Violence in Indian historical process

[Akhilesh Jha]

Namaskar Patwardhanji,

Very well said. These are the details that SOME
Indologists and historians don't want to see.
They would rather whitewash criminal muslim
theology and history by giving strange instances
of how Hindus also indulged in similar acts!

The need is to face the truth from all sides.

Regards.
Jha

--- Bhalchandrarao C Patwardhan
<kurundwadsenior at WMINET.NET> wrote:
> When Emperor Ashok murdered his brothers to make his
> sovereignty
> unchallenged, he is not known to have sought (or
> received) a doctrinal
> sanction for his act. But when Aurangzeb executed
> his brother, Dara Shukoh,
> with the same motive as Ashok's, he had a clear
> sanction from doctrinal
> prescriptions for dealing with apostates and
> heretics!
>
> When the two Muhammads (Ghazni & Ghor), for example,
> laid India waste, they
> did so on the basis of their doctrinal inspiration,
> and none had reason to
> question their heinous crimes. In fact, even the
> great Sufi poet, Amir
> Khusrau, who is celebrated as an epitome of secular
> and liberal values, has
> only praise for the despicable and bigoted conduct
> of his various Khalji
> royal patrons (see Khusrau's  "Miftahu'l-Futuh",
> "Qiranu's-S'adain",
> "Khazanu'l-Futuh", or the "Ashiqa" for proof).
>
> On the other hand, when the Bodh Gaya or the
> Jagannath shrine was looted,
> the looters could never be able to proffer any
> doctrinal justification for
> their acts of violence and pillage. They knew rather
> well that none would
> ever be found!
>
> The Shringeri Mutt was indeed looted by Raghunathrao
> Nilkanth, but the
> motive was military and political more than
> doctrinal. I know this because
> I happen to be a direct descendant of Raghunathrao.
> He wanted the
> extradition of Tipu's men who had apparently sought
> and received asylum
> inside the Mutt from the Shankaracharya. On
> receiving a refusal from the
> conspiring Shankaracharya to his demand, he forced
> his way in and took
> possession of the men and the loot they had carried
> with them. As for the
> restoration of the Mutt purportedly done by Tipu, it
> must be considered a
> very rare exception indeed considering the religious
> and cultural havoc he
> is known to have perpetrated in the regions under
> his military, if not
> political, influence!
>
> The point we must consider in this discussion is
> whether it was the
> doctrine or expediency that caused violence. And, if
> it was the former (as
> it undeniably was in the case of the Muslim invaders
> rulers), whether there
> has been any change in the way we regard the
> validity of the inspiring
> doctrine in the age our much-vaunted commitment to
> human rights!
>
> Sincerely
> BCP
>
> At 16:49 12/13/2000 -0500, you wrote:
> >That's a point that's often brought up when history
> is dragged into
> >the construction of ethnic hatreds.  Among other
> themes, there are a
> >number of properties currently operating as temples
> which are quite
> >well documented to have been "looted" by Hindus
> from Buddhists (such
> >as the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, or the
> 'Jagannatha' temple at
> >Puri) since these dispossessions, unlike the widely
> postulated
> >dispossession of tribals from most of India,
> occurred recently
> >enough.  There are besides Hindu temple sites known
> to have been
> >looted and destroyed by Hindus (including,
> strangely enough, one that
> >was looted by the Hindu Marathas and restored by
> the king whose
> >territory they were looting -- the Muslim Tipu
> Sultan).  How little
> >history looks the way reductionist ethnic hate
> mongers want it to look
>
>
> (REST OF THE MESSAGE DELETED)
> Bhalchandrarao C Patwardhan
> Kurundwad House
> 10A Mangaldas Road
> Pune  -  411 001
> India
> ================================================
> "Until the Lions have their own historians, the
> history of the hunt will
> always glorify the hunter"  -  (Attributed to a
> Black African Leader)
>
===========================================================


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