The image of Rayaru in a matha

These are some photographs of the Raghavendra Swamy Matha in Kalyani Gardens in Ashoknagar just off Thyagarajanagar. It is popularly called Kalyani Rayara Matha. An image of Rayaru is coming up on the left outer wall of  the Prakara housing the Brindavana of  Rayaru. Here are some pictures of  the manifestation. No other matha has reported such an event.     

A sole bulb illuminates the face of Rayaru which can be seen evolving.

The image of  Rayaru is garlanded with flowers. 

The image is now encased within a wooden frame with glass.

One can see the image slowly taking shape

The entrance to the Kalyani Rayara Matha 

Another view of the entrance of the Rayara Matha

There are scores of  Raghavendra Swamy Mathas in Bangalore. 

One such Matha and it is also among the oldest is the one at Kalyani Gardens in Ashoknagar just off Thyagarajanagar. This Matha is popularly called the Kalyani Raghavendra Swamy Matha or the Sathyabama Seethamma Kalyani Sri Raghavendashrama.   

The Kalyani Raghavendra Swamy Matha it is located next to the Madhwa Patashala and both are near Vidyapeetha.

The Matha has been drawing visitors and devotees because of a unique phenomenon. An image of Raghavendra Swamy is manifesting itself on the left outer wall of the Prakara housing the Brindavana of Raghavendra Swamy.

The image is slowly becoming more and more visible each day and the outlines of the face with eyes and nose can clearly been seen. There is no doubt that the image on a wall is that of our beloved Rayaru.

Till a few days ago, the image was left as it is on the wall. When the image was touched, the concrete surface was smooth than the rest of the wall. Many devotees and the priests told us that when they reverentially touched the image, it felt soft.

The image is developing by the day and as many people were touching it, the temple management decided to protect it by encasing it in a wooden frame with a glass front.

So if you go to the Matha, you can see the outlines of Rayaru through the glass. This is perhaps the first time in Bangalore that any such image of our Rayaru is manifesting on its own. 

The Kalyani Rayaru Matha is one of the oldest in Bangalore and it was established almost 70 years ago.   

It was Mrs. Seethamma and Ananda Tirthachar Kalyani who had built the Temple, performed Pratishtha and Utsarga of  Raghavendra Swamy at this very place (where the Brindavana is located) in 1942-43.

Thereafter, Mrs. Seethamma and Mr. Kalyani were functioning as Dharma Karthas of the temple. In 1953, the whole establishment was transferred to Mr. A.V. Krishna Murthy. However, in 1957 Mr. A.V. Krishna Murthy re-transferred the Temple Mutt and Pathasala to Mrs. Seethamma Kalyani requesting her to manage the Temple poojas and kattales

The Kalyani Gardens is a small industrial area that lies between Banashankari 1^st Stage and N. R Colony.

The temple of Raghavendra Swamy is off  the 6^th Cross and one can easily access this road from Chennammana Kere road and from Vidyapeetha on one side and N.R. Colony-Thyagarajanagar-Ashoknagar on the other.  

The temple is located just off a 30 feet road which is open to both way traffic. Since there are several industries, business and commercial establishments in and around the vicinity, the road has traffic. All the above photos were taken by us and they depict the image of Rayaru. The last two photos are that of the Kalyani Rayara Matha Brindavana.    

Treating brain disorders without drugs

It was a fairly popular treatment for brain injuries in the West in the 1960s and it came to India only almost fifty years later.

The origin of this treatment goes back almost to ninety years when a German psychiatrist connected electrodes to a patient’s scalp and tries to measure the electrical waves.

The instrument used to measure the electric waves was a galvanometer. To him goes the credit of recording the first ever human EEG. The initial results of his experiment led the psychiatrist to carry out more research in the years to follow on electroencephalogram (EEGs).

The psychiatrist was Hans Berger (1873-1941) and he had carried out his experiment on electrodes on 1924. Subsequently, he published a series of papers on EEG between 1929 and 1934 and even today our knowledge on the middle frequencies is based on Berger and his research. He also invented the electroencephalogram.

Today, much of the facts that we know of middle frequencies in EEG is ascribed to Berger. His discoveries on EEG were first confirmed by British scientists Edgar Douglas Adrian and B. H. C. Matthews in 1934 and they also published some of his material in the magazine Brain.         

Many decades later, Joe Kamiya came up with what is today called neurofeedback therapy. He based this on his experiments on alpha brain wave that he had been conducting in the 1960s.

The results of these experiments were first published in Psychology Today in 1968.

Since then, neurofeedback became popular in the West and neurofeedback training (NFT) became a part of treating brain disorders. It was only in 2006 that this method of treatment came to India, thanks to NIMHANS.  

In NFT, an individual is made to modify the amplitude, frequency or coherence of the electrical activity. The patient is then taught to influence the electrical activity of their brain. Thus, an individual is helped to normalise the abnormal EEG frequencies.

The treatment has benefitted patients with traumatic brain injuries (mainly caused by accidents) and helped them regulate brain activity.

The treatment makes use of both EEG and o homoencephalography (HEG) to illustrate brain activity and teach self-regulation. EEG neurofeedback uses sensors that are placed on the scalp to measure brain waves, while HEG neurofeedback uses infrared (IR) sensors to measure brain blood flow. This leads to a signal which can be used for self regulation.

Now, neurofeedback is taking a second look at deep states. Alpha-theta training has been used in the treatment of alcoholism and anxiety.

NIMHANS now conducts regular neurofeedback sessions to treat a wide array of brain disorders. It has even used this system for treating patients who have suffered road accidents and have brain injuries.  

NIMAHS is also using neurofeedback in patients suffering from stroke and autistic children suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
One of the major advantages of this system is that the patient does not have to take any medicines, which generally have side effects.  It can be used for Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS), asthma, constipation, drug addiction, headaches, Arthritis, attention deficit disorder/ hyperactivity disorder, non-cardiac chest pain, hypertension, insomnia,  low back pain, knee pain and even breathing problems, urinary elimination disorders.

Though NIMHANS says the system has worked successfully, other neurologists say deep brain stimulation in which a pacemaker is implanted in a brain, is one of the most advanced treatments. It has been found to be more effective in treating Parkinson's disease and it also substantially reduces the need for drugs.

Courted by Kings and Emperors

There is a controversy raging on about gomal or cattle land in Chitradurga which is being away to certain institutions. Environmentalists, Nature lovers and scholars have called the act of giving away the lands as suicidal to the Amrit Mahal cattle.

What is Amrit Mahal and how did it get its name.

The post here aims to bring out certain lesser known facts about Amrit Mahal.

India has no less than 26 distinct breeds of cattle and they are generally classified into three categories. This classification is based on their utility. The first category is milch, the second is draught and the third is dual purpose.

The Amrit Mahal belongs to the draught category and it has been uniformly acknowledged by Kings and Emperors and even the British and others as the best cattle to be used in times of war and hostilities.

The British classified Amrit Mahal as the finest cattle during the reign in India. The Amrit Mahal is also known as Sultan’s breed and this is in honour of Tipu Sultan who reared them in large numbers.

According to legend, the Amrit Mahal was obtained by Hyder Ali from a Paelgar near Mysore and it was later patronised by his son Tipu Sultan. The breed received special attention from both Hyder and Tipu and they used the cattle extensively in their campaigns.

Historically, Srirangaraya, the Viceroy of Vijayanagar in Srirangapatna, is credited with development of cattle on modern lines when he imported large herds of  Hallikar cattle from Vijayanagar to  breed in Srirangapatna. He called the cattle department Karu Hatti. This was sometime in 1600.  

The British had the first whiff of the breed’s superiority when Srirangapatna fell to them on May 4, 1799 and Tipu was killed in the fourth and final battle of Srirangapatna.

The marauding British soldiers came across large stocks of the breed and the size, shape and bone structure of the massive Amrit Mahal amazed a person no less than Arthur Wellesley. These cattle were looked after by an exclusive department first called Amrit Mahal and then Karen Berek. The British found more than 10,100 Amrit Mahal cattle of the finest breed in Srirangapatna.

When the British returned the Mysore Kingdom to the Wodeyars, the capital was shifted from Srirangapatna to Mysore. The British placed the herd under the care of the Mysore Government and in 1813, the Madras Government took the large herd under its direct control. The Wodeyars renamed the cattle department as Benne Chavadi.

The Commissariat of Madras assumed full powers over the breed though they kept it in Mysore. Initially, Captain Harvey of Madras was kept in charge of the breeding establishment. By 1816, the herd increased in numbers to 14,399  and by 1823 there were more than 28,000 cattle.

For more than five decades, the herd was maintained by the Wodeyars for the British. However, in 1860, the then Governor of Madras, Charles Trevelyan, ordered the sale of cattle. Charles is regarded as the founder of the modern British civil services.

He was the Governor of Madras from 1859 to 1860 and he was the brother-in-law of Thomas Macaulay.  He was recalled to England when he opposed financial reforms proposed by the Calcutta Government.

Charles felt that the British could save money by closing down the establishment. The herds were sold to Indians and the company made a neat profit but this was one of the most short sighted decisions of the Madras Government.

The British soon realised their folly and they once again sought the assistance of the Wodeyars in reestablishing the cattle breeding centre. The gracious Maharaja obliged and in December 1867,  the breeding centre was reestablished with 5935 cattle. Their numbers increased to 9800 by 1871.

The British allowed the Maharaja to station some Amrit Mahal at various places in the Mysore Kingdom so that it could improve the breed. The Mysore Government allotted 208 kavals or pasture grounds for Amrit Mahal and the one at Chitradurga is part of this.   

The Amrit Mahal comprise three varieties: Hallikar,
Hagalvadi and Chitaldroog and the names indicate the places from where the breed originated.

B. L. Rice and other British chroniclers have heaped praise on the peculiar shape and beauty of the head of Amrit Mahal and the symmetry of their form. “They seldom attain an extraordinary height, but in proportion to their size are remarkably deep and wide in the chest, long and broad in the back, round in the barrel, well ribbed up and strong in the shoulder and limb,” says Rice.

The British found the Amrit Mahal to be active, fiery and walk faster than the troops. When Wellesley engaged Napolean in the Eurpoean theatre of war, he was often heard and he has also written letters regretting the lack of Amrit Mahal cattle in the battle field.

The British admired the endurance and strength of the Amrit Mahal. They found that Hyder had often travelled upto 100 miles with these beasts of burden. The British used the breed during the Afghan war where they tirelessly served the Army for upwards of 16 hours.

Coming back to the Amrit Mahal and the British, the Madras Government sent a large number of them to Egypt for service on the Khedive (1867-1914), an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire.

By then, the Mysore Government had set up another breeding centre for Amrit Mahal at Hunsur. The best grazing ground was however in Sillikere in Shimoga and at Hanagad near Hunsur.

Today, the State possesses 63,000 acres of Amrit Kaval land and they are mainly located in the districts of  Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davangere, Tumkur, Hassan and Mandya.

By the way, the Wodeyars had set aside a fairly large tract of land in Lalbagh for growing grass which they fed to Amrit Mahal. Today, the grassland is gone and it has been replaced by flowering trees. Is this a sign that the other grasslands will be swallowed up by man and Amrit Mahal would become history.

When Canteroy inspired Shivaji

It is now common knowledge that Chatrapati Shivaji (1627-1680), the Maratha Emperor, spent part of his childhood in Bangalore

and that he learnt the basics of statecraft and warfare from his father, Shahaji Raje Bhonsale (1594-1664).Shahaji then was the Jagirdar of Bangalore and he had his palace at Chickpet. Shahaji had defeated Kempe Gowda and sent him away to Magadi-Savandurga, while he retained Bangalore, Kolar, Hoskote, Yelahanka and Anekal. This was sometime in 1638. Shivaji had come to Bangalore from Pune when he was just eleven years old and he spent time with his elder brother Sambhaji and his half-brother Ekoji. Shivaji’s mother, Jija Bai, also came with Shivaji to Bangalore and by then Shahaji had married a second time. The second wife was Tukabai Mohite and Ekoji was her son.Maratha and Adil Shah records of the period state that Shahaji lived with Jijabai and Tukabai along with their sons in his palace at Chickpet. It was at Bangalore

that Shahaji decided to partition his jagir. He permitted Shivaji to return to Pune with Jijabai and he decided to give Bangalore as a jagir to Ekoji. His eldest son, Sambhaji, received the province of Kolar.    It was while he was in Bangalore

around 1640 that Shivaji heard tales of the erstwhile Vijayanagar Empire and its Emperors. He was deeply inspired by the Vijayanagar Empire and the stories of valour and piety of its Emperors. It is from the Vijayanagar Empire that he took the inspiration to found a Hindu

Kingdom. Of course, the atrocities perpetuated by the Mughals in the Deccan and by Afzal Khan and other Adil Shah commanders of Bijapur only strengthened his resolve to establish a strong and independent Hindu Empire. However, Shivaji was also inspired by another Hindu ruler of the South. This was Ranadheera Kanteerava or Kantirava Narasaraja Wodeyar (1638-1659), the wrestler King of Mysore.

Kanthirava Narasaraja I, as he is known, was the first Wodeyar King of Mysore

to use symbols associated with royalty, such as a mint and issuing coins named as Kanthiraya, which the British later called as Canteroy. He first struck coins in his own name on April 26, 1645. They were then called Kantiraya Hana or Kantirava Raya Ravi.  Another form of currency was Kantiraya Varaha which later came to be called Canteroy Pagoda. This Pagoda was divided into ten sub units called hanams. The weight of one Varaha was equal to nine hanams.

He also issued copper coins called Anekasu. Of fall his coins, the Canteroy was so popular that they remained part of Mysore

's current national money for well over a century. (In 1843, the Mysore coins formally ceased to exist). When Shivaji was in Bangalore, he came across the Canteroy coins and he immediately sensed the importance of having coins struck in his name and of using other royal symbols and seals. This resolve was further strengthened when Shivaji was told that Ranadheera Kanteerava issued the coins with the intention to strengthen his grip and hold over the Kingdom. The Wodeyar coins with Lord Narasimha created a series of fanams which numismatically came to be known as Kantirava Fanams. Narasimha is the fourth reincarnation of Hari or Vishnu with a human body and lion face. The Yogabhanda pose is depicted in earlier Kanteerava coins. Other coins have Narasimha in meditation with legs folded inward and the holy thread  or Janevara going around both his knees. One hand holds a flaming chakra and a flaming conch and the lower hands rests on his knees.

The Kantirava fanams became popular in south India

and Shivaji too was inspired by them to mint his own coins. Shivaji called his coins as Shivarayi. The Shivarayi was first issued by Shivaji after his coronation as Chatrapathi in 1664. Unlike the Canteroy, the Shivrai was a copper coin minted to denote the symbol of sovereignty, the Rajyaabhisheka Shaka. A gold coin called Shivrai Hon was also minted but such coins  are rare today.

Shivaji is  known to have minted only one set of gold coins in his time. During his coronation, seven lakh Shivrai Hon coins were showered upon him and issued for the first time. These coins are now rare as his rival and Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had most of them melted down.

These coins had a legend Shri Raja Shivachhatrapati inscribed on them. Thereafter, all royal correspondence (Rajpatra) carried the words, Kshatriyakulaawatansa Shri Raja Shivachhatrapati.

Apart from Shivaji, the Nayakas of Sira, the British at Madras

and even the Dutch were inspired by the Mysore coins and they minted them at Pulicat, Negapatnam and Tuticorin.Generally, the Wodeyars minted coins in gold, copper and sometimes in silver. The Wodeyars had a fairly big mint at Srirangapatna. Ranadheera Kanteerava shifted the mint from Msyore to Srirangapatna when he shifted the capital to Srirngapatna.

The gold coins of Wodeyars  carried the motif and the name of the King and the mint on the reverse, while the silver coins bore the name of the king on the obverse and the name of the mint on the reverse. Some coins of smaller denominations had sculpted image of  Chamundi.

Hyder Ali continued minting coins in gold with Hindu deities, while Tipu preferred silver coins. Tipu set up twelve mints in his kingdom. The mint of  Srirangapatna was shifted after the death of Tipu Sultan on May 4, 1799.

Interestingly, the Wodeyar coins are strikingly similar to the coins of Vijayanagar Empire. Both the Wodeyar and Vijayanagar coins are similar in size, shape and weight.

When a son avenged his father's arrest

Indian history has rather been unkind to our own countrymen or rather we have been unkind in writing our own history. Even today, we have failed ourselves in reading and writing history accurately and in a dispassionate manner.
Many incidents and events in our past have either been simply glossed over or given a slant. Deliberate or otherwise, such writings have made their way into history and today they have become a part of  history books.
Indians have always been besotted with what Westerners have said about our history and culture and we have blindly accepted them even if they are wrong. Many incidents and personages have been dismissed by British and European historians without giving them their due.
One such figure who has not been accorded due recognition and whose exploits have been significantly whittled down in history is Shahaji Bhonsale, the father of  Chatrapathi Shivaji.
Few historians and fewer people are aware that Shahaji was among the first exponents of guerilla warfare. He was also an astute military strategist and he once managed to outwit the combined forces of Mughals and Bijapur armies merely by his common sense. This was when he was in the service of the Nizam Shahis.
Once the Nizam Shahis were extinguished, he joined the service of the Adil Shahs and for decades he was counted among the bravest, courageous and extremely far sighted commander of  the mighty Bijapur Army.
A peculiar incident that has not been given its proper and correct perspective during this time is the so called arrest and imprisonment of  Shahaji in 1648-1649 by the Adil Shah Emperor and his subsequent release.
While most history books ascribe his arrest to the rise of Shivaji,  contemporary accounts and even a few Marathi books speak otherwise about the incident.     
The Marathi Bakhars (Bakhar is a historical narrative written in Marathi prose and it is classified as one of the earliest genres of medieval Marathi literature. More than 200 bakhars were written from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Many of them detail the deeds of Shivaji) and Basatin-i-Salatin by Mohammad Ibrahim Al Zubairi are sure that Shahji was arrested as a reaction to the military exploits of Shivaji.
According to these two sources, Shivaji had taken possession of some forts and territories in Maharashtra

and they belonged to the Adil Shah. Besides, he had killed several Bijapuri officers and even surprised the escort below the Bhor Ghat and captured the royal  treasure which was being sent from Kalyan to Bijapur. The conquest of Kalyan and the hill forts of Rajmachi and Lohgad had angered the Adil Shah who naturally concluded that these disloyal acts must have been done by the young Shivaji with the advice and instigation of his father. Hence secret orders were issued to arrest Shahaji.
Other sources such as the Sabhasad do not give credence to this view and infact they go so far as to say that Shivaji’s conquests had nothing to do with his father’s arrest. On the contrary, the Sabhasad throws up an entirely new angle on the incident. The Sabhasad records-this was the earliest work on Shivaji written by one of  the courtiers in the Maratha administration, Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, in Ginjee in 1694- that a letter was sent to Shahaji by the Adil Shah Emperor directing him to keep Shivaji  under proper control.
The record further says Shahaji replied that his son was no longer under his control and that the Emperor might consequently deal with him in any manner he liked. This reply angered the Emperor who directed Afzal Khan to punish Shivaji. Surprisingly, the Sabhasad makes no mention of the imprisonment and release of Shahaji in 1649. The Chitragupta and Shiva Pratap Bakhars also make no such mention.
One of the earliest historians on Marathas, Chitnis, claims that Shahaji wrote a letter to Shivaji censuring his conduct and asking him to go to Bijapur. Chitnis further claims that Shivaji sought advice of his wife, Sai Bai Saheb, as well as of his officers and nobles.
Another work, Shiva Digvijaya, reproduces all the letters of  Shivaji, Shahaji and the Adil Shah on the issue. It confirms that Shivaji consulted his mother, officers, his wife and Goddess Bhavani before he wrote to his father and the Adil Shah.
Shivaji says in his letters that he was responsible for his own actions and that he was ready to take responsibility for the consequence of his deed. He further said he could not be diverted from his course.
Another source says that the Adil Shah disbelieved Shahaji when told that he had no control over Shivaji. Since the Adil Shah continued to be suspicious of Shahaji’s conduct, he ordered another Maratha nobleman in his service, Baji Ghorpade, to arrest Shahaji by any means and bring him to Bijapur.
Shahaji then was near Tanjore or Thanjavur and Baji Ghorpade accompanied Nawab Sarje ( Sharza ) Khan to meet Shahaji. The Adil Shah had asked Baji Ghorpade to arrest Shahaji in case he refused to control Shivaji. The Nawab, however, refused to arrest Shahaji as he considered him to be his friend.
Baji Ghorpade asked Shahaji to take steps to control his son and prevent Shivaji from invading the Adil Shahi territories. When Shahaji said he had no control over his son, Ghorpade decided to arrest Shahaji.
The Muhammad Namah, an imperial chronicle of Bijapur, has a different story altogether. It says there was some ill will between Shahaji and Mustafa Khan, Prime Minister of the Adil
Shahi Kingdom, during the siege of Ginjee. It says Shahaji questioned the authority of the Prime Minister who then ordered his arrest. Historians like Jadunath Sarkar say that the arrest of Shahji was due to his hobnobbing with the Raya of Vijayanagar and other Hindu Kings.
The Basatin-i-Salatin and the Shiva Bharat carry the same tale about the imprisonment of Shahaji. The Shiva Bharat narrates that one day, just as the sun was about to rise, the Adil Shahi commanders Dilawar i Khan, Masud Khan, Ambar Khan, Rajahs of  Adoni and Karnpur, Farhad Khan, Khairat Khan, Yaqut
Khan, Azam Khan, Bahlol Khan, Malik Raihan Khan,
Balal, son of Haybat Raja, Sidhoji, Mambaji Pawar,
Mambaji Bhosla, and some other nobles, besieged the
camp of Shahaji.
As Shahaji’s soldiers had kept awake the night, they had no idea of such a sudden attack and were unprepared, and so there was a great disorder and tumult in their camp. Masud Khan himself was commanding the forces. Then Khandoji, Ambaji, Manaji, Baji Raje and a few others entered the camp and arrested Shahaji.
The Basatin-i-Salatin says three Sardars- Baji Rao
Ghorpade, Yashwant Rao Wadhwe and Asad Khan-entered the
camp of Shahaji and thus awakened him and asked him to surrender. However, Shahaji decided to fight and ordered all his nobles to be prepared. He then rode on his faithful horse and attacked Baji Raje Ghorpade.
Shahaji was injured in the fight against Ghorpade. When he  swooned, fell down wounded, Ghorpade arrested him. The three thousand horse of Shahji soon dispersed and much plunder was secured from the camp.
Another account says that Shahaji was invited by Baji Raje Ghorpade of Mudhol to his house for a banquet and was treacherously put under arrest. Surprisingly Shahaji;s own kinsmen like Mambaji and Trimbakji Bhosle were in the
pursuing party, as were Sidhoji and Mambaji Pawar. The accounts say that Baji Raje was really accompanied by seven Maratha Sardars.
The vast booty acquired in the fort of Ginjee and Shahaji
were brought to Bijapur under the personal escort of Afzal
Khan. The Adil Shah received the party led by Afzal Khan in the Kalyan Mahal.
The Muhammad Namah claims that “Shahaji Raja who was brought in chains was sent to the prison.” However, the fact that the Adil Shah did not mete put any harsh treatment or torture Shahaji surprised the nobles and people of Bijapur.
A further surprise awaited the when the Adil Shah said he would release Shahaji and restore his jagir provided his forts of Bangalore
and Kondwana were returned to him. Shahaji then wrote to his two sons, Sambhaji and Shivaji, asking them to return the forts. When the forts were returned, the Adil Shah honored Shahaji and gave back his jagir.  
Shahaji, on his part, never forget the arrest. He wrote to Shivaji asking him to take revenge against the Ghorpade. Shivaji did kill the Ghorpade in his palace in Mudhol  and extracted revenge but that is another story.
Once Shahaji came back to Bangalore
, he allowed Ekoji to rule the province and he himself retired to Kanakagiri where he stayed on till his death in a horse accident in Hodigere near Chennagiri in 1664.

The little-known brother of Shivaji

There are innumerable records, chronicles, annals and even letters  about the life and times of Chatrapathi Shivaji who spent two years in this city from 1640 to 1642. However, the very same records contain scanty or practically no information about Shivaji’s brother, Sambhaji.

When Shivaji came to Bangalore, Shahaji, his father, got him married a second time. He also ensured that Shivaji was trained in statecraft and warfare along with Sambhaji, and their half-brother Vyaknoji or Ekoji who later on went to found the Maratha line of rulers at Tanjore or Thanjavur, now in Tamil Nadu.

Both Shivaji and Sambhaji were the only surviving sons Shahaji and Jija Bai-four sons died in infancy. While Shivaji stayed on in Poona with his mother, Sambhaji was taken to the Deccan by Shahaji and he was with his father for several years. Shahaji had his second wife, Tuka bai Mohite, by his side and Venkoji was their son.  

When the Adil Shahis overran Bangalore in 1638 and defeated Kempe Gowda, the Adil Shahi commander Ranadulla Khan gave due credit to the victory for Shahaji, who was also a frontline  commander. Interestingly, the redoubtable Afzal Khan, who Shivaji later killed, was an understudy of Ranadullah Khan.

It was Ranadullah Khan who sent Afzal Khan to Sira, while he himself proceeded to Bangalore along with Shahaji.

The reason for the mighty Adil Shahi war machine to march towards south Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were many. The Adil Shahi Emperor, Ibrahim Adil Shah also called Jagadguru, had died in 1627 and he was succeeded by Muhammad Adil Shah (1627-1658). Muhammad never wanted to see the rise of Vijayanagar and he decided to take on Sriranga Raya, the Vijayanagar ruler who was making attempts to reassert his authority.

Sriranganga was in touch with the many erstwhile provincial governors or palegars of the once mighty Vijayanagar Kingdom. At the same time, the Wodeyars of Mysore were emerging as the powerhouse of the south Mysore region. Kempe Gowda in Bangalore was also a prominent figure as were Bidanur and Sira.

Muhammad then ordered Ranadullah Khan and Shahaji to take on the Hindu principalities. They were ably assisted by Afzal Khan and at times by Myustafa Khan and Asad Khan.

Ranadullah Khan first took on the Raja of Dharwar and Lakshmshwar in 1637 and defeated them. He then took on the Vijayanagar King and captured Penugonda, Chandragiri, Adoni or Adwani in Andhra Pradesh, Vellor and Ginge in Tamil Nadu, Ikkeri-Bedanur, Bangalore, Kanakanagiri and Sira in Karnataka.

Ranadulla Khan and Shahaji got on well with each other. Both respected each other’s bravery and the Khan knew that Shahaji was an excellent military strategist. Once the war was over, Ranadullah Khan left the terms of surrender and other aspects to Shahaji and he rarely interfered.

Thus, when Kempe Gowda, the third, surrendered to the Adil Shahi, Shahaji allowed him to leave to Magadi and set up court there. Impressed with Shahaji, the Adil Shah granted him the jagir of Bangalore, which also included the surrounding principalities of Kolar, Chikaballapur, Doddaballapur and Kakakagiri.

Shahaji stayed back at Bangalore and set up court. His headquarters was the present Chickpet where he had his palace called Gauri Mahal.

Shahaji then became extremely busy in wars and campaigns conducted by the Adil Shah. He rarely had time to go back to Pune and meet his first wife Jija Bai and his second son, Shivaji.

Shahaji could not even attend the first marriage of Shivaji. He then invited Jija Bai and Shivaji to Bangalore so that he could meet his daughter-in-law.

Once in Bangalore, Shivaji learnt statecraft and warfare and he stayed here for two years from 1640 to 1642.

In 1642, Shivaji returned to Pune with his mother and he began the task of building up the Maratha Empire. Simultaneously, Shahaji began a process of  Hindu revival in the south. He did not put to the sword the Palegars or Nayakas whose territory he conquered on the behalf of the Adi Shah. He took away the capital cities of these provincial rulers and sent them away to smaller cities and towns. Thus, he earned the gratitude and respect of  the Palegars.

The only exception to this was in Sira where Afzal Khan treacherously murdered Kasturirangan, the ruler, by calling him out of the fort on the pretext of holding negotiations.

Sambhaji slowly earned the respect of his father and soon, Shahaji made him the Governor of Kolar.

When Muhammad Adil Shah called Shahaji to Bijapur in 1648 and imprisoned him, Sambhaji stoutly defended Bangalore against the Adil Shah army led by Farhad Khan and Tanaji Dure and even defeated them. In the Pune region, Shivaji defied the Adil Shah. Both gave up their defiance only after Shahaji addressed a letter to them and pointed out that their resistance might lead to his losing his life.

However, the Adil Shah realised the folly of imprisoning Shahaji and released him and conferred several honors on him. He also restored the jagir of Bangalore to Shahaji who then came back to Bangalore.

Sambhaji then continued to govern from Kolar, while his father lorded over Bangalore. Sambhaji met an unfortunate death in 1654 when the Adli Shahis under Afzal Khan attacked Kanakagiri. The Palegar, Apakhan, had revolted against the Adilshahis.

Afzal Khan once again played the part of a traitor and this led to the death of Sambhaji who was wounded by a cannon ball fired from within the fort of  Kanakanagiri.

When Shahaji heard of his son’s death, he personally marched to Kanakagiri and conquered it. For Shivaji, the loss of his elder brother was devastating. When his mother told him about the complicity of Afzal Khan in the death of Sambhaji, the Maratha swore revenge.

Today, people know about Sambhaji, the son of Shivaji but very few know about Sambhaji, the brother.

Sambhaji was born at Verul or today’s Ellora near Aurangabad in 1619 in Maharashtra. He was married to Makai and they had two sons- Suratsingh and Umaji, who records say was an adopted son. Umaji was believed to be the son of Parsoji Raje Bhamberker
After the death of Sambhaji,  Kolar was continued as Jahagir to his son Suratsing. When Shivaji conquered Bangalore from his half-brother Vyankoji, he continued the jagir of Kolar to his brother’s children.

Kola remained in Maratha hands till Hyder Ali (1721-1781) claimed Kolar as his right. Hyder’s reason for his conquest of Kolar was because he was born at Budikote, a short distance away from Kolar.

The Tarik-i-Shivaji, Siva Digvijaya, Chitnis Bakhars, Sabhasad and Adil Shah records give us information about Shahaji, Shivaji and Sambhaji as does the excellent work by H.S. Sardesai.

When a language was born in Bangalore

Language is a means of communication and there are scores of cities in India which can lay claim to having contributed significantly to the growth and development of a language. However, there are only a handful of cities and provinces which can claim credit for having given birth to a language or for having pioneered the development of a new language.

Bangalore is one of the fortunate metropolises which can lay claim to having helped in the birth, origin and even in the initial growth of a language. Unfortunately, few people know about this and fewer are aware of  Bangalore’s link with Rekhta-a language which was a mix of several south Indian languages and which finally reached the royal Mughal court at Delhi came to be known as Hindustani.

Today, while we have realms of papers and research on Urdu, Persian and Hindustani, there are hardly a few on Rekhta-which can lay claim to be the progeny of  poetic Urdu and the language that Mirza Ghalib and other poets of Delhi liberally used in their writings.

The origin of Rekhta and its connection with Bangalore in itself is a romantic episode in the etymology of Indian languages. Rekhta first took shape in Bangalore when the Marathas first came to Bangalore under the leadership of Shahaji, the father of Chatrapati Shivaji.

Shahaji was one of the foremost military generals of the Adilshahis of Bijapur and he along with Ranadulla Khan had conquered Bangalore from Kempe Gowda in 1638. They banished Kempe Gowda to Magadi and planted the Adil Shahi flag n Bangalore.

Shahaji introduced Marathi as the official language of Bangalore province which was given to him as a jagir by the Adil Shah. This was the first time that Kannada speaking Bangalore had to contend with an alien language. Shahaji appointed Marathas to all important posts and all official and administrative letters, dispatches and work went on only in Marathi.

When Shahaji died on January 23, 1664 after an accidental fall from a horse, his son, Venkoji took over the reigns of Bangalore Jagir. Venkoji continued patronage to Marathi in addition to Persian which was one of the official languages of the Bijapur court of the Adil Shahis.

The Maratha domination of Bangalore continued till 1689 when the Mughals under Emperor Aurangzeb defeated the Marathas and occupied Bangalore. Though there is controversy over the number of years the Mughals occupied Bangalore, it can safely be said that they built the mosque at Taramandalpet which even today is known as Sangain Masjid.

The Mughals scrapped Marathi as the official language of Bangalore and Sira provinces and introduced Persian. However, they retained several Marathi and erstwhile Kannada administrative and everyday names.

The Mughul rule first in Bangalore and after 1789 in Sira province ensured that Persian and Arabian languages mixed with Kannada and Marathi, resulting in the birth of  Rekhta.

Rektha thus owes its origin to Bangalore. Rektha means scattered and this term for a language which was a harmonious mixture of two Indian and two foreign languages was in use from the late 17th century till the closing decades of the 18th century, when it was displaced by Hindi/Hindwi or Hindavi and later by Hindustani and Urdu.

Rektha was given a major fillip when Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) used it extensively in his writings. Mir Tadi Mir (1723-1810), a  principal poet of the Delhi School of the Urdu ghazal who remains arguably the foremost name in Urdu poetry and  often remembered as Khuda-e-sukhan (god of poetry) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) also known as Allama Iqbal used Rektha.

Subsequently, Rekhta also came to be used for forms of poetry like Masnavi ( is a form of romance in Urdu poetry in heroic couplets which may extend to several thousand lines or shorter. Mir and Sauda wrote some of this kind), Marsia (It is usually a poem of mourning. and it can also be a genre to mourn the death of a friend. Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem 'In Memoriam' can be called marsia. The sub-parts of marsia are called noha and soz which means lamentation and burning of  heart respectively. Mir Babar Ali, Mir Moonis, Salamat Ali Dabeer, Mir Zameer and Ali Haider Tabataba are some of the nest exponents of this genre), Qaseedah, Thumri, Jikri or Zikri, Geet, Chaupai and Kabit.

Incidentally, the grammatically feminine counterpart of Rekhta is Rekti, a term first popularised by the eighteenth-century poet Sa’adat Yar Khan Rangin  (1756-1827) to designate verses written in the colloquial speech of women. His Rekti has love making as its theme. Another well-known Rekti poet was Insha Allah Khan Insha (1756-1817) of Lucknow. A multi-talented polyglot, he was the author of the first grammar of the Urdu language, Darya-e-Latafat.

Rektha is a form of poetry in which if one line was composed in Persian, the next was in any of the Indian languages like Hindustani, Punjabi and Bengali. The words are generally those which are used by a common man and they have emotional connotations. 

Rektha continued to be used sporadically until the late 19th century and Rekhta-style poetry is still being written by Urdu writers.

Of the early Urdu poets, Wali Muhammad Wali (1667–1707), played a remarkable role in giving the final shape to Urdu by substituting the idiom of Delhi for that of Dakhni and hence he is called the Father of Rekhta.

Wali's visit to Delhi in 1700 is considered to be of great significance for Urdu ghazals. His simple, sensuous and melodious poems in Urdu, awakened the Persian loving poets of Delhi to the beauty and capability of  Rektha which can be termed as an  old name for Urdu as a medium of poetic expression. His visit thus stimulated the growth and development of Urdu ghazal in Delhi.

He is the first established poet to have composed ghazals in Urdu language and compiled a Divan- which is a collection of ghazals- where the entire alphabet is used at least once as the last letter to define the rhyme pattern.

Before Wali, Indian ghazal was being composed in Persian– almost being replicated in thought and style from the original Persian masters like Saa’di or Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (1210-1291), Jami or Nur ad-Dīn Abd ar-Rahmān (1414-1492) and Khaqani (1121-1190). It was Wali who began using Indian language, Indian themes, idioms and imagery in his ghazals.

Why the Brits feared Anglo-Indians

The British rule in India today is considered to be one of the most shameful chapters in India’s history. The British used the divide and rule policy to great effect and they won over Kingdoms by unfair means and they used subterfuge and all underhand means to undermine an enemy and gain an upper hand.

When in India, they tried to stamp out all that was native and they ruined what was once a prosperous nation. But what every few know is that the British were so insecure and so selfish that they not only turned on the native Indians but also their won people who they classified as Anglo Indians.

The Anglo Indians were born of mixed marriages. Though they suffered from a peculiar form of  suppression from the British, they continued to thrive in India and elsewhere. In India and now in the rest of the world, the Anglo-Indians, have been making news. The term Anglo-Indians is today used to describe people who were brought into being by the Portuguese, Dutch, British traders and other colonists in India.

It was Warren Hastings who first used the term Anglo-Indians and this was way back in the 18th century. For him, the term meant both the British and their Indian-born children in India.

During the early years of the British Raj, the Directors of the British East India Company, founded in 1629, paid one pagola or a gold mohur for each child born to an Indian mother and a European father. This was more of a family allowance and the children born in such families were   amalgamated into the Anglo-Indian community.

The East India Company wanted this community to act as a bulwark for the British Raj and also as a buffer between them and the Indians. The company also preferred them to native Indians in employment and this lead to the growth of the community.  

Anglo-Indian children were often sent to England to receive further education. Besides, exclusive schools were established in Madras, Bangalore, Lucknow and other British settlements for then.

Initially, intermarriage between the British and the native females was encouraged. Soon after the British became the sole power in India, they feared that a mixed community might threaten their rule and discouraged intermarriages.

It was then that the British purged the Anglo-Indians from the establishment though this has not received much publicity. The Anglo-Indians were discharged from all ranks of the army; they were barred from the Company’s civil, military or marine services. These restrictions continued for several years.

This happened in the 18^th century. The first reason for this change was the successful revolution in 1791 in Haiti that ousted the French. The revolutionaries (Africans in Haiti) were led by mixed-bloods and in the words of Viscount Valentia, an East India Company observer, wherever this intermediate caste has been permitted to rise, it has ultimately tended to its own ruin.

The pain of Haiti was soon reflected in Calcutta and an article in a local newspaper spoke about the dangers of mixed races. It said “if forthwith drastic measures are not put into operation to keep down the East Indian races, they will do to the British in India what Mulattoes have done to the Spaniards.

The Haiti revolution led to nervousness among the British and it even reached the higher levels. It even led to Lord Wellesley caution that “while  every attempt has been made to crush and keep them-Anglo Indians- down, but they are rapidly increasing in numbers and, though slowly, are making advances in education, in wealth and consequently, in power and the means to acquire it.

It was in 1795  that the British, fearing a similar episode to Haiti in India, decided to discharge persons of Indian extraction, or, as they described acts of exclusion. European sons of native women were barred from positions of authority in the civil, military, and marine services of the Company and those in service were discharged.

A second reason for excluding the Anglo Indians was an increasing awareness that great wealth was to be gained by Europeans serving in India. This meant that the country born or local lost their positions with the East India Company and they were replaced with the European sons of the Companies directors and shareholders.

A third reason for the exclusion was due to sectarianism. Many women married by the British were Luso-Indian, of mixed Portuguese and Indian descent. These women were Catholic and their English husbands had to convert from Protestantism to Catholicism for the marriage to be performed. The awarding of Pagodas to those British men who married native Indian women was partly to stop the men from marrying Luso-Indian women and converting to Catholicism. It was during this period that Catholics in England were debarred from attending universities, they could not hold office in the military or civil services, nor were they eligible for seats in the House of Commons.

During the late 18th century,  8,000 Catholic Anglo Indians were working for the East India Company in Bengal alone. With the French and British at loggerheads in Europe and in India, the unfortunate Anglo-Indians had to pay the price and leave the East India Company. The British were serious about purging the company of Anglo-Indians as by about 1750, their numbers  exceeded Britons in India. They then were marginalised and subsequently excluded from British society and industry in India.

Here, mention must be made of three three repressive orders which were passed at the instigation of the Court of Directors of the East India Company.

The three orders were:

………in 1786, the wards of the Upper Orphanage school at Calcutta were in future to be prohibited from proceeding to England to complete their education and thus qualifying for the covenanted services. By the second order of 1791 the Indian born sons of Britishers were prohibited from being employed in the Civil, Military and marine Services of the Company, and the third order of 1795 prevented the employment of all persons not descended from European parents on both sides in the army except as fifers, bandsmen, drummers and farriers (Snell, 1944: 11-12).

This process of purging anyone but the British from the ranks of the company was continued by Lord Cornwallis, during his first Governor-Generalship (1786-93).

Today, Anglo-Indian means people descendent from Europeans and British and the term embraces those who have not only settled in India but also in Canada, New Zealand, the United States of Americas the United Kingdom and Australia. There are some 150,000 still in India of a worldwide total of 500,000.

An exercise in accounts

Sosale Vyasaraja Matha

 

Expense Report - Feb 2013

Published by admin on Sat, 03/09/2013 - 14:20

This is the income-expenditure chart put out by the Administrator of the Vyasaraja Matha (Sosale). The administrator, K. Jairaj, and the team of officials, say that all the income and expenditure of the matha from all its properties and daily offerings have been entered into account books and audited.

The matha is now trying to increase the rent on its properties by calling for fresh tenders or going in for fresh rent agreements of its properties mainly in Karataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The matha has vast properties in Bangalore, Mysore, Sosale, Kumbakonam, Tricy, Tirupathi and othe rplaces. The matha is trying to ensure that it gets rentals out of  these properties. In some cases, the rentals have been inscreased and in several other cases the rentals are in the process of being increased.
Centuries ago, the Vyasaraja matha was considered to among the richest not only in Karnataka but in India too. The matha and its prosperity reached its peak during the Vijayanagar period when Vyasa Raja was the perceptor to not only Krishna Deva Raya but five other Vijayanagar Kings. During that time, it was not only the Vijayanagar Emperors but also the Muslim Kings of Bijapur, also called the Adilshahis, and Bahlol Lodh of Delhi among others who honoured Vyasa Raja and gifted him with an umbrela and jewels.
Vyasa Raja never kept any wealth with himself. When he was honoured with Ratnabhiskeha by Krishnadeva Raya, he distributed almost all of the gold, jewels and ornaments to the gathering of pandits, seers and religious men and the rest to the people.
The matha is once again trying to harness its exisitng properties so as to ensure that it gets the maximum income. The expense sheet published above will indicate how teh matha is trying to revive and reinvent itself.
All the matter contained here have been sourced from the Administrator and the officials of the Administrator's team. We just like to bring to the readers of the post the good deeds of the team. 

When a Maharaja operated a railway

The Wodeyars put Mysore Kingdom on the map of  industrialisation and modernization and the British and the rest of the world considered Mysore to be among the most progressive princely states of India.

The Dewans of Mysore joined hands with the Wodeyars in putting Mysore on the path of progress. Several industries took birth and one of the most important undertaking which today is almost forgotten is Mysore’s own Railway.

Decades before Railways became a part of the Government, the princely state of Mysore had its own railway which was called Mysore State Railway (MSR).

The MSR was thus established when almost the entire network in India was owned by private entrepreneurs. The Maharajah of Mysore invested in the railway business by building lines for the Southern Mahratta company. When this company was amalgamated with the Madras Railway, the Maharaja decided to work the majority of his own lines himself. Thus began the story of Mysore State Railway.

Initially, the MSR consisted of the narrow gauge Kolar district railway and, on metre gauge, a main line from Bangalore to Mysore, two other lines out of Mysore and a few lines on the Bangalore-Poona main line. The longer of these two lines, the Birur-Talguppa, ran a hundred miles north west from its junction with the Madras and Southern Mahratta to its terminus at the Western Ghats.

The name, Mysore State Railway (MSR), originally referred to the metre gauge line which connected Mysore to Bangalore. Later the name of MSR was extended to the entire network owned and operated by the State.

Two years after Chamaraja Wadiyar took over as Maharaja, MSR took up work on a rail line between Mysore and Bangalore in 1870. However, the project failed to materialise.

By 1881, the king, MSR had opened 58 miles of rail lines for traffic. During his 13-year rule, Chamaraja Wodeyar added 315 miles investing Rs 164 lakh.

Then came the famine which ravaged Mysore state. Chamaraja Wodeyar availed a loan of  Rs 20 lakh to build the railway network.

Subsequently, all the lines laid and operated by MSR were handed over to Southern Mahratta Railway Company as maintaining the lines became a burden.

When Maharani Vani Vilas became the Regent Queen of Mysore, she continued to invest in developing railway infrastructure. The Birur-Shimoga line was constructed during her tenure of seven years by spending Rs 23 lakh. The line was opened for traffic on December 1, 1899.

When Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar took over as Maharaja, he set up a railway construction department. The Mysore state then signed a new contract with the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company (SMR) for the operation of the lines constructed by the MSR in 1908.

In 1907, the SMR became Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway and the lease was extended. By then, the Railway Department of  Mysore had almost become defunct.

In 1911, the state set up a Railway construction department headed by E A S Bale. From 1912, Mysore again decided to actively promote railways and it began construction of railway lines within its boundaries. Between 1916 and 1918, Mysore opened 232 miles of railway to traffic. In 1919, the State successfully sought the reversion of the Mysore to Bangalore section and two branch lines, the Birur and the Mysore-Nanjangud railways.  The state also added 105 more miles of rail lines between 1921 and 1934.

From 1 January 1938, the lines leased to MSMR reverted back to the control of the State of Mysore, creating a homogenous division of 740 miles of railway lines. In 1950, MSR was nationalised and in 1951 it became part of Southern Railway, one of the then newly formed zones of Indian Railways.

Touching on railway in Bangalore, the garden City’s first steam engine operated between Cantonment railway station and Jolarpettai. This was way back in 1864.  

The first train to chug in and out of Bangalore was called Bangalore mail and it was operated by Madras Railway.

This was a meter gauge line to Jolarpettai and it was 149 kms long.

It was only 18 years later that the line was extended to Bangalore City railway station.   

 

The facebook as a mirror

If anyone has any doubts about the Internet not having changed the lives of Indians, they just have to look at the social networking site, Facebook, for an answer.

Indians today are among the leaders in the world in using Facebook and of its 668 million users, 23.85 million are from India alone. India ranks second among Facebook users in the world and  Bangalore ranks among the tops three Facebook users in India and their numbers seem to be growing. 

Interestingly, Mumbai, where the IT story of India began in the late 1960s leads the number of Facebook users with 3.6 million who form an impressive 15 per cent of the total Facebook users in the country.

Delhi and Bangalore stand at number two and third on the Facebook users list in India. If Delhi has 1.57 million users, Bangalore is a trifle short of that number at 1.56 million users. However if you take the world scale of Facebook users, Mumbai stands 18^th in the list, Delhi 36 and Bangalore 38^th.

Chennai and Hyderabad occupy the fourth and fifth place with 1.2 and 1.81 million users and on the global index they are ranked in the 49th and 50th positions.

The other Indian cities which figure in the Facebook list are Pune, Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Indore and Surat.

Jakarta in Indonasia heads the list of top cities on Facebook with 17.48 million users, followed by  Istanbul and Mexico city with  9.6 million and 9.3 million Facebook users respectively.

In terms of checking into places, Bangalore International Airport leads the race with 41664, followed by New Delhi Railway station 8,778.

Facebook boasts of 51 million userbase in India in 2012 (51,204,840), which once stood at 8 million in 2010 and 28 million in June 2011.

Digitalbuzzblog.com says that Facebook with over 500 million users is now being used by one in every 13 people on Earth, with over 250 million of them (over 50 per cent) who log in every day.

As far as Indian cities go, the Facebook phenomenon seems to be marching ahead steadily.

The cities which have active Facebook users are:
1) Delhi: 5,123,180
2) Chennai: 2,195,760
3) Bangalore: 3,076,260
4) Hyderabad: 2,284,340
5) Pune: 1,1913,640
6) Kolkata: 1,591,120
7) Ahmedabad: 892,560
8) Chandigarh: 670,500
9) Lucknow: 608,120
10) Surat: 508,360
11) Indore: 503,020
12) Nagpur: 423,080
13) Bhopal: 423,000
14) Thiruvananthapuram: 288,160
15) Guwahati: 248,860
16) Rajkot: 241,500

As this post is being readied, India has overtaken Brazil as the country with the second highest number of Facebook users. However a startling paradox is that the total Internet penetration in India is less than 10 per cent and this is borne out by surveys from Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and other organisations.

In UK and USA, the internet penetration is 80 per cent.

Whatever it is, Indians seem to have taken to facebook like a duck to water. Facebook is a social networking site launched in February 2004 and it is owned and operated by Facebook Inc.

As of September 2012, Facebook has over one billion active users, more than half of whom use it on a mobile device.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew Mccollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Huges. The website's membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but later it was expanded to include students from other  colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League and Stanford.

It gradually expanded and today look at where it stands.

List of countries and Facebook users as on October 29, 2012.

Ranking	Country	Number of users (millions)
1.	United States	167.64
2.	Brazil	60.74
3.	India	60.62
4.	Indonesia	50.53
5.	Mexico	39.42
6.	United Kingdom	33.23
7.	Turkey	31.43
8.	Philippines	29.87
9.	France	25.32
10.	Germany	24.99
11.	Italy	22.84
12.	Argentina	20.43
13.	Canada	18.59
14.	Colombia	17.48
15.	Thailand	17.47
16.	Spain	17.34
17.	Japan	16.36
18.	Malaysia	13.22
19.	Taiwan	13.06
20.	Australia	11.72
21.	Egypt	11.63
22.	Venezuela	10.00
23.	Chile	9.75
24.	Peru	9.58
25.	Poland	9.44
26.	Vietnam	9.43
27.	South Korea	9.37
28.	Pakistan	7.49
29.	Netherlands	7.34
30.	Russia	7.15
31.	Nigeria	6.71
32.	South Africa	6.55
33.	Saudi Arabia	5.86
34.	Romania	5.10
35.	Ecuador	5.08
36.	Morocco	4.92
37.	Sweden	4.90
38.	Belgium	4.87
39.	Portugal	4.62
40.	Hungary	4.22
41.	Hong Kong	4.06
42.	Greece	3.88
43.	Algeria	3.86
44.	Czech Republic	3.80
45.	Israel	3.78
46.	Serbia	3.35
47.	United Arab Emirates	3.30
48.	Bangladesh	3.29
49.	Tunisia	3.25
50.	Swaziland	3.02

Source: Facebook

Socialbakers, a social media analyst, says that the number of Facebook users in India is galloping at a staggering 22 percent every six months, and this means that it will dethrone the United States as the country with the highest number of users by the end of 2014, when both countries are projected to have 170 million to 175 million members.

Facebook itself in its annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC))for its quarter ending December 31, 2012, said India has 71 million monthly active users (MAUs). It says this figure mirrors a 54 per cent increase from the same quarter last year and a 9.2 per cent increase sequentially.

It said 30 per cent of its Indian users access the service only through mobile phones.Facebook today is a mirror of all that is going on in India. It can be called as a mirror of our times, albeit a digital one.

Facebook currently has more than 150 billion friend connections as of December 31, 2012 and there were more than 50 million Pages with ten or more likes. Besides, more than 350 million photos per day were uploaded in the fourth quarter of 2012 and over 240 billion photos have been shared. These figures do not include user uploads on Instagram, which Facebook acquired last year.