A Journey To Discover Life

The Indian Subcontinent is a diverse mix of cultures, religions and traditions that make up its value system. The moment we discuss the early Indian Subcontinent and its religions, long before Buddhism or Jainism came into existence or the Abrahamic religions were introduced on the western coasts by travellers and traders, long before any invasion proved any sign of forced conversion, a layman’s idea of the Indian Subcontinent is that of a single unified culture. Religion in Ancient India: Historically speaking, that is far from the truth. The Indian Subcontinent, since evidence of early civilisation has been found in its river banks, like that in Bhirrana or Mehrgarh, dating back to around 6000 BCE, has never had one unifying belief through its geographic boundaries. The terms Hindu, Hindustan and many others come originally from the primary sources of the Ancient West Asian civilisation. But our history starts much earlier than that. And where there is society and civilisation, there...

  This is a collaboration post with " Kathaavali " blogger, Shomik, who gave his much-needed insight and expertise, as well as his extensive research on the topic of ancient India and introduced me to this forgotten queen who deserved a blog on her.  The Discovery: Around the 1970s, excavations were underway at Ramtek Hill in Maharashtra under Dr A.P. Jamkhedkar, the Director of the Archaeological Survey of India. The idea was to further study the Maratha fort at Ramtek and their lineage owing to the Ram Temple constructed by Raghuji Bhonsle, the ruler of Nagpur in the 18th century. As the excavation progressed, a temple was unearthed. It was soon discovered that the temple was not from the Maratha times after all. In fact, this Vaishnava temple dates back to the 5th century CE and soon shed light on one of the most important Queens of ancient India, forgotten like many others in the tide of time.  The Sanskrit inscription on the temple wall at Ramtek Kevala, although bad...