Frankly speaking, I’ve always been inquisitive to study about Undivided India during the British Colonial rule and it’s partition prior to getting independence since I was in Class 10. Reading about India’s partition and independence wasn’t enough for me because I always felt that our ICSE History Books have limited information across chapters due to syllabus restrictions. I had read about Akhand Bharat (United Ancient India) during my school life through means of History subject chapters, be it the Mughal Raj or British Raj in various standards. But with time and maturity, I later became curious to know what could have been the factors that lead to demographic changes across North-Western and far Eastern parts of Akhand Bharat that later turned into present day Pakistan and Bangladesh.
One fine day, I came across a Restaurateur Ms. Meenakshi Sharan on Twitter and her tweets on India’s partition caught my eyes! Yes, I had heard of partition stories from my Parents and uncles but Meenakshi Ma’am’s tweets/threads were mind-blowing. It was heart wrenching to read how her mother, father and other elder relatives bore the brunt of partition violence that too experiencing few of their close neighbors turning hostile. Initially, I thought that Meenakshi Ma’am only tweeted threads on India’s partition but later I saw that her posts were on Akhand Bharat dating back to the 1100s or even more backwards.
Meenakshi Ma’am made me realize that present day Afghanistan wasn’t just once part of Akhand Bharat but also an entire Hindu Shahi (Kingdom) ruled by Raja Jaipal from Kabul! I was further more surprised to watch her vlogs in which she had mentioned how present day Wahabi Multan was actually Hindu dominated Muktlan under Hindu King Dahir. Here, I felt very sad to realize that it wasn’t just the defeat of Hindu Kings like Hemu, Maharana Pratap or Porus but Dahir too in the list which lead to the downfall of Hindu monarchy in Akhand Bharat. The demography of India’s Hindu Majority community started winding backwards since that era in the 1100s.
I presume that Meenakshi Sharan Ma’am also has a Sangam Talkies seminar vlog dedicated to her where one can watch her speeches. I am yet to get a follow-back from Meenakshi Ma’am on Twitter and trust me, I never seek follow-backs from my Twitter followings. But Ma’am is a mentor for me that renowned Indian Historians could never be in my life. More power to her in the quest for Sanatan culture & history knowledge.
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