K xxxii Encyclopedia of Hinduism1675
¶ Aurangzeb executes Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur,
beginning the Sikh-Muslim tensions that con-
tinue to this day.1708
¶ Gobind Singh, 10th and last Sikh guru, is assas-
sinated.1718
¶ Birth of Ramprasad Sen (1718–1780), Bengali
poet-saint and worshipper of goddess Kali.1751
¶ Robert Clive is victorious in the British fight for
control of South India.1764
¶ British defeat the weak Mughal emperor and
gain full control of Bengal, richest province of
India.1781
¶ Birth of Sahajanand Swami (1781–1830),
Gujarati founder of the Swaminarayan sect
(with 1.5 million followers today).1784
¶ Judge and linguist Sir William Jones founds
Calcutta’s (Kolkata’s) Royal Asiatic Society, first
such scholastic institution.1786
¶ Sir William Jones uses the Rig Veda term Aryan
(noble) to name the parent language of Sanskrit,
Greek, Latin, and Germanic tongues.1792
¶ Britain’s Lord Cornwallis, governor-general of
India, defeats Tipu Sultan of Mysore, the most
powerful ruler in South India, which consti-tuted the main bulwark of resistance to British
expansion in India.1803
¶ Second Anglo-Maratha war results in British
capture of Delhi and control of large parts of
India.
¶ Birth of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882),
American poet who helps popularize Bhagavad
Gita and Upanishads in the United States.1818
¶ Birth of Swami Shiv Dayal Singh (1818–1878),
founder of the esoteric reformist Radhasoami
Vaishnavite sect in Agra.1820
¶ First Indian immigrants arrive in the United
States.1824
¶ Birth of Swami Dayananda Sarasvati (1824–
1883), founder of Arya Samaj (1875), Hindu
reformist movement stressing a return to the
values and practices of the Vedas.1828
¶ Rammohan Roy (1772–1833) founds Brahmo
Samaj in Calcutta (Kolkata). Influenced by
Islam and Christianity, he denounces polythe-
ism and idol worship.1831
¶ Birth of Russian mystic Madame Helena P. Bla-
vatsky (1831–1891), cofounder of Theosophical
Society in 1875. Introduces amalgam of psy-
chism, Buddhism, and Hinduism to the West.1835
¶ Mauritius receives 19,000 indentured laborers
from India. Last ship carrying workers arrives
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