300: Rare inscription. What is unique about it? 299: The Nizams of Hyderabad – Asaf Jah I and Asaf Jah VIII.

299: I on the left. VIII on the right. Who? 298: Viswanatha Satyanarayana (Kavi Samraat), K.V. Putappa (Kuvempu), R.K. Narayan and Ashok Banker – these contemporary writers have created prose versions of the Ramayana. (Kavi Samraat and Kuvempu in Telugu and Kannada respectively and Narayan and Banker in English.)

298: Connect. 297: Statue of Chinese Buddhist monk and traveller Xuanzang. (Hsüan-tsang) He is remembered for his seventeen year overland trip to India and back that brought up interaction between China and India. His travels provided inspiration for the 16th century epic Chinese novel “Journey to the West”. “Monkey: Journey to the West”, a stage…

297: Connect. 296: The connection is the Airavata, the elephant of Lord Indra in Hindu myth. The river in Myanmar, Irrawaddy supposedly derives from Airavata or Iravati, the mother of Airavata. The Airavateswara temple in Darasuram, Tamil Nadu, a world heritage monument, supposedly houses the lingam worshipped by Airavata and hence named for it.

296: Identify and connect. (The two photographs are of the same temple and can be considered as one entity.) 295: The Manikodi writers – Tamil literary magazine Manikodi spawned a generation of writing talent which was known by this adage. Writers featured in the visual – Pudumai Pithan, La Sa Ra, Si Su Chellappa and…

295: Fairly straight forward for those who can read Tamil. Identify and explain the connection. 294: Saint Alphonsa Muttathupadathu, a Catholic Saint, the second person of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by the Church and the first canonized saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

294: Who does this stamp honour? 293: Anand Tucker – he has directed the films Shopgirl (based on a book written by Steve Martin), Hilary and Jackie (based on the life of cellist Jacqueline du Pré) and Saint-Ex (based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s life.)

293: Which part-Indian film maker connects? 292: The current ruling house of Thailand, the Chakri Dynasty, is named after the Sudarshana Chakra, the mythical weapon of Lord Vishnu. “The Chakri which provides both name and emblem to the house of Chakri, is composed of the discus (Chakra) and the trident (Trisula), the celestial weapon of…

292: Identification and significance, please? 291: First session of Indian National Congress, Bombay, 28-31, December, 1885.

291: The first what? 290: The World Food Prize, set up by Norman Borlaug. M.S.Swaminathan and Verghese Kurien have also won the award.