What was uncovered
at Sidhpur only to be covered up again was verily the tip of an iceberg
which remains submerged in hundreds of histories written by Muslim historians,
in Hindu literary sources which are slowly coming to light, in the accounts
of foreign travellers who visited India and the neighbouring lands during
medieval and modern times, and above all in the reports of the archaeological
surveys carried out in all those countries which had been for long the
cradles of Hindu culture. No systematic effort has yet been made by scholars
to see the iceberg emerge from the dark depths and tell its own story in
a simple and straight-forward manner. Rare is the historian or archaeologist
who had related this vandalism to the theology of Islam based on the Qur’ãn
and the Sunnah of the Prophet. On the contrary, the subject has been politicised
by the votaries of Secularism who become hysterical by the very mention
of the untold story. Politicians in power have made and are making frantic
efforts to suppress every tip of the iceberg which chances to surface in
spite, of the conspiracy to keep it out of sight.
Some of these
politicians are masquerading as academicians and selling far-fetched and
fantastic apologies for the havoc caused by Islamic iconoclasm. The following
story illustrates what happens whenever the subject comes into the open
and invites attention.
One day in August,
1986, The Times of India printed on its front page the photographs
of two stones carrying defaced carvings of some Hindu deities. There was
a short statement beneath the photographs that the stones had been found
by the Archaeological Survey of India in course of repairs to the Qutb
Mînãr at Delhi. The stones, according to the Survey, had been
built into a wall with the carved faces turned inwards. But the daily
had dropped this part of the news.
Some correspondence
cropped up in the letters-to-the-editor column of the newspaper. The majority
of writers congratulated the editor for breaking a conspiracy of silence
regarding publication of a certain type of historical facts in the mass
media. A few writers regretted that a news item like that should have been
published in a prestigious daily in an atmosphere of growing communal tension.
None of the writers raised the question or speculated as to how those stones
happened to be there. None of them drew any inference from the fact that
the Qutb Mînãr stands near the Quwwat al-Islãm Masjid
which, according to an inscription on its eastern gate, was built from
the materials of twenty-seven Hindu temples.
The correspondence
would have closed after a few days but for another photograph which was
front-paged by The Times of India dated September 15, 1986.
It depicted the Îdgãh built by Aurangzeb on the site of the
Kešavadeva temple at Mathura and gave the news that a committee had been
formed by some leading citizens for the liberation of what is known to
be Šrî KrishNa’s place of birth. A few more letters for and against
the photograph and the news item were published in the newspaper. None
of them was well-informed. None of them threw any light on what was the
Kešvadeva temple and why and when Aurangzeb converted it into a mosque.
But even these
meagre and ill-informed comments were too much for a dozen professors from
Delhi. They wrote a long letter of protest which was published in The
Times of India on October 2, 1986. The letter is being reproduced in
full because it reveals the line laid down by a well-entrenched clique
which has come to control all institutions concerned with the researching,
writing and teaching of history in this country. They said:
“Sir-We have noted
with growing concern a recent tendency in The Times of India to
give a communal twist to news items and even to editorial comments. An
example of this is a report from Mathura dated 15 September and entitled,
‘Krishna’s Birthplace after Aurangzeb.’ It evoked considerable correspondence
some of which, as could be expected, was markedly communal in tone.
“Your readers
should know that historical analysis and interpretations involve more than
a mere listing of dates with an eye to pious sentiments. The Dera Keshava
Rai temple was built by Raja Bir Singh Deo Bundela during Jahangir’s reign.
This large temple soon became extremely popular and acquired considerable
wealth. Aurangzeb had this temple destroyed, took the wealth as booty and
built an Idgah on the site. His actions might have been politically motivated
as well, for at the time when the temple was destroyed he faced problems
with the Bundelas as well as Jat rebellions in the Mathura region. It should
be remembered that many Hindu temples were untouched during Aurangzeb’s
reign and even some new ones built. Indeed, what is really required is
an investigation into the theory that both the Dera Keshava Rai temple
and the Idgah were built on the site of a Buddhist monastery which appears
to have been destroyed.
“Your news report
also gives credence to the suggestion that this site was the birthplace
of Krishna. This is extraordinary to say the least, when even the historicity
of the personality is in question. It creates the kind of confusion such
as has been created, probably deliberately, over the question of the birthplace
of Rama in the matter of the Ramajanam-bhumi. A Persian text of the mid-nineteenth
century states that the Babari mosque was adjacent to the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar
and was known as the Rasoi-Sita mosque and adjoined the area associated
with the birthplace of Rama. It would be worth enquiring whether there
is reliable historical evidence of a period prior to the nineteenth century
for this association of a precise location for the birthplace of Rama.
Furthermore such disputes as there were between Hindus and Muslims in this
area upto the nineteenth century were not over the Babari mosque but the
totally different site of Hanuman-baithak.
“It cannot be
denied that acts of intolerance have been committed in India by followers
of all religions. But these acts have to be understood in their context.
It is a debasement of history to distort these events for present day communal
propaganda.
“The statement
in your news report that the site at Mathura is to be ‘liberated’ and handed
over to the ‘rightful owners’ as the birthplace of Krishna raises the question
of the limits to the logic of restoration of religious sites (and this
includes the demand for the restoration to worshippers of disused mosques
now under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India). How far back
do we go? Can we push this to the restoration of Buddhist and Jaina monuments
destroyed by Hindus? Or of pre-Hindu animist shrines?”
The letter was
signed by Romila Thapar, Muzaffar Alam, Bipan Chandra, R. Champaka Lakshmi,
S. Bhattacharya, H. Mukhia, Suvira Jaiswal, S. Ratnagar, M.K. Palat, Satish
Saberwal, S. Gopal and Mridula Mukherjee. Most of them are minor fries
who merely lent their names to the protest letter. But four of them, namely,
Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra, H. Mukhia and S. Gopal are well-known as
Marxist historians. It is for future scholarship to judge the worth of
their work in the field of historical research. What is relevant
to our present purpose is that the prestige which they have come to enjoy
in our times, succeeded in suppressing what might have been an informative
and interesting debate in The Times of India.
Quite a few readers
of The Times of India including several professors of equal rank
wrote letters challenging the facts as well as the logic of the Marxist
professors. But none of these letters was published in the letters-to-the-editor
column of the newspaper. After a fortnight, the daily published some nondescript
letters from its lay readers and announced that the “controversy has been
closed”. It was a curious statement, to say the least. The controversy
had only started with the publication of the long letter from the Marxist
professors, accusing The Times of India of spreading “communalism”
and making a number of sweeping statements. The other side was waiting
for its rejoinders to appear in print. The Times of India would
have been only fair to itself and its readers to let the other side have
its say. But it developed cold feet. Perhaps it was not prepared to get
branded as “communalist” for the sake of “a few facts from the dead past.”
Perhaps it was in a hurry to retrieve its reputation which had been “compromised”
by the publication of the “controversial photographs.” Whatever the reason
or calculation, the Marxist professors walked away with victory in a match
which the other side was not permitted to contest, leaving an impression
on the readers of the newspaper that the Marxist case was unassailable.
It would, therefore,
be worthwhile to examine the Marxist case and find out if it has any worth.
Incidentally, the Marxist historians have equipped the Muslim historians
as well with what is now considered to be a fool-proof apologetics vis-a-vis
the destruction of Hindu temples during Muslim rule in India. An examination
of the Marxist case in this context, therefore, constitutes an examination
of the Muslim case as well.
We are leaving
aside die Marxist accusation of “communalism” against The Times of India.
Marxist of all hues have a strong nose for smelling communalism in the
faintest expression of Indian nationalism which they have fought with great
vigour and vigilance ever since they appeared on the Indian scene in the
twenties of this century. Their writings and doings during nearly seven
decades testify to the type of patriotism they preach and practise.
We are also overlooking
the ex-cathedra tone which characterises their pronouncements regarding
interpretation of history. The tone comes quite easily to those who have
enjoyed power and prestige for long and, therefore, begun to believe that
they have a monopoly over truth and wisdom. We shall confine our examination
to what they have stated as facts and what they claim to be the correct
interpretations of those facts.
It
is true that the temple of Kešavadeva which was destroyed and replaced
with an Îdgãh by Aurangzeb, was built by Bir Singh Deva Bundela
in the reign of Jahãngîr. But he had not built it on a site
of his own choosing. An age-old tradition1
had continued to identify the KaTrã mound (on which Aurangzeb’s
Îdgãh stands at present) with the spot where KaMsa had imprisoned
the parents of Šrî KrishNa, and where the latter was born. The same
tradition had also remembered with anguish that an earlier Kešavadeva temple
which stood on this spot had been destroyed by an earlier Islamic iconoclast.
Romila Thapar
has herself testified to this tradition about Kešavadeva. Referring to
descriptions of the Mathura region by Greek historians, she writes, “The
identification of Sourasenoi, Methora and Iobares/Jomanes do not present
any problem. But the identification of Cleisobora or Carisobora or the
other variants suggested such as Carysobores remain uncertain.... The
reading of Cleisobora as KRSNpura has not yielded any firm identification.
A possible connection could be suggested with Keshavadeva on the basis
of this being an alternative name for KRSNa and there being archaeological
evidence of a settlement at the site of Keshavadeva during the Mauryan
period.”2
Dr. V.S. Agrawala
is well-known for his study of the sculptures and inscriptions found on
the ancient sites of Mathura and around. He was Curator of the museum at
Mathura as well as that at Lucknow. He makes the following observations:
1. “Mathurã on the Yamunã is famous as the birthplace of KRishNa. It was the scat of the Bhãgvata religion from about second century BC to fifth Century AD…32. “Brãhmanical shrines of Mathurã began to be built quite early as shown by the discovery of an epigraph, viz. the Morã Well-Inscription as well as other records like the lintel of the time of ŠoDãsa. It was in the reign of Chandragupta Vikramãditya that a magnificent temple of VishNu was built at the site of KaTrã Kešavadeva… 43. “The rich store of Brãhmanical images in Mathurã Museum is specially noteworthy. The formulation of these images was a natural result of the strong Bhãgavata movement of which Mathurã had been the radiating centre from about the first century BC… The chronological priority in the making of Brãhmanical images to that of the Buddha should be taken as a settled fact on the basis of an image of Balarãma from JãnsuTî village. It is definitely in the style of the Šuñga period. Patañjali also writing in the same age informs us of the existence of shrines dedicated of Rãma and Kešava i.e., Balarãma and KrishNa…”5
An
inscription of Svãmî MahãkSatrapa ŠoDãsa recovered
by Pandit Radha Krishna in 1913 testifies that a temple dedicated to Vãsudeva
existed at Mathura in the first century BC. “From an examination of the
stone,” writes Professor H. Luders, “Mr. Ram Prasad Chanda came to the
conclusion, which undoubtedly is correct, that the epigraph was originally
incised on a square pillar which was afterwards cut lengthwise through
the inscribed side into two halves and turned into door jambs.”6
Scholars have differed regarding the location of the temple mentioned in
the epigraph. The latest to study and interpret the inscriptions of ŠoDãsa
is Professor R.C. Sharma. “Luders thought,” he writes, “that it belonged
to the Bhãgvata shrine of Morã about 12 kms to the west of
Mathurã. But V.S. Agrawala opined that it must have originated from
the site of KaTrã, the famous Bhãgvata spot. We shall see
that the conjecture of Agrawala carries weight… The
upper part of the inscription is corroded and five lines cannot be made
out properly. The remaining part is better preserved and it can be translated
as: ‘At the great temple of Lord Vãsudeva, a gateway and a railing
was erected by Vasu son of Kaušiki Pãkšakã. May Lord Vãsudeva
be pleased and promote the welfare of Svãmî Mahãksatrapa
ŠoDãsa.’ This is the earliest archaeological evidence to prove the
tradition of the building of KRSNa’s shrine.”7
It is possible that some more inscriptions may surface in future and take
the tradition of KrishNa-worship at Mathura still farther in the past.
Another inscription
found at the same site points to the same tradition prevailing in the seventh
and eighth centuries AD. “A fragment of an inscribed stone slab,” writes
Dr. D.C. Sircar, “was discovered in 1954 at Katra Keshavdev within Mathurã
city, headquarters of the District of that name in Uttar Pradesh. It was
presented by the Shri Krishna Janmabhumi Trust, Mathurã, to the
local Archaeological Museum.” After describing the size of the slab and
the style of writing that has survived on it, he continues, “The characters
resemble those of such inscriptions of the seventh and eighth centuries
belonging to the Western parts of Northern India as the Banskhera plate
of Harsh (AD 606-47), the Kundesvar inscription (vs
718 = AD 661) of Aprajita, the Jhalarpatan inscription (vs 746 = AD 689)
of DurgagaNa, the Kudarkot inscription of about the second half of the
seventh century, the Nagar inscription (vs 741 = AD 684) of Dhanika, and
the Kanaswa inscription (vs 795 = AD 738) of ŠivagaNa.”8 The
inscription was composed “in adoration of a god whose epithets kãl-ãñjana-rajah-puñja-dyuti,
(ma)hãvarãha-rûpa and jañgama have
only been preserved”. It leaves “no doubt that the reference is to the
god VishNu since the expression mahãvarãha-rûpa
certainty speaks of the Boar incarnation of the deity.”9
The hero of the prašasti is a king named DiNDirãja of the Maurya
dynasty. “It therefore seems,” concludes Dr. Sircar, “that the king performed
the deed in question in the chain of many other pious works and at the
cost of a large sum of money. The purpose seems
to have been to put garlands around the head of a deity whose name seems
to read Šauri (i.e. VishNu; cf. the Vaishnavite adoration in verse 1).”10
That
Bir Singh Dev Bundela’s choice of the site was not arbitrary is proved
by another inscription discovered by Dr. A. Fuhrer in 1889 “from the excavations
made by railway contractors at the Kešava mound.”11 It
is a long prašasti in Sanskrit stating that “Jajja, who long carried
the burden of the varga together with the committee of trustees
(gosThîjana) built a large temple of VishNu brilliantly white
and touching the clouds.”12 The colophon in
prose informs us that the prašasti was composed by “two ‘wise’ men,
Pãla and Kuladdhara (?)” and “incised by the mason Somala in SaMvat
1207 on the full moon day of Kãrttika, during the reign of his glorious
majesty, the supreme king of kings, Vijayapãla.” The king cannot
be identified with certainty. But SaMvat 1207 corresponds to AD 1149-51. “This
king,” concludes the epigraphist, “certainly was the ruler of Mathurã
at this period, and Jajja was one of his vassals. This much is absolutely
certain, and the inscription also settles the date of at least one of the
temples buried under the Kešava mound.”13
There is no substance
in the Marxist statement that the temple was destroyed because it had “acquired
considerable wealth” which attracted Aurangzeb’s greed for booty or that
the destruction of the temple was “politically motivated as well, for at
the time when the temple was destroyed he faced problems with the Bundela
as well as the Jat rebellions in the Mathura region.” We have only to refer
to contemporary records to see how these explanations are wide of the mark.
The
temple of Kešavadeva was destroyed in January, 1670. This was done in obedience
to an imperial firmãn proclaimed by Aurangzeb on April 9,
1669. On that date, according to Ma’sîr-i-Ãlamgîrî,
“The Emperor ordered the governors of all provinces to demolish the schools
and temples of the infidels and strongly put down their teaching and religious
practices.”14 Jadunath
Sarkar has cited several sources regarding the subsequent destruction of
temples which went on all over the country, and right up to January 1705,
two years before Aurangzeb died.15
None of the instances
cited by him make any reference whatsoever to booty or the political problem
of rebellion. The sole motive that stands out in every case is religious
zeal. Our Marxist professors will find it very hard, if not impossible,
to discover economic and/or political motives for all these instances of
temple destruction. The alibis that they have invented in defence of Aurangzeb’s
destruction of the Kešavadeva temple are, therefore, only plausible, if
not downright fraudulent. It is difficult to believe that the learned professors
did not know of Aurangzeb’s firmãn dated April 9, 1669 and
the large-scale destruction of Hindu temples that followed. If they did
not, one wonders what sort of professors they are, and by what right they
pronounce pontifically on this subject.
The veneer of
plausibility also comes off when we look into the chronology of Hindu rebellions
in the Mathura region. We find no evidence that Aurangzeb was faced with
any Hindu rebellion in that region when he destroyed the Kešavadeva temple.
There was no Bundela uprising in 1670 when the Kešavadeva temple was destroyed.
The first Bundela rebellion led by Jujhar Singh had been put down by December,
1635 in the reign of Shãh Jahãn when that Rajput prince was
killed and the ladies of his house-hold were forced into the Mughal harem.
The second Bundela rebellion had ended with the suicide of Champat Rai
in October, 1661. The third Bundela rebellion was still in the future.
Champat Rai’s son, Chhatrasal, had joined the imperial army sent against
Shivaji in 1671 when Shivaji drew his attention to what was being done
to the Hindus by Aurangzeb. It may also be pointed out that our professors
stretch the Mathura region too far when they include Bundelkhand in it.
The professors
have put the cart before the horse by holding the Jat rebellion in the
Mathura region responsible for the destruction of the Kešvadeva temple.
The Jats had risen in revolt under the leadership of Gokla (Gokul) after
and not before Aurangzeb issued his firmãn of April,
1969 ordering destruction of Hindu temples everywhere. This highly provocative
firmãn had come as a climax to several other happenings in
the Mathura region. The Hindus of this region had been victims of Muslim
high-handedness for a long time, particularly in respect of their women.
Murshid Qulî Khãn, the faujdãr of Mathura who
died in 1638, was notorious for seizing “all their most beautiful women”
and forcing them into his harem. “On the birthday of Krishna,” narrates
Ma’sîr-ul-Umara, “a vast gathering of Hindu men and women
takes place at Govardhan on the Jumna opposite Mathura. The Khan, painting
his forehead and wearing dhoti like a Hindu, used to walk up and
down in the crowd. Whenever he saw a woman whose
beauty filled even the moon with envy, he snatched her away like a wolf
pouncing upon a flock, and placing her in the boat which his men kept ready
on the bank, he sped to Agra. The Hindu [for shame] never divulged what
had happened to his daughter.”16
Another notorious
faujdãr of Mathura was Abdu’n Nabî Khãn. He
plundered the people unscrupulously and amassed great wealth. But his worst
offence was the pulling down of the foremost Hindu temple in the heart
of Mathura and building a Jãmi‘ Masjid on its site. This he did
in AD 1660-61. Soon after, in 1665, Aurangzeb imposed a pilgrim tax on
the Hindus. In 1668, he prohibited celebration of all Hindu festivals,
particularly Holi and Diwali. The Jats who rightly regarded themselves
as the defenders of Hindu hounour were no longer in a mood to take it lying.
It is true that
the capture and murder of Gokul with fiendish cruelty and the forcible
conversion of his family members to Islam, coincided with the destruction
of the Kešavadeva temple. But there is no reason to suppose that the temple
would have been spared if there was no Jat rebellion. There were no rebellions
in the vicinity of many other temples which were destroyed at that time
or at a later stage. The temples were destroyed in obedience to the imperial
firmãn and for no other reason.
The real worth
of the defence of Aurangzeb put up by the professors becomes evident if
we lead their argument for economic and political motives to its logical
conclusion. The Kešvadeva temple was not the only place of worship which
was wealthy. Many mosques and dargãhs and other places of Muslim
worship were bursting with riches in Aurangzeb’s time. But he is not known
to have sought booty in any one of them. There were several rebellions
led by Muslims against the rule of Aurangzeb. Some of these rebellions
had their centres in places of Muslim worship. Yet Aurangzeb is not known
to have destroyed any one of these places before or after suppressing the
rebellions. So, even if we accept the economic and political motives for
the destruction of Hindu temples, an irreducible minimum of the religious
motive remains. That alone can explain the erection of an Îdgãh
on the site of the Kešavadeva temple and taking away the idols to Agra
for being trodden under foot by the faithful.
Now we can take
up the last point by raising which the professors seem to clinch their
case in defence of Aurangzeb. They question the historicity of Šrî
KrishNa and dismiss him as a mythological character who can have no place
of birth. The implication is that Hindus are getting unduly excited by
associating the Kešavadeva temple with the birth-place of Šrî KrishNa
and should cool down after discovering that the temple was built by a Rajput
protege of Jahãngîr, at a nondescript place and on a much
later date. This is a strange argument, to say the least. It means that
the sanctity of a religious place declines in proportion to its dissociation
from a historical personality. One wonders if the professors would extend
the logic to Muslim ziãrats and qadam-sharîfs
which are associated with characters who cannot be traced in any history.
Some of these ziãrats have been built on the sites and from
the debris of Hindu temples according to unimpeachable archaeological evidence.
The qadam-sharîfs are without a doubt the Buddha’s feet carved
in the early phases of Buddhism and worshipped in subsequent ages by the
Buddhists as well as the Hindus. The Ka‘ba at Mecca was taken over by Muhammad
because, according to him, it was built by Abraham in the first instance
and occupied by the polytheists at a later stage. Should the Muslims take
the desecration or demolition of the Ka‘ba less seriously if they are told
that Abraham has never figured in human history? There is no evidence
that he did.
Of course, Šrî
KrishNa is a historical character which the professors can find out for
themselves by reading Bankim Chandra, Šrî Aurobindo and many other
savants who have, unlike them, studied the subject. But that is not the
point. The Šrî KrishNa for whom the Hindus really care is a far greater
figure than the Šrî KrishNa of history. What they really worship
is the Šrî KrishNa of mythology. There are many temples and places
of pilgrimage all over India associated with this mythological Šrî
KrishNa. So are the various šaktipîThas associated with the
limbs of Pãrvatî scattered by Šiva during the course of his
anguish over her death. So are the various jyotirliñgas and
most other places of Hindu pilgrimage. In fact, a majority of the renowned
places of Hindu worship and pilgrimage have only mythology in support of
their sanctity. Are the professors telling the Hindus that the desecration
or destruction of these places should cause no heart-burn to them because
the characters associated with these places are drawn from mythology, and
that an iconoclast is badly needed in every case for blowing up the myth?
Having cleared
the “confusion” over the birth-place of Šrî KrishNa, the professors
proceed to clear a similar “confusion” regarding the birth-place of Šrî
Rãma. We are ignoring their insinuation that the second “confusion”
has been created “probably deliberately”. The insinuation has its source
in political polemics and not in academic propriety to which professors
are expected to adhere. We are also ignoring the implication that Šrî
Rãma being another mythological character is not entitled to a place
of birth because, mercifully, the professors concede that a place called
Rãma-janmabhûmi did exist at Ayodhya, and that it did
not occupy the site of a Buddhist monastery demolished by the devotees
of Šrî Rãma. We shall only examine the point they have raised,
namely, that the mosque known as the Babari Masjid does not stand on the
site of the Rãma-janmabhûmi.
The professor
have referred us to a “Persian text of the mid-nineteenth century” which
“states that the Babari mosque was adjacent to the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar and
was known as Rasoi-Sita mosque and adjoined the area associated with the
birthplace of Rama”. What they mean in plain language is that the real
Babari Masjid, also known as Rasoi-Sita Masjid, has disappeared or been
demolished by the Hindus at some stage, and that there is no substance
in the current Hindu claim that die mosque known as the Babari Masjid at
present stands on the site of a temple built on the Rãma-janmabhûmi.
This contention
could have been examined satisfactorily if the professors had named the
Persian text and told us whether, according to it, the Rasoi-Sita Masjid
stood on the right or left of the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar. We can, therefore,
thank the professors only for admitting that the Muslims did raise a mosque
on a spot which, we may be permitted to infer, was also sacred for the
Hindus. But, at the same time, we cannot help wondering why the professors
are at pains to pin-point the exact spot where Šrî Rãma was
born instead of conceding that the temple built in his memory must have
occupied a large area. Maps of the area in which the mosque now known as
the Babari Masjid stands, show clearly that the site of the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar
is adjacent to the mosque. Is it not possible that what is now known as
the Babari Masjid was also known as Rasoi-Sita Masjid in the mid-nineteenth
century? Moreover, the mosque in dispute has been named as the Babari Masjid
by the Muslims and not by the Hindus.
Thus the Persian
text dragged in by the professors creates complications rather than clear
the “confusion” which, according to the professors, exists in the Hindu
mind. On the face of it, it looks like a deliberate attempt to side-track
the issues involved. The suspicion gets strengthened when the professors
go on to suggest that prior to the nineteenth century the dispute was not
over the Rãma-janmabhûmi but over “the totally different
site of Hanuman-baithak.” No doubt the suggestion
admits, although inadvertently, that there was a Hanuman temple at Ayodhya
which also the Muslims had converted into a mosque. But we are trying to
straighten the record regarding a mosque standing on the site of the Rãma-janmabhûmi
temple.17
Finally, their
thesis is that “acts of intolerance have been committed in India by followers
of all religions.” Having found it difficult to hide the atrocities committed
by Islam in India, they have invented stories of Buddhist, Jain and Animist
temples destroyed by the Hindus. We shall examine these stories in some
detail at a later stage in this study. Here it should
suffice to say that in their effort to whitewash Islam they have ended
by blackening Hinduism. The exercise is devoid of all academic scruples
and is no more than a neurotic exhibition of their deep-seated anti-Hindus
animus.18
What is most amazing
about our Marxist professors, however, is that while they are never tired
of preaching that facts of history should be placed in their proper context,
they have studiously managed to miss the only context which explains simply
and satisfactorily the destruction of Hindu temples by Islamic invaders.
Our reference here is to the theology of Islam systematised on the basis
of the Qu’rãn and the Sunnah of the Prophet. This theology lays
down loud and clear that it is a pious act for Muslims to destroy the temples
of the infidels and smash their idols. Conversion of infidel temples into
mosques wherever practicable, is a part of the same doctrine. We have presented
this theology at some length in Section IV.
Destruction of
idols and conversion of infidel places of worship into mosques became obligatory
on Muslim conquerors and kings whenever they got the opportunity. The plunder
which the iconoclasts obtained from infidel places of worship was not the
main motive; that was only an additional bounty which Allãh had
promised to bestow on them for performing pious deeds and earning religious
merit. Those who want to know the relevant prescriptions of Islam should
read the orthodox biographies of the Prophet, the orthodox collections
of Hadîth, and the authentic commentaries by recognised imãms
rather than swallow old wive’s tales told by Marxist professors.
This is the simple
and straightforward explanation why Muslim invaders of India destroyed
Hindu temples on a large scale and converted many of them into mosques.
The economic and political motives, invented by the Marxists, are not only
far-fetched but also do not explain the destruction and/or conversion of
numerous temples which contained no riches, and where no conspiracy could
be conceived.
The Muslim apologists
who have been in a hurry to borrow the Marxist explanation do not know
what they are doing. The explanation converts Islam into a convenient cover
for brigandage and the greatest Muslim heroes into mere bandits. In the
mouth of those Muslims who know what their religion prescribes vis-a-vis
infidel places of worship, this apologetics is dishonest as well. They
should have the honesty to admit the tenets of the religion to which they
subscribe. It is a different matter whether those tenets can be defended
on any spiritual or moral grounds. That is a subject on which Islam will
have to do some introspection and hold a dialogue with Hinduism some day.
Finally, the professors
want us to remember that “many Hindu temples were untouched during Aurangzeb’s
reign, and even some new ones were built”. The underlying assumption is
that Aurangzeb’s writ ran in every nook and corner of India, all through
his reign. But the assumption is unwarranted. There is plenty of evidence
in Persian histories themselves that there were regions in which Hindu
resistance to Aurangzeb’s terror was too strong to be overcome even by
repeated expeditions. It is no credit to Aurangzeb that the Hindus in those
regions were able to save their old temples and also build some new ones.
The Hindus all over north India were up in arms against the Muslim rule
during Aurangzeb’s long absence in the South. If they built some new temples,
it was in spite of Aurangzeb. The subject needs a detailed scrutiny on
the basis of concrete cases located in space and time. It must, however,
be pointed out that the professors bid goodbye to all sense of proportion
when they gloat on the few temples that survived or were newly built while
they forget the large number of temples that were destroyed. They also
forget that, in the present context, exceptions only prove the rule.
Footnotes:
1 The Varãha PurãNa says, The is no God like Kešava and no BrãhmaNas like those of Mathurã. 2 Romila Thapar, ‘The Early History of Mathurã upto and including the Mauryan period’ in Mathurã: The Cultural Heritage, edited by Doris Meth Sriniwasan, New Delhi, 1989. p. 15. It is her habit to speak with two tongues - one when she is in the midst of scholars who know the facts, and another when she functions as a professional Hindu-baiter.
3 V.S. Agarawala, Masterpieces of Mathura Sculpture, Varanasi, 1965. p. 1.
4 Ibid., P. 2.
5 Ibid., p. 11.
6 Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIV (1937-38), New Delhi, Reprint, 1982, p. 208.
7 R.C. Sharma, ‘New Inscriptions from Mathurã’ in Mathurã: The Cultural Heritage, op. cit., p. 309.
8 Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXII (1957-58), New Delhi, Reprint, 1987, p. 206.
9 Ibid., p. 208.
10 Ibid., pp. 208-209.
11 Epigraphia Indica, Vol. I (1892), New Delhi, Reprint, 1983, p. 287.
12 Ibid., p. 288.
13 Ibid., 289.
14 Quoted by Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit., p. 186.
15 Ibid., pp. 186-89.
16 Quoted by Ibid., pp. 193-94. The Jat rebellion is dealt with in detail by Girish Chandra Dwivedi in his book, The Jats: Their Role in the Mughal Empire, New Delhi, 1979.
17 The Hindu case is presented in two publications of Voice of India - Ram Janmabhoomi Vs. Babri Masjid, by Koenraad Elst (1990) and History Versus Casuistry: Evidence of the Ramajanmabhoomi Mandir presented by the Vishva Hindu Parishad to the Government of India in December-January 1990-91 (1991).
18 See Appendix 4 for the Marxist proposition of placing Hinduism on the same level as Islam.
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