The tomb of Humayun, begun in 1562 on the orders of Hamida Banu Begum, Humayun's widow, sees completion eight years later.

The architect of the edifice is reportedly Sayyed Muhammad ibn Mirak Ghiyathuddin and his father Mirak Ghiyathuddin who had been brought in from Herat.

A magnificent example of early Mughal architecture, the complex of buildings, complex of buildings of Mughal architecture located in Nizamuddin East, New Delhi, features a Chahr Bagh Garden style in its design, the first of its kind in the region.

The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856, also Act XV, 1856, enacted on July 26, 1856, legalizes the remarriage of Hindu widows in all jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule.

It had been drafted by Lord Dalhousie, but it is passed by his successor Lord Canning.

It is the first major social reform legislation after the abolition of Sati by Lord William Bentinck.

To protect what it considers family honor and family property, upper-caste Hindu society had long disallowed the remarriage of widows, even child and adolescent ones, all of whom were expected to live a life of austerity and abnegation.

The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856 provides legal safeguards against loss of certain forms of inheritance for remarrying a Hindu widow, though, under the Act, the widow forsakes any inheritance due her from her deceased husband.

Especially targeted in the act are Hindu child widows whose husbands had died before consummation of marriage.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who has been the most prominent campaigner. had petitioned the Legislative council.

There was a counter petition against the proposal with nearly four times more signatures by Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha, but Lord Dalhousie had personally finalized the bill despite the opposition and it being considered a flagrant breach of Hindu customs as prevalent at this time.

In August 1917, the British government formally announces a policy of “increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire.”

After the end of the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman caliph had become the symbol of Islamic authority and unity to Indian Sunni Muslims.

Because the Ottoman empire had sided with the Central Powers in the Great War, the British have done their best to neutralize the Muslim feelings by promising to respect the status of the Khalifa.

The Allies' post-war peace settlement with Turkey provides an additional stimulus to the grievances of the Muslims, who fear that one goal of the Allies is to end the caliphate of the Ottoman sultan.

A pan-Islamic movement, known as the Khilafat Movement, spreads in India.

It is a mass repudiation of Muslim loyalty to British rule and thus legitimates Muslim participation in the Indian nationalist movement.

The top Muslim leaders -- Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Maulana Mohammad Ali, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Hasrat Mohani, and Obaidullah Sindhi -- decide not to cooperate with the government until the terms of the treaty are revised.

The leaders of the Khilafat Movement use Islamic symbols to unite the diverse but assertive Muslim community on an all-India basis and bargain with both Congress leaders and the British for recognition of minority rights and political concessions.

Jinnah, who continues his membership in the Indian National Congress until 1919, is described by a leading Congress spokesperson as the “ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity” during this dual membership period.

Constitutional reforms are embodied in the Government of India Act of 1919 -- also known as the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Edwin Samuel Montagu is Britain's secretary of state for India; the Marquess of Chelmsford is viceroy).

These reforms represent the maximum concessions the British are prepared to make at this time.

The franchise is extended, and increased authority is given to central and provincial legislative councils, but the viceroy remains responsible only to London.

The changes at the provincial level are significant, as the provincial legislative councils contain a considerable majority of elected members.

In a system called “dyarchy”, the nation-building departments of government -- agriculture, education, public works, and so on -- are placed under ministers who are individually responsible to the legislature.

The departments that make up the “steel frame” of British rule -- finance, revenue, and home affairs -- are retained by executive councilors who are often, but not always, British and who were responsible to the governor.

Mohandas K. Gandhi begins agitating against the British opium trade, among other issues, in 1921.

Events in the late 1920s and 1930s lead Muslims to begin to think that their destiny might be in a separate state, a concept that develops into the demand for partition.

Motilal Nehru convenes an “all-party” conference in 1929 to suggest changes that will lead to independence when the British take up the report of the Simon Commission.

The majority of the delegates demand an end to the system of separate electorates.

Jinnah, in turn, puts forward fifteen points that will satisfy Muslim interests-in particular, the retention of separate electorates or the creation of “safeguards” to prevent a Hindu-controlled legislature.

Jinnah's proposals are rejected, and from then on cooperation between Hindus and Muslims in the independence movement is rare.

There are 1771 seats for the Provincial Assemblies.

Although both the Muslim League and the Congress had rejected the Act of 1935, they decide to contest the elections.

After the elections, provincial chief ministers and cabinets take office, although the governors have limited "emergency powers." At the center, the act essentially provides for the establishment of a dyarchy, but it also provides for a federal system that includes the princes.

The princes refuse to join a system that might force them to accept decisions made by elected politicians.

Thus, the full provisions of the 1935 act do not come into force at the center.

The results of the elections are shocking for both the Muslims of India and for the Muslim League, who do not receive substantial support from their potential voters.

The Congress manages to get a clear majority in five provinces, orders the hoisting of their flag on government buildings, and makes the singing of the Bande Mataram compulsory in the legislatures.

The gradual clarification of the British intention to grant self-government to India along the lines of British parliamentary democracy arouses Muslim apprehensions regarding ultimate political subjection to the Hindu majority.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah, as eager as any Hindu nationalist to bring British rule to an end, is finally driven to the conclusion that the only way to preserve Indian Muslims from complete subordination to the Hindus is to establish a separate Muslim state.

Communal riots increase in India.

Talks between Jinnah and Gandhi in 1944 prove as futile as negotiations between Gandhi and the viceroy, Lord Wavell.

As violence between Hindus and Muslims continues to escalate, the British begin to regard as unavoidable the creation of a separate Muslim state.

Communal rioting continues well into 1947.

Jinnah permits the Muslim League to enter the interim government in an effort to stem further communal violence.

Disagreements among the ministers paralyze the government, already haunted by the specter of civil war.

In February 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten is appointed viceroy with specific instructions to arrange for a transfer of power by June of 1948.

Assessing the situation, Mountbatten becomes convinced that Congress is willing to accept partition as the price for independence, that Jinnah will accept a smaller Pakistan than the one he demands (that is, all of Punjab and Bengal), and that Sikhs will learn to accept a division of Punjab.

The rising temperature of communal emotions convinces Mountbatten that the June 1948 date for partition is too distant and persuades most Indian leaders that immediate acceptance of his plan is imperative.

The assets of British India are divided in the ratio of seventeen for India to five for Pakistan by decision of the Viceroy's Council in June 1947.

Division is difficult to implement, however, and Pakistan complains of nondeliveries.