Bidar historica. A site dedicated to the cultural history of this mountain top town
We live in Bidar. Proudly.
Fortunate to breathe the air that kept great souls like Saint- poet Basaveshwara, Bahmani King Ahmed Shah Al Wali and Mahmud Gawan alive.
Thomping the ground that Afnasi Nikitin, Jean Thevknot, Colonel Mackenzie, and other travelers trode.
Waiting to tell Jimmy Wales that Someshwara the Third, Chalukyan King of Basava Kalyan wrote Manasa Ullasa, a Sanskrit encyclopaedia a thousand years before he compiled Wikipedia.
We are obsessed with the stories that Bhaskara Acharya, the man invented and developed Algebra, was born here.
We beat our chests to say that the devotional Naats are sung in Madina were written by Hazrath Ishqui who grew up playing in the streets of Siddique Taleem in Mohammadabad Bidar.
We shamelessly proclaim that King Vikramaditya the Sixth, who ruled southern and middle India for half a century, was throned in Kalyana. He expanded his territory from the Narmada river to the Cauvery and from Orissa all the way to Kutch. We know this as his was among the most well documented periods in Indian history. It cant be otherwise, as Vikramaditya remains the only King in world history to have commissioned the highest number of stone edicts and inscpritons in the world.
We wonder whether the lawyers in Delhi know that the traditional Indian legal system is based on `Mitakshara', the code book by Vigyaneshwara who hailed from Masimada village. How could they not know?
We are considering inviting love laden souls to Kalyan for a tour of the place where romantic poetry was written 500 years before Romeo -Juliet. Did you know that Bilhana, considered the pioneer of romantic poetry was arrested by the king for falling in love with the Princess? And that he used the same poetic skills to get out of prison alive? This led to his marriage with the Princess and more love poems were born. Scores of scholars have tried translating his poems to English and other European languages. But then, not all were successful, because translation, you know, is `kissing your beloved through a veil'.
We are upset at Amir Khan for not completing what he started. If Mangal Pandey began the first war of Indian Independence by shooting a British officer in Delhi, King Jung Bahadur ended it by the guerilla wars in the jungles in Bhalki. Well, we may finally conspire along with Kiran Rao to tell him about the Bhalki Conspiracy!
It is natural that we are interested in history. We so know why so many scholars are attracted to this place, just like us. After all, the first ever history book in India Raja Tarangini was written by Kalhana, who was the court scholar of King Vikramaditya!
This site is to honour of scholars, historians, artists, writers, record keepers and journalists who have contributed to documenting Bidar history and recording its heritage in some way. This is a place where we salute these heralders, story tellers and spreaders of the good word.
We plan to introduce and profile all such resource persons. Here we provide samples of their work and add links for further reading. This way, we not only honour the experts of ancient times, but also network modern day researchers.
Hope this serves two purposes. It should be a pointer to where research on Bidar stands now. This could act as the beginning point for aspiring young researchers. More importantly, it could create interest about history among the general public. All of us remember, fondly, that our interest in the history, heritage and culture of this great land was kindled by someone else who was as interested.
May one lamp light another!
http://bidarhistorica.org/
Fortunate to breathe the air that kept great souls like Saint- poet Basaveshwara, Bahmani King Ahmed Shah Al Wali and Mahmud Gawan alive.
Thomping the ground that Afnasi Nikitin, Jean Thevknot, Colonel Mackenzie, and other travelers trode.
Waiting to tell Jimmy Wales that Someshwara the Third, Chalukyan King of Basava Kalyan wrote Manasa Ullasa, a Sanskrit encyclopaedia a thousand years before he compiled Wikipedia.
We are obsessed with the stories that Bhaskara Acharya, the man invented and developed Algebra, was born here.
We beat our chests to say that the devotional Naats are sung in Madina were written by Hazrath Ishqui who grew up playing in the streets of Siddique Taleem in Mohammadabad Bidar.
We shamelessly proclaim that King Vikramaditya the Sixth, who ruled southern and middle India for half a century, was throned in Kalyana. He expanded his territory from the Narmada river to the Cauvery and from Orissa all the way to Kutch. We know this as his was among the most well documented periods in Indian history. It cant be otherwise, as Vikramaditya remains the only King in world history to have commissioned the highest number of stone edicts and inscpritons in the world.
We wonder whether the lawyers in Delhi know that the traditional Indian legal system is based on `Mitakshara', the code book by Vigyaneshwara who hailed from Masimada village. How could they not know?
We are considering inviting love laden souls to Kalyan for a tour of the place where romantic poetry was written 500 years before Romeo -Juliet. Did you know that Bilhana, considered the pioneer of romantic poetry was arrested by the king for falling in love with the Princess? And that he used the same poetic skills to get out of prison alive? This led to his marriage with the Princess and more love poems were born. Scores of scholars have tried translating his poems to English and other European languages. But then, not all were successful, because translation, you know, is `kissing your beloved through a veil'.
We are upset at Amir Khan for not completing what he started. If Mangal Pandey began the first war of Indian Independence by shooting a British officer in Delhi, King Jung Bahadur ended it by the guerilla wars in the jungles in Bhalki. Well, we may finally conspire along with Kiran Rao to tell him about the Bhalki Conspiracy!
It is natural that we are interested in history. We so know why so many scholars are attracted to this place, just like us. After all, the first ever history book in India Raja Tarangini was written by Kalhana, who was the court scholar of King Vikramaditya!
This site is to honour of scholars, historians, artists, writers, record keepers and journalists who have contributed to documenting Bidar history and recording its heritage in some way. This is a place where we salute these heralders, story tellers and spreaders of the good word.
We plan to introduce and profile all such resource persons. Here we provide samples of their work and add links for further reading. This way, we not only honour the experts of ancient times, but also network modern day researchers.
Hope this serves two purposes. It should be a pointer to where research on Bidar stands now. This could act as the beginning point for aspiring young researchers. More importantly, it could create interest about history among the general public. All of us remember, fondly, that our interest in the history, heritage and culture of this great land was kindled by someone else who was as interested.
May one lamp light another!
http://bidarhistorica.org/
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