Alauddin al Khalji

Alauddin (died 1316) was the second sultan of the Khalji dynasty of Delhi in India. His rule marked the beginning of the sultanate and the rise to power of native Indian Moslems. [ in bahasa ]

Not much is known of the early life of Alauddin. He was appointed governor of Kara by his uncle and father in law, Sultan Jalaluddin Khalji, 1292. Three years later he conquered Malwa, and Bhilsa, a wealthy commercial center, and drew up plans to usurp the sultanate. In 1296 he became the first Moslem conqueror to penetrate the Vindhya Mountains into Deccan and, after defeating the Hindu raja of Devagiri and cracked the enemy troops he released the surrenders but took over their booty that contained 17,250 pounds of gold, 200 pounds of pearls, and 28,250 pounds of silver. Supported by cracked troops and armed with these riches, he conquered his father in law and proclaimed himself the sultan of Delhi in 1296.

For the next 15 years Alauddin reign grown up. By 1303 the western Hindu kingdom of Gujarat, Ranthambhor, Chitor, and Rajasthan had been subdued. During the next 3 years he checked the advance of the Mongol into India and restored tranquility to India’s northwest frontier. In 1305 he overran central India, bringing under his domination Malwa, Ujjain, Chanderi, and Mandawar. Two years later he made a second attempt on Devagiri, and by 1309 his army had reached the southernmost tip of India at Cape Comiron. By 1311 he was the richest sultan in the history of Delhi, and issuing coins referring to himself just like Alexander the Great did.

Alauddin instituted rules under his control to quell rebellions, of course the conquered Hindus were not allowed to posses weapons, but he did not insist them to convert their faith. Private property limitation was controlled. He revised the taxation system, reorganized the army, and stamped out corruption in the supplying of horses for the cavalry by requiring that they be branded. All residents (whether Hindus or Moslems) should pay taxes to provide the country’s security guarantee. It was logical that Moslem residents paid taxes lower than the conquerees. The prices of all the necessities of life were controlled.

Such rigid price controls and the wealth that poured into the sultan’s treasury after the conquests in southern India enabled Alauddin to undertake cultural and architectural activities on a lavish scale. Literati, physicians, astronomers, and historians thronged Delhi –many from Baghdad and Central Asia, which had been sacked by the Mongols. Delhi became the metropolis of the Moslem East under Alauddin, and architecture was its greatest cultural achievement. Delhi’s Jamaat Khana Mosque is highly ornate, spacious, and crowned by an immense dome.

But the excesses of a luxurious life made Alauddin an invalid, and he became dominated by Malik Kafur, his most successful field commander. Alauddin died in January 1316, and the Khalji dynasty came to an end only 4 years later.
[The Biography Institute]

Mahatma Gandhi

Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, called Gandhi the greatest son of India, after Gauthama the Buddha. Einstein, reflecting on Gandhi's life, said that people would one day wonder whether a person like Gandhi actually walked the earth. Winston Churchill, the then Prime Minister of Britain, called him the 'Naked Fakir'. Who was this man who aroused so much of admiration as well as fury? [ in bahasa ]

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 and lived through almost half of the twentieth century. He was born in Gujarat, India and lived some years in England, where he studied law, and in South Africa, where he practised as a lawyer. He returned to India from South Africa to join the Freedom Movement against British rule.

Gandhi was one of those people who, from an early age, felt deeply about life and questioned its values. He had to know and experience life deeply. As he went through life, a pattern emerged and he was constantly searching for answers to his questions. He called his autobiography My Experiments with Truth. In fact, his whole life was centred around the search for truth and how to put it into practice in one's daily life.

He began his working life as a lawyer in South Africa, where he came across racial prejudice for the fIrst time. Once, on a train journey to Pretoria, Gandhi was asked to leave a first class compartment even though he had a ticket for this. The white train conductor insisted that a non-white passenger could not travel in a fIrst class coach. But Gandhi refused to accept this and insisted on travelling in the compartment he had paid for. For this defIance, the conductor pushed him out of the train so that he was left behind on the platform of a small station.

It is said that this was one of the incidents that started him off on his search for justice. He reflected on how people could overcome injustice without using violence. It was in South Africa that Gandhi fIrst developed the idea of Ahimsa or non-violence, and taught the Indians living there how to use Ahimsa to overcome the many injustices they suffered. His method was also called passive resistance or non-cooperation with the person who did the injustice. Gandhi believed that, with non-cooperation, the opponent would fInally realize his mistake and correct the injustice.

Gandhi was successful in many of the campaigns he carried out in South Africa. However, the time came for him to return to India where a vast movement for independence from British Rule was in progress. He felt it was his duty to join the movement and contribute to the final objective of a free India. Gandhi taught his followers in India the principles of Ahimsa and how to apply the principles to the freedom struggle.

As the movement progressed, Gandhi himself continued with his search for truth and formulated a strategy to meet the enemy. He called it Satyagraha- the force of truth. Gandhi believed that the power of one's own truth and suffering would change the heart of the enemy. Satyagraha was thus used extensively and effectively in the freedom struggle. A point came in this struggle when the British could no longer hold out against the masses of people who stood up to them, non-violently demanding freedom. However, Gandhi was a firm believer in training and every campaign was led by people who were personally trained by him in the methods of Satyagraha, and it was this discipline and training that contributed to the success of the struggle.

Gandhi lived to see India gain her independence from the British, but he was greatly saddened by the division between Muslims and Hindus, and all the massacres that took place as a result of the Partition. Because of his unshakable belief in the brotherhood of man, he resisted the idea of separation for a long time, but finally had to give in. India became divided into a predominantly Hindu but secular state named India and a Muslim-dominated state called Pakistan, which was further divided into East and West Pakistan. The last years of Gandhi's life were filled with sorrow because his idea of Satyagraha could not prevent hatred between Hindus and Muslims and the partition of India. In 1948, Gandhi was assassinated at a prayer meeting by a Hindu fanatic who did not agree with the idea of the brotherhood of man advocated by Gandhi.
[The Biography Institute]

[Oranee Jansz]