Babur didn’t bring gardens to India and the Mughals just usurped & built tombs on top of the gardens that Hindus had already been planting for millennia. Thousands of years before the Timurids ever set foot in India, Hindu civilization had already developed an extraordinary tradition of garden design which was deeply integrated into our urban planning, temple architecture, and sacred aesthetics.
Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, and Puranas refer to many types of gardens like Ārāma (pleasure garden), Upavana (planted forest), Vātikā (orchard), Pushpavātikā (flower grove), and Udyāna (public parks).
300 BCE: Kautilya’s Arthashastra describes gardens, lakes, tanks & agricultural fields as part of city planning. Greek ambassador Megasthenes confirms that Hindu palaces were set in lush well-designed gardens laid out with ponds.
2nd c. CE: Inscriptions from the Kushan era in Mathura describe well-planned gardens. In Kashmir, the site of the famous Mughal Shalimar and Nishat Bagh gardens originally hosted a temple and garden complex built by King Pravarsena in 79 CE called Pravaresha Mandir in his capital, Pravarapura(modern Srinagar).
7th c. CE: Harshavardhana’s Harsha Charita describes multistoried palaces with flower beds & fruit trees. Rājataraṅgiṇī (13th c.) confirms Harsha’s construction of lakes and gardens of which remnants are still visible. Chinese monk Hiuen Tsang, who visited Nalanda during Harsha’s era, vividly described huge planned shady mango groves, exquisite lotus ponds & gardens of flowering trees across university campuses.
10th c.: Supporting archaeological evidence from South India is found in inscriptions describing the intervention of Chola king, Parāntaka I of Madura (10th c.) who settled a municipal dispute by electing 5 committees including an entire Committee dedicated solely to Gardens or Parks.
11th c.: Malva Raja Bhoja’s treatise Samaranga Sutradhara (11th c.) provides incredible details on design of gardens for temples, towns, palaces & garden-cities. Temple gardens were for public community events & included groves of sacred trees such as Bilva, Asvattha, Neem, etc. Beautiful Garden cities surrounded by an entire belt of gardens were symmetrically distributed with parks, gardens & tanks. Rows of trees lined both sides of the streets, urban spaces & every house had a garden in front. Moats of water edged the green belt around the city.
14th c. inscriptions in Karnataka describe Jain Chaityalayas with lotus ponds, fruit orchards, pleasure gardens & rice fields. Temples had flower gardens to adorn deities. Tamil legends say Aandal wove garlands for Vishnu daily with flowers from Nandavanam (temple garden).
This ridiculous myth that Mughals “brought” gardens to India is like claiming they taught us how to boil water. Hindus were building symmetrically planned garden cities, sacred temple groves, pleasure gardens with waterparks, and urban community gardens for millennia before Islam was even born & Babur started scribbling in his diary about missing his “melons” from Samarkand.
How many times will this tired old ridiculous lie be repeated and busted.
Great news from Madurai Bench of Madras High Court !!!
I had challenged the Government Order No. 321 dated 26.12.2022 passed by the anti-Temple DMK Government authorizing the @tnhrcedept to Department to acquire 58.76 acres around Sri Dhandayuthapni Swamy Temple, in Pazhani - in the name of the Department - using Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Administration Fund - contributed by temples across Tamil Nadu.
Today the matter came for final hearing before Hon'ble Justice Shri G.R. Swaminathan and Hon'ble Justice Shrimati R. Poornima
Government fairly conceded that the properties would be now bought using Pazhani Temple Funds and in the name of Pazhani temple and only a formal approval is pending from Government.
My counsel Shri @niranjanlaw law submitted that earlier Supreme Court of India had allowed such purchase of adjoining lands in the name of the Deity in the Banke Bihari Temple case.
Their Lordships recorded the submissions of the Government that the property would be in the name of Pazhani Devasthanam and further observed that the Administration fund can be used only as provided under Sections 92 and 96 of the TN HR&CE Act, 1959. This observation by their Lordships is very important.
My gratitude to Shri Joseph Vijay @CMOTamilnadu and Shri @RameshOffcl - HR&CE Minister - for the change in the approach - starkly different from the DMK anti-temple stand.
A positive Government working towards Temple welfare.
Vetrivel Muruha !!!
A country born by rejecting India’s civilizational identity is now busy marketing India’s civilizational treasures. After sheltering Osama, they’re now sheltering someone else’s civilization. First came “South Asia.” Now comes Taxila, the Pakistani Heritage!
“If the country is truly Secular, then why do we even need a separate ‘Minority Department’?
Kudos to BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh for boldly raising this fundamental question in the West Bengal Assembly!
Such a lying scum. Now Sushil Kumar Shinde admits he lied about ‘Bhagwa Atankwad’ and still laughs about it! These are the sins of @INCIndia come to roost.
Make this viral guys 🙏🙏
What happened to thousands of Chinese Hindus?
A hidden story that the world and Chinese media concealed
Sorry & RIP to all the Hindus of China 💔
47,000 acres of temple land reportedly vanished from Tamil Nadu government records between 1984-85 and 2019-20.
The Madras High Court questioned the HR&CE Department over the missing land linked to temples including Arulmigu Avinashiappar and Arulmigu Subramaniasamy.
Temples generate significant revenue, but who will protect their properties?
When will temple lands be fully restored and safeguarded?
A water buffalo appears in Mesopotamia around 2500 BCE. The animal is native to India. Nobody asks how it got there.
We did. The answer changes everything. 🧵
2800 BCE — An Indus merchant is living at Susa, writing in two scripts simultaneously.
2500 BCE — An Indian buffalo appears on a Mesopotamian frieze.
2050 BCE — A Harappan colony in Bahrain: 92 seals recovered from one site.
1675 CE — Bhai Lakhi Shah, Banjara landholder on Raisina Hill, Delhi.
Same corridor. Same community. 4,300 years.
The people who moved that buffalo were the same community whose descendants supplied the Mughal army at 100,000 oxen per campaign.
The Banjara. The vanajāraka guilds of 12th-century Rajasthan. The sārthavāha of the epics.
One logistics institution. Fifteen centuries of documented evidence. One corridor.
The buffalo didn't migrate. It was transmitted.
#Archaeology #IndusValley #Banjara #Mesopotamia #IndianHistory
Full paper (open access): DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20557583
Have said this so many times, and I realise the distortions have become so entrenched that have to keep saying it again and again - Karna wasn't denied education by Dronacharya. Mahabharat is absolutely clear about it. He refused Ekalavya, but not Karna.
He was Home Minister. And told lies for party on matters of National Security. That statement was and is used against India. Quoted all over the world as word of authority. Party over country? Power over truth?
When the Indian Army lost control of a frontier region to China during the 1962 war, a remarkable group of young Indian women stepped forward. Dressed in sarees and carrying rifles, these Home Guard volunteers chose to stand against the powerful PLA rather than retreat.
With extraordinary courage, these women from Tezpur took up arms, volunteered for duty, and became part of one of the most inspiring yet lesser-known chapters of India’s history. While many Indians remain unaware of their story, their determination reflected the spirit of a nation unwilling to surrender in the face of adversity.
These women proved that in times of national crisis, courage knows no gender. They stood ready to defend their homeland alongside the men, demonstrating patriotism, resilience, and sacrifice.
Sadly, their contribution has received little attention in mainstream historical narratives and school textbooks.
A heartfelt salute to the women of India whose bravery continues to inspire generations. 🇮🇳🙏