1781 AD-Ghanshyam, later known as Sahajanand Swami/Swaminarayan, was born in Chhapaiya at the house of Dharmadev and Bhaktimata

Swaminarayan (IAST: Svāmīnārāyaṇa, 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi, and an ascetic whose life and teachings brought a revival of central Hindu practices of dharma,^[2]ahimsa^[3][4] and brahmacharya.^[2] He is believed by followers as a manifestation of God.^[5][6]

Swaminarayan was born Ghanshyam Pande in Chhapaiya, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1781. In 1792, he began a seven-year pilgrimage across India at the age of 11 years, adopting the name Nilkanth Varni. During this journey, he did welfare activities and after 9 years and 11 months of this journey, he settled in the state of Gujarat around 1799. In 1800, he was initiated into the Uddhav sampradaya by his guru, Swami Ramanand, and was given the name Sahajanand Swami. In 1802, his guru handed over the leadership of the Uddhav Sampraday to him before his death. Sahajanand Swami held a gathering and taught the Swaminarayan Mantra. From this point onwards, he was known as Swaminarayan. The Uddhav Sampraday became known as the Swaminarayan Sampraday.

Swaminarayan developed a good relationship with the British Raj.^[7][8] He had followers not only from Hindu denominations but also from Islam and Zoroastrianism. He built six temples in his lifetime^[9] and appointed 500 paramahamsas to spread his philosophy.^[10] In 1826, Swaminarayan wrote the Shikshapatri, a book of social principles.^[11] He died on 1 June 1830 and was cremated according to Hindu rites in Gadhada, Gujarat. Before his death, Swaminarayan appointed his adopted nephews as acharyas to head the two dioceses of Swaminarayan Sampraday. Swaminarayan is also remembered within the sect for undertaking reforms for women^[12] and the poor,^[13] and performing yajñas (fire sacrifices) on a large scale.^[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaminarayan

1770 AD-Baron d'Holbach published The System of Nature said to be the first positive, unambiguous statement of atheism in the West

Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (French: [dɔlbak]), was a French-German author, philosopher, encyclopedist and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, but lived and worked mainly in Paris, where he kept a salon. He was well known for his atheism^[3] and for his voluminous writings against religion, the most famous of them being The System of Nature (1770).

Biography

Sources differ regarding d'Holbach's dates of birth and death. His exact birthday is unknown, although records show that he was baptised on 8 December 1723.^{[citation needed]} Some authorities incorrectly give June 1789 as the month of his death.

D’Holbach's mother Catherine Jacobina née Holbach (1684–1743) was the daughter of Johannes Jacobus Holbach (died 1723) the Prince-Bishop's tax collector for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer. His father, Johann Jakob Dietrich, (with other notations: ger.: Johann Jakob Dirre; fr.: Jean Jacques Thiry) (1672–1756) was a wine-grower.

D’Holbach wrote nothing of his childhood^{[citation needed]} though it is known he was raised in Paris by his uncle Franz Adam Holbach, (or Adam François d’Holbach or Messire François-Adam, Baron d’Holbach, Seigneur de Heeze, Leende et autres Lieux)^[4] (approx. 1675–1753), who had become a millionaire by speculating on the Paris stock-exchange. With his financial support, d’Holbach attended the Leiden University from 1744 to 1748. Here he became friends with John Wilkes.^[5] Later he went on to marry his second cousin, Basile-Geneviève d'Aine (1728–1754), on 11 December 1750. In 1753, a son was born: Francois Nicholas who left France before his father passed. Francois moved through Germany, Holland, and England before arriving in USA (per American family bible/German and Italian references). In 1753 both his uncle and his father died, leaving d'Holbach with an enormous inheritance, such as Heeze Castle, Kasteel Heeze te Heeze.

D’Holbach would remain wealthy throughout his life.^[6] In 1754, his wife died from an unknown disease. The distraught d’Holbach moved to the provinces for a brief period with his friend Baron Grimm and in the following year received a special dispensation from the Pope to marry his deceased wife's sister, Charlotte-Suzanne d’Aine (1733–1814).^[7] They had a son, Charles-Marius (1757–1832) and two daughters Amélie-Suzanne (13 January 1759) and Louise-Pauline (19 December 1759 – 1830).^[8]

During the summer months, when Paris was hot and humid, Baron d'Holbach retreated to his country estate at Grandval, Le Château de Grand-Val^[9] (Sucy-en-Brie today N° 27 rue du Grand-Val on the outskirts of Paris (Département Val-de-Marne).^[10][11] There he would invite friends to stay for a few days or weeks, and every year he invited Denis Diderot.^[12]

D'Holbach was known for his generosity, often providing financial support discreetly or anonymously to his friends, amongst them Diderot. It is thought that the virtuous atheist Wolmar in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse is based on d'Holbach.^[6]

Holbach died in Paris on 21 January 1789, a few months before the French Revolution.^[13] The authorship of his various anti-religious works did not become widely known until the early 19th century. Ironically, he was buried in the Church of Saint-Roch, Paris. The exact location of the grave is unknown.^[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_d%27Holbach

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The System of Nature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Opening page of The System of Nature.

The System of Nature or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World (Système de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Moral) is a work of philosophy by Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789). It was originally published under the name of Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud, a deceased member of the French Academy of Science. D'Holbach wrote and published this book – possibly with the assistance of Diderot^[1] but with the support of Jacques-André Naigeon – anonymously in 1770, describing the universe in terms of the principles of philosophical materialism: The mind is identified with brain, there is no "soul" without a living body, the world is governed by strict deterministic laws, free will is an illusion,^[2] there are no final causes, and whatever happens takes place because it inexorably must. Most notoriously, the work explicitly denies the existence of God, arguing that belief in a higher being is the product of fear, lack of understanding, and anthropomorphism.

Though not a scientist himself, d'Holbach was scientifically literate and he tried to develop his philosophy in accordance with the known facts of nature and the scientific knowledge of the day, citing, for example, the experiments of John Needham as proof that life could develop autonomously without the intervention of a deity. It makes a critical distinction between mythology as a more or less benign way of bringing law ordered thought on society, nature and their powers to the massesand theology. Theology which, when it separates from mythology raises the power of nature above nature itself and thus alienates the two (i.e. "nature", all that actually exists, from its power, now personified in a being outside nature), is by contrast a pernicious force in human affairs without parallel.^[3] Its principles are summed up in a more popular form in d'Holbach's Bon Sens, ou idées naturelles opposees aux idées surnaturelles.^[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_System_of_Nature

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

1708 AD- Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the last Sikh guru, died after instituting the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, as the eternal Guru

Guru Granth Sahib (Punjabi (Gurmukhi)eg.ਓ : (Gurū Gra°th Sāhib Jī), Punjabi pronunciation: [ɡʊɾu ɡɾəntʰ sɑhɪb], /ˈɡʊəruː ɡrʌnt səˈhɪb/) is the religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign, and eternal living Guru following the lineage of the ten human Gurus of the Sikh religion.^[1] Adi Granth, the first rendition, was compiled by the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, added one salok, dohra mahala 9 ang, 1429 and all 115 hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur.^[2] This second rendition came to be known as Sri Guru Granth Sahib.^[3] After Guru Gobind Singh passed on, Baba Deep Singh and Bhai Mani Singh prepared many copies of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji for distribution.^[4]

The text consists of 1430 angs (pages) and 6,000 śabads (line compositions),^[5][6] which are poetically rendered and set to a rhythmic ancient north Indian classical form of music.^[7] The bulk of the scripture is divided into thirty-one rāgas, with each Granth rāga subdivided according to length and author. The hymns in the scripture are arranged primarily by the rāgas in which they are read.^[5] The Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurmukhī script, in various languages, including Lahnda (Western Punjabi), Braj Bhasha, Khariboli, Sanskrit, Sindhi, and Persian. Copies in these languages often have the generic title of Sant Bhasha.^[8]

Guru Granth Sahib was composed by seven Sikh Gurus: Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Angad Dev, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan Dev, Guru Hargobind added the tunes 9 out 22 Vars and Guru Tegh Bahadur. Guru Gobind Singh added 1 sloakh in mahala 9 Ang 1429. It also contains the traditions and teachings of Indian sants (saints), such as Ravidas, Ramananda, Kabir and Namdev among others, and two Muslim Sufi saints Bhagat Bhikan and: Sheikh Farid.^[9][10]

The vision in the Guru Granth Sahib is of a society based on divine justice without oppression of any kind.^[11][12] While the Granth acknowledges and respects the scriptures of Hinduism and Islam, it does not imply a moral reconciliation with either of these religions.^[13] It is installed in a Sikh gurdwara (temple); all Sikhs bow or prostrate before it on entering such a temple.^[14] The Granth is revered as eternal gurbānī and the spiritual authority in Sikhism.^[15]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Granth_Sahib

http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=1

1699 AD- Guru Gobind Singh Ji created the Khalsa in Sikhism

Guru Gobind Singh (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ) (22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708),^[4][5] born Gobind Rai, was the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam,^[6][7] Guru Gobind Singh was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs at age nine, becoming the tenth Sikh Guru.^[8] His four sons died during his lifetime in Mughal-Sikh Wars – two in battle, two executed by the Mughal army.^[9][10][11]

Among his notable contributions to Sikhism are founding the Sikh warrior community called Khalsa in 1699^[1][12][13] and introducing the Five Ks, the five articles of faith that Khalsa Sikhs wear at all times. Guru Gobind Singh also continued the formalisation of the religion, wrote important Sikh texts,^[14][15] and enshrined the scripture the Guru Granth Sahib as Sikhism's eternal Guru.^[16]

Family and early life

Guru Gobind Singh's birthplace

Gobind Singh was the only son of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru, and Mata Gujri. He was born in Patna, Bihar in the Sodhi Khatri family ^[17] while his father was visiting Bengal and Assam.^[4] His birth name was Gobind Rai, and a shrine named Takht Sri Patna Harimandar Sahib marks the site of the house where he was born and spent the first four years of his life.^[4] In 1670, his family returned to Punjab, and in March 1672 they moved to Chakk Nanaki in the Himalayan foothills of north India, called the Sivalik range, where he was schooled.^[4][12] Gobind Singh's father Tegh Bahadur founded the city of Chakk Nanaki, now known as Anandpur Sahib, in 1665, on land purchased from the ruler of Bilaspur (Kahlur).^{[citation needed]}

His father Guru Tegh Bahadur was petitioned by Kashmiri Pandits^[18] in 1675 for protection from the fanatic persecution by Iftikar Khan, an Islamic satrap of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.^[4] Tegh Bahadur considered a peaceful resolution by meeting Aurangzeb, but was cautioned by his advisors that his life may be at risk. The young Gobind Rai – to be known as Gobind Singh after 1699^[5] – advised his father that no one was more worthy to lead and make a sacrifice than him.^[4] His father made the attempt, but was arrested then publicly beheaded in Delhi on 11 November 1675 under the orders of Aurangzeb for refusing to convert to Islam and the ongoing conflicts between Sikhism and the Islamic Empire.^[19][20] After this martyrdom, the young Gobind Rai was installed by the Sikhs as the tenth Sikh Guru on Vaisakhi on 29 March 1676.^[21]

The education of Guru Gobind Singh continued after he became the 10th Guru, both in reading and writing as well as martial arts such as horse riding and archery. In 1684, he wrote the Chandi di Var in Punjabi language – a legendary war between the good and the evil, where the good stands up against injustice and tyranny, as described in the ancient Sanskrit text Markandeya Purana.^[4] He stayed in Paonta, near the banks of river Yamuna, till 1685.^[4]

Guru Gobind Singh had three wives:^[3][22]

• at age 10, he married Mata Jito on 21 June 1677 at Basantgaṛh, 10 km north of Anandpur. The couple had three sons: Jujhar Singh (b. 1691), Zorawar Singh (b. 1696) and Fateh Singh (b. 1699).^[23]
• at age 17, he married Mata Sundari on 4 April 1684 at Anandpur. The couple had one son, Ajit Singh (b. 1687).^[24]
• at age 33, he married Mata Sahib Devan on 15 April 1700 at Anandpur. They had no children, but she had an influential role in Sikhism. Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed her as the Mother of the Khalsa.^[25]

The life example and leadership of Guru Gobind Singh has been of historic importance to the Sikhs. He institutionalized the Khalsa (literally, Pure Ones), which played the key role in protecting the Sikhs long after his death, such as during the nine invasions of Panjab and holy war led by Ahmad Shah Abdali from Afghanistan between 1747 and 1769.^[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Gobind_Singh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalsa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism

1562 AD-The Massacre of Vassy sparked the first of a series of French Wars of Religion.

The Massacre of Wassy, also known as the Massacre of Vassy, is the name given to the murder of Huguenot worshipers and citizens in an armed action by troops of Francis, Duke of Guise, in Wassy, France on 1 March 1562. The tragedy is identified as the first major event in the French Wars of Religion. The series of battles that followed concluded in the signing of the Peace of Amboise (or Pacification Treaty of Amboise) the next year, on 19 March 1563.

The events surrounding the Massacre of Wassy became widely known by a series of forty engravings published in Geneva seven years later.^[1]

History

Massacre]After the ascent of Henry II to the French throne, followers of the religious teachings of John Calvin, known as Huguenots, were persecuted in France. Catherine de' Medici, regent of Charles IX, proposed the Edict of January (or Edict of Saint-Germain) with the hopes that Calvinism and Catholicism could co-exist in France and that fighting would cease.

On 1 March 1562, Francis (François), the second Duke of Guise, travelling to his estates, stopped in Wassy (aka Vassy) and decided to attend Mass. He found a large congregation of Huguenots holding religious ceremonies in a barn that was their church. Some of the duke's party attempted to push their way inside and were repulsed. Events escalated, stones began to fly, and the Duke was struck. Outraged, he ordered his men to fortify the town and set fire to the church, killing 63 unarmed Huguenots and wounding over a hundred.^[2]

Aftermath

The massacre provoked open hostilities between some followers of each religion, sparking the first war of a long series of French Wars of Religion, which continued largely uninterrupted for more than a century.^[3]

The Bourbons, led by the Prince of Condé, and proclaiming that they were liberating the king and regent from "evil" councillors, organised a kind of protectorate over the Protestant churches and began to seize and garrison strategic towns along the Loire. Although the Huguenots had begun to mobilise for war before Vassy,^[4] Condé used the massacre as evidence that the Edict had been broken, lending further weight to his campaign, and as hostilities broke out, the Edict was in fact revoked under pressure from the Guise faction.

The major engagements of the war occurred at Rouen, Dreux and Orléans. At the Siege of Rouen (May–October 1562), the crown regained the city at the cost of Antoine de Navarre, who died of his wounds. The Battle of Dreux (December 1562), saw the capture of Condé by the Guises and Montmorency, the governor general, by the Bourbons.

In February 1563, at the Siege of Orléans, Francis, Duke of Guise was shot and killed by the Huguenot Poltrot de Méré; the Guise considered this an assassination on the orders of the duke’s enemy, Admiral Coligny, as it was outside of direct combat. The popular unrest caused by the 'assassination', coupled with the fact that Orléans was holding out in the siege, led Catherine to mediate a truce and the Edict of Amboise (1563).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Wassy