" What have Brahmins done other than beg for alms?"- asks this political stooge.

I have noticed that people like him, who slander me everyday and spread lies about me, have a deep seated hatred for Brahmins.

This is a common factor driving them all.

Today is Jayanti of Ahilyabai Holkar

She was a widow who became Malwa's greatest queen. Defended our country & personally led armies into battle.Never plundered anyone. Developed Malwa into a prosperous kingdom. Rebuilt temples destroyed by Mughals. Built Dharmashalas at Tirthas

Unfortunately, her memory has been blemished by inaccurate representations in modern popular media.

The serial "Punyashlok Ahilyabai" depicts her as ultra secularist feminazi icon who questions Hindu rituals & Pandits while patronising Sufis.

This is far from historical truth!

Ahilyabai was born on May 31 1725 to Patil Mankoji Shinde.

She was from Dhangar clan(classified as OBC today). While Dhangars were traditionally into herding, they took up arms & held several military /civil roles in various eras of history(especially during Maratha resurgence)

In 1737, when she was 12, Ahilyabai Holkar was married to Khanderao , son of Subedar Malhar Rao Holkar.

By the time she was married, fortunes of Holkar family had already waxed.

Malhar Rao was a Subedar of territory comprising 30 Parganas yielding a revenue of at least 7 Lakh

In 1741, when Ahilyabai was newly married, her father -in-law Malhar Rao Built Indore palace & ordered the kanungo to populate the settlement with a promise of protection to traders.

This began rise of Indore from its background as modest trading town Indrapuri to a great city

Did you know?

The Bamiyan Buddhas are famous throughout the world.

Did you know that the Bamiyan Buddhas had a gold covering until 9th century? They were adorned with precious gems.

Did you know that the Bamiyan Buddhas were built by a HINDU king?

[Thread]

Who built Bamiyan Buddha?

There lies a painting of the king who sponsored the construction of Bamiyan Buddhas inside Bamiyan caves.

The name of the king who built Bamiyan Buddhas was Narendraditya Khingila(6th-7th century CE).

He was the same king who worshiped Gardez Ganesha

Khingila consecrated a temple for Ganesha in Gardez, Afghanistan.

The temple has not survived.

However, the Ganesha image has been moved out of Gardez and is now at Pir Rattan temple, Kabul (the same temple whose priest is Pandit Rajesh Kumar, the last Hindu of Afghanistan)

When Xuanzang visited Bamiyan (c. 629 CE) , the Buddhas were standing in full glory.

Xuanzang describes the larger standing Buddha as follows
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"It is 140-150 meters high. It is of a dazzling gold color. It is resplendent with ornamentations of precious substances"

During this period, the clothes of Buddha were very brightly colored. The larger buddha was clothed in red and the smaller Buddha in white.

And this coloring survived until recently.

This is why Muslims named larger Buddha as "Surkh But"(red idol) and the smaller as "Khing But"

Taliban has hoisted its flag on Hazrat Ali mosque of Mazar I Sharif.

This mosque is especially venerated by Shia Hazaras of Afghanistan.

This development is of extreme significance in the light of history and has implications on the very definition of Afghanistan

Thread.

The Afghanistan we see on the map today was created by Afghan King Emir Abdur Rahman in 1900.

Before 1880, the entire central region of Afghanistan constituted a different country that was known by the name Hazaristan or Hazarajat

It was NOT considered a part of Afghanistan

That Afghanistan is nation of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, etc is just a modern notion created 50 years ago.

Consider this Afghan idiom of the famous Pashtun poet Khushal Khattak(c. 1613 -1689 CE)

"An Afghan is a Pashtun and a Pashtun is an Afghan. Bεhead him who says otherwise"

Who are Hazaras?

Hazaras are considered by historians to be descendants of Genghis Khan's army.

This is supported by their Asiatic features.

Although a majority of Hazaras adopted Persian with their own Hazaragi dialect, some still speak a Turkic language known as "Moghul"

An overwhelming majority of Hazaras are Shia by faith, in contrast to their Sunni Pashtun neighbors.

Hazaras are distinct from other Afghans linguistically, culturally and ethnically.

Traditionally, they inhabited the entire central region of Afghanistan from Ghazni to Herat

Hinduism is a minority religion in Punjab.

During the Khalistan movement, the minority Hindus and Jains were subjected to several attacks. Hindu and Jain temples were frequently vandalized and desecrated. This thread documents a few instances.

Thread

Durgiana Mandir is one of the oldest temples of Amritsar. According to the regional Hindu tradition, the temple was built on the spot where Lava and Kusha bound Hanuman. The temple annually attracts millions of Hindus from all over the country.

Amristsar has a very ancient Hindu history.

According to the regional Hindu tradition recorded in the "Survey of Amritsar", Amritsar got its name from Amrit immersed by Lava and Kusha in a pond.

Durgiana Mandir was rebuilt in 1921.

It was used to house the Murtis of Vishnu and Durga which were thrown out from the Parikrama of Harmandir Sahib in 1905.

Because of its presence in Amritsar, it became a frequent target of radicals during the Khalistan movement.

In 1982, in what was a completely unprovoked attack, the Dal Khalsa "activists" threw a severed cow head inside Durgiana temple.