Raigarh Fort

Raigad is a hill fort situated in the Mahad, Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The Maratha king Shivaji made the fort his capital in 1674 when he was crowned King of a Maratha Kingdom which later developed into the Maratha Empire eventually covering majority of modern day India.

The fort, which rises 820 metres (2,700 ft) above sea level, is located in the Sahyadrimountain range. There are approximately 1737 steps leading to the fort, though todayan areal tram exists to reach the top of the fort. The fort was looted and destroyed by the British upon.

HISTORY

The fort was built by Chandrarao Mores in 1030. Its ruins today consist of the queen's quarters: six chambers, with each chamber having its own private restroom. The main palace was constructed using wood, of which only the bases of pillars remain. Ruins of three watch towers can be seen directly in front of the palace grounds overlooking an artificial lake called Ganga Sagar Lake created next to the fort. It also has a view of the execution point called Takmak Tok, a cliff from which the sentenced prisoners were thrown to their death. The area is now fenced off.^[3] The fort also has ruins of the market, and it has such structure that one can shop even while riding on a horse.

The fort has a famous wall called "Hirakani Buruj" constructed over a huge cliff. Its story is that a woman by the name of Hirakani from a nearby village at the foothills of Raigad had come to sell milk to the people living in the fort. She was inside the fort when the gates were locked by sunset. The love for her infant son back at her village gave her the courage to climb down the cliff in the dark. She repeated the feat in front of King Shivaji, and was rewarded for it. In appreciation of her courage, Shivaji arranged for a wall built at this location. Even today we can see it standing.

The king's public Durbar has a replica of the original throne that faces the main doorway called the Nagarkhana Darwaja. This enclosure had been acoustically designed to aid hearing from the doorway to the throne. A secondary entrance, called the Mena Darwaja, was supposedly the private entrance of the royal ladies of the fort; it leads to the queen's quarters. The erstwhile main entrance to the fort is the imposing Maha Darwaja. The convoy of the king and the king himself used the Palkhi Darwaja. To the right of Palkhi Darwaja, is a row of three dark and deep chambers. Historians believe that these were the granaries for the fort.

A statue of Shivaji is erected in front of the ruins of the main market avenue that eventually leads to the Jagdishwar Mandir and his own Samadhi (tomb) and that of his dog Waghya. The statue was removed by alleged members of the Sambhaji Brigade in July 2012 as a protest but was re-instated by Shri Shivaji Raigad Smarak Samiti, theArchaeological Survey of India, sculptor Rambhau Parkhi and the District Administration.

Kumbhalgarh Fort

Kumbhalgarh Fort is a Mewar fortress on the westerly range of Aravalli Hills, in theRajsamand District of Rajasthan state in western India. It is a World Heritage Siteincluded in Hill Forts of Rajasthan. Built during the course of the 15th century by Rana Kumbha and enlarged through the 19th century, Kumbhalgarh is also the birthplace ofMaharana Pratap, the great king and warrior of Mewar. Occupied until the late 19th century, the fort is now open to the public and is spectacularly lit for a few minutes each evening. Kumbalgarh is situated 82 km northwest of Udaipur by road. It is the most important fort in Mewar after Chittaurgarh.

In 2013, at the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Phnom Penh,Cambodia, Kumbhalgarh Fort, along with five other forts of Rajasthan, was declared aUNESCO World Heritage Site under the groupHill Forts of Rajasthan.

The fort has the second largest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China and the second largest fort in Rajasthan afterChittorgarh Fort.

Construction

Built on a hilltop 1,100 m (3,600 ft) above sea level on the Aravalli range, the fort of Kumbhalgarh has perimeter walls that extend 36 km (22 mi), making it the second longest wall in the world. The frontal walls are fifteen feet thick. Kumbhalgarh has sevenfortified gateways. There are over 360 temples within the fort, 300 ancient Jain and the rest Hindu. From the palace top, it is possible to see kilometers into the Aravalli Range. The sand dunes of the Thar Desertcan be seen from the fort walls.

According to legend, in 1443 CE, the Maharana of Kumbhalgarh, Rana Kumbha, was initially repeatedly unsuccessful in attempts to build the fort wall. A spiritual preceptor was consulted about the construction problems and advised the ruler that a voluntary human sacrifice would solve whatever was causing the impediment. The spiritual advisor advised building a temple where the head should fall and building the wall and the fort where the rest of his body lay. As can be expected, for some time no one volunteered, but one day, a pilgrim (some versions suggest a soldier, and some, that the spiritual preceptor and the pilgrim were one and the same) volunteered and was ritually decapitated. Today the main gate of the fortress, Hanuman Pol, contains a shrine and a temple to commemorate the great sacrifice.

According to popular folklore, Maharana Kumbha used to burn massive lamps that consumed fifty kilograms of ghee and a hundred kilograms of cotton to provide light for the farmers who worked during the nights in the valley.

Its wall is the second largest wall in the world, after the Great Wall of China and is known as the Great Wall of India.

Kalka Shimla Railway

Shimla (then spelt Simla) was settled by the British shortly after the first Anglo-Gurkha war, and is located at 7,116 feet (2,169 m) in the foothills of the Himalayas. By the 1830s, Shimla had already developed as a major base for the British. It became the summer capital of British India in 1864, and was also the headquarters of the British army in India. Prior to construction of the railway, communication with the outside world was via village cart.

The 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge Delhi-Kalka line opened in 1891. The Kalka–Shimla Railway was build on 2 ft (610 mm)narrow gauge tracks by the Delhi-Ambala-Kalka Railway Company beginning in 1898. The estimated cost was Rs 86,78,500 but the cost doubled during construction. The 96.54 km (59.99 mi) line opened for traffic on November 9, 1903.It was inaugurated by Viceroy of India Lord Curzon. Because of the high capital and maintenance costs and peculiar working conditions, the Kalka–Shimla Railway was allowed to charge higher fares than on other lines. However, the company was still not profitable and was purchased by the government on January 1, 1906 for Rs 1,71,07,748. In 1905 the line was regauged to 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) to conform to standards set by the Indian War Department.

This route passes through a city named Solan, which is also known as mini Shimla. A festival celebrating the goddess Shoolini Devi, after which the city is named, is held each summer in June.

In 2007, the government of Himachal Pradeshdeclared the railway a heritage property. For about a week starting on September 11, 2007, an expert team from UNESCO visited the railway to review and inspect it for possible selection as a World Heritage Site. On July 8, 2008, the Kalka–Shimla Railway became part of the World Heritage Site Mountain Railways of India.  alongside Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway, andChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

Magnetic Hill

Magnet Hill is a so-called "gravity hill" located near Leh in Ladakh, India.

The “magnet Hill” is located on the Leh-Kargil-Srinagar national highway, about 30 km from Leh, at a height of 11,000 feet above sea level. On its south side flows the Indus, which originates in Tibet and goes to Pakistan. The magnetic hill has become a popular stop for domestic tourists on car journeys. The alignment of the road with the slope of the background can give the illusion that cars areable to drift upwards.

Chenab Bridge

The Chenab Bridge is an arch bridge under construction in India. It spans the Chenab River between Bakkal and Kauri, in Reasidistrict of Jammu and Kashmir. When completed, the bridge will be 1,315 m (4,314 ft) long, with a 480 m (1,570 ft) trussed arch span, 359 m (1,178 ft) above the river Chenab and a 650 m (2,130 ft) long viaduct on the Kauri side.

The bridge is part of several bridges and tunnels which makes up the Katra-Laole Section of the JUSBRL Project in Jammu and Kashmir. Another, smaller, arch bridge in the link will be the 657 m (2,156 ft) long, 189 m (620 ft) high Anji Khad bridge between Katraand Reasi over the Raavi river.

The Chenab Bridge was originally scheduled to be completed in December 2009. However, in September 2008 it was announced that the Chenab bridge had been cancelled due to fears over its stability and safety. Work on the bridge restarted in 2010 and once construction is completed in 2015 the Chenab Bridge is expected to be theworld's highest rail bridge.

Swine Flu

Swine Flu is the respiratory disease caused by viruses such as influenza viruses that infect the respiratory tract of the pigs. Swine flu has same symptoms in pigs as human flu in human. The virus is H1N1. It is spread from pig to pig and it also spreads from pig to human if a human stays with infected pig for short time.The subtypes of the virus are known as H1N1, H1N2, H2N1, H3N1, H3N2, and H2N3.

Direct transmission of a swine flu virus from pigs to humans is occasionally possible (zoonotic swine flu). In all, 50 cases are known to have occurred since the first report in medical literature in 1958, which have resulted in a total of six deaths.Of these six people, one was pregnant, one had leukemia, one had lymphoma and two were known to be previously healthy. Despite these apparently low numbers of infections, the true rate of infection may be higher, since most cases only cause a very mild disease, and will probably never be reported or diagnosed.

The best treatment for influenza infections in humans is prevention by vaccination. Work by several laboratories has produced vaccines. The first H1N1 vaccine released in early October 2009 was a nasal spray vaccine that was approved for use in healthy individuals ages 2-49. The injectable vaccine, made from killed H1N1, became available in the second week of Oct. 2009. This vaccine was approved for use in ages 6 months to the elderly, including pregnant females. Both of these vaccines were approved by the CDC only after they had conducted clinical trials to prove that the vaccines were safe and effective. A new influenza vaccine preparation is the intradermal (trivalent) vaccine is available; it works like the shot except the administration is less painful. It is approved for ages 18-64 years.

Two antiviral agents have been reported to help prevent or reduce the effects of swine flu. They are zanamivir (Relenza) and oseltamivir (Tamiflu), both of which are also used to prevent or reduce influenza A and B symptoms. These drugs should not be used indiscriminately, because viral resistance to them can and has occurred. Also, they are not recommended if the flu symptoms already have been present for 48 hours or more, although hospitalized patients may still be treated past the 48-hour guideline. Severe infections in some patients may require additional supportive measures such as ventilation support and treatment of other infections like pneumonia that can occur in patients with a severe flu infection. The CDC has suggested in their guidelines that pregnant females can be treated with the two antiviral agents.

Mughal Emperors and their rule

There was mughal rule in India for many years. There were many mughal emperors who ruled over India.
Lets know their names and their ruling duration.The list shows ascending order of the emperors and their rules.

1. Babur: He was the first mughal emperor. His original name was Zahir-ud-din Muhammad. He rules from 1526 to 1530.

2. Humayun: His birth name was Nasir-ud-din Muhammad. He ruled from 1530 to 1540. After 1540 humayun was overthrown by Sher Shah suri and he ruled but after death of Sher Shah suri in 1555 the rule was again succeed by humayun from 1555 to 1556.

3. Akbar: Jalal-ud-din muhammad as a by birth name Akbar ruled from 1556 to 1605. And had won hearts of the people.

4. Jahangir: By birth name of Jahangir was Nur-ud-din Muhammad, also known as Salim ruled from 1605 to 1627.

5. Shah Jahan: Original name of Shah Jahan was Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram had his reign from 1627 to 1658. He is popularly known for his monument of Taj Mahal built during his rule.

6. Alamgir(Aurangzeb): By birth name was Muhy-ud-din muhammad also known as Aurangzeb ruled from 1658 to 1707.

7. Azam Shah: Also known as Abu'l Faaiz Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Azam ruled from march 1707 to June 1707.

8. Bahadur Shah: Real name Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Mu'azzam ruled from 1707 to 1712.

9. Jahandar Shah: By birth name Ma'az-ud-din Jahandar Shah Bahadur's reign was from 1712 to 1713.

10. Farukhsiyar: This Emperor ruled from 1713 to 1719. He granted permission to East India Company in free trading in Bengal and it made East India company's strength more on the Eastern coast of India.

11. Rafi-ud-Darajat: He ruled from February 1719 to June 1719.

12. Shah Jahan-II: His by birth name was Rafi ud-Daulah and he ruled from June 1719 to September 1719.

13. Muhammad Shah: Also known as Roshan Akhtar Bahadur ruled from 1719 to 1748. During his rule he had war with Marathas and lost the Deccan and Malwa region. He was last emperor who had good control over the empire.

14. Ahmed Shah Bahadur: He ruled from 1748 to 1754. During his rule Marahas defeated them in the battle of Sikandrabad.

15. Alamgir-II: Also known as Aziz-ud-din ruled from 1754 to 1759.

16. Shah Jahan-III: By birth name Muhi-ul-millat ruled from 1759 to 1760. Battle of buxar took place during this rule and Hyder Ali became sultan of Mysore.

17. Shah Alam-II: Also known as Ali Gauhar ruled from 1760 to 1806.

18. Akbar Shah-II: By birth name was Mirza Akbar ruled from 1806 to 1837. The Britishers became stronger during this rule.

19. Bahadur Shah-II(Bahadur Shah Zafar): Also known as Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar ruled from 1837 to 1857. He was the last mughal emperor as the mughal rule was succeed by the British Raj.

These were the mughal emperors during the mughal rule in India...

Harrnish Raval

Ram Setu(Adam's Bridge)

The Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana by Valmiki speaks of a bridge, Setubandhanam, a bridge over the ocean connecting India with Sri Lanka, the land of Ravana, the ruler of men and god. The epic attributes the building of the bridge to the ape army of Rama, who was assisting him in his war against Ravana to win back his wife, Sita.

True to the legendary epic a bridge, man made or natural, did exist between Sri Lanka not so long ago, interconnecting Rameswaram Island, off the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka, made with chain of limestone shoals surrounded by a shallow sea of one to 10 meter depth.

The thirty km long bridge, which separates the Gulf of Mannar from the Palk Strait, was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel. The Rameshwaram temple records suggest that Rama’s Bridge was completely above sea level until it was destroyed in a cyclone in AD 1480.

The bridge and its surrounding sea was first mentioned in the western worlds in "historical works in the 9th century" by IbnKhordadbeh in his Book of Roads and Kingdoms in 850 AD; referring to it as Set Bandhai or "Bridge of the Sea".

The earliest map that calls this area by the name Adam's bridge was prepared by a British cartographer in 1804, in reference to an Abrahamic myth, in which Adam used the bridge to reach a mountain, which the British identified with Adam's Peak, where he stood repentant on one foot for 1,000 years, leaving a large hollow mark resembling a footprint.

Wrapped in legend and historical misjudgments, a diverse range of opinion and confusion exist about the nature and origin of this structure even today. In the 19th century, two prevalent theories explained the formation of the structure. One considered it to be formed by a process of accretion and rising of the land, while the other surmised that it was formed by the breaking away of Sri Lanka from the Indian mainland.

In the same confused manner Studies have variously described the structure as a chain of shoals, coral reefs, a ridge formed in the region owing to thinning of the earth's crust, a double tombolo and a sand spit or a series of barrier islands. The age of the bridge had also been calculated as 125,000 years to 3500 years, which incidentally is also the age of the Ramayana.

Meanwhile A team from the Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi led by Professor S.M. Ramasamy in 2003 claimed that the, "Rama's bridge could only be 3,500 years old" and, "as the carbon dating of the beaches roughly matches the dates of Ramayana, its link to the epic needs to be explored". However, one needs to note that the surveys which have come out with 3500 age for the bridge are based on the studies conducted on corals grown on the bridge itself and it has been argued that this represents only the age of what was measured, which is the corals. The bridge underneath the corals has been dated back to hundreds of thousands of years earlier.

A former Director of the Geological Survey of India, S. Badrinarayanan claims that such a natural formation would be impossible; He justifies the same by the presence of loose sands layer under corals for entire stretch as corals normally form above rocks and not over sand layers.

Due to its connection with the Legend of Rama and Hindu belief is that the bridge was created by Shri Rama and ShriLakshman with the assistance of Lord Hanuman and the ape army to reach Lanka in order to find Shri Rama's wife Sita who was kidnapped by Ravana, Hindus hold the Adam’s Bridge in reverence, abhorring the Indian government’s proposal to dredge the bridge to create a shipping canal, known as Sethusamudram.

In 2001, the Government of India approved a multi-million dollar Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project that aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Strait by dredging the shallow ocean floor near Dhanushkodi. The channel is expected to cut over 400 km off the voyage around the island of Sri Lanka. This proposed channel's current alignment requires dredging through Rama's Bridge, a proposal, which was met with strong opposition by the Hindus of India.

Contradicting the Hindu sentiment Sri Lankans believe that the bridge was a construction of Ravana himself employing floating rocks, the rocks made of weightless corals, as claimed by Sri Lankan historians hold that the bridge was a collapsible structure made to cross the sea to reach India, when required.

Mana Pass

Mana pass is the located at Mana village. It is located on Indo-China border.
Mana Pass is located within the Nanda devi Reserve, 24 km north of the town of Mana, India and 27 km north of the Hindu pilgrimage town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand. It is the source of the Saraswati River, the longest stem of one of the longest Ganges  tributaries, the Alaknanda river. It is at very high altitude. It is at the elevation of 5545 metres in himalayan range. It is also known as Dungri la. We can reach this pass by national highway 58.

Mana is the last indian village on this road. 

Taglang la

Taglang la is one of the highest motarable mountain pass of India. It is at the elevation of 5328 metres. It is on the Zanskar Range of the Himalayas in the region of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. It is second highest mountain pass in India. It lays on Leh-Manali highway. One can see hundreds of Buddhist prayer flags on this pass. The atmospheric oxygen level is very lower than that of the oxygen at sea level. This pass provides scenetic view as it sways away from main highway. The surrounding is full of vegetation and chilled air welcomes you. It is 111km away from leh. The route is very adventurous and thrilling. One can enjoy a lot here.

This route is open only for four months during the year. As there is very low temperature and excessive snow fall blocks this road during the winter. The temperature here is in minus and it is at higher altitude so the oxygen becomes thinner and many times there is problem in breathing.

Do you know who was the first and last mughal Emperor?

Babur was the first mughal emperor of India. The mughal rule started in India from 1526. He came to India for rule and made Agra as capital. The last mughal emperer was Bahadur Shah Zafar. He ruled from 1837-1857. He had Delhi as capital city.  But after that mughal rule was abolished and succeeded by British Raj.

Dreams are not those that we watch while a sleep but dreams are thoae that don't let you sleep.