Who was Indra of Subash Chandar Bose?

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Nation

Laxmi Panda was a member of Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj. She was named Indra by Netaji.


It is better to remember the name of one's own father because that is required to claim the right of ancestral property. What is the need of remembering History? History is the mistress of politics. Do we remember Netaji?

Kumrahar Palibothra, Patliputra, Patna

Urbanization is an important subject in itself. In making of history of any region, country and social group, the urbanization and its process determine the contours of the development effecting every aspect of the life of inhabitants.

Similarly, to know the history in right order is as important as making of a nation and its existence. This statement may not be comprehensible to many people and nor it is going to be further dilated upon here. However, there is need to emphasis that there are some cities which are more important for remembering the history and heritage of ones own country than remembering and establishing the title of the property papers of your plots in which you have indulgently invested your hard earned or luck earned money. One of such city is Kumrahar and Rajgriha.

It is Kumrahar, from where the very political identity of India as a nation has started emerging. That is other thing, many scholars will object to this statement because there is a group of scholars who believe that the very concept nation is nineteenth century concept and in India, the India as a nation started emerging only after 1870. There is need of debating on Euro-Centric and Euro-Defined and Euro-Oriented paradigm and I am ready to debate on what I have said here. This very Kumrahar then became the Patliputra of Ajatsatru, then of Sungas, Dhana Nanda, Vishnu Gupta and finally of Chandragupta Maurya. It was the same Patliputra, which was Palibothra of Sandrocotus in the Indica of Magasthense as referred to in the writing of Strabo. It is the same Pataliputra which later became the Patna.

In a news item of Times of India, it is being announced that the Bihar Government is about to bring out a book titled ‘Patna: A Monumental History’. It is coming out at a time when Bihar is suffering from the curse of Kosi. Any how, some of the extracts of the news item is reproduced below.

“Patna is pioneer among selected towns of India having run horse-drawn trams as urban mode of transport.”

“Now trams run only in Kolkata.”

“The founder of Kolkata Job Charnock spent more than a decade as the chief of Patna factory before founding the city of Kolkata in 1699 AD by integrating three adjoining villages — Sutanati, Kolikata and Govindpur.”

“The present day Patna Saheb is the oldest station of Patna. Its name changed several times, starting from Begampur, to Patna, to Patna City and now Patna Saheb.”

“The Danapur railway station, just outside Khagaul, later became the headquarters of the then `Company of East Indian Railway Volunteers.”

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It is a reposting of the post which has already appeared at History in News.

A Glimpse at the Inaugration of the Supreme Court of India Building

Dr. Rajendra Prasad, H.E. the President of India, Hon'ble Shri S.R. Das, Chief Justice of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Vice-President of India, Shri Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, Speaker, Lok Sabha and Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India on the occasion of inauguration of the Supreme Court of India Building - August 4, 1958

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Source and Acknowledgement:
Photo Gallery as shown on the Website of Supreme Court of India. Kindly note that this site is quite useful for the research scholars who undertake research on the judiciary, supreme court judgements and jurisprudence.

Russell, R. V. : The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India by R. V. Russell is now available on Gutenberg Project from the last year.


It was one of the book coveted by me. I have read one volume by Ibbetson but when I reached this Volume, I developed some conflict with the library people. I did not return to the library. Since then, I was just repenting my decision. Now, along with J. Mills Book (that book is yet not available on Gutenberg Project but readily available from different sources), I have two books which I will read thoroughly.


The book was published in 1916. The project of such surveys had started by 1881 when the first Census of India was published. This book has been highly criticized by the nationalist historians. There is some valid arguments which they have used. By mere survey of the bibliography, it can be seen, that it was mere a work of civil servant. The very diction while discussing various castes, tribes, clans of different states, one can observe that the writer is giving mere opinion.


Further, it is only after 1920, that nationalist historians started writing about India. They started with criticism of the contents of the history. There was no serious research as such. There were many reasons for that. Even today we find that new titles are published in which totally untouched sources are used. However, the proximity of the time of publication of this book and the emergence of Nationalist Historiography of Modern India, makes it an important book. One should remember that the Discovery of India, the books by Bhandarkar, R. K. Mokerjee, and later J. N. Sarkar, et al came later.


In addition to that I have plucked out some photographs. The photographs in itself are a treat to the eyes. In the hand of a research scholars, they can be very good source especially, the upanayan yagyana photograph by Arya Samajis whom Russell had treated with supportive terms.