Indian History Dose

1. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, CIE , was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society. Through the Society as well as the Congress and other legislative bodies he served in, Gokhale promoted not only or even primarily independence from the British Empire but also social reform. To achieve his goals, Gokhale followed two overarching principles: avoidance of violence and reform within existing government institutions.Gokhale was famously a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi in his formative years. In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi's invitation. As a young barrister, Gandhi returned from his struggles against the Empire in South Africa and received personal guidance from Gokhale, including a knowledge and understanding of India and the issues confronting common Indians. By 1920, Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide.
2. The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:             Knight Grand Commander (GCIE)
   Knight Commander (KCIE)
   Companion (CIE)
3. Nawab Sayyid Hassan Ali Mirza Khan Bahadur, GCIE,was the first Nawab of Murshidabad and the eldest son of Nawab Sayyid Mansur Ali Khan, the last Nawab of Bengal.
4. Nawab Sayyid Mansur Ali Khan was Nawab of Bengal until his abdication in 1880, whereupon he renounced his titles and position as Nawab of Bengal. Bengal had been already occupied by the British for the last 150 years, so he was nothing more than a puppet of the British.
5. Major-General Sahibzada Sayyid Iskander Ali Mirza, CIE, OBE  was the last Governor-General of the Dominion of Pakistan (6 October 1955 to 23 March 1956), and the first President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
6. The Indian General Service Medal (1936 IGSM) was a campaign medal approved on 3 August 1938, for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies.
7. Prabhu Narayan Singh was ruler of the Indian Princely State of Benares State (Royal House of Benares) from 1889 to 1931.'
8. At the time of Indian independence, only five rulers — the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Maharaja of Mysore, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir state, the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda and the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior — were entitled to a 21-gun salute. Five more rulers — the Nawab of Bhopal, the Maharaja Holkar of Indore, the Maharana of Udaipur, the Maharaja of Kolhapur and the Maharaja of Travancore — were entitled to 19-gun salutes. The most senior princely ruler was the (Muslim) Nizam of Hyderabad, who was entitled to the unique style Exalted Highness. Other princely rulers entitled to salutes of 11 guns (soon 9 guns too) or more were entitled to the style Highness. No special style was used by rulers entitled to lesser gun salutes.
9. The Holkar were a prominent Dhangar family, who ruled as Rajas and later Maharajas of Indaur (better known as Indore) in Central India as an independent member of the Maratha Confederacy until 1818, and afterwards as a princely state -under protectorate- of British India with a 19-guns salute (21 guns locally; a rare high rank) until India's independence, when the state acceded to the Indian government.
10. The Maratha Empire (Marathi: मराठा साम्राज्य )or the Maratha Confederacy was a Hindu state located in present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire's territories covered much of South Asia.It expanded greatly after the death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, only to lose in Third battle of Panipat in 1761. Later, the empire was divided into Maratha states which eventually lost to the British in the Anglo-Maratha wars.