World

A Mural Lionizing an Indian Ruler Is Up for Auction. His Legacy is Contested.

Published

3 years ago

March 30, 2022

A Mural Lionizing an Indian Ruler Is Up for Auction. His Legacy is Contested.

The mural exhibits Indian calvary troops advancing from each side on a cornered British military, weapons blazing. In a single a part of the 18th-century battlefield, the victorious commander sits on an elephant holding a crimson rose.

To a number one British historian of India, the roughly 32-foot-long masterpiece, which works on sale at public sale in London on Wednesday, is a creative triumph and a potent image of Indian resistance to British imperialism.

“It’s arguably the best Indian image of the defeat of colonialism that survives,” the scholar, William Dalrymple, informed Sotheby’s, the public sale home overseeing the sale. “It’s a novel and incredible art work.”

However in trendy India, the commander’s legacy is sophisticated. Politicians from India’s governing political celebration, which has more and more embraced Hindu nationalist rhetoric below Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have spent years downplaying his achievements. The commander, Tipu Sultan, was a Muslim; they are saying he’s chargeable for the deaths of Hindus.

The mural consists of 10 giant sheets mounted on canvas and is believed to have been made within the early nineteenth century. It depicts the Battle of Pollilur in 1780, a part of the Anglo-Mysore Wars that occurred in southern India round then. It celebrates not solely Tipu Sultan, who was about 30 on the time, but in addition his father, Haidar Ali, then the ruler of Mysore State.

Mysore was among the many strongest states to emerge when the Mughal Empire collapsed within the 18th century after dominating the Indian subcontinent for about 200 years.

Throughout the a long time that Haidar Ali and later Tipu Sultan dominated Mysore State, reviews of their assaults on British buying and selling settlements have been carried in British newspapers, “embellished by distance as they have been carried dwelling by sea,” in accordance with a 2016 biography of Tipu Sultan by the historian Kate Brittlebank.

By the point he died by the hands of British troops in 1799, Ms. Brittlebank wrote in her e book, Tipu Sultan was “presumably probably the most well-known Indian, if not villain, in the UK.” His nickname was the “Tiger of Mysore.”

Mr. Dalrymple stated the Battle of Pollilur was the primary defeat of a European military in India and “practically ended” British colonial rule there.

“Tipu Sultan was in all probability the simplest opponent that the East India Firm ever confronted,” stated Mr. Dalrymple, the creator of a 2019 e book on the corporate, which was based in 1599 to run British commerce in Asia and ultimately developed into a big military with a buying and selling division.

“Tipu confirmed that the Indians may battle again,” he added. “That they may win. That they may use European ways in opposition to the Europeans and defeat them.”

Throughout the Twentieth-century motion for independence in India, he was celebrated as a prototype of a nationalist “freedom fighter,” in accordance with a 2015 essay on his legacy by Akhilesh Pillalamarri in The Diplomat, a present affairs journal.

Right now, grand buildings related to Tipu Sultan, together with a mosque, dot the panorama in and round Mysore. The Karnataka State authorities promotes the buildings as vacationer sights.

On the identical time, officers from Mr. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Occasion are attempting to downplay Tipu Sultan’s legacy throughout India. They objected to a 2015 plan to have a good time his birthday and a more moderen one to erect a statue of him within the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, amongst different tasks.

The B.J.P.-led state authorities in Karnataka State has convened a particular committee to overview whether or not different Muslim leaders have been “glorified” in native college textbooks. Officers within the celebration, and their supporters amongst India’s Hindu nationalist proper wing, are inclined to characterize Muslim rulers of the previous as invaders who threatened indigenous Hindu tradition.

Mr. Modi’s nationalist message has typically pitted Hindus in opposition to Muslims. In current months, requires anti-Muslim violence in India have more and more moved from the fringes to the mainstream, whilst Mr. Modi and prime B.J.P. leaders have remained silent.

In trendy India, Tipu Sultan is controversial largely as a result of he was a Muslim ruler whose topics have been largely Hindus and Jains, Ms. Brittlebank wrote in her e book, “Tiger.” The British colonial authorities as soon as drew consideration to that very same distinction, she added, regardless that it had been widespread for Muslims to control non-Muslims on the Indian subcontinent through the Mughal Empire and for years afterward.

British colonial propaganda portrayed Tipu Sultan as a “one-dimensional fanatic,” however work by trendy students has reconstructed a “very completely different Tipu,” Mr. Dalrymple wrote in an essay for Sotheby’s forward of the public sale.

“What actually anxious the British was much less that Tipu was a Muslim fanatic, one thing unusual and alien, however that he was in reality frighteningly acquainted: a modernizing technocrat who used the weapons of the West in opposition to their very own inventors.”

Sameer Yasir and Emily Schmall contributed reporting.

World

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei defends missile barrage against Israel in rare sermon

Published

2 mins ago

October 6, 2024

Press Room

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei defends missile barrage against Israel in rare sermon

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared in a rare sermon Friday that his country’s ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this week was “legal and legitimate” and that the “resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders.”

The public address from Khamenei was his first during Friday prayers in Tehran in nearly five years, according to the AFP.

Khamenei said Iran will not “procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty” in going after Israel, Reuters reports.

The news agency cited him as saying that Tuesday’s barrage of nearly 200 missiles fired by Iran at Israel was “legal and legitimate” and the minimum punishment for Israel’s “crimes.”

IRAN WARNS OF ‘DECISIVE RESPONSE’ IF ISRAEL CROSSES ‘RED LINES’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday Prayers and a commemoration ceremony of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 4. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters)

“The resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders,” Khamenei reportedly added, mentioning recently slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the speech.

The remarks came as the Israel Defense Forces announced Friday that Mohammad Rashid Sakafi, the commander of Hezbollah’s Communications Unit, was killed in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon.

“Sakafi was a senior Hezbollah terrorist, who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000,” the IDF wrote on X. “Sakafi invested significant efforts to develop communication capabilities between all of Hezbollah’s units.”

ISRAEL BANS UN SECRETARY-GENERAL OVER ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIONS

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that Iran’s missile attack on Israel this week was “legal and legitimate,” Reuters reports. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters)

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier this week that the Iranian missile attack on Israel was “defeated and ineffective” and that the U.S. military coordinated with the IDF to repel the strikes.

“U.S. naval destroyers joined Israeli Air Defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. President Biden and Vice President Harris monitored the attack and the response from the White House Situation Room, joined in person and remotely by their national security team,” Sullivan said during a briefing.

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets during the missile attack, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 1. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)

“This is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel and create a situation in which no one was killed in this attack in Israel… We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward,” he added.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

World

Protests across Europe as Gaza war anniversary nears

Published

47 mins ago

October 6, 2024

Press Room

Protests across Europe as Gaza war anniversary nears

The war in Gaza, which started on 7 October last year, has seen more than 41,000 Palestinians killed and decimated the Strip. Almost 100 Israelis are still being held hostage by Hamas, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive.

Thousands of people have staged protests in capitals across Europe in support of Palestine in the run-up to the first anniversary of the war on 7 October.

Huge rallies took place in several major European cities, with rallies expected to continue over the weekend and peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary.

Italy

In Rome, several thousand demonstrated peacefully until a smaller group tried to push the rally toward the centre of the city, in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests, citing security concerns.

Some protesters, dressed in black and with their faces covered threw stones, bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons, eventually dispersing the crowd.

At least 30 law enforcement officers and three demonstrators were injured in the clashes, local media reported.

The rally in Rome had been calm earlier, with people chanting “Free Palestine, Free Lebanon,” waving Palestinian flags and holding banners calling for an immediate stop to the conflict.

United Kingdom

In London, thousands marched through the capital to Downing Street amid a heavy police presence.

The atmosphere was tense as pro-Palestinian protesters and counterdemonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, passed one another.

Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon.

At least 17 people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences, supporting a proscribed organisation and assault, the Metropolitan Police said.

Spain

Thousands also took to the streets of Madrid to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

The protests were peaceful and there were no reported incidents of altercations with police.

“Outrage at this situation, thousands and thousands of people killed in Gaza, now in Lebanon, there are already more than 2,000, more than 10,000 people missing. This has to be stopped one way or another,” said Enrique Quintanilla from the ‘Disarm Madrid’ group.

Germany

In the northern of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags and chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the DPA news agency reported, citing a count by police.

Two smaller pro-Israeli counterdemonstrations took place without incident, it said.

Serbia

A smaller protest of around 200 people happened in Belgrade with protesters chanting “Free Palestine” and expressing their anger at their government’s support for Israel.

“The main message is that we, citizens of Serbia and Belgrade, are against arms exports to Israel. The Republic of Serbia is exporting arms to Israel. Since October 7 last year, the value of weapons exported to Israel from Serbia is at least 20 million euros. We are against that,” said protest organiser, Mihajlo Nikolic.

Rallies were also planned in several other countries across Europe including Greece, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.

Increased security

Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that the protests could turn violent.

Pro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate cease-fire have repeatedly taken place across Europe and around the globe in the past year and have often turned violent with confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.

A bloody year

On 7 October last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive.

World

Verdugo's go-ahead single and acrobatic catch lift Yankees over Royals 6-5 in ALDS opener

Published

7 hours ago

October 5, 2024

Press Room

Verdugo's go-ahead single and acrobatic catch lift Yankees over Royals 6-5 in ALDS opener

NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and saved at least one run with a sliding catch along the left-field line, boosting the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Saturday night in their AL Division Series opener.

New York’s Gleyber Torres and Kansas City’s MJ Melendez hit two-run homers in a back-and-forth game in which the Royals wasted leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and the Yankees failed to hold 2-1 and 4-3 margins. It was the first postseason game with five lead changes, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Kansas City pitchers tied their season high with eight walks, forcing in a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Yankees were just 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Verdugo lined a single off loser Michael Lorenzen.

Verdugo’s hit scored Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled leading off and stole second on a play allowed to stand following a video review. Yankees manager Aaron Boone started Verdugo in left over rookie Jasson Domínguez in a defense-influenced decision. Verdugo entered the game in a 2-for-34 skid at the plate

With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Verdugo made a sliding catch on Michael Massey’s fourth-inning fly just inside the line to strand two runners. The ball hit Verdugo’s right wrist just below his glove and bounced off his chest before he grabbed it with his bare left hand.

Chisholm, playing third base this year for the first time after the Yankees acquired him from Miami at the July trade deadline, made three fine defensive plays, two with the help of first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, starting because of Anthony Rizzo’s fractured fingers.

Four Yankees relievers combined to allow only an unearned run over four innings after ace Gerrit Cole came out, unhappy with his performance. Clay Holmes, dropped from his closer’s job last month, worked 1 2/3 innings for the win. Luke Weaver got four straight outs for the save in his postseason debut.

Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, and Royals standout Bobby Witt Jr. was 0 for 5, barking at plate umpire Adam Hamari after a called third strike in the ninth.

Juan Soto went 3 for 5 and threw out Salvador Perez in the second inning trying to score from second on Melendez’s single to right. Kansas City first baseman Yuli Gurriel threw out runners at the plate on grounders in the first and fifth.

After a day off between Games 1 and 2, the series between the AL-best Yankees and wild-card Royals resumes Monday night. These teams met in four playoffs from 1976-80, with the Yankees winning the first three and getting swept in the last.

Cole allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in five-plus innings. Royals starter Michael Wacha gave up three runs, four hits and three walks in four-plus innings.

Tommy Pham hit a second-inning sacrifice fly, and Torres put the Yankees ahead 2-1 in the third with a 339-foot home run just over the right-field short porch.

Melendez’s two-run homer in the fourth gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead, but Royals pitchers issued four seven-pitch walks in the fifth, forcing in runs with walks by Angel Zerpa to Austin Wells and by John Schreiber to Anthony Volpe. The Yankees had not gotten a pair of bases-loaded walks in a postseason game since Bullet Joe Bush and Joe Dugan against the New York Giants’ Rosy Ryan in Game 6 of the 1923 World Series.

Volpe’s throwing error at shortstop set up pinch-hitter Garrett Hampson’s two-run, sixth-inning single through a drawn-in infield that put the Royals ahead 5-4. Wells’ two-out RBI single off Lorenzen tied the score in the bottom half.

UP NEXT

New York’s Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.96 ERA) starts against the Royals’ Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.14) in a matchup of left-handers. Rodón made a pair of postseason appearances for the Chicago White Sox, in relief against Oakland in 2020 and a start against Houston in 2021 which he pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing Carlos Correa’s go-ahead, two-run double. Ragans won the Wild Card Series opener at Baltimore on Tuesday with six scoreless innings of four-hit ball.