Samudragupta

Samudragupta, ruler of the Gupta Empire (c.AD 335 – 375), and successor to Chandragupta I, is considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses in Indian history according to Historian V.A Smith. His name is taken to be a title acquired by his conquests (Samudra referring to the 'oceans'). Samudragupta the Great is believed to have been his father's chosen successor even though he had several older brothers. Therefore, some believe that after the death of Chandragupta I, there was a struggle for succession in which Samudragupta prevailed.

The Empire

The main source of Samudragupta's history is an inscription engraved on one of the rocks set up by Ashoka the Great in Kausambi ( present day Allahabad). In this inscription Samudragupta details his conquests. This inscription is also important because of the political geography of India that it indicates by naming the different kings and peoples who populated India in the first half of the fourth century AD. The inscription to Samudragupta's martial exploits states that its author is Harishena, who was an important poet of Samudragupta's court.

The beginning of Samudragupta's reign was marked by the defeat of his immediate neighbours, Achyuta, ruler of Ahichchhatra, and Nagasena. Following this Samudragupta began a campaign against the kingdoms to the south. This southern campaign took him south along the Bay of Bengal. He passed through the forest tracts of Madhya Pradesh, crossed the Orissa coast, marched through Ganjam, Vishakapatnam, Godavari, Krishna and Nellore districts and may have reached as far as Kancheepuram. Here however he did not attempt to maintain direct control. After capturing his enemies he reinstated them as tributary kings. This act prevented the Gupta Empire from attaining the almost immediate demise of the Maurya Empire of Ashoka the Great and is a testament to his abilities as a statesman. The details of Samudragupta's campaigns are too numerous to recount here. These can be found in the first reference below. However it is clear that he possessed a powerful navy in addition to his army. In addition to tributary kingdoms, many other rulers of foreign states like the Saka and Kushan kings accepted the suzerainty of Samudragupta and offered him their services.

Chandragupta II

Chandragupta II the Great (very often referred to as Vikramaditya or Chandragupta Vikramaditya) was one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta empire. His rule spanned 375-413/15 CE, during which the Gupta Empire achieved its zenith. The period of prominence of the Gupta dynasty is very often referred to as the Golden Age of India. Chandragupta II the Great was the son of the previous ruler, Samudragupta the Great. He attained success by pursuing both a favorable marital alliance and an aggressive expansionist policy. In this his father and grandfather set the precedent.

Biography

Not much is known about the personal details of the great king. His mother, Datta Devi, was the chief queen of Samudragupta the Great. After Samudragupta's death, Ramgupta his brother took over the throne and also married Chandragupta's fiance 'Dhruvaswamini by force. The most widely accepted details have been built upon the plot of the play 'Devi-Chandraguptam' of Vishakadatta. The play is now lost but fragments have been preserved in other works (Abhinava-bharati, Sringara-prakasha, Natya-darpana, Nataka-lakshana Ratna-kosha). There even exists an Arabic work Mujmalu-t-Tawarikh which tells a similar tale of a king whose name appears to be a corruption of 'Vikramaditya'.He holds a semi-mythical status in India. The most popular native calendar which happens to be a lunar calendar goes after his name. It is widely believed that the great poet in Sanskrit, Mahakavi Kalidasa was one of the jewels of his royal court.

The fragment from Natya-darpana mentions the king Ramagupta, the elder brother of Chandragupta, surrendering his queen Dhruvaswamini to the Saka king of the Western Kshatrapas Rudrasimha III, after a defeat at the Saka king's hands. To avoid the ignominy the Guptas decide to send Madhavasena, a courtesan and a beloved of Chandragupta, disguised as the queen. Chandragupta changes the plan and himself goes to the Saka King disguised as the queen. He then kills Rudrasimha and later his brother Ramagupta. Dhruvaswamini is then married to Chandragupta.

Chandragupta I

The Gupta dynasty first seems to be in eminence with the accession of Chandra Gupta I, son of Ghatotkacha to the throne of the ancestral Gupta kingdom. While his two ancestors were given the title of Maharaja(king), Chandra Gupta I is described in his inscriptions as Maharajadhiraj(king of kings) signifying a rise in the family fortunes. A series of gold coins issued by the king also testifies to his rising influence. The well known Gupta era which commenced on February 26, 320 AD  is generally attributed to Chandra Gupta I. Hence it is surmised that the Gupta era began on the occasion of the coronation of Chandra Gupta I. According to the Puranas the Guptas ruled over territories (referred to as Janapadas) such as Prayag (Allahabad), Saket(Oudh) and Magadh(south Bihar). This description of the Gupta dominion precedes the reign of Samudragupta and hence must refer to the territories ruled over by Chandragupta I.

The coins issued by Chandra Gupta commemorate his marital union with the Lichchhavi princess. Gupta the Great is always referred to in the genealogical accounts of the imperial Guptas as 'daughter's son of the Lichchhavis'. The maternal genealogy is never mentioned in the records of other kings. V.A. Smith places the Lichchhavi kingdom as that the Lichchhavi dynasty was ruling somewhere in North Bihar, between Nepal and Vaisali. A Lichchavi dynasty was also the rulers of Nepal which points to the Lichchhavi dynastes were playing in the politics of the age in eastern India. It is probable Guptas ruled over Gupta by his marriage with Kumaradevi. This considerably strengthened the position of the Guptas and may have allowed its subsequent rapid expansion under Samudra Gupta.

Most records indicate that Chandragupta reigned in the period c. 319-335 A.D. The Allahabad inscription on Samudra Gupta by Harishen seems to suggest that he publicly announced Samudra Gupta the Great as the heir apparent and may have abdicated the throne in his son's favour.

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is a state-owned electronics company with about nine factories, and few regional offices in India. It is owned by the Indian Government & primarily manufactures advanced electronic products for the Indian Armed Forces. BEL is one of the eight PSUs under Ministry of Defence, Government Of India. It has even earned the government's Navratna status.

As of April 1, 2008, BEL's order book is estimated to be around 9,450 crore (US$2.1 billion).

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) was established at Bangalore, India, by the Government of India under the Ministry of Defence in 1954 to meet the specialised need of Indian defence services. Over the years, it has grown into a multi-product, multi-technology, multi-unit company serving the needs of customers in diverse fields in India and abroad.

BEL, is a strategic electronics company of the Ministry of Defence. The company specialises in the manufacture of a wide spectrum of technology like Radars, Military Communications, Naval Systems, Electronic Warfare Systems, Telecommunications, Sound and Vision Broadcasting, Opto-Electronics, Tank Electronics, Solar Photovoltaic Systems, Embedded Software and Electronic Components. The company also claims to provide turnkey systems solutions.

Defence continues to be BEL’s prime focus but the company has also diversified into civilian areas. Some of the successful civilian products include electronic Voting Machines, solar Powered LED-Based traffic signal lighting, simputers, set top boxes etc.

BEL offers contract-manufacturing services for both domestic and international customers. It has automated assembly, inspection and testing facilities as well as precision machining capabilities.

BEL has its corporate office at Bangalore and manufacturing units at nine locations in India. A network of marketing and customer support centers across India completes the vertically integrated company profile. Two offices, one in New York and the other in Singapore mark the company’s current international presence.

The BEL R&D lab is located in Ghaziabad.

Naval weapons developed by BEL are tested at plants in Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam and Kolkata . Its radar equipment is tested in its Hyderabad plants as well as series production of weapons. Series production plants of different weapons are located at Ghaziabad, Panchkula, Pune, Hyderabad,Vishakhapatnam, Machlipattam, Taloja, Chennai, Mumbai.

BEL developed weapons are tested and improved for cold weather and mountainous regions in its Kotdwara plant.

Diesel Locomotive Works

The Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi, India, is a production unit owned by Indian Railways, for which it manufactures diesel-electric locomotives and spare parts.

Founded in 1961, the DLW rolled out its first locomotive three years later, on January 3, 1964. It manufactures locomotives which are variants based on the original ALCO designs dating to 1960s and the GM EMD designs of the 1990s. DLW has an annual production capacity of 150 locomotives and plans to increase it to 200 based on the current demand.

DLW locomotives have power outputs ranging from 2,600 horsepower (1,900 kW) to 4,000 horsepower (3,000 kW). Currently DLW is producing EMD GT46MAC and EMD GT46PAC locomotives under license from Electro-Motive Diesels (formerly GM-EMD) for Indian Railways.

It has supplied locomotives to other countries such as Germany, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Mali, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Angola, and Vietnam and also to a few users within India, such as large power plants.

Kalinga War

The Kalinga War was a war fought between the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka the Great and the state of Kalinga, a feudal republic located on the coast of the present-day Indian state of Orissa. The Kalinga war is one of the major battles in the History of India. Kalinga put up a stiff resistance, but they were no match for Ashoka's brutal strength. The bloodshed of this war is said to have prompted Ashoka to adopt Buddhism.

The main reasons for invading Kalinga were both political and economic. Since the time of Ashoka's father, King Bindusara, the Mauryan Empire based in Magadha was following a policy of territorial expansion. Kalinga was under Magadha control during the Nanda rule, but regained independence with the beginning of the rule of the Mauryas. That was considered a great setback for the traditional policy of territorial expansion of the Magadhan emperors and was considered to be a loss of political prestige for the Mauryas.

Possibly Kalinga was a thorn in the body-politic of his dominions. Andhra, which lay to the south of Kalinga and comprised inter alia the modern Krishna and Godavari districts, was conquered by Bindusara. Thus on one side of the Maurya kingdom was Chola and on the other Kalinga. It is not unreasonable to suppose that in Bindusara's war on Chola and Pandya, Kalinga was an ally of the latter, attacked the Maurya forces from the rear and was thus chiefly instrumental in its ending in failure. It was therefore perhaps supremely imperative to reduce Kalinga to complete subjection. To this task Ashoka must have set himself as soon as he felt he was securely established on the throne.

The overseas activities of Kalinga threatened the economic and commercial interest of Magadha. As Magadha was not an important sea power she had to depend on other friendly states having overseas commerce to sustain her own economic interest. She would face economic collapse if the coasts would be blockaded against her. The hostile attitude of the traders of Kalinga inflicted a serious damage on her which is alluded to by Lama Taranatha. According to Taranatha, the serpents of the eastern seas stole away the jewels of Ashoka at which the emperor became angry and invaded their territory. Thus a war with Kalinga was not only political but also of economic necessity.

The pretext for the start of the war is uncertain. One of Susima's brothers might have fled to Kalinga and found official refuge there. This enraged Ashoka immensely. He was advised by his ministers to attack Kalinga for this act of treachery. Ashoka then asked Kalinga's royalty to submit before his supremacy. When they defied this diktat, Ashoka sent one of his generals to Kalinga to make them submit.The general and his forces were, however, completely routed through the skilled tact of Kalinga's commander-in-chief. Ashoka, baffled at this defeat, attacked with the greatest invasion ever recorded in Indian history until then.

As Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra remarks, "No war in the history of India as important either for its intensity or for its results as the Kalinga war of Ashoka. No wars in the annals of the human history has changed the heart of the victor from one of wanton cruelty to that of an exemplary piety as this one. From its fathomless womb the history of the world may find out only a few wars to its credit which may be equal to this war and not a single one that would be greater than this. The political history of mankind is really a history of wars and no war has ended with so successful a mission of the peace for the entire war-torn humanity as the war of Kalinga." The war began in the 8th year of Ashoka's reign, probably in 261 BC. Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta had previously attempted to conquer Kalinga, but had been repulsed. After a bloody battle for the throne after Bindusara's death, Ashoka tried to annex Kalinga. Ashoka was successful only after a savage war, whose consequences changed Ashoka's views on war and led him to pledge never to wage a war. It is said that in the aftermath of the Battle of Kalinga the Daya River running next to the battle field turned red with the blood of the slain; about 100,000 Kalinga civilians and more than 100,000 of Ashoka's own warriors were among those slain.

Dhauli hill is presumed to be the area where the Kalinga War was fought. The historically important Dhauli hills are located on the banks of the Daya River of Bhubaneswar in Odisha (India). Dhauli hill, with a vast open space adjoining it, has major Edicts of Ashoka engraved on a mass of rock by the side of the road leading to the summit of the hill.

Ashoka had seen the bloodshed with his own eyes and felt that he was the cause of the destruction. The whole of Kalinga was plundered and destroyed. Ashoka's later edicts state that about 100,000 people were killed on the Kalinga side and 100,000 from Ashoka's army. Thousands of men and women were deported.

Ashoka's response to the Kalinga War is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. According to some of these (Rock Edict XIII and Minor Rock Edict I), the Kalinga War prompted Ashoka, already a non-engaged Buddhist, to devote the rest of his life to Ahinsa (non-violence) and to Dhamma-Vijaya (victory through Dhamma). Following the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire, and led the empire through more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony and prosperity.

"Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Priyadarsi, conquered the Kalingas eight years after his coronation. One hundred and fifty thousand were deported, one hundred thousand were killed and many more died (from other causes). After the Kalingas had been conquered, Beloved-of-the-Gods came to feel a strong inclination towards the Dhamma, a love for the Dhamma and for instruction in Dhamma. Now Beloved-of-the-Gods feels deep remorse for having conquered the Kalingas." Rock Edict No.13

Word-of-mouth stories passed down to us from our fore-fathers tells us that after the war was over and Ashoka the Great saw the destruction he had caused, a woman approached him and said, "Your actions have taken from me my father, husband, and son. Now what will I have left to live for?". Moved by these words, it is said, that he accepted/adopted Buddhism. He vowed to never take life again and became one of the most just ruler India has ever seen.

Ashoka

Ashoka popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests. His empire stretched from present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan and eastern parts of Iran in the west, to the present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam in the east, and as far south as northern Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. He conquered the kingdom named Kalinga, which no one in his dynasty had conquered starting from Chandragupta Maurya. His reign was headquartered in Magadha (present-day Bihar, India). He embraced Buddhism from the prevalent Brahminism tradition after witnessing the mass deaths of the war of Kalinga, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. He was later dedicated to the propagation of Buddhism across Asia and established monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha. Ashoka was a devotee of ahinsa (nonviolence), love, truth, tolerance and vegetarianism. Ashoka is remembered in history as a philanthropic administrator. In the history of India, Ashoka is referred to as Chakravarti Samraat Ashoka - the Emperor of Emperors Ashoka.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is a government-owned corporation of India based in Mumbai. One of the public sector undertakings, it is wholly owned by the Union Government and is responsible for the generation of nuclear power for electricity. NPCIL is administered by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), part of the Ministry of Science and Technology. NPCIL is the only power utility company in India which uses nuclear fuel sources.

NPCIL was created in September 1987 as public limited company under the Companies Act 1956, "with the objective of undertaking the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the atomic power stations for generation of electricity in pursuance of the schemes and programmes of the Government of India under the provision of the Atomic Energy Act 1962." All nuclear power plants operated by the company are certified for ISO-14001 (Environment Management System).

NPCIL is the sole body responsible for constructing and operating India's commercial nuclear power plants. As of November 27, 2010 the company had 20 nuclear reactors in operation at six locations, a total installed capacity of 4780 MWe. Subsequent to the government's decision to allow private companies to provide nuclear power, the company has experienced problems with private enterprises "poaching" its employees.

NPCIL Plants

Bindusara

Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor (c. 320 BC – 272 BC, ruled. 298 BC – c. 272 BC) after Chandragupta Maurya the Great. During his reign, the empire expanded southwards. He had two well-known sons, Susima and Ashoka, who were the viceroys of Taxila and Ujjain. The Greeks called him Amitrochates or Allitrochades - the Greek transliteration for the Sanskrit word 'Amitraghata' (Slayer of enemies). He was also called 'Ajatashatru' (Man with no enemies) in Sanskrit.

Bindusara was the son of the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta and his queen Durdhara. According to a legend mentioned in the Jain texts, Chandragupta's Guru and advisor Chanakya used to feed the emperor with small doses of poison to build his immunity against possible poisoning attempts by the enemies. One day, Chandragupta not knowing about poison, shared his food with his pregnant wife queen Durdhara who was 7 days away from delivery. The queen not immune to the poison collapsed and died within few minutes. Chanakya entered the room the very time she collapsed, and in order to save the child in the womb, he immediately cut open the dead queen's belly and took the baby out, by that time a drop of poison had already reached the baby and touched its head due to which child got a permanent blueish spot on his forehead. Thus, the newborn was named "Bindusara".

Bindusara inherited a large empire that consisted of what is now, Northern, Central and Eastern parts of India along with parts of Afghanistan and Baluchistan. Bindusara extended this empire to the southern part of India, as far as what is now known as Karnataka. He brought sixteen states under the Mauryan Empire and thus conquered almost all of the Indian peninsula (he is said to have conquered the 'land between the two seas' - the peninsular region between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea). Bindusara didn't conquer the friendly Dravidian kingdoms of the Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras. Apart from these southern states, Kalinga (the modern Orissa) was the only kingdom in India that didn't form the part of Bindusara's empire. It was later conquered by his son Ashoka, who served as the viceroy of Ujjaini during his father's reign.

Bindusara's life has not been documented as well as that of his father Chandragupta or of his son Ashoka. Chanakya continued to serve as prime minister during his reign. During his rule, the citizens of Taxila revolted twice. The reason for the first revolt was the maladministration of Suseema, his eldest son. The reason for the second revolt is unknown, but Bindusara could not suppress it in his lifetime. It was crushed by Ashoka after Bindusara's death.

Ambassadors from Seleucid Empire (such as Deimachus) and Egypt visited his courts. He maintained good relations with the Hellenic World. Unlike his father Chandragupta (who was a Jain), he believed in the Ajivika (an ancient Indian sect that preached equality for all people).

Bindusara died in 273 BC (some records say 268 BC) and was succeeded by his son Ashoka the Great.