historians-from-india

"Sultan Sikandar was yet a young boy when he heard about a tank in Thanesar which the Hindus regarded as sacred and went for bathing in it. He asked the theologians about the prescription of the Shari'ah on this subject. They replied that it was permitted to demolish the ancient temples and idol-houses of the infidels, but it was not proper for him to stop them from going to an ancient tank. Hearing this reply, the prince drew out his sword and thought of beheading the theologian concerned, saying that he (the theologian) was siding with the infidels."

"Sikandar himself marched on Friday, the 6th Ramzan AH 906 (AD March, 1501), upon Dhulpur (Dholpur); but Raja Manikdeo, placing a garrison in the fort, retreated to Gwalior. This detachment however, being unable to defend it, and abandoning the fort by night, it fell into the hands of the Muhammadan army. Sikandar on entering the fort, fell down on his knees, and returned thanks to God, and celebrated his victory. The whole army was employed in plundering and the groves which spread shade for seven kos around Bayana were tom up from the roots'..."

"“…When the thought occurred to Sultan Ibrahim, he sent ‘Ãzam Humayun on this expedition… The Afghan army captured from the infidels the statue of a bull which was made of metals such as copper and brass, which was outside the gate of the fort and which the Hindus used to worship. They brought it to the Sultan. The Sultan was highly pleased and ordered that it should be taken to Delhi and placed outside the ‘Red Gate’ which was known as the Baghdad Gate in those days. The statue was so fixed in front of the ‘Red Gate’ till the time of the Mughal emperor, Akbar the Great, who ordered in AH 999 that it be melted down and used for making cannon as well as some other equipment, which are still there in the government armoury. The author of this history… has seen it in both shapes.”"

"After Tãj Khãn, his brother Sulaimãn Karrãni took possession of the province of Gaur and proclaimed his independence' He also made up his mind to demolish all the temples and idol-houses of the infidels. As the biggest temple of the Hindûs was in Orissa and known as Jagannãth, he decided to destroy it and set out in that direction with a well-equipped force. Reaching there, he demolished the idol-house and laid it waste. There was an idol in it known as that of Kishan' Sulaimãn ordered that it be broken into pieces and thrown into the drain. In like manner, he took out seven hundred golden idols from idol-temples in the neighbouring areas' and broke them.... When the armies of Islãm entered that city, the women of the Brahmans, dressed in costly robes, wearing necklaces, covering their heads with colourful scarves and beautifying themselves in every way, took shelter at the back of the temple of Jagannãth. They were told again and again that a Muslim army that had entered the city would capture and take them away, and that those people would desecrate the temple after laying it waste. But the women did not believe it at all. They kept on saying. 'How could it happen? How could the soldiers of the Muslim army cause any injury to the idols? When the army of Islãm arrived near the temple, it made prisoners of those Hindû women. That is what surprised them most."

"After a long time, in AH 400, Allah' conferred the honour of sultanate on Sultan Mahmud Ghazi, son of Subuktigin' Nine men from among the Afghan chiefs' took to his court and joined his servants' The Sultan' gave to each one of them enamelled daggers and swords, horses of good breed and robes of special quality and, taking them with him, he set out with the intention of conquering Hindustan and Somnat....'Rai Daishalim whom some historians have pronounced as Dabshalim or Dabshalam was the great ruler of that country. The Sultan inflicted a smashing defeat on that Raja, demolished and desecrated the idol temples there, and devastated that land of the infidels."

"In Ramzan of the year 910 (AD 1504), after the rising of Canopus, he raised the standard of war for the reduction of the fort of Mandrail; but the garrison capitulating, and delivering up the citadel, the Sultan ordered the temples and idols to be demolished, and mosques to be constructed. After leaving Mian Makan and Mujahid Khan to protect the fort, he himself moved out on a plundering expedition into the surrounding country, where he butchered many people, took many prisoners, and devoted to utter destruction all the groves and habitations; and after gratifying and honouring himself by this exhibition of holy zeal he returned to his capital Bayana.'..."

"One day he ordered that an expedition be sent to Thaneswar, (the tanks at) Kurkaksetra should be filled up with earth, and the land measured and allotted to pious people for their maintenance, He was such a great partisan of Islam in the days of his youth..... Sultan Sikandar led a very pious life Islam was regarded very highly in his reign. The infidels could not muster the courage to worship idols or bathe in the (sacred) streams. During his holy reign, idols were hidden underground. The stone (idol) of Nagarkot, which had misled the (whole) world, was brought and handed over to butchers so that they might weigh meat with it."

"In 912, after the rising of Canopus, the Sultan went towards the fort of Awantgar' ...On the 23rd of the month, the Sultan invested the fort, and ordered the whole army to put forth their best energies to capture it' All of a sudden, by the favour of God, the gale of victory blew on the standards of the Sultan, and the gate was forced open by Malik 'Alau-d din' The Rajputs, retiring within their own houses, continued the contest, and slew their families after the custom of jauhar' After due thanks-giving for his victory, the Sultan gave over charge of the fort to Makan and Mujahid Khan, with directions that they should destroy the idol temples, and raise mosques in their places"

"“It so happened that Raja Man, the ruler of Gwalior who had been warring with the Sultans for years, went to hell. His son, Bikarmajit, became his successor. The Sultan captured the fort after a hard fight. There was a quadruped, made of copper, at the door of the fort. It used to speak. It was brought from there and placed in the fort at Agra. It remained there till the reign of Akbar Badshah. It was melted and a cannon was made out of it at the order of the Badshah.”"

"The faithful Gabriel carried the tidings to the dwellers in heaven, From the record of victories of the Sulṭan of the age Shams ud-Din, Saying — Oh ye holy angels raise upon the heavens, Hearing this good tidings, the canopy of adornment. That from the land of the heretics the Shahanshah of Islam Has conquered a second time the fort resembling the sky; The Shah, holy warrior and Ghazi, whose hand and sword The soul of the lion of repeated attacks praises."

"“Kalapahar, by successive and numerous fightings, vanquished the Rajah's forces, and brought to his subjection the entire dominion of Odîsah (Orissa), so much so that he carried off the Rani together with all household goods and chattels. Notwithstanding all this, from fear of being killed, no one was bold to wake up this drunkard of the sleep of negligence, so that Kalapahar had his hands free. After completing the subjugation of the entire country, and investing the Fort of Barahbati, which was his (the Rajah’s) place of sleep, Kalapahar engaged in fighting… The firm Muhammadan religion and the enlightened laws of Islam were introduced into that country. Before this, the Musalman Sovereigns exercised no authority over this country. Of the miracles of Kalapahar, one was this, that wherever in that country, the sound of his drum reached, the hands and the feet, the ears and the noses of the idols, worshipped by the Hindus, fell off their stone-figures, so that even now stone-idols, with hands and feet broken, and noses and ears cut off, are lying at several places in that country. And the Hindus pursuing the false, from blindness of their hearts, with full sense and knowledge, devote themselves to their worship! It is known what grows out of stone: From its worship what is gained, except shame? “It is said at the time of return, Kalapahar left a drum in the jungle of Kaonjhar, which is lying in an upset state. No one there from fear of life dares to set it up; so it is related.”"

"When he had finished killing unbelievers, no rival to him remained in Hindustan."

"A ‘stream that emptied into Satladar [Sutlej] : it bore the name of Sarsuti.’"

"Malik Naib [Kafur] reached there expeditiously and occupied the fort... He built mosques in places occupied by temples."

"The good country of Kashmira is adorned by the vedas with their six angas, and the vedantas, and the well arranged siddhantas, by logic and grammar, by the puranas, by the mantras, and by the six schools of philosophy ; by the followers of Shiva and of Vishnu, by the worshippers of the sun, by the Buddhists with their paintings and viharas and mathas ; by the vine, and the saffron, the grains, and the shali rice, and by fragrant flowers; by the puranas, and the shrutis and the tarkashastras; by the Brahmana worahippers of fire, and by the Brahmanas devoted to contemplation, austerities, prayers, and anxious for ablution and worship ; by kotis of nagas, by Hari and Hara ; and by the Gandharvvas and the Vidyadharas. Here the water is cool like the amrita of heaven."

"The kingdom of Kashmira was polluted by the evil practices of the mlechchhas, and the Brahmanas, the mantras, and the gods relinquished their power. The gods who used to make the glory of their prowess manifest, even as fire-flies manifest their light, now hid their glory on account of the country’s sin. When the gods withdrew their glory, their images became mere stones, and the mantras, mere letters... Suhabhatta who disregarded the acts enjoined by the Vedas, and was instructed by the mlechchhas, instigated the king to break down the images of gods. The good fortune of the subjects left them, and so the king forgot his kingly duties and took a delight, day and night, in breaking images... He broke the images of Marttanda, Vishaya, Ishana, Chakrabhrit, and Tripureshvara; but what can be said of the evil that came on him by the breaking of the Shesha?... When Sureshvari, Varaha, and others were broken, the world trembled, as if through fear, but not so the mind of the wicked king. There was no city, no town, no village, no wood, where Suha the Turushka left the temples of gods unbroken. Of the images which once had existed, the name alone was left, and Suhabhatta then felt the satisfaction which one feels on recovering from illness. Suhabhatta with the leaders of the army tried to destroy the caste of the people ; it was like a boy eating the unwholesome food. The Brahmanas declared that they would die if they lost their caste, and Suhabhatta subjected them to a heavy fine because they held to their caste."

"He burned six mounds (1 mound is 37 kilos) of sacred threads worn by Hindus after massacring them (Hasan, Tarikh-i-Kashmir). He killed the Hindus who put a tilak-mark on their forehead ( Hasan, Tarikh-i-Kashmir). He burnt many of the books of the Hindus. Srivara wrote: "Sikander burnt all books the same wise as fire burns hay". Srivara also recorded: "All the scintillating works faced destruction in the same manner that lotus flowers face with the onset of frosty winter." (Srivara, Zaina Rajtarangini). Sikandar drowned many Hindus in the Dal Lake (Jonraj, Kings of Kashmir). According to some sources only eleven families of Brahmins were left in Kashmir due to Sikandar's policies."

"To each Begum is to be delivered as follows: one special dancing girl of the dancing girls of sultan Ibrahim, with one gold plate full of jewels - ruby and pearl, cornelian and diamond, emerald and turquoise, topaz and cat’s-eye - and two small mother-of-pearl trays full of asharfis, and two other trays of shahrukhis."

"One common thought Gul-badan and the rest could have shared with the Hindwt ladies,—that of the duty of pilgrim- age and of respect for holy places. When next history concerns itself with our begam, it is to tell of her setting out, in 1575, for Makka. The Emperor had been unwilling to part with her, and it may be, even, had delayed with the thought of accompanying her. His heart was now much set upon making the haj, but he did no more than walk a short distance with a caravan from Agra, dressed in the seamless wrapper of the Arabian ceremonies. Though debarred from leaving Hindustan himself, he helped many others to fulfil this primary duty of their faith, and opened wide his purse for their expenses. Each year he named a leader of the caravan, and provided him with gifts and -ample funds. Sultan Khwaja, Gul-badan’s cicerone, took, amongst other presents, 12,000 dresses of honour."

"Sikander burnt all books the same wise as fire burns hay. All the scintillating works faced destruction in the same manner that lotus flowers face with the onset of frosty winter.""

"It was perhaps owing to the sins of the subjects that the king had a fondness for the Yavanas, even as a boy has a fondness for mud. Many Yavanas left other sovereigns and took shelter under this king who was renowned for charity, even as bees leave the flowers and settle on elephants. As the bright moon is among the stars, so was Mahammada of Mera country among these Yavanas; and although be was a boy, he became their chief by learning. The king waited on him daily, humble as a servant, and like a student he daily took his lessons from him. He placed Mahammada before him, and was attentive to him like a slave. As the wind destroys the trees, and the locusts the shali crop, so did the Yavanas destroy the usages of Kashmira. Attracted by the gifts and honors which the king bestowed, and by his kindness, the mlechchhas entered Kashmira, even as locusts enter a good field of corn..."

"It had been brought to the notice of His Majesty that during the late reign many idol temples had been begun, but remained unfinished at Benares, the great stronghold of infidelity. The infidels were now desirous of completing them. His Majesty, the defender of the faith, gave orders that at Benares, and throughout all his dominions in every place, all temples that had been begun should be cast down. It was now reported from the province of Allahãbãd that seventy-six temples had been destroyed in the district of Benares."

"When the violence caused by the Rakshasa Dalcha ceased, the son found not his father, nor the father his son, nor did brothers meet their brothers. Kashmira became almost like a region before the creation, a vast field with few men, without food, and full of grass. Dalcha took away the strong men from the country, and Rinchana established his supremacy there ; when darkness covers the earth, unchaste women find it to their advantage."

"At the Bundela capital the Islam-cherishing Emperor demolished the lofty and massive temple of Bir Singh Dev near his palace, and erected a mosque on its site."

"“Muhammad Bakhtiyar sweeping the town with the broom of devastation, completely demolished it, and making anew the city of Lakhnauti… his metropolis, ruled over Bengal… and strove to put in practice the ordinances of the Muhammadan religion… and for a period ruling over Bengal he engaged in demolishing the temples and building mosques.”"

"It was out of his devotion to the religion of the Turushkas, not out of antipathy towards the twice-born, that he oppressed the Brahmanas; and hence his victims did not much complain. This was what Suhabhatta told them inorder to remove the impression which his actions created that he had antipathy towards the Brahmanas."

"Some temples in Kashmir were also sacrificed to the religious fury of the emperor. The Hindu temple at Ichchhabal was destroyed and converted into a mosque."

"“Perhaps these instances [Mewar, Kangra, and Ajmer] made a contemporary poet of his court sing his praises as the great Muslim emperor who converted temples into mosques.”"

"The hawk kills other birds, the lion destroys other animals, the Vajra-jewel pierces other jewels, and the brilliant sun throws about the planets like flowers, and thus destruction seems ever to be caused in this world by one’s own people. Though the king Shrishikandhara was often instigated by Suha to persecute the twice-born, he, whose purpose was tempered by kindness, fixed with some difficulty, a limit to the advance of the great sea of the Yavanas. But Suha passed the limit by levying fines on the twice-born. As the night prevents people from seeing any thing but darkness, so this evil minded man forbade ceremonies and processions during the new moon. He became envious, and apprehended that the twice-born who had become fearless would keep up their caste by going over to foreign countries ; he therefore ordered all the guards on the roads not to allow passage to any one without a written passport. Then as the fisherman torments fish in an enclosed river, so this low born man tormented the twice-born in the country. The Brahmanas burnt themselves in the flaming fire through fear of committing sin, and through fear of him who was like the heat of the fire ; and thus they escaped. Struck by fear some Brahmanas killed themselves by means of poison, some by the rope, others by drowning themselves in water, others again by falling from a precipice, and others burnt themselves. The country was contaminated by hatred, and the king’s favourite (Suha) could not prevent one man in a thousand from committing suicide. ... Suha withheld the allowances of the twice born with a view to extinguish learning, and they, in expectation of a mouthful of food, went from house to house, putting out their tongues like dogs."

"In AH 631 he invaded Malwah, and after suppressing the rebels of that place, he destroyed that idol-temple which had existed there for the past three hundred years.... Next he turned towards Ujjain and conquered it, and after demolishing the idol-temple of Mahakal, he uprooted the statue of Bikramajit together with all other statues and images which were placed on pedestals, and brought them to the capital where they were laid before the Jami‘ Masjid for being trodden under foot by the people."

"Ulugh Khan invaded Gujarat. He sacked the whole country. He pursued the Rai upto Somnath. He destroyed the temple of Somnath which was the principal place of worship for the Hindus and great Rais since ancient times. He constructed a mosque on the site and returned to Delhi."

"Hindutva’s organisational apparatus is the oldest, the most continuous, and certainly the most multifarious political formation in the world devoted to the service of mobilising hatred."

"Central to Hindutva as a mass phenomenon (or for that matter to Fascism) is the development of a powerful and extendable enemy image through appropriating stray elements from past prejudices, combining them with new ones skillfully dressed up as old verities, and broadcasting the resultant compound through the most up-to-date media techniques. The Muslim here becomes the near-exact equivalent of the Jew. … Racist attitudes, finally, are neatly encapsulated in the very recent coinage of the formula 'Babar ki aulad'. Alleged descent from Babar is sufficient to damn, no overt misdeed is really required… just as once in fanatical Christian circles all Jews stood condemned because of what their ancestors had supposedly done at the time of the crucifixion of Christ."

"One day whilst the Kadhi (Kazi) and I were having our food with (Ghiyazu-d-din), the Kazi to his right and I to his left, an infidel was brought before him accompanied by his wife and son aged seven years. The Sultan made a sign with his hand to the executioners to cut off the head of this man ; then he said to them in Arabic : ' and the son and the wife. ' They cut off their heads and I turned my eyes away. When I looked again, I saw their heads lying on the ground."

"The next morning, the Hindu prisoners were divided into four sections and taken to each of the four gates ... There, on the stakes they had carried, the prisoners were impaled, afterwards their wives were killed and tied by their hair to these pales. Little children were massacred on the bosoms of their mothers and their corpses left there. Then, the camp was raised, and they started cutting down the trees of another forest. In the same manner did they treat their later Hindu prisoners. This is shameful conduct such as I have not known any other sovereign guilty of. It is for this that God hastened the death of Ghiyath-eddin (Ghiyazu-d-din)."

"I was another time with the Sultan Ghiyath-eddin (Ghiyazu- d-din) when a Hindu was brought into his presence. He uttered words I did not understand, and immediately several of his followers drew their daggers. I rose hurriedly, and he said to me ; ' Where are you going ' ? I replied : ' I am going to say my afternoon (4 o'clock) prayers. ' He understood my reason, smiled, and ordered the hands and feet of the idolater to be cut off. On my return I found the unfortunate swimming in his blood."

"Ibn Batuta gives some interesting details of Ghiyathu-d-din's doings which throw a lurid light upon the character of Muhammadan rule in the South. While Ibn Batuta accompanied him, when he moved from the camp towards the capital, he happened to fall in with a number of ' idolaters ' with their women and children in clearing a road through the forest. He made them carry a number of stakes sharpened at both ends, and when morning broke he divided these prisoners into four groups, and led one party to each gate of the four entrances to the camp. The stakes that they carried were then driven into the ground at one end and the unfortunate wretches were impaled alive there- on. Their wives and children had their throats cut and were left fastened to the posts. Ibn Batuta exclaims in horror ' it was for this reason that God hastened the death of Ghiyathu-d-din.' It is hardly necessary to add to this blood-curdling story others from Ibn Batuta."

"While the annual festival in which the god is taken over- night to the banks of the Coleroon river, a little to the south-east of Srirangam — a festival lasting a few hours — was being celebrated, tidings came that an army of the Muhammadans had come in and occupied parts of the Tondamandalam (the two Arcots and Chingleput) and a small body of troops was marching rapidly towards Samaya- varam about five miles from the north bank of the Coleroon. The principal Brahman citizens of the town, who had assembled at the celebration of the festival and who were in charge of the temple, not having got through the festival cast lots in the presence of the idol whether to stay or to go. They got an answer directing them to stay. They stayed over therefore to complete the festival, and in the meanwhile information was brought to them that the flying column of the Muhammadans was dashing past Samaya- varam. They therefore made haste to wind up proceedings, and, sending away the god and the goddess, in a small palanquin under the escort of Lokacharya (Pillai Loka- charya) and a few stout-hearted followers and carriers, the assembled multitude got themselves ready for the attack. They had not to wait long before they were actually attacked, and destroyed in large numbers. From out of this massacre Vedantacharya escaped, with the two little sons of Srutaprakasikacharya, and the single manuscript of his famous commentary on the Sri Bhashya, and betook himself through unfrequented roadways to Satyamangalam on the borders of Mysore. Lokacharya and his companions took their way to the south for safety. Fearing that they would be overtaken if they went along the road, they seemed to have kept more or less close to the road, but avoided the road-way and proceeded slowly through jungles and unfrequented tracts across the state of Pudukotta. .... They therefore made a further detour to the east and getting through a more or less dense forest region, they came to a place called Jyotishkudi (Jyotishmatl- pura), where they lived a few months. During their residence there, information reached them that the bulk of the citizens of Srirangam were massacred, the temple itself sacked and desecrated, and all those citizens that Lokacharya knew and cared for had suffered death. On hearing this distressing account of what happened to his friends and companions he got ill and died. ....When they felt the road ways safe, they carried the image across to Tirupati. The story closes that from Tirupati, the image was taken over to Ginji by Gopana and ultimately got back to Srirangam."

"The country we had to traverse was a wood formed of trees and reeds, so overgrown, that nobody could penetrate it. The Sultan ordered every army man, great or small, to carry a hatchet and cut down these obstacles. When the camp had been arranged, he set out on horseback to the forest, accompanied by soldiers. They cut down trees from morning till midday. Then food was served for everybody ; after that they began hewing till evening. Every infidel found in the forest was taken prisoner. They sharpened stakes at both ends and made their captives carry them on their shoulders. Each was accompanied by his wife and children and they were thus led to the camp. It is the custom of these people to surround their camp with a palisade having four gates. They call it catcar round the habitation of the king. Outside the principal boundary, they erected a platform about a half brasse high and lighted a fire on it during the night. Slaves and sentinels spent the night there holding a fagot of very slender reeds in their hands. When infidels approached to attack the camp during the night, they lighted the fagots. The brightness of the flames converted night into day, and the horsemen set out in pursuit of the infidel."

"In the neighbourhood of his territory was an infidel sovereign named Belal Deo (Ballala Deva), who was one of the principal Hindu Kings. His army exceeded hundred thousand men, and he had besides, twenty thousand Mussalmans formed of criminals and slaves. This monarch thought it expedient to go against the Coromandel Coast where the Mussalman army numbered but six thousand soldiers, the half of whom were excellent troops and the remainder were worth absolutely nothing. The Muhammadans fought a battle with him near the town of Cobban (Koppam) ; he routed them, and they retired to Moutrah (Madura) the capital of the country. The infidel sovereign encamped near Cobban (Koppam) which is one of the grandest and strongest places that the Mussalmans possess. He laid siege to it for ten months, and at the end of this time, the garrison had provisions only for fourteen days. Belal Ddo (Ballala Dava) sent a proposal to the besieged to retire with safe-conduct, and to abandon the town to him ; but they replied, ' we must refer this question to our Sultan. ' He then promised them a truce, which was to last for fourteen days, and they wrote to Sultan Ghiyath-eddin (Ghiyazu-d-din) telling him how they weie situated. The prince read their letter to the people the following Friday. The faithful wept and said : ' We will sacrifice our lives to God. If the idolater takes that town, he will next lay siege to us : we prefer to die by the sword.' They then undertook to expose themselves to death, and set out marching the next day, placing their turbans on the neck of their horses, which showed that they were seeking death. The bravest and most courageous of them, 300 in number were posted to the vanguard ; the right wing was under Seif-eddin Behadur (Seifu-d-din Bahadur), the hero, who was a pious and brave lawyer ; and the left wing was under, Almelic Mohamed 1 assilahdar ' (armiger). The Sultan remained in the centre with three thousand men, and the rear-guard was formed by the remaining 3,000 under the command of Assad-eddin Keikhosrew Alfaricy. In this order the Mussalmans set out, at the siesta hour, towards the infidel camp. Their horses were sent out to graze. They fell upon the encampment ; the infidels, imagining the assailants were but robbers, went in disorder to meet them and fought with them. In the midst of all this, the Sultan Ghiyath- eddin arrived, and the Hindus sustained the worst of all defeats. Their king tried to mount his horse although he was eighty years of age. Nasir-eddin (Nasiru-d-din) nephew and successor of the Sultan overtook the old man and wanted to kill him, for he did not know who he was. But one of his slaves said : ' He is the Hindu King. ' He then took him a prisoner to his uncle who treated him with apparent consideration and promised to release him. But when he had extorted from him his wealth, elephants and horses and all his property, he had him killed and flayed ; his skin was stuffed with straw and hung up on the wall of Moutrah (Madura) where I saw it suspended."

"There is direct evidence to confirm this presumption in a work called Koyiloluhu. This is a work which deals with all the benefactions made to the temple at Srirangam by people from its foundation to almost the eighteenth century. ... This work has a few paragraphs devoted to the sack of Srirangam and the carrying away of the idol of Ranganatha, apparently under Malik Kafur. The account begins that the king of Delhi having conquered Pratapa Rudra, invaded both the Tondamanda- lam and Solamandalam. The invading armies spread along the whole country and made a general sack of temples carrying away the idols as well. In the course of this campaign, they entered Srlrangam as well, by the north gate, which was in the charge of the Arya Bhattas, the Northern Brahmans. The guards, by name Panjukondan, were over-powered, the temple was entered into and all the property was carried away including the idol of the god. There was a woman who had made it her daily habit never to take her food without worshipping the god in the temple. She was a native of Karambanur, otherwise called Uttamar- koil, on the other bank of the Coleroon. As the army was retreating after the sack, she gave up her household and followed the army in the guise of a mendicant having learnt that they were carrying away the idol of Ramapriya as well from Tirunarayanapuram (Melukottai). She reached ultimately the palace at Delhi where these idols were all locked up in a safe chamber. One of the younger princesses of the Sultan's family having been struck with the beauty of the Ranganatha idol, asked permission and obtained the idol to play with. She kept herself in the constant company of the idol. Knowing so much, perhaps feeling that the idol was in safe custody, the woman managed to steal away from the palace and journeyed back to Srirangam to give information of it to the people there."

"Brahmastpuri is Chidambaram- — There are three places that figure in this campaign frequently, ' Bir Dhul,' ' Kandur,' and * Jalkotta.' Any identification of all these, from the nature of their names as given by Amir Khusru, must turn upon the identification of the great temple Brahmastpuri, which Malik Kafur plundered. According to the description given there, it was a temple roofed over with gold, set with gems. It contained both the Linga, emblematic of Siva (Ling Mahadeo), and Vishnu (Deo Narain). These indications give sufficient lead to identify the place with Chidambaram. Chidambaram is popularly known as Kanakasabha or Ponnambalam (golden hall) from Pallava times. That was because the whole of the inner shrine of the temple was roofed over with gold, and that was renewed two or three times under the great Cholas. The later members of this dynasty from Kulottunga I onwards, if not from Kajendra I, were specially devoted to this temple, and seem to have always completed the ceremony of coronation in the capital Gangaikondasola- puram by a visit to this temple. Hence at the time it must have been one of the richest temples in this part of the country. The name Brahmast- puri is apparently the slightly modified Brahmapuri, which is the sacerdotal (agamic) name given to Chidambaram as a whole in Saiva literature. There is one temple dedicated to Siva, which goes by the specific name Brahmapuri, and the name of the deity itself is Brahmapurlsvara, and is known ordinarily as Tirukkalancheri, the northern part of Chidambaram, and this particular temple received a gift of ... gold pieces annually for certain festivals, etc., from Kulottunga III. Hence there is little doubt that the Brahmastpuri of Amir Khusru is Chidambaram."

"The more important among the citizens having deliberated as to what they should do, walled up the north gate of the temple and left the temple vacant burying the goddess idol that escaped capture under a bilva tree (Aegla Marmelos). Sixty of these men placed themselves under the guidance of the woman mendicant and set forward on their journey to Delhi. She put on the former guise and got entry into the palace as before. In the meanwhile those that followed her managed to get audience of the Sultan, and by exhibiting both the music and the dance for which they were famous, as having had to perform daily before the god, they pleased the Sultan so greatly and declined all rewards offered by the Sultan, preferring instead the one idol of Ranganatha, among the many, as the reward. The Sultan ordered that these men might be allowed to take the idol of their choice. Not finding this particular idol in the store-room and knowing as they did that it was with the princess, they reported the matter to the Sultan, who in joke told them that if it was their god they might call him and take him away. They agreed and sang their prayers, which the idol answered by following them. Showing this to the Sultan they obtained his permission and started off with their idol over-night. When morning broke, the princess was disconsolate at the loss of her idol and declined to live if she could not have it. Search for the party proving useless, he placed her under an escort and sent her off for the idol. The Brahmans of Srirangam having had a start, marched along ahead and reached Tirupati safe before they could be overtaken by the princess and her escort. At Tirupati they heard of the arrival of the party of the princess and feeling themselves unsafe, the party broke up and dispersed themselves to avoid observation leaving the idol in charge of three men among them, the father and son, and the son's maternal uncle. The big party having thus disappeared, the escort marched on till they reached Srlrangam. Finding that the northern gate of the temple was walled up and the temple empty, the princess died of a broken heart."

"Invasion of Dvarasamudra. — On Sunday, the 22nd of Ramzan, Malik Kafur held a council of war. Apparently as a result of a resolution he took with him a select body of cavalry, and appeared before the fort of Dhur Samundar on the fifth of Shawwal ' after a difficult march of twelve days over hills and valleys and thorny forests.' Seeing the destructive character of the invasion, the ruler Vira Ballala III having ascertained the strength of the Muhammadan army sent agents to propose peace, though Vira Pandya had despatched an army to assist him. Malik Kafur is stated to have sent the reply ' that he was sent with the object of converting him to Muhammadanism, or of making him zimmi (one who could enjoy the same political privileges as the Muhammadans on payment of Jiziya) and subject to pay tax, or of slaying him, if neither of these terms were assented to.' The Rai agreed to surrender all his property ' except his sacred thread ' and on Friday the sixth of Shawwal, six elephants were sent accompanied by three plenipotentiaries. The next day some horses followed and on the Sunday following he is himself said to have paid a visit to the Commander-in-Chief and surrendered all his treasures, having spent a whole night in taking them out. Malik Kafur remained twelve days in that city, which, according to Amir Khusru, is four months distant from Delhi, to which he sent the captured elephants."

"According to Amir Khusru ‘the Malik represented that on the coast of Ma’bar were 500 elephants, larger than those which had been presented to the Sultan from Arangal, and that when he was engaged in the conquest of that place he had thought of possessing himself of them and that now, as the wise determination of the king, he combined the extirpation of the idolaters with this object, he was more than ever rejoiced to enter on this grand enterprise.” Amir Khusru makes it appear that having seen all the country from the hills of Ghazni to the mouths of the Ganges reduced to subjection and having effectively destroyed the prevalence of the ‘Satanism’ of the Hindus by the destruction of their temples and providing in their stead places for the criers to prayers in mosques, Alau-d-din was consumed with the idea of spreading the light of the Muhammadan religion in the Dekhan and South India. According to the same authority Ma’bar was so distant from the city of Delhi ‘that a man travelling with all expedition could only reach it after a journey of twelve months,’ and there ‘ the arrow of any holy warrior had not yet reached.’ Apart from this statement of Amir Khusru, the object of this expedition is made quite clear in what he puts in the mouth of Malik Kafur himself that what he actually coveted were the elephants of better breed, and, what went along with them of course, other items of wealth."

"Here he heard that in Brahmastpuri there was a golden idol, round which many elephants were stabled.' Malik Kafur started on a night expedition against this place and in the morning seized no less than 250 elephants. He then determined on razing the beautiful temple to the ground — ' you might say that it was the Paradise of Shaddad, which, after being lost, those " hellites " had found, and that it was the golden Lanka of Ram ' — ' in short, it was the holy place of the Hindus, which the Malik dug up from its foundations with the greatest care,' and the heads of the Brahmans and idolaters danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their feet, and blood flowed in torrents. ' The stone idols called Ling Mahadeo, which had been a long time established at that place, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break.' The Musalmans destroyed all the Lings, ' and Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods who had fixed their seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached the fort of Lanka, and in that affright the Lings themselves would have fled had they had any legs to stand on.' Much gold and many valuable jewels fell into the hands of the Musalmans, who returned to the royal canopy, after executing their holy project, on the 13th of Zi-1-ka'da A.H. 710 (A.D. April 1311). They destroyed all the temples at Birdhul, and placed the plunder in the public treasury."

"In the meanwhile, the three men in charge of the idol heard of the advance of the Muhammadans closer to the hill ; fearing for their safety and that of the idol, the chief man tied himself down to the idol and asked the two others gently to let it down the slope of the hill, himself being always on the underside so that the idol may not suffer damage. Having got down safely, the three men lived on there in an isolated glen in the forest at the foot of the hill unfrequented by ordinary people. In the meanwhile, people at Srlrangam thinking it impossible to recover the idol, made and consecrated others, instead of those of both the god and the goddess. In the meanwhile the three men continued to live on doing their daily service to the god in the usual fashion. For a period of fifty-nine and a half years from the date of the sack, of which two years were spent in the palace of the Sultan, the idol of Srlrangam found its shrine in that sequestered glen. In the course of this long stay, the father and the uncle had died and the son had grown up to be an old man of eighty, looking more like a forest man than a civilized one. Feeling that his end was drawing near this one man showed himself to the hill folk about and let them understand how and why he happened to be there. Information of this reached the town by means of these people, and it happened to be the time of Gopana, who was in charge of Narayanapuram (Narayanavaram) near Chandragiri under the newly formed kingdom of Vijayanagar. He carried the idol to his later head-quarters at Ginji where he placed it in the temple called Singavaram even now, in a safe place difficult of approach even from Ginji itself. When Prince Kampana had over-powered the Muhammadan garrisons in the various localities in South India and brought the whole of it under the control of Vijayanagar, Gopana, his chief adviser got the idol re-installed in the temple at Srlrangam in the Saka year, 1293, A.D. 1370-71, in the year Paritapi, month Vaikasi, date 17."

"It seems likely there were other settlements of these Muhammadans even in the interior of the country. In the course of his description of the campaign of Malik Kafur in the Tamil country, Amir Khusru says ‘ Thither (to Kandur) the Malik pursued the ‘ yellow-faced Bir’, and at Kandur was joined by some Mussalmans who had been subjects of the Hindus, now no longer able to offer them protection. They were half Hindus, and were not strict in their religious observ- ance, but, ‘as they could repeat the Kalima (the Confession of Faith of the Muhammadans), the Malik of Islam spared their lives. Though they were worthy of death, yet as they were Mussalmans, they were pardoned.’’ This shows that at Kandur, which I have identified with Kannanir, near Srirangam, there was a settlement of Muhammadans quite different from the northern Mussalmans, who came along with the invaders."

"Such was the terrible beginning of the eventual conquest of India by the Muhammadans, Debal being its first victim. The male population was mostly massacred, the town was completely plundered, many willing and unwilling people were converted, and beautiful females were carried away into capturity. .....Neru, the next city, ......... submited without fighting .... The Buddhist governor tendered his allegiance. He also gave plentiful to the army. Neru was therefore spared. (But) Muhammed Qasim enter ed the town and built a mosque in place of a temple and made arrangements for the government of the place."

"The Indians, no doubt fought among themselves in former times and, even, sometimes appropriated the ‘women of the conquered princes. But there was no compulsion in these cases. If they refused to be wives and concubines of the victors they remained as servants and were even allowed to go away as Buddhist nuns or other recluses. And there was no loss of religion or of caste. But with the Muhammadan conquerers the case was entirely different. Women were forcibly appropriated by them as wives or as concubines or as slaves and were also forcibly converted." Raor was taken and plundered. The fighting people were massacred and the women enslaved. Altogether there were, it is said in the Chachanama, "60,000 slaves including many beautiful women of princely familes." These were, like the plunder, divided between the government and the soldiers. (Vaidya pages 180 & 181). "Brahmanabad fell in the usual way. The merchants and other nonfighting people threw themselves at the mercy of Muhammed Qasim and opcned the gates. The city was immediately taken possession of, the merchants were spared (i.e. not massacred), the warriors were slaughtered and the city was plundered. Women slaves were captured, among them two virgin daughters of Dahar who were sent to the Khalifa with the fifth royal share of plunder."