Masala History by Siva Sivakumar Sethuraman

In Bollywood movies, it is not uncommon where a long lost family reunites with a 'family' song. Or that someone finds a brother (whom he has never seen from childhood) by identifying that they have same mannerisms. Even a case where someone remembers something random so vividly only to be explained that it is from his former birth. In short, these are some interesting connections.


In today's Masala History by Siva, I will try to explain to you some interesting connections between 2 far away countries/communities of India (Tamilnadu) and Korea -  and trace back to the event that could have sparked it in the first place. I will admit that some of these are educated guesses and conjectures with lighter evidence, nevertheless something definitely to consider;  Perhaps will give you a wow moment. So buckle your seatbelt and set the time dial to 45 CE as we travel to the Kingdom of Geumgwan Gaya which is the southeast part of modern day South Korea.

Listen to the rest of the story here on in a platform of your choice from www.masalahistorybysiva.in



#tamilhistory #indianhistory #koreanhistory #korea #pandyas
#gaya #suro #heohwangok #suriratna #ayuta #ayodhya #ayuthya
#southkorea #gimhae #twinfish #culture #southkorea

Pop quiz.

Who is the first woman monarch in India?

If you said Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai, try again. Although, a solid percentage of randomly polled people said that. If you said Rani Mangammal or Rani Velu Naachiyaar, it still isn't the right answer  - but you certainly deserve an applause for knowing these terrific queens. If you said Razia Sultana, I would disagree - although the topmost search results in Google for the above question points to her. If you said Rani Rudramma Devi, I am impressed of your knowledge of the Kakatiyas - we would do a podcast on her some day, she has a very interesting history too. Nevertheless, you have to try harder.

Welcome to Masala History by Siva. We are celebrating International Women's day this week and March 2021 is Women's History Month -  and let's do that by knowing a little more about India's first woman ruler. Until some historical seals were discovered a couple of years ago near Nagpur, her reign was largely underrated and forgotten. And to learn more about her, we will travel 1600 years back, to the golden age of India - the times of the Gupta empire.



Listen to the story here on in a platform of your choice from www.masalahistorbysiva.in



#gupta #internationalwomensday #prabhavatigupta
#vakataka #guptaempire #indianfemalemonarch
#history #indianhistory #razia #jhansirani #womenleader

"I am in Baker Street, London - been here for 180+ years. Anyone who has visited London has possibly visited my place. And even those who haven't visited England have most likely heard of me. In today's edition of Masala History by Siva, I chose to tell my strange story. So travel with me 250 years back as I narrate what I have seen, done and continue to do today."

Come and listen to the creepy story of the resident of Baker Street here or in a platform of your choice from www.masalahistorybysiva.in .



#ukhistory #history #historystories #masalahistory
#madametussaud #tussaud #waxmuseum #londonwaxmuseum
#england #bakerstreet #ukhistory #frenchrevolution
#taleoftwocities #Paris #robespierre #guillotine
#waxsculputure #tourism #bakerstreet

The United Kingdom is one of the oldest constitutional monarchies in the world. Starting with Magna Carta in 1215 CE, England went slowly but surely in the direction of having an overseeing community and then a constitution that kept the power of crown under check. And with that in place, they also were the first power perhaps to try their own King, a sovereign, in a court of law and sentence him to death. When King Charles I was executed as Citizen Charles Stuart by his own people, it was unprecedented.

In today's episode we are going to talk about a brief period where England had no formal monarch. You will see that the person who was the leader of this period was a head of state, head of government and once monarchy was resorted, all was left was just his head, quite literally. So get on your time machines and lets travel to London exactly 361 years back to the day to view the stomach churning story of Mr. Oliver Cromwell.

You can listen to the story here on in a platform of your choice from www.masalahistorybysiva.in



#ukhistory #england #cromwell #englishhistory
#kingcharles #revenge #head #headofstate
#masalahistory #unitedkingdom #royalty
#commonwealth

Happy new year 2021 everyone.

Wait!! Is that wish right? In this complex and diverse world, does a statement like the above generically apply?  Let's validate every word up there.

"Happy" is a state of mind, so let's keep it aside for a history blog and hope that is true for everyone.
"New year" -  Does the year get new on January 1? Why? Since when? And for whom?
2021 - is this the current year? How and why? For whom?
everyone - Does the wish apply to everyone? Who does everyone refer to? After all, we as a human race can't still standardize date formats (dd/mm v. mm/dd). So how do we come together on this?

Welcome to Masala History by Siva. Lets do a quick time travel for a couple of thousand years as we try to make sense of why dates are hard (no pun intended ;)).

You can listen to the story here or in a platform of your choice from www.masalahistorybysiva.in .

We the people of the world, have not come into agreement even today on a topic like timekeeping, which some might consider simple and straightforward. We are so diverse that it is not surprising we simply cannot agree to one uniform thing.. But perhaps in this diversity lies the colourfulness and fun of life. Possible that it is a new year in some calendar every single day; and if so, so what? Maybe we can wish every single day as if it were a fresh beginning, start of a brand new year.

On that note, Happy new year everyone. Stay safe and may 2021 be kind to us all. 



#masalahistory #history #historynerd #historybuff
#calendar #Julian #gregorian #juliuscaesar #timekeeping
#europeanhistory #historyoftime #rome #romancalendar
#PopeGregory #dateformats #happynewyear #newyear

Welcome to Masala History by Siva. Travel with me to the modern day Tamilnadu state of India, as we discuss some interesting secrets of a UNESCO World Heritage site. As promised in one of my earlier podcasts on  Rajendra Chola, this edition is based on the magnum opus of the Chola reign - the grand Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur. Just like the first podcast where we discussed a foreign statue in the Srirangam temple, in today's show we will be talking about another foreigner image in the Brihadeeswara Temple. 

Rajaraja Chola was one of the greatest Chola emperors who took the Cholan glory beyond the borders of Indian subcontinent. He was a great patron of arts and commissioned to build what was then called the Southern Meru, the tallest temple ever attempted. Construction of the Peruvudaiyar temple started in 1003 CE and ended by 1010 CE, into Rajaraja's 25th year of rule. The temple was called Rajarajeshwaram during the Chola days. In later years, when a part of Marathas setup shop in Tanjore, they gave the name Brihadeeswara to deity and the temple. Listen to its mysteries here or in a platform of your choice from www.masalahistorybysiva.in .

And with this podcast, I will say goodbye for this year and our first season of Masala History podcasts. Thanks a ton to all of you for being supportive by listening, commenting, messaging, sending candidate topics and providing feedback.  Happy holidays, stay safe and I will see you with a fresh season of Masala History in 2021.