Some sources regarding "Some Points to Ponder..."

Submitted by Bhumi Putra (India), May 6, 2008 at 15:35

Some friends have asked for sources regarding my comments "Some Points to Ponder Regarding Islam". The sources are legend. For starters:

"The History of India as Told by its Own Historians":

Edited from the Postumous Papers of the Late Sir H.M. Eliot K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Servant by Professor John Dowson M.R.A.S., Staff College, Sandhurst

In Eight Volumes, First Published 1867 - 1877

This set, based purely on the writings of Muslims, gives graphic eye-witness accounts of the cruelties committed on the Hindus by Muslims from 9th century onwards. There are graphic details of destruction of famous temples of Somnath, Mathura and Benares (Kashi). Also, the details of cruelties committed by Aurangzeb on Hindus have been recorded by those who were present on the scene. These contemporary observations by Muslim writers cannot be called biased or prejudiced against the Muslims.

Then, there is the travelogue of Niccolao Manucci, an Italian, who spent the major part of his life of Mughal courts and was very acceptable to them. It has gems like:

"This city (Benares) is small, but very ancient and venerated by the HIndus by reason of a temple there possessing a very ancient idol. Some years after my visit, Aurangzeb sent orders for its destruction, when he undertook the knocking down of all temples."

"Every five years multitudes of Hindus assmeble and wash their bodies in the said stream. This yields a good revenue to the Mugul king, for every person who bathes in the river pays six and a quarter rupees."(This is an account of 17th century when this sum was a fortune).

"This governor (Mirza Gul in service of Aurangzeb)was determined that the Jesuit fathers should not build a church, and he issued orders that no one should work at such an edifice under penalty of losing a hand."

"Often it happens that the turks seek you out and assail you with much abuse, and subject you to much dignity and shame. In these encounters it is wise to hang your head down lkie a Capuchin, and not open your mouth. At times it is necessary to bear slaps on the face with humility and even endure beating with a stick, for fear of worse happening. For if a hand is raised by chance against a Turk,such person is forthwith eithere forced to become a Mahomedan, or he is decapitated. The greates favour accorded to him would be to let him go free after cutting off his hand. It is requisite to inform all who mean to travel in these regions that they must not wear anything of a green colour. Turks only may wear clothes of that colour."

(A Pepys of Mogul India (1653 – 1708) Being an Abridged Edition of the "Storia Do Mogor" of Niccolao Manucci, Translated by William Irvine, Abridged Edition Prepared by Margaret L. Irvine, First Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. , London, 1913)

Here are some more sources. Of course, the list can be infinitely long:

"A History of Gujarat from the Ealiest Period to the Present Time" by Edalji Dosabhai, first published in 1894.

"On Wednesday the 12th of October A.D. 1605 the Emperor Akbar died at Agra after a brilliant reign of forty-nine years. Throughout this period Hindus and Muhammadans were, for the first time during the Moslem ascendancy in India, treated impartially, and the Jezzia Vero, unjustly levied from all adult Hindus and Parsis at the rate of Rs. 5 ½ per head was abolished."

The respite, however was short-lived. The footnote mentions that "this obnoxious impost was re-instituted in the seventeenth century by Akbar's great grandson Aurangzeb".

(One may note here that in the face of all the cruelties committed by the Mugal rulers on Hindus in India, all major roads in the Indian Capital are named by these despots including Aurangzeb. That is the result of political correctness.)

This book also mentions about the destruction of the temple at Somnath by Mahmud of Ghazni:

"Mahmud gave orders to destroy the shrine and to break the idol in pieces. He proposed to some of the fragment under the threshold of the mosque of Ghazni, and others at the entrance to his own residence in that city, in order that they might be trodden under foot by the believers. While the work of demolition was proceeding, the devotees offered Mahmud an enormous ransom if he would desist from further mutilation; but the only reply received from him was that he would rather be known as the destroyer than as the seller of idols. So the work of destruction continued…"

For modern times, read Taslima Nasreen's "Lajja", where there are details of the temples destroyed in Bangladesh, after India helped them gain independence. Read about the destruction of hundreds of temples in Malaysia in the last five years at

http://www.pluralism.org/news/index.php?xref=Destruction+of+Hindu+Temples+in+Malaysia&sort=DESC&filter=intl

http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1781/

For the persecution and annihilation of Zoroastrians (Parsis) see the Wikipedia entry at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Zoroastrians

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