AMIDST our busy day-to-day chores to keep our kitchens going, it is worthwhile once in a while, to stop and remember our legends in history that steered and enriched our national past and shaped our history. Let us today look at Shah Wali Ullah Dehlavi today.
First a quick look on how the world looked like in Shah Wali Ullah’s times, roughly three decades from1730 when Shah Wali Ullah actively embarked on his reform process till his death in 1762. European Trading companies had started to show in Asia and Africa, (in Africa more for slave trade by the Europeans), though the famous scramble for Africa was still nowhere insight. United States was still a colony; Ottoman Empire was strong and ruling large parts of Europe. In Persia, Nader Shah was redefining his empire with his invasions including that into India. Russia was being ruled by Romanovs. In Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Durrani was busy consolidating his new empire. In Europe, Industrial revolution had still not kicked off.
In India Mughal empire was in a disarray. With weakening of central authority after Aurangzeb’s death, different regional forces had began to assert themselves, trying to break away from the Mughal authority; Maratha Confederacy established in Akbar’s time was asserting more and more influence in Imperial politics though still recognizing Mughal sovereignty. Sikhs were asserting........