AGRA FORT

The first is what i would call A case of Stolen Gates. The Somnath Temple of
Gujarat used to have magnificent Gates made of Sandalwood. These were stolen
by Sultan Mahmud Ghazni in 1024. During the first Afghan war of 1842, a Jat
Battalion stormed the Tomb of Ghazni and brought back the Sandalwood Gates.
However, many believe these were not the Original Gates and Ghazni had made
them to glorify his triumph! These Gates are currently on display at the Agra
Fort.
Jahangir had this obsession for Justice. He made the legendary Chains of Truth.
These bells were 60 in number and made of Gold. Jahangir encouraged his
people to ring the bell if they had suffered injustice from anyone in his Kingdom.
These bells were kept behind the Black Throne of Jahangir (which incidentally
was made of Onyx imported from Belgium)
Sherlock Homes had come to Agra Fort in a matter of a Case! The particular case
was the Sign of Four. The Walls of the Agra Fort is where the Treasure was
hidden!
Attached Images

One little known fact about Indian monuments concerns The Red fort built by
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century.
It is commonly presumed that since it is called the Red Fort it must be totally
made out of red sandstone. But thats not true. Its walls and gates are made of
red sandstone but the palaces are made of marble.
Also the walls of the Diwan-i-khas are strewn with Persian couplets..one of which
is the famous couplet by Amir Khusro roughly translating to.. If there be paradise
on earth,it is this..it is this..it is this..

Do you know world's first granite temple is located in Tamilnadu?

Interesting facts about Tamilnadu which makes every Tamil people to be proud of their
culture, traditions and the language...

Tamil Nadu is often referred to as 'a land of temples' and Tamils are proud of
the religious traditions and follow them strictly. The Tamils have been the greatest
of temple builders and its rulers have always been the patrons of art and
architecture including the Pallavas, Cholas and the Pandyas.
The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in
Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also,
this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009
AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
Tamil tradition dates the oldest works to several millennia ago; the earliest
examples of Tamil writing we have today are in inscriptions from the 3rd century

BC, which are written in an adapted form of the Brahmi script (Mahadevan, 2003).
Archaeological evidence obtained from inscriptions excavated in 2005 dates the
language to around 1000 BC.
Tirukkural, which was written nearly two millennia ago portrays a universal
outlook. This is evident as the author, Tiruvalluvar, does not mention his religion,
land, or the audience for his work. He is often portrayed as a holy saint of Tamil
Nadu today.
Carnatic music is the classical music form of Southern India. This is one of the
world's oldest & richest musical traditions.The Trinity of Carnatic music Tyagaraja,
Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri were from Tamil Nadu.
Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form originating from Tamil Nadu.
Bharatanatyam is thought to have been created by Bharata Muni, a Hindu sage,
who wrote the Natya Shastra, the most important ancient treatise on classical
Indian dance. In ancient times it was performed in Hindu temples by Devadasis. In
this form, it as also been called sadir or chinna melam.
Marina Beach(which is in tamilnadu) is the second longest beach in the world,
after Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Tamil is the first Indian Language to attain Classical Language Status.Isn't it

Interesting?
To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be
ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own and not as
an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of
ancient literature. Unlike the other modern languages of India, Tamil meets each of
these requirements. It is extremely old (as old as Latin and older than Arabic); it arose
as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other
languages; and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich
1.

India is about 1/3 the size of the United States, yet it is the second most
populous country in the world, with a population of 1,166,079,217. India is
the seventh largest country in the world, at 1.27 million square miles.
2. The Kumbh Mela (or Grand Pitcher Festival) is a huge Hindu religious
festival that takes place in India every 12 years. In 2001, 60 million people
attended, breaking the record for the worlds biggest gathering. It was
even photographed from space by a satellite.
3. India has one of the world's highest rates of murder in the world, at
over 40,000 murders per year.
4. India has one of the worlds highest rates of abortion. Time magazine
reports that in 2012, the number of abortions in India could be as high as
7 million, with 2/3 of abortions taking place in unauthorized health
facilities. Due to unsanitary conditions, a woman in India dies every two
hours. Additionally, there are more men than women in India due to the
high rate of abortions performed on female fetuses, a practice known as
"gendercide."

5. More than a million Indians are millionaires, yet most Indians live on
less than two dollars a day. An estimated 35% of Indias population lives
below the poverty line.
6. A widow is considered bad luckotherwise, her husband wouldnt
have died. Elderly women in the village might call a widow the one who
ate her husband. In some orthodox families, widows are not allowed near
newlyweds or welcomed at social gatherings.
7. India is the birthplace of chess. The original word for chess is the
Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning four members of an armywhich were
mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers.
8. The Indian flag has three horizontal bands of color: saffron for
courage and sacrifice, white for truth and peace, and green for faith,
fertility, and chivalry. An emblem of a wheel spinning used to be in the
center of the white band, but when India gained independence, a
Buddhist dharma chakra, or wheel of life, replaced the spinning wheel.
9. The temples of Khajuraho are famous for their erotic sculptures and
are one of the most popular tourist attractions in India. Scholars still
debate the purpose of such explicit portrayals of sexual intercourse, which
sometimes involve animals.
10. India is the worlds largest producer of dried beans, such as kidney
beans and chickpeas. It also leads the world in banana exports; Brazil is
second.
11. With 150,000 post offices, India has the largest postal network in the
world. However, it is not unusual for a letter to take two weeks to travel
just 30 miles.
12. Alexander the Great of Macedon (356-323 B.C.) was one of the first
important figures to bring India into contact with the West. After his
death, a link between Europe and the East would not be restored until
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) landed in Calicut, India,
in 1498.
13. The British Raj, or British rule, lasted from 1858 to 1947 (although
they had a strong presence in India since the 1700s). British influence is
still seen in Indian architecture, education system, transportation, and
politics. Many of Indias worst famines are associated with British rule in
India.
14. Every major world religion is represented in India. Additionally,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism all originated in India.
15. The lotus is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. The Bah house of
worship in Delhi, known as the Lotus Temple, is shaped like a lotus

flower with 27 gigantic petals that are covered in marble.

16. The banyan, or Indian fig tree, is considered a symbol of immortality
and is mentioned in many Indian myths and legends. This self-renewing
plant is Indias national tree.
17. Most historians agree that the first recorded account of plastic
surgery is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts.
18. Hindi and English are the official languages of India. The government
also recognizes 17 other languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali,
Manipuri, Konkani, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya,
Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). Apart from these
languages, about 1,652 dialects are spoken in the country.
19. Greek sculpture strongly influenced many portrayals of Indian gods
and goddesses, particularly after the conquest of Alexander the Great
around 330 B.C. In fact, early Indian gods had Greek features and only
later did distinct Indian styles emerge.
20. Chandragupta Maurya (340-290 B.C.), a leader in India who
established the Mauryan Empire (321-185 B.C.), was guarded by a band of
women on horseback.

Tell few details of BIBI NANCHARI, second wife of Lord

Venkateswara(Balaji) of Tirupathi? Is she a Muslim?
yesl..some examples of muslim communities in south india go to mosques and have muslim names,
but some of them also pray to Indian gods. In AP, there is a community called 'Doodekulu' (Cottonjenny community). In many villages even today, the village tailors belong to this community. An 18th
Century devotee of Tirumala Balaji called 'Bibi Nanchari' belonged to this community. She has a
temple named after her in Tirupati which is very popular. Several composers of devotional songs refer
to Bibi Nanchari as the second wife of Sri Venkateswara.
According to Agnihitri Thathacharya (Yengey pogudu Indu natham) the deity at Tirupathi was originally
"Kali",the

tribals'

goddess.Later

the

Sivites

changed

it

as

Siva's

temple,

Ramanujacharya ,by a starategem ,converted it to a Vishnavite temple.IT has a pigtail also reports a
foreign

visistor.

How a Muslim woman be his second wife?

These are from yahoo Question and answers
.
The fact remains Venkateshwara had a second wife and she was a muslim.Which means the physical
existence of Venkateshwara is just 450 yrs old.He lived in the hills now called Tirupathi.At that time
there was a war between the hill tribe and the Nawab in the neighbouring kingdom and war could

never end as Hill tribe adopted to gaurilla warfare.The temple was Kali`s and Venkateshwara got
enlightened and started his preachings on adwaitha and brought peace to the two who were at war.
Peace prevailed and after the departure of the enlightened one the usual happened.A Shiva temple
was built and Venkateshwara was christined as Shiva.
On passage of time Vishnavites turned it into the temple of Vishnu.
However thank God one saying of Venkateshwara remained (now in neon sign) not much attention is
paid to that anyway,but a true seeker will find it.

The other rituals are the mischief of the so called followers.the true seeker can
always contemplate on Venkateshwara`s saying.
Dharmaye Rakshitha ; Rakshithaha Dharmaha. Protect Dharma and
Dharma shall protect you.
And Dharma is being integrated,intgrated in thought word and deed.The
Trinity.And not the so called religious Dharma.
The Heartbreaking Truth About Indian Foods That Are Not Indian at
All
Rutu Ladage
October 5, 2014
facebooktwittermailtwittergplus
69.5kShares
You've been eating and drinking them all your life without knowing
the actual origins! We bet you never knew these Indian foods are
not Indian at all but are a gift of foreign influences.
1. Samosa
Getty
That delicious samosa you always munch on as a tea-time snack or
when sudden hunger-pangs hit is not Indian at all! The triangular
potato/meat-filled savoury dish that is easily found on every streetcorner actually has origins in the Middle East. Originally called
'sambosa', the Indian samosa was actually introduced to the
country sometime between the 13th and 14th century by traders of
the Middle East. But whatever, we're just happy we get to hog
these yummy yummy snacks!
2. Gulab Jamuns
Getty

Ooh. We're sure your mouth is already watering. The very thought
of these calorie-filled dough balls, deep-fried and then soaked is
enough to send anyone to food heaven. And what's more, this dish
is so versatile that you can enjoy it hot, cold or simply at room
temperature. But the favourite Indian dessert originated in the
Mediterranean and Persia. Though the original form of the dessert is
called luqmat al qadi and made of dough balls deep fried, soaked in
honey syrup and sprinkled with sugar, once it reached India, the
recipe was modified. How we wish it was lunch-time already!
3. Vindaloo
Getty
The very sound takes you to the beaches of Goa and a relaxed
family lunch. But the very spicy meat curry is not Goan at all!
Vindaloo has it's roots in Portuguese cuisine and it has been
adapted from the very famous carne de vinha d'alhos which is the
Portuguese name for Vindaloo. Originally, Vindaloo was made of
wine, pork and garlic and that is how it derived it's name (vin wine, alhos - garlic) though Indians modified it by using palm
vinegar, pork/beef/chicken and multiple spices. Though the original
recipe does not use potatoes, Indians modified the recipe further by
using potatoes as the word "aloo" in Vindaloo means potato in
Hindi. Now you know where that sudden piece of potato popped up
from between those meat chunks.
4. Shukto
Mix and Stir
This mouth-watering Bengali delicacy is another surprise which has
it's origins in Portuguese cuisine. The Portuguese influence
extended all the way from Goa to Eastern Bengal or Bangladesh
and the influences are visible in Bengali food even today. Shukto is
prepared from Karela or Bitter Gourd which is Indian in origin but
was prepared by the Portuguese in olden days. Slowly, Indian
influences like multiple other vegetables and a dash of milk/sweet
to cut the spice were added to the dish. Just be happy you get to
savour this amazing dish today!
5. Chai
Getty
The unassuming comfort drink of almost every Indian is in no way
true desi. Famous the world over as chai (Starbucks has a Chai
Latte on their menu), tea has it's origins in China. While the Chinese
used it as a medicinal drink, the Britains soon discovered it and
loved it's versatile nature. Now, the British being British wanted to
cut China's monopoly in the tea market. So, they brought the
humble 'chai' to India (by teaching cultivation techniques to the
tribals in North-East India plus offering incentives to Britons who
wanted to cultivate in India). And it has been a part of India ever
since! In fact, it was only in the 1950s that tea became so popular.

Now, don't suddenly look down into that cup you're sipping from
while reading this!
6. Dal Bhaat
Getty
Dal Bhaat or Dal-rice is a comfort food all over India. There are even
variations of this food like the Khichdi which are very popular
among Indians. Though dal bhaat seems like a very simple, Indian
dish, it is not Indian at all. Dal bhaat is actually of Nepali origin and
it was through North Indian influences that the dish entered India
and spread throughout the region. We're sure you're going to dream
of the Himalayas the next time you're eating this simple food!
7. Rajma
Getty
Rajma chawal has quickly spread from being a North Indian staple
to being loved by most Indians. The dish which is as popular as the
North Indian chole-bhature is a wholesome meal in itself. However,
the preparation of Rajma or the kidney bean in Rajma chawal is not
Indian. The bean was brought to India through Central Mexico and
Guatemala. The initial preparation or soaking and boiling the beans
and adding a few spices is adapted from Mexican recipes. Rajma is
a staple in Mexican diet even today though it's Indian variants are
quite different from the Mexican preparations. The bean and recipes
prepared using Rajma are famous in North India and the locals often
add Indian spices and vegetables like onions and tomatoes to make
it tangy. Cool, isn't it?
8. Bandel Cheese
Getty
This is another staple Bengali dish which has Portuguese influences.
While the cheese was developed in India and has it's origins in
Eastern India, it was created by the Portuguese using their own
techniques for making cheese and breads. The cheese which has
developed into a wide variety today was originally available in just
one variety. Over time, people experimented and created the
smoked flavor of Bandel cheese. It was the fermentation techniques
of the Portuguese that helped developed this cheese and in the
olden days, it was made by Burmese cooks under Portuguese
supervision.
9. Naan
Getty
This is one dish that is loved all over the world. A type of leavened
bread, Naan is a staple of North India and is available in almost all
North Indian restaurants across the country. The Americans and
Europeans have recently discovered the joys of this bread and love
pairing it with their chicken tikka. However, naan is not Indian but

was brought to India during the Mughal era. Naan has it's roots in
Persian cuisine though the form of leavened bread is actually
Iranian. The soft, melt-in-the-mouth bread is surely a favourite but
trying different forms with rose-water, khus or stuffed naan might
actually tingle your taste buds!
10. Jalebi
We even have an item number associated with this delicious sweet!
How can it not be Indian? But it isn't. Jalebi is actually from the
Middle East though different variations of the sweet were found
across different Asian regions. Originally called zalabiya (Arabic)or
the zalibiya (Persian), the dish was brought to India by Persian
invaders. Today, the dessert Jalebi is famous all over the country in
different forms. While North India loves their thin and crispy jalebis,
the South Indian version consists of thicker and have a slightly
different shape. Jaangiri and Imartee are variations of the Jalebi.
Wow! So many variations of just one sweet. No wonder you thought
it was Indian!
11. Filter Coffee
"What?", you say, "How can Filter coffee not be Indian? Well, filter
coffee became popular in India pretty late, in the 1950s, around the
same time Chai began to get traction. Coffee was not a part of India
till the 16th century when it was smuggled into the country, by
Baba Budan, on his pilgrimage to Mecca. On returning, he
cultivated coffee and the drink soon became popular. Indians would
drink coffee without milk or sugar in place of liqueur. Filter coffee
was popularised by Coffee Cess Committee when they set up their
first Coffee House in then Bombay in 1936. So much information!
Time for a kaapi break?

1. India is rightly called the Land of Spices. No country in the world produces as many
varieties of spices as India.

Source

2. Greek, Roman and Arab traders have contributed a lot to the first foreign flavours in
Indian cuisine. Who did you think brought the amazing saffron to India?

Source

3. Staple ingredients of Indian cuisine like potato, tomato and chilli don't have Indian
origin. They were brought to India by the Portuguese.

Source

4. Not only this, the Portuguese also introduced us to refined sugar. Before that?
Fruits and honey were used as sweeteners in Indian food.

Source

5. Here comes a blow! Our very favourite Chicken Tikka Masala, a popular dish in
India, is not Indian. It was invented in Glasgow, Scotland!

Source

6. The first Indian restaurant in the USA was opened in the mid 1960s. Today, there are
around 80,000 Indian restaurants in America.

Source

7. Very little is known about the food and eating habits of the earliest Indian
civilization, Indus Valley Civilization, because the ancient language has not been
deciphered yet.

Source

8. According to Indian Food Theory, our food has 6 different flavours: sweet, salty,
bitter, sour, astringent and spicy.

A proper Indian meal is a perfect balance of all 6 flavours, with one or two
flavours standing out. So the next time you eat your meal, you know how to
judge it.

Source

9. Who doesn't like chutneys? Indian food is incomplete without this delicious side
dish. But do you know the Britishers loved our chutneys as much as we do? In fact,
they named one of the chutneys as 'Major Grey's'. It is still sold in India and is quite
famous.

Source

10. Mithais are an important part of Indian cuisine and celebrations. Payasam, one of
the favourite sweet dishes of South India, is a must-serve at important ceremonies
like weddings. According to South Indian tradition, a wedding is not
over until Payasam is served.

Source

11. Traditional Kashmiri cooking, Wazwan, reflects strong Central Asian influence. The
unique thing about this cooking technique is that the spices are boiled, not fried. It
gives the food a distinctive flavour and aroma.

Source

12. Pepper is known as the king of spices because it goes well with everything. Mix it
with salt and it becomes the classic combination we all love. Imagine how bland our
food would taste without this spice.

Source

13. Love eating dum pulao or dum biryani? Do you know how this style of cooking
originated in India? Here's the story:

The Nawab of Awadh was facing a shortage of food in his region so he

ordered a meal to be cooked for all the poor in huge handis, covered with a
lid and sealed with dough. This would help cook a lot of food with minimum
resources, but who would have thought that this would eventually lead to a
new style of cooking, now known as 'dum'.

Source

14. Indian food system classifies food into three categories - Saatvic (fresh vegetables
and juice), Raajsic (oily and spicy food) and Taamsic (Meat and liquor).

Saatvic food leads you to higher states of consciousness.

Raajsic food is the foundation of activity and motion.
Taamsic food brings out negative feelings.

Source

15. Strictly speaking, this is not a fact but this 'cuisine map' of India will definitely
amaze you. It shows the huge and delicious varieties of food Indians indulge in.