The Evil Ansh

The King of Devas and Devguru Brihaspati were travelling to Kailash to meet the holy Lord. On the way to the Jungle, they met a naked man deep in meditation. The vain King asked the man the way. The man was so deep in his meditation that he did not reply. Fierce at this kind of humiliation, the God of Thunderstruck the man with it. The man opened his hand and neutralised the bolt. His third eye opened in rage, paralysing the King of Devas. However, he controlled his anger, and instead of turning the King to ashes, the energy from his third eye met the Oceans.

" Prabhu? Forgive Indra, for he did not know who you were." Brihaspati pleaded.

" DevGuru. This is my Kailash, where no man is greater than the other. He is not the king here. He should treat a man like he wants to be treated."

" Please forgive him, My Lord."

The ever-forgiving Bholenath smiled.

Miles away from the God of the Oceans, Samudradev found a baby. His wails were disturbingly loud. It did not have the sweetness of a baby. The Devas pressed their hands against their ears. The helpless Samudra Dev took the abandoned child to the Creator, Brahma. Brahma took the child in his lap, and the child caught his neck so hard he could hardly breathe. Letting go was not easy. Tears came in pain. Finally, Samudra Dev placed the child on his lap, and Brahma read his future.

" This child would be a brave warrior. He will rule Heaven, the Earth and the Patal Lok. Hand him over to Sukracharya. Tell him I named this child Jalandhar. He was born of Shiva's rage. However, this child should not know this, that would make it difficult for him to live among commoners."

A happy Samudra Dev handed the child to Sukracharya, the teacher of the Asuras. The child stayed under the care of one of the Asura women. He grew up to be a handsome young man just like the lord himself. Sukracharya taught him and made him king of the Asuras.

Vrinda was the daughter of Asura Kalanemi. Due to her devotion to Lord Vishnu, she was given a boon by the Lord that her husband would be alive as long as her chastity remained intact. She was an intelligent medical woman. As the King of the Asuras, Jalandhara set up a capital at present-day Jalandhar in Punjab. He married Vrinda as per Sukracharya's wishes to save his life from enemies. On coming to know of the events of Samudra Manthan, he realised how the Asuras were deprived, and he sent a message to Indra.

I, Jaladhar, am the son of Samudra Deva. I have heard that there are some possessions of his at your disposal, which you acquired through Samudra Manthan. I request that you return my father's property to me, or else I will take it from you.

Not paying any heed to the threat, Indra and the Devas were easily defeated and caught by the Lord's son. They went to Vishnu with the request to kill Jalandhar. Laxmi, his consort, who emerged out of the Oceans, said to her husband, " My Lord, you will fight Jalandhar. He emerged out of the Oceans like me, hence he is my brother. I know he can not defeat you, but promise me you won't kill him, for my sake."

The ever-smiling Vishnu replied, " Yes, my Laxmi, as you wish it shall be."

The war continued for days, and neither side won nor lost. Impressed with his warrior skills, Vishnu offered a boon. Jalandhar promptly replied, " I want you to make Kheeradsagar your home and honour the oceans. Let Mata Laxmi stay where she belongs."

" Tathasthu."

Soon, Jalandhar became king of the three worlds. He was the emperor. One day Narad Muni came for a visit and told him tales of the greatest man, Shiva, and his most beautiful wife, Parvati. The vain Emperor replied, much to everyone's horror, " Who is this Shiva? I have never heard of him. And if he is the greatest, I will defeat him and be the greatest, and his beautiful wife will be mine."

Sukracharya knew that Shiva was his father, but he had promised Samudra Dev not to speak of it. Jalandhar send a messenger, Rahu, to Kailash. The furious Shiva forgave his son for his silly attempts and ignored the invitation for a duel.

Meanwhile, Indra came to know of Vrinda's boon and rushed to Vishnu, " My Lord, do something. Jalandhar is becoming violent, and not even the Lord Mahadev can kill him because Vrinda will not give up her chastity willingly."

" Do not worry, Indra, for I will dress as Jalandhar and break her chastity."
"But my Lord, I am your wife, how can you bed somebody else's wife? Will that not be immoral?"
" Priye, when am Parasu you are my mother, when am Ram you, my Sita, when am Krishna you are my Radha, the Gopis, the wives, they are nobody yet they love me. Does that make Krishna there? Listen, my lady, whenever I go to earth, you will always accompany me as Panchali, Radha, Sita or Varahi... I am going to Vrinda as an obligation to my duties and not for love, cause Krishna is Radha's Ram Sita's, and I only yours..." Disguised as Jalandhara Vishnu, took Vrinda to her chambers. Knowing his true identity and realising it was too late, Vrinda cursed her worshipped Lord, " I curse you, my Aradhya, you will be born a human, and you will suffer from questions regarding your wife's chastity, and you will lose her." She committed suicide.

A fierce, angry Jalandhar kidnapped Parvati. He held her, wanting to marry her. Shiva's Ganas were at war with the Asuras. Shiva raised his Trident at his son. Before killing him, Shiva enlightened him with the truth about his birth. Shiva, who killed Jalandhar, is worshipped as Panchanan, the five-headed angry avatar of the otherwise peaceful Lord.

Jalandhar died a hero, blinded by his vain overconfidence in his powers and lack of knowledge. Otherwise, like all the other sons of the Lord, he was a great warrior, a perfect husband and a good ruler of the Asuras. His causes were genuine, and his thoughts were right. He is thus immortal through the city he built in India.

The Prince of Mewar

Born on 16 March 1559 in the Kumbha Palace of Chittorgarh Fort, Bhanwar Amar Singh was the eldest son of Kunwar Pratap Singh (later Maharana Pratap) and Kunwarani Ajabdeh Punwar. As the first grandson of Udai Singh I, his birth prompted the Maharana's celebratory hunting expedition, during which a sage forewarned of impending danger. Heeding this, Udai Singh established a new palace by Lake Pichola, founding Udaipur as Mewar's capital. Amar Singh exhibited extraordinary valour from a young age, inheriting his father's martial skills and his mother's reputed compassion. His training commenced early; according to James Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, he participated in his first battle alongside Pratap at age eight. By ten, amid Chittorgarh's fall and familial divisions, he assumed responsibility for his siblings. Historical accounts recount his defence of the queens' entourage against enemy soldiers en route to Kumbhalgarh fortress. He shared a clo...

Jahanara Begum Sahib: The Sufi Princess

Shah Jahan's quarters flanked on either side by identical bungalows for Jahanara and Roshanara. Background: The Timurid Dynasty, better (and wrongly) known as the Mughal Empire, ruled the Subcontinent from 1526 C.E. till the time the British East India Company successfully captured Delhi from Bahadur Shah II in 1857 C.E. (The size of the empire obviously varied). Hence, a large part of medieval Indian history revolves around the characters of this dynasty. Due to the extensive amount of contemporary records right from Babur, the founder of the empire, writing his own memoirs in “ Babar Nama ” to the accounts of court poets like Abu Talim and the extensive details of Abul Fazl, one has a clear idea about the functioning of the Timurid empire as well as the Harem involving the royal ladies of the dynasty. Almost nothing is left to the imagination when it comes to the lives of the first six and most famous and successful Timurid emperors, namely Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir...

The Warrior and Princess

Dasharatha was very protective of his sons. He had got them after almost a lifetime of waiting and yajnas, so they were his lifeline. Ram, the eldest, won hearts with his humble, generous ways. Bharata, the second, was his favourite queen's brave son, and Laxman and Shatrughan were the twins to the lesser queen, who followed their brothers like shadows. They were a peaceful, happy family. Sage Vasistha was their Kulaguru, teaching them the Vedic hymns and the righteous ways of life. The Princes grew up in the luxurious, protected premises of the palace. The King of Mithila, too, was childless. Mother Earth granted him a daughter. Sita grew up learning and curious, followed by the king's second daughter, Urmila and their cousins Mandavi and Shrutakirti. They grew up knowing the natural ways of life, and their father took them to learn from men to know more about man and his natural instincts. The princesses were curious and always questioning the traditions, and the Princes lear...

Asuras are not Demons

Demons in the Abrahamic religion are not the same as Asuras of Hinduism. Originally deities of Iranian origin, they were seen in the tribal context as no different from Devas but as counterparts to maintain balance. In early epics and Puranas, asura meant a chosen leader of great capacity. Only later, perhaps due to the Iranian link, their image declined. It was with the Brahmanas that the sharp divide appeared: devas as divine, asuras as evil. Puranic myths demonised them mainly to assert the superiority and immortality of devas, while asuras were cast as symbols of the "other." Since Tribes still worshipped them and embraced their power of negativity, being important to balance, they soon became synonymous with tribes, which was not the case mythologically. There are instances of Bali or Ravana being Kshatriya or Brahmin Asuras and competent kings. Indian demonology itself is vast and layered, shaped by surviving tribes, each with unique myths. Celestial, aerial, and terres...

Rakhi Tales

A Rakhi to the Enemy: The year was 1535 CE. The Rajmata of Mewar, widow of Rana Sanga, was in a dilemma. On one hand was an attack from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat as a threat to her capital, Chittorgarh, and the throne of her beloved teenage son Vikramaditya. On the other hand, there was the son of her husband's archenemy, Humayun, who could be of some help. Rani Karnavati wrote a letter to Humayun, who was in the east at that time. Along with it, she sent a Rakhi, a thread of brotherhood, asking him, as a sister, for protection against the enemy. But the road was too long, and time was of the essence. Humayun arrived at Chittorgarh, in response to her letter, keeping his end of the bargain but a little late. Rani Karnavati had already performed the Jauhar. They never met. Humayun established Rana Vikramaditya on the throne of Mewar, as he had promised as a brother, and returned to his post. Two dynasties, political rivals and sworn enemies, from Sanga-Babur to Pratap-Akbar and even R...

DAMODAR GANGADHAR RAO : The Ill Fated Heir

In the shadowed halls of Jhansi's royal palace, a nine-year-old boy named Ananda Rao stepped into a destiny of struggle he was not born into. Born in 1848 to Vasudeo Rao and his wife, Ananda Rao was surrendered to the childless King Gangadhar Rao and his fierce young queen, Manikarnika (Manu), better known as Rani Laxmi Bai. It was November 19, 1853, on the king's deathbed, amid whispers of adoption rites that bound the boy to a throne teetering on the edge of empire. Queen Laxmi Bai was just nine when she married the 29-year-old widower Gangadhar. She had already endured heartbreak. Her biological son, Damodar Rao, arrived in 1851 but slipped away after three short months. With Gangadhar's death in 1853, Vasudeo, a distant royal relative, was instructed to hand over Ananda's adoption papers. Renamed Damodar Rao, the boy became Jhansi's last hope. But hope was fragile under British eyes. Enter the Doctrine of Lapse, Lord Dalhousie’s ruthless policy that devoured pri...

Chawand: The Maharana's Capital

The road from Udaipur quickly fades into quiet countryside as you head toward Jaisamand Lake and Chavand, a journey that few package tours offer, but one that is forever imprinted on my memory. Just shy of an hour and 59km from the city bustle, you reach Jaisamand (Dhebar Lake), the “Ocean of Victory,” sprawling as Asia’s once-largest man-made lake . Built in 1685 by Maharana Jai Singh, who followed his father’s legendary tradition of dam-building, this vast sheet of water shimmers in the sunlight. I watched local ferries pass, and marble stairs dip into blue shallows, imagining bygone queens slipping into cooling water beneath the massive embankment. Even today, friendly boatmen linger, eager to usher you onto the lake for a breezy ride. They tell you stories of how once a Maharana roamed these dense forests in search of freedom. Do pause here and soak in the peaceful air before venturing further southwest, toward the forgotten echoes of Mewar’s pride. The drive to Chavand, ...

Taj Mahal

On the 17th of Jumada I 1041 (11 December 1631), the sacred remains of Her Late Majesty the Queen were sent from Burhanpur to the metropolis of Akbarabad, under the care of Prince Muhammad Shah Shuja, who was ordered to distribute at every stage, great quantities of victuals and money in charity upon the poor. To the south of the metropolis, a luxuriant piece of high ground, which had formerly been the property of Raja Man Singh and now belonged to his grandson Raja Jai Singh, was selected as the burial place of that “Dweller in Paradise”. Although the Raja offered the ground most willingly as a present, nevertheless His Majesty, with the scrupulousness so requisite in worldly transactions, conferred on him in exchange a splendid mansion out of the imperial properties. After its arrival at Akbarabad, the blessed corpse was consigned to the earth on the 15th of Jumada II 1041 (15 January 1632) at the beginning of the fifth Regnal year. At the royal command, the public authorities with i...

History: A Political Storytelling

History, as we know, is the study of the past. The primary sources of such study include coins, scriptures, seals, weaponry, architecture, things of daily use, palaces, forts, etc. However, when we talk of wars, events, and characters of people in the past, it is very difficult to be accurate about what we are reading hundreds of years later. Nowadays, History has become a hot political topic, changing narratives of what we have known for so long as history and challenging the past. In reality, all versions are somehow biased, and all in their entirety untrue. The art of storytelling plays a major part in the narration of history. We grow up hearing moral stories all our lives, right and wrong, heroes and villains. Our belief system starts functioning like that, as we believe that in every story there has to be a good and a bad. However, the reality is far from that. In reality, we don’t really have people who are pure evil or pure good like stories often suggest. Herein, the art ...

The Cortege That Shook The Raj: Kanailal Dutta

10th November, 1908 Around late morning, a procession of lacs made their way through the streets of Calcutta (Kolkata), India. Some were chanting “Vande Mataram”, others blew conch shells, and Ululation filled the air. Flowers were being showered from all directions, and garlands made their way through the crowd, being thrown at the procession in the middle. Bhagwat Gita and Ananda Math (Novel by Bamkim Chandra) were offered. No, this was no “ Sobha Jatra ” or celebration. There were no religious festivities either. That dawn, the Alipore Jail, which opened only two years back, witnessed the hanging of Kanailal Dutta, a twenty-year-old member of the “Jugantar Dol”, an anarchist group that was set up primarily by Aurobindo Ghosh (Later Rishi Aurobindo), his brother Barindra and their associates. Kanailal hailed from Chandannagore, and although he was not present in most of their meetings in Kolkata, he was still one of their early members from Chandannagore, then a French province. ...

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