Eminent Personalities in India
10. Ancient and Medieval History
81. Nicolo Conti :
An Italian and the earliest European visitor to Vijay Nagar. He reached the city in 1420- 21 in the reign of DevarayaI. He gave a graphic description of the practice of sati prevalent in Vijaynagar.
82. Narsimha Mehta :
He was a well known saint of Gujarat who flourished in the second half of the fifteenth Century. He was the author of Mahatma Gandhi's favourite Bhajan "Vishnava Jana to Teno Kahiye."
83. Nizam-ud-din Aulia :
He was a Sufi Saint who settled in Delhi during Akbar's time. He was much respected and revered by the populace of Delhi. After his death a mosque was built near his tomb.
84. Padmini :
She was the chief queen of Rana Ratan Singh of Mewar, she was renowned for her beauty. According to Rajput tradition Allaudin Khalji invaded chittor to take forcible possession of Padmini.
85. Rajshekhar :
A famous poet and dramatist in the court of Pratihara king Mahendrapala. He wrote 3 plays in Sanskrit and 1 in Prakrit.
86. Roshanara Begum :
The younger and second daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan and his consort Mumtaz Mahal. She supported Aurangzeb during the war of succession. She was a bitter opponent of her eldest brighter Dara.
87. Ramananda :
Established the Ramanandi Sect, strongly opposed to caste discrimi-nation and opened his sect to all, irres-pective of caste, sex and community. Ramanandi sect initiated several other sects and movements in north India.
88. Ramanuja :
Founded the philosophy of 'Visishthad-vaita' as per which God is Saguna. He founded the Vaishnava sect which encouraged an egalitarian social system encouraging female education.
89. Ravidas :
Born in a leather worker family, founded Satnami sect, wrote intensely devotional hymns which greatly influenced Hindi literature and some of which were included in the Granth Sahib. Mirabai was his disciple.
90. Shakaracharya :
He revived Hinduism in the 9th century and gave a philosophical base to it by advocating Advaita Vedanta, wrote commentaries on Upanishads, Brahmasutra and Bhagawat Gita. He also founded four different mathas in four corners of India.
91. Sushruta :
A physician of 4th century AD who wrote Sushrutasamhita which mentioned around 1100 diseases and their symptoms.
92. Surdas (1436-1533) :
He popularized the Krishna cult in U.P. by popularising the songs sang in the praise of Krishna. His books are Sur Sagar and Sur Sarawali.
93. Shah Mirza (Mir) :
He was the first Muslim Sultan of Kashmir, who came from Surat and rose by his ability to become the minister of the Hindu king. Later he seized the throne under the title of Sams-ud-din in 1346.
94. Tukaram :
A contemporary of Shivaji and a great devotee of Vithal of Pandharpur, he was responsible for creating a background for Maratha nationalism.
95. Tansen :
He was born as Ramatanu but later came to be known as Tansen. He was one of the greatest poet singer of his time. He was the discoverer of seversal ragas and a few instruments including Rudraveena.
96. Varahamihir :
A famous astrologer of ancient India, who lived in Ujjain and wrote many books on astrology like Panchasiddha-ntika, Laghujataka, Brihatsamhita etc.
97. Yajnavalkya :
Ancient sage who presented a code of law in Yajnavalkya Smriti. He composed Yajurveda, Satapatha Brahmana and Brihadaranyaka.
98. Zia-ud-din Barni :
He was a famous historian of Sultanate period who held important post during Mohd- bin-Tughlaq and Khalji rule. His works are 'Tarikh-i-Firozshahi' and 'Futut-i-Jahangiri'.
