Articles published under the Itihaas heading during the decade 1991-2000
January 23rd, 2000 Rosemary Crill, deputy keeper of the Indian department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, was invited to help with the display of Mehrangarh Fort Palace Museum, Jodhpur. Here she came across paintings accumulated by the ruling family of Jodhpur over generations. This exposure inspired her to seek out examples of the… Continue reading Review of: Marwar Painting
April 4th, 2000 The projection of a non-event like the Clinton visit into a mega occurrence shows the desperation of the Parivaar to have a success story before their power becomes dust and their carriages become pumpkins. To provide relief for our readers we shall revisit the 17th century. At that time Shah Jahan was… Continue reading The human side of the mughals
February 5th, 2000 January 22 of 2000 AD marks the first anniversary of the martyrdom of Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons, Timothy aged nine years and Philip aged seven. Staines was a missionary from Australia who had served lepers in the poor and backward state of Orissa for over three decades. The boys… Continue reading A memorial for the martyrs of January
January 30th, 2000 It is now quite clear that the RSS government in India has no grand plan to hoist India onto its rightful place in the comity of nations. We are dependent upon tamaashaas and hyping up non-events such as visits by retiring US presidents. Not shy, modest, not retiring by choice but because… Continue reading Clintion’s 2000 visit
October 15th, 1997 The State visit of Elizabeth II started as a most curious spectacle. Both Robin Cook, her foreign secretary, and she herself were seen with both feet stuck firmly in their mouths. The Indian Prime Minister as a good host could not bear the embarrassment of his honoured guests. He took a deep… Continue reading When rapists become well-wishers
October 1st, 1997 2 October 1997 is Gandhi Jayanti — Gandhiji’s birthday and Itihaasjoins its readers, the people of India and the world in offering homage to one of the greatest of men who walked the earth during the course of recorded human history. With the prizes for capturing political power running into billions and… Continue reading Bapu Liberated Women from Purdah
September 24th, 1997 The picture shows an incident which occurred one hundred and forty years ago, on September 21, 1857, at Humayun’s Tomb, Dillee. As the effects of this outrage against India have yet to wear off, perhaps it would be sensible to dwell on it in some detail. First the picture and its context.… Continue reading British perfidy is without parallel
September 17th, 1997 Lumumba, Mobutu, Zaire, Congo, Katanga. These names and places were headline material in the heady Fifties. Do they, individually or severally, mean anything today? Today, few know or care about these people or places. This is a pity as the Mobutu experience, horrible and sick though it may be, shows the games… Continue reading 50s: Agony and extacy gone awry
September 10th, 1997 The tragic and sudden deaths of Princess Diana, Emad ( Dodi) al Fayed and the driver of the ill-fated Mercedes, Henri Paul have had an overwhelming effect upon the media in the USA, the UK and the Western world generally. Huge chunks of Time on TV and many square miles of Space… Continue reading Death is never a great leveller
September 6th, 1997 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s death at the age of 49 is a matter of sadness, a great tragedy. He was a true artist, inheritor and practitioner of a vanishing musical heritage: the qawwali. This musical form of the Sufi mystic tradition has been sung for many centuries and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan… Continue reading The ghazal and the Qawwali — in rememberance of Nusrat Fateh Ali
