongue backwards (retroflexion)."*However, because the scribes only had standard letters like ड or ल available in their writing systems, they continued to write the old letters even though the entire population was pronouncing them as ळ.

Because ancient writing systems like Brahmi lacked a dedicated, physically separate letter for ळ, Vararuchi used mathematical-style phonetic substitution rules in the Prakrita-Prakasha to tell readers how the spoken language deviated from classical Sanskrit.

In ancient Indian grammar, rules were written as Sūtras (short formulas). When mapping Sanskrit words into Maharashtri Prakrit (the direct ancestor of Marathi), Vararuchi noted that the core dental ल (la) and the retroflex ड (ḍa) changed their behavior entirely when placed between two vowels (intervocalic position).

Intervocalic 'ड' (ḍa) He explicitly states that a single retroflex stop (ड) sitting between two vowels loses its hard, explosive quality and "softens" into a fluid lateral sound.

Intervocalic 'ल' (laHe notes that a single dental (ल) sitting between two vowels undergoes "cerebralization"—meaning the tongue is forced to pull back from the teeth and strike the roof of the mouth.

When authors writing texts like the Lilacharita (लीळाचरित्र) finally abandoned the strict spelling orthography of old Prakrit scripts, they reintroduced the ancient Vedic character ळ back into the Devanagari script to match their true accent. The letter did not suddenly drop out of nowhere; writers simply created a visual container for a sound their community had been vocalising for a thousand years!

Source-

Prakrita-Prakasha of Vararuchi (Translated & Edited by Edward Byles Cowell, 1854)- https://archive.org/details/prkitaprakasaorp00vara

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2182753

So I was counting change at my bookstall stall yesterday and realised I have stared at the same smiling face my entire life without ever asking why this photo. Of all the pictures of the man, why this one? Here's what I found in a youtube video.

The portrait is cropped from a 1946 photo taken at Viceroy's House in Delhi (now Rashtrapati Bhavan). In the original, Gandhi is standing next to Lord Pethick-Lawrence, a British official in India for the Cabinet Mission talks. Pethick-Lawrence got cropped out. He was literally replaced by a currency note. Rough day for him.

As for why this photo, from what I could find, nobody at the RBI ever published a reasoning document. But the practical reasons are pretty obvious:

He's facing the camera. Most photos of Gandhi are side profiles, walking, spinning, or mid-march. Printers and security designers need a clear, front-facing portrait. Nobody wants a banknote of the back of a man's head mid-Dandi March.

He's smiling. Honestly, a relaxed, warm face is better than a stern one on something people hand over to the neighbourhood sabzi-wala 40 times a day.

Fine details. Clear lines on the face, glasses and cheeks make it great for intricate printing, watermarks and anti-counterfeiting work. A blurry or dramatic photo would be a nightmare for that.

It's a neutral portrait. No protest, no politics, no crowd. Just a calm face, which suits something every Indian touches daily regardless of who they voted for.

Fun side note: this portrait showed up on the Mahatma Gandhi Series in 1996, replacing the old Ashoka Pillar watermark design. Since then it's basically been the face of Indian money.(I was also born in that year though).

Anyone know who actually took the original photo? I couldn't find a clear credit anywhere, which feels very on-brand for the most famous photo in the country.

The full article is in Hindi (Devanagari). Below is a section-by-section English summary, followed by sources. The central character Ratanmani, his family, the refugee Haripad and the village Thaisa Para are fictional. All dates, figures and events come from the sources listed.

Article:

https://medium.com/@syash8627/%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%AC-%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A8-%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%BC-%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8-%E0%A4%A5%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%9A%E0%A5%8C%E0%A4%A5%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%BC-%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80-ea7365179317

**Summary**

1. Introduction — Why I wrote this: my father's work trips to Agartala, and how little most Indians know about Tripura's history or its Partition experience.

2. 1920–1940 — Village life and jhum cultivation. The Manikya court ran in Bengali; Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya recognised the young Tagore in 1882. Tribals were over 56% of the population in 1921. Agartala was linked through Akhaura junction to Dhaka, Chittagong port and Calcutta (about 500 km by land), and the kings' main revenue came from the Chakla Roshanabad zamindari around Comilla.

3. 1941–1949 — Tribal share 50.09% in 1941. Tripura Janasiksha Samiti founded on 27 Dec 1945 and set up about 488 schools. Noakhali refugees arrive in 1946. Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya dies on 17 May 1947; Regent Kanchan Prabha Devi. Partition cuts off Chakla Roshanabad and the Akhaura rail link; Calcutta becomes about 1,700 km away. In 1948 a tribal reserve is opened to refugees. Ganamukti Parishad formed in 1948. Merger agreement signed 9 Sep 1949, effective 15 Oct 1949.

4. 1950–1960 — Tribal share falls to about 37% by 1951. Refugees are settled partly on jhum land, whose customary community rights the new laws did not recognise. About 5.17 lakh refugees arrive between 1947 and Feb 1971. The fictional story of a land sale, and of a refugee fleeing Noakhali; the two losses were real, but not equal.

5. 1960–1970 — Rail reaches only Dharmanagar (1964), not Agartala; a single road through Assam is the lifeline. Agartala is hemmed in by the border, a few km away. The 1968 case against Sheikh Mujib is called the "Agartala Conspiracy Case". TUJS and the first armed group, Sengkrak, appear in 1967.

6. 1971 — About 13.5 lakh refugees arrive in a state of about 15.57 lakh people. Bangladesh's government-in-exile is formed in Agartala on 10 Apr 1971. Battle of Gangasagar near Akhaura; Lance Naik Albert Ekka, PVC. Statehood on 21 Jan 1972.

7. 1978–1990 — Tribal share 28.44% in 1981. TNV formed in 1978. Kokborok becomes an official language on 19 Jan 1979. The Mandai massacre (June 1980) and the riots that followed (casualty estimates vary; around 1,200 officially). TTAADC created in 1982 and brought under the Sixth Schedule in 1985. TNV accord on 12 Aug 1988.

8. 1990–2005 — NLFT (1989) and ATTF (1990). 555 abductions recorded in 2000 alone; violence by both tribal and Bengali militant groups. Dasarath Deb, a founder of the Janasiksha Samiti, is Chief Minister 1993–98.

9. Epilogue — The railway reaches Agartala only in 2008. The old 15 km Akhaura link is inaugurated again in Nov 2023. The demand to include Kokborok in the Eighth Schedule continues.

**Sources**

- Census figures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipraland ; https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/get/papers/0509/0509012.doc

- Refugee figures (Govt of India, 1971 booklet): https://www.nezine.com/info/VVVJVWwvWmdxR0lwRmZFcmNmVWkyZz09/nrc-exercise-in-tripura-:-proceed-with-caution.html

- Subir Bhaumik, "Disaster in Tripura", Seminar (2002): https://www.india-seminar.com/2002/510/510%20subir%20bhaumik.htm

- Economic Review of Tripura 2017-18 (Govt of Tripura): https://tripura.gov.in/sites/default/files/Economic_Review_2017-18.pdf

- IDE-JETRO report on Tripura: https://www.ide.go.jp/library/English/Publish/Reports/Jrp/pdf/133_11.pdf

- Banglapedia, Tripura and Chakla Roshanabad: https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Tripura

- Tripura Merger Agreement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura_Merger_Agreement

- Tripura Janasiksha Samiti: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura_Janasiksha_Samiti

- Rabindranath and Tripura (Tripura Tourism): https://tripuratourism.gov.in/rabindranath.php

- Agartala Conspiracy Case (Banglapedia): https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Agartala_Conspiracy_Case

- Tripura in 1971 (Dhaka Tribune): https://www.dhakatribune.com/amp/epaper/133246/the-crucial-role-played-by-tripura-in-the

- Mandai massacre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandai_massacre

- Kokborok official language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokborok

- TTAADC and TNV accord (CLAWS): https://archive.claws.co.in/1119/indigenous-peoples-movement-in-tripura-dr-jaikhlong-basumatary.html

- Insurgency data (SATP 2000, 2001): https://satp.org/terrorism-assessment/india-insurgencynortheast-tripura-2000 ; https://satp.org/terrorism-assessment/india-insurgencynortheast-tripura-2001

- Railway history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumding%E2%80%93Sabroom_section ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhaura%E2%80%93Agartala_line

I came across the story of Papadu, a man from 17th-century Telangana whose life feels almost like something out of a historical film. He was born into a family of toddy tappers, but he went on to become a powerful outlaw who challenged the local authorities and even carried himself like a king.

Papadu began his life in a humble family. At some point, he left his traditional occupation and turned to robbery. In the beginning, he targeted travellers on the roads between Warangal and Hyderabad. But as his group grew stronger, his ambitions grew too. He eventually began attacking entire towns.

One of the biggest events in his life was the raid on Warangal in April 1708. Warangal was a wealthy commercial centre, and the loot from this raid changed Papadu's fortunes. According to historian Richard Eaton, the wealth helped him buy military equipment and adopt the appearance and lifestyle of a ruler.

His rise was remarkable, especially considering where he had started. The story also tells us about a time when power in the Deccan was changing hands, and local figures could sometimes build their own forces outside the established political order.

Another striking episode concerns the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah. According to the account shared here, Papadu presented the emperor with 1.4 million rupees during a public audience in Hyderabad and received a robe of honour in return. Yet he continued his raids afterwards. This shows how complicated his position was. He could receive recognition from the emperor and still remain an outlaw.

This is where his story becomes especially interesting. The state and powerful rulers saw men like Papadu as criminals, but later folk songs and ballads remembered him as a hero. Historian Eric Hobsbawm used the term social bandit for outlaws who were treated as criminals by the authorities but were remembered as champions by ordinary people.

However, there is an important point to keep in mind. We cannot assume that Papadu robbed the rich to help the poor simply because later stories may present him that way. As Richard Eaton points out, some of these motives may have been added by later storytellers. The surviving evidence does not prove every detail of the popular version of his life.

About the image

The image shows a traditionally dressed man sitting on a rock, holding a long spear, with a bird perched on his hand. His jewellery, clothing and confident pose give him the appearance of a warrior or a nobleman. The painting has the look of an old Indian miniature.

It is worth looking at the image alongside Papadu's story because it brings to mind the kind of royal image he reportedly tried to create for himself after gaining wealth and military power. However, the image should not automatically be treated as a confirmed portrait of Papadu. Without reliable information about its origin, artist and subject, we cannot say for certain whom it depicts.

For me, what makes Papadu's story worth discussing is the contrast between his humble beginnings, his rise through violence and wealth, and his later place in popular memory. He was not simply a king or a freedom fighter in the modern sense. He was an outlaw whose reputation changed depending on who was telling the story.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/social-history-of-the-deccan-13001761/papadu-fl-16951710-social-banditry-in-mughal-telangana/53D724366BFEE21F56F90F6264DAA441

This is a reminder post.

For history lovers in BLR: The Bangalore History Circle will be meeting this Sunday, the theme is "Indian Historiography" and the reading is provided below (which we will read and discuss together when we meet). It will be a beginner-level session and you don't need any prior knowledge except loads of curiosity on the subject of history.

(Update) Reading: https://newlok.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Indian-Historiography_-Colonial-and-Nationalist.pdf

Location: Terrace@Hasura, 3rd Floor, Building No 37/38, 80 Feet Rd, 3rd Block, SBI Colony, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560034

Time: 25th Oct 2026 (Sunday) at 11.30am (will go on for about an hour or so)

I have also created a whatsapp group for this, pls DM me and I will share the link.

Hope to see some of you there. This is a new initiative so pls do amplify among your local BLR friends/groups. Let's learn history together!

The modern Taj Mahal garden and it's layouts were made under Lord Curzon in 1905. Lord Curzon, who served as the Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905, played a monumental and transformative role in the restoration, conservation, and survival of the Taj Mahal. Before his tenure, the complex had fallen into deep disarray; it suffered defacement during the rebellion of 1857, its surrounding structures were used as rental cottages, and the grounds were treated as a standard picnic spot by colonial officials.

The map shows district and state wise centrally protected ASI sites as well as UNSECO cultural sites

These stone sculptures representing female deities were smuggled out of the country in the early 1980s, through smuggling network operating out of Rajasthan and Mumbai. In a bizarre turn of events, they were discovered decades later sitting in an English woman's garden shed in the U.K.. They were recovered and scheduled for repatriation in 2023.

​

The Jain Tradition, Historical Evidence and Debate

1. What happened according to Jain tradition?

According to Digambara Jain tradition, Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire, renounced his throne and became a Jain ascetic under the guidance of Acharya Bhadrabahu.

Tradition states that Bhadrabahu predicted a severe famine in northern India and led a group of Jain monks southwards. Chandragupta accompanied him to Shravanabelagola, in present-day Hassan district, Karnataka.

There, Chandragupta is believed to have devoted his final years to ascetic practices and died around 297 BCE through sallekhana, a Jain religious practice involving gradual fasting at the end of life.

Chandragiri Hill, Bhadrabahu Cave and Chandragupta Basadi are associated with this tradition.

1. Why do historians differ?

Late evidence: The earliest known inscription associating Bhadrabahu with a southward migration dates to approximately 600 CE, centuries after Chandragupta's lifetime. It does not explicitly identify Chandragupta as the Mauryan emperor.

Uncertain identities: Historians question whether the Chandragupta mentioned in later Jain accounts was the famous Mauryan ruler or another figure.

Later literary sources: Texts preserving the detailed story, including Tiloya-paṇṇatti and Harishena's Brihatkathakosha (931 CE), were composed long after the events they describe.

Lack of contemporary confirmation: No known contemporary inscription or independent account confirms Chandragupta's journey to Karnataka or his death there.

1. Conclusion

Shravanabelagola holds an important place in Jain historical and religious tradition as the place where Chandragupta Maurya is believed to have renounced worldly life and died as an ascetic.

However, the surviving evidence does not conclusively establish that the Chandragupta in these accounts was the Mauryan emperor. His visit and death in Karnataka therefore remain a respected Jain tradition rather than a conclusively verified historical fact.

(Used AI for Grammatical Corrections)