"This placing of Hindu kings on par with Muslim invaders in the context of iconoclasm suffers from serious shortcomings. Firstly, it lacks all sense of proportion when it tries to explain away the destruction of hundreds of thousands of Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain temples by Islamic invaders in terms of the doubtful destruction of a few Buddhist and Jain shrines by Hindu kings. Secondly, it has yet to produce evidence that Hindus ever had a theology of iconoclasm which made this practice a permanent part of Hinduism. Isolated acts by a few fanatics whom no Hindu historian or pandit has ever admired, cannot explain away a full-fledged theology which inspired Islamic iconoclasm...."
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S.R. Goel, Some Historical Questions (Indian Express, April 16, 1989), quoted in Shourie, A., & Goel, S. R. (1990). Hindu temples: What happened to them.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pushyamitra_Shunga
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Pushyamitra Shunga
Pushyamitra Shunga (c. 185 – c. 149 BCE) was the founder and first ruler of the Shunga Empire which he established by rebelling against Maurya Empire. He was a follower of Hinduism and is known for reestablishing orthodox Hindu rule in North India. He married a princess named Devamala and got a son, Agnimitra from her.
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