Some Interesting facts from History

An interesting fact from history (1) - there is a town called Buffliaz on the jammu-srinagar highway in India. It apparently gets the name from the famous Macedonian king Alexander's horse Buceaphalus, who was killed in the battle of Hydapes in 326 BC, and was buried here. The horse was very dear to Alexander, having been with him right from its youth days.

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An interesting fact from history (2) - Did you know the sitting Chief Minister of an Indian State was killed when his civilian plane was shot down by Pakistan?
The incident happened on 19th September 1965, when Balwantrai Mehta was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The 2nd Indo-Pak war had started and forces from both sides were engaged in combat throughout the international border. Balwantrai Mehta, his wife and 6 others were in Beechcraft aircraft being flown by Jehangir Engineer, travelling from Mithapur to Kutch. The plane lost its path and came close to the IB. It was picked up by Pakistani radars, who sent in a Sabre jet to intercept the aircraft. On noticing the Sabre come up behind him, Jehangir desperately tried to waggle the tail as an aerial indication of not to shoot. Unfortunately even though the pakistani sabre pilot had identified the aircraft as civilian, the pakistani controllers ordered for shooting of the aircraft. 2 missiles were fired at the aircraft and all 8 onboard including Balwantrai Mehta were killed.
A note on Jehangir Engineer - Jehangir had retired from the Indian Air Force, and was the third of the four famous Engineer brothers of the IAF. All his brothers were awarded "Distinguished flying cross" for their exploits during WW2. His elder brother Aspy Engineer also served as Chief of the Indian Air force in the 1960s.

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An interesting fact from history (3) - It is well known how the Indian Navy attacked Karachi port on the night of 4-5th December during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. Called Operation Trident, it was carried out by the then newly acquired Osa class Missile boats of the Indian Navy. The operation destroyed the oil depots at Karachi and sunk a number of Pakistani ships.
What is surprising is that Pakistan contested for a long time after the war ended, that the Indian boats were commanded by Russian sailors rather than Indian sailors. The reason for this was because the communication intercepted from the Indian boats was in Russian. The interesting part is the crew of these boats had returned from training in Russia (since the boats were acquired from Russia) only a few months prior to the war. Due to their stay and training requirements in Russia, all of these Indian sailors were very fluent in Russian. Knowing the Pakistani radio interceptors would not know russian and to confuse them, the commander of the attack instructed the crew that all radio communication if needed, should happen in Russian rather than English.
Even though the Pakistanis intercepted the communication of the boats, they could not make anything out of it. The attack was successful and all the boats returned back safely to Okha.

December 4th is also celebrated as Navy day in honour of that battle success.

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An interesting fact from history (5) - One of the most technologically advanced war machines today is an Armoured army tank. The other day I was explaining to my 6 year old what an army tank is, and her first reaction was is this a type of water tank. That reminded me of the interesting story behind how the word “tank” originated in the military.
The first tanks were developed around WW1 to counter the trench warfare. The race to develop these was between Germany and England. Since an armoured vehicle could change the outcome of trench warfare, both the countries kept their developments super-secret. When the first English designs were ready, one of the generals remarked how the vehicle looked like a giant water tank on wheels (thanks to the round welded design). To ensure secrecy while making the prototypes, the English also told the factory workers they were making vehicles with giant tanks to carry water. Thus the armoured vehicles came to be called as “Tanks”.
Another interesting story is when the first tanks rolled out in WW1 battle, tank commanders did not have a way to communicate with each other or the headquarters. Wireless radio sets had not been invented yet. Guess what they used – the good old Carrier Pigeons. So every tank carried a cage with pigeons, and every time a message was to be sent, the message was written on a paper and tied to the feet of the pigeon and the pigeon released. So the most technologically advanced machine on battlefield relied on centuries old method of carrier pigeons for communication.
Today tank units are the most elite regiments of the Army. That is reason why many armies around the world have a special colour beret for their tank troops. Similar to how special forces sport Maroon berets, the tank units sport Black berets.

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An interesting fact from history (10) – Among the ancient warrior clans of India, one of the most respected are the Rajputs of Rajasthan. Even among the Rajput, there is one clan which is highly revered for its bravery and legacy – the “Sisodia” clan of Mewar. With the title of Ranas, this family has produced warriors like Rana Kumbha, Rana Sanga and Rana Pratap, warriors whose bravery inspired folktales and have been part of history schoolbooks since India’s independence. It was the Ranas who fought against every invader in northern India starting from Alauddin Khilji in 13^th century to Akbar in 15^th century.

Now the interesting part is that the Sisodias never held the title of Raja or Maharaja, unlike the rest of India. They always held the title of “Rana” or “Maharana”, which translates to Prime minister.

Now why would such a legendary and powerful line of rulers address themselves as Prime Minister and not King?

The reason for this is the Sisodias always considered the local deity “Sri Eklingji” (an incarnation of Lord Shiva) as the king of Mewar and themselves as servants of Sri Eklingji. They believed a divine duty was bestowed to their family to protect Mewar, and they ruled Mewar as the prime minister or “Rana” of Mewar. This is also widely considered as the reason for the intensity and dedication with which the Ranas continued to fight every invader, preferring death over surrender.

It was also this status of the Ranas among the Rajputs, that every Islamic and mongoloid invader put every effort to wipe out their capital of Mewar, Chittorgarh, in order to establish suzerainty over the entire rajputs. Prominent was Alauddin Khilji who wiped out Chittor in 1303, and Akbar who massacred 40,000 inhabitants of Chittor in 1568.

Another interesting fact – The Rana family of Nepal has a similar origin for their surname. They were originally ministers of the Shah dynasty, who with time became more powerful than the monarch himself.