How Hindus Fought To Keep India Hindu Againt Islam

09-01-2006, 02:05 AM

I have updated the site with a write up about the great Banda Bhadur who avenged the assasination of Guru Gobind Singh and established the first Sikh kingdom in the heart of Haryana and Punjab. He became a terror for the mughals.

http://hindurajput.blogspot.com/#Banda_Bhadur

-Digvijay

Bharatvarsh · 09-01-2006, 07:00 AM

Digvijay here are some articles about the resistance in the south:
QUOTESomadeva of AravIDu and the freedom struggle
By Hauma Hamiddha | PublishedÂ 10/9/2005 | Indian History , Hinduism |Â

somadeva of AravIDu and the freedom struggle

Around 1326 Mohammed ibn Tughlaq dispatched dispatched two Turkic ghazis Maliq Zada with an army from Gujarat and Majir Abu Rija from Devagiri to wage a jihad on kampiladeva rAja of Kampili. After the rAja and his son, along with their allies the chiefs harihara, bukka and their brothers made a valiant attempt to stave off the Islamic armies from the strong fort of Kummata. Twice the Tughlaq armies were repulsed by the Hindu forces. But in the third attempt the siege drew long and the Hindus ran out of provisions and had to forfeit the fort and continue the defense of the land from the fort of Hosadurga. But Hosadurga was not well stocked and after a month the Hindus had to take on the Islamic armies in an open battle. In the battle that followed kampiladeva and his son were slain while harihara and bukka were arrested and sent to Delhi as prisoners. The head of kampilideva was stuffed with straw and paraded around to put the fear of Allah into the people. Maliq Zada in the mean time marched against Vira ballAla of the Hoysala kingdom, while Tughlaq was destroying the Kohli settlements near Pune. Tughlaq then dispatched Maliq Muhammad to wage a Jihad on Kurnool, Anegondi, Raichur and Mudgal. These provinces were captured by the Ghazi and the Hindu population was slaughtered indiscriminately.

The Vilasa copper plate inscription provides a graphic account of the Islamic atrocities commited during this invasion of the Maliq:
"In a hundred sinful ways, the residents were tortured for the sake of money. Merely on beholding the Meccan demons some abandoned their lives. brAhmaNas were disallowed to perform their sacrifices and rituals. Temples were destroyed and idols were desecrated and broken. All the agrahAras, which had long been in the enjoyment of the most learned brahmin scholars, were taken away. Forcibly deprived of the fruits of their crops, the farmers, both the rich and poor, got ruined. In that great calamity, people could not regard their money, wives and other earthly belongings as their own. The wretched Mohammedans revelled always in drinking wine, eating cow's flesh, raping women and killing the brAhmaNas. When such is the case, how could the world of living beings exist? Situated as the country was without the possibility of a saviour being conceived even in imagination, the land of Telanga, was tormented in this way by that army of the turushka suratrANa, which was exactly like rAkShasas, was in flames like a forest surrounded by wild fire".

It was under these trying circumstances that the great freedom struggle was initiated in the Eastern half of the Andhra country the valiant shUdra (kamma and reDDi) chiefs, namely, proLaya nAyaka, kApaya nAyaka and proLaya vema reDDi took up the cause of the fight back of the Hindus. But in the western half of the Telugu country and neighboring Karnataka, the honor of the fight back goes back to the valiant somadeva (somideva). somadeva was the son of gonkaladevI and pinnayya, and claimed descent from the ancient line of the kShatriya chAlukyas from pulakeshin I. We can derive the following from their vaMshavalli: Their dynastic legend from around the mid-500 ADs had it that they were given a boon by kArttikeya that they would found a long-lived warlike clan that would rule widely, perform great yAgas and defend the land. The chAlukyas had after their heydey split up into many distinct lineages that ruled all over India. A northern lineage ruled in Rajasthan as the rAjpUt dynasty of the solAnkis. The western branch had split up into the main branch that ruled in Gujarat and a minor branch in Kalyan and Konkan. The Eastern branch emerged from the younger brother of pulakeshin II of Vatapi, viShNuvardhana who originally was a commander of the army at the headquarters in Satara (modern Maharashtra; the Satara inscription). He was then sent to Vangipura, during the war against the pallavas, where he ruled as viceroy. Subsequently these chAlukyas fused with the choLas to give rise to the chAlukya-choLa combine of the Telugu country. But with the rise of the kAkatIyas the chAlukyas declined and were reduced to local chiefs from which somadeva arose.

The inscription from the Agastyeshvara temple in Tenali suggests that somadevaâs clan were vassal chiefs under pratAparudra of Warangal. He had watched the fall of the king and the devastation of the land by the Mohammedans as a youth, and decided to live up to the reputation of his ancient kShatriya clan. Building up on his core army by organizing the Hindus of Rayalsima for a struggle against Maliq Muhammad he managed to raise a formidable force of 6000 cavalry. In 1331 somadeva initiated the freedom struggle against the Moslems in the Doab of the Krishna and Tungabhadra by launching surprise assaults on the line of forts by which the Moslems held their sway over the land. The ancient shAtavahanas under emperor rudra shAtakarNi had built the fort of Satanikota in the Shrisailam region. The Moslems having captured had set up a garrison there sandwich the Hindu rebellion between two armies and crush it. But somadeva was informed of this move by the agents of the reDDis and the nAyakas. So he launched a lightning strike on Satanikota at night and defeated the Moslem army and drove them out. Then he destroyed the Moslem troops and merchant caravans distributed over the Kurnool region and created a base for the further struggle. First he carried out the war of 7 forts where he cutoff the Moslem line of supplies and coordination in the Doab of the two rivers by capturing the Mosalimadugu, Kandanavolu, Kalvakolanu, Etagiri and Ganganenikonda. In the battle of Ganganenikonda the chronicle states that somadeva scaled the fort wall personally and conducted an assault on the garrison leading the troops from front. With this in place he attacked the Moslem army at Raichur, which was sent to deal with him and having destroyed it liberated Raichur from the Turushkas. On the way back to Kurnool he was attacked by the Majir and his forces from Gosangi. But somadeva proved too much for him and he was forced to fall back into the fort. But the Hindus besieged the fort and stormed it Majir was decapitated, and somadeva offered his head as a bali to aghora bhairava who presided over the tank in the fort. From there he proceeded to recapture the mighty fort of Anegondi which had fallen to Tughlaq by scaling the walls secretly and letting in his troops to storm the fort. Then he liberated Mudgal after capturing the fort from Tughlaqâs Naib and slaughtering the Moslem force placed in the city. He restored the places of worships, farms and agrahAras of the Brahmins. Finally somadeva had a showdown with the main army of Maliq Muhammad who was advancing from Kampili. His forces massacred much the Moslem army and the survivors scattered all over but were mopped by the reDDIs, vIra ballala and the nAyakas. The Maliq was captured, but foolishly somadeva let him return to Delhi after he had forsaken Kampili. However, somadeva did not live long after his triumphs but founded the famed AravIDu line, which was to serve the Vijayanagara rulers through many deed of valor in war. Finally his descendent rAmarAya became the ruler of Vijayanagara itself after the clan of kR^iShNadeva.

The dvipada bAlabhAgavataM gives the chronicle of somadevaâs career. It gives him the title: chaturdasha-pura-nishudan- the destroyer of 14 forts. It also states: âHe is verily like indra himself, possessed of great energy, who scaled the walls of the impregnable Moslem fortsâ. The text also states that somadeva's son was raghavadeva born of his wife kamalAdevI. His son was pinnabhUpAla, born of raghavadeva's wife bAchaladevI.

Thus, did the brave somadeva lead the Hindus in their historic struggle against the Moslems, after the Khaljis and Tughlaq had attempted to destroy the dharma

http://www.india-forum.com/articles/45/1/S...reedom-struggle
QUOTEVema Reddy

In 1311 Alla-ad-din Khalji sent his lover and general Maliq Kaffr to devastate the Telengana region with his ferocious army of Islam. The invasion was savage and Hindu kshatriyas of the Kakatiya, Chalukya and Chola clans fought with great valor but were routed in the battles around Warangal. The survivors took shelter in the fort of Kondapalli and held out against the Mohammedan blizzard. However, in 1316 Alla-ad-din died and the tumultuous events in Delhi triggered by the Gujarati rebellion prevented the Mohammedans from consolidating their grip over Telangana. As result there was severe local unrest and Kakatiyas under Prataparudra started re-establishing themselves. The veteran Ghazi from Afghanistan, Ghazi al Maliq Tughlaq, soon set matters right for the Mohammedans in Delhi and decided to consolidate the flagging Jihad in peninsular India. He sent his able successor Mohammed bin Tughlaq to prosecute the Jihad with unrelenting vigor in South India. M b Tughlaq charted elaborate plans for the invasion of Pune, Devagiri, Telengana and Tondaimandalam and set them rolling in 1321. After having sacked Pune in course of a year long siege of Kondana which was valiantly defended by Naga Nayaka he plowed through Devagiri and turning south east arrived in Telengana in 1322. After a prolonged, fierce see-saw encounter in which the Mohammedans constantly receiving supplies from Devagiri and Delhi the Kakatiya army of Prataparudra was vanquished at Warangal. They were forced into the defensive as the army of Islam mounted a massive encirclement attack on the fort of Rajamahendravaram. They held out for 6 months but at the end of it the Mohammedans stormed the fort and massacred the defenders to man. Prataparudra and his family was captured and sent to Delhi, but on the way he killed himself rather than go through the ordeal of converting to Islam. The grand Shri Venugopala Swami temple built by the Chalukyas was demolished by Tughlaq and he erected a mosque using the material from the temple. With that the kshatriya presence in Telengana had been smashed the the oppressive cresent banner terrorized the land.

In 1325 the responsibility of organizing defense of the dharma was taken up by the valiant shudra warrior Prolaya Vema Reddy. Son of local warlord, he describes himself "as one of the 4th varNa that emerged from the feet of mahAviShNu" who decided to rid the land of the wicked Turks after kshatriyas had all been killed for the protection of the agrahAras and brAhmaNas. Vema Reddy drawing inspiration from his deity ga~nga, who had also apparently emerged from the feet of viShNu as the fourth varNa, and the warrior god kumAra assembled a large army drawn from the peasants and herdsmen of the ravaged land. His clan had long excelled in cattle raids and honed the skills of the the rapid hit and run methods. He joined hands with two other major local landowners like Prolaya Nayaka and Kaapaya Nayaka and they formed a coalition with at least 75 other local strongmen and warlords. Reddy assembled his Hindu armies at Addanki and marched on the Tughlaq army. The Reddys apparently used biological warfare in this conflict and contaminated the water supplies leading to the Mohammedans with sewage resulting a raging dysentry which decimated the Tughlaq army. M b Tughlaq himself fell ill and retreated. As the Moslems were in disarray the Hindu army fell upon them and crushed remanants in pitched encounter at the outskirts of Warangal. The Vema Reddy realized that even though the army had departed the local Moslem Amirs and merchants were a major obstacle in restoring Hindu rule. So he conducted a series of raids destroy their trading networks and militias and extirpating the pockets of Islamic garrisons distributed over the country. In the process they were aided by the Hindu king Vira Ballaala of Dwarasamudra, who staved of attacks by the army of Islam from its head quarters in Devagiri. In 1335 M b Tughlaq sent a large force under Maqbool Iqbal to smash the Hindu revival in Telengana. However, the Reddy and Nayaka army aided by auxillaries sent by Vira Ballaala inflicted a massive defeat on them, killing 15 Moslem Amirs on the field. Vema Reddy chased Iqbal into the Warangal fort and seeing that he was hard-pressed to defend it Kaapaya Nayaka stormed the fort. Vema Reddy then moved on the fort of Kondvidu and stormed it by hacking off the head Maliq Gurjaar, the Moslem commander. Then liberated Nidadavolu, Vundi and Pithapuram after pitched battles. He then massacred an army of Jalal-ud-din Shah in a raid on Tondaimandalam even as Ballaala engaged the sultan himself. However, after a long struggle with the Sultans of Madhurai and Delhi, Ballaala finally into the hands of the Moslems. He was skinned alive and his dry skin was pegged on one of the wall of Madhurai (seen later by ibn Battuta). Undaunted Vema Reddy launched a series of daring attacks on the Moslem garrisons in the forts of Bellamkonda, Vinukonda and Nagarjunakonda and captured all of them after slaughtering the defenders. He raised his flag in Kondavidu and declared himself a Raja. His famous inscriptions from this period state: " I restored all the agraharas of Brahmins, which had been taken away by the evil Moslem kings". "I am indeed an Agastya to the ocean which was made of the Moslem". To restore the dharma he instituted major repairs to the Shrishailam rudra temple and built a flight of steps from the Krishna river to the temple on the mountain top. He also repaired the viShNu temple at Ahobilam. He also built a palace in Kondavidu for housing the women he had accquired. This became the harem for all the other subsequent Reddys. His restoration of the dharma also caused a major revival of local literature, especially under the auspices of the Telugu author Erranna, a vatsa bhArgava brAhmaNa of the middle migration of the bhArgavas. His rAmAyaNa was supposed to have been a master piece.

His successor was Anavema Reddy who continued the struggle against the army of Islam. His began by liberating Rajahmahendravaram and demolished a Mazar which had been built there on a Hindu shrine. He then scaled the fort of Korukonda with a small force at night liberated it from the Moslem garrison. Next he conquered Simhachalam fort and parts of the Kalinga kingdom.His inscription states "I the valiant member of the 4th varNa destroyed the throngs of Moslems and gathered learned brAhmaNas at this court". He built the vIra shiromanDapam in the Shrishailam temple. The Shrishailam temple was also renovated by two other great Hindu fighters, Krishnadeva Raya and Shivaji Chatrapati at a later time.

The war of independence in Telengana is one more of those largely forgotten stories of the provincial Hindu resistance in the aftermath of the Khalji-Tughlaq years.

http://manollasa.blogspot.com/2004/03/vema-reddy.html

Bharatvarsh · 09-01-2006, 07:05 AM

I could not find any good articles on the role of Kapayya Nayaka and Prolaya Nayaka, so here is an online book that gives a good outline of this liberation movement in Andhra:

http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scrip...e=2020010010178

It's titled "After The Kakatiyas" by Dr v yashoda Devi, the book is in English, only the preface is in Telugu so everyone can read it, another copy of the same book has been scanned at the site but that is not working, in this book 3 pages are missing but the rest is fine. The book quotes the original inscriptions of Kapayya Nayaka which make it clear the war was a liberation movement fought to save Hindu religion from Muslim atrocities.

Bharatvarsh · (This post was last modified: 09-01-2006, 07:28 AM by Bharatvarsh.)

Now coming to the Vijayanagara empire, no article can do full justice to the role this great empire played in saving dharma in testing times, it kept Muslims at bay from the South for almost 200 years.

Here is a book about this great empire:

http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/en...ry/vijayanagar/

The book can be described as the first book to try and rediscover the history of this great empire but it's main drawback is that it relies exclusively on foreign accounts of Vijayanagara, since then tons of native source material has been unearthed including many chronicles but they are not online so this book serves as a good introduction.

Another book I wanted to highlight is "Madhuravijayam" by Gangadevi, a Sanskrit chronicle about Kumara Kampana Raya's (son of Bukka I, one of the founders of the Vijayanagara empire) liberation of Madhura from Muslims, Gangadevi was his wife and accompanied him on these expeditions and described what she saw, she says that Kampana had a dream in which the mother Goddess came to him and presented him a sword and ordered him to liberate Madura and other holy places from Muslim oppression.

Madhuravijayam is online in Hindi:

http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scrip...e=5010010007170

And in Sanskrit:

http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scrip...e=5010010009642

The site also has 2 Telugu translations but they are not working.

A sample of what Gangadevi says in her chronicle:
QUOTE124 Actual spitting in the mouth of the non-Muslims was not uncommon. Ganga Devi wife of Kumar Kampana (died 1374 CE) of Vijayanagar writes as follows in her Madhuravijayam regarding the state of things in the Madura region when it was under Muslim rule: "The temples in the land have fallen into neglect, as worship in them has been stopped... The sweet odour of the sacrificial smoke and chant of the Vedas have deserted the villages which are now filled with the foul smell of roasted flesh and the fierce noise of the ruffianly Turushkas... The wicked mlechchas pollute the religion of the Hindus every day."

http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/tpmsi/ch04.htm
QUOTEGangadevi the wife of Kumar Kampana (died 1374 AD) of Vijayanagara writes as follows in her MadhurÃ£vijayam regarding the state of things in the Madurai region when it was under Muslim rule: âThe wicked mlechchas pollute the religion of the Hindus every day. They break the images of gods into pieces and throw away the articles of worship. They throw into fire Srimad Bhagwat and other holy scriptures, forcibly take away the conchshell and bell of the Brahmanas, and lick the sandal paints on their bodies. They urinate like dogs on the tulsi plant and deliberately pass faeces in the Hindu temples. They throw water from their mouths on the Hindus engaged in worship, and harass the Hindu saints as if they were so many lunatics let large.â

http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/siii/ch10.htm

**Hauma Hamiddha** · 09-01-2006, 07:55 AM

Bharatvarsh- if you get the chance could you change the urls of the book references from the digi library you are posting. The cgi URL do not work for many people. May be jsut give the site URL and the book name so that people can search.

Bharatvarsh · 09-01-2006, 06:52 PM

HH here is the site url:

http://dli.iiit.ac.in/

Bharatvarsh · 09-03-2006, 01:07 AM

QUOTEEssay: THE HEROIC POETRY OF OLD GUJARATI
by K.M. Munshi

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gujarat had heroic poetry in Apabhransa reflecting its martial spirit in the days of the Chalukyas and Vaghelas. A similar literature in Old Gujarati has all but disappeared; only two poems give an idea of its nature. They provide a brilliant picture of the epic heroism displayed by Gujarat when it grimly contested every inch of ground with the invader.

The poem, Ranamallachanda, is a short ballad, composed about 1400 by Sridhara, celebrating the heroic deeds of Ranamalla of Idara. It consists of seventy stanzas in metres like cupai and duha, and is the earliest work of a kind which has been a favourite of the bards. This literature, principally panegyrical, is composed in metres which lend themselves to recitation with considerable dramatic force. The language is very often archaic and strongly alliterative. Sometimes words are altered out of recognition in the interest of sound effects, and assonances and other verbal tricks abound.

Ranamalla of Idara, of the Kamadhaja or Rathoda family, was a great warrior. About 1397, he harassed Zafar Khan, the viceroy of Patana, and spread terror among the Mussalman chiefs.

As the army of the Sultan bristled with valour Ranamalla's whiskers flew about with wrath.

The Sultan calls upon him to submit. Ranamalla roars :

If my lotus-like head bows before the Mlechhas' feet, the sun will not rise in the sky. So long as the sun moves in the sky, Kamadhaja will not bow to a block of stone. Even if the flame of the submarine fire is extinguished, I will not yield an inch of land to the Mlechha.

A battle ensues between the two armies, and is described in jingling rhymes. The Mussalmans are routed, and in token of submission the not unusual humiliation of being made to eat grass is forced on them. Ranamalla begins to think of world-wide conquest, and he says, "I will bring under my control everything on which the sun shines."

Kanhadadeprabandha (c. 1456) follows a greater literary tradition. It deals with the struggle which Gujarata made for self-preservation after 1297, and breathes the grim and heroic attitude of mind which prevailed among her people during the fourteenth century. The author, Padmanabha of Visalanagara, was the poet-laureate of Akheraja, the Cahamana or Cohana king of Jhalora and a descendant of the hero of the poem. A few manuscripts of the work, luckily mistaken for those of a religious work, were preserved by the Jaina temples. Its language is Old Gujarati, then spoken all over Western Rajasthan including Gujarat. The style, though not as elegant as Bhalana's, maintains a high level of expressiveness. The language is neither trite nor ornate; the interest is well sustained throughout. The author, however, could not resist the temptation of recording in the conventional manner the names of Rajput and Mussalman warriors, and of introducing didactic verses and tedious narrative of past lives. In some places, the chronological order has not been preserved, and the same descriptions appear more than once. As a narrative, it is much better than many other rasas; and it has the merit of being without religious bias.

The poem opens with a prayer, and proceeds to mention Maravada, `the land of nine forts', and the Sonagira Cohanas `as noble looking as royal swans'. Karnadeva Ghelo ruled in Gujarata. Being enamoured of Kesava's wife, he killed the husband and appropriated the wife. The minister Madhava, Kesava's brother, moved by wrath, said, "I shall not taste any food in Gujarata till I bring the Turks here." One this, the poet feelingly laments :

To the place where he worshipped his God and sang His praises; where he performed sacrifices and gave gifts to Brahmanas; where he worshipped the sacred Tulsi plant and Pipala tree, heard recited the Vedas and the Puranas; where all go for pilgrimage; where all sing the Smrtis and the Puranas, there, Madhava brought the Mlechhas.

Ready to betray his country for a private wrong, Madhava goes to Delhi. He approaches Sultan Alla-ud-din with presents and offers to subdue Gujarat if an army is given to him. The sultan consents, and sends a message to Kanhadade, the Cohana king of Jhalora, to let the imperial army pass through his territory on its way to Gujarata. Proudly, Kanhadade replies :

I owe no such duty. They will plunder the villages; take my men prisoners; tear off women's ears. I do not make way for those who oppress the Brahmana and the cow.

But Alla-ud-din, determined to conquer Gujarat, secures a passage through Mevada. Battada of Modasa vainly bars the way of the onrushing hosts.

Pillaging, burning, destroying, the Sultan's army marches towards Patana. The Mussalmans, with Madhava at their head, invest the city. The ex-minister, traitor to the last, advises Karna to escape with his life. The king takes the advice; the queen flees on foot; and the capital falls into the hands of Alafkhan, the general of Alla-ud-din. `And from what once were temples was sounded the muezzin's call to prayers.'

The army then started on a further campaign of conquest and destruction to the south. It carried carnage right up to Surat, Rander, and the sea; returned to Saurashtra, destroyed many of its towns, and proceeded to Prabhasa. The Rajputs mobilised their strength to protect the shrine of Somanatha, and valiantly fought the enemy. But the fortress fell; and in front of the temple which they had vainly sought to protect, the heroic warriors, after ceremonial bathing and anointment, fell fighting, `surrendered themselves to Somanatha'. Madhava, the cause of all this evil, was also killed.

The temple had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Alafkhan broke open the shrine, shattered the idol to pieces, and carried away the fragments in a cart to Delhi. "We shall make chunam out of it", he said. The poet then piteously asks Siva :

O Rudra! By your wrath you burnt the demons. You spread virtue in the world; You removed the terror which oppressed the gods; You put to flight the powerful demon, Tripura, even as the wind blows away chaff. Padmanabha asks you : O Rudra ! Where is now your mighty trident ?

The conquering army, the poet proceeds, burnt villages, devastated the land, plundered people's wealth; took Brahmanas, children and women of all castes captive, and flogged them with thongs of raw hide; carried a moving prison with it, and converted the prisoners into obsequious Turks. Alafkhan then turned his attention to Kanhadade, who had declined to give a passage to his army.

Parvati and Ganga, God Somanatha's spouses, urge Kanhadade in a dream to save the god from the hands of the Mlechha. When Alafkhan sends a message to Kanhadade, he gets a fitting reply : "A hero never praises himself. He who performs heroic deeds alone wins fame." Alafkhan thereupon continues his march and encamps at Sirana.

Ministers of the Cohana king call on the Khan, who shows them his army and his prisoners. The ministers report the state of things to Kanhadade, who gets ready for battle. The goddess Asapura is worshipped; necessary orders are given; and the Rajput armies go forward to meet the foe.

In the battle that follows, the Turks are routed. Alafkhan flees for life. The idol of Somanath is recovered, and nine lacs of prisoners are set free. The victory is then celebrated in Jhalora, and the conqueror returns home amidst the rejoicings of his people.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
excerpted from GUJARATA AND ITS LITERATURE by K.M.MUNSHI

http://www.geocities.com/ungandhi/kmmunshi1.htm

Both epics have been translated and published:
QUOTERanamalla chanda : virarasatmaka Rajasthani carita-kavya
by Sridhara Vyasa;Â Mulacanda Pranesa

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3...b4da09e526.html
QUOTEKanhadade Prabandha: Padmanabha's epic account of Kanhadade

V.S. Bhatnagar

https://www.vedamsbooks.com/34523.htm

Bharatvarsh · 09-03-2006, 01:16 AM

QUOTEBut Ayodhya is not the first act of people's reaction against the desecration of their shrines. Muslim armies of Delhi attacked Gujarat in 1299, and again sacked the temple of Somnath. They looted the opulent city of Anhilvara and sacked a number of monasteries, palaces and temples in Asavalli, Vanmanthali, Surat, Dholka and Khambayat. The Gujaratis could not forget or forgive this vandalism. 40,000 brave Dalit Barwaris from Gujarat arrived in Delhi over the years and sacked the main mosque in Siri in Delhi in 1320 under the rule of Sultan Nasiruddin Khusrau, a half-convert. Idol worship was started inside the palace and mosque. Copies of the Quran were tom to pieces and used as seats for idols which were placed in the mehrabs (niches) of the mosques, and the slaughter of cows was forbidden.99 The Barwaris had known Muslim invader and rulers breaking temples, burning their religious books, and enslaving their women and children. The Barwaris paid them back in their own coin. They say "revenge is a kind of wild justice". And there are many more such examples of which only a few may be mentioned here.

http://voiceofdharma.org/books/tpmsi/ch06.htm

09-03-2006, 01:55 AM

For last two days I was reading recent book release in Google. If you read books published in 18th-19th century on India.
I am surprised how and why dream of "Christian India" failed. All European bandits were busy with conversion agenda. If you check Atlas handbook, they have conversion center all over India. So much power and funds was available.
One can find Hindu hate books everywhere.
Now I can understand, how Indian Elites were brainwashed by such books and even today we can see effect in media and current government policies especially those have education from UK or Marxist.
Other interesting fact. Europeans failed to understand Hindus/Indic civilization completely.
That may be one of reason why complete âChristian Indiaâ failed in India.
Other was Islam.

Very limited or no criticism on Indian Muslim or Islam by Europeans in India.
Unable to understand reason. Either they were just scared of Muslims or they were easy to bribe or British was actual rulers of Islamic country from Middle East till far east Asia or ...

Hauma Hamiddha · (This post was last modified: 09-03-2006, 10:20 AM by Hauma Hamiddha.)

This is my first post.This is what I found about the rajputs.The content is not mine.

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> Edited -Stick to thread topic.
Thanks.
Also numbers are not allowed in usr names
Admin
</span>

Bharatvarsh · 09-03-2006, 05:53 AM

sridhar2, what does that have anything to do with the topic, the article is full of ridiculous myths that can be refuted by anyone with the least knowledge of Indian history, it's no ones case that all Rajputs were brave or patriotic but to claim that they were all traitors is rubbish, no wonder the moron is highly selective in his examples and never mentions Maharana Kumbha and Pratap, Durgadas Rathore, Hammir Singh, Hammir Dev Chauhan and many others and he makes use of ridiculous colonail myths of Rajputs descending from Scythians which has been fully refuted on this site itself.

09-03-2006, 10:33 PM

When writing about the resistance of Assam, one should not forget the role of the states before the rise of the Ahom power:

Kamarup, Kamata, and Cooch Behar

And speaking of Cooch Behar we all know that R Gayatri Devi of Jaipur is originally from that state. But I did not know that a Jaipur-Cooch Behar marriage took place even before that!

QUOTEMirza Raja MAN SINGH I Bahadur 1589/1614 (son of Rani Bhagwati), born 9th May 1540, married, including

(a) 30th January 1593 Rani Akshaya Devi, daughter of the Raja Ram Chandra Dev of Khurda,

(b) 23rd December 1596 Rani Kshama Devi (committed sati), daughter of Maharaja NAR NARAYANÂ of <b>Cooch Behar</b>, and had issue. He died 6th July 1614 at Elichpur.

http://uqconnect.net/~zzhsoszy/ips/j/jaipur.html

Bharatvarsh · (This post was last modified: 09-05-2006, 04:02 AM by Bharatvarsh.)

QUOTE(77) "Since his coming to the throne, my father the Emperor Aurangzeb has formed the deliberate resolution of putting down the Hindus. This is the sole cause of his war against the Rajputs, while in the eyes of God all men are His equal children and deserve impartial protection from their ruler. I.. decided to oppose him in this disastrous move. I am, therefore, coming to you as a friend, as your kingdom is out of the Emperor's reach. The valiant Durgadas Rathod accompanies me. Please do not entertain any false suspicion about my intensions. We shall fully co-operate in putting down the Emperor more when we meet in person." May 1681. - Extract from Prince Akbar's letter to Sambhaji, New Hist. Vol. I, p. 305.

http://www.maratharajputrelations.com/intro2.html
QUOTE"Raja Ajitsingh(84) had cast of his allegiance to the late Emperor, and done many improper things. After the death of Aurangzeb, he again showed his disobedience and rebellion by oppressing Musalmans, forbidding the killing of cows, preventing the summons to prayer, razing the mosques which had been built after the destruction of the idol temples in the late reign, and repairing and building new idol-temples. He was warmly supported and assisted by the army of the Rana of Udaypur, and was closely allied with Raja Jaisingh, whose son-in-low he was."

But when Bahadur Shah, himself marched to Ambar, in January 1708, his strength fell too short to face him and he submitted. He was pardoned and was given a command of 3500 and the title of Maharaja. The dispute for succession to Ambar was decided by giving it to Vijaysing. Officers of Justice, kazies etc. were reappointed in Jodhpur and other towns. Ajitsing, Jaysing and Durgadas came to the Court and each was honoured with two gift of robe, elephant, etc. (February, 1708 A.D.)

But while the Emperor(85) was on his way to Deccan to punish Kam Baksha, Ajitsing, Jaysing and Durgadas fled from his camp (30th April 1708 A.D.) and joining Amarsing of Mewad, expelled of Commandant of Jodhpur, defeated the Commandant of Hinaun-Bayana, recovered Ambar by night attack, and killed the Commandant of Mewat and many other officers (August, September 1708 A.D.).

Fully preoccupied in Deccan(86) Bahadur Shah could ill afford to meet these Rajput challenges. He sent Abdulla Khan(87) to the Subha of Ajmer accompanied by the killedars of Ambar, Jodhpur and Medta. At the same time, in order to concillate the Rajput Chiefs, he made an increase in the Mansabs of Jaysing and Ajitsing. But these acts of Bahadur Shah could hardly pacify the Rajputs.

The news of the reciprocal treaties(88) among the various States reached the Mughal camp in Deccan. The three States of Jaypur, Jodhpur and Udaypur effected an alliance against the Mughals. They had previously come nearer in 1680 A.D. with the same understanding in the war of Rathod independence. But this time the unity was more perfect, since Jaypur also had joined the aliance. The Rajput Cehiets cemented this unity with the ties of blood. Rana Amarsing gave his daughter Chandrakuwari in marriage to Sawai Jaysing on 25th May, 1708 A.D. He had also married the daugher of Ajitsing in the previous year. They now held a prolonged conference (1708 to 1710 A.D.)(89) on the border of Pushkar lake and after full deliberation proclaimed a solemn concerted policy that they would not henceforth give their daughters in marriage to the Muslimd and that if any prince acted contrary to this resolution, the others should join and put down the deserter by force, if necessary. The Ranas of Udaypur were further acknowledged to be fo purer blood having all-long refused to give their daughters in marriage to the Msulims. Hence, Pushkar conference laid down that if any Rajput prince had an issue from a daughter of Udaypur family that issue was to be given a preference over those born from other wives.

No Hindu ever liked to give his daughter in marriage to a Muslim. It was all the force of circumstances to which the Rajputs had bowed. The acknowledgement of the high social status and the purity of blood of the Rana's family revealed the wounds of the hearts of the Rajput Chiefs. It wad clearly the Hindu spirit that the Rajputs exhibited this time. The Emperor in Deccan did not fail to recognise it.

The following two letters of Sawai Jaysing clearly reveal the prevailing Hindu spirit. To Chhatrapati Shahu he wrote.(90)

"Your Highness must be aware of the cordial ties that existed among our elders. I hope, by the kindness of Shri Ramji, the ties between us shall grow still closer. Shah Alam, after becoming the Emperor, resumed my watan, and called Maharaja Ajit Singh to the Court assuring him that Jodhpur would be restored to him, but did not do so. This news must have reached Your Highness. I, on my part, spared no effort, to serve the Patshah, but he harbors malice towards the Hindus, and on one pretext or another wants to ruin them. For this reason, and as it was considered necessary, we broke off from the Emperor and came to Rana Amar Singh at Udaipur, an after (full) deliberations decided that if the Patshah even now becomes favourable towards the Hindus and restores mansabs and watans, as had been enjoyed by their ancestors, then it is all right, otherwise the Hindus will also do what they can. So far we have expelled the faujdars and qiledars from Amber and Jodhpur, and have established our control there, and shall now be leaving for Amber. Ranaji will also join (us) on Dashera (there). Your Highness is the Sardar of the Deccan. The honour of all the Hindus is one and the same. Hence, you take such measures that just as by entangling Patshah Alamgir in the Deccan, the honour of Hindustan was upheld, in the same manner this Patshah too should not be able to extricate himself from there. Earlier, Your Highness servants had accompalished this much, but now you yourself are there. Kam Baksh is also in Bijapur, Haidarabad. In alliance and in consultation with him, you will no doubt do what you think is proper, so that the Hindus have an upper hand in this conflict. What more I write".

(In the margin) "It has often been said that Alamgir was displeased with Raja Ram Singh on account of Shivaji's case, and did not forget the hostility of Mahraja Jaswant Singh towards him. He retained in his heart ill-feeling on that account. Now we have to see to it."

In his letter dated October 16, 1708 to Chhatrasal(91) , Jai Singh wrote that the trouble started when the Emperor, while granting them mansabs, incorporate the parganas of their watans into khalisa. "Your Highness knows well as to how one can live without a watan and what is (the importance) of a mansab without the watan. Informing Chhatrsal about the Rajput victory at Sambhar in which three thousand of the enemies were killed, and expressing his confidence that similar victories would be gained by them in future also, he wrote, "If Sardars like Your Highness gird up their loins, then the honour of Hindustan would no doubt be maintained. Other zamindars, mansabdars and the Rajas of the intervening region have already united and have removed the thanas of the Turks from their territories. Shri Ranaji too must have written to Your Highness (to do so). You will please join us early for the sake of the honour of th entire Hindu race. As we all Hindus hae common ties, you will not delay in coming towards this side." He asked Chhatrasal to send the names of the prominent zamindars of the east whom they might contract and requested him to write letters to all such chiefs with whom he had intimate contracts. "This is no longer as issue which concerns any one person; now it concerns all the Hindu (rulers) ", he concluded.

http://www.maratharajputrelations.com/intro2.html
QUOTEThe Wars of succession, that followed the death of Bajadur Shah (24th February 1712 A.D.) practically left the Rajputs free in their territory. Ajitsing expelled the imperial officers(103) from Jodhpur, captured Ajmer and forbade cow-killing and Muslim prayers in his territory.

But this was too much for the Muslim rule(104) to endure and Husain Ali marched from Delhi with a powerful army to punish him. Ajitsing was powerless against his strength. Not only had he to submit, but also to give his daughter in marriage to the Emperor (May 1714 A.D.)(105)

(105) But after the fall of Farrukh Siyar, he took back his daughter "made throw off her Musalman race, dismissed her Muhammadan attendants". Kafi Khan laments, "In the reign of no former as to take his daugher after she had been married to a king and admitte to the honour of Islam". 'Munt. Lubab' in E.D. Vol. VII, p. 483.

http://www.maratharajputrelations.com/in...ml#105down

09-06-2006, 06:48 AM

QUOTE(In the margin) "It has often been said that Alamgir was displeased with Raja Ram Singh on account of Shivaji's case, and did not forget the hostility of Mahraja Jaswant Singh towards him. He retained in his heart ill-feeling on that account. Now we have to see to it."


The tone expressed by Sawai Jai Singh in these letters really shows that the Jaipur alliance with Mughals was a compulsion. It shows how the mughal rulers tried to do away with the Jaipur Kings by foul means...like sending Raja Ram Singh to Assamas punishment for helping Shivaji.

Aurangzeb poisoned Rajput rulers like Jaswant Singh, his son Prithi Singh, and tried to convert the others by dubious means. I've read somewhere that even Akbar tried to poison Raja Man Singh because the latter had become too influential in the Mughal court.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 09-06-2006, 08:42 AM by Bodhi.)

Would like some answers on one particular aspect of this history : Rajput - Muslim matrimonial alliance.

1) When did Rajputs start giving their daughters in marriage to Muslims? Did it start with Akbar-Man Singh?
2) More important - why and how would this start? As we know from Rani Padmini's story, Rajputs can bet anything for the honour of their women? (Even Babarnama at least attests this aspect). So what could force/motivate them into these alliances? Or these alliance were not considered dishonor?
3) Was this matrimonial relationship one-way only? Or do we have records of mughals also giving their daughters to Rajput princes?
4)Did Rajputs consider this an insult or honour or no difference? Any records?
5)Are such examples few and far-in between, or a regular affaire?
6)Other than rajputs, are there recrds of any other Hindu princes giving their daughters in marriage to Muslims?
7)What is the last such reported mariage of Rajput-Muslims?
8)Was Jahangir son of Jodhabai? Did a Hindu mother have any psychological impact on Jahangir - like soft corner towards Hindus etc.?

09-06-2006, 03:25 PM

QUOTE(Bodhi @ Sep 6 2006, 08:32 AM)Would like some answers on one particular aspect of this history : Rajput - Muslim matrimonial alliance.

1) When did Rajputs start giving their daughters in marriage to Muslims? Did it start with Akbar-Man Singh?
2) More important - why and how would this start?Â As we know from Rani Padmini's story, Rajputs can bet anything for the honour of their women? (Even Babarnama at least attests this aspect). So what could force/motivate them into these alliances? Or these alliance were not considered dishonor?
3) Was this matrimonial relationship one-way only?Â Or do we have records of mughals also giving their daughters to Rajput princes?
4)Did Rajputs consider this an insult or honour or no difference? Any records?
5)Are such examples few and far-in between, or a regular affaire?
6)Other than rajputs, are there recrds of any other Hindu princes giving their daughters in marriage to Muslims?
7)What is the last such reported mariage of Rajput-Muslims?
8)Was Jahangir son of Jodhabai?Â Did a Hindu mother have any psychological impact on Jahangir - like soft corner towards Hindus etc.?
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The link here gives a lot of these alliances and to answer question 5) it was not few and far-in between.

http://www.uq.net.au/~zzhsoszy/ips/misc/mughal.html

I do not want to point or show any particular community as bad but historically this is what happened. It shows that Akbar had married a lot of Rajput princesses and not just the one from Jaipur. Then Jahangir who followed Akbar also had several wives, from Amber/Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner. We also find that a lot of these wives were either committing suicides or just dying early.

It was a very bad period.

DILDAR

Bharatvarsh · (This post was last modified: 09-06-2006, 06:08 PM by Bharatvarsh.)

QUOTE1) When did Rajputs start giving their daughters in marriage to Muslims? Did it start with Akbar-Man Singh?
Yes it started with the time of Akbar.
QUOTE2) More important - why and how would this start? As we know from Rani Padmini's story, Rajputs can bet anything for the honour of their women? (Even Babarnama at least attests this aspect). So what could force/motivate them into these alliances? Or these alliance were not considered dishonor?
From what I know the story of Rani Padmini is more of a legend than history but even brushing that aside we know many instances of jauhar being committed but by Akbar's time their resources were probably exhausted and they gave their daughters to Muslims as a way of appeasing them to keep their hands off their kingdoms.
QUOTE3) Was this matrimonial relationship one-way only? Or do we have records of mughals also giving their daughters to Rajput princes?
No it was a one way cycle as far as I know.
QUOTE4)Did Rajputs consider this an insult or honour or no difference? Any records?
Of course they did, that is why Maharana Pratap issued an order to his band of followers not to intermarry with those who gave their daughters to Muslims, that is why at the Pushkar conference they had, it was acknowledged that the Rana of Udaipur (Mewar) was the head of all Rajputs and superior to everyone else since his family never gave their women to Muslims. Also Raja Ajit Singh of Marwar used to retaliate against Muslims whenever he had a chance (ban cow slaughter, azan, demolish mosques and rebuild mandirs etc) but he was a vassal of the Mughals and when the Mughals marched against him he had to give his daughter to them to save himself but after Farukh Siyar's death he took back his daughter and made her throw off her Mussalman dress, obviously he considered it an insult but it was the force of circumstances that made him do it.
QUOTE5)Are such examples few and far-in between, or a regular affaire?
I guess they were a regular affair from Akbar to Aurangzeb, because they all had Rajput wives/concubines.
QUOTE6)Other than rajputs, are there recrds of any other Hindu princes giving their daughters in marriage to Muslims?
There is one I know of, here is some info:
QUOTEDeva Raya then began to treat for peace, and was compelled to submit to conditions to the last degree humiliating. He agreed to give the Sultan his daughter in marriage, to indemnify him with an immense treasure, and to cede for ever the fort of Bankapur.[96]

"Though the roies of Carnatic had never yet married their daughters but to persons of their own cast, and giving them to strangers was highly disgraceful, yet Dewul Roy, out of necessity, complied, and preparations for celebrating the nuptials were made by both parties. For forty days communication was open between the city and the sultan's camp. Both sides of the road were lined with shops and booths, in which the jugglers, drolls, dancers, and mimics of Carnatic displayed their feats and skill to amuse passengers. Khankhanan and Meer Fuzzul Oollah, with the customary presents of a bridegroom, went to Beejanuggur, from whence at the expiration of seven days they brought the bride, with a rich portion and offerings from the roy, to the sultan's camp. Dewul Roy having expressed a strong desire to see the sultan, Feroze Shaw with great gallantry agreed to visit him with his bride, as his father-in-law.

"A day being fixed, he with his bride proceeded to Beejanuggur, leaving the camp in charge of Khankhanan. On the way he was met by Dewul Roy in great pomp. From the gate of the city to the palace, being a distance of six miles,[97] the road was spread with cloth of gold, velvet, satin, and other rich stuffs. The two princes rode on horseback together, between ranks of beautiful boys and girls, who waved plates of gold and silver flowers[98] over their heads as they advanced, and then threw them to be gathered by the populace. After this the inhabitants of the city made offerings, both men and women, according to their rank. After passing through a square directly in the centre of the city,[99] the relations of Dewul Roy, who had lined the streets in crowds, made their obeisance and offerings, and joined the cavalcade on foot, marching before the princes. Upon their arrival at the palace gate, the sultan and roy dismounted from their horses, and ascended a splendid palanquin, set with valuable jewels, in which they were carried together to the apartments prepared for the reception of the bride and bridegroom, when Dewul Roy took his leave, and retired to his own palace. The sultan, after being treated with royal magnificence for three days, took his leave of the roy, who pressed upon him richer presents than before given, and attended him four miles on his way, when he returned to the city.

"Sultan Feroze Shaw was enraged at his not going with him to his camp, and said to Meer Fuzzul Oollah that he would one day have his revenge for the affront offered him by such neglect. This declaration being told to Dewul Roy, he made some insolent remarks, so that, notwithstanding the connection of family, their hatred was not calmed."

http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/en...ry/vijayanagar/
QUOTE7)What is the last such reported mariage of Rajput-Muslims?
Have no idea, but I guess it was the marriage between Raja Ajit Singh's daughter and Farukh Siyar.
QUOTE8)Was Jahangir son of Jodhabai? Did a Hindu mother have any psychological impact on Jahangir - like soft corner towards Hindus etc.? 
Here is some info:
QUOTE> > The mother of Jahangir was Heera Kunwar, later called Mariam uz
> > Zamani, daughter of Raja Bharmalla of Amer (Jaipur), who married
> > Akbar in 1562. Mirza Raja Man Singh I was her nephew, as you
> > mention. Her name is not mentioned as Jodhabai in Mughal records
> or
> > in Kachhawaha records.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianCivili...n/message/86826
I guess she had some impact since Jahangir was not as much of a fanatic as Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.

Bharatvarsh · 09-06-2006, 06:28 PM

QUOTEIs there any more info on this great Hindu King?? 
Here is some info I found:
QUOTEThe reign of Narasimha I, son and successor of Anangabhima III marks a glorious period in the history of Orissa. 'He was one of the few Hindu kings of his age who thought it more prudent to launch aggressive campaigns against the Muslims than to play the defensive part'20 Towards the end of 1243 Narasimha sent an army to Bengal which raided the kingdom of Lakhnawati. In March 1244 Tughril Tughan, the Muslim governor of Bengal rallied his forces and invested the fortress of Katasingh on the frontier where the Orissan army took shelter. But a surprise attack forced the Muslim army to retreat in hot haste. Narasimha, thereafter captured Lakhanor and put an end to Muslim rule in Radha. He then invaded North-Bengal and besieged Lakhnawati (March 1245). But the arrival of relief forces from Awadh forced Narasimha to raise the siege of the capital city, though he continued to maintain his position in Radha. It was not till the end of 1255 that the new Muslim Governor of Bengal, Yuzbak, succeeded in re-establishing Muslim authority over Radha. Although Narasimha could not maintain his hold in Bengal against the rising tide of Islam, his initial success and heroic resistance against Muslim forces entitles him to an undying fame among the posterity. He was the builder of the famous Sun Temple of Konark.

Ancient Indian History and Civilization, S N Sen, Pg 381.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 09-06-2006, 07:10 PM by Bodhi.)

Thank you for your answers Bharatvarsh. Those were dark days. Still to this day, Alha-singers sing this line: 'jaki bitiya sundar dekhi... taa ghar jae dharin hathiar'

By the way, isn't marrying the powerful enemy's daughter, a Chanakya-approved method of political alliances... is Chandragupta marrying dauhter of Greek governor a fact or fable?

Bharatvarsh · 09-06-2006, 07:20 PM

QUOTEThank you for your answers Bharatvarsh. Those were dark days. Still to this day, Alha-singers sing this line: 'jaki bitiya sundar dekhi... taa ghar jae dharin hathiar'
Well if we are not careful those dark days will return in a few decades due to demographic changes.
QUOTEBy the way, isn't marrying the powerful enemy's daughter, a Chanakya-approved method of political alliances... is Chandragupta marrying dauhter of Greek governor a fact or fable? 
Yes but for the Mughals, in addition to creating alliances it was a way of humiliating the infidels.

Chandragupta Maurya marrying a Greek woman, I read about it all over the place but in the S N Sen book I quoted above, he says it's based on dubious grounds.

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