Wikipedia Trail: From Devaki to Koh-i-Noor

Wikipedia Trails: From Devaki to Koh-i-Noor

The palatial office of Goa Inquisition. Source: Wikimedia. 

I started the trail off with Devaki. I was curious to know more about her besides what I all learned from the Krishna readings. I feel like not a lot is known about Devaki considering she isn't a prominent part of Krishna's life except in the beginning. I got to learn that in the Indian state of Goa, there is a temple that is dedicated to not just Krishna, but Devaki as well. During the Goa Inquisition, the deities from the temple were moved to city of Bicholim to avoid persecution. 

From there I went to the article about the Goa Inquisition. I was very curious to learn about this because I have heard about the Spanish Inquisition before, but never have I heard about the Goa Inquisition. The Goa Inquisition was a colonial era Portuguese institution established by the Roman Catholic Holy Office between the 16th- and 19th- century. It was proposed by Francis Xavier in a letter to King John III of Portugal in 1546. The Inquisition persecuted anyone in the state of Goa that was Hindu and Muslim. The Inquisition ended in 1820 but the persecution of Hindus and Muslims by the Portuguese Christian government with something called the Xenddi tax which is a religious tax. I have always wondered why Goa had such a huge Catholic background but never really researched into but I'm glad I know more about it now.

The next article I went to is an article about Alauddin Khalji. I was curious about him because in a recent Bollywood movie, Padmaavat, Alauddin Khalji was the main antagonist. The movie is an epic period drama so his character was obviously dramatized. I wanted to read up more on him so I could compared and see how his character in the movie differed from the real life Khalji. He definitely did seem like the villain he was portrayed as in the movie. He wanted to become the next Alexander the Great, so he conquered many Kingdoms across India. 

Finally, the last article in the trail is the Koh-i-Noor. For me it's weird to spell it like that because I've always read it as a full word like Kohinoor. I was curious about this because this is a famous diamond that I've always heard was stolen from India by the British. It is widely believed to from the Kollur Mine which is in Andhra Pradesh, India. The diamond is one of the largest cut diamonds and it weighs 105.6 carats. The diamond is currently on display at the Jewel House at the Tower of London.