Critical Podium Dewanand Islam
source=HINDUTWA / Subject: The unknown genocide
by muslims in India
Sacrificer unknown
Sacrifice code wfor0131
Sacrifice date 25 march 2009
Subject: The unknown genocide by muslims in India
CONTENTS
Foreword
What is Hindutva?
Holocaust of Hindus During the Muslim Occupation of India
THE TEMPLE OF KHANDOBA AT JEJURI
Deception practiced by some Historians
What Hiuen Tsang had seen in pre-Islamic India
What Really Happened to Hindu Temples
The Physical Evidence - Mutilated Hindu Architecture
What the Muslim Historians have to Say
Islamic Iconoclasm Today
Hindu Monuments of Pre-Islamic Delhi
- The Nalanda University.
India in the Eyes of Pseudo Secular Historians of Our Times
What Really Happened in India during the Muslim Invasions?
The Finesse of pre-Islamic Hindu Art and Architecture
The Devastation caused by Islamic Iconoclasm
Slaughter of the Civilian Hindu Population
The Psychological Damage to the Hindu Mind
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Foreword
A brute can suppress a sage with his brawn and control the sage's actions,
but even a brute cannot control the wisdom that keeps growing in the sage's
mind all through the darkness of brutal tyranny.
The genocide suffered by the Hindu Community at the hands of the Muslim
occupying forces in India for a period of 1100 years is as yet formally
undocumented. But its memory survives till today in the hearts of many
Hindus, who seek not revenge from the Muslims, but want to ensure that
no such horrible event occurs any time in the future anywhere on this
globe.
The only similar genocide in the recent past was that of the Jewish people
at the hands of the perverted Nazis; and of the Africans during the slave
trade perpetrated by the Arab Muslim slave traders and later by the European
colonialists as also the almost total wiping out of native populations
like the Maoris in Australia and the Red Indians, (Aztecs, Incas, etc.)
in North and South America. It has been estimated that in all, millions
of African men, women and children died throughout the trade and more
than 75% of the native Americans were wiped out.
The holocaust of the Hindus was of similar proportions, the only difference
was that it started in the year 715 C.E. with the Arab Muslim invasion
of Sindh and continued for 1100 years, i.e. for more than a millennium,
till the brutal Muslims were effectively overpowered by the Hindu Marathas
in 1720 C.E.
Historians have described the Muslim attack on the Hindus as a conflict
of Black with White. Since times immemorial India had been invaded by
many people from different parts of our globe (in fact, it was the same
for all countries). But what contrasted the pre-Muslim invaders from the
Muslims was that after their initial clash with Hindu military power,
the pre-Muslim invaders merged into the general mainstream and even the
memory of their having come as invaders itself disappeared. We do not
consider Emperors like Kanishka (a Ku Shan or Kushana), Milinda (an Indo-Greek),
Rudradaman (a Shaka or Scythian from pre-Muslim Iran) to be non-Indians.
These invaders have merged into today's general Hindu population.
But the Muslims with their barrack like lifestyle and their contempt
for everything non-Islamic, have left a wounded civilization in India.
The brutal Muslim tyranny has till today left a split in India's national
character, even after the country was vivisected into two parts - to create
Pakistan as a state for Indian Muslims. But in spite of the division of
this country to create a separate homeland for the Muslims in 1947, many
of them preferred to stay back and today account for the recurrent communal
riots, the killings of Hindus and Sikhs in Kashmir and the renewed demand
for special status and for the Islamization of India. This is today's
reality which could become tomorrow's calamity - if we are not on our
guard and take preventive action immediately.
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What is Hindutva?
The term "Hindutva" is derived from the two terms "Hindu
Tattva", which literally mean "Hindu Principles". Now the
question is, what are Hindu Principles and what comprises the "Hindutva"
Outlook?
To answer this question we would have to begin with the history of the
Hindus. The history of the Hindus is the history of a civilization which
has developed in its natural state, without interruption, since antiquity.
Its age is dated to be between five and nine thousand years. Hence Hindu
History is a prototype of how human civilization would have looked, if
civilization all across the globe had been allowed to develop in its natural
state. This is the relevance for us to study Hindu Civilization, Hindu
History and Hindu Culture.
The evolution of Hindu Civilization can be considered to be natural and
continuing as there is no last messiah in the Hindu world view. In fact
this is what distinguishes Hindu Civilization from the rest. And this
is why Hinduism is called a Living Idea, guided by the sum total of human
wisdom that is not considered to be embodied in one person, or one book,
or one period of human history. Hence the term "Living". Hindutva
is the articulation of this idea of continuity of freedom of thought from
which emerge the multifarious Hindu Principles.
Two instances of Hindu Principles that symbolize the outcome of freedom
of thought are the pronouncements made not today, but four thousand years
back by unnamed rishis (Hindu ascetics) that, "This world is one
family" (Vasudaiva Kutumbakam) and that "The Universal Reality
is the same, but different people can call it by different names"
(Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti). In these two proclamations made in ancient
Hindu India, we see the seeds of globalism and freedom of thought, four
thousand years before the world was to become the global village of today.
Thus in its true essence, Hindutva is a stridently assertive rational-humanist
line of reasoning. And it is this essence of Hindutva that we have kept
in mind, while developing this website. At the level of practice, the
Hindutva outlook boils down to upholding righteousness (Sat-guna) and
fighting ignoble attitudes (Dur-guna). Taking poetic license, we can describe
the practitioners of this outlook as "Heenam Naashaayati iti Hinduhu"
(Those who uphold righteousness and fight ignobleness are Hindus).
Thus, far from being a narrow nationalistic doctrine, Hindutva is in
its true essence, 'a timeless and universal compilation of human wisdom'.
Hence it is also called "Sanatana" which means, something that
is "forever continuing."
At this site, you will read about different aspects of the history and
culture of the Hindus in that part of our globe which is the birthplace
of Hindutva. This land is known variously as Bharatvarsha, Hindustan or
India. My approach of looking at history is that of a rationalist and
humanist. In the context of India, these two values are a result of the
freedom of thought which forms the core of the tradition of Hindutva.
As my aim is to spread awareness about history and culture, you may freely
download this non-profit educational page, print it, link it up from your
site, or mirror it at any server.
Incidentally, this site brings you material from eleven books written
by the author, over a period of 20 years, since 1980. Each book is presented
here as a chapter. The contents of this site are spread over 61 webpages,
which translate to about 1500 A4 size printed book pages. The site is
richly illustrated with 400+ graphics. Enjoy the infotainment laid out
for you at this site.
I also look forward to your valuable suggestions and feedback. Happy
viewing.
- Sudheer Birodkar
_________________________________
"The massacres perpetuated by Muslims in India are unparalleled in
history, bigger than the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis; or the massacre
of the Armenians by the Turks; more extensive even than the slaughter
of the South American native populations by the invading Spanish and Portuguese."
- Francois Gautier
__________________________________
Hindu History
Holocaust of Hindus During the Muslim Occupation of India
Table of Contents
________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
This page is dedicated to the memory of those men, women and children
who were killed or were captured or converted by force to Islam over a
period of eleven centuries in India and for fourteen centuries in other
parts of the globe. These men, women and children cannot be recalled for
standing witness to what was done to them by the swordsmen of Islam.
Hence we are going to rely on Muslim historians, in India and abroad,
who have written hundreds of glowing accounts of the devastation caused
by the progress of Islamic armies across the world (and in India). As
our focus is India, we are going to look only at what happened in India
during the Islamic invasion and the following struggle for independence
from Islamic rule that was waged by the Hindus. A pronounced feature of
these Muslim histories is a description - in smaller or greater detail
but always with considerable pride - of how the Hindus were slaughtered
en masse or converted by force, how hundreds of thousands of Hindu men
and women and children were captured as booty and sold into slavery, how
Hindu temples and monasteries were razed to the ground or burnt down,
and how images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses were destroyed or desecrated.
Hampi the capital of Vijaynagar the last Hindu kingdom of the South was
ruthlessly pillaged for six months and was nearly reduced to rubble in
the year 1565, when the allied Muslim Bahamani armies overran Vijaynagar
after the battle of Talikota.
Commandments of Allah (Quran) and precedents set by the Prophet (Sunnah)
are frequently cited by the authors in support of what the swordsmen and
demolition squads of Islam did with extraordinary zeal, not only in the
midst of war but also, and more thoroughly, after Islamic rule had been
firmly established.
Almost all medieval Muslim historians credit their heroes with desecration
of Hindu idols and/or destruction of Hindu temples. The picture that emerges
has the following components, depending upon whether the iconoclast was
in a hurry on account of Hindu resistance or did his work at leisure after
a decisive victory:
1. The idols were mutilated or smashed or burnt or melted down if they
were made of precious metals;
2. Sculptures in relief on walls and pillars were disfigured or scraped
away or torn down;
3. Idols of stone and inferior metals or their pieces were taken away,
sometimes by cartloads, to be thrown down before the main mosque in
(a) the metropolis of the ruling Muslim sultan and
(b) The holy cities of Islam, particularly Mecca, Medina and Baghdad;
4. There were instances of idols being turned into lavatory seats or
handed over to butchers to be used as weights while selling meat;
5. Brahmin priests and other holy men in and around the temple were molested
or murdered;
6. Sacred vessels and scriptures used in worship were defiled and scattered
or burnt:
7. Temples were damaged or despoiled or demolished or burnt down or converted
into mosques with some structural alterations or entire mosques were raised
on the same sites mostly with temple materials;
8. Cows were slaughtered on the temple sites so that Hindus could not
use them again.
This essay is to enable us to remember the sacrifice of those who attained
Veergati (Martyrdom) when faced against these forces of darkness that
represented religious bigotry that traumatized and tormented India for
Eleven Hundred years and other parts of our globe for Fourteen Hundred
years. India has survived as a wounded civilization to tell the story
of this chilling horror. A horror that seems too cruel to be true. The
unfortunate part is that it was true and this would become true once more
in the future, if the forces of malevolence again get the upper hand in
India or in any part of the world.
This essay has been compiled from the writings of a cross section of
Historians comprising Sir Jadunath Sarkar , Rizwan Salim, Sita Ram Goel,
Ram Swarup, Arun Shourie, R.C. Mazumdar and a few others.
An image of Surya in the Konark Temple in Orissawith its arms knocked
offThere are innumerable such desecrated images
Epigraphic Evidence of the Construction of Masjids by
destroying Hindu temples
There are many mosques all over India which are known to local tradition
and the Archaeological Survey of India as built on the site of and, quite
frequently, from the materials of, demolished Hindu temples. Most of them
carry inscriptions invoking Allah and the Prophet, quoting the Quran and
giving details of when, how and by whom they were constructed. The inscriptions
have been deciphered and connected to their historical context by learned
Muslim calligraphers. They have been published by the Archaeological Survey
of India in its Epigraphica Indica Arabic and Persian Supplement.
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The following few inscriptions have been selected in order to show that:
(1) destruction of Hindu temples continued throughout the period of Muslim
domination;
(2) it covered all parts of India - east, west, north, and south; and
(3) all Muslim dynasties, imperial and provincial, participated in the
"pious performance".
1. Qu'wat al-Islam Masjid, Qutub Minar, Delhi:
"This fort was conquered and the Jami Masjid built in the year 587
A.H (Hejira Era) by the Amir Qutub-ud-din Aibak the slave of the Sultan,
Shahabuddin Ghori. According to the Epigraphica Indica Arabic and Persian
Supplement (1909-10, pp.3-4): "The materials of 27 idol temples,
on each of which 2,000,000 Delhiwals had been spent were used in the (construction
of) the mosque..." The year 587 H. corresponds to 1192 A.D. "Delhiwal
was a high-denomination coin current at that time in Delhi.
2. Masjid at Manvi in the Raichur District of Karnataka
by Firuz Shah
Bahmani:
"Praise be to Allah that by the decree of the Parvardigar, a mosque
has been converted out of a temple as a Sign of religion in the reign
of...the Sultan who is the asylum of Faith Firuz Shah Bahmani who is the
cause of exuberant spring in the garden of religion" (1962, pp.56-57).
The inscription mentions the year 1406-07 A.D. as the time of construction.
3. Jami Masjid at Malan, Palanpur Taluka, Banaskantha District of Gujarat
by Khan-i-Azam Ulugh Khan:
"The Jami Masjid was built by Khan-i-Azam Ulugh Khan...who suppressed
the wretched infidels. He eradicated the idolatrous houses and mine of
infidelity, along with the idols...with the edge of the sword, and made
ready this edifice... he made its walls and doors out of the idols; the
back of every stone became the place for prostration of the believer"
(1963, pp.26-29). The date of construction is mentioned as 1462 A.D. in
the reign of Mahmud Shah I (Begada) of Gujarat.
4. Hammam Darwaza Masjid at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh in the reign of
Akbar, the Great Mughal:
"Thanks that by the guidance of the everlasting and living (Allah),
this house of infidelity became the niche of prayer. As a reward for that,
the Generous Lord constructed an abode for the builder in paradise"
(1969, P 375). Its chronogram yields the year 1567 A.D. in the reign Akbar,
the Great Mughal.
A local historian, Fasih-ud-Din, tells us that the temple had been built
earlier by Diwan Chaman Das, an official of the Mughal Government.
5. Jami Masjid at Ghoda in the Poona District of Maharashtra by Mir Muhammad
Zaman:
"O Allah! O Muhammad! O Ali! When Mir Muhammad Zaman made up his
mind, he opened the door of prosperity on himself by his own hand. He
demolished thirty three idol temples (and) by divine grace laid the foundation
of a building in this abode of perdition" (1933-34, p.24). The inscription
is dated 1586 A.D. when the Poona region was ruled by the Nizam Shahi
sultans of Ahmadnagar.
6. Gachinala Masjid at Cumbum in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh
by Muhammad Shah:
"He is Allah, may he be glorified...During the august rule of...Muhammad
Shah, there was a well-established idol-house in uhmum...Muhammad Salih
who prospers in the rectitude of the affairs of the Faith...razed to the
ground, the edifice of the idol-house and broke the idols in a manly fashion.
He constructed on its site a suitable mosque, towering above the buildings
of all" (1959-60, pp.64-66). The date of construction is mentioned
as 1729-30 A.D. in the reign of the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah.
Though sites of demolished Hindu temples were mostly used for building
mosques and Idgahs; temple materials were often used in other Muslim monuments
as well. Archaeologists have discovered such materials, architectural
as well as sculptural, in quite a few forts, palaces, maqbaras, Sufi khanqahs,
madrasas, etc.
In Srinagar, Kashmir, temple materials can be seen in long stretches
of the stone embankments on both sides of the Jhelum.
The inscriptions on the walls of the Gopi Talav, a stepped well at Surat,
tell us that the well was constructed by Haidar Quli, the Mughal governor
of Gujarat, in 1718 A.D. in the reign of Farrukh Siyar. One of them says
that its bricks were taken from an idol temple". The other informs
us that Hiaider Quli Khan, during whose period tyranny has become extinct,
laid waste several idol temples in order to make this strong building
firm...'' (1933-34. pp.37-44).
THE TEMPLE OF KHANDOBA AT JEJURI
This was one of the many temples that had been destroyed and converted
into a Mosque by the Muslim aggressors.
Shivaji Maharaj reconverted it into a temple. Even today, the temple
structure displays a mix of Hindu and Muslim architecture. But in spite
of the trying circumstances of religious bigotry of the Muslim aggressors
in which he operated, Shivaji Maharaj never disrespected the Muslim faith.
Whenever a copy of the holy Koran fell into the hands of Maratha troops,
Shivaji Maharaj had given strict instructions to treat it with utmost
respect and hand it over to the local Maulavis (Muslim priests).
Literary Evidence
Literary evidence of Islamic iconoclasm vis-a-vis Hindu places of worship
is far more extensive. It covers a 1onger span of time, from the fifth
decade of the 7th century to the closing years of the eighteenth. It also
embraces a larger space, from Transoxiana in the north to Tamil Nadu in
the south, and from Afghanistan the west to Assam in the east.
Deception practiced by some Historians
Pseudo-secularist "historians" and Muslim apologists would
have us believe that medieval Muslim annalists were indulging in poetic
exaggerations in order to please their pious patrons. But archaeological
explorations in modern times have, however, provided physical proofs of
literary descriptions.
The vast cradle of Hindu culture is literally littered with ruins of
temples and monasteries belonging to all sects of Sanatana Dharma- Buddhist,
Jain, Saiva, Sakta, Vaishnava and the rest.
The literary sources, like the epigraphic, provide evidence of the elation
which Muslims felt while witnessing or narrating these "pious deeds".
A few citations from Amir Khusro will illustrate the point. The instances
cited relate to the doings of Jalalud-Din Firuz Khilji, Alaud-Din Khilji
and the latter's military commanders. Khusro served as a court-poet of
six successive sultans at Delhi and wrote a masnavi in praise of each
after he had murdered his predecessor. Khusro was the dearest disciple
of Shaikh Nizamud-Din Awliya and has come to be honoured as a great sufi
himself.
In our own times, Khusro is being hailed as the father of a composite
Hindu-Muslim culture and the pioneer of secularism. Dr. R.C. Majumdar,
whom the Pseudo-secularists malign as a "communalist historian"
names him as a "liberal Muslim'.
Here is what Amir Khusro has written:
1. Jhain: "Next morning he (Jalal-ud-din went again to the temples
and ordered their destruction ... While the soldiers sought every opportunity
of plundering, the Shah was engaged in burning the temples and destroying
the idols. There were two bronze idols of Brahma, each of which weighed
more than a thousand mans (a measure of weight). These were broken into
pieces and the fragments were distributed among the officers with orders
to throw them down at the gates of the Masjid on their return (to Delhi)"
(Miftab-ul-Futub)
2. Devagiri: "He (Ala-ud-Din) destroyed the temples of the idolaters
and erected pulpits and arches for mosques" (ibid).
3. Somanath: "They made the temple prostrate itself towards the
Kaaba. You may say that the temple first offered its prayers and then
had a bath (i.e. the temple was made to topple and fall into the sea)...He
(Ulugh Khan) destroyed all the idols and temples, but sent one idol, the
biggest of all idols, to the court of his Godlike Majesty and on that
account in that ancient stronghold of idolatry, the summons to prayers
(Azzan)was proclaimed so loudly that they heard it in Misr (Egypt) and
Madain (Iraq)" (Tarikh-i-Alai).
4. Delhi: "He (Ala-ud-Din) ordered the circumference of the new
minar to be made double of the old one (Qutub Minar)... The stones were
dug out from the hills and the temples of the infidels were demolished
to furnish a supply" (Ibid).
5. Ranthambhor: "This strong fort was taken by the slaughter of
the stinking Rai. Jhain was also captured, an iron fort, an ancient abode
of idolatry, and a new city of the people of the (muslim) faith arose.
The temple of Bahir (Bhairava) Deo and temples of other gods, were all
razed to the ground'' (lbid).
6. Brahmastpuri (Chidambaram): "Here he (Malik Kafur) heard that
in Brahmastpuri there was a golden idol ... he then determined on razing
the temple to the ground ..lt was the holy place of the Hindus which Malik
dug up from its foundations with the greatest care. And the heads of Brahmans
and idolaters danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their
feet, and blood flowed in torrents.
The stone idols called Ling Mahadeo which had been established a long
time at the place and on which the women of the infidels (Hindus) rubbed
their vaginas for (sexual) satisfaction. (Mark the extent of the derogatory
tone of the Islamic Saint Amir Khusro - Author). These, up to this time,
the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break. The Musalmans
destroyed all the lingas, and Deo Narain fell down.
The Kutub Minar built by Kutub-ud-din Aibak. The Kutub Minar is one of
the earliest Islamic monuments in India. This Minar was built from the
columns of destroyed Hindu and Jain temples. It stands at the site of
Pithoragarh which was the capital of Prithiviraj Chauhan, the last Hindu
ruler of Delhi.The damaged motifs in this picture show clear Hindu origins
- a testimony to the vandalism of the Muslim aggressors. There are many
such temples which had been converted into mosques like the Bhoja Shala
Mosque, the Gyan Vyapi Mosque, the Krishna Janmabhoomi Idgah, apart from
the now liberated Ramjanmabhoomi at Ayodhya. The total runs to 3000 (Three
Thousand).
In the opinion of the author, all such controversial structures should
be taken possession of by a national educational trust and be converted
into schools for humanist and rationalist education. This could be the
first step in the long journey for converting all places of religious
worship all over the globe into schools for humanist and rationalist education
where humans can finally be taught the futility of worshipping human ignorance
termed as God and the stupidity of fighting each other due to the different
names we have given to human ignorance.
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What Hiuen Tsang had seen in pre-Islamic India
Some historians say that the Hindu temples in North India had been destroyed
not by the Muslim invaders but by the White Huns who had invaded India
in the 5th century, i.e. 500 years before the first Muslims set their
foot in north India in the 10th century.
Hiuen Tsang, a Buddhist pilgrim, who came from China, after the invasion
of the White Huns, found many monasteries in pre-Islamic India. He said
they were in a splendid state. In his days the White Huns had invaded
north India and had even established their rule over Kashmir where Hiuen
Tsang saw 500 monasteries housing 5,000 monks It is, therefore, difficult
to hold them responsible for the disappearance of Buddhist centres in
areas where Hiuen Tsang had found them flourishing.
An explanation has to be found elsewhere. In any case, the upheaval the
White Huns caused was over by the middle of the sixth century. Moreover,
the temples and monasteries which Hiuen Tsang saw were only a few out
of many. He had not gone into the interior of any province, having confined
himself to the more famous Buddhist centres.
What Really Happened to Hindu Temples
So what was it that really happened to thousands upon thousands of temples
and monasteries? Why did they disappear and/or give place to another type
of monuments? How come that their architectural and sculptural fragments
got built into the foundations, doors, walls and domes of the Islamic
edifices which replaced them? These are crucial questions which should
have been asked by students of medieval Indian history.
But no historian worth his name has raised these questions squarely,
not to speak of finding accurate answers to them. No systematic study
of the subject has been made. What we have is stray references to the
demolition of a few Hindu temples, made by the more daring Hindu historians
while discussing the religious policies of this or that sultan.
Sir Jadunath Sarkar and Professor Sri Ram Sharma have given more attention
to the Islamic policy of demolishing Hindu temples and pointed an accusing
finger at the theological tenets which dictated that policy. But their
treatment of the subject is brief and their enumeration of temples destroyed
by Aurangzeb and the other Mughal emperors touches only the fringe of
a vast holocaust caused by the Theology of Islam all over the cradle of
Hindu Culture and throughout more than thirteen hundred years of Muslim
occupation of India.
What the Muslim Historians have to Say
Muslim historians, in India and abroad, have written hundreds of accounts
in which the progress of Islamic armies across the cradle of Hindu culture
is narrated, stage by stage and period by period.
A pronounced feature of these Muslim histories is a description - in
smaller or greater detail but always with considerable pride - of how
the Hindus were slaughtered en masse or converted by force, how hundreds
of thousands of Hindu men and women and children were captured as booty
and sold into slavery, how Hindu temples and monasteries were razed to
the ground or burnt down, and how images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses were
destroyed or desecrated.
Islamic Iconoclasm Today
A gigantic image of the Great Master - Buddhaat Bamiyan near Kabul in
Afghanistan.It is this image which has been threatened to be blown up
by the Taliban,the Islamic militia that rules Afghanistan.The statue faced
its first defilement at the hands of Islamic invaderswhen they invaded
pre-dominantly Buddhist Afghanistan in the 8th centuryIncidentally the
name Afghanistan is derived from the Sanskrit terms Upa-gana-stanwhich
means "Lands where the Allied tribes live".
Commandments of Allah (Quran) and precedents set by the Prophet (Sunnah)
are frequently cited by the authors in support of what the swordsmen and
demolition squads of Islam did with extraordinary zeal, not only in the
midst of war but also, and more thoroughly, after Islamic rule had been
firmly established.
Islamic Theology supports the Destruction of ALL Non-Muslim
Places of Worship
A reference to the Quran and to the Theology of Islam as perfected by
the orthodox Imams, leaves little doubt about the violent and aggressive
nature of Islam.
Jihad is Allah's command to the Muslims to destroy the non- Muslims.
It is not at all necessary that the non-Muslims need have wronged the
Muslims, for them to be attacked by the Muslims. The "crime"
that the non-Muslims do not believe in Islam is enough for the Muslims
to attack the non-Muslims. Here is what the Quran says:
"I have been commanded by Allah to fight the unbelievers until they
believe in Allah and His prophet and follow the laws of Islam. It is only
then that the safety of their lives and property may be guaranteed."
(Sahih Tirmzi, Vol. 2: 192)
And why should they persecute and annihilate the non-Muslims?
The Koran explains the point:
"God has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions
against the gift of paradise; they fight in the way of God; they kill,
and are killed; that is a promise; binding on God.... And who fulfills
his covenant truer than God? So rejoice in the bargain you have made ith
Him that is the mighty triumph..." (Repentance: 192)
Jihad, as can be seen, is a covenant between Allah and the Muslims; the
former offers paradise to the latter for killing and plundering the non-Muslims
without having any moral qualm in return for Paradise. Obviously, according
to Islamic theology the massacre of the fellow-beings and the plunder
of their possession is an act of great righteousness because it attracts
the highest reward - that is, paradise. The Quran justifies booty, the
plunder of the infidels in the following words:
"It is not for any prophet to have prisoners, until he make wide
slaughter in land.....
Eat of what you have taken as booty, it is lawful and good." (The
Spoils: 65)
Here is the essence of Islamic Jihad: Invade the non-Muslims in the name
of Allah for the sheer crime of not believing in Him; first carry out
an extensive carnage of the people then all their property including women
and children become legally and morally the possessions of the Muslims,
who are at liberty to use them as they think fit.
The Physical Evidence - Mutilated Hindu Architecture
The apologists for Islam - the most clogged among them are some Pseudo-secularist
historians and politicians - have easily got away with the plea that Muslim
court scribes having succumbed to poetic exaggeration in order to please
their pious patrons. Their case is weakened when they cite the same sources
in support of their speculations or when the question is asked as to why
the patron needed stories of bloodshed and wanton destruction for feeding
their piety.
There are, however witnesses who are not beyond recall who can confirm
that the Muslim court scribes were not at all foisting fables on their
readers. These are the hundreds of thousands of sculptural and architectural
fragments which stand arrayed in museums and drawing rooms all over the
world, or which are awaiting to be picked up by public and private collectors,
or which stare at us from numerous Muslim monuments.
These are the thousands of Hindu temples and monasteries which either
stand on the surface in a state of ruination or lie buried under the earth
waiting for being brought to light by the archaeologist's spade. These
are the thousands of Muslim edifices, religious as well as secular, which
occupy the sites of Hindu temples and monasteries and/or which have been
constructed from materials of those monuments. All these witnesses carry
unimpeachable evidence of the violence that was done to them, deliberately
and by malevolent hands.
The Silence of Art Historians regarding the mutilation
of Hindu Art, Architecture and Sculpture
So far no one has cared to make these witnesses speak and relate the
story of how they got ruined, demolished, dislocated, dismembered, defaced
mutilated and burnt. Recent writers on Hindu architecture and sculpture
- their tribe is multiplying fast, mostly for commercial reasons - ignore
the ghastly wounds which these witnesses show at the very first sight,
and dwell on the beauties of the limbs that have survived or escaped injury.
Many a time they have to resort to their imagination for supplying what
should have been there but is missing. All they seem to care for is building
their own reputations as historians of Hindu art. If one draws their attention
to the mutilations and disfigurements suffered by the subjects under study,
one is met with a stunned silence or denounced downright as a Hindu chauvinist
out to raise 'demons from the past with the deliberate intention of causing
communal strife. I, therefore, propose to present only one case out the
innumerable of these in order to show in what shape such monuments are
and what tale of vandalism they have to tell.
Hindu Monuments of Pre-Islamic Delhi
Archaeological excavations during 1992-95 at Lalkot, a Tomar citadel
near Mehrauli before Delhi was occupied by Muhammad Ghori in 1192, have
uncovered the following:
- Antiquities in the levels of Period II (Early Sultanate). A number
of sculptural and architectural fragments in stone of the Rajput period
have been noticed scattered on the surface or found in the levels of Period
II, either in the deposits or reused in construction of early Sultanate
structures.
They included a Varaha head; amalakas; adhisthana mouldings; pillar bases;
parts of sculptured door jambs, one with maithuna figures; moulded and
decorated architectural fragments; small sculptures showing Tirthankara,
deities, vase etc.; Nandi figure and a lion's head which can be connected
with the story of stone lion figures at the gate of the palaces of Anang
Pal II.
The evidence of stone Nandi suggests for the first time the existence
of a Shiva temple in the vicinity. The pre-Muslim association of this
structural period of early Sultanate age is evidenced by a number of scattered
or reused architectural and sculptural stone fragments. Among them the
hind part of a figure of Nandi, the Vahana of Lord Shiva, reused in the
foundation of wall as a rubble.
- The Nalanda University.
The defeat of the last Hindu Kings of North India - Prithviraj Chauhan
and Jaichandra Gahadawal (Rathore) in 1192 and 1194 C.E., respectively
by the Afghan raider, Mahmud Shahabuddin Ghori (Ghauri) opened up the
Gangetic plains to the ruthless invader where the Buddhist (and Hindu)
centres of learning were located. The destruction of monasteries and the
slaughter of monks that followed the headlong rush, of the Muslim invaders
down the Ganges, stilled the agony of this once glorious; educational
and monastic institution into the silence of death.
Before it was destroyed by the blind fury of the Muslim invaders, the
Nalanda University housed nine million manuscripts. It was the center
of education for scholars from all over Asia and Europe. Many Greek, Persian
and Chinese students studied here.
Its vivid descriptions in the chronicles of Huien Tsang, the Chinese
Buddhist scholar who visited Nalanda twelve hundred years ago... bring
the crumbling stones back to life again. It was this university that was
the cradle of ancient Hindu mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, philosophy
and theology.
Nothing remains today of this great ancient university.... except ruins!
The fanatical ferocity of the Muslim invaders made sure of that. The blazing
fires into which the Muslims soldiers threw the nine million manuscripts,
reduced them to ashes. Yet this vandalism and hatred of the marauders
could not destroy the immortal wisdom that lay within. The spirit that
went behind the creation of this university could never be destroyed permanently.
The memory of that intellectual tradition, that was sought to be estroyed
by the Muslim Marauders, survives in the hearts of many Indians. The living
proof of this is the creation of this website that tries to recollect
the immortal wisdom of ancient India. A wisdom that has never preached
malice against other faiths, nor have the citizens of this country ever
indulged in a holy war against those of another country. Indians have
since ancient times won their way by persuasion and never by the sword,
nor have they ever used their position or power to compel conformity to
their precepts.
Only in ancient India did we have an emperor (Samrat Ashok Maurya) who
after a military victory - laid down his weapons and forswore violence.
There is no parallel to this attitude, the world over. It is due to this
deep sagacity that we could preserve our innate spirit of humanness in
face of the heart-rending tyranny of the Muslims - which we had to live
with, for eleven centuries at a stretch. And yet we still survive as a
wounded civilization to tell the tale of the kind of culture we had before
we were forced to shed our blood against the sword of the Islamic Jihad.
India in the Eyes of Pseudo Secular Historians of Our
Times
Their interpretation of Indian history recognizes only the economic reality.
And although economic reality is an important element of human existence.
It is not the only one. Issues like Religious Fanaticism, exist independent
of economic factors. These Historians view the Muslim invasions of India
purely as raids of bandits out who came to loot the material wealth of
India. To loot the temples of Somnath, Thanesar, Mathura, Kanauj, etc.
Yes the Muslim invaders did loot the country's material wealth. But they
also destroyed the Nalanda University, and burned down the countless treatises
that were stored there. The Muslim invaders converted millions of Hindus
to Islam at the point of the Sword, they also massacred millions more
and had a practice of making a tower of severed enemy (Hindu) heads in
the main square of a town after its conquest. They abducted many Hindu
women and held them as concubines in Harems.
____________________________________________________
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The script for the above applet has been written by Chintamani Thakur.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This list of crimes against humanity on part of the medieval Muslim invaders
could be endless. Now these crimes do not have any economic angle at all.
But all the same they were committed and they reflect in clear terms a
barbaric and backward attitude. About this there is no doubt. The Pseudo
Secular Historians try to mask this reality. And in this they are guilt
of hiding facts and distorting history. They write that Mahmud Ghaznavi
only destroyed temples to plunder their wealth, not for religious motives:
a theory in flagrant contradiction with all the contemporary evidence.
Mahmud was a devout Muslim, who copied the Quran "for the benefit
of his soul". He refused the huge ransom which the Hindus offered
in return for an idol which he had captured, since he preferred to be
an idol breaker rather than an idol-seller". He destroyed many non-wealthy
Hindu temples and left wealthy mosques untouched. He wasted time in non-profit
acts of desecration, like hanging a cow's tongue around an idol's neck.
On such facts, no honest historian would have built the conclusion that
Mahmud was led by economical rather that fanatical religious motives.
What Really Happened in India during the Muslim Invasions?
Invaders at a very low level of civilisation and culture worth the name,
from Arabia and west Asia, began entering India from the early eighth
century onwards. Islamic invaders demolished countless Hindu temples,
shattered uncountable sculptures and idols, plundered innumerable palaces
and forts of Hindu kings, killed vast numbers of Hindu men and carried
off Hindu women. This story, the educated Indians - and a lot of even
the illiterate Indians - know very well. Indian History books at School
and College do not tell the story in its true detail. Hence many Indians
do not seem to recognize that the alien Muslim marauders destroyed the
historical evolution of what was a spiritually, philosophically and materially
advanced civilisation.
Pre-Islamic Hindu civilization was the most richly imaginative
culture, and the most vigorously creative society.
The damaged armless image of the bodyguard of Shiva-Maheshwara as depicted
at the Hoysaleshwara Temple complex at Halebid.
Hindu temples built in the ancient times were perfect works of art. The
evidence of theferocity with which the Muslim invaders must have struck
at the sculpturesof gods and goddesses, and apsaras, kings and queens,
dancers and musicians isfrightful. At so many ancient temples of Rajasthan
and Madhya Pradesh, forexample, shattered portions of stone images still
lie scattered in the temple
courtyards.
Considering the fury used on the idols and sculptures, the stone-breaking
axe must have been applied to thousands upon thousands of images of hypnotic
beauty. Giving proof of the resentment that men belonging to an inferior
civilisation feel upon encountering a superior civilisation of individuals
with a more refined culture.
It is clear that India at the time when Muslim invaders turned towards
it (8th to 11th century) was a rich region for its religion and culture:
and its fine arts and letters and even for its wealth in terms of material
sciences, art and architecture, precious and semi-precious stones, gold
and silver.
Tenth century India was also too far advanced than its contemporaries
in the East and the West for its achievements in the realms of speculative
philosophy and scientific theorizing, mathematics and knowledge of nature's
workings. Hindus of the early medieval period were unquestionably superior
in more things than the Chinese, the Persians (including the Sassanians),
the Romans and the Byzantines of the immediate preceding centuries.
The Finesse of pre-Islamic Hindu Art and Architecture
Medieval India until the Islamic invaders destroyed it, was history's
most richly imaginative culture and one of the world's most advanced civilisations
of those times. Look at the Hindu art that Muslim iconoclasts severely
damaged or destroyed. Ancient Hindu sculpture is vigorous and sensual
in the highest degree-more fascinating than any other figural art created
anywhere else on earth. (Only statues created by classical Greek artists
are in the same class as Hindu temple sculpture.)
Ancient Hindu temple architecture is the most awe-inspiring, ornate and
spell-binding architectural style. (The Gothic art of cathedrals in Western
Europe is the only other religious architecture that is comparable with
the intricate architecture of ancient Hindu temples such as those at Khajuraho,
Madurai, Dwarka, Kanchipuram,etc.) No artists of any historical civilisation
have ever revealed the same genius as ancient India's artists and artisans.
The Devastation caused by Islamic Iconoclasm
Their minds filled with venom against the idol-worship and the idol-worshippers
of India, the Muslims destroyed any Hindu temple that came their way.
This is a historical fact, mentioned by Muslim chroniclers and others
of the time. When the Muslims faced Hindu resistance and were forced to
retreat they merely damaged the Hindu temples they could lay their hands
on but the temples remained standing. This is what happened in South India.
But a large number - not hundreds but many thousands - of the ancient
Hindu temples in North India were broken into shards of cracked stone.
In the ancient cities of Varanasi and Mathura, Ujjain and Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi
and Dwaraka, not one temple survives whole and intact from the ancient
times. The wrecking of Hindu temples went on from the early years of the
8th century to well past 1700 AD, a period of almost 1000 years. Every
Muslim ruler in Delhi (or Governor of Provinces) spent most of his time
warring against Hindu kings in the north and the south, the east and the
west: and almost every Muslim Sultan and his army commanders indulged
in large-scale destructions of Hindu temples and idols.
It is easy to conclude that virtually every Hindu temple built in the
ancient times is a perfect work of art. The evidence of the ferocity with
which the Muslim invaders must have struck at the sculptures of gods and
goddesses, and apsaras, kings and queens, dancers and musicians is frightful.
At so many ancient temples of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, for example,
shattered portions of stone images still lie scattered in the temple courtyards.
Considering the fury used on the idols and sculptures, the stone-breaking
axe must have been applied to thousands upon thousands of images of hypnotic
beauty. Giving proof of the resentment that men belonging to an inferior
civilisation feel upon encountering a superior civilisation of individuals
with a more refined culture,
Islamic invaders from Arabia and western Asia broke and burned everything
beautiful they came across in India. So morally degenerate were the Muslim
Sultans that, rather than attract Hindu "infidels" to Islam
through force of personal example and exhortation, they just built a number
of mosques at the sites of torn down temples - and foolishly pretended
that they had triumphed over the minds and culture of the Hindus. I have
seen stones and columns of Hindu temples incorporated into the architecture
of several mosque, including the Jama Masjid and Ahmed Shah Masjid in
Ahmedabad; the mosque in the Uparkot fort of Junagadh (Gujarat) and in
Vidisha (near Bhopal); the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra right next to the famous
dargah in Ajmer-and the currently controversial Bhojshala "mosque"
in Dhar (near Indore).
Hindu culture was at its imaginative best and vigorously creative when
the severely-allergic-to-images Muslims entered India. Islamic invaders
did not just destroy countless temples and constructions but also suppressed
cultural and religious practices; damaged the pristine vigour of Hindu
culture; prevented the intensification of Hindu culture, debilitating
it permanently; stopped the development of Hindu arts: ended the creative
impulse in all realms of thought and action; damaged the people's cultural
pride, disrupted the transmission of values and wisdom, cultural practices
and tradition from one generation to the next; destroyed the proper historical
evolution of Hindu kingdoms and society; affected the acquisition of knowledge,
research and reflection and violated the moral basis of Hindu
society.
Slaughter of the Civilian Hindu Population
The Muslim Swordsmen also slaughtered a lot of Hindus civilians away
from the battlefield. This was something that the Hindus were not used
to. Although pre-Islamic India was not exactly a zone of peace, and there
used to be warfare, but there was also a code of warfare too.
War took place from Sunrise up to Sunset
Warfare under the shadow of darkness was considered foul
In the battlefield, an adversary who laid down his arms was not to be
slaughtered.
No civilian population was ever killed.
This code of warfare was followed by the Hindus right up to the Muslim
invasions, and this was one reason for the successive Hindu defeats at
the hands of the Muslims who had no qualms for foul means during warfare
and even in peace times.
Needless to add that the Muslim invaders converted millions of Hindus
to Islam at the point of the Sword, they also massacred millions more
and had a practice of making a tower of severed enemy (Hindu) heads in
the main square of a town after its conquest. They abducted many Hindu
women and held them as concubines in Harems.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Muslim rulers were fanatical proselytizers of their religion. Under
the rulership of Delhi Sultans the public worship at Hindu temples was
generally forbidden, Hindus were not allowed to build new temples or repair
old ones. Some rulers like Allah-ud-din Khilji and Feroz Shah Tughlak
would desecrate temples upon the conquest of new territory as a symbol
of victory of Islam. One some occasions a particularly fanatical Muslim
king like Sikander Lodi would in a fit of paranoia desecrate or destroy
temples even in peaceful times.
"In 1669 Aurangzeb issued a general order for the destruction of
Hindu temples." As per rough estimates about 3000 (Three Thousand)
temples were destroyed and converted into Mosques in the 750 years of
Muslim rule in India. But let bygones be bygones. The fact is mentioned
here only to set the record straight. In my personal view all such controversial
structures should be taken possession of by an educational trust and be
converted into schools to preach the unity of Humankind. And eventually
not just such controversial structures, but all places of religious worship
should cease to be prayer houses and should be used to house schools for
humanist and rationalist education. (This obviously is the author's personal
view)
"During the sultanate and later under Aurangzeb, many hundreds of
thousands of Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam. Shah Jahan appointed
a superintendent of converts charged with the special responsibility for
making converts. The sentences of criminals and prisoners of war were
readily remitted and the individuals were granted daily allowances upon
embracing Islam. The conversion of Muslims to Hinduism, on the other hand,
constituted the crime of apostasy and was punished by death. The Jaziya,
a special tax levied on all non-Muslims, was both a heavy financial -burden
and a badge of inferiority borne by the Hindu; it also stimulated conversions
to Islam.
The Quww'at-ul-Islam Mosque (Power of Islam).
This Mosque which stands in the Kutub Minar complex was built by Kutub-ud-din
Aibak, the first Muslim ruler of Delhi. The Quww'at-ul-Islam Mosque (Power
of Islam) is the first mosque erected in India by Muslim invaders after
the Islamic aggression of India. This Mosque was built with the columns
from destroyed Hindu and Jain temples. It stands at the site of Pithoragarh
which was the capital of Prithiviraj Chauhan the last Hindu ruler of Delhi.
Thus, during the 11 centuries of Mohammedan rule a significant portion
of our countrymen had to change their religion by force of circumstances.
And in 4 erstwhile Indian Provinces viz. West Punjab, Sindh, East Bengal
and NWFP the Muslim converts came to constitute a majority by the present
century. The multi-religious character of India is largely an ugly litter
of intolerance, persecution, penal taxes, conversion of faith at the point
of the sword, discriminatory civil and criminal laws, defilement and conversion
of places of worship from that of one faith to another, all of which the
country witnessed during the eleven centuries of Muslim rule.
The Psychological Damage to the Hindu Mind
The Hindus suffered immense psychic damage. The Muslims also plundered
the wealth of the Hindu kingdoms, impoverished the Hindu populace, and
destroyed thc prosperity of India. The Psychological damage to the Hindu
Mind, due to Muslim rule, was immense and unmeasurable.
Today after a gap of one thousand years, the innate spirit of humanness
that is the basis of Hindu Culture can again breathe freely and it is
about time that we recollect it and the successes it propelled the human
mind to achieve. The human mind embodied in the ancient sages, rishis,
munis and sanyasis - scientists in modern parlance.
We need to remember our past clearly and vividly, lest we forget, our
capability to contribute to the repository of human knowledge, lest we
forget our capability to activate the indomitable human mind residing
within us, lest we forget our humane instincts that gave us a sagacious
and charitable view of life along with progress - economic, technological
and material. All that which goes under the term CIVILIZATION.
The human spirit in Ancient India has given to the world, the values
of non-violence, religious tolerance, renunciation alongwith many elements
of knowledge in fields like production technology, mechanical engineering,
shipbuilding, navigation, architecture, civil engineering, medical science,
physics, chemistry, logic, astronomy, mathematics and so on.
We have to live up to this legacy that can help human beings in all corners
of our globe to rejuvenate our spirit not to conquer one another, but
to conquer oneself; not to destroy, but to build; not to hate, but to
love; not to isolate oneself, but to integrate everyone into one global
society and to achieve much more in the future to enrich human civilisation
to result in: "The maximum welfare of the maximum number" or
as in Sanskrit it is called:
"Loko Samasto Sukhino Bhavantu" and "Samasta Janaanaam
Sukhino Bhavantu."
Now let us see what Different Historians have to say about the Hindu
Holocaust.
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Critical Podium Dewanand Islam
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