Ghazi Ilm-ud-din's

In May 1924, this Urdu booklet Rangeela Rasool was published in Lahore. The booklet purportedly described Prophet Muhammad's relationship with women. The publisher, Raj Pal, was charged under 153A of the Indian Penal Code for hate speech by the Punjab government. The final disposition came in May 1927.The court declared that law does not prohibit satirical writings about the deceased and the publisher was acquitted with a warning.

On 6 April 1929, the publisher was murdered.The murderer, a Muslim youth named Ilm-ud-din.It is an interesting story how this boy  Ilm-ud-din's,son of a carpenter, took the decision to assassinate a man he did not know. He heard a cleric ranting against Rajpal near a mosque; an angry mob was baying for Rajpal''s blood: "Oh Muslims! The devil Rajpal has sought to dishonour our beloved Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W.) by his filthy book!"

Ilm-ud-Din knew nothing about Rajpal and the controversy surrounding the book he had published; and didn''t want to know anything about the issue. He just bought a dagger and stabbed Rajpal to death on September 6, 1929. 

Ilm-ud-Din was put on trial. The poet Iqbal, the spiritual founder of Pakistan, requested Jinnah, the father of Pakistan, to plead on behalf of Ilm-ud-Din, which he did. The 19-year-old Ilm-ud-Din showed no guilty for his act; he claimed to be proud of his crime instead. He was awarded the death penalty, and executed on October 31, 1929.

Iqbal was one of the carriers of the funeral bier. At that moment, Iqbal said, "Asi wekhde reh gaye, aye Tarkhaana da munda baazi le gaya" (The educated people like us just could do nothing, while this carpenter''s son scored a point). This was Pakistan''s national poet, indeed one of the greatest poets of Urdu.

Unsurprisingly, Ilm-ud-Din has been glorified in Pakistan as a great Islamic hero, a holy warrior, a ghazi, a shaheed, etc. A film was made in 1978 lionizing him.

There is a mosque commemorating his "great deed", In February 2013, the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court heard arguments on the maintainability of a petition seeking the reopening of an 84-year-old Ilm-ud-Din case.

In October  two-day celebrations for the  annual Urs of Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed in the Miani Sahib graveyard, thousands of devotees paid homage to Ghazi Ilm-ud-Din Shaheed.

Addressing the participants, the muslim scholars swear to resist all conspiracies being hatched to amend the blasphemy laws under pressure from Washington. They said that no blasphemer could be tolerated in the country created in the name of Islam. They said countless lovers of the Holy Prophet (SAW) like Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed would emerge if US-slave rulers tried to protect the blasphemers

Raja Harishchandra

Raghuvansh or Raghukul is a legendary, of Suryavans or the Ikshvaku dynasty lineage of kings tracing its ancestry to the sun deity Surya. 

The dynasty is named after Raghu, a legendary king who protected the sacrificial horse of Ashwamedha from Indra. Some of the famous king of raghuvansh   include Harishchandra, Sagara Bhagirath, Dilip  Raghu, Aja  Dasarath  and Ram.

Raja Harishchandra 

Harishchandra is a legendary Indian king of the Ikshvaku dynasty. In present time also if someone speak truth we quote him/her as Harishchandra.

According to Markandeya Purana legend King Harishchandra lived in the Treta Yuga. He was an honest, noble king. His subjects enjoyed prosperity and peace. He had a queen named Shaivya (also called Taramati) and a son named Rohitashva. Once, while on a hunting expedition, he heard the cries of a woman asking for help. Armed with a bow and arrow, he went in the direction of the sound. The sound was an illusion created by Vighnaraja, the lord of the obstacles. Vighnaraja was trying to disturb the tapasya (meditation) of the sage Vishwamitra. When he saw Harishchandra, he entered the king's body and started abusing Vishwamitra. This disturbed Vishwamitra's tapasya, and destroyed all the knowledge that the sage had acquired during this tapasya.

When Harishchandra came to his senses, he realized that the sage was extremely angry with him, and apologized. He promised to fulfill any of the sage's desires to get rid of his guilt. Vishwamitra demanded dakshina (donation) for his rajasuya yajna. The king asked him what he wanted in payment. In response, Vishwamitra said "Give me all that you have except yourself, your wife and your child." Harishchandra agreed to the demand. He let go of all his possessions – even his clothes. As he readied to leave his palace with his family, Vishwamitra demanded another donation. Harishchandra said that he did not have any possession left, but promised to make another donation within a month.

Harishchandra started living in penury with his wife and his family. His loyal subjects followed him. When Vishwamitra saw the king with his subjects, he started cursing Harishchandra for taking along his subjects (who were a part of the kingdom donated to the sage). The king then decided to leave the kingdom with his family. To make them go away sooner, Vishwamitra started beating the queen with a stick. When the five guardians of the directions saw this, they condemned Vishwamitra. The sage cursed them to take birth as human beings. These guardian deities were born as the sons of the Pandavas and Draupadi.

Nearly a month after leaving his kingdom, Harishchandra arrived in the holy city of Kashi, only to see Vishwamitra already present there. The sage demanded the donation that the king had promised him. Harishchandra pointed out that there was still some time left in completion of one month. The sage agreed to come back at the next sunset and departed. As his hungry son cried for food, Harishchandra worried how would he be able to make a donation to the sage. His wife Shaivya suggested that he sell her to get some money. After some hesitation, Harishchandra accepted the proposal and sold her to an elderly man. Their child would not let go of his mother, so it was decided that he would accompany his mother (and an extra payment was made for him).

Soon after, Vishwamitra appeared again and demanded the donation. Harishchandra gave him all the money he had received from the sale of his wife and son. However, Vishwamitra was unhappy with the donation, and demanded more. Harishchandra then decided to sell himself. An outcaste chandala (actually the deity of dharma in disguise) offered to buy him, but Harishchandra's self-respect as a high-caste Kshatriya would not allow this. He instead offered to be Vishwamitra's slave. Vishwamitra agreed, but then declared "Since you are my slave, you must obey me. I sell you to this chandala in exchange of gold coins." The chandala paid the sage, and took along Harishchandra as a slave.

The chandala employed Harishchandra as a worker at his cremation ground. He directed Harishchandra to collect fees for every body cremated there: a part of the fee would go to the chandala, a part would be given to the local king, and the rest would be Harishchandra's remuneration. Harishchandra started living and working at the cremation ground. One day, he dreamed about his past lives, and realized that his current condition was a result of his past sins. During this nightmare, he also saw his queen crying before him. When he woke up, he saw his queen actually crying before him. She held the dead body of their son, who had died of a snake bite. Thinking of his misfortune, Harishchandra thought of committing suicide, but then realized that he would have to continue paying for his sins in his next life.

Meanwhile, the queen readied to cremate the dead body of their son. But, Harishchandra told her that he would not let her do so without paying the fee. At that time, all the deities appeared led by the deity of Dharma and accompanied by Vishwamitra. They praised Harishchandra for his good qualities, and invited him to heaven.

But Harishchandra refused to go to heaven without his public who have lamented over his departure from his kingdom. He believes that they are the equal sharer in his merits and that he will only go heaven when his people also accompany him. He requested the king of devas, Indra to allow his people to go to heaven at least for a single day. Indra accepts his request, and he along with his people ascend to the heaven.

After his ascension to heaven, Vashistha – the sage of Harishchandra's royal dynasty – ended his tapasya of 12 years. He came to know about the unfortunate events that had happened to Harishchandra during these years. He started a severe fight with Vishwamitra, but was ultimately pacified by Brahma. Brahma explained to him that Vishwamitra was only testing the king, and had actually helped him ascend to the heaven

History of Temple in India (North Indian Style)

Most of the architectural remains that survive from  are religious in nature.In different parts of the country, distinct architectural style of temples was result of topographical,ethnic and historical diversities.  

There are two broad orders of temples in the country are known as Nagara in the north and Dravida in the south.At times, the Vesara style of temples is also found as an independent style, created through the selective mixing of the Nagara and Dravida orders.

Today we will discuss about Nagara Style .

Nagara or North Indian Temple Style

In North India it is common for an entire temple to be built on a stone platform with steps leading up to it.Further, unlike in South India it does not usually have elaborate boundary walls or gateways.

While the earliest temples had just one tower, or shikhara, later temples had several.The garbhagriha is always located directly under the tallest tower.

There are many subdivisions of nagara temples depending on the shape of the shikhara.There are different names for the various parts of the temple in different parts of India; however, the most common name for the simple shikhara which is square at the base and whose walls curve or slope inward to a point on top is called the 'latina' or the rekha-prasada type of shikara.

The second major type of architectural form in the nagara order is the phamsana, which tends to be broader and shorter than latina ones.Their roofs are composed of several slabs that gently rise to a single point over the centre of the building, unlike the latina ones which look like arply rising tall towers.

The third main sub-type of the nagara building is generally called the valabhi type.These are rectangular buildings with a roof that rises into a vaulted chamber.

KALINGA SCHOOL OF TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE 

The art and architecture of a nation is considered as her property. The history of Odishan art and architecture starts with her dated history i.e. from 261 B.C., when Asoka conquered this land, then known as Kalinga. The art and architecture of Odisha, in its formative phase took a new turn. The style was so elegant, balanced and beautiful that it carved a new identity for itself. This was famous as Kalinga School of art.

In Kalinga Architecture, basically a temple is made in two parts, a tower and a hall. The tower is called deul and the hall is called jagmohan. The walls of both the deul and the jagmohan are lavishly sculpted with architectural motifs and a profusion of figures. The most repeated form is the horseshoe shape, which has come from the earliest times, starting with the large windows of the chaitya-grihas. It is the deul or deula which makes three distinct types of temples in Kalinga Architecture.

The Deul 

In Odia language a shrine is called Deula. Accordingly, the temples in Odisha are three types of Deula viz. Rekha Deula, Pidha / Bhadra Deula and Khakra Deula.

Rekha Deula

Rekha Deula is a tall building with a sikhara. The most distinct example of Rekha Deula is the Lingraj Temple of Bhubneshwar. The Rekha Deula means a shrine with different parts in a line. The Lingraj Temple has a vimana (structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), natamandira (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings), each increasing in the height to its predecessor.

Pidha Deula

Pidha Deula refers to the square building with a pyramid-shaped roof, like the vimanas. The assembly hall of the Konark Sun Temple is an example.

Khakhara Deula

The Khakhara Deula is altogether a different style of architecture closely appearing similar to the Dravidian Gopuran design. The word is derived from Khakharu (Pumpkin, gourd) as the crown looks like a barrel- vaulted elongated roof. 

It is a rectangular building with a truncated pyramid-shaped roof, like the gopuras. The temples of the feminine deities as Shakti are temple of that type. One example is the Baitala Deula of Bhubneshwar, dedicated to Chamunda. The Sakta temples are generally of Khakhara order. Brahmi temple of Chaurasi in Puri and Gouri temple of Bhubaneswar are two other glaring examples of Khakhara temple