Believe it or not, a lot of quintessential Indian desserts and snacks aren’t originally from India. The following six dishes are great examples of just that.
- Samosa
- Jalebi
- Dal Chaawal
- Rajma
- Filter Coffee
- Gulab Jamun
Archives: history
Ravanhatha is a musical instrument made from bamboo attached to a coconut shell and covered with a goat membrane. The string is made up of horse hair, and is played using a wooden bow.
Believed to be the ancestor of the modern-day violin, the instrument Ravanhatha (Ravanstorm) is considered to be a modification of the word ‘Ravan Hasta Veena’. According to a folktale, Ravana, a great devotee of Shiva, played the Ravanhatha as an offering to the god. After Rama destroyed Ravana on the battlefield, Hanuman brought the Ravanhatha to India from Sri Lanka. Surprisingly though, there exist no records of the Ravanhatha in Sri Lanka. However, the instrument finds it’s mention in the early texts of India such as the musical treatise, Bharatabhasya, written by a scholar Nanyadeva.
Even today, the Ravanhatha is popular among the wandering bards and folk musicians of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The instrument is played mostly by the Bhopas (priest singers) while narrating the folk tale of Pabuji, a hero of the local Rabari tribe, a shepherd community of Rajasthan. This is no ordinary storytelling, it is narrated frame by frame using Phad paintings, a live-action animation screening if you will.
Nagarjuna (150 to 250 CE) was a philosopher who belonged to the Mahayana school of Buddhism. He was also the head of the ancient Nalanda University for a period of time. He is said to have been born in Vidarbha, Maharashtra. This quote is attributed to him.
Did you know the India’s first passenger train ride was on April 16th, 1853? The following year, the Bombay line was extended to Kalyan with India’s first railway bridge. In eastern India, passenger trains were introduced in 1854, with the first journey taking place in August of that year from Howrah to Hoogly. Down south, passenger trains took yet another two years to be debut; the first journey was from Royapuram to erstwhile Madras in July 1856.
Coming back to the first ever passenger train ride in India, here are some more iconic facts about that momentous occasion.
We’re celebrating World Art Day by looking back at some of our iconic artwork over the years. Most of these artists still work with us regularly!
#OnThisDay in 1919, British troops opened fire on thousands of unarmed Indians celebrating the festival of Vaisakhi in Amritsar, Punjab, in what has come to be called the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Today, Jallianwala Bagh is a memorial of national significance and one of the most visited historical sites in Amritsar.
Illustration: Ram Waeerkar
Script: Toni Patel
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The story of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy is set in the turbulent years of the 19th century when the East India Company was slowly increasing its stranglehold over India. It is the story of one man’s indomitable spirit against a system which was cold and ruthless.
Born with a questioning mind, the young Narasimha could not fathom how a foreign nation could suddenly be telling his people how to live. His questions led him to the wise sage, Gossayi Venkanna, who saw in the boy his own fire and fervour. He trained Narasimha into a lethal war machine and sent him out to rally the people of Renadu (known now as Rayalaseema) to fight against the oppressors.
Narasimha Reddy single-handedly recruited an army of people from every section of society and transformed them into a skilled fighting unit. This was one of the first confrontations against the British in South India. Though his efforts were scuttled by betrayal by his own people, Narasimha Reddy’s fight against the British was one of the most sustained of his time.
‘Narasimha Reddy’ is available on the Amar Chitra Katha app, as well as Amazon, Flipkart and other major e-tailers.
Venkatarama Pandit Krishnamurthy was a freedom fighter and a legendary cinematographer. In 1951, he worked as an assistant cinematographer for Baazi, which was Guru Dutt’s directorial debut. Impressed by Murthy’s fluid captures, Guru Dutt made him the chief cinematographer of his next film. Soon, Murthy became Guru’s favourite and this duo shared a unique bond with each other, which lasted until Guru’s last breath.
In 1959 came Guru Dutt’s Kaagaz Ke Phool, India’s first cinemascope film. Dutt’s direction and Murthy’s cinematography created history in Indian cinema, becoming one of the most illustrious examples of the medium. Murthy gave India some of its finest work through films like Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Aar Paar, Pakeezah, Razia Sultan, Naya Zamana, Jugnu, and Tamas. His contribution to the Indian film industry was so immense and impressive that he was awarded the IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and honoured with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 2010.
Today marks the sixth death anniversary of V.K. Murthy. Amar Chitra Katha pays tribute to the artist who left an indelible mark in the Indian film industry.
Born a prince, Mahavira renounced his worldly titles and possessions to become an ascetic. He wandered everywhere with not even a tiny piece of cloth to protect from the elements. His followers were many, including royalty. Mahavira is the founder of Jainism, built on the core principle of ahimsa or non-violence. This principle is not restricted to man alone, but to every living creature on the planet, be it fauna or flora.
On the occasion of Mahavira Jayanti, let us all try to inculcate these pearls of wisdom from the great monk.
Amar Chitra Katha’s ‘Mahavira’ is available on the Amar Chitra Katha app as well as Amazon, Flipkart, and other major e-tailers.
Here is a quote by Rabindranath Tagore to remind you that no matter how bad a situation may be, there is always a way out.
