Babri Masjid demolition – Symbol of

Hindu-Muslim unity – Agniveer

http://agniveer.com/1817/babri-masjid/
September 26th, 2010

The world famous historian, Will Durant has written in his Story of Civilisation that “the
Mohammedan conquest of India was probably the bloodiest story in history”.

India before the advent of Islamic imperialism was not exactly a zone of peace. There
were plenty of wars fought by Hindu princes. But in all their wars, the Hindus had
observed some time-honoured conventions sanctioned by the Sastras. The Brahmins
and the Bhikshus were never molested. The cows were never killed. The temples were
never touched. The chastity of women was never violated. The non-combatants were
never killed or captured. A human habitation was never attacked unless it was a fort.
The civil population was never plundered. War booty was an unknown item in the
calculations of conquerors. The martial classes who clashed, mostly in open spaces,
had a code of honor. Sacrifice of honor for victory or material gain was deemed as
worse than death.

Islamic imperialism came with a different code–the Sunnah of the Prophet. It required its
warriors to fall upon the helpless civil population after a decisive victory had been won
on the battlefield. It required them to sack and burn down villages and towns after the
defenders had died fighting or had fled. The cows, the Brahmins, and the Bhikshus
invited their special attention in mass murders of non-combatants. The temples and
monasteries were their special targets in an orgy of pillage and arson. Those whom
they did not kill, they captured and sold as slaves. The magnitude of the booty looted
even from the bodies of the dead, was a measure of the success of a military mission.
And they did all this as mujahids (holy warriors) and ghazls (kafir-killers) in the service of
Allah and his Last Prophet.

Hindus found it very hard to understand the psychology of this new invader. For the
first time in their history, Hindus were witnessing a scene which was described by
Kanhadade Prabandha (1456 AD) in the following words:

“The conquering army burnt villages, devastated the land, plundered people’s wealth,
took Brahmins and children and women of all classes captive, flogged with thongs of
raw hide, carried a moving prison with it, and converted the prisoners into obsequious
Turks.”

That was written in remembrance of Alauddin Khalji’s invasion of Gujarat in the year
l298 AD. But the gruesome game had started three centuries earlier when Mahmud
Ghaznavi had vowed to invade India every year in order to destroy idolatry, kill the
kafirs, capture prisoners of war, and plunder vast wealth for which India was well-
known.

MAHMUD AND MASOOD GHAZNAVI

In 1000 AD Mahmud defeated Raja Jaipal, a scion of the Hindu Shahiya dynasty of
Kabul. This dynasty had been for long the doorkeeper of India in the Northwest.
Mahmud collected 250,000 dinars as indemnity. That perhaps was normal business of
an empire builder. But in 1004 AD he stormed Bhatiya and plundered the place. He
stayed there for some time to convert the Hindus to Islam with the help of mullahs he
had brought with him.

In 1008 AD he captured Nagarkot (Kangra). The loot amounted to 70,000,000 dirhams

in coins and 700,400 mans of gold and silver, besides plenty of precious stones and
embroidered cloths. In 1011 AD he plundered Thanesar which was undefended,
destroyed many temples, and broke a large number of idols. The chief idol, that of
Chakraswamin, was taken to Ghazni and thrown into the public square for defilement
under the feet of the faithful. According to Tarikh-i-Yamini of Utbi, Mahmud’s secretary,

“The blood of the infidels flowed so copiously [at Thanesar] that the stream was
discolored, notwithstanding its purity, and people were unable to drink it. The Sultan
returned with plunder which is impossible to count. Praise he to Allah for the honor he
bestows on Islam and Muslims.”

In 1013 AD Mahmud advanced against Nandana where the Shahiya king, Anandapal,
had established his new capital. The Hindus fought very hard but lost. Again, the
temples were destroyed, and innocent citizens slaughtered. Utbi provides an account
of the plunder and the prisoners of war:

“The Sultan returned in the rear of immense booty, and slaves were so plentiful that
they became very cheap and men of respectability in their native land were degraded by
becoming slaves of common shopkeepers. But this is the goodness of Allah, who
bestows honor on his own religion and degrades infidelity.”

The road was now clear for an assault on the heartland of Hindustan. In December
1018 AD Mahmud crossed the Yamuna, collected 1,000,000 dirhams from Baran
(Bulandshahar), and marched to Mahaban in Mathura district. Utbi records:

“The infidels…deserted the fort and tried to cross the foaming river…but many of them
were slain, taken or drowned… Nearly fifty thousand men were killed.”

Mathura was the next victim. Mahmud seized five gold idols weighing 89,300 missals
and 200 silver idols. According to Utbi, “The Sultan gave orders that all the temples
should be burnt with naptha and fire, and levelled with the ground.” The pillage of the
city continued for 20 days. Mahmud now turned towards Kanauj which had been the
seat of several Hindu dynasties. Utbi continues: “In Kanauj there were nearly ten
thousand temples… Many of the inhabitants of the place fled in consequence of
witnessing the fate of their deaf and dumb idols. Those who did not fly were put to
death. The Sultan gave his soldiers leave to plunder and take prisoners.”

The Brahmins of Munj, which was attacked next, fought to the last man after throwing
their wives and children into fire. The fate of Asi was sealed when its ruler took fright
and fled. According to Utbi, “…. the Sultan ordered that his five forts should be
demolished from their foundations, the inhabitants buried in their ruins, and the soldiers
of the garrison plundered, slain and captured”.

Shrawa, the next important place to be invaded, met the same fate. Utbi concludes:

“The Muslims paid no regard to the booty till they had satiated themselves with the
slaughter of the infidels and worshipers of sun and fire. The friends of Allah searched
the bodies of the slain for three days in order to obtain booty…The booty amounted in
gold and silver, rubies and pearls nearly to three hundred thousand dirhams, and the
number of prisoners may be conceived from the fact that each was sold for two to ten
dirhams. These were afterwards taken to Ghazni and merchants came from distant
cities to purchase them, so that the countries of Mawaraun-Nahr, Iraq and Khurasan
were filled with them, and the fair and the dark, the rich and the poor, were commingled
in one common slavery.”

Mahmud’s sack of Somnath is too well-known to be retold here. What needs

emphasizing is that the fragments of the famous Sivalinga were carried to Ghazni.
Some of them were turned into steps of the Jama Masjid in that city. The rest were sent
to Mecca, Medina, and Baghdad to be desecrated in the same manner.

Mahmud’s son Masud tried to follow in the footsteps of his father. In 1037 AD he
succeeded in sacking the fort of Hansi which was defended very bravely by the Hindus.
The Tarikh-us-Subuktigin records: “The Brahmins and other high ranking men were
slain, and their women and children were carried away captive, and all the treasure
which was found was distributed among the army.”

Masud could not repeat the performance due to his preoccupations elsewhere.

MUHAMMAD GHORI AND HIS LEUTENANTS

Invasion of India by Islamic imperialism was renewed by Muhmmad Ghori in the last
quarter of the 12th century. After Prithiviraj Chauhan had been defeated in 1192 AD,
Ghori took Ajmer by assault.

According the Taj-ul-Ma’sir of Hasan Nizami, “While the Sultan remained at Ajmer, he
destroyed the pillars and foundations of the idol temples and built in their stead
mosques and colleges and precepts of Islam, and the customs of the law were divulged
and established.”

Next year he defeated Jayachandra of Kanauj. A general massacre, rapine, and pillage
followed. The Gahadvad treasuries at Asni and Varanasi were plundered. Hasan Nizami
rejoices that “in Benares which is the centre of the country of Hind, they destroyed one
thousand temples and raised mosques on their foundations”.

According to Kamil-ut-Tawarikh of Ibn Asir, “The slaughter of Hindus (at Varanasi) was
immense; none were spared except women and children, and the carnage of men went
on until the earth was weary.”

The women and children were spared so that they could be enslaved and sold all over
the Islamic world. It may be added that the Buddhist complex at Sarnath was sacked at
this time, and the Bhikshus were slaughtered.

Ghori’s lieutenant Qutbuddin Aibak was also busy meanwhile. Hasan Nizami writes that
after the suppression of a Hindu revolt at Kol (modern day Aligarh) in 1193 AD, Aibak
raised “three bastions as high as heaven with their heads, and their carcases became
food for beasts of prey. The tract was freed from idols and idol worship and the
foundations of infidelism were destroyed.”

In 1194 AD Aibak destroyed 27 Hindu temples at Delhi and built the Quwwat-ul-lslam
mosque with their debris. According to Nizami, Aibak “adorned it with the stones and
gold obtained from the temples which had been demolished by elephants”.

In 1195 AD the Mher tribe of Ajmer rose in revolt, and the Chaulukyas of Gujarat came
to their assistance. Aibak had to invite reinforcements from Ghazni before he could
meet the challenge. In 1196 AD he advanced against Anahilwar Patan, the capital of
Gujarat. Nizami writes that after Raja Karan was defeated and forced to flee, “fifty
thousand infidels were dispatched to hell by the sword” and “more than twenty
thousand slaves, and cattle beyond all calculation fell into the hands of the victors”.

The city was sacked, its temples demolished, and its palaces plundered. On his return
to Ajmer, Aibak destroyed the Sanskrit College of Visaladeva, and laid the foundations
of a mosque which came to be known as ‘Adhai Din ka Jhompada’.

Conquest of Kalinjar in 1202 AD was Aibak’s crowning achievement. Nizami concludes:

“The temples were converted into mosques… Fifty thousand men came under the
collar of slavery and the plain became black as pitch with Hindus.”

A free-lance adventurer, Muhammad Bakhtyar Khalji, was moving further east. In 1200
AD he sacked the undefended university town of Odantpuri in Bihar and massacred the
Buddhist monks in the monasteries. In 1202 AD he took Nadiya by surprise. Badauni
records in his Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh that “property and booty beyond computation fell
into the hands of the Muslims and Muhammad Bakhtyar having destroyed the places of
worship and idol temples of the infidels founded mosques and Khanqahs”.

THE SLAVE (MAMLUK) SULTANS

Shamsuddin Iltutmish who succeeded Aibak at Delhi invaded Malwa in 1234 AD. He
destroyed an ancient temple at Vidisha. Badauni reports in his ‘Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh’:

“Having destroyed the idol temple of Ujjain which had been built six hundred years
previously, and was called Mahakal, he levelled it to its foundations, and threw down the
image of Rai Vikramajit from whom the Hindus reckon their era, and brought certain
images of cast molten brass and placed them on the ground in front of the doors of
mosques of old Delhi, and ordered the people of trample them under foot.”

Muslim power in India suffered a serious setback after Iltutmish. Balkan had to battle
against a revival of Hindu power. The Katehar Rajputs of what came to be known as
Rohilkhand in later history, had so far refused to submit to Islamic imperialism. Balkan
led an expedition across the Ganges in 1254 AD. According to Badauni,

“In two days after leaving Delhi, he arrived in the midst of the territory of Katihar and
put to death every male, even those of eight years of age, and bound the women.”

But in spite of such wanton cruelty, Muslim power continued to decline till the Khaljis
revived it after 1290 AD.

THE KHALJIS

Jalaluddin Khalji led an expedition to Ranthambhor in 1291 AD. On the way he destroyed
Hindu temples at Chain. The broken idols were sent to Delhi to be spread before the
gates of the Jama Masjid. His nephew Alauddin led an expedition to Vidisha in 1292 AD.
According to Badauni in Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, Alauddin “brought much booty to the
Sultan and the idol which was the object of worship of the Hindus, he caused to be cast
in front of the Badaun gate to be trampled upon by the people. The services of Alauddin
were highly appreciated, the jagir of Oudh (or Avadh – Central U.P.) also was added to
his other estates.”

Alauddin became Sultan in 1296 AD after murdering his uncle and father-in-law,
Jalaluddin. In 1298 AD he equipped an expedition to Gujarat under his generals Ulugh
Khan and Nusrat Khan. The invaders plundered the ports of Surat and Cambay. The
temple of Somnath, which had been rebuilt by the Hindus, was plundered and the idol
taken to Delhi for being trodden upon by the Muslims. The whole region was subjected
to fire and sword, and Hindus were slaughtered en masse. Kampala Devi, the queen of
Gujarat, was captured along with the royal treasury, brought to Delhi and forced into
Alauddin’s harem. The doings of the Malik Naib during his expedition to South India in
1310-1311 AD have already mentioned in earlier parts.

THE TUGHLAQS

Muslim power again suffered a setback after the death of Alauddin Khalji in 1316 AD.
But it was soon revived by the Tughlaqs. By now most of the famous temples over the
length and breadth of the Islamic occupation in India had been demolished, except in
Orissa and Rajasthan which had retained their independence. By now most of the rich
treasuries had been plundered and shared between the Islamic state and its
swordsmen. Firuz Shah Tughlaq led an expedition to Orissa in 1360 AD. He destroyed
the temple of Jagannath at Puri, and desecrated many other Hindu shrines. According
to ‘Sirat-i-Firoz Shahi’ which he himself wrote or dictated,

“Allah who is the only true God and has no other emanation, endowed the king of Islam
with the strength to destroy this ancient shrine on the eastern sea-coast and to plunge
it into the sea, and after its destruction he ordered the image of Jagannath to be
perforated, and disgraced it by casting it down on the ground. They dug out other idols
which were worshipped by the polytheists in the kingdom of Jajnagar and overthrew
them as they did the image of Jagannath, for being laid in front of the mosques along
the path of the Sunnis and the way of the ‘musallis’ (Muslim congregation for namaz)
and stretched them in front of the portals of every mosque, so that the body and sides
of the images might be trampled at the time of ascent and descent, entrance and exit,
by the shoes on the feet of the Muslims.”

After the sack of the temples in Orissa, Firoz Shah Tughlaq attacked an island on the
sea-coast where “nearly 100,000 men of Jajnagar had taken refuge with their women,
children, kinsmen and relations”. The swordsmen of Islam turned “the island into a
basin of blood by the massacre of the unbelievers”.

A worse fate overtook the Hindu women. Sirat-i-Firuz Shahs records: “Women with
babies and pregnant ladies were haltered, manacled, fettered and enchained, and
pressed as slaves into service in the house of every soldier.”

Still more horrible scenes were enacted by Firuz Shah Tughlaq at Nagarkot (Kangra)
where he sacked the shrine of Jvalamukhi. Firishta records that the Sultan “broke the
idols of Jvalamukhi, mixed their fragments with the flesh of cows and hung them in
nose bags round the necks of Brahmins. He sent the principal idol as trophy to Medina.
”

THE PROVINCIAL MUSLIM SATRAPS

In 1931 AD the Muslims of Gujarat complained to Nasiruddin Muhammad, the Tughlaq

Sultan of Delhi, that the local governor, Kurhat-ul-Mulk, was practising tolerance
towards the Hindus. The Sultan immediately appointed Muzzaffar Khan as the new
Governor. He became independent after the death of the Delhi Sultan and assumed the
title of Muzzaffar Shah in 1392 AD. Next year he led an expidition to Somnath and
sacked the temple which the Hindus had built once again. He killed many Hindus to
chastise them for this “impudence,” and raised a mosque on the site of the ancient
temple. The Hindus, however, restarted restoring the temple soon after. In 1401 AD
Muzaffar came back with a huge army. He again killed many Hindus, demolished the
temple once more, and erected another mosque.
Muzaffar was succeeded by his grandson, Ahmad Shah, in 1411 AD. Three years later
Ahmad appointed a special darogah to destroy all temples throughout Gujarat. In 1415
AD Ahmad invaded Sidhpur where he destroyed the images in Rudramahalaya, and
converted the grand temple into a mosque. Sidhpur was renamed Sayyadpur.

Mahmud Begrha who became the Sultan of Gujarat in 1458 AD was the worst fanatic of
this dynasty. One of his vassals was the Mandalika of Junagadh who had never withheld
the regular tribute. Yet in 1469 AD Mahmud invaded Junagadh. In reply to the
Mandalika’s protests, Mahmud said that he was not interested in money as much as in
the spread of Islam. The Mandalika was forcibly converted to Islam and Junagadh was
renamed Mustafabad. In 1472 AD Mahmud attacked Dwarka, destroyed the local
temples, and plundered the city. Raja Jaya Singh, the ruler of Champaner, and his
minister were murdered by Mahmud in cold blood for refusing to embrace Islam after
they had been defeated and their country pillaged and plundered. Champaner was
renamed Mahmudabad.

Mahmud Khalji of Malwa (1436-69 AD) also destroyed Hindu temples and built mosques
on their sites. He heaped many more insults on the Hindus. Ilyas Shah of Bengal (1339-
1379 AD) invaded Nepal and destroyed the temple of Svayambhunath at Kathmandu.
He also invaded Orissa, demolished many temples, and plundered many places. The
Bahmani sultans of Gulbarga and Bidar considered it meritorious to kill a hundred
thousand Hindu men, women, and children every year. They demolished and
desecrated temples all over South India.

AMlR TIMUR

The climax came during the invasion of Timur in 1399 AD. He starts by quoting the
Quran in his Tuzk-i-Timuri: “O Prophet, make war upon the infidels and unbelievers, and
treat them severely.”

He continues: “My great object in invading Hindustan had been to wage a religious war
against the infidel Hindus…[so that] the army of Islam might gain something by
plundering the wealth and valuables of the Hindus.” To start with he stormed the fort of
Kator on the border of Kashmir. He ordered his soldiers “to kill all the men, to make
prisoners of women and children, and to plunder and lay waste all their property”.
Next, he “directed towers to be built on the mountain of the skulls of those obstinate
unbelievers”. Soon after, he laid siege to Bhatnir defended by Rajputs. They
surrendered after some fight, and were pardoned. But Islam did not bind Timur to keep
his word given to the “unbelievers”. His Tuzk-i-Timuri records:

“In a short space of time all the people in the fort were put to the sword, and in the
course of one hour the heads of 10,000 infidels were cut off. The sword of Islam was
washed in the blood of the infidels, and all the goods and effects, the treasure and the
grain which for many a long year had been stored in the fort became the spoil of my
soldiers. They set fire to the houses and reduced them to ashes, and they razed the
buildings and the fort to the ground.”

At Sarsuti, the next city to be sacked, “all these infidel Hindus were slain, their wives
and children were made prisoners and their property and goods became the spoil of
the victors”. Timur was now moving through (modern day) Haryana, the land of the
Jats. He directed his soldiers to “plunder and destroy and kill every one whom they
met”. And so the soldiers “plundered every village, killed the men, and carried a number
of Hindu prisoners, both male and female”.
Loni which was captured before he arrived at Delhi was predominantly a Hindu town.
But some Muslim inhabitants were also taken prisoners. Timur ordered that “the
Musulman prisoners should be separated and saved, but the infidels should all be
dispatched to hell with the proselytizing sword”.

By now Timur had captured 100,000 Hindus. As he prepared for battle against the
Tughlaq army after crossing the Yamuna, his Amirs advised him “that on the great day
of battle these 100,000 prisoners could not be left with the baggage, and that it would
be entirely opposed to the rules of war to set these idolators and enemies of Islam at
liberty”. Therefore, “no other course remained but that of making them all food for the
sword”.

Tuzk-i-Timuri continues:

“I proclaimed throughout the camp that every man who had infidel prisoners should
put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his
property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam,
they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death. One hundred thousand
infidels, impious idolators, were on that day slain. Maulana Nasiruddin Umar, a
counselor and man of learning, who, in all his life, had never killed a sparrow, now, in
execution of my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his
captives.”

The Tughlaq army was defeated in the battle that ensued next day. Timur entered Delhi
and learnt that a “great number of Hindus with their wives and children, and goods and
valuables, had come into the city from all the country round”.

He directed his soldiers to seize these Hindus and their property. Tuzk-i-Timuri
concludes:

“Many of them (Hindus) drew their swords and resisted…The flames of strife were thus
lighted and spread through the whole city from Jahanpanah and Siri to Old Delhi,
burning up all it reached. The Hindus set fire to their houses with their own hands,
burned their wives and children in them and rushed into the fight and were killed…On
that day, Thursday, and all the night of Friday, nearly 15,000 Turks were engaged in
slaying, plundering and destroying. When morning broke on Friday, all my army …went
off to the city and thought of nothing but killing, plundering and making prisoners….The
following day, Saturday the 17th, all passed in the same way, and the spoil was so
great.that each man secured from fifty to a hundred prisoners, men, women, and
children. There was no man who took less than twenty. The other booty was immense
in rubies, diamonds, garnets, pearls, and other gems and jewels; ashrafis, tankas of
gold and silver of the celebrated Alai coinage: vessels of gold and silver; and brocades
and silks of great value. Gold and silver ornaments of Hindu women were obtained in
such quantities as to exceed all account. Excepting the quarter of the Saiyids, the
Ulama and the other Musulmans, the whole city was sacked.”

Contributed by Rajiv Varma