History Of India

"Recent excavations at Mehrgarh in Baluchistan have changed the situation,“making plausible the hypothesis that the domestication of plants and animals and the rise of civilization in the Indus Valley was an indigenous cultural process.” The archeological record at the site “begins with the earliest settling by farming peoples, and goes through the middle of the third millennium”; that is, it covers continuously the development from the prepottery Neolithic to the phase immediately preceding the appearance of the Indus Valley cities. A number of scholars feel that this material invalidates the hypothesis of Mesopotamian diffusion. “The new excavations have conclusively disproved the assumption of a sudden appearance of the Indus civilization without any traces of previous development. On the contrary, they have demonstrated that the Harappan civilization should be regarded as a legitimate phase of the evolution of developed village cultures. Urbanization was … prepared by the previous stage of the inner development of village cultures which had reached a fairly high level of development.” Thus the Indus civilization, like those of Mesopotamia and Egypt, was “the result of deep cultural processes originating in the Neolithic,” and was “deeply rooted in local traditions.” In that case, input from outside seems unnecessary; supposedly the Indus culture was just about to sprout into urbanism at the same time lower Mesopotamia was. They happened side by side, at the same time, with no stimulus of one upon the other. Their village geographies, that is, happened to come to maturity at the same time. With the earlier dates for Indus Valley urbanization, and the antecedent preparatory stages shown at Mehrgarh, it now appears that “the growth of urbanization in India took place at virtually the same time as Sumer.”"

"The small size of some goats, a post-domestication characteristic, and intentional use of immature goats within human burials suggests that goats were being herded. By Mehrgarh Period IB, c.6000–5500 BC, fully domesticated sheep, goats, and cattle were the major animals being exploited. In Mehrgarh Period II, 5500–4500 BC, nearly all the faunal remains indicate domestication. After Mehrgarh Period II, some 60 percent of the animals consumed were domesticated cattle. This emphasis on domesticated cattle, though variable, persisted into the second millennium BC, a rare pattern in the ancient Old World where domesticated sheep/goats become the most exploited fauna. Moreover, during the Harappan period, after 2500 BC, groups of specialized cattle pastoralists have been identified in the prehistoric record. More recently, and importantly, cattle mtDNA studies indicate that South Asia is a primary world area where at least one species of cattle, Bos indicus, was domesticated."

"Some other new sites offer partial confirmation of the Mehrgarh implications. In terms of the traditional civilizational requisite of monumentality, for example, at Rehman Dheri “monumental public architecture came in vogue much before the emergence of the mature Indus-Saraswati Civilization, the latter only elaborated the efforts of the former.” “There was a regular fortified settlement with massive mud-brick structures and houses of the Kot Dijians at Harappa [that] long preceded the mature phases of the Indus Saraswati Civilization.”"

"Besides, archaeology has a tendency to suddenly unearth material that completely subverts previously held assumptions. Mehrgarh is the prime example. Prior to its discovery, scholars were inclined to believe that agriculture and urbanization were both diffused from West Asia. Mehrgarh, an agricultural settlement dating back to the seventh millennium B.C.E., dramatically dem- onstrated that "die theoretical models used to interpret the prehistory of Southern Asia must be completely reappraised" (Jarrige and Meadow 1980, 133)."

"Another continuous theme is Gujarat’s trade with the Persian Gulf.... Just as Sargon boasted of Indian ships bringing its goods to Mesopotamia, it has always been dependent on the subcontinent’s products that its own harsh environment could not produce, not a ‘cradle of civilisation,’ but a vital choke point between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, thus a conduit or entrepot from the real cradle: the Indian subcontinent."

"The Mehrgarh data raise serious questions about diffusion as an all-encompassing explanation for major South Asian cultural developments."

"Von Soden observes that “since the discovery of the Indus civilization … it has been almost universally accepted that the Sumerians immigrated from the east.” The immigrants are regarded as having arrived in lower Mesopotamia either at the beginning of the Ubaid period (c. 5000 B.C.) or at the beginning of the Uruk period (perhaps c. 3500 B.C., but perhaps as late as 3250). In either case, the Sumerians seem to have fitted easily into an advanced Chalcolithic culture where writing was already in the early stages of development. Therefore, the implication is that they must have been from another advanced culture, and that points to the East. Bottero agrees that “the Sumerians must have arrived in Mesopotamia during the fourth millennium, apparently from the southeast.” Von Soden further observes that “this immigration could have succeeded entirely by land if the Sumerians immigrated from somewhere in northern India,” and refers suggestively to “the westward migration of the Sumerian groups, whose language may have been related to the Dravidian languages of India.”"

"Indus materials are found in Mesopotamia, but the reverse is extremely rare;"

"There are, however, concrete evidences, in texts of the Akkadian and neo-Sumerian dynasties, of Indian crafts- and business-people first visiting Mesopotamia and later living in it. “[A]n inscription of Sargon refer[s] to Meluhhan [probably Indian] ships docked at his capital, the city of Akkad … a late Sargonic tablet datable to ca. 2200 B.C… . mentions a man with an Akkadian name entitled ‘the holder’ … of a Meluhha ship … an Akkadian cylinder seal bears the inscription … ‘Su-ilisu, Meluhha interpreter.’ Taken together, the presence of Meluhhan ships, a ship-‘holder’, and an interpreter help to establish the physical contact, over sea-routes, of Meluhha with Mesopotamia in Akkadian times.” Inscriptions of Gudea of Lagash similarly note that “‘the Meluhhans came up (or down) from their country’ to supply wood and other raw materials for the construction of the main temple of Gudea’s capital.” In the Ur III or neo-Sumerian dynasty that followed the Akkadian, however, the texts “give us an entirely different view of the Meluhhans.” Now they do not seem to come from afar, as in the Akkadian period, but, “while recognized as a distinct ethnic group, their roles are intimately part of domestic Ur III society.” Though the “Meluhha village” that is referred to repeatedly over a half century “may originally have been founded as a commercial settlement or a mercantile enclave, all references to it unanimously imply that its role in Ur III society was little, if any, different from other Southern Mesopotamian villages of the day.” The records of Meluhhans indicate that by that time “most if not all of them had Sumerian names.” Families from Meluhha, it seems, had settled in the Meluhhan village permanently, rather than on brief mercantile visits. In at least one case it seems that “the man himself was two or more generations removed from immigration into Mesopotamia.” “Three hundred years after the earliest textually documented contact between Meluhha and Mesopotamia, the references to a distinctly foreign commercial people have been replaced by an ethnic component of Ur III society.” In short, “certain Meluhhans had undergone a process of acculturation into Mesopotamian society by Ur III times.” The texts attest to “a Meluhhan garden dedicated to a Sumerian goddess, and the paying of religious taxes to that goddess’ temple …”"

"By the end of the fourth millennium B.C. the material culture of Abydos, Ur, or Mohenjo-daro would stand comparison with that of Periclean Athens or of any medieval town. . . . Judging by the domestic architecture, the seal-cutting, and the grace of the pottery, the Indus civilization was ahead of the Babylonian at the beginning of the third millennium (ca. 3000 B.C.). But that was a late phase of the Indian culture; it may have enjoyed no less lead in earlier times. Were then the innovations and discoveries that characterize proto-Sumerian civilization not native developments on Babylonian soil, but the results of Indian inspiration? If so, had the Sumerians themselves come from the Indus, or at least from regions in its immediate sphere of influence?”"

"A famous Mesopotamian inscription from the time of Sargon the Great (ca.2270-2215 BCE) who boasted that "ships from Meluhha / the ships from Magan / the ships from Dilmun / he made tie-up alongside / the quay of Akkad.""

"We can date the early Indic tradition on the basis of comparable points in ancient Mesopotamia. By this, the Ṛgveda would date back to the beginning of the third millennium BC, with some of the earliest hymns perhaps even dating to the end of the fourth millennium BC."

"Both the peacock and the chicken passed through [Mesopotamia] on their way westward[;] the Sumerians called the chicken ‘ the bird from Meluhha’ and the Syrians called it the ‘Akkadian bird’."

"What is, however, much more significant to note is that here we have the longest sequence of cultures, without any break whatsoever, upto the Early Indus-Sarasvati. In other words, this sequence does not allow any outside agency to come and effect changes in the step-by-step growth of culture. If this is realised clearly, it will not leave any scope for doubt in the indigenous of the origin and growth of the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization; at Mehrgarh from around 4000 B.c. we start getting all those characistic features which went directly into the make-up of the Early Indus sarasvati Civilization."

"While the Muslims claim he went to Arabia and became a Muslim, the Buddhists, Jains, Hindus, and Christians equally hold the last Perumal to have been an adherent of their faith. And whether Perumal’s conversion took place in the ninth century or not, it is a tradition which is very popular among the Malabar Muslims and which probably developed in Malabar itself, even though similar stories of ‘Shakarwati’ can be found in Islamic literature outside of India.42 According to the Qissat ShakarwatT the conversion of the Mappillas was effected by some of the Prophet’s com­panions who established mosques with waqf endowments in Malabar in the third decade of Islamic history.43 Most likely the tradition was in­ tended to support the ancient rights of the Muslim families who held juridical positions in Malabar and was then used to prove the antiquity and respectable origin of the Mappilla community in contrast to the North-Indian immigrant and convert Muslims.44 Historically the con­version of Ceruman Perumal is not attested, whether to Islam or any other faith. The story o f the conversion of the king and the partition of Malabar probably evolved from his having given important privileges to the Muslim trading communities."

"The belief that the last Perumal embraced Islam is not based on facts which are clear from the observations made by several learned people. In his History of Kerala, Karuppumveettil Gopala Pillai proves point by point that the story of the last Perumal embracing Islam is utterly wrong. His book explains about it. In the book called Land of Perumals, by Dey, a renowned historian has made it clear that there was no individual Perumal with the name Cheraman and the term merely meant the “ruler of Chera kingdom”. Dr. Gundert has recorded like this. “Even though the term Cheraman Perumal is there on the tongue of every Malayali, no one with that name ever existed.” In the Mangalore edition of “Keralolppathy “ it is stated that the return of the last Perumal was in the middle of 4th century AD. But the British historians have recorded that the period of last Perumal was 9th century AD. Same time, the period in which Muhammad Nabi lived was in 6th century AD. From this it will be clear that the myth about Cheraman Perumal meeting the prophet is not factual. It is claimed that the Perumal embraced Islam in AD 825. But an Arab traveller called Suleiman who visited Kerala during the period has commented that he could not see even one person or even heard from anybody in Kerala about one who is converted to Islam or learned Arabic."

"Rev. Georg Richter, another German missionary of the Basel Mission who Moegling had brought in to Coorg around 1856, records how Tipu captured ‘85,000 souls, sent them to Seringapatam and, carrying out his former threat, had them forcibly circumcised.’29 Wilks pegs this number at 70,000. He writes: ‘ . . . [Tipu] closed in on the great mass of the population, male and female, amounting to about 70,000, and drove them off like a herd of cattle to Seringapatam, where the Sultaun’s threats were but too effectually executed.’"

"No sooner had Tipu headed back to his capital than troubles began to erupt once more in Coorg. Puffed by his closeness to the Sultan, Mehdvi, the new foujdar, had become a debauched autocrat in a short span of time. He had forcibly abducted the sister of one Momuti Nair, a minister of the local chief.8 These excesses had naturally inflamed passions among the Kodavas, particularly Momuti and his colleague Ranga Nair. Soon the discontent spread among all the peasantry who were bearing the brunt of Mysore’s exploitation and heavy taxation, and now the additional scourge of their women being brazenly molested by Mehdvi. Kirmani too corroborates these excesses committed by Mehdvi: When Zein ool Abidin Mehdivi, the Foujdar of Koorg, from his intimacy with the Sultan, and the confidence he reposed in him was placed in uncontrolled authority there, he filled all parts of the kingdom with rebellion, and regulated the affairs of the government according merely to his caprice and folly; in so much that from the inherent vices of his disposition, he extended the hand of lust to the women of the peasantry, and compelled the handsomest among them to submit to his will and pleasure. In consequence of this tyrannical conduct, the whole of the people of Koorg advanced into the field of enmity and defiance."

"Some of the temples of the Kodavas, like the Bhagavathy temple near Kotakeri was demolished and the Biddatanda Ainmane was burnt down by Tipu.18 However, several temples and their deities were secretly translocated by the Kodavas and the Brahmin priests to be hidden in safety and escape the wrath of Tipu’s marauding forces.19 The Omkareshwara temple was replaced with a tomb.20 It is believed that several of these shrines, including that of the famous Bhagandeshwara temple, remained in disuse or ruins and the idols hidden in several secret locations, only to be reinstalled and worshipped later, once the Coorg Raja’s power was re-established.21 The Bhagandeshwara temple was made into a fortress and renamed as Afzalabad."

"Rev. Hermann Moegling, a German missionary from the Basel mission, who came to Coorg in 1853, mentions in his Coorg Memoirs: After fifteen days, he [Tipu] went to Talakaveri. He encamped at Devatiparambu. At first, he negotiated. When the Coorgs felt secure, he seized them suddenly with their families and carried them to Mysore. There he separated them and forced them to become Musulmans. They were received as Sheiks, Syeds, Mogals and Patans. In course he sent Mohammadans of the four classes into Coorg and gave to them the lands and slaves of the rulers. Besides, he transplanted large numbers of farmers from Adwani [Adoni] in the Bellary district into Coorg as labourers on the estates of the new Musulman rulers. Nagappaya, the nephew of Subarasaya, was charged with the Government of the country."

"In a self-congratulatory account of the successful Coorg expedition, Tipu writes to the Nawab of Kurnool, Ranmast Khan, in a letter dated 5 January 1786:Some time ago . . . the exciters of sedition in the Koorg country . . . raised their heads, one and all, in tumult. Immediately, on our hearing of this circumstance, we proceeded with the utmost speed, and at once, made prisoners of forty thousand sedition-exciting Koorgs, who, alarmed at the approach of our victorious army, had slunk into woods, and concealed themselves in lofty mountains, inaccessible even to birds. Then carrying them away from their native country we raised them to the honour of Islam, and incorporated them with our Ahmadi corps. As these happy tidings are calculated, at once, to convey a warning to hypocrites, and to afford delight to friends, [but more especially] to the chiefs of the true believers, then pen of amity has here recited them [for your information]."

"Tipu marched into Coorg with a large force and launched a savage attack on the pretext of suppressing a rebellion. Indeed, there’s some grain of truth about the rebellion, and it has everything to do with a despotic officer named Zein Ul Abiddin Khan. He was Tipu’s faithful Faujdaar(commander) in Coorg. Here’s how Tipu’s arch-sycophant cum historian Mir Hussein Kirmani, describes Zein Khan: The Faujdaar extended the hand of lust to the women of the peasantry, and compelled them to submit to his will and pleasure. In consequence of this tyrannical conduct, the whole of Kodagu advanced into a field of enmity and defiance. The people there rose up in rebellion when Tipu himself entered Kodagu through Periyapattana and Siddapur. He threw himself like a raging lion into the midst of that frightful forest…the Kodagu country…"

"In another letter to Meer Muinudeen, dated 13 January 1786, Tipu once again corroborates the act of transporting and converting the captives from Coorg: ‘By the favour of the Almighty and the assistance of the Prophet, we have arranged and adjusted the affairs of the taluk of Zufeerabad in the most suitable manner; the tribe of Koorgs to the number of fifty thousand men and women, having been made captives, and incorporated with the Ahmadi class . . . this being an event calculated to give strength to the people of Islam, we wish that brother [all co-religionists] all joy on this auspicious occasion.’"

"Here’s Mir Hussein Kirmani again giving us a sample of Tipu’s savagery in Coorg. The conquering Sultan now…dispatched his Amirs and Khans with large bodies of troops to punish those idolaters and reduce the whole country (Coorg) to subjection. Troops under M. Lally…Abbedin [the same tyrannical Faujdaar] and Hussein Ali were sent to Thalakaveri and Kushalpura…attacked and destroyed many towns with 8000 men, women and children taken as prisoners…collected an immense crowd like a flock of sheep or herd of bullocks…while the Sultan pitched his tents to the South of the Thalakaveri hill…giving them orders to pursue the rebels and capture their chiefs."

"108 angulas make a dhanus, a measure [used] for roads and city-walls . . ."

"Varāhamihira .... in his Brihat Samhitā.... states that the height of a tall man is 108 angulas, that of a medium man ninety-six angulas, and that of a short man eighty-four angulas (the same heights apply to statues of various deities); using our Harappan angula of 1.76 cm, we get 1.90, 1.69 and 1.48 m respectively, quite consistent with ‘tall’, ‘medium’ and ‘short’."

"A large part of the population of Coorg was made prisoner. The number of prisoners and converts varies from Tipu’s own letters to those of the several chroniclers. In the letter above to Meer Muinudeen, Tipu gloats about 50,000 Kodavas being made captives, converted to Islam and incorporated into the Ahmadi class. In the letter to Ranmast Khan above, Tipu is gloating about 50,000 prisoners whom he converted. In his account, Kirmani states that ‘in the course of seven months and a few days, eighty thousand men, women and children were made prisoners . . . the prisoners . . . had been all made Musulmans and were styled Ahmudees, were formed into eight risalas or regiments and veteran officers were appointed to train and discipline them.’2"

"Measures of distance too were amended, the kos or Indian twomiles being now defined as consisting of so many yards of twice twenty-four thumb-breadths, because the creed (Kalmah) contains twenty-four letters. The kos thus fixed was 2¾ miles, and if the letter-carriers did not travel this distance in 33 minutes they were to be flogged. All the names of weights and measures were altered. But the most wonderful of his improvements was his new method of calculating time. As is well known, the Hindus counted time in cycles of 60 years, each year having a separate name, a system which makes their chronology somewhat difficult to unravel. Tipu founded a new calendar on this basis, giving however fantastic names to the years, and equally strange ones to the lunar months. The year, according to his arrangement, only contained 354 days, and each month was called by some name in alphabetical order. From the year 1784, all his letters were dated according to the day of one or other of the months in this new nomenclature."

"Kalibangan had street widths standardized in an arithmetic progression: 1.8 m, 3.6 m, 5.4 m and 7.2 m; we find traces of such a system at Kaushambi as well,23 where a road 2.44 m wide is broadened to the exact double of 4.88 m; more significantly, the Arthashāstra24 prescribes streets in widths of two, four or eight dandas, with the danda being a unit of length generally taken to be about six feet or 1.8 m."

"In 1788, he actually implemented his threat. In a letter to the Nawab of Kurnool Runmust Khan, Tipu gloats about how gloriously he accomplished this vicious task: …the exciters of sedition in the Coorg country, not looking to the consequences [of such conduct]… raised their heads, one and all, in tumult. Immediately on our hearing of this circumstance, we proceeded with the utmost speed, and, at once, made prisoners of forty thousand…Coorgs, who, alarmed at the approach of our victorious army, had slunk into woods, and concealed themselves in lofty mountains, inaccessible even to birds. Then carrying them away from their native country we raised them to the honor of Islam, and incorporated them with our Ahmadi corps. As these happy tidings are calculated, at once, to convey a warning to hypocrites…"

"The Indus weight system is identical to that used in the first kingdoms of the Gangetic plains . . . and is still in use today in traditional markets throughout Pakistan and India."

"By September 1785, with a determination to punish the Kodavas for what they had been doing, Tipu ordered the commander or sipahadar of one of his kushoons (infantry brigades of five thousand men), Zain-ul-abidin Shoostri to invade Coorg and terminate the insurgency. In his later dated 17 September 1785 to Shoostri, Tipu writes: It has lately been represented to us, that the Koorgs have committed some excesses at Zuferabad. We have, in consequence, written to the Buktshy [Bakshi] of the Jyshe [army], to dispatch you with two guns and your kushoon to that place. He is also ordered to advance you Two Thousand Behadury pagodas, on account of the pay of your kushoon, as well as a thousand rupees, to be applied in compensations to the wounded . . . you will proceed, as directed above, to Zuferabad; to the Foujdar of which place, Zynul Aabideen, we have addressed another letter, which is enclosed. You are, in conjunction with him, to make a general attack on the Koorgs; when having put to the sword, or made prisoners of the whole of them, both the slain and the prisoners are to be made Musulmans [emphasis mine]. In short, you must so manage matters, as to prevent them from exciting any further sedition or disturbance."

"To the Sheik and Syed converts whom he transplanted into a depopulated, barren Coorg, Tipu gave a cruel task: The country is given to you in Jaghir, improve it and be happy; the extermination of those mountaineers being determined on you, you are required as an imperious duty, to search for and to slay all who may have escaped our just vengeance; their wives and children will become your slaves."

"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."

"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.”"

"When Man Singh was appointed the leader of the expedition against Maharana Pratap, the appointment caused some resentment in the Muslim military circles. Badayuni accompanied Man Singh in this expedition. On the battle-field he failed to distinguish between the Imperial Rajputs and those led by Maharana Pratap. He consulted a Muslim friend nearby who told him that he need not worry. He should shoot indiscriminately ; whosoever would be killed would mean one Rajput less and hence Islam would gain."

"The land is overstocked with people; but those in the country are very miserable, whilst the nobles are extremely opulent and delight in luxury. They are wont to be carried on their silver beds, preceded by some twenty chargers caparisoned in gold, and followed by 300 men on horseback and 500 on foot, and by horn-men, ten torchbearers and ten musicians."

"The sultan goes out hunting with his mother and his lady, and a train of 10,000 men on horseback, 50,000 on foot; 200 elephants adorned in gilded armour, and in front one hundred horn-men, 100 dancers, and 300 common horses in golden clothing, 100 monkeys, and 100 concubines, all foreign (haurikies)."

"The sultan’s palace has seven gates, and in each gate are seated 100 guards and 100 Mahommedan scribes, who enter the names of all persons going in and out. Foreigners are not admitted into the town. This palace is very wonderful; everything in it is carved or gilded, and, even to the smallest stone, is cut and ornamented with gold most wonderfully. Several courts of justice are within the building."

"The rulers and the nobles in the land of India are all Khorassanians. The Hindoos walk all on foot and walk fast. They are all naked and barefooted, and carry a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. Some of the servants are armed with straight bows and arrows."

"For this is my rule: government by the law, of the law; prosperity by the law, protection by the law."

"…About 2 c. without Dely is the remainder of an auncient mole [mahal?] or hunting house, built by Sultan Berusa [Sultan Firoz Shah, the pillar referred to is the Asoka lat brought by him from Meerut], a great Indian monarch, with much curiositie of stoneworke. With and above the rest is to be seen a stone pillar, which, passing through three stories, is higher then all twenty foure foot, having at the top a globe and a halfe moone over it. This stone, they say, stands as much under the earth, and is placed in the water, being all one entire stone; some say Naserdengady, a Potan king [probably Nasiruddin Tughlak, son of Firoz Shah], would have taken it up and was prohibited by multitude of scorpions, and that it hath inscriptions. In divers parts of India the like are to be seene, and of late was found buried in the ground about Fettipore a stone piller of an hundred cubits length, which the King commanded to bring to Agra, but was broken in the way, to his great griefe."

"The sultan (of Bedar) moved out with his army on the fifteenth day after the Ulu Bairam to join Melich-Tuchar at Kulburga. But their campaign was not successful, for they only took one Indian town, and that at the loss of many people and treasures. The Hindoo sultan Kadam is a very powerful prince. He possesses a numerous army, and resides on a mountain at Bichenegher (Bijanagar). This vast city is surrounded by three forts, and intersected by a river, bordering on one side on a dreadful jungel, on the other on a dale; a wonderful place, and to any purpose convenient. On one side it is quite inaccessible; a road goes right through the town, and as the mountain rises high with a ravine below, the town is impregnable. The enemy besieged it for a month and lost many people, owing to the want of water and food. Plenty of water was in sight, but could not be got at. This Indian stronghold was ultimately taken by Melikh Khan Khoda, who stormed it, having fought day and night to reduce it. The army that made the siege with heavy guns, had neither eaten nor drunk for twenty days. He lost five thousand of his best soldiers. On the capture of the town twenty thousand inhabitants, men and women, had their heads cut off; twenty thousand, young and old, were made prisoners, and sold afterwards at ten tenkas and also at five tenkas a head; the children at two tenkas each. The treasury, however, having been found empty, the town was abandoned."

"Late in the afternoon of the same day [14th February, 1843] I rode through the city, to the ruins of the palace of the Sultan Feroze, situated a few hundred steps without the south gate. On the plateau of this palace is the celebrated Feroze-Cotelah, or column. It is one of those columns which the pious Fabian speaks of, in his travells 1400 years ago, and of which there is still one in the fort of Allahabad, and three others in North Behar, one in Terai, near to the frontiers of Nepaul, the second not far from Bettiah, and the third on the river Gandaki. They have all the same inscriptions, in the ancient Pali, or Deva Magadhi language, and the Feroze-Cotelah has, also, inscriptions in Persian and Sanscrit. The learned James Princep succeeded in deciphering that in the Pali language. It is an edict of As-o-ko [Ashoka], the Bhoodist king of all India, who lived from 325 to 288 B.C., forbidding the destruction of living animals, and enforcing the observance of Bhoodism [Buddhism]. The Feroze-Cotelah consists of one piece of brown granite; it is ten feet in circumference, and, gradually tapering towards the summit, rises to the height of 42 feet. It is embedded in the platform of the completely ruined palace. The sun was nearly setting when I arrived before these extensive ruins: I tied my horse to a portion of the standing wall, and clambered over ponderous arches and porticoes up to the plateau. On this spot, standing before a monument more than two thousand years old, which reminded me of three great epochs of the history of India, that of the Bhoodists, of the Brahmins, and of the Moguls, surrounded by ruins, extending further than the eye could reach, with a view of Delhi, whose minarets and domes were gilded by the setting sun, – those times and nations could not fail to rise in a magic picture before my mind."

"The Muhammadan mobs attacked all the Hindu Temples in the city, numbering about fifteen, and broke the idols. They also raided the Sharan Vishveshwar Temple and attempted to set fire to the Temple car. The Police were eventually obliged to fire, with the result that three Muhammadans, including the Police Superintendent Mr. Azizullah, were killed and about a dozen persons injured. Next morning the streets were again in the hands of Muhammadan mobs and considerable damage was done to Hindu houses and shops. On the arrival of Police Reinforcement, order was restored. On the 14th August the Muslim mob fury was at its height and almost all the temples within the range of the mob, some fifty in number, were desecrated, their sanctum sanctorum entered into, their idols broken and their buildings damaged."

"…in the centre of this Island there exists that wonderful Pagoda of Canari, thus called from its being supposed to have been the work of the Canaras. It is constructed at the foot of a great Hill of Stone of light grey colour; there is a beautiful Hall at its entrance, and in the yard that leads to the front back door, there are two human figures engraved on the same stone, twice as big as the Giants exhibited on the Procession of the Corpus Christi feast in Lisbon, so beautiful, elegant, and so well executed, that even in Silver they could not be better wrought and made with such perfection."

"As a government-appointed Statutory Committee observed in 1928: Every year since 1923 has witnessed communal rioting on an extensive, and in fact, on an increasing scale which has as yet shown no sign of abating. The attached list, which excludes minor occurrences, records no less than 112 communal riots within the last 5 years, of which 31 have occurred during 1927."

"Any event in any Muslim country gives Indian Muslims the right to take to the streets and start vicious riots, all over the country, in an orgy of loot, arson and vandalism (especially vandalism of Hindu temples, shops and houses situated near Muslim areas). The event may be the arson by an Australian tourist in the Al-Aqsa mosque in far-off Jerusalem, the temporary take-over by a group of Sunni extremists of the mosque in Mecca, the execution of Zulfigar Ali Bhutto by Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan, or the death of Zia-ul-Haq in an aircrash."

"…Next Morn before Break of Day we directed our Steps to the anciently fame’d, but now ruin’d City of Canorein; the way to it is so delightsome, I thought I had been in England; fine Arable, Pasture, and Coppices; thus we passed Five Mile to the Foot of the Hill on which the City stands, and had passed half a Mile through a thick Wood, peopled by Apes, Tygers, wild Buffolo’s, and Jackalls; here were some Flocks of Parockets: When we alighted, the Sun began to mount the Horizon over the Hills, and under our Feet, as if he had newly bathed his fiery Coursers; there appeared the Mouth of a Tank, or Aqueduct, out of a Rock, whose steaming Breath was very hot, but water cold: From hence it is thought the whole City to be supplied with Water; for as we ascend, we find such Places, where convenient, filled with Limpid Water, not over-matched in India: If it be so, (as I know not how to contradict it) that it should have its Current upwards, through the hard Rocks artificially cut, the World cannot parallel so wonderful a Water-course! From hence the Passage is uneasy and inaccessible for more than two abreast, till we come to the City, all cut out of a Rock; where is presented Vulcan’s Forge, supported by two mighty Colosses, bellied in the middle with two Globes. Next a Temple with a beautiful Frontispiece not unlike the Portuco of St. Paul’s West Gate: Within the Porch on each side stand two Monstrous Giants [the Chaitya Caves, the giants being Buddhas], where two Lesser and one Great Gate give a noble Entrance; it can receive no Light but at the Doors and Windows of the Porch, whereby it looks more solemnly; the Roof is Arched, seeming to be born up by huge Pillars of the same Rock, some Round, some Square, 34 in number. The Cornish Work of Elephants, Horses, Lions; at the upper end it rounds like a Bow; near where stands a great Offertory somewhat Oval, the Body of it without Pillars, they only making a narrow Piatzo about, leaving the Nave open: It may be an 100 Feet in Length, in Height 60 Feet or more. Beyond this, by the same Mole-like Industry, was worked out a Court of Judicature (as those going to shew it will needs give Names) or Place of Audience, 50 Feet square, all bestuck with Imagery, Well Engraven according to old Sculpture. On the Side, over against the Door, sate one Superintendent, to whom the Brachmin went with us, paid great Reverence, not speaking of him without a token of worship; whom we called Jougy [jogi], or the Holy Man; under this the way being made into handsome Marble Steps, are the King’s Stables, not different from the Fashion of our Noblemens Stables, only at the head of every Stall seems to be a Dormitory, or Place for Devotion, with Images, which gave occasion to doubt if ever for that End; or rather made for an Heathen Seminary of Devotes and these their Cells or Chappels, and the open Place their Common Hall or School: More aloft stood the King’s Palace, large, stately and magnificent, surrounded with lesser of the Nobility. To see all, would require a Month’s time; but that we might see as much as could be in our allotted time, we got upon the highest part of the Mountain, where we feasted our Eyes with innumerable Entrances of these Cony-burrows, but could not see one quarter part. Whose Labour this should be, or for what purpose, is out of memory; but this Place by the Gentiles is much adored…the Portugals, who are now Masters of it, strive to erace the remainders of this Herculean Work, that it may sink into the oblivion of its Founders."

"The situation only worsened in 1925 and 1926. No less than sixteen communal riots occurred in 1925, the most terrible being those at Delhi, Aligarh, Arvi (Central Provinces) and Sholapur. On 2 April 1926, deadly riots erupted again in Calcutta. They went on over three waves leaving hundreds killed and injured. Riots rocked interiors of Bengal, Rawalpindi, Allahabad and about five riots occurred in Delhi alone. ...Between 1922 and 1927, approximately 450 lives were lost and 5000 persons injured in communal clashes. Almost every province seemed to have been affected by the virus. The storm spread easily and widely from one place to another, bringing in its wake enormous loss of life and property."