India was always famous for its wealth and resources. And it was the promise of all this wealth and resources that lured many foreign nations to Indian shores. The British arrived in 1612 and the French in 1668. Both began a race for supremacy. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 and the Treaty of Paris in 1783 ended that race. The British had successfully crushed

Pacheco rightly guessed that Samuthiri’s huge army would pass through a narrow riverine pass called Kumbalam to reach Kochi; in that narrow pass they were extremely vulnerable. Pacheco’s men took hidden positions and waited there. As Samuthiri’s men arrived, Portuguese snipers effortlessly killed 1300 enemy soldiers. Pacheco knew that Samuthiri’s state-of-the-art Italian field-guns had a deadly range and accuracy; so, he ordered his sniper

Some of the oldest art in India dating back to the 1st century BC, can be found in the Ajantha caves of Maharashtra. Magnificent murals found here depict Buddhist and Hindu deities and figures. These caves and their paintings were created not long after the death of Buddha under the patronage of a dynasty called the Satavahanas. Who were they? Above: Mural from the Cave