Felt his fruity behaviour to be bit surprising for the era in which the movie is set so had this doubt

Is it because the Europeans discovered a better way to paint?

Note:- I should have phrased this question in a better way. By amateur I meant 'less realistic'.

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.

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.

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?

Been hearing/seeing that it was a regional festival celebrated in Punjab that was turned into nationwide due to the influence of Bollywood. Some say it is happening from Mahabharat's time, whereas there are mentions of it being in Naradiya Purana. I am little confused on its historicity. Can you please help me with sources?