Invasions

"In addition to being a demonstration to the Caribbean community of what will happen to any country that dares to assume responsibility for its own destiny, the invasion of Grenada also serves as a naked warning to thirty million African-americans. Watch your step. We did it to them down there and we will not hesitate to do it to you."

"With the constant manipulation of the media, many Black americans are honestly confused, defending “our” invasion of Black Grenada under a mistaken mirage of patriotism. Nineteen eighty-four is upon us, and has come home to scramble our brains and blanket our protest."

"Weeks after the invasion, Grenadians were still smelling out and burying bodies which lay all over the island. The true casualty figures will never be known. No civilian body count is available. Even the bodies of Maurice Bishop and his slain ministers are never positively identified, no doubt to forestall any possible enshrinement by the people who loved him, no doubt to make the task of smearing his popular memory more easily accomplished. It has already begun."

"Hundreds of Grenadian bodies are buried in unmarked graves, relatives missing and unaccounted for, survivors stunned and frightened into silence by fear of being jailed and accused of “spreading unrest among the people.” No recognition and therefore no aid for the sisters, mothers, wives, children of the dead, families disrupted and lives vandalized by the conscious brutality of a planned, undeclared war. No attention given to the Grenadian bodies shipped back and forth across the sea in plastic bodybags from Barbados to Grenada to Cuba and back again to Grenada. After all, they all look alike, and besides, maybe if they are flown around the world long enough they will simply disappear, or become invisible, or some other peoples’ sacrifice."

"Again in the year AH 716 Sultan Alauddin sent Malik Naib towards Dhor Samundar (Dvar Samudra) and Mabar they then advanced with their troops to Mabar, and conquered it also, and having demolished the temples there, and broken the golden and jewelled idols, sent the gold into the treasury."

"Kafur always gained one victory after another until he dominated over Jagannath and consigned it to fire. He returned from it on 5th Zilhajj of the year 710 (1310) and arrived at Delhi on 4th Jamadi II of the year 711 (1311). It was a day worth witnessing. No one had undertaken such campaigns before him and there would be none after him. A good omen was drawn from his arrival with that booty for his sultan and for general Muslim public. They believed that all these victories were facilitated by the blessings of Quth-uz-Zaman, Qiblat-ul-Asfiya Mawlana Shaikh Nizamuddin Awliya and Qutb-uz-Zaman, Madar ul-Jamkin Mawalana Shaikh Nasiruddin and similarly the two Qutbs of people of the world and faith Mawlana Shaikh Ruknuddin and Mawlana Shaikh 'Alauddin, may God benefit us through them. During their life time, whatever they desired from their Lord, became the sunna (rule and regulation of the Prophet, may peace and benediction of God be on him). Every member of the house of the 'Alaiya Sultan was a disciple and spiritual follower of Mawalana Shaikh Nizamuddin Awliya including the wazirs and amirs and persons of rank. His blessings were upon them all."

"In 710 (1310) Kafur conquered the region of Ma'bar (Malabar) and Dahur Samand. Both these regions belonged to Bir Rai. He marched further to Sarandip (Ceylon) and Kafur broke the famous idol of Ram Ling Mahadev. It was wonderful that the swordsmen deserted the temple. The Brahmins assembled to fight with him at the time of his breaking the idol till they collected all broken parts and got displeased with swordsmen. Kafur marched further to Sira and demolished the temple of Jagannath'."

"There was another rai in these parts …a Brahmin named Pandya Guru… his capital was Fatan, where there was a temple with an idol in it laden with jewels. The rai fled when the army of the Sultan arrived at Fatan… They then struck the idol with an iron hatchet, and opened its head. Although it was the very Qibla of the accursed infidels, it kissed the earth and filled the holy treasury” (Ashiqa)."

"Malik Naib Kafur marched on to Ma'bar, which he also took. He destroyed the golden idol temple (but-khanah i-zarin) of Ma'bar, and the golden idols which for ages had been worshipped by the Hindus of that country. The fragments of the golden temple, and of the broken idols of gold and gilt became the rich spoil of the army."

"After five days, the royal canopy moved from Birdhul on Thursday, the 17th of Zi-l Ka’da, and arrived at Kham, and five days afterwards they arrived at the city of Mathra (Madura), the dwelling place of the brother of the Rai Sundar Pandya. They found the city empty, for the Rai had fled with the Ranis, but had left two or three elephants in the temple of Jagnar (Jagganath). The elephants were captured and the temple burnt."

"The tongue of the sword of the Khalifa of the time, which is the tongue of the flame of Islam, has imparted light to the entire darkness of Hindustan by the illumination of its guidance… and on the right hand and on the left hand the army has conquered from sea to sea, and several capitals of the gods of the Hindus in which Satanism had prevailed since the time of the Jinns, have been demolished. All these impurities of infidelity have been cleansed by the Sultan’s destruction of idol temples, beginning with his first expedition against Deogir, so that the flames of the light of the law illumine all these unholy countries, and places for the criers to prayers are exalted on high, and prayers are read in mosques. Allah be praised!"

"After returning to Birdhul, he again pursued the Raja to Kandur… The Rai again escaped him, and he ordered a general massacre at Kandur. It was then ascertained that he had fled to Jalkota… There the Malik closely pursued him, but he had again escaped to the jungles, which the Malik found himself unable to penetrate, and he therefore returned to Kandur… Here he heard that in Brahmastpuri there was a golden idol, round which many elephants wore stabled. The Malik started on a night expedition against this place, and in the morning seized no less then two hundred and fifty 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,’ – ‘the roof was covered with rubies and emeralds’, - ‘in short, it was the holy place of the Hindus, which the Malik dug up from its foundations with the greatest care… and 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 idol called Ling Mahadeo which had been a long time established at that place and on which the women of the infidels rubbed their vaginas for [sexual] satisfaction, these, 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 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-l Ka’da, AH 710 (April 1311 AD). They destroyed all the temples at Birdhul, and placed the plunder in the public treasury."

"…In the second year after this arrangement Muhammad Bakhtyar brought an army from Behar towards Lakhnauti and arrived at the town of Nudiya, with a small force; Nudiya is now in ruins. Rai Lakhmia (Lakhminia) the governor of that town… fled thence to Kamran, and property and booty beyond computation fell into the hands of the Muslims, and Muhammad Bakhtyar having destroyed the places of worship and idol temples of the infidels founded Mosques and Monasteries and schools and caused a metropolis to be built called by his own name, which now has the name of Gaur. There where was heard before The clamour and uproar of the heathen, Now there is heard resounding The shout of ‘Allaho Akbar’."

"The next year Malik Muhammad Bakhtiyar started from Behar, and with a small force reached the city of Nudiar by successive rapid marches. Lakhmania in great confusion embarked in a boat and escaped ; and all his treasure and the paraphernalia of state, which were beyond the bounds of all account and calculation, fell into Muhammad Bakhtiyar’s hands. The latter devastated the city of Nudiar, and in place of it, founded another city, which has become Lakhnauti; and made it his capital, and today that city is in ruins and is known as Gour. In short, Muhammad Baklitiyar assumed the canopy, and had prayers read, and coin struck in his own name ; and founded mosques and IQiankahs 8 and colleges, in the place of the temples of the heathen ; and he sent many precious articles for the acceptance of Sultan Kutbuddin Aibak, out of the booty which he had acquired."

"In the year AH 710 (AD 1310), the King again sent Mullik Kafoor and Khwaja Hajy with a great army, to reduce Dwara Sumoodra and Maabir in the Deccan, where he heard there were temples very rich in gold and jewels' They found in the temple prodigious spoils, such as idols of gold, adorned with precious stones, and other rich effects, consecrated to Hindoo worship. On the sea-coast the conqueror built a small mosque, and ordered prayers to be read according to the Mahomedan faith, and the Khootba to be pronounced in the name of Allaood-Deen Khiljy. This mosque remains entire in our days at Sett Bund Rameswur, for the infidels, esteeming it a house consecrated to God, would not destroy it."

"The entire Nair country was plundered; their homes were burnt and a universal massacre of the Nair caste was ordered. The Nairs were hunted down and butchered. Hyder gave ‘Rupees 5 to anyone who brought him the head of a Nair that was able to fight; if it was an old man, he gave four, and if of a boy he gave three rupees.’ A price of three rupees was also paid for every Nair woman captured alive. Many women were thus captured and transported to distant places as presents to governors and chiefs."

"In yet another letter to the selfsame Budruz Khan, Tipu celebrates the triumph of his fanaticism in a different way: I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam. I am now determined to march against the cursed Raman Nair."

"We can turn to Bowring again:The Mysore army, flushed with success, now began to lay waste the country with fire and sword, desecrating and despoiling temples, and burning towns and villages, whose wretched inhabitants fled to the hills, where many were seized and made prisoners. The ruins to be seen at the present day testify to the ferocity of the invaders, while all the records of antiquity and the archives of the Travancore State were consumed in the burning pagodas, public offices, and houses. These atrocities were perpetrated with the express sanction of Tipu Sultan, who himself marched with his main army southward to Alwal, a favourite watering-place of the Travancore Raja. He contemplated the reduction of the whole province."

"In this context, it’s also pertinent to mention a 1964 book published by the Pakistan Administrative Staff College at Lahore. Entitled Life of Tipu Sultan, this book summarizes Tipu’s destructive raid in the Malabar as follows: Tipu imprisoned and forcibly converted more than a lakh Hindus and over 70,000 Christians in the Malabar region (they were forcibly circumcised and made to eat beef). Although these conversions were unethical and disgraceful, they served Tipu’s purpose. Once all these people had been cut off from their original faith, they were left with no option but to accept the very faith to which their ravager belonged, and they began to educate their children in Islam. They were later enlisted in the army and received good positions. Most of them morphed into religious zealots, and enhanced the ranks of the Faithful in Tipu’s kingdom. Tipu’s zeal for conversion was not limited only to the Malabar region. He had spread it all the way up to Coimbatore. But for the remonstrance of his mother, Tipu would have compelled his favourite Dewan Poornayya to have forsaken the religion of his forefathers."

"Even a summary of Tipu’s atrocities in the Malabar makes for painful reading. Colonel Fullerton’s report on the matter is one such account. During his 1783 siege of the Palaghat fort,Tipu’s soldiers daily exposed the heads of many innocent Brahmins within sight from the fort for Zamorin and his Hindu followers to see. It is asserted that the Zamorin rather than witness such enormities and to avoid further killing of innocent Brahmins, chose to abandon the Palghat Fort. In fact, it is not inaccurate to say that Tipu’s (later) Malabar campaign was—apart from trying to secure strategic advantage—a campaign motivated by extreme religious fanaticism against the Hindus of Kerala. Tipu and his army spared no section of the Hindu society—Brahmins, Nairs, Thiyyas, Christians, women, and children. Fullerton continues, It was not only against the Brahmins who were thus put in a state of terror of forcible circumcision and conversion; but against all sections of Hindus. In August, 1788, a Raja of the Kshatriya family of Parappanad and also Trichera Thiruppad, a chieftain of Nilamboor, and many other Hindu nobles who had been carried away earlier to Coimbatore by Tipu Sultan, were forcibly circumcised and forced to cat beef. Nairs in desperation, under the circumstances, rose up against their Muslim oppressors under Tipu’s command in South Malabar and the Hindus of Coorg in the North also joined them…"

"A Sreedhara Menon, the former editor of the Gazetteer of Kerala mentions that Hindus, especially Nairs and chieftains who resisted Islamic cruelties, were the main targets of Tipu’s anger. Hundreds of Nair women and children were abducted to Sreerangapatanam or sold as slaves to the Dutch. Nairs were hunted down and killed and also deprived of all traditional and social privileges. Thousands of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Nairs and other respected classes of Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam or driven out of their traditional ancestral homes. Thousands sought refuge in Travancore State while hundreds fled to forests and hills to escape Tipu’s atrocities which had completely shaken their sense of security. The new phase of Mysore administration in Kerala resulted in unending wars. Extreme cruelties of the invading army had badly affected every section of the society, leading to the mass exodus of people from Malabar.Many Hindu temples, royal houses and chieftain families were destroyed and plundered. The exodus of Brahmins and Kshatriyas who were the patrons and custodians of traditional arts and culture, resulted in stagnation in the cultural field also."

"Other evidence of Tipu’s barbarism in the Malabar has survived even today. In the words of the scholar and researcher Ravi Varma, One finds a heavy concentration of Mappilas [Kerala/Malabar Muslims] along the invasion routes of Tipu’s army, including the places of its temporary occupation, as in Mangalore, Cannanoor, Ponnani, Kondotty, Malappuram, Calicut, Kodungallur, Chawakat, Alwaye, Coimbatore, and Dindigal. This is another proof of forcible circumcision and conversion of helpless Nairs, defenceless Thiyyas and poor Cherumans on a mass scale. Even today, the origin of many Kshatriya, Nair and Brahmin families settled in Travancore and Cochin can be traced back to their ancestral families in Malabar - yet another proof of the severity of Tipu’s atrocities against Hindus during his Islamic wars in Kerala."

"Wherever Hyder Ali’s men marched, Hindus were massacred in cold blood. Everywhere, dead bodies deformed by sword cuts and bullet injuries were laying in pools of blood. All the temples and houses on the way were pillaged and set ablaze. To escape from swords of the Mysore army which engulfed the area like flood waters, many resorted to hiding themselves in deep forests. When Hyder’s force reached near Bharatha river, they inflicted heavy damages to life and properties in Vettatthu Nadu by plundering homes and temples and setting fire to everything belonging to Hindus indiscriminately. Big temples which were pillaged and damaged partly or wholly were Nava Mukunda temple of Thirunavaya, Temple of Brahma and Siva at Thavanur, Kodakkal Tali temple, Mahadeva temple at Thruprangod, Mahadeva temple at Trikkandiyur, Vamana temple at Kalad, Lakshmi Narasimha temple of Edamana. Further several small temples were also destroyed. Hyder Ali and his army demolished the eastern gopuram of Trikkandiyur Mahadeva temple and entered the inside premises and smashed the wooden structure holding a lakh of lamps and the Gopurams (entrance tower) and Mukhamandapam (sacred pillared pavilion in front of the sanctum). The head of the idol of sacred bull (Rishabha) was severed. They tried to enter the sanctum sanctorum and pluck out and throw away the idol but could not succeed. Hence it was badly disfigured. The remnants of the attack of Hyder are still visible in the temple. Even now the idol of the deity worshipped at Thrikkandiyur temple is the same which bears the cut mark inflicted by Hyder."

"Vella Nambudiri who was a direct witness of the atrocities committed by Hyder Ali and his army, records some of the incidents as under. “After Nawab went to Coimbatore and remained there, thinking that this land can be recaptured by a war, one king of Puthiya Kovilakam collected some fighters and started fighting. They could claim back some areas. Then “Madannan”was at Thirunavaya. There also the war commenced. Then they remained within temples and royal residences. They also fought. Chonakara also fought with all vigor. Then, there, Kalat Gopala Pisharody was appointed head man at Ponnani. He is also there. Hearing this news at Coimbatore, Nawab and his army came fast. At the same time Bouddha ( Muslim s) also came to the southern bank and fought. All the lords and a big group of people are there. When the fight began there, they all ran away from there. The Nawab and his army came to Vellanattukara, and seized girls and Brahmins as slaves, torched houses, executed many by the noose or sword. Then the Nawab and his people came to the northern bank. With Muslim s on the southern bank, they torched all the houses, temples, and the schools where Vedas were being taught to children. Many people of Vettatthunadu were forcibly converted to Islam. Then they went in different directions. Such a confrontation has not happened before. What more danger is there to come? Particularly Thirunavaya temples and entry towers were all torched. This is the facts.”"

"During the onslaught of Mysore army Hindus lost several temples like Sreekrishna temple at Paravanna, Siva temple of Nechikkat, Mahadeva temple of Thanniyur etc. In all the temples the idols were dug out. These were later converted to mosques. There are pseudo intellectuals now who claim that these conversions were not forced but through persuasion only and the mosques were constructed according to Hindu architecture which alone was known to the craftsmen there. Their purpose is to establish that Hindu temples were not converted to mosques."

"This order being executed with the utmost strictness nothing was to be seen in the roads for the distance of four leagues round but scattered limbs and mutilated bodies. The country of the Nayars [Nairs] was thrown into general consternation which was much increased by the cruelty of the Mapileys [Mapillahs], who followed the cavalry, massacred all who had escaped, without sparing women and children; so that the army advancing under the conduct of this enraged multitude, instead of meeting with resistance, found the villages, fortresses, temples and in general every habitable place forsaken and deserted."

"Wherever he turned, he found no opponent, nor even any human creature; every inhabited place was forsaken: and the poor inhabitants, who fled to the woods and mountains in the most inclement season, had the anguish to behold their houses in flames, their fruit-trees cut down, their cattle destroyed and their temples burned. The perfidy of the Nayres [Nairs] had been too great for them to trust the offers of pardon made by Hyder, by means of Brahmins he despatched into the woods and mountains to recall these unhappy people; who were hanged without mercy, and their wives and children reduced to slavery; whenever they were found in the woods by the troops of Hyder; severity and mildness being both equally ineffectual in making them return to their homes."

"It is sufficient here to merely recall the earlier stated writings of Paolino da San Bartolomeo, a Portuguese Roman Catholic missionary who stayed in Malabar for about twelve and a half years, from 1776 to 1789: The manner in which he [Tipu] behaved to the inhabitants of Calicut was horrid. A great part of them, both male and female, were hung. He first tied up the mothers, and then suspended the children from their necks. The cruel tyrant caused several Christians and Heathens [Hindus] to be brought out naked, and made fast to the feet of his elephants, which were then obliged to drag them about till their limbs fell in pieces from their bodies. At the same time, he ordered all the churches and temples to be burned or pulled down or destroyed in some manner. Christian and pagan [Hindu] women were compelled to marry Mohammedans. The pagans were deprived of the token of their nobility, which is a lock of hair called kudumi; and every Christian, who appeared in the streets, must either submit to be circumcised, or be hanged on the spot. This happened in the year 1789, at which time I resided at Verapole [Varapali in Travancore]. I had then an opportunity of conversing with several Christians and Pagans, who had escaped from the fury of this merciless tyrant; and I assisted these fugitives to procure a boat to enable them to cross the river which runs past that city. This persecution continued till the 15th of April 1790.33"

"A. Sreedhara Menon writes: The brutalities committed by the Mysorean troops led to large scale migration from Malabar of people belonging to all strata of society. The hardworking peasants took refuge in the forests and jungles. Consequently, agriculture was ruined. What was once a fertile and flourishing country now assumed the appearance of a cheerless desert. The Nair gentry was dispossessed and shorn of its military and political power. The decline in agriculture resulted in their economic impoverishment also . . . moreover, many a flourishing town had been laid waste by the Mysore troops. Trade and commerce also declined steadily. The cultivation of pepper on which depended the economic prosperity of the country was suspended over large areas and Kerala’s once prosperous pepper trade practically came to a standstill. The once flourishing sea ports of Kerala now presented a deserted look. Gold and silver which the country had amassed by centuries of trade with foreign countries virtually disappeared from the land. Extensive fields lay uncultivated, houses of nobles and landlords were in ruins and daily worship in many important temples was suspended. The economic depression that set in was so severe that the common people were on the verge of famine and starvation. To add to the economic distress of the times, the Mysorean invasions created a cleavage between the Mappilas and the Hindus and destroyed social harmony. The former had helped the Mysore Sultans in their campaigns in Kerala and aroused the active hostility of the Hindu population. With the expulsion of Tipu, the Mappilas who had enjoyed political power for more than 30 years lost their privileged status. They were unable to reconcile themselves to this discomfiture and were thereafter in a state of general revolt against established authority. The Mappila outbreaks of the 19th Century were thus in a way a legacy of the Mysore invasions."

"[Tipu Sultan] also boasted about ‘the destruction in the course of this holy war of eight thousand idol temples, many of them roofed with gold, silver, or copper, and all containing treasures buried at the feet of the idol, the whole of which was royal plunder.’"

"Noted scholar Vadakkankoor Raja Raja Varma bemoans the dance of destruction that Kerala faced during this time, in his Kerala Samskrita Sahitya Charitram (History of Sanskrit Literature in Kerala): There was no limit as to the loss the Hindu temples suffered due to the military operations of Tipu Sultan. Burning down the temples, destruction of the idols installed therein and also cutting the heads of cattle over the temple deities were the cruel entertainments of Tipu Sultan and his equally cruel army. It was heartrending even to imagine the destruction caused by Tipu Sultan in the famous ancient temples of Thalipparampu and Thrichambaram. The devastation caused by this new Ravana’s barbarous activities have not yet been fully rectified."

"Writing about the temples destroyed in the Vettum region of Malappuram, the late P.C.N. Raja, a senior member of the Zamorin family, writes: The devastation caused by Tipu Sultan to the ancient and holy temples of Keraladheeswaram, Thrikkandiyoor and Thriprangatu in Vettum region was terrible. The Zamorin renovated these temples to some extent. The famous and ancient Thirunavaya Temple, known throughout the country as an ancient teaching-centre of the Vedas, revered by the devotees of Vishnu from Tamil Nadu, and existing before the advent of Christ, was also plundered and destroyed by Tipu’s army. After dismantling and destroying the idol, Tipu converted the Thrikkavu Temple into an ammunition depot in Ponnani. It was the Zamorin who repaired the temple later. Kotikkunnu, Thrithala, Panniyoor and other family temples of the Zamorin were plundered and destroyed. The famous Sukapuram Temple was also desecrated. Damage done to the Perumparampu Temple and Maranelira Temple of Azhvancherry Thamprakkal (titular head of all Namboodiri Brahmins) in Edappadu, can be seen even today. Vengari Temple and Thrikkulam Temple in Eranadu, Azhinjillam Temple in Ramanattukara, Indyannur Temple, Mannur Temple and many other temples were defiled and damaged extensively during the military regime."

"Eminent historian of Kerala, Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, recorded the atrocities committed by Tipu, especially in Kozhikode: Kozhikode was then a centre of Brahmins. There were around 7000 Namboodiri houses of which more than 2000 houses were destroyed by Tipu Sultan in Kozhikode alone. Sultan did not spare even children and women. Menfolk escaped to forests and neighbouring principalities. Mappilas increased many fold [sic] (due to forcible conversion). During the military regime of Tipu Sultan, Hindus were forcibly circumcised and converted to Muhammadan faith. As a result, the number of Nairs and Brahmins declined substantially."

"Here’s how Lewin Bowring describes it: Marching through Coorg with a large army, he sent detachments about the country to hunt down the rebellious Nairs, while he himself proceeded to Kutipuram. Here, two thousand [Nairs] defended themselves and their families with resolution, but were soon obliged to surrender. This gave an opportunity to Tipu to show his apostolic zeal. Orders were issued that the whole of these unfortunates should be offered the alternative of becoming good Musalmans, or, in case of noncompliance, that they should be banished to [Srirangapattana]. They reluctantly acquiesced in the former alternative, knowing well what the deportation meant. The next day, accordingly, all the males were circumcised, while both sexes were compelled to eat beef, as a proof of their conversion. One of the principal victims of Tipu’s revenge was the Raja of Chirakkal, of ancient descent, who, having been falsely accused of conspiring, was attacked and killed, and his body hung up after his death. In this raid the Mysore sovereign is said to have carried off large treasures plundered from the temples in Malabar. He crowned his achievements by compelling the princess of Cannanore to marry her daughter to his son, Abd-ul-Khalik."

"A short but vivid sample from Fr. Bartholomew’s account will suffice to illustrate the nature of Tipu’s raid: First a corps of 30,000 barbarians who butchered everybody on the way… followed by the field-gun unit… Tipu was riding on an elephant behind which another army of 30,000 soldiers followed. Most of the men and women were hanged in Calicut, first mothers were hanged with their children tied to necks of mothers. That barbarian Tipu Sultan tied the naked Christians and Hindus to the legs of elephants and made the elephants to move around till the bodies of the helpless victims were torn to pieces. Temples and churches were ordered to be burned down, desecrated and destroyed. Christian and Hindu women were forced to marry Mohammadans and similarly their men were forced to marry Mohammadan women. Those Christians who refused to be honoured with Islam, were ordered to be killed by hanging immediately. These atrocities were told to me by the victims of Tipu Sultan who escaped from the clutches of his army and reached Varappuzha, which is the centre of Carmichael Christian Mission. I myself helped many victims to cross the Varappuzha river by boats."

"Indeed, the devastation in Calicut was so comprehensive that it changed the character of the place forever. Calicut was home to more than 7000 Brahmin families. Thanks to Tipu, more than 2000 of these were wiped out, and the remaining fled to the forests. In the words of the German missionary Guntest, “Accompanied by an army of 60,000, Tipu Sultan came to Kozhikode [Calicut] in 1788 and razed it to the ground. It is not possible even to describe the brutalities committed by that Islamic barbarian from Mysore.”"

"In a letter to Syed Abdul Dulai he gloats that With the grace of Prophet Mohammed and Allah, almost all Hindus in Calicut are converted to Islam. Only on the borders of Cochin State a few are still not converted. I am determined to convert them also very soon. I consider this as Jehad to achieve that object."

"Here is another letter commending his officer Budruz Zuman Khan thus: Your two letters, with the enclosed memorandums of the Naimar (or Nair) captives, have been received. You did right in ordering a hundred and thirty-five of them to be circumcised, and in putting eleven of the youngest of these into the Usud Ilhye band (or class) and the remaining ninety-four into the Ahmedy Troop…"

"Nadir Shah is said to have written to the emperor ‘My coming to Cabul and possessing myself thereof was purely out of zeal for Islam and friendship for you...my stay on this side of the Attock is with a view that when those infidels (the Marathas) move towards Hindustan, I may send an army of the victorious Kizzilbash to drive them to the abyss of hell’."

"Afterwards Nadir Shah himself, with the Emperor of Hindustan, entered the fort of Delhi. It is said that he appointed a place on one side in the fort for the residence of Muhammad Shah and his dependents, and on the other side he chose the Diwan-i Khas, or, as some say, the Garden of Hayat Bakhsh, for his own accommodation. He sent to the Emperor of Hindustan, as to a prisoner, some food and wine from his own table. One Friday his own name was read in the khutba, but on the next he ordered Muhammad Shah's name to be read. It is related that one day a rumour spread in the city that Nadir Shah had been slain in the fort. This produced a general confusion, and the people of the city destroyed five thousand men of his camp. On hearing of this, Nadir Shah came of the fort, sat in the golden masjid which was built by Rashanu-d daula, and gave orders for a general massacre. For nine hours an indiscriminate slaughter of all and of every degree was committed. It is said that the number of those who were slain amounted to one hundred thousand. The losses and calamities of the people of Delhi were exceedingly great…. After this violence and cruelty, Nadir Shah collected immense riches, which he began to send to his country laden on elephants and camels."

"By August 1945, war weariness, overwhelming odds, and sheer self-preservation exerted countervailing pressures to the indoctrination. While they did fight hard at the outset of August Storm, Japanese soldiers eventually capitulated in droves to the Soviets."

"The Japanese had expected a Soviet offensive into Manchuria but believed that it could not begin before autumn. The August 9 assault not only surprised them, but also caught them in the process of reorganizing their defenses and units. The result was massive victory by the Soviets, despite fierce and dedicated resistance by many Japanese units."

"Based on proven capabilities of the Japanese High Command and the individual Japanese soldier, Soviet plans were as innovative as any in the war. Superb execution of those plans produced victory in only two weeks of combat. Although Soviet. planners had overestimated the capabilities of the Japanese High Command, the tenacious Japanese soldier met Soviet expectations. He lived up to his reputation as a brave, self-sacrificing samurai who, though poorly employed, inflicted 32,000 casualties on the Soviets and won their grudging respect. Had Japanese planners been bolder-and Soviet planners less audacious-the price of Soviet victory could well have been significantly higher."

"Operation August Storm was a colossal undertaking, pitching 1.6 million Soviet troops against 1 million Japanese. Historians continue to debate whether it, rather than the atomic bombings, holds primary claim in compelling Japan to finally surrender on August 15."

"I have been avoiding mentioning this event for many years because I consider it too horrible. ... a group of friends urged me to record it since I knew it first-hand. Then I saw that to refrain from it would profit nothing. Therefore, we say: this deed encompasses mention of the greatest event, the most awful catastrophe that has befallen time. It engulfed all beings, particularly the Muslims. Anyone would be right in saying that the world, from the time God created humans until now, has not been stricken by its like. Histories contain nothing that even approaches it."

"... after they had besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants to death. When we were journeying through that land we came across countless skulls and bones of dead men lying about on the ground. ... the Tartars destroyed the whole of Russia."

"Some commentators find it difficult to classify the Mongol killing as genocide, despite its widespread and frequent occurrence. Yet the Mongols often meticulously planned their campaigns against their enemies with the clear goal of eliminating all or part of the targeted population. The Mongols wiped out en masse those groups that resisted them, even to the point of returning to destroyed cities and towns that they had targeted to finish off the survivors. True, no single group or ethnicity was identified by the Mongols for elimination. In fact, no group was exempt, though craftsmen, artisans, merchants, and builders often found a home with the Mongols. Peoples like the Hungarians, the Khwarezmians, and the Chinese were attacked with a genocidal fury that seriously reduced large population groups to fractions of their previous numbers. The attempt was to destroy the groups “as such.” Unlike the Crusaders, the Mongols were not motivated by an ideology that justified destruction. Instead, killing was a method of empire building, a way to expand their territory, terrorize their opponents, and incorporate a wide variety of peoples and cultures into a vast territory stretching at some points from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. Mass killing, in some cases genocide, needed no justification. It was a fact of Mongol power and rule."

"Although time was running out for horse-borne warriors, they remained formidable in the right circumstances. In the thirteenth century Genghis Khan welded quarrelling Mongol tribes together into a highly centralised state which proved, for a time, to be an unstoppable military force, sweeping away regimes in China and Persia. Mongol warriors were highly mobile and, when they were challenged by forces from more settled empires, withdrew into the vast spaces of Central Asia. One of the secrets of their success may have been another simple piece of technology like the stirrup. Mongol warriors wore silk undershirts, so that if they were hit by an arrow the silk wrapped around its head. It was not only easier to get the arrow out; the risk of infection, until the modern age a greater killer of soldiers than death in battle, was much less. Under Genghis’s successors his warriors stormed westwards through Central Asia and Russia to the shores of the Black Sea, carrying all before them and leaving a trail of death and ruin. No force could stand against them and by 1241 they were probing into Hungary, Poland and present-day Romania and Austria. It looked as though much of what was a weak and divided Europe would become part of their empire – and think what a different history it would have had – when the Mongols suddenly stopped and withdrew in 1242. It may be because word had come that, thousands of miles to the east, the Great Khan had died, but historians have recently speculated that poor weather had turned the ground marshy and ruined the fodder for the Mongol horses."

"Kolya believed that the Mongols’ expansion was pathological. It was a ghastly spiral of positive feedback, born of Genghis Khan’s unquestioned military genius and fueled by easy conquests, a plague of insanity and destruction that had spread across most of the known world."

"The joint invasion of Poland was celebrated with a parade by the Wehrmacht and the Red Army in Brest Litovsk."