Anita Desai was born in Mussoorie, a hill station north of Delhi, as the daughter of a D.N. Mazumdar, a Bengali businessman, and the former Toni Nime, of German origin. She began to write in English at the age of seven, and published her first story at the age of nine. Desai was educated in […]
Amrita Pritam was born in 1919 in Gujranwala in a part of India which later became Pakistan. She was the only child of a school teacher and a poet. Her mother died when she was eleven and she grew up with adult responsibilities. She began to write at an early age, and her first collection
Amitav Ghosh, famous Indian English writer, was born in Calcutta in 1956. His father was a lieutenant-colonel in the army as a result he has to travel to different parts of the world. Thus Amitav Ghosh was raised and educated in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt, India and United Kingdom. He received his earlier education
Iqbal is one of the finest urdu poets of the last century. He is perhaps most well known in India for his poem “Sarey jahan sey achha Hindostan hamara”. It is ironic that he is also considered as having sown the seeds of Pakistan since he asserted the need for an Islamic State in the
Ali Sardar Jafri was born in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh. He came to Mumbai in 1942 and made it his home. He firmly believed in the cultural unity of the subcontinent. Arrested for writing against British rule in India, Jafri was among the votaries of the progressive movement in Urdu literature. Jafri’s literary career began at the
Alfred Hitchcock was born in London, the son of William Hitchcock, a poultry dealer and fruit importer. He was educated at a Jesuit school, London’s St. Ignatius College, and the School of Engineering and Navigation, where he studied mechanics, electricity, acoustics, and navigation. He then worked for a telegraph company and took art courses at
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn descended from an intellectual Cossack family. He was born in Kislovodsk in the northern Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and Caspian seas. His father, Isaaki Solzhenitsyn, a Tsarist artillery officer, was killed in an hunting accident six months before Aleksandr’s birth. During WW I he served on the front, where he married Taissia
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, in the county of Devon, as the daughter of Frederick Alvah Miller, an American with a moderate private income, and Clarissa Miller. Her father died when she was a child. Christie was educated home, where her mother encouraged her to write from very early age. At sixteen she was
Neeti book of Chanakya is what most of the common people know him with. It is the selling brand of his wisdom.The book consists of couplets and quartets which tell ‘Do and Dont’s of everyday life. He claims them to be the extracts of the wisdom of various scripture written for the benefits of the
This chapter deas with gems, precious metals jewellery, non-gem minerals and matierials. Kautilya had dealt with this subject extnsively.The ideal charactristics of precious metals and gems are described as clear, smooth, lustrous, rasonant, cool, hard etc. The jewellery hasd been listed by names Sirsaka, Dvaghataka, Indrachhanda, Manavaka, Ratnavali, Apavartaka etc.The colour of various gems is
A state can not run without finances. For a state finance is what blood is to our body. Kautilya accepts this basic fact frankly. So, treasury is the most important institution of a state. All the undertakings and welfare of the state depends on the financial management.Kautilya’s Arthshastra pay due attention to the financial management
Chanakya wrote his books on political, economic and social management under one title ‘Arthshastra’ which literally means ‘Meaningful Science’ or ‘Gainful Science’. Today the word stands for ‘Ecnomics’ which surely was not the idea in Chanakya’s mind because he includes political constitution, other non-economy subjects in his ‘Arthshastra’ treatise. The series was written under the
It is believed that as a minister Chanakya had ordered the royal cooks to add a small amount of arsenic to the food served to the Emperor Chandragupta every day. He believe that it would make the Emperor immune to poisons and there would he no danger to his getting poisoned. During that period murder
To write his books Chanakya needed some relief from work. The Emperor would not spare him from prime ministership.Chanakya also realised that the Emperor needed his protection because Amatya Rakshasa was still there creating trouble. He was a loyal soldier of Nandas and would not accept defeat easily. He was still managing to raised soldiers
This time the army of Chandragupta and his guide Chanakya decided to attack from the borders and move towards the capital.Sumalya turned out to be no better than his brother Dhanananda and father Mahapadma. He had little inteligence. His weakness also was woman. It was like a family desease. For women he could use any