Year 1674
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj honoured Hansaji Mohite with the degree of 'Hambirrao' and appointed him as Chief General of his Army.
APRIL 8
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
8 April: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 8 April.
Observances & Special Days
Buddha's Birthday (Japan only, other countries follow different calendars)
International Romani Day
Year 1759
British troops chase French out of Masulipatam, India.
Year 1774
Narayan Rao's posthumous son Madhav Rao was seen as a challenge to Raghunath Rao only when he was 10 days old.
Year 1831
Famous social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy arrived in England.
Year 1835
Raja Ram Mohan Roy reached England.
Year 1838
The Great Western steam-powered ship sailed from Bristol, England, and arrived in New York a fortnight later. This is the first fireboat to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Year 1950
India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Agreement.
Year 1857
Mangal Pandey, the first revolutionary of Indian mutiny and freedom fighter, was hanged till death at Barrackpore. He struck the first bullet during the time of mutiny against the British Empire.
Year 1894
Lifetime of Swami Chandrashekarendra(1894-1994), venerated Shankaracharya saint of Kanchi monastery in South India.
Year 1911
Dutch physicist Hike Onnes discovered superconductivity.
Year 1919
Gandhiji arrested on way to Delhi for refusal to comply with order not to enter Punjab; escorted back to Bombay; outbreaks of violence in several towns.
Year 1929
Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt bombed the Central Assembly in Delhi.
Year 1921
Acharya Vinoba Bhave established Paunar Ashram at Wardha.
Year 1923
Plague in India killed 1,000 in past week.
Year 1929
Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.
Year 1946
HMS Vengeance, sailed with 22 aircraft of No. 4 Sqn, halted at Singapore for re-fueling and set course for Iwakuni, a port of Kyushu island.
Year 1950
Nehru and Ali Khan sign the Indo-Pakistani Pact.
Year 1973
India takes control over Sikkim after anti-government riots.
Year 1985
India files suit against Union Carbide in New York for Bhopal gas disaster.
Year 1991
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta,Assam CM, steps down as party chief.
Year 1993
Dasarath Deb, veteran tribal leader, elected leader of the Left and Democratic Front legislature party in Tripura.
Year 1993
The Republic of Macedonia joined the United Nations.
Year 1997
Delhi High Court quashes charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy against L.K. Advani (BJP President), and former Union Minister V.C. Shukla in the Jain hawala case.
Year 1997
India creates history by entering the semi-finals of the 12th Jawaharlal Nehru Gold Cup international football series for the first time after holding Ghana 2-2 at Kochi.
Year 1998
India enters into a historical partnership with France with the formal launch of a joint programme for restoring and protecting the Taj Mahal.
Year 1998
Prem Singh Lalpura, who defied the Akali Dal leadership, not taking oath as a Lok Sabha member on denial of a ministerial berth, is expelled by the party.
Year 1999
Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress.
Year 2005
An estimated 4 million people attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Born 1887
Ramnarayan Vishwanath Pathak, famous Gujrati litterateur critic, poet and story writer, was born.
Born 1924
Kumar Gandharva, an Indian classical singer.
Born 1925
Kumar Gandharva (Shivputra Siddharamaiya Komkali), famous music director and singer, was born.
Born 1928
Ranjit Desai, a popular Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.
Born 1937
R. Gundurao, former Chief Minister of Karnataka and senior leader of Indira Congress, was born.
Born 1938
Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Born 1950
Bijay Mohanty, an Indian film actor of Odia Cinema.
Born 1954
G.V. Loganathan, Indian-American engineer and academic (d. 2007)
Born 1979
Amit Trivedi, an Indian music director, singer, and lyricist.
Born 1983
Allu Arjun, an Indian film actor.
Born 1988
Nithya Menen, an Indian actress, and singer.
Died 1894
Bankimchandra Chatterjee, an Indian novelist, poet, and journalist.
Died 1897
Henrich Von Stephan, famous General Postal Union and freedom fighter, passed away.
Died 1953
Walchand Hirachand Doshi, an Indian industrialist.
Died 1973
Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer.
Died 2013
Margaret Thatcher, a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Died 2015
D. Jayakanthan, as an Indian writer, journalist, orator, film-maker, critic, and activist.