"We shall never be able to do justice to Indian art, for ignorance and fanaticism have destroyed its greatest achievements, and have half ruined the rest. At Elephanta the Portuguese certified their piety by smashing statuary and bas-reliefs in unrestrained barbarity; and almost everywhere in the north the Moslems brought to the ground those triumphs of Indian architecture, of the fifth and sixth centuries, which tradition ranks as far superior to the later works that arouse our wonder and admiration today. The Moslems decapitated statues, and tore them limb from limb; they appropriated for their mosques, and in great measure imitated, the graceful pillars of the Jain temples. Time and fanaticism joined in the destruction, for the orthodox Hindus abandoned and neglected temples that had been profaned by the touch of alien hands."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Will Durant, Our Oriental heritage
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Conversion_of_non-Islamic_places_of_worship_into_mosques
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques
42 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques →
Related Quotes
"As Mahoba was for some time the headquarters of the early Muhammadan Governors, we could hardly expect to find that a…"
"The take-over of ‘pagan’ sites is a recurrent feature of the history of the expansion of Islam. The most obvious prec…"
"It appears to have been the general practice of the Muhammadan conquerors of India, to destroy all the temples of the…"
"Khiljis, Tughlaqs, Lodhis, Saiyads, Suris and then Moghuls established their rules forcibly. They massacred people, c…"
"Aurangzeb cared nothing for art, destroyed its "heathen" monuments with coarse bigotry, and fought, through a reign o…"
"A far more important discovery was made in 1860, in digging the foundation of the Magistrate and Collector's new cour…"
"The ritual needs and structural properties of the Hindus and the Muslims are so diametrically opposite as to deter an…"
"Qawwat al-Islam Mosque. According to my findings the first mosque of Delhi is Qubbat all-Islam or Quwwat al-Islam whi…"
"From old records and the tradition it is gathered... Wherever they found magnificent temples of the Hindus ever since…"
"A famous idol of theirs was that of Multan, dedicated to the sun. When Muhammad Ibn Alkasim Ibn Almunabbih, conquered…"