"Around that time, the Hoysala ruler Vira Ballala Il, then about eighty years-old, defeated the Muslims near Kobban and forced them to retreat to Madurai. Eventually, Ghiyasud- din Damaghani made a surprise attack on Vira Ballala, took him prisoner and put him to a cruel death in 1342 ce. Ibn Battuta wrote, His skin was then filled with straw and hung up on the wall of Madura where I saw it suspended ."

"[Nasir-ud-din] 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 [Madurai] where I saw it suspended."

"In 1311 ce, Malik Kafur again set out for the south, this time against the Hoysala ruler, Vira Ballala III (1291-1342 ck) of Dwarasamudra, and the Pandya kingdom in the far south. .... Vira Ballala rushed back, but the vicious nature of the invasion forced him to propose a settlement. Malik Kafur was reported to have responded, ... 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."

"At Kannanur, Vira Ballala’s massive force quickly subdued Dhamaghani’s army. Dhamaghani’s generals quickly realized that they faced certain defeat and sued for peace. In return, Vira Ballala III demanded the city of Madurai. In the heady knowledge of certain victory, he extended a courtesy—he gave the enemy a fortnight’s time to return to Madurai, report his demand to the Dhamaghani, and obtain his permission to surrender Madurai. Back in Madurai, Vira Ballala’s demands to secure Dhamaghani’s surrender was read out in public in the mosque at prayer time. Dhamaghani realized that surrendering Madurai meant his own destruction. He resolved to fight to the finish despite knowing that he was heavily outnumbered. However, he communicated nothing to Vira Ballala and kept him waiting. Even as Vira Ballala III was lulled by this silence, Dhamaghani went with his troops in stealth, and fell upon Vira Ballala’s camp at the “siesta hour,” according to Ibn Batuta. The Hoysala king, awaiting word from Dhamaghani had let his guard down."

"The Adina (Friday) mosque at Padua, the largest in medieval India, was built by Sultan Sikandar Shah (r. 1358-89), son and successor of Shams ud din Ilyas Shah (r. 1352-58), founder of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. An inscription on the mosque dated 1375 ce proclaimed Sikandar Shah as “the most perfect of the Sultans of Arabia and Persia ...”. That was an open declaration that the political and cultural orientation of the Ilyas Shahi kings “lay, not in Delhi or Central Asia, but much further to the west — in Mecca, Medina, Shiraz, and ancient Ctestiphon.” There was no reference to any sovereign of the Indian subcontinent “where he was actually ruling”."

"This brings us to yet another failing: the self-destructive nature of the statecraft these Hindu rulers practiced. Vira Ballala III for instance, offered a fortnight for the checkmated army of Ghiyath-ud-din, which only resulted in his own terrible death at the hands of an enemy he had already overwhelmed. Two possibilities occur: a foolish overconfidence in what he thought was his certain victory, or a misplaced sense of generosity to a badly-cornered enemy."

"[He is] Svayambhu himself born upon the earth to restore dharma and the Veda, whose sounds had almost been silenced."

"Amjad Ali Shah enacted anti-Hindu policies, founding Shii shops to drive Hindu merchants out of business, and rewarding Hindu officials who adopted Imami Shiism. The provision of government welfare monies to only the Shii poor encouraged thousands of Hindus to convert to Shiism in the 1840s, according to clerical sources. Awadh’s fiercely Usuli governments showed little understanding of their Hindu subjects, allowing communal resentments to fester, a policy that culminated in a major battle over a religious edifice in Faizabad."

"Haig writes that “it is evident, from the numerical superiority in Eastern Bengal of the Muslims… that at some period an immense wave of proselytization must have swept over the country and it is most probable that the period was the period of Jalaluddin Muhammad (converted son of Hindu Raja Ganesh) during whose reign of seventeen years (1414-1431)… hosts of Hindus are said to have been forcibly converted to Islam”. With regard to these conversions, Dr. Wise writes that “the only condition he offered were the Koran or death… many Hindus fled to Kamrup and the jungles of Assam, but it is nevertheless probable that more Muhammadans were added to Islam during these seventeen years (1414-31) than in the next three hundred years”."

"In another instance, Sufi saint Nur Qutb-i-Alam played a central role in making a high profile convert in Bengal. In 1414, Ganesha, a Hindu prince, revolted against Muslim rule and captured power in Bengal. The ascension of a Hindu to power created strong revulsion amongst both the Sufis and the Ulema. They repudiated his rule and enlisted help from Muslim rulers outside of Bengal. Responding to their call, Ibrahim Shah Sharqi invaded Bengal and defeated Ganesha. Nur Qutb-i-Alam, the leading Sufi master of Bengal, now stepped in to broker a truce. He forced Ganesha to abdicate and Ganesha’s twelve year-old son Jadu was converted to Islam and placed on the throne under the name of Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad. This conversion by a Sufi saint, call it peacefully or at the point of the sword, proved a boon for Islam. The Sufis (also the Ulema) trained the converted young sultan in Islam so well that he became a bloody converter of the infidels to Islam through extreme violence. There took place, says the Cambridge History of India, a wave of conversions in the reign of Jalaluddin Muhammad (1414–31)."

"Hari who had been commissioned by Hara to protect Varanasi from the wicked Turuska warrior, as the only one who was able to protect the earth, was again born from him, his name being renowned as Govindapala."

"Protector of the pilgrim places located in Kasi, Kushika, Uttar-kosala (Ayodhyā) and Indra-sthān (Indra-prastha)."

"The inscription is not in any way dated, but may be assigned, with confidence, to the middle of the 12th century... The most important internal historical information we get from this epigraph is the mention of Govindachandra..... verse 21 gives the important information that, in order to ensure his easy passage into the heavens, Meghasuta built a lofty stone temple for the Gode Visnu-Hari.. verse 28 refers to a king (probaly Ayusyacandra) as warding off the danger of invasion from the west... Lines 13-14, verse 19. His nephew (literally brother's son), the widely, celebrated Meghasuta, the illustrious one, who superseded Anayacandra; he earned the lordship of Saketa-mandala through the grace of his elder, the lord of the earth, Govindacandra. Lines 14-15, verse 21. By him, who was meditating in his mind on the easiest means of quickly jumping across the ocean of worldly attachments, was erected this beautiful temple of [The god] Visu-Hari, [on a scale] never before done by the preceding kings, compactly formed [i.e., built] with rows of large and lofty stones which had been sculpted out. Lines 15-16, verse 22. ... king Govindacandra's empire, .... his younger (son?) Ayusyacandra. Line 17, verse 24. By him, who was of good conduct, and abhorred strife, while residng at Ayodhya, which had towering abodes, intellectuals and temples, Saketa-Mandala was endowed with thousands of wells, reservoirs, alms-houses, tanks. Lines 18-19, verse 27. Separating [the flesh and blood of the demon] Hiranyakasipu from his skeleton,....and performing many valorous deeds, having killed the Ten-headed [demon Ravana],..."

"He went from east to west subduing all who were not obedient; the elephants were not unharnessed, nor the soldiers unhelmeted."

"He swept away the affliction of the globe by the streams (of water flowing as) from clouds from the eyes of the wives of Hammira, the abode of wanton destruction to the earth."

"Megasthenes describes Chandragupta’s capital, Pataliputra, as nine miles in length and almost two miles in width. The palace of the King was of timber, but the Greek ambassador ranked it as excelling the royal residences of Susa and Ecbatana, being surpassed only by those at Persepolis. Its pillars were plated with gold, and ornamented with designs of bird-life and foliage; its interior was sumptuously furnished and adorned with precious metals and stones. There was a certain Oriental ostentation in this culture, as in the use of gold vessels six feet in diameter; but an English historian concludes, from the testimony of the literary, pictorial and material remains, that “in the fourth and third centuries before Christ the command of the Maurya monarch over luxuries of all kinds and skilled craftsmanship in all the manual arts was not inferior to that enjoyed by the Mogul emperors eighteen centuries later.” ...Kautilya was a Brahman who knew the political value of religion, but took no moral guidance from it; like our modern dictators he believed that every means was justifiable if used in the service of the state. He was unscrupulous and treacherous, but never to his King; he served Chandragupta through exile, defeat, adventure, intrigue, murder and victory, and by his wily wisdom made the empire of his master the greatest that India had ever known."

"The government made no pretense to democracy, and was probably the most efficient that India has ever had. Akbar, greatest of the Moguls, “had nothing like it, and it may be doubted if any of the ancient Greek cities were better organized.”"

"He was one of the most romantic figures in Indian history, a lesser warrior but a greater ruler than Alexander. Chandragupta was a young Kshatriya noble exiled from Magadha by the ruling Nanda family, to which he was related. Helped by his subtle Machiavellian adviser, Kautilya Chanakya, the youth organized a small army, overcame the Macedonian garrisons, and declared India free. Then he advanced upon Pataliputra,I capital of the Magadha kingdom, fomented a revolution, seized the throne, and established that Mauryan Dynasty which was to rule Hindustan and Afghanistan for one hundred and thirty-seven years. Subordinating his courage to Kautilya’s unscrupulous wisdom, Chandragupta soon made his government the most powerful then existing in the world. When Megasthenes came to Pataliputra as ambassador from Seleucus Nicator, King of Syria, he was amazed to find a civilization which he described to the incredulous Greeks—still near their zenith—as entirely equal to their own."

"“In short,” says Havell, “Pataliputra in the fourth century B.C. seems to have been a thoroughly well-organized city, and administered according to the best principles of social science.” “The perfection of the arrangements thus indicated,” says Vincent Smith, “is astonishing, even when exhibited in outline. Examination of the departmental details increases our wonder that such an organization could have been planned and efficiently operated in India in 300 B.C."

"The date for Chandragupta Maurya was determined by correlating him with the Sanclrocottus mentioned in Greek sources. There is a view, which has also been active for a century or so, that considers this identification of Sandrocottus with Chandragupta Maurya to be erroneous. According to this argument, the Chandragupta intended by the Greeks was the Chandragupta of the much later Gupta dynasty."

"If people were caught embezzling funds from the revenues allocated for them or there was a deficit in the collection, they were given the harshest of punishments. As Schwartz, too, had noted in his memoirs how on a daily basis the severest of tortures were organized for errant officials who literally trembled at the very thought of being apprehended. Mirza Ikbal elaborates: He [errant] was seized and tied with ropes, like a horse, before and behind, and having been stripped naked, an order was given to flog him with a whip . . . beat him cruelly over the back and loins, after which salt was thrown upon his wounds. If he complained, he was beaten on the mouth with a shoe; and if he cried, red pepper, dried and pounded, was thrown in his eyes; and he was tortured in this way every day for a month, if he did not agree to pay the money. Besides this, every two or three days, iron spits or rods were made red hot, and he was burned or branded all over him. This was in addition to imprisonment, starvation, and chains. As soon as the delinquent had paid the money, Hydur’s rage was softened and he presented him with shawls, and golden chains, and again offered the same office to the poor man who had just escaped from death. But if he refused to take it, the fire of Hydur’s wrath was rekindled. His cruelty, however, was still greater, when exerted in extorting money from the Hindoos."

"...all through his career, Haidar carefully calibrated his image of not assuming any external visages of royalty or denying the claims of the Hindu dynasty. It was another thing that through subterfuge, he eliminated the king himself or interfered in the succession lines. But overtly, there was no affront to the family, as he very well knew that the population, being a Hindu majority one that looked up to the dynasty with reverence, would brook no disrespect and he would be condemned as an ungrateful usurper... How much of these gestures were out of genuine respect towards another faith and how much was necessitated by realpolitik, as Kirmani suggests, for keeping Mysoreans happy, is something that we will never know. In his campaigns outside Mysore, it has already been seen how holy places were desecrated or captives circumcised and converted. This was possibly more to do with humiliation and cultural subjugation of a vanquished community, than completely theologically driven. One cannot, however, deny the theological sanction for such acts, which were committed in addition to the normal pillage and plunder that all wars and protagonists of the time casually involved themselves in when it came to enemy territory."

"An appropriate concluding assessment of Haidar Ali, his stormy life and his legacy is in the words of historian Hayavadana Rao: Haidar may have been illiterate but he was not unintelligent. On the other hand, he was shrewd, carefully calculating, hard thinking, always with an eye to turning transactions to his own profit. He was also deep-seated, cunning, with a thorough understanding of mundane matters, never yielding to mere sentiment, appeal or importunity. He could be in turn kind, friendly, dissimulating and cruel. He could enjoy a joke and indulge in one too. He was, in a word, perfectly human, with an understanding of men and things that surprised those around him and made them fear him and his artful ways and sudden turns of disposition. To describe him either in uniform black paint as a hard, rapacious person bent on plundering his neighbours or to represent him in so dazzling a light that he becomes almost indistinguishable is hardly correct. He was extraordinary in the sense that history, ancient or modern, affords no exact parallel to him. If to the people of the eighteenth century he was a terror and his name was associated always with war—indicated popularly throughout the whole of Southern India by such phrases as Haidarana Haavali [the terro of Haidar] and Haidar Kalaapam [Haidar’s exploits]—to the people of the twentieth- century, he is still continuing to be something of a marvel. That is where he is interesting, yet as a unique historical personage.58"

"In the midst of his savage purpose, Haidar was, we have to concede, a man. He was not a mere monster, who mechanically perpetrated cold-blooded deeds. Despite the tendencies of the times and his own baser instincts, to which he fell a prey sometimes, there is enough in him to show that he was a humanized being. It is this humanizing touch in him that helped to individualize him and make him convincing as man among men. That explains to some small extent the great hold he had upon the imagination of the men of his time . . . we have seen in him thus far the play of at least three conflicting motives and passions—his love for money as means to an end, the end being political mastery; his hatred for everyone who comes in the way of attaining that mastery; and worse than either of these, his personal animosity against Nanjaraja [Wodeyar], whom he dreaded far more for his cunning than ever for the power that he might, perchance, wield against him to his discomfiture at a moment when he least expected it . . . when his personal feelings, however rise, as now and then they certainly do, superior to these animal instincts in him, then Haidar becomes for the moment a far different person and a truly impressive figure. His directions carry moral weight; his doings assume a mighty purpose; his fights lift him above the sordid and brutal ideas to which he seems to have been born heir to; in a word, he becomes a sort of symbol, despite his birth, religion and up-bringing, of the national fight that Mysore put up to avert the awful tragedy that the 18th century witnessed in Southern India."

"The Kannada work Haidar-Namah written in 1784 as his memoir by an anonymous Hindu admirer praises Haidar to the skies and terms him as a man who was the epitome of perfection in all qualities (sakala gunabhirama). But he mentions that were some defects in him that were intricately a part of his nature, like poison mixed with milk. ‘One such is noteworthy,’ he states, ‘namely, the capture by force of beautiful damsels wherever they might be found. A second one was that he was treacherous, broke promises, and teased and punished men summarily without due enquiry. Had he only been free from these defects, there is no doubt that he would have been considered the noblest of men in this world (satpurusha). But, alas, just as a thousand paintings are marred by a blot of ink, the regime of Haidar could not last long.’"

"Haidar, who lamented more deeply than we will ever be able to discern or measure, the lack of education in himself, not only encouraged Mullahs for teaching the elements of Persian and Hindustani, but also, what is more interesting, entrusted the care of Tipu, his son and successor, to a duly qualified Muslim teacher. His attempt at educating Tipu in the traditional mode is a chapter of history by itself. It is said that Tipu’s teacher was never questioned by Haidar as to the progress made by the boy for many years, at the end of which period, he one day conducted a public examination of Tipu. This showed that the boy had not obtained the training required for a soldier’s son; instead, he had everything that would be requisite to turn him into a good Moulvie. Haidar’s displeasure knew no bounds and he exclaimed, much in the strain of Aurangzib, that his boy had not been taught the things that would make him a great and good ruler. He had not been taught; he thundered forth, the modes of warfare he should know, the manner of conquering countries or conducting diplomacy with the surrounding nations, or even the duties of kingship. Instead, Haidar protested, everything requisite for converting him into a religious zealot had been done and his mind filled with notions and fancies which had made him hate everything not connected with Islam. Everything indeed had been done, concluded Haidar in his anger, to ruin his family and his kingdom and nothing to advance either.7"

"Chitradurga’s army comprised some 3000 Muslim soldiers. Hyder Ali contacted them secretly by using the services of a Muslim fakir who acted as a mediator. The outcome was successful. The 3000 Muslim soldiers betrayed Madakari Nayaka from within the fort. Madakari Nayaka who became aware of this treachery at the last moment could really do nothing. Instead of surrendering, he fought valiantly and died in the battle. However, nothing would appease Hyder Ali’s vengeance. In the words of Lewin Bowring, …Haidar, who, after plundering the place, despatched the [Palegar’s] family to languish in prison at [Srirangapattana]. Haidar was determined to make short work of the brave Bedars who had so successfully fought against him, and heroically sacrificed their lives in defending their hereditary chief. Not content with confiscating all their available property, and ravaging the district for the support of his army, he carried off to his capital 20,000 of the inhabitants. The young boys were afterwards trained to arms, and formed the first nucleus of a band of compulsory converts from Hinduism to Islam; a band which was largely augmented in the reign of Tipu Sultan, under the title of the Chela or disciple battalions."

"Hyder, from the earliest youth of Tippoo, made no secret of lamenting, that his [Tipu’s] intellect was of an inferior order, and his disposition wantonly cruel, deceitful, vicious and intractable. Among the pranks which he [Tipu] practiced about this period, two gave particular offence to his father. 1st. In taking his exercise on horseback, it was his particular delight to hunt the sacred bulls of the Hindoo temples, wounding them, and sometimes destroying them with his lance (indeed after his own accession he made no scruple of recommending this divine animal to his associates as the best beef). Hyder was shocked at these wanton and unprofitable outrages, on the feelings of the great mass of his subjects."

"As we study the history of the rise of Haidar Ali, he does not appear to have possessed the daring and generous spirit of the hero, who courts danger and fame, disdains artifice and boldly challenges the allegiance of others. He is more conspicuous for the steady pursuit of his aims, the flexibility of his means and the ability to submit his passions to the interest of his ambition. His career was marked by implacable vindictiveness and gross ingratitude, for revenge was profitable and gratitude expensive. Pride and virtue may recoil from many of his maneuvers but one cannot but admire his power of assigning to objectives their true priorities which, combined with his brilliant opportunism, led him from success to success. He very adroitly used the machinery of fraud and the machinery of force first to establish and then to consolidate his authority."

"Hyder Ali did not belong to the nobility. He had descended from a family of saints. He was a self-made man. He was a shrewd politician who established his kingdom. Tipu went a step ahead compared with Hyder as he also saw himself as a social reformer."

"'Nothing was to be seen on the roads for a distance of four leagues, nothing was found but only scattered limbs and mutilated bodies of Hindus. The country of Nairs [Hindus] was thrown into a general consternation which was much increased by the cruelty of the Mappilas who followed the invading cavalry of Hyder Ali Khan and massacred all those who escaped without sparing even women and children; so that the army advancing under the conduct of this enraged multitude [Mappilas] instead of meeting with continued resistance, found villages, fortresses, temples and every habitable place forsaken and deserted (p. 461)."

""Wherever he (Hyder Ali Khan) turned, he found no opponent; and every inhabitable place was forsaken and the poor inhabitants who fled to the woods and mountains in the inclement season experienced anguish to behold their houses in flames, fruit-trees cut down, cattles destroyed and temples burnt. By means of Brahmin messengers despatched to woods and mountains, Hyder Ali Khan promised pardon and mercy to the Hindus who had fled. However, as soon as the unfortunate Hindus returned on his promise of mercy and pardon, Hyder Ali Khan, like all the other Muslim tyrants of North India, saw to it that they were all hanged to death, their wives and children reduced to slavery (p. 468)."

""Before quitting the country (Kerala) Hyder Ali Khan by a solemn edict declared the Nairs deprived of all (social and political) privileges and (ordered) not to carry arms. This ordinance was found to make the submission of the proud Nairs absolutely impossible because they would have thought death preferable to such humiliations and degradation. Therefore, Hyder Ali Khan by another ordinance, consented to restore all social and political privileges including carrying of arms, to the Nairs who embraced the Mohammadan religion. Many nobles had to embrace Islam; but a significantly large section (Nairs, Chieftains and Brahmins) chose rather to take refuge in the kingdom of Travancore in the South than to submit to the last ordinance" (p. 469)."

"Don't you know I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam? I am determined to march against that cursed Raman Nair (Rajah of Travancore) very soon. Since I am overjoyed at the prospect of converting him and his subjects to Islam, I have happily abandoned the idea of going back to Srirangapatanam now."

"God is my judge that I have never taken any pains to assist them [the Malabar Rajas whom he sheltered], or gave them evil counsel, nor have I ever raised my disturbances in the country of the Circar [Mysore] until this moment, nor did I until now ever know of any enquiry or examination on the part of the Circar with respect to their remaining here . . . I have given positive orders that those Rajas should leave the country. Prior to the time that the Cochin Raja became a dependent on your Circar, the Calicut Raja had possessed himself of all his country; at that period, I expended large sums of money to lend him assistance and restored him his country. He then granted me a place for the purpose of building the wall of my boundary in his country, by an irrevocable grant, in consequence whereof, the wall was completed there, at a very great expense, since which five and twenty years have now elapsed. This is the real state of the case; nor has there until this present time been any let or molestation whatever in this respect, nor there ever will be any trouble caused to the Raja of Cochin by me. At the time of the negotiations for peace between you and the English, my name was also included in the treaty; it was well-known to the servants of your Circar that this boundary was then in being. When I received the fort of Cranganore from the Dutch, they proved by particular writings and treaties that no persons whatever had at that time, or ever had, the smallest claim or connection with it, but that it was dependent entirely upon them; in consequence of which, I bought it of them. I have never given protection to thieves or rebels to the Circar . . . as I cannot act in anything without acquainting the English, I have written all these occurrences to the Governor of Madras; immediately on receipt of these orders I shall fully answer everything regarding."

"It was in his time that the Travancore Rajah was known and generally styled " Rama Rajah" and " Dharma Rajah," which names are quite familiar to travellers who journey from Benares and other northern parts of India to Bamaswaram or Ramanad."

"Unfortunately, there are no memorials erected anywhere in Kodungallur, or Trichur, or Alwaye to honour Dharma Raja who gave shelter in his state to thousands of Hindus escaping from the Islamic brutalities of the fanatic Tipu Sultan; or Ayyappan Marthanda Pillai who was the architect of the historic Nedumkotta; or Raja Keshavadas under whose direct command a comparatively small army humbled and defeated the invading army of Tipu Sultan; or scores of valiant Hindu soldiers who laid down their lives to protect their country and faith."

"Some time previous to the death of this Rajah, a female member of the Kolathnaud family was adopted as a Princess of Travancore, and Her Highness gave birth to a Prince in the Kollum year 899. This was the renowned Rama Rajah, generally called Dharma Rajah."

"It is even a matter of debate whether this persecution [of Jains [by Hindus] in the Pandya country] has occurred at all. Nilakanth Shastri, in his unchallenged History of South India, writes about it: "This, however, is little more than an unpleasant legend and cannot be treated as history." Admittedly, this sounds like Percival Spear's statement that Aurangzeb's persecutions are 'little more than a hostile legend': a sweeping denial of a well-attested persecution. However, Mr. Spear's contention is amply disproves by contemporary documents including firmans (royal decrees) and eye-witness accounts, and by the archaeological record, e.g. the destruction of the Kashi Vishvanath temple in Varanasi by Aurangzeb is attested by the temple remains incorporated in the Gyanvapi mosque built on its site. Such evidence has not been offered in the case of Jnana Sambandar at all. On the contrary: 'Interestingly, the persecution of Jains in the Pandya country finds mention only in Shaiva literature, and is not corroborated by Jain literature of the same or subsequent period.'"

"As we might expect from Marxists who seek to mould rather than inform public opinion, this listing of evidence has been done with some editing. Thus, Romila Thapar writes that "the Shaivite saint Jnana Sambandar is attributed with having converted the Pandya ruler from Jainism to Shaivism, whereupon it is said that 8,000 Jainas were impaled by the king". She omits that this king, Arikesari Parankusa Maravarman, is also described as having first persecuted Shaivas; that Sambandar vanquished the Jainas not in battle but in debate (upon which the king converted from Jainism to Shaivism); and that he had escaped Jaina attempts to kill him. Unlike the Muslim persecutions, this Shaiva-Jaina conflict was clearly not a one-way affair. For the sake of blackening Hinduism, the Buddhists and Jains had to be depicted as hapless victims, and their share in the intra- Hindu violence had to be concealed. It is even a matter of debate whether this persecution has occurred at all: the Hindus were never careful historians, and like Hsuan Tsang they mixed legend and historical fact, so that the modern historian can only accept their testimony if he finds supportive outside (epigraphical and archaeological) evidence. Unlike the conscientious Muslim chronicles or Kalhana's Rajatarangini, this story about Sambandar comes in the form of a local legend with at most a historical core. Nilkanth Shastri, in his unchallenged History of South India, writes about it: "This, however, is little more than an unpleasant legend and cannot be treated as history.""

"[My soul] lingers for a pledge that this country shall not be abandoned to the Turk."

"The most powerful monarch of the world relentlessly attempted to destroy one man, and he braved all adversities to emerge triumphant.... Thus died the greatest hero of medieval India, the bravest of the brave whose sturdy frame was exhausted by almost two decades of constant fighting. We may here quote V. Smith’s fitting epitome of his reign: “The emperor desired the death of the Rani and the absorption of his territory in the imperial dominions. The Rana, while fully prepared to sacrifice his life if necessary, was resolved that his blood should never be contaminated by intermixture with that of the foreigner, and that his country should remain a land of freemen. After much tribulation he succeeded, and Akbar failed.”™ (338-9)"

"Akbar sent Raja Man Sing and Asaf Khan against Rana Pratap of Mewar in 1576. There were Rajput soldiers on both sides; those under Rana Pratap were fighting the ones under Raja Man Singh. At one stage in the fierce struggle, Badaoni asked Asaf Khan how he could distinguish between the friendly and the enemy Rajputs. Asaf Khan replied: “Shoot at whomsoever you like, on whichever side they may be killed, it will be a gain to Islam.”"

"I have never read Max Weber and do not know how he has arrived at the conclusion that “more tribals joined the Hindu mainstream as a result of the Muslim shock than the number of Hindus who were converted to Islam”. Perhaps he had in mind the people of Assam whom Bakhtyar Khalji and a few other Muslim invaders tried to subjugate, or the hill people all over our northern borders whom Muhammad Tughlaq tried to conquer but failed, or the Gonds who fought Akbar under Maharani Durgavati, or the Bhils who fought for freedom under Maharana Pratap, or the Mavlas who joined Shivaji at a later date. But the very fact that these so-called “tribals” fought spontaneously against the Muslim marauders rather than walk over to the winning side goes to prove that they shared a common culture with the rest of the natives."

"This was the Swadeshi Movement led by Sri Aurobindo. It was renascent India’s first experiment in mass mobilization. Powerful mantras such as svadeshI and svarAjya, first invoked by Maharshi Dayananda, came to the fore and fired the people’s imagination. The struggle against Western imperialism in all its forms including Christianity became linked with the earlier struggle against Islamic imperialism. Maharana Pratap, Shivaji, Guru Govind Singh and Banda Bairagi resumed their full stature as national heroes after having suffered an eclipse in the national memory."

"It will not be long before MahãrãNã Pratãpa SiMha of Mewar becomes renowned as hindu-kula-kamala-divãkara, the Sun which brings bloom to the lotus that is the Hindu nation."

"Hindu society has been defended, during its days of distress, by such high-souled heroes as Chandragupta, Skandagupta, Vikramaditya, Yasodharman, Bapa Rawal, Jayapala, Bhojadeva, Prithiviraj, Prataparudra, Vir Pandya, Harihara and Rana Sanga.Hindu society has fought a long-drawn-out struggle for freedom against Islamic invaders under the leadership of such veterans as Maharana Pratap, Shivaji, Maharaja Surajmal, Banda Bairagi, Lokmanya Tilak, Veer Savarkar, Mahatma Gandhi, and Sardar Patel."

"Coming to the period following Islamic invasions, Hindu society did not bother to remember the Arabs, the Ghaznavids, the Ghurids, the Mamluks, the Khaljis, the Tughlaqs, the Sayyads, the Lodis, and the Mughals. But it took pride in Bapa Raval who had humbled the Arabs; in Maharani Nayakidevi of Gujarat and Prithivi Raj Chauhan who had defeated Muhammad Ghuri again and again; in Gora and Badal who had rescued Rana Ratan Singh from the camp of Alauddin Khalji and then laid down their lives in defence of Padmini and her Chittor; in Harihara and Bukka who had founded the Vijayanagar Empire which stood like a rock against Islamic imperialism for more than two centuries; in Rana Sangram Singh who had crossed swords with Babur; in Maharana Pratap who had defied the mightiest Mughal in the midst of great adversity; in Durgadas Rathor who had despised the wrath of Aurangzeb in defence of his right to give refuge to a rebellious Mughal prince; in Chhatrapati Shivaji who devised a new diplomacy and innovated a new art of warfare which finally worsted the most powerful Muslim empire and rolled back the Islamic invasion; in Chhatrasal Bundela and Maharaja Surajmal who revived Hindu rule in the north; in Banda Bairagi who avenged the wrongs done by Muslim despots to Guru Arjun Deva, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh; and in Maharaja Ranjit Singh who liberated the Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province from Islamic stranglehold."

"For 800 years Hindusthan waged a relentless freedom struggle - probably the most stirring saga of crusade for national freedom witnessed anywhere on the face of this earth. From Maharana Kumbha to Maharana Pratap Simha and Rajasimha in Rajasthan, from Hakka and Bukka to Krishnadevaraya in the South, from Chhatrapati Shivaji to the Peshwas in Maharashtra, from the various martyr Gurus of the Sikhs including Guru Govind Singh to Banda Bairagi and Ranjit Singh in the Punjab, from Chhatrasal in Bundelkhand to Lachit Barphukan in Assam, countless captains of the war of independence piloted the ship of freedom and steered her through perilous tides and tempests. As a result of their ceaseless and crushing blows, the conquering, sword of Islam lay in dust, shattered to pieces."

"Rana Pratap's defiance of the mighty Mughal empire, almost alone and unaided by the other Rajput states, constitute a glorious saga of Rajput valour and the spirit of self sacrifice for cherished principles. Rana Pratap's methods of sporadic warfare was later elaborated further by Malik Ambar, the Deccani general, and by Shivaji Maharaj."