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| Allegory of April by Francesco del Cossa (1436-77) |
I have this thing about me when I drive. To keep me awake and alert I look at the number plates of the vehicles which whiz past me. If the vehicle makes an impression on me - by reckless driving or curious appearance, or out-of-state vehicles - I roll the number over in my mind.
Then what I do is this. I chew on the number and ask myself what happened in History during this year. Today the vehicle that made the cut was a kaali-peeli (black and yellow) Maruti van who was driving like the devil was after him. He finally burst past me on the new four-lane highway at Shirdona. And I was left to my devices.
1469. This was the medieval age in Europe. It was a pre-modern world where God was still the centre of the universe. The Catholic church held sway though under the onslaught of Protestantism.
It was the time of exploration. Colonial powers like Spain and Portugal cast their navies far and wide to open up new territories for conquest.
In Italy one sees the nascent Renaissance leading to a flowering of sacred music in the works of composer Palestrina. The baroque as a singular style of ornate music was being formed.
In India, the Mughal period would establish itself 57 years later, Babur-Humayun-Akbar would hold sway over India. Shajahanabad the city around the red fort would be built later.
What I did when I reached work was to open the page of my diary to the present day and write 1469 somewhere in the middle of the right hand side. Then I would put events in history which occurred before the year. above it, and those that occurred after the year below it. That way I could test my general knowledge. After checking the facts, this is how history panned out:
TIMELINE
INDIA WORLD
The Fourteenth Century (1300-1399)
1346-1353 Black death sweeps Europe
The Fifteenth Century (1400-1499)
Kabir (1440-1518) begins the tradition of bhakti poets
Amerigo Vespucci (1452-1512), Italian navigator
1469
Guru Nanak (1469-1539) born, Panjab, Pakistan
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