The Ramayana also known as Valmiki Ramayana, as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic, narrates the life of Rama, a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana; the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka, that resulted in war; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned king amidst jubilation and celebration.
Midnight's Children is a 1981 novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a postcolonial, postmodern and magical realist story told by its chief protagonist, Saleem Sinai, set in the context of historical events. The style of preserving history with fictional accounts is self-reflexive.
Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by English author George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midlands town, in 1829 to 1832, it follows distinct, intersecting stories with many characters. Issues include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Despite comic elements, Middlemarch uses realism to encompass historical events: the 1832 Reform Act, early railways, and the accession of King William IV. It looks at medicine of the time and reactionary views in a settled community facing unwelcome change. Eliot began writing the two pieces that formed the novel in 1869–1870 and completed it in 1871. Initial reviews were mixed, but it is now seen widely as her best work and one of the great English novels.
Cold Comfort Farm is a comic novel by English author Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb.
Sir John William Kaye was a British military historian, civil servant and army officer in India. His major works on military history include a three-volume work on The History of the Sepoy War in India. This work was revised later by George Bruce Malleson and published in six volumes in 1890 as Kaye and Malleson's History of the Indian Mutiny.
Mary Margaret ("Mollie") Kaye was a British writer. Her most famous book is The Far Pavilions (1978).
Walter Richard Pollock Hamilton VC was born in Inistioge, County Kilkenny and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He is featured in M. M. Kaye's epic novel The Far Pavilions.
Fire is a 1996 Indo-Canadian erotic romantic drama film written and directed by Deepa Mehta, starring Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. It is the first installment of Mehta's Elements trilogy; it is succeeded by Earth (1998) and Water (2005).
Mohammad Yaqub Khan was Emir of Afghanistan from February 21 to October 12, 1879. He was a Pashtun and the son of the previous ruler, Sher Ali Khan.
Ashok Kumar Banker is an author and screenwriter. His writing spans crime thrillers, essays, literary criticism, fiction and mythological retellings. The author of several well-received novels including a trilogy billed as "India's first crime novels in English", he became widely known for his retellings of Indian mythological epics, starting with the internationally acclaimed and best-selling eight-volume Ramayana Series. His books have sold over 2 million copies and have been published in 16 languages in 58 countries. His Epic India Library is an attempt at retelling all the myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian sub-continent in one story cycle comprising over 70 volumes.
A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.
The Young Visiters or Mister Salteena's Plan is a 1919 novel by English writer Daisy Ashford (1881–1972). She wrote it when she was nine years old and part of its appeal lies in its juvenile innocence, and its unconventional grammar and spelling. It was reprinted 18 times in its first year alone.
Ramayan is an Indian Hindi-language epic television series based on ancient Indian Sanskrit Epic Ramayana. The show was created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar. It originally aired between 1987 and 1988 on DD National and it was narrated by Ashok Kumar and the director Ramanand Sagar. The music was composed by Ravindra Jain. During its run, the show became most watched television series in the world, and it is the most watched mythological serial in the world, it had a viewership of 82 percent. The repeat telecast was aired on 20 different channels in 17 countries on all the five continents at different times. The success of the series was documented well by the media. According to BBC, the serial has been viewed by over 650 million viewers. Each episode of the series reportedly earned DD National ₹40 lakh.
Roger Ashton-Griffiths is an English character actor, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his role as Mace Tyrell in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones.
Ashoka Vatika is a grove in Lanka that is located in the kingdom of the rakshasa king Ravana. It is mentioned in the Vishnu Purana and the Hindu epic Ramayana of Valmiki, and all subsequent versions, including the Ramacharitamanas written by Tulsidas, where it finds mention in the Sundara Kanda. The Vatika has garden houses around it, built by Vishvakarma himself.
Prunella Jane Ransome was an English actress, primarily active on television and films.
Khan Bahadur Rana Talia Muhammad Khan, O.B.E. was the first Muslim Inspector-General of Police in British India, serving as Inspector-General of Police of Patiala State and the North-West Frontier Province and a former British Indian Army officer. He served famously as Superintendent of Police, Kohat and District Officer, Frontier Constabulary, Hangu and, during the Second World War, as a Major in Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides, British Indian Army.
The siege of the British Residency in Kabul was a military engagement of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The British resident, Sir Louis Cavagnari and his escort were massacred after an 8-hour siege by mutinous Afghan troops inside their Residency in Kabul. This event triggered the second phase of the war, during which an Anglo-Indian army invaded Afghanistan and captured Kabul.
Peter Duffell was a British film and television director and screenwriter, born in Canterbury, England.
Kabuliwala is a Bengali short story written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1892, during Tagore's "Sadhana" period from 1891 to 1895. The story is about a fruit seller, a Pashtun from Kabul, Afghanistan, who visits Calcutta, India each year to sell dry fruits. While living in India, he develops a filial affection for a five-year-old girl, Mini, from a middle-class aristocratic family, who reminds him of his own beloved daughter back home in Afghanistan.
