08-27-2006, 10:30 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->AHMAD SHAH ABDALI (1757 and 1761 CE)
JihAd at Mathura and Vrindavan (1757 CE)
âBut the Jat peasantry were determined that it was over their corpses that the ravager should enter the sacred capital of Braja. â¦eight miles north of MathurA, JawAhir Singh barred the invaderâs path with less than 10,000 men and offered a desperate resistance (28th February, 1757). From sunrise the battle raged for nine hours, and at the end of it âten to twelve thousand infantry lay dead on the two sides taken together, the wounded were beyond countââ¦155
The Hindu Bethlehem now lay utterly prostrate before the invaders. Early at dawn on 1st March the AfghAn cavalry burst into the unwalled and unsuspecting city of MathurA, and neither by their masterâs orders nor from the severe handling they received in yesterdayâs fight, were they in a mood to show mercy. For four hours there was an indiscriminate massacre and rape of the unresisting Hindu population - all of them non-combatants and many of them priests⦠âIdols were broken and kicked about like polo-balls by the Islamic heroes.â [Husain Shahi, 39.] Houses were demolished in search of plunder and then wantonly set on fire. Glutted with the blood of three thousand men, SardAr JahAn Khan laid a contribution of one lakh on what remained of the population and marched away from the smoking ruins the same night.
âAfter the tiger came the jackal. âWhen after the massacre Ahmad ShAhâs troops marched onward from MathurA, Najib and his army remained there for three days, plundered much money and buried treasure, and carried off many beautiful females as captives.â [Nur, 15 b.] The blue waves of the JamunA gave eternal repose to such of her daughters as could flee to her outstretched arms; some other happy women found a nearer escape from dishonour by death in their household wells. But for those of their sisters who survived there was no escape from a fate worse than death. A Muslim eyewitness thus describes the scene in the ruined city a fortnight later. âEverywhere in the lanes and bazaars lay the headless trunks of the slain and the whole city was burning. Many buildings had been knocked down. The water of the JamunA flowing past was of a yellowish color, as if polluted by blood. The man [a Muslim jeweller of the city, robbed of his all and fasting for several days] said that for seven days following the general slaughter the water had turned yellow. At the edge of the stream I saw a number of huts of vairAgis and sannyAsis [i.e., Hindu ascetic], in each of which lay a severed head with the head of a dead cow applied to its mouth and tied to it with a rope round its neck.â
âIssuing from the ruins of MathurA, JahAn Khan roamed the country round, and plundering everywhere as directed. VrindAvan, seven miles north of MathurA could not escape, as its wealth was indicated by its many temples. Here another general massacre was practised upon the inoffensive monks of the most pacific order of Vishnuâs worshippers (c. 6th March). As the same Muhammadan diarist records after a visit to VrindAvan: âWherever you gazed you beheld heaps of the slain; you could only pick your way with difficulty, owing to the quantity of bodies lying about and the amount of blood spilt. At one place that we reached we saw about two hundred dead children lying in a heap. Not one of the dead bodies had a headâ¦Â The stench and effluvium in the air were such that it was painful to open your mouth or even to draw breath.â
Abdaliâs attack on Gokul
âMoving a fortnight behind his vanguard, the AbdAli king himself came upon the scene. He had stormed Ballabhgarh on 3rd March and halted there for two days. On 15th March he arrived near MathurA, and wisely avoiding that reeking human shambles crossed over to the eastern bank of the Jamuna and encamped at MahAvan, six miles south-east of the city. Two miles to his west lay Gokul, the seat of the pontiff of the rich VallabhAcharya sect. The AbdAliâs policy of frightfulness had defeated his cupidity: dead men could not be held to ransom. The invaderâs unsatisfied need of money was pressing him; he sought the help of ImAdâs local knowledge as to the most promising sources of booty. A detachment from his camp was sent to plunder Gokul. But here the monks were martial NAgA sannyAsis of upper India and RajputAna. Four thousand of these naked ash-smeared warriors stood outside Gokul and fought the AfghAns, till half of their own number was killed after slaying an equal force of the enemy. Then at the entreaty of the Bengal subahdArâs envoy (Jugalkishor) and his assurance that a hermitage of faqirs could not contain any money, the AbdAli recalled the detachment. âAll the vairAgis perished but Gokulnath [the deity of the city] was savedâ, as a Marathi newsletter puts it.â [Rajwade, i. 63.]156
Describing Afghan atrocities at this time, Munshi SadAsukh DehlawI wrote, âI have myself seen the depredations of the Afghans round Dehli and Mattra. God defend us from them! It makes the very hair of the body stand on end to think of them. Two hundred thousand men were destroyed in these massacres, and the hordes of the enemy were without number. Such atrocities, forsooth, were perpetrated in compliance with their religion and law! What cared they for the religion, the law, the honour and reputation of the innocent sufferers? It was enough for such bigots that splendour accrued by their deeds to the faith of Muhammad and âAli!â157
http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/tcqp/chi6.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
JihAd at Mathura and Vrindavan (1757 CE)
âBut the Jat peasantry were determined that it was over their corpses that the ravager should enter the sacred capital of Braja. â¦eight miles north of MathurA, JawAhir Singh barred the invaderâs path with less than 10,000 men and offered a desperate resistance (28th February, 1757). From sunrise the battle raged for nine hours, and at the end of it âten to twelve thousand infantry lay dead on the two sides taken together, the wounded were beyond countââ¦155
The Hindu Bethlehem now lay utterly prostrate before the invaders. Early at dawn on 1st March the AfghAn cavalry burst into the unwalled and unsuspecting city of MathurA, and neither by their masterâs orders nor from the severe handling they received in yesterdayâs fight, were they in a mood to show mercy. For four hours there was an indiscriminate massacre and rape of the unresisting Hindu population - all of them non-combatants and many of them priests⦠âIdols were broken and kicked about like polo-balls by the Islamic heroes.â [Husain Shahi, 39.] Houses were demolished in search of plunder and then wantonly set on fire. Glutted with the blood of three thousand men, SardAr JahAn Khan laid a contribution of one lakh on what remained of the population and marched away from the smoking ruins the same night.
âAfter the tiger came the jackal. âWhen after the massacre Ahmad ShAhâs troops marched onward from MathurA, Najib and his army remained there for three days, plundered much money and buried treasure, and carried off many beautiful females as captives.â [Nur, 15 b.] The blue waves of the JamunA gave eternal repose to such of her daughters as could flee to her outstretched arms; some other happy women found a nearer escape from dishonour by death in their household wells. But for those of their sisters who survived there was no escape from a fate worse than death. A Muslim eyewitness thus describes the scene in the ruined city a fortnight later. âEverywhere in the lanes and bazaars lay the headless trunks of the slain and the whole city was burning. Many buildings had been knocked down. The water of the JamunA flowing past was of a yellowish color, as if polluted by blood. The man [a Muslim jeweller of the city, robbed of his all and fasting for several days] said that for seven days following the general slaughter the water had turned yellow. At the edge of the stream I saw a number of huts of vairAgis and sannyAsis [i.e., Hindu ascetic], in each of which lay a severed head with the head of a dead cow applied to its mouth and tied to it with a rope round its neck.â
âIssuing from the ruins of MathurA, JahAn Khan roamed the country round, and plundering everywhere as directed. VrindAvan, seven miles north of MathurA could not escape, as its wealth was indicated by its many temples. Here another general massacre was practised upon the inoffensive monks of the most pacific order of Vishnuâs worshippers (c. 6th March). As the same Muhammadan diarist records after a visit to VrindAvan: âWherever you gazed you beheld heaps of the slain; you could only pick your way with difficulty, owing to the quantity of bodies lying about and the amount of blood spilt. At one place that we reached we saw about two hundred dead children lying in a heap. Not one of the dead bodies had a headâ¦Â The stench and effluvium in the air were such that it was painful to open your mouth or even to draw breath.â
Abdaliâs attack on Gokul
âMoving a fortnight behind his vanguard, the AbdAli king himself came upon the scene. He had stormed Ballabhgarh on 3rd March and halted there for two days. On 15th March he arrived near MathurA, and wisely avoiding that reeking human shambles crossed over to the eastern bank of the Jamuna and encamped at MahAvan, six miles south-east of the city. Two miles to his west lay Gokul, the seat of the pontiff of the rich VallabhAcharya sect. The AbdAliâs policy of frightfulness had defeated his cupidity: dead men could not be held to ransom. The invaderâs unsatisfied need of money was pressing him; he sought the help of ImAdâs local knowledge as to the most promising sources of booty. A detachment from his camp was sent to plunder Gokul. But here the monks were martial NAgA sannyAsis of upper India and RajputAna. Four thousand of these naked ash-smeared warriors stood outside Gokul and fought the AfghAns, till half of their own number was killed after slaying an equal force of the enemy. Then at the entreaty of the Bengal subahdArâs envoy (Jugalkishor) and his assurance that a hermitage of faqirs could not contain any money, the AbdAli recalled the detachment. âAll the vairAgis perished but Gokulnath [the deity of the city] was savedâ, as a Marathi newsletter puts it.â [Rajwade, i. 63.]156
Describing Afghan atrocities at this time, Munshi SadAsukh DehlawI wrote, âI have myself seen the depredations of the Afghans round Dehli and Mattra. God defend us from them! It makes the very hair of the body stand on end to think of them. Two hundred thousand men were destroyed in these massacres, and the hordes of the enemy were without number. Such atrocities, forsooth, were perpetrated in compliance with their religion and law! What cared they for the religion, the law, the honour and reputation of the innocent sufferers? It was enough for such bigots that splendour accrued by their deeds to the faith of Muhammad and âAli!â157
http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/tcqp/chi6.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->