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When one mentions the word mutiny as part of the Indian independence movement, the first thing that comes to one's mind is perhaps the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. But did you know the 1857 revolt was not the first one against the British, and that a revolt happened in South India at least a good half-a-century earlier?

On the midnight of July 10, 1806, several Indian sepoys (soldiers) broke into the Vellore Fort, located in what is now Tamil Nadu, and killed British troops. It is said that the mutiny was taken up at the suggestion of the children of Tipu Sultan, who had been defeated in a war in 1799, and had since been lodged by the East India Company in one part of the Vellore Fort. However, reports say the more compelling reason for the mutiny was simmering resentment. A new dress code for sepoys came into existence in 1805, and it appeared to have not respected the religious sentiments of Hindu and Muslim sepoys. While Hindus were prohibited from adoming any religious marks on their foreheads, Muslims were asked to get rid of their beards. Further, there were talks of the turban-an indigenous headgear-being replaced by a round hat, which was seen as another attempt at erasing their native identity. What irked the sepoys was also the fact that these changes came about despite caution from the military board that sepoy sentiments must be borne in mind while

The Sepoy Mutiny Memorial pillar outside the Vellore Fort changes to uniform are planned. The attack by the sepoys was curtailed when soldiers from the neighbouring region of Arcot reached the fort. By then it had resulted in injur and deaths on both sides. Further, several protestors were executed by the British later.

Though the revolt lasted just a day, it is said to have instilled a sense of fear in the hearts of the British and given them a glimpse of what was to come.

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Barrackpore is associated with the 1857 revolt and Mangal Pandey who attacked British officers. But more than three decades earlier, Barrackpore had witnessed a rebellion. Sepoys were asked to march to Burma (now Myanmar) during the First Anglo-Burmese War because then they did not want to cross the sea on boats due to certain taboos of the time. However, the British refused to give them bullocks for carrying their belongings. Due to this refusal and a few other grievances, the sepoys refused to march. As if a precedent to the Jalianwallah Bagh massacre that was to come much later, several sepoys were killed by the British without any warning.

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We often read about towering freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Vallabhai Patel but there were many who contributed to the freedom struggle. Here's a glimpse of those unsung heroes.

Chandrashekar Azad: Born in 1906, Azad joined the freedom struggle at the age of 15. He took part in the Non-Cooperation movement, following the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh incident. Azad, Bhagat Singh, and Sukhdev Thapar started the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, a revolutionary organisation. Azad's restlessness and enthusiasm earned him the name 'Quick Silver. In 1931, Azad shot himself in the head in Alfred Park, fulfilling his vow of dying as a free man. The park was later renamed as Chandrashekhar Azad Park.

Madan Mohan Malaviya: Madan Mohan Malaviya was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2015. Born in 1861 in Allahabad, he co-founded the Banaras Hindu University in 1915. Hindu Mahasabha was also his brainchild though he is said to have always worked for Hindu-Muslim unity. He popularised the Sanskrit phrase 'Satyameva Jayate meaning truth only triumphs. He was the four-time president of the Indian National Congress - 1909, 1918, 1932, and 1933. One of the founders of Scouting in India, he died in 1946.

Tiruppur Kumaran: Though he died at the age of 27, Kumaran's struggle for India's independence has immortalised him. Born in Chennimalai in present Erode district, Tamil Nadu, he founded the Desa Bandhu Youth Association and led demonstrations against the British rule. During one such protest on the banks of the Noyyal river in Tiruppur, he was assaulted by the police and died clutching the flag of the Indian nationalists in 1932. This earned him the name 'Kodi Kaatha Kumaran' (meaning - Kumaran who saved the flag.) On his 100th birth anniversary, in 2004, a commemorative stamp was issued by India Post.

Aruna Asaf Ali: Aruna Asaf Ali, the Grand Old Lady of Independence, was best known for hoisting the Indian National Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai during the Quit India movement. Born in 1909, she fought for better treatment of political prisoners in Tihar jail in 1932. She worked as a teacher in Gokhale Memorial School before joining the Independence movement. She participated in the Salt Satyagraha in 1930. After 1947, she worked for other social causes, especially woman empowerment. She was the first elected Mayor of Delhi in 1958. She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and Bharat Ratna in 1997, a year after her death.

Gopalakrishna Gokhale: Did you know that Gokhale was Gandhiji's mentor? An important leader of the Indian National Congress, Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society. He campaigned for social reforms and self-rule but his methodologies were moderate. Educated at the Elphinstone College, Mumbai, he was one of the few Indians then to be educated in English. He respected the English political system though he criticised many aspects of their regime. Gokhale shared his views with Gandhiji when they met in 1912 in South Africa. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was also said to have been inspired by Gokhale.

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In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the birthplace of freedom fighter Chandrasekhar Azad, Azad Kutia in Bhabhra, Madhya Pradesh, making him the first ever PM to do so. Bhabhra was renamed as Chandrashekar Azad Nagar in 2011.

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Khadi or hand-spun cloth is the only material allowed to be used for the flag, and flying a flag made of any other material is punishable by law with imprisonment up to three years, besides a fine. Raw materials for khadi are restricted to cotton, silk and wool. There are two kinds of khadi used: The first is the khadi-bunting which makes up the body of the flag, and the second is the khadi-duck, which is a beige-coloured cloth that holds the flag to the pole. The khadi-duck is an unconventional type of weave that meshes three threads into a weave, compared to the two weaves used in conventional weaving. This type of weaving is extremely rare, and there are fewer than twenty weavers in India professing this skill. The guidelines also state that there should be exactly 150 threads per square centimetre, four threads per stitch, and one square foot should weigh exactly 205 grams.

The Flag made of paper may be waved by public on occasions of important national, cultural and sports events. However, such paper Flags should not be discarded or thrown on the ground after the event. As far as possible, it should be disposed of in private consistent with the dignity of the Flag.

The MHA has advised avoiding the use of plastic flags since plastic flags are not biodegradable like paper flags and do not get decomposed for a long time. Moreover, ensuring appropriate disposal of National Flags made of plastic commensurate with dignity of the flag, is a practical problem.  Flags made of paper can be used by public and such paper flags should not be discarded or thrown on the ground after the event. Such Flags are to be disposed of, in private, consistent with the dignity of the Flag.

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On July 22, 1947, the Indian national flag was officially hoisted. Its stripes remained the same saffron-white-green, but the spinning wheel was replaced by a blue chakra—the Dharma Chakra (“Wheel of the Law”). The Dharma Chakra, which was associated with the emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, appeared on pillars erected throughout the Mauryan empire during the first serious attempt to unite all of India under a single government. The 1947 flag continues to be used by India, although special versions have been developed for ships registered in the country.

The National flag of India is a horizontal tricolor of deep saffron (kesari) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three. In the centre of the white band is a navy blue wheel which represents the chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes.

On 26th January 2002, the Indian flag code was modified and after several years of independence, the citizens of India were finally allowed to hoist the Indian flag over their homes, offices and factories on any day and not just National days as was the case earlier. Now Indians can proudly display the national flag anywhere and anytime, as long as the provisions of the Flag Code are strictly followed to avoid any disrespect to the tricolour. For the sake of convenience, Flag Code of India, 2002, has been divided into three parts. Part I of the Code contains general description of the National Flag. Part II of the Code is devoted to the display of the National Flag by members of public, private organizations, educational institutions, etc. Part III of the Code relates to display of the National Flag by Central and State governments and their organisations and agencies.

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An entire nation tuned into their radios eager to listen to the Independence Day broadcast on the midnight of August 14-15, 1947. One can only imagine the streets, buzzing with excitement as the voice of the first Prime Minister of Independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru's blared through the static. "Long years ago," Nehru began, "we made a tryst with destiny; and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."

"A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India, and her people, and to the still larger cause of humanity."

The famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech, delivered by Nehru before the Constituent Assembly, is counted as one of the greatest public addresses of the 20th Century and was written by Nehru himself.

A gifted writer Nehru wrote many of his speeches as and when time and occasion permitted. In fact, he would reportedly spend hours working on his speeches, much to the chagrin of his secretaries. Another one of his famous speeches - the "Light has gone out" broadcast to the nation on radio when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated - was extempore.

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While the whole country rejoiced the freedom, Gandhiji did not join in. Although he had fought hard to win the freedom, he was on a hunger strike in Calcutta (now Kolkata), far from the celebrations in Delhi.

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The Statue of Unity is a colossal statue of Indian statesman and independence activist Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), who was the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of independent India and an adherent of Mahatma Gandhi during the nonviolent Indian Independence movement. 

Located on the Sadhu Bet island, near Rajpipla on the Narmada river, the Statue of Unity is located between the Satpura and the Vindhya mountain ranges. A 3.5 km highway will be used to connect the statue to Gujarat's Kevadia town.

The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), a special purpose vehicle set up by Modi in 2011, arranged some 129 tonnes of iron implements from nearly 100 million farmers in 169,000 villages across all states to construct the base of the statue in the 'Loha' campaign. The Statue of Unity will comprise two semi-joined, composite concrete cylindrical cores, surrounded by a structural steel space frame to support the exterior cladding. 5700 Mton of structural steel and reinforcement bars of 18500Mton were used to build the statue.

The statue is a three-layered structure. The innermost layer is made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC), comprising two towers 127 metres high that rise till the statue's chest. The second layer is a steel structure and the third an 8 mm bronze cladding on the surface. The RCC towers, which at the bottom form Patel's dhoti-clad legs, have two lifts each. Each lift can carry 26 people to the top in just above half a minute.

Credit : IndiaToday

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You have probably studied about the boycott of the Simon Commission or seen pictures of people holding placards proclaiming, "Simon Go Back" in your history textbooks. But how well do you know about the Commission and its impact on the freedom struggle?

What was the Commission?

The Government of India Act 1919 had introduced the system of diarchy (double government) to govern the provinces of British India. However, the Indian leaders wanted a revision in the form of government. So the British Government, under political pressure, agreed to appoint a committee to study the implementation of the scheme and suggest new steps for reform.

So, in 1927, a seven-member panel was constituted under the leadership of John Simon, a Member of Parliament. It also included Clement Attlee (who went on to become the Prime Minister of England) along with other British MPs. However, Indian representatives were glaringly missing from the panel. The ignominy was not lost on Indian nationalists.

"Simon Go Back"

Demanding that Indians too be included in the decision-making process, the All-India Congress Committee in its December 1927 meeting in Madras resolved to boycott the Commission.

When the commission landed in Bombay on February 3, 1928, a country-wide hartal was organised. Wherever the commission went, there were black flag demonstrations, and cries of "Simon Go Back" rang loud.

Finally, the Commission published its two-volume report in May 1930 proposing the abolition of diarchy and the establishment of representative government in the provinces.

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Lala Lajpat Rai took part in a non-violent protest against the Commission in Lahore on October 30, 1928. The police quashed the protest with lathi-charge. A few days later, on November 17, Rai died of injuries sustained in the incident. Before his death, he famously said, "The blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of British rule in India."

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Raja Ravi Varma was an Indian painter and artist. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art. His works are one of the best examples of the fusion of European academic art with a purely Indian sensibility and iconography.

Varma was born into an aristocratic family in Travancore state. He showed an interest in drawing from an early age, and his uncle Raja Raja Varma, noticing his passion for drawing on the palace walls, gave him his first rudimentary lessons in painting. When Varma was 14, Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal, ruler of Travancore at the time, became a patron of his artistic career. Soon the royal painter Rama Swamy Naidu started teaching him to paint with watercolours. Three years later Varma began to study oil painting with Theodore Jensen, a Danish-born British artist.

Varma was the first Indian to use Western techniques of perspective and composition and to adapt them to Indian subjects, styles, and themes. He won the Governor’s Gold Medal in 1873 for the painting Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair. He became a much-sought-after artist among both the Indian nobility and the Europeans in India, who commissioned him to paint their portraits.

Varma adapted Western realism to pioneer a new movement in Indian art. In 1894 he set up a lithographic press in order to mass-produce copies of his paintings as oleographs, enabling ordinary people to afford them. That innovation resulted in the tremendous popularity of his images, which became an integral part of popular Indian culture thereafter.

Varma was criticized severely by later artists who saw the content of his work as only superficially Indian because, despite depicting mythological Indian themes, it imitated Western styles of painting. That view was instrumental in the formation of the Bengal School of Art (or Bengal school), whose members explored ancient Indian artistic traditions with a modernist sensibility.

Credit : Britannica

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The Brahmo Samaj, a prominent socio-religious movement, was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy along with Dwarkanath Tagore and others on August 20, 1828. In total, about 40 such documents were put on display.

The Brahmo Samaj does not accept the authority of the Vedas, has no faith in avatars (incarnations), and does not insist on belief in karma (causal effects of past deeds) or samsara (the process of death and rebirth). It discards Hindu rituals and adopts some Christian practices in its worship. Influenced by Islam and Christianity, it denounces polytheism, image worship, and the caste system. The society has had considerable success with its programs of social reform but has never had a significant popular following.

Whereas Ram Mohun Roy wanted to reform Hinduism from within, his successor, Debendranath Tagore, broke away in 1850 by repudiating Vedic authority and making reason and intuition the basis of Brahmanism. He tried, however, to retain some of the traditional Hindu customs, and a radical group led by Keshab Chunder Sen seceded and organized the Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866 (the older group became known as the Adi—i.e., original—Brahmo Samaj). The new branch became eclectic and cosmopolitan and was most influential in the struggle for social reform. It sponsored the Band of Hope temperance society, encouraged the education of women, and campaigned for the remarriage of widows and for legislation to prevent child marriages. When Keshab arranged for his daughter to marry the Prince of Cooch Behar, both parties were well under age. He was thus violating his own reformist principles, and many of his followers rebelled, forming a third samaj (“society,” “association”), the Sadharan (i.e., common) Brahmo Samaj, in 1878. The Sadharan Samaj gradually reverted to the teaching of the Upanishads and carried on the work of social reform. Although the movement lost force in the 20th century, its fundamental social tenets were accepted, at least in theory, by Hindu society.

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Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his poetry collection Gitanjali.

Rabindranath Tagore, India's first Nobel laureate, was born in Kolkata on May 7, 1861. He was a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. In 1913, Tagore became the first non-European to win a Nobel Prize in Literature and second non-European to receive a Nobel Prize after Theodore Roosevelt for Gitanjali, his best-known collection of poetry.

Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."

The Bengali poet was awarded a knighthood by King George V in 1915, however, he repudiated it after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Renouncing the knighthood, Tagore, in a letter addressed to Lord Chelmsford, the then British Viceroy of India, wrote, "The disproportionate severity of the punishments inflicted upon the unfortunate people and the methods of carrying them out, we are convinced, are without parallel in the history of civilised governments...The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand, shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of my countrymen."

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Sitting on horseback, with her adopted son and heir strapped to her back and her sword pointing skyward, ready for battle, Rani Lakshmibai is one of the most inspiring figures of India's freedom struggle. Fondly known as Jhansi ki Rani, the valiant queen refused to cede her kingdom of Jhansi to the British. Instead, she played a pivotal role in the 1857-58 uprising against the East India Company rule, considered to be India's first battle for independence.

Born in 1828, Lakshmibai's name was Manikarnika Tambe. In 1842, she married Maharaj Gangadhar Rao Newalkar of Jhansi. However, after her husband's death, the British refused to acknowledge her adopted son Damodar Rao as the legal heir to the throne, citing the doctrine of lapse. This policy was introduced by the British to gain control over princely states.

But Lakshmibai was not one to give up easily. She trained and raised an army to fight the British. When an army led by General Hugh Rose attacked Jhansi, she thwarted the forces with the help of Tatya Tope. She did not surrender even after her troops were overwhelmed. Lakshmibai seized the city-fortress of Gwalior. Dressed as a cavalry leader, she fought fiercely against Rose's army in Morar in 1858 and lost her life in the course of the battle. Lakshmibai's example inspired others to stand up against the British.

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The all-women combat force of the Indian National Army was called the Rani of Jhansi Regiment in honour of Rani Lakshmibai, one of the earliest feminists and revolutionary leaders. Led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan, the unit was raised in July 1943 with volunteers from the expatriate Indian population in Southeast Asia. The aim of the Indian National Army was to overthrow the British rule in India with the help of Japan.

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Around 1192, Qutub-ud-Din Aibak envisioned Qutub Minar, but he only got to complete the basement. The construction was later taken over by his successor Iltutmish who constructed three more stories of the tower.

The magnificent Qutub Minar has a height of 73 meters. It has a base diameter of 14.3 meters which narrows down to 2.7 meters at the top. The structure also includes a spiral staircase of 379 steps. There are many other historical edifices around the minaret which, together with the main tower, form the Qutub Minar Complex.

It is widely believed that the tower, which displays early Afghan architectural style, was built taking inspiration from the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan. Each of the five distinct stories of the minaret is adorned with a projecting balcony supported by intricately designed brackets. While the first three stories are built in pale red sandstone, the fourth one is purely made of marble, and the fifth one is a mix of marble and sandstone. The architectural styles from the base to the top also differ, thanks to the many rulers who constructed it part by part.

There are bands of inscriptions on different sections of Qutub Minar that narrate its history. Carved verses adorn the inside of the tower.

Qutub Festival, an annual cultural event, is held at this complex every year during the month of November-December. This three-day long festival witnesses a lively gathering and various mind-blowing performances by musicians, dancers, and artists.

The Qutub Minar complex is under the protection of the Archeological Survey of India under its Delhi circle of monuments.

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India's freedom struggle got a new direction when Mahatma Gandhiji launched the Quit India Movement on August 8, 1942 at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC).

Desperate for India's support in the World War II, the British Government had promised to give India self-rule. But the Cripps Mission, led by Sir Stafford Cripps, offered only a dominion status and also made provisions for the Partition of India. These terms were not acceptable to the AICC.

So, in a public speech, from Gowalia Tank in Mumbai, Gandhiji gave his famous call for the British to "Quit India" and for the Indians to "Do or Die". Less than 24 hours later, Gandhiji and almost the entire top Congress leadership were arrested. With their leaders behind bars, people took matters in their own hands and started revolting. Protests erupted across major cities, Strikes, demonstrations, and clashes with the police coloured the streets. The movement soon spread to the villages, where people attacked the symbols of authority such as police stations, courts and government offices.

Although the British eventually quelled the movement violently using the police and the army, it showed the world that India was willing to fight tooth and nail for its freedom.

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Kasturba Gandhi died at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, where Mahatma Gandhiji was kept during the Quit India movement, before he was moved to Yerwada Jail.

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The Pietermaritzburg Railway Station, situated in the capital city of KwaZulu-Natal, was constructed in the 19th century, and continues to service several of the major cities of this country. It is Pietermaritzburg’s main station and is a major stop for long-distance passenger rail services.

It travels between Durban (KwaZulu-Natal), Cape Town (Western Cape) and Johannesburg (Gauteng). This station is serviced by the Shosholoza Meyl, which is part of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and transports around 4 million long-distance passengers around the country every year.

The Pietermaritzburg Railway Station is situated in the south-western corner of the city centre. This means that it is accessible and easy to find. This city is optimally situated to provide access to and between both Durban and Johannesburg, which puts it in the centre of so many of South Africa’s best known and loved tourist attractions.

But, the town itself has plenty to offer. These include Butterflies for Africa, Scottsville Racecourse and Golden Horse Casino, the National Botanical Gardens, and the Msunduzi Museum Complex. Johannesburg and the OR Tambo International Airport are about five hours’ drive away, while Durban and the King Shaka International Airport are only about an hour away.

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After the Second World War, Britain under Prime Minister Clement Attlee sent a Cabinet Mission to India in 1946 to arrange for an orderly transfer to independence. The Cabinet Mission proposed a federal arrangement consisting of three groups of provinces. Two of these groupings would consist of predominantly Muslim provinces, while the third grouping would be made up of the predominantly Hindu regions. But the Congress leaders rejected the idea citing that it would leave the Center weak.

Since the Lahore Resolution of 1940, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had been demanding a separate nation for Muslims. The failure to reach a power-sharing formula between the Congress and the Muslim League only strengthened the League's stance. Lord Louis Mountbatten was sent to India tasked to oversee British India's independence by June 1948. Lord Mountbatten presented the June 3 Plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel gave his approval and lobbied other Congress leaders to accept the proposal, even as Gandhiji opposed Partition. The predominantly Hindu and Sikh areas were assigned to the new India and predominantly Muslim areas to the new nation of Pakistan; Thus British India was partitioned into two independent States: India and Pakistan. While India celebrates 1-Day on August 15, Pakistan does so on August 14.

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