Blasts from the past

Who said History is boring? I mean yes, the numerous teeny-tiny kingdoms of medieval India do overwhelm us sometimes but other than that part, it's actually pretty interesting, educative and fun too.Yes, I said fun. And as our historians say, to understand the present you first need to understand the history.But this post strictly is about the fun part, rather the funny part.

The medieval Indian History and also the ancient Indian History to some extent was all about Turkish rulers, fights among dynasties and wars of succession within dynasties.And the throne of the Delhi sultanate was the dream of all the rulers.The first name that strikes me is Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq.He was a great visionary and way ahead of his time but sadly none of his ambitious projects materialized.Introduction of a token currency(which we use today),shifting of the capital and his agrarian reforms all failed miserably.And this was not it.When his father was returning after the triumph of province of Bengal, he decided to create a large wooden platform for the grand reception of his father not knowing the fact that his father was returning with a fleet of elephants as war booty.When they reached the platform, it collapsed and his father died in this accident.

Next, the founder of Sur dynasty, Sher Shah.While on one of his expeditions of annexation, he died because of a gunpowder explosion of his own weapon.Had he lived for another decade or so, probably the Indian throne would have never witnessed the Mughals.Also, he started the construction of his own tomb at Sasaram,Bihar.Huh, we all know that we are mortal but who the hell digs his grave in advance. Next is Humayun,son of Babar.When he came back to the throne in 1555, little did he know that he was not going to last long.In 1556 only, he fell from the stairs of his own library 'Sher-Mandal' and died.A ruler who had dreams of taking big strides faulted in his small steps.

Lets go back a little in the 13th century where we witnessed the Slave dynasty.The founder, Qutub-uddin-Aibak died when he fell off his horse while playing a game of Polo and succumbed to injuries.Another ruler of slave dynasty,Gyas-uddin-Balban who with the help of the nobles of the then court was throned to power,after accession decided to abolish the nobles so that they had no power against him to propose another candidate.Smart move Gyas.This was not it, he also introduced court etiquette's like Sijda(to bow in front of the king) and Paibos(to lick king's feet).Burnnnn !

And many more are there to explore.So again, who said History is boring? :D