blog@Yantrajaal

On 18th August 1945, three days after Japan's offer to surrender in the Pacific sector of WWII, a light bomber took off from the Matsuyama airport in Taihoku, Formosa, carrying Subhas Bose -- the Head of the Provisional Government of Free India, his young ADC, Habib-Ur-Rahman and a number of senior Japanese military officers. The aircraft was on its way to Tokyo but unfortunately a mechanical failure caused it to crash within minutes of takeoff. Most of the passengers, including Habib-ur-Rahman survived but Subhas Bose and another senior Japanese officer died of burns. Thus ended the illustrious life of one of the most charismatic figures of the Indian independence movement. The accident and the death was announced by the Japanese government on 23rd August 1945. This is the story that a post Independence generation of Indians have grown up with and it has been corroborated by Government of India on the basis of two different commissions of enquiry led by (a) Shah Nawaz Khan, a...

In 1947 when the India became a modern political nation state, the icons that it chose to represent itself were were adopted from the symbols found in the Great Stupa of Sanchi -- built by Emperor Ashoka in the second half the 3rd Century B.C. History records Ashoka as the first political ruler of a nation state that nearly covered the entire geographic spread of the current, modern nation state that is referred to as the Republic of India.   The Lion Standard -- the Ashoka Stambha --  that represents the Indian State is taken from this column located on the South Gate, the oldest gate, dating back to Emperor Ashok himself.   The Dharma Chakra (shown above)  that graces the centre of the Indian national flag is found on the column of the West Gate (shown below)   Here are some more views of the Lion Standard that are shown below   that is Subhayan and Indira Mukerjee flanking Narendralal Banerjee at Sanchi on 24th Dece...

On the hill of Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh stands a series of craggy sandstone formations in the form of tall and massive rock shelters. These are the painted rock-shelters that constitute the largest repository of pre-historic art in India. These 10,000  year old wall paintings have been inscribed in the World Heritage List and give us peek into the dawn of history when human beings had just about elevated themselves from a primitive animal existence and were learning to think beyond mere existence and express their thoughts through art forms that have survived till date. We approach the rock shelters through this tough landscape until we get a first glimpse of our destination ... These caves were first alluded to by W Kinkaid in 1888 but discovered and conclusively documented by V S Wakankar in 1958. This is the first of 400 odd shelters that are scattered over the region but of these about 12 - 14 can be accessed relatively easily on foot through trails m...