The many Thrones of India

Well, Mysore has been in the news for the last few days and much has been written and televised about the golden throne of  the Wodeyars.

An invaluable artifact, which according to legend goes back to the times of the Pandavas, the origin of the throne is shrouded in mystery.

What many do not know is that today, the golden throne is the most magnificent piece of its kind in India. There is no other throne that even comes remotely near it in terms of heritage, myth, legend or even beauty.

Of course, here we are only taking about thrones in India and not those which have been lost forever or destroyed such as the priceless Peacock throne of the Mughals and the golden throne of Tipu Sultan.

So let us take a look at some of the thrones of India.

The Peacock Throne of the Mughals was commissioned by Emperor Shahjahan and it has been described by scores of travelers and visitors to the Mughal Empire as the most magnificent throne of its time.

History tells us that the Peacock Throne was carried away by Nadir Shah after he sacked and looted Delhi in 1739.

Nadir Shah massacred the entire population of Delhi and took away the entire wealth of the Mughals, including the Peacock Throne and the Kohinoor diamond to Iran.

The throne was destroyed by assassins who murdered Nadir Shah. Today, there is no remnant of this throne but a replica made by Indian craftsmen exists in the Topkapi palace in Istanbul, Turkey.

This is also a Mughal style throne and it was also supposedly carted away by Nadir Shah, who gifted it to the Ottoman Emperor. This throne too is believed to be only a small part of the Delhi loot of Nadir Shah.  

The throne is on public display and it is in the form of a high-edged table with four legs. The cushion is decorated with pearls and a gold braid.

The Kohinoor, we know, is with the British monarch.

Apart from these two thrones, contemporary texts and accounts say that the Mughals had at least nine other thrones and almost all of them were in the red fort in Delhi and at the fort in Agra. There was also a throne in the fort at Lahore.

Nine of these thrones, including the Peacock Throne, were taken away by Nadir Shah.  

After Nadir Shah left India, a weakened Mughal Empire shrunk considerably in area and extent. The power they once wielded was almost gone. This is best represented by the throne they sat on. The throne was a crude replica of the peacock throne and it was almost entirely made of silver.

The last Mughal Emperor to sit on this throne was Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1857. The British broke it up and carted it away to their homeland after the first war of Indian Independence.

The British also plundered the Red fort and took away rubies, diamonds, gold, silver, jade and all jewels and artifacts that they could lay their hands on.

The 20th century Pahlavi dynasty in Iran also called their ceremonial seat “the Peacock Throne,” though this throne has no relation to the original peacock throne.

Another throne that was Indian and held a lot of sentiment was the gold throne of Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler. This throne was made by the goldsmith Hafez Muhammad Multani sometime between  1820 to 1830.

It was made of wood and resin core and then carefully covered with sheets of engraved gold. The base is two tiered and it is crafted with lotus, a symbol of Hindu purity. The throne today is an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Incidentally, the octagonal shape of the throne is based on courtly furniture of the Mughals. Since Ranjit Singh was renowned for his simplicity and dislike of ceremony, he rarely sat on this throne, preferring to sit cross-legged on carpets.

The throne was taken by the British in 1849 on the annexation of Punjab, after the second Anglo-Sikh war.

A throne that the British willfully broke up was the throne with the tiger motif that belonged to Tipu Sultan of Mysore. When Tipu died in Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799, the British troops looted his treasury, mint, palace and broke down the throne. Today, only a few tiger motifs-three of the eight that were crafted on the throne-and the gold Huma bird which was perched on the umbrella on the throne has survived. The rest have been lost.

Similarly, it is believed that the Vijayanagar Empire had several thrones. Most of them appear to have been destroyed or broken apart when the Muslim states of the Deccan wantonly destroyed Hampi or Vijayanagar after the battle of Talikota in 1565.

The golden throne of Mysore was one of the many thrones that the Vijayanagar Emperors sat on. It was unearthed from a secret pit in Peunkonda by one of the founders of the Vijayanagar empire, Harihara, in 1348.

The then Rajguru of  Vijayanagar, Vidyaranya, helped Harihara excavate the throne. The throne was at Anegundi when the Muslim armies marched into Vijayanagar in 1565. It then was transported to Srirangapatna and from there it came into the possession of the Wodeyars.     

This throne, the Bhavishya Purana says, originally belonged to Indra, the King of Gods. Inbdra gave it to Vikramaditya, the second son of  King Gandharvasena of Ujjaini who belonged to the Paramar dynasty.

The Bhavishya Purana also portrays Vikramaditya as the first great Hindu King among the ten great kings. He received the throne from Indra as he settled a dispute between Rambha and Urvasi. In his judgment, Urvasi's dance was superior to Rambha's because Rambha lost confidence and her garland flowers became pale as she worried about victory while dancing.

The throne then passed into the hands of Bhoja Raja and later to the Guptas and finally into the hands of the King of Kampili, Kampiliraja.

 Kampili was a tiny kingdom on the banks of the Tungabhadra river in present day Karnataka state during the 13th century. The founder of the kingdom was a Hoysala commander, Singeya Nayaka-III (1280 - 1300) who declared himself independent and created a small chiefdom. He was succeeded by his son Kampiliraja who buried the throne at Penukonda when he was forced to take on Muhammad Bin Tughlaq in 1327.

The throne remained buried in Penukonda till Vidyaranya directed Harihara to excavate it.

Another throne of the Vijayanagar can be seen on festive occasion when the idol of Virupaksha is taken in a procession. Historians believe that the Vijayanagar Emperors gave the throne to the temple in 1565 just before or soon after their defeat in Talikota, which is a small town in Bijapur district.

We have descriptions of the thrones of the Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Chalukyas and even Kadambas but none of them exist. There is also no evidence of the throne of the Adil Shahs and the Bahamani Emperors.

However, we can still see some of the most unique thrones in India.  

The Salar Jung museum in Hyderabad today has a golden wooden throne used by the Nizam during the last silver jubilee celebration.

The Chowmahalla Palace or Chowmahallat (four Palaces), is also a palace of the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the seat of the Asaf Jah dynasty and was the official residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad while they ruled their state.

The palace is even today held in high esteem by the residents of Hyderabad, as it was the seat of the Asaf Jahs. The grand pillared Durbar Hall has a pure marble platform on which the Takht-e-Nishan or the royal seat was laid. Here the Nizams held their durbar and other religious and symbolic ceremonies.

Another unique throne is in the Junagadh fort in Bikaner. It has the sandalwood throne. There is also a throne set on a swing. The silver throne of Jaisalmer is an added attraction of the city of Jaisalmer.

Similarly, the City palace at Jaipur housed the golden throne in the Diwan-E-Aam (Sabha Niwas) or the Hall of Public Audience.

The Golden throne, called as Takth-e-Rawal, was the seat of the Maharaja during public audience. It was mounted on an elephant or carried by palanquin bearers during the Maharajas’ visit outside the palace.

Indian royals have always set great store by the thrones that they sat on.

Today, we can guess what royalty was lie when we see the Durbar hall in the Red fort in Delhi and Agra, the Amba Vilas in the main palace in Mysore, the durbar room of the Marathas in Thanjavur palace, the durbar hall of the Lakshmi Vilas, Jai Vilas palaces and the many palaces in Rajasthan and Gujarat.  

A barber who impersonated an Emperor

This was truly an incident that perfectly illustrated the proverb of a David overcoming a Goliath. But in this case, the David was more shrewd, more brave, more intelligent than the Goliath who outnumbered him in thousands and had scores of generals and commanders who were battle hardy.

The David here was one of the greatest Indians of all times and the founder of a Hindu Empire after the fall of Vijayanagar. A man whose valour was known and appreciated even by his enemies, he was a perfect foil to two mighty dynasties, both Muslims.

If one of the dynasties ruled the whole of India, barring the Deccan, the other was an equally powerful dynasty that had a major say in the decimation of Vijayanagar and in the 17^th century it was the foremost Kingdom in the south.

The David, however, was unperturbed by the two Muslim powers and he managed to carve out an independent Kingdom which threatened the very existence of the Muslim Kingdoms. The Emperors of both the Kingdoms tried every trick in the trade, every military and political tactic to overcome their common foe but to no avail.

If the Kingdom in the south attempted to assassinate the David, the Kingdom in the north even held David a prisoner for short while before he managed to escape. Emperors of both the Muslim Kingdoms spent huge amounts of money and manpower to capture the David but in vain.

Today, both the Kingdoms are history and most of their monarchs are forgotten. Only the ruins of their empire stand but the David is still revered today. He is ever present in the hearts of people and the his is the first name when one talks about patriotism. He is none other than Chatrapathi Shivaji, who founded the glorious Maratha Empire in the 17^th century and the two Muslim Kingdoms which opposed him tooth and nail were the Adil Shahs of Bijapur and the Mughals.

Both the Adil Shahs and Mughals made numerous attempts to reign in Shivaji and his marauding forces but in vain. A Bijapur General, Afzal Khan, a physical giant (He was almost seven feet tall) and an outstanding commander tried to kill Shivaji by deceit but ended up dying. The Mughals Emperor, Aurangzeb, too by deceit, imprisoned Shivaji but he had not reckoned with the Maratha’s resourcefulness. Shivaji and his son escaped from prison, much to the Mughal’s humiliation.

Shivaji inspired his men to greater heights. Even a common man, inspired by the Maratha’s ideals of freedom, independence and patriotism, gave up his life for Shivaji and one of the most outstanding example of this is how a barber saved the Chatrapathi.

The barber is immortalised even today and his deeds are sung about in Maharashtra. The barber impersonated Shivaji, allowing him the much needed time to escape from the Adil Shahis.

This is how the story of Shivaji and his barber unfolded.

It was July 13, 1660 and Chatrapathi Shivaji was facing perhaps the toughest time of his illustrious career. Both the Mughals under Emperor Shahajan and the Adil Shahis under Ali Adil Shah had joined forces to take on Shivaji.

The Adil Shahis had a clutch of  formidable generals and they were led by the huge African, Siddi Jahaur and his son-in-law, Siddi Masud Khan. With them was Fazal Khan, son of Afzal Khan whom Shivaji had killed on November 10, 1659 near Pratapgadh fort.

The Adil Shahis were 15,000  strong and they had completely surrounded Panhala, leaving no room for Shivaji to escape. The siege by the Adil Shahis was so tight that it would not be wrong to describe it as an action in which even a fly could not escape.

Try as he might, Shivaji was unable to pierce through the Adil Shahi ranks. To add to Shivaji’s discomfiture, the Mughal General Shaistya or Shaista Khan was attacking the Maratha Empire from the northern side towards Pune.

Even the redoubtable Maratha commander and Shivaji’s Sanapathi Netaji Palkar could not break through the siege from outside. A desperate Shivaji then decided to give a final battle. However, he hit upon a plan and he opened negotiations with Siddi Jahaur.

Siddi Jahaur was so sure that Shivaji would have to surrender that he relaxed the siege and Shivaji soon took advantage and rode away from the fort. However, he realized that unless and until he reached the fort of Vishalgad, he was still in danger. He then asked his barber to impersonate him.

The plan worked and even as Shivaji and his faithful band galloped towards Vishalgadh, the barber-Shiva Khasid-deliberately drew attention to himself. An incensed Siddi Jahaur came after Shiva even as Shivaji and a band of 600 faithfuls led by Baji Prabhu Deshpande rode to safety.

Meanwhile, the Adil Shahi troops captured Shiva Kashid and a few remnants of  the Maratha army. When they were brought before Siddi Jahaur, he soon realised that the Shivaji in front of him was not the man he wanted. He immediately had Shiva Khasid killed and asked his Siddi Masud Khan to go after Shivaji.

Siddi Masud attacked the Marathas at Pavankhind and the incident  is popularly known as the Battle of Pavankhind. The battle was fought in the vicinity of  Vishalgadh near present day Kolhapur.

The Marathas were led by Baji Prabhu Deshpande, while Siddi Masud led the Adilshah forces. The Maratha forces, though heavily outnumbered held the Adilshahi forces till Shivaji reached the fort Vishalgad.

The Marathas managed to defeat Siddi Masud Khan and this was the last major battle between Adilshahi forces and Marathas. Hereafter, the  Marathas came to be recognised as an independent power.

The sacrifices of Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Shiva Kashid is remembered even today. The war and  the escape of Shivaji, the gallantry of the Marathas and the defeat of the numerically superior Bijapur forces are recreated even today when youths trek on the route taken by the Chatrapathi between the forts of Panhala and Vishalgadh. The distance between the two forts is around 70 km.

Both the forts are in Maharashtra. Panala is 18 kms north west of Kolhapur. Incidentally, the descendents of Shivaji ruled from Kolhapur which also happens to be the place where Goddess Padmavathi, the wife of Srinivasa, resides.   

Diamonds are forever

They are little known outside the states of Bihar and Jharkhand. Yet, they can be classified as among the oldest kingdoms of the world.

The land on which their Kingdom existed is rich in minerals, particularly diamonds and other valuable stones. The rich mineral deposits and wealth drew the attention of other Kings, including the Mughals.

It was the diamonds and other wealth that led one of the Mughal Emperor to mount a massive tack on the Kingdom. The King lost and he was taken a prisoner and imprisoned at Gwalior. Years later, it was diamonds that saved him and got back his kingship.

This true incident proves the adage that diamonds are man’s best friends. Yes, they did bring grief to a king but they also saved his life and helped him get back his kingdom.      

This is the story of  the Nagvanshis of  Chotanagpur in East India. Read on……

The Nagvanshis trace their origin to the beginning of the Christian era. They say King Phani Mukut Rai, who was born in 64 AD, was the first king.

Mukut Rai was the adopted  son of  the legendary Adivasi King Madra Munda of Sutiambe village near Ranchi. Mukut Rai was found near a tank as a newborn with a cobra protecting him. This led to the dynasty he founded being called Nagvanshis.

Mukut Rai established the Nagvanshi Kingdom in 83AD and ruled for almost 80 years. Since then, this clan is supposed to have ruled over the Chotanagpur  region for almost 2,000 years.

When Jalaluddin Akbar became the Mughal Emperor, he found that an Afghan nobleman, Junaid Kararani, had taken shelter in Chotanagpur.

Akbar then decided to invade Chotanagpur. He sent an army under Shahbaz Khan Turbani and attacked Kokhra, the capital of  Nagavanshi Kings. The then Nagvanshi Raja, Madhu Singh, was defeated and Akbar ordered the kingdom to pay a sum of rupees six thousand as  annual fees payable to the Mughals.

Akbar was succeeded by his son Jahangir.  The new ruler of  Chotanagpur, Durjan Sal, refused to pay tax. Left with no alternative, Jahangir declared war on Chotanagpur. He dispatched the Mughal Governor of  Bihar, Ibrahim Khan, to attack Kokhra.

Historians say that the main reason for Jahangir to invade Chotanagpur was because of the fabulous diamonds.

Jahangir’s courtiers had informed him about the presence of a large number of diamonds in the Sankh river. Moreover, the legends of diamonds known as  Heera Nagpur and its Raja Durjan Sal, being an expert of diamonds, was known as Jahangir.

In 1615 AD, Durjan Sal was defeated and all his diamonds were taken away. The diamonds were then sent to the Mughal court where Jahangir marveled at their exquisite beauty and superb cut. Durjan Sal was fist imprisoned at Patna and then in the fort of Gwalior.

Twelve years passed and Durjan Sal resigned himself to his fate. He was a prisoner with several other Kings in the mammoth Gwalior fort. 

One day, two huge diamonds were gifted to Jahangir. The Mughal Emperor wanted to keep them but he had doubts about their authenticity. None of the  jewelers could give him a conclusive answer about the genuineness of  the diamonds.

Days passed and Jahangir grew frustrated over the failure of all his jewelers to distinguish the diamonds. A courtier then asked Jahangir to summon Durjan Sal, the Heera Raja, to check on the diamonds.

Heera Raja was brought to the Imperial court from Gwalior and when the diamonds were shown to him, he pointed to one of them as a fake. When he was asked to prove it, he requested for two rams. He tied the two diamonds to the horns of the rams and set them to fight each other. As soon as the rams battered each other, one of the diamonds splintered.

The Heera Raja then informed Jahangir that a true diamond would never break. He showed him the unbroken diamond which did not even have a scratch.

Jahangir was so pleased  that he ordered Durjan Sal to be released. He also restored the Kingdom to Durjan Sal along with the diamonds and other jewels he had taken.

Though Durjan Sal accepted his release with humility, he requested the Mughal Emperor to release other Rajas who had been his companions in prison. Jahangir agreed and so the Heera Raja was released along with other kings.

Jahangir conferred the title Shah on Durjan Sal.  A grateful Durjan Sal Shah went back to Chotanagpur and reigned for 13 years before he died in 1639 AD.

Thus, the diamonds that had led to the downfall of one of the Kings had later helped him in securing his release. No wonder, “Diamonds are forever”.
 

The sign posts of the Mughals

They designated the distances and were also the milestones of highways crisscrossing the Mughal Empire. They also helped people know the distance they had to travel and the direction in which they had to proceed.

Today, these monuments have all but disappeared and the few that are still on the road side have been neglected. These are the Kos Minars that the Mughals built all along the roads of their huge Empire.

The Kos Minars were generally mile stones and the distance of a  place was measured by a Kos. These minars are solid round pillar, around 30 feet in height that stands on a masonry platform built with bricks and plastered over with lime.

These minars were installed across main highways to delineate the route and also mark the distance.

At the height of the empire, there were more than 1,000 such Kos Minars and a majority of them came to be constructed between 1556 and 1707.

All the Mughal Emperors encouraged the construction of such mile stones so that they could stand as a permanent and indestructible monument. For the Mughals, the distance between two Kos was three kms.    

One such Kos Minar can still be seen on the Grand Trunk Road from Delhi to Chandirgarh. The Minar is near Panipat in Haryana.

Emperor Akbar’s chronicler and historian Abul Fazal has written in Akbarnama that Akbar issued an order in 1575 that at every kos on way from Agra to Ajmer, a Kos Minar should be installed so that those who had lost their way have a mark to find their path.

Thus, the Kos Minars, constructed for the comfort of travellers, eventually became an institution during the rule of the Mughals. After Akbar, his son Jahangir and grandson Shah Jahan, both added to the existing network of Kos Minars. In the North, the network of Kos Minars were extended from Agra to Lahore and Peshawar via Delhi, in the East to Bengal via Kannauj, and in the South from Agra to Mandu via Shivpuri. In 1607, Emperor Jahangir ordered the Zamidars of his kingdom to plant trees at regular intervals on the Agra-Lahore road. In 1619, he ordered Baqir Khan, the Faujdar of Multan, to put up a pillar at every Kos. He also ordered a well to be sunk at every three kos distance.

Unfortunately, India seems to have forgotten its heritage. There has so far not been any systematic study undertaken to find out as to how many Kos Minars still survive. One reason could be that they were seen as architecturally insignificant.

But when one looks at the minars as part of a much larger design, their real significance can be appreciated. For instance, some of major cities of historical significance, monuments and battlefields are situated on the route marked by Kos Minars.

There are some places on the Agra-Delhi belt where a network of caravan sarais (travellers’ resting places), and bawlis (stepped drinking water wells) - though some of them extinct now – were built close to Kos Minars for the comfort and benefit of travellers. Nearly 400 years later, highways have come up much along the same route as one delineated by Kos Minars.

The Kos Minars also played an important role in the day-to-day administration of the Mughal empire. Each Minar was equipped with a horse, a rider and a drummer to relay back and forth royal messages with speed. Historians say that that the primary function of these road side mile stones was to facilitate efficient transportation and communication.

There are 49 Kos Minars in Haryana, of which 17 are situated in Faridabad district, seven in Sonepat, five in Panipat, 10 in Karnal, nine in Kurukshetra-Ambala belt , and one in Rohtak districts. And all of them, except the one at Rohtak, exist on the Delhi-Ambala and Delhi-Agra highways.

The Kos Minars or Mile Pillars are medieval milestones that were first constructed by the Afghan Emperor Sher Shah Suri.