DESTRUCTION

 

                OH  GOD , WE  SUFFERED  ENOUGH       -  J . K  SIVAN 

Dear Friends,

What  I write below is no imagination or exaggeration.  It is from the pages of  history recorded by many, just  simplified for easy understanding.  We are the only people, belonging to an ancient Faith subjected to so much testing and torture.

Our  Indian history has many pages  inked in black  and red,  revealing the details of  atrocities and cruelties done to our ancestors. Why because,  we follow a  tradition, which tolerates and helps even enemies to thrive and live peacefully. But the people of other religious faith do not recognize and wanted to erase, eradicate the faith, temples we worshipped, the books  we followed and  even eliminate our people, if they did not agree to convert to their faith, and robbed, kidnapped and raped our women irrespective of their age, status and position in society.

Unfortunately  the British regime which ruled us for more than 3 centuries  had systematically and schematically blacked out most of these details so that we are kept in permanent oblivion. To add insult to injury,  they have  changed our history to praise the rulers who destructed us and our faith and religious belief.  

More than four generations  have thus been taught a  tarnished image, preventing us from knowing how  we  Hindus have experienced both historical and ongoing religious persecution and systematic violence, which occurred in the form of forced conversions, documented massacres, demolition and desecration of temples, as well as the destruction of educational centres  during the centuries we were ruled by Muslims and Christians.

The Muslim conquest  began during the early 8th century AD. .

The Umayyad governor of Iraq Hajjaj  (Karachi)  despatched  6,000 cavalry under Muhammad bin-Qasim in 712  which resulted in temple demolitions, mass executions of resisting Sindhi forces and the enslavement of their dependants. The kingdoms  of Hindu and Buddhist kings, were  raided,  wealth plundered, tribute (kharaj) settled and hostages taken.  Countless Hindu Jats were captured as prisoners by the Muslim army and moved to Iraq  as slaves.   The Martand Sun Temple was demolished to pieces by  Muslim Sultan Sikandar Butshikan in the early 15th century,

 Muhammad bin Qasim ruled  western  parts of India till the fall of the Mughal Empire. Qasim  imposed  Hanafi school of Islamic law  and  Indic religions such as Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains  were  treated  infidels  and  taxed to pay Jizya  for religious freedom in our country!!!  Muslim conquest in India is  branded by the historians such as Will Durant to be ''probably the bloodiest story in history'  while some disagree.But the fact remains. 

The destruction of temples, educational institutions, the killings of learned Hindu monks, resulted in decline of  Hindu education.  Vijayanagar emperors   Harihara, Bukka Raya  and followers,  took steps to rehabilitate Hindu religious and cultural institutions. renovate the damaged and defaced temples, and idols.  North Indian  temples faced more  destruction and damage under  Muslim rulers. The architecture of Hindu temples underwent change under the Muslim rulers suffering Islamic influences.

Aurangzeb (1658-1707)  is identified as the king of longest  muslim rule  known as  ''oppressor of Hindus and Hindu Faith'' leading   bloody campaigns against non-Muslims. He forcibly converted Hindus to Islam and destroyed Hindu temples  He  re-introduced the jizya, a tax on non-Muslims after 100 years of its  suspension.

 Aurangzeb  ordered  in 1669   all his  provincial governors  to "destroy with a willing hand the schools and temples of the infidels, to  stop teaching and practice of idol worship. He ensured desecration of  more  temples than any other Mughal emperor  in history. During his regime, mosques were built on the foundations of Hindu temples, using the  same stones.  Idols in temples were smashed.   City of Mathura was  renamed  Islamabad in local official documents.

Later  Tippu  Sultan during  British  empire,  persecuted the Hindus, Christians with the Mappila Muslims and carried out forced conversions of Hindus and Christians.  According to  historian C. K. Kareem, Tippu Sultan issued an edict for the destruction of Hindu temples in Kerala. 

Tipu got Runmust Khan, the Nawab of Kurnool, to launch a surprise attack upon the Kodava Hindus (also called Coorgs or Coorgis) who were besieged by the invading Muslim army. 500 were killed and over 40,000 Kodavas fled to the woods  hiding  themselves in the mountains. In Seringapatam, young men were  forcibly circumcised and incorporated into the Ahmedy Corps,  forming  eight Risalas or regiments. Thousands of Kodava Hindus were seized along with their  Raja and held captive at Seringapatam (Srirangapatna). They were forcibly converted to Islam, death, and torture.  The British administrator Mark Wilks gives  the number of victims as  70,000, historian Lewis Rice arrives at the figure of 85,000, while Mir Kirmani's score for the Coorg campaign is 80,000 men, women and child prisoners.

Runmust Khan, army general of Tipu,  was instructed by Tipu and  Runmust khan reported on action taken: 
''We proceeded with the utmost speed, took 40,000 as prisoners, the  Coorgis, who  were alarmed by the approach of our army, ran into the woods, hiding in lofty mountains, inaccessible even to birds.  We carried them away from their native country and  raised them to the honour of Islam, and incorporated them into our Ahmedy corps'' 

In 1788, Tipu reportedly ordered his governor in Calicut Sher Khan to begin the process of converting Hindus to Islam.  The archaeological survey of India has listed three temples which were destroyed during the reign of Tipu Sultan. These were the Harihareshwar Temple at Harihar which became a mosque, the Varahswami Temple in Srirangapatnam and the Odakaraya Temple in Hospet.

Following is  translation of a stone inscription found in Seringapatam fort: 

''Oh Almighty God! dispose the whole body of infidels! Scatter their tribe, cause their feet to stagger! Overthrow their councils, change their state, destroy their very root! Cause death to be near them, cut off from them the means of sustenance! Shorten their days! Be their bodies the constant object of their cares (i.e., infest them with diseases), deprive their eyes of sight, make black their faces (i.e., bring shame)''

In 1788, Tipu ordered his governor in Calicut Sher Khan to begin the process of converting Hindus to Islam, and in July  1788 about  200 Brahmins were forcibly converted and made to eat beef/   Mohibbul Hasan, Prof. Sheikh Ali, and other historians cast great doubt on the scale of the deportations and forced conversions in Coorg in particular, and Hasan argues that the British versions of what happened were intended to malign Tipu Sultan, as he was their inveterate enemy. He argues that little reliance can be placed in Muslim accounts such as Kirmani's Nishan-e Haidari; in their anxiety to represent the Sultan as a champion of Islam, they had a tendency to exaggerate and distort the facts: Kirmani claims that 70,000 Coorgis were converted, when forty years later the entire population of Coorg was still less than that number. According to Ramchandra Rao Punganuri the true number of converts was about 500.  Historians always differ in what they state and say but  the fact remains that many Hindus suffered and lost their lives, number may vary and differ.

For their part, the  Portuguese who  ruled Goa,  coerced thousands of Hindus into accepting Christianity by the passage of laws.Hindus were not allwed to practice their traditional faith and worship of god.   The Goa Inquisition of  1560 by Portuguese missionaries in the Estado Português da Índia,  was directed against backsliding converts (that is, former Hindus and Muslims who had converted to Christianity), and it has been recorded that at least 57 Goans were executed over a period of three hundred years, starting in the year 1560.  The inquisition was proposed by St. Francis Xavier.

Teotónio de Souza says the Hindus faced severe persecution with great fortitude.  Vicar general Miguel Vaz had written to the king of Portugal in 1543 from Goa requesting that the Inquisition to be in force in Goa.  Francis Xavier  also wanted  conversion of  Muslims in the region and the Christians abandoning their faith.  Luckily  after some years  the Inquisition in Goa led to the downfall of  Portugese rule in Goa. 

 19th century and the early 20th century (c.1836–1921) saw  Mappila riots against native Hindus and the state. The Malabar Rebellion of 1921 is often considered as the culmination of Mappila riots.  Mappilas committed several atrocities against the Hindus during the outbreak. Annie Besant reported that Muslim Mappilas forcibly converted many Hindus and killed or drove away all Hindus who would not apostatise, totalling the driven people to one lakh (100,000)