Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority of India has
yet again postponed hearing the Ramajanmabhoomi Mandir (RJM) issue. The case
has been languishing under the ambit of the SC for more than seven years now.
This time again, citing, “we have our own priorities” and calling for
instituting an appropriate bench for daily hearings of the issue
postponed it to January 2019. A section
of society echoed SC’s views and questioned the urgency of resolving nearly
500-year old dispute. Others believed that RJM issue would cede undue political
mileage to parties’ adept in milking the religious and cultural sentiments of
people before crucial assembly elections in five states. But invariably, SC’s
postponement tactics appeared to be in line with the arguments of Kapil Sibal,
advocate of Sunni Wakf Board who vociferously argued scheduling the hearing the
RJM case to after 2019 elections.
While the momentum of the temple issue began to gain ground,
to educate myself about Hindu temples, I laid my hands on the highly
recommended two-volume series on Hindu Temples by Indian Historian Sita Ram
Goel. Vol-1: Hindu Temples What
Happened to them: A Preliminary Survey and Vol-2: Hindu Temples
What happened to them: The Islamic Evidence. These books are considered as
the most authoritative compilation of Hindu temples in the Indian
sub-continent.
The first volume is compendium of articles written by various
scholars- Ram Swarup, Harsh Narain, Abhas Kumar Chatterjee, BB Lal, Rizwan
Salim, Koenraad Elst, Arun Shourie, and Alexander Cunningham. It contains a
list of over 2000 Muslim monuments built over razed temples with the materials
from Hindu temples. The second volume has an exhaustive list of foreign Muslim
invasions, their relentless temple plunder, destruction and eventual demolition
of temples. Comprising of extensive
references from over 80 different treatises written by Muslim historians the
second volume contains an authentic record of ruthless destruction of Hindu
temples across India by various Muslim invaders.
Instead of succumbing to shallow intellectualism of issuing
blanket statements based on random and select works, the author painstakingly collates
available Persian sources to make authoritative and unbiased claims. Wavering
from the tradition of seeking refuge in the pleasantries of appeasing the
Muslim community in India Goel makes sharp observations pertaining to Islam
theology. He trounces Islam apologetics for reinforcing that Islam is a
religion of tolerance and peace and tears into the iconoclastic zeal of the
Muslim invaders. For long the Marxists historians invented theories to portray
Muslim rulers as benevolent messiahs and presented them as native rulers. But
Goel unapologetically hits back at the leftist historians by questioning their
intentions in deliberately falsifying, distorting and diligently omitting
instances that oozed the fervent Islamic iconoclasm. In a bid to glorify Muslim
invaders they gave clean chit to the Muslim theology. Though concocted
theories, Indians were made to believe that Muslim rulers plundered temples out
of greed and lust for treasure. Stating that temples repositories of precious
metals, gems, jewellery, semi-precious stones became targets for plunder and
loot. They argued that Muslim rulers attacked temples to maintain their armies
and for administrative purposes. Further they justified all such destructions
claiming that temples being cultural and religious hubs of Hindus also acted as
centres of rebellion. It became inevitable for the rulers to destroy such
places to quell insurgencies. But never mentioned that mosques, idgahs,
dargahs, mazaras, maqbaras, madrasas and monuments were built over the rubbles
of destroyed temples. Baring the Jama Masjids majority of the Muslim structures
were built over bulldozed Hindu temples. The remnants of destroyed temples are
often laid at the footsteps of Jami Masjids so that “believer” could trample
over Kafirs idols to ascertain their supremacy. These Masjids are built from the remains of
Hindu temples.
Exonerating Muslim rulers of iconoclasm, historians
meticulously asserted that historical mosques replaced the pre-existing Hindu
temples without bothering to mention how such a sudden transition occurred. Top-notch
Indian historians churned out stories of Hindu temples that subject years of
neglect suffered damage and Muslim rulers eventually erected Muslim structures
in their place. As a matter of fact, Hindu kings patronised temples and
personally looked after the upkeep and maintenance of temples. They assigned
vast acres of land for the purpose of smooth running of temples. For decades,
none of the recklessly churned out specious theories of Marxist historians who
dominated the academia remained unchallenged. Perhaps Sita Ram Goel’s books
provide detailed account of epigraphic and historical evidence corroborating
iconoclastic zeal of Muslims.
First volume contains a detailed account of the Hindu Temples
converted or whose debris was used to build Muslim shrines/monuments across
India since first Islamic invasion in 650 ACE till 18th century.
Though the list is exhaustive, it is not complete and is first of its kind. The
author believes that it is just tip of iceberg and appeals young historians to
compile a record of Muslim iconoclasm. Fresh excavations from Archaeological
Survey of India of some of the historical sites, seats of Muslim occupation are
now uncovering new details. But none of the reputed Indian historians ever
questioned the foundations of mass plunder of Hindu temples and the Islamic
theology which inspired the swordsmen to kill thousands of people, capture the
booty, raze temples, convert people enmasse into Islam and sell Hindus
as slaves. While the Muslim histories took pride in the iconoclastic zeal of
Muslims invaders and frequently cited the Quran and Sunnah to support
despicable violence unleashed on Hindus, Indian historians refrained from
speaking Muslim theology.
The book contains the iconic exchange of letters between Syed
Shahabuddin pioneer of All India Babri Masjid Action Committee (AIBMAC) who
challenged intellectuals to contest Muslims claim over the Ramajanmabhoomi. In
response to the pamphlets issued by JNU and other historians, Dr Harsh Narain
and Abhas Kumar Chatterjee, a civil servant published rebuttals in Indian
Express. The lively debate through letters is worth a read since it exposes the
nexus between the Islamic imperialists who employed leftist historians to
peddle lies. Interestingly when the government called both parties, AIBMAC and
VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) to resolve the issue peacefully, AIBMAC in their
defence produced a pile of newspaper references and vast literature of
polemics. Their arguments were devoid of logic nor backed by hard facts. But the cabal managed to create pernicious
doubts in the minds of Hindus through vicious propaganda on Hindu claims over
the supremely important site. Above all it includes an article of Prof BB Lal
who called the bluff of leftist historians who debunked archaeological
evidences that indicated a 11th century Hindu temple beneath the
Babri Mosque. Despite religious, historical, archaeological, mythological
evidences establishing Ayodhya as birth place of Lord Rama, leftists continued
to demand more evidence. An in depth understanding of Ramajanmabhoomi issue is
pivotal for Hindus to reclaim temples. Besides, it reinforces the fact that
leftist historians known for their hostility towards Hinduism will continue to
defend the indefensible through fallacious and specious arguments. By changing
goal posts, they will try to buy time and drag on the issue for eternity.
Volume-I
The scale of plunder, loot and destruction suffered by the
Hindu temples especially those of great religious significance and prominence
is just indescribable. Perhaps, this might be the reason why it is difficult to
Indian references in old texts of this unspeakable trauma and brutality. While Persian
historians paid rich tributes to the rulers who ordered such large-scale
demolitions and hailing them as dearest one to Allah. Muslim histories have
generous recordings of temple demolitions.
From among the 80 different sources quoted by Goel in
Volume:2, the following is an account of the brutal attack on Somnath recorded
in “Tarikhul-I-Hind” written by Abu Rihan Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Biruni al
Khwarizmi who spent forty years in India. Documenting the expeditions of Sultan
Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030) to Somnath, he wrote “The linga he raised
was the stone of Somnath, for soma means the moon and natha means
master, so that the whole word means master of the moon. The image was
destroyed by Prince Mahmud, may God be merciful to him! AH-416. He ordered the
upper part to be broken and the remainder to be transported to his residence,
Ghaznin, with all its coverings and trappings of gold, jewels and embroidered
garments. Parts of it has been thrown into the hippodrome of the town, together
with the Cakrasvamin, an idol of bronze, that had been brought from
Taneshar. Another part of the idol from Somnath lies before the door of the
mosque of Ghaznin, on which people rub their feet to clean them from dirt and
wet”. Indeed, the second volume is replete of such iconoclastic expeditions
of Muslim rulers. Forsaking the tradition of asking inconvenient questions,
Goel at the end of the book encloses a questionnaire to Marxist historians to
take up the challenge of contesting the contents of the book with
evidence-based facts. Till now, historians deflected the tough questions posed
to them by citing random instances of Hindu rulers destroying Buddhist and Jain
monuments. Goel rebutted this orchestrated propaganda of drawing parity between
the Islam rulers and the Shaivite Hindu rulers with solid evidences towards the
end of the book. Designated special chapters to address various aspects of
monotheistic religions, Goel provides evidences of how Islam wiped away the
pagan culture of Arabs by destroying their idols and places of worship. The
book talks about the Islamic theology of iconoclasm in depth and supports the
narrative with literary evidences.
In volume 2 Goel launches unsparing attacks on the Leftist casuistry
which is devoid of rigorous logic. He implores Hindus to understand the
foundation of the Islam theology, an ideological guide for global Islamist
movements. India bore the brunt of iconoclastic zealotry for thirteen
centuries. Revivalist Islamist Movement paved way for partition of the country.
After partition, Hindus have been living on the edge in Pakistan who were reduced
from 25% of the population to barely 2-3% currently. Hindus in Bangladesh are
facing similar threats. Decades after independence, Hindus were driven out of
the Kashmir valley which has now turned into fertile breeding ground of radical
Islam. Thriving Islamist movements are a formidable threat to security and
sovereignty of India. After
independence, despite suffering centuries of Muslim, European and Communist
imperialism India failed to realise importance of unaltered history with
fidelity of facts. It has allowed the communists masquerading as intellectuals
to write Indian history. They imposed upon India a distorted, falsified and
contorted version of history leading to deracination of Hindus. Educated urban
elite divested of the basic understanding of Indic civilisation now hardly
bother about the Hindu temples. No wonder this elite class of Hindus are the
forefront gloating over the need for reclaiming centuries old Ramajanmasthan.
Volume-II
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