We are in the process of erecting a building in our Shivaji Maharaj Museum of Indian History, Pune, for our beautiful Ahilyabhai exhibition: ahilyabai-holkar.blogspot.in/ We have forty original color paintings, in the style of her time, all signed and dated, done under the direction of our historian, Professor V.S. Bhatnagar, of Rajasthan University, Dept of History, by our team of miniature painters in Jaipur. This exhibition was inaugurated by HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (below). India has had many female rulers, warrior women and poet queens, but Ahilyabai Holkar commands more affection and respect for her accomplishments during her 30-year-long reign than any other does. She was noted for her piety, for her administrative ability, for her keen interest in all her people and for an extraordinary amount of building at holy sites all over the country. Visitors to Varanasi know of the golden domed temple of Vishvanath, Lord of the World, in the heart of the city. Ahilyabai, though a queen of great magnificence, led a simple life as can be seen by this recount of her daily routine: She rose an hour before daybreak to say her prayers. Then she had scriptures read to her, distributed alms and gave food to a number of poor people. Her breakfast, as indeed all her meals, was vegetarian. After breakfast, she prayed again, and then took a short rest. From two to six she was in her durbar; after religious exercises and a light meal, she again attended to business from nine to eleven. She did not neglect the defense of her motherland and employed a French Officer to train four battalions of her army, so as to resist the march of the English troops in Gujarat in 1780 Her life was marked by prayer, abstinence and work, with religious fasts, festivals and public emergencies affording the only change in this routine. Her devotion was to Shiva, although she respected all religions. Shri Shankara appeared on all royal proclamations along with her signature. In spite of all that is known about the warrior queen and all that she has left behind—timeless testimonies of her imagination and beneficence—she has not, been given the recognition that she rightfully deserves. She was truly a magnificent woman, an able ruler and a great queen. Would you help us to finish this building? Already Mannu Shivaram of Andra Pradesh gave 2 lakhs, Sanjeev Okhandiar25.000 Rs and Ashik Patwaru 15.000 RS. I want to thank them publicly. I need now app. another 6 lakhs to finish the building. FACT is a registered trust with Indian and US tax exemption as well as FCRA. We will give our generous donors a replica of one of the Ahilkyabhai painting of their choice. Here below our Trusts bank details for electronic transfer. Or you can send me a mail at fgautier@rediffmail. Namaste. FG Name of account: Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT) Savings Account No: 04071450000237. IFCS code: HDFC0000407 Bank: HDFC Bank Ltd.,
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 09:19:38 +0000
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