I came across an interesting article by Zainab Sikander in these columns wherein she argued that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s anti-Mughal stand is merely an expression to reinforce anti-Muslim sentiments, and has nothing to do with history. However, my experience suggests that most of the Muslim intellectuals try to vilify the truth of history. This act embeds the belief among the masses that discussing issues like the ‘tyranny of Mughals’ is an attack on the minority community. It must be understood that history owes to none, but truth and time.
In Zainab Sikander’s opinion, renaming cities such as Prayagraj is an attempt to wipe out the Mughal identity that she considers to be an imperative part of India’s civilisation. I agree that the Mughals are part of our civilisational discourse, but not like the way she thinks they are — her argument is shallow because Prayagraj existed with its name since several millennia before its name was changed and primogenital evidence of this comes from the Rig Veda. The Mughals ruled only for three centuries, but the history and identity of ‘Prayagraj’ is older than 24,000 years ago. The antiquity of Prayagraj and its importance to the Indian civilisation is immense. However, we must investigate the events and circumstances around the period when the most powerful Mughal ruler in India, Akbar — who in 1578 ensured that he was addressed as Ghazi — chose to construct the fort Illahabas that later came to be called Allahabad.
“Emperor of Islam, Emir of the Faithful, Shadow of God on earth, Abul Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar Badshah Ghazi, is a most just, most wise, and a most God-fearing ruler.” — Abd al-Qadir Badauni, Muntakhab al-Tavarikh-II, 279–80.
Also read: BJP’s West Bengal plan must not be ‘vote for Modi’ and get a Yogi or Biplab in return
From Prayagraj to Illahabas to Allahabad
In 1574, Akbar decided to build a fort and name the place ‘Illahabas’. According to most accounts, the fort was complete by 1584. Portuguese Jesuit, Father Monserrate, Italian Jesuit missionary and priest Rodolfo Aquaviva and Francisco Henriques arrived at Akbar’s court in early 1580s. Monserrate writes in his travelogue: “religious zeal of the Musalmans has destroyed all the idol temples.” According to him, “in place of the Hindu temples, countless tombs and little shrines of Musalmans (had) been erected.” Just two years after deciding to build Illahabas, Akbar had rewarded Badauni, the Mughal historian, with gold coins for his gesture of declaration to soak his beard with infidel Hindu blood.
Those who live with the belief that Illahabas was founded by Akbar for some secular cause and Illah does not come from illahi of kalima, perhaps, are not aware of Akbar’s acts, which strongly identify him as a Jihadi. A Ghazi, in his own words, is not a secular soul. It is tough to deny that a king who was so excited about someone soaking his beard in Hindu blood won’t have changed the name from Prayagraj to Illahabas as an attack on Hindu faith.
Zainab Sikander, in her article, says renaming cities are also about removing “Muslim sounding names”. But Yogi Adityanath has just brought back the name that existed for millennia till it was changed in the Mughal period. Name changing is not at all about Hindu or Muslim, nor is it about politics. It is all about the truth of the land. Irrespective of where the Kaaba sits, the sun rays would always enter from the east.
Also read: RSS to go by what ‘samaaj’ thinks on Kashi & Mathura mosques, after seers’ call to remove them
Older identities are important too
Zainab Sikander also objects to the scrapping of an under-construction Mughal museum and the UP government’s plan to turn it into a museum dedicated to Chhatrapati Shivaji. She considers the great escape that Shivaji made from the captivity of mighty Aurangzeb in 1666 from Agra as a non-significant occurrence. Even Aurangzeb considered it to be one of the biggest failures of his life. Agra being the Mughal capital for 90 years is a very short time period when you consider that the state houses one of the oldest Republics of the world — Kashi — standing tall, holding the flag of an oldest living civilization of the world.
No one is trying to blame the Muslims. But keeping 90 years of Agra as the Mughal capital above the millennium-old identity of the place and the heroics of Shivaji, suggests having a myopic vision of India’s history. The truth of Mughal tyranny is horrendous and potent enough to scare any democratic and civilised person of the day. Akbar, considered the most secular of all Mughals, had shown the religious bigotry — the emperor allowed the slaying of ten scores of cows and showered their blood onto the walls of temples (Sir Henry Miers Elliot, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Volume 5, page 464).
Also read: Do-piyaza, blood-spitting paan, camels — The ‘bizarre’ food of Mughals in Western travelogues
Mughals: ‘Symbol of slavery mentality’
Adityanath’s assertion that Mughals were “the symbol of slavery mentality” is not wrong either. Even if I pick the most liberal Mughal rulers, only distress would come to the Mughal Fan Club. Akbar killed innocent Hindus and cows, organised Meena Bazar to get concubines for his Harem, and used to send abundant money to Mecca on various occasions. According to James Todd, Akbar had measured the “killed ones” by weighing their janeu. Even if I just count the atrocities at the hands of Akbar, it will be a challenge to keep an account of them all. Those interested in knowing the ugly facts on Akbar the great, must read primary sources such as Akbarnama.
Zainab Sikander goes on to compare the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians with the Mughals, stating that while the former breaks mosque today, the latter broke temples in the past. This is one of the weakest assertions in her article. More than 40,000 temples were destroyed during the Islamic rule in India (Hindu Temples – What Happened to Them). Before making such claims, the author must present statistics to show how many mosques have been broken by the BJP politicians. Such unsubstantiated claims only lead to polarisation.
Also read: Hussain Shahis’ Krishna Bhakti, Mughals’ Mathura link — lesser-known facts about Muslim rulers
The Jizya truth
The article also tries to justify Jizya by citing the differentiation on its application to different strata, based on Aurangzeb’s Fatawa ‘Alamgiri. But what one must also enquire is the percentage of wealth Aurangzeb was making out of this tax. According to Jagjivan Das (quoted by Irfan Habib in The Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556-1707), Jizya formed 15 per cent of the Mughal Empire’s total revenue between 1708 and 1709. This seems to suggest a huge economic problem because GDP per capita growth was negative during this period, according to economic historian Angus Maddison (Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD).
Thomas Rolt, the president of English factory at Surat, said in 1679 that Jizya was charged by enforcing heavy suppression and was also a tool to convert poor Hindus to Islam (The English Factories in India, New Series, Volume 3). Italian traveller Niccolao Manucci, too, had a similar opinion which he expressed a quarter century after (1679) Rolt. Borrowing references from Fatawa ‘Alamgiri to project Mughal history should be the last thing anyone should do, for the book had nothing more than contempt for the “kafirs”. The book supported slavery and addressed it under following points:
- If two or more Muslims, or persons subject to Muslims, who enter a non-Muslim controlled territory for the purpose of pillage without the permission of the Imam, and thus seize some property of the inhabitants there, and bring it back into the Muslim territory, that property would be legally theirs.
- The right of Muslims to purchase and own slaves
- A Muslim man’s right to have sex with a captive slave girl he owns
- No inheritance rights for slaves
- The testimony of all slaves was inadmissible in a court of law
- Slaves require permission of the master before they can marry
- An unmarried Muslim may marry a slave girl owned by another but a Muslim married to a Muslim woman may not marry a slave girl
- Conditions under which the slaves may be emancipated partially or fully
Aurangzeb had sent presents worth around Rs 6,66,000 to Mecca and Rs 70,00,000 to foreign Muslim countries and its rulers. All this was happening when India’s GDP per capita growth rate was negative. It clearly speaks of the character Aurangzeb was.
Also read: Hindu Samrajya Diwas — why and how RSS is reviving a forgotten chapter of history
Taj Mahal
Now, to the Taj Mahal. The ‘monument of love’ was built at a cost of 4.18 Silver Rupees at a time when millions starved in great Deccan Famine. The Taj came into existence upon the blood of those who starved to death in the famine, Indian artisans’ efforts and a Hindu ruler Jai Singh’s land. The Cambridge Economic History of India — a book edited by Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib — documents the extortionist traits of the Mughals. While India’s GDP share percentage in world economy did not diminish (though it was highest before Islamic Invasions), the GDP per capita growth remained negative throughout the Mughal period (Angus Maddison, Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD).
It is tough to understand why the Mughals must be given credit for creating a structure when nothing except the order to commission was run by them. India was always home to fabulous architecture like the Kailasha temple. What must be asked is why the Mughals could never build anything so marvellous, like the Taj, back in their homeland?
Also read: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who championed a ‘Hindavi Swarajya’, wasn’t against Islam
History by the ‘hunted’
Yogi Adityanath’s decision to name the museum after Shivaji is a step towards ensuring that the tale of hunt is also written by those who were hunted. No king or warrior had ever given as bloody a blow to the Mughals as Shivaji and the Maratha Empire had. Shivaji was the first leader to speak about “Swaraj” and he must be celebrated in the land where he made a tyrant Aurangzeb to eat a humble pie.
Being “anti-Mughal” is not being “anti-Islam”. It is simply saying the truth out loud. The more one sides with tyrant Mughals holding the edge of faith, the more damage they bring for the Islam.
Aabhas Maldahiyar @aabhas24 is a practicing urban designer, columnist, author and an amateur History Researcher. Views are personal.
Very well researched…i
There was no single reference listed, its a shame that someone can say whatever they want, even its not true, as long as their are some idiots who’ll blindly listen and follow
We have been taught the distorted history since independence and it is time to completely change the syllabus reflecting the glorified history of past before arrival of the invaders
Brilliant article. If The Print has to redeem itself from the charge of being Hinduphobic, then for every article by Smt Zainab Sikandar and Smt Bismee Taksim et al, it should invite Shri Aabhas Maldahiyar, Shri Amish Tripathi, Shri Ashwin Sanghvi etc to write for it.
I fully agree
Vasudeva Kudumbagam(world is one family) is atleast 5000 year old saying in Sanskrit language!
All places are my native and all people are our relatives(Meaning of Tamil Saying as “Yaadhum Oore! Yaavarum Kelir!) is atleast 2200 year old tamil saying!
These sayings are prior tonation, states and all other faiths and isms like secularism, communism, socialism, capitalism etc..!!
The world may realise and be sane after few hundreds of turmoil and disasters!
Why not all faiths and believers realise God is one; Ways are many! Let us live and let live!
Our Heart must have compassion for all living creatures and respect all type of views!
If not what we are, as educated, modernists or progressives?
In India, ignoring the massacres, rape of the Hindu populations by the Turks, Arabs, Persians, Mughals and their descendents, glossing over the pillage and destruction of Hindu temples and violation of their traditions by these so-called “enlightened” Islamic rulers has been rampant thanks to apparently “secular” governments the at ruled this country, who propped up Leftist historians to distort history. The media and these intellectuals chose to ignore this and present Hindus trying to reclaim their places of worship and traditions as intolerant, despite the truth stareing at us in the face- the examples of the Gyanvaapi Mosque, the so-called Qutub Minar comples and the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir are just a few examples of this blatant hypocrisy that has beeen peddled as secularism and liberalism.
We need to stop glossing over the enslavement of Indians by Brahmins. They are ruling. They have crippled India.
Rasgolla. Yet another sweeping comment where your usual inability to identify cause and effect are bared for all. Of course fuelled by your congenital hatred of Hindus and Hinduism.
Fact is, India has done much better than most countries that became free after decolonisation in the 1940s, 50s & 60s. And certainly much better than the Pakistans, Afghanistans, Irans, Egypts, Saudi Arabias, Bangladeshes and other Islamic paradises which you presumably prefer.
Could India have done better ? Yes absolutely.
But the evidence so far from the Chinas, Malaysias, Singapores, Indonesias etc. has been that economic growth in these places has come at massive costs and curbs to democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, environmental degradation and other human rights violations. You have China’s forced 1 child policy; Malaysia’s “bhumiputra policy” and Islamisation of society; Singapore’s massive surveillance state, de facto one party rule and trampling of liberties; Indonesia’s coups, kleptocrats and Islamisation – to name a few.
India is no paradise and under the forces of Hindutva, it is departing from the ideals of democracy, secularism and separation of powers that it was founded upon. But hope lies in the fact that only 37% of Indians voted for BJP and that too because the opposition was fragmented and feckless. And in any case, freedom of speech in India has assured you your right to use these columns to spew hate on Hindus hasn’t it ?
As regards your claim that Brahmins have enslaved India and have crippled the country, well, that in itself is a figment of your fetid imagination rather than facts on the ground. India still goes to the polls and people have chosen their political representatives. And those political representatives, Brahmin or otherwise have not taken away your right to free speech, obnoxious though it may be right ?
Chaatu Patrakar! Shame on you ..!..
My heartfelt compliments to The Print who are probably the only news platform so willing to be what every news portal should be: an unbiased platform for dissemination on legit information and opinions, keyword being unbiased. Thank you.
Very informative, and we’ll written article. Thank you Aabhas.
Informative and brilliant articulation.
I don’t know what has happened to “The Print” these days, but whatever it is, it’s for good. It started from majorily left leaning platform and has come at almost centre, covering opinions and facts in an unbiased manner. Good to see this, will start reading its articles now. Gupta Ji, please give same suggestions to your old school as well.
Me too.
Shekhar Gupta jee…please continue to allow scholarly written articles from both sides?
Was in two minds, but I shall become a paid subscriber now.
In your title of the article you have taken direct name of chatrapati shivaji maharaj.. its not right try not to make such mistake nxt time ..
Congress distorted the history. Moghuls are ruth less killers. No one is secular all of them are islamists
“Sanghi” liberandu will call him “sanghi”
What is this brouhaha? Of course, Moguls were invaders, tyrants and oppressors of worst kind. Having said this, they had some positive points too but these positive points fades in comparison to their atrocities. Indian history, written by Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib, is BS. That history was written on the direction of the then government of India, for political purposes as all the Delhi roads were named after those invaders.
It is like destroying thousands of temples and constructing one temple,killing all males and marrying their wives?
Wow, I wish The Print do this more of it. Not just present one side of view.
This is pure nonsense
He says why mughals didnt build Taj mahal in Arab countries ????? Seriously have he completely lost it Mughals after Babur were Indians we can have a argument who was good emperor who is not.
40000 temples were destroyed????? Were is the evidence right wigher authors claim does not becomes facts.
And off course you will not talk about the temples which were made during Mughal rule eg:- vishwanath temple which was made by raja maan singh during akbar regin and yes it was destroyed by Aurangzeb.
The famous gold/silver coin in which ramji and sitaji were inscribed which was issued by akbar.
The heavy donations to temples , priests.
Relaxation from jaziya for poors, women , children, preits (includes hindu).
If Mughals use to hate hindus why didnt they demolished all historic Temples.
Just tell me one thing does the writer of this article knows the meaning of mythology and history???
And what about the hindu administration in Mughal courts who were holding senior posts
Yes some muslim rulers torned down few dozen temples but most of them were politically motivated not because of Hindu hate.
From a hindu
Ritul raj
Our country can only get stronger if we have people like you! God bless
Well said Indian. The comment of Mr Ritul Raj is one of the few sensible ones here. A lone voice of sanity.
The author has given ample references for his arguments. Why don’t you write an article BY GIVING REFS. We r not interested only in seeing the actions of mutual with contempt. And we r not going to become far right either by provocations from far left either. But will counter false narratives with data, logic ,evidences… If you come up counter arguments backed by evidences , then it becomes a discussio. After all we are ARGUMENTATIVE INDIANS.
This mental retard Razgolla seems to be suffering from some severe inferiority complex. If he actually goes back into his lineage he might discover how his forefathers were tortured …and ancestors raped and converted like millions other in India, for him to so beautifully justify hate and crime committed by outside invaders against India. Am not even sure he is Indian ..must a mlechha from across the border come here to forment trouble. Hope the lieks of him are thrown into the dustbins of history.
‘If he actually goes back into his lineage he might discover how his forefathers were tortured …and ancestors raped and converted like millions other in India,’
If this true, the converts must be rushing back to embrace Hinduism. Let the converts say what you say. The fact is no convert wants to return to the system of graded inequality. In fact, Hindus want to leave and convert, and you are threatening them.
Again, one of your unsubstantiated canards:
“.. Hindus want to leave and convert, and you are threatening them. ..”
Got any data to back up your claims ?
Excellent comment Mr Ritul Raj !
The author mixes dubious mythology with classic Golwalkarian Hindutva and passes that off as history. And bhakths fall for this claptrap hook, line and sinker. The seeds of destruction of India are being sown all over the country by the many Aabhas Maldahiyars that come out of the Hindutva woodwork.
Vishwanath temple existed before hand and was destroyed before. Also one must look at overall contribution Mughals made to India. Remember that India was already far more developed and civilized, that is why it attracted these barbarians over. Praising mughals would be akin to praising Hitler, whose reign also saw the economic progress of Germany. But we don’t do that, do we? It is because of the monumental crimes that were orchestrated in his regime. And does it matter if it were 40,000 or 50,000 or even 5,000 temples? The fact is that there is documented evidence of an astounding number of universities, temples and Vihars being destroyed over the entire Indian subcontinent during the Mughal rule.
And so, in 2020, when the country was headed towards economic ruin even before the COVID crisis, when China is grabbing Indian territory, the COVID crisis is taking its toll on the health of citizens, the topic that Indians focus on is Mughal history.
Let us hope that the Chinese don’t write Indian history.
Excellent article. The left historians have been peddling lies for long and the main stream media provided them the platform. They have destroyed the real history.
So because you don’t like my views, you won’t print them. Is this the modern form of journalism, you stifle the voices of those that don’t agree with you.. You made an argument, I countered. Let the readers decide whom among us is right.
Sorry, I made the earlier statement about censorship in error. You printed my response and you deserve credit for this. Thank you.
Thank you for telling the truth, we need to honestly understand what the moguls did to us without making it an anti Muslim issue, it’s not easy as but needs to be done. People like Zainab need to be confronted with the truth.
What a piece of utter tripe. I can’t believe it found space in The Print. To the editors of The Print, do you have an editorial board that reviews articles for authenticity or you allow all kind of hateful, uninformed pieces in the name in the name of “Opinion” ?
How was this article “hateful”?
Judging history for m the lens of modern times is easy, the slavery , the extortion by rulers existed across cultures and continents in those times. The Indian republic is secular and the tyranny of Mughals is the same as the extortionist taxes like chauth imposed by the Marathas. What matters is that we accept historical events in a secular spirit and spread religious tolerance. A museum about Mughals should be named Mughal museum in the same way as a museum about Marathas is called Shivaji/Maratha museum. Perceived historical wrongs by today’s standards can’t be corrected by doing opposite acts , otherwise what’s the difference between the rulers of ancient times and the elected leaders of today . Move forward don’t be myopic and brood in what has happened and how wrong/right it was. The need of the hour is to raise skill levels amongst our youth and compete with modern economies like china, us ,EU.
Jai hind
Very well said, arguably the best comment here.
What you mean is Indians should be pro Muslim, kind to the illegal Muslims from Bangladesh and other countries, and so on. Muslim countries , Pakistan and Bangladesh, can carry on torturing their Hindus as much as they like and Indian Muslims never say a word against them. After all, all are part of the same Ummah.
An outstanding comment Mr Angad ! One of the most insightful ones I have read.
‘The need of the hour is to raise skill levels amongst our youth and compete with modern economies like china, us ,EU.’
Correct, but they are unable to achieve that. So they prefer wallowing in historical revanchism.
‘Judging history for m the lens of modern times is easy, the slavery , the extortion by rulers existed across cultures and continents in those times. ‘
Around 1000 AD, that is the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, England was attacked by William the Conqueror from France, who enslaved them and burnt and pillaged. But England recovered, became educated and learned, and went on to become a world famous country with impact. They have been forward looking, so the evolved. Other people are backward looking, and generally they lead to failed countries. India is heading that way.
That’s some fine counter-argument.
Great reply! It needs to be understood clearly by all parties that Hindus holding contempt for the Mughals is no form of bigotry or a special case of unsecular intolerance. It is a reaction far more pacified than what you would get if people went around celebrating Andrew Jackson in America justifying his actions against the native Americams, and I am making a stupid analogy of atrocities of two incidents completely incomparable in scales! That Islamic was the flag under which the invaders ruled and killed is but an unfortunate episode but everyone should be allowed to study the subject with a degree of objectivity. It is perhaps true, that Mughals despite their utter hatred for the Kaffirs were also doing what they did for ‘political’ purposes. That can never be an excuse used to defend them though, since the motive was ‘political’ Islamically. The current day Muslims hardly have anything to do with these invaders, most of them are Pasmundas in the first place, Hindus that converted to Islam over time. The only thing that differntiates an Indian Muslim from an Indian Hindu is faith, and any debate holding one another accountable shouldbbe done in context if modern faith alone. I feel you could’ve clarified how jaziya as percentage of wealth and its range was far more damaging on Hindus than the Muslims despite the few concessions the Mughals spared to the poor. It was still a befitting reply. It also feels good to have an emerging media house which actually tries to be truly liberal. I don’t have any problem if the so called secular media houses give platforms to appeasement politics or even people like Audrey or those who directly mock Hindus. My only demand is that there are scholars which should be given equal opportunity to reply to such scholars too. Or you are simply pseudo secular liberal, tainting name of those who actually are secular liberals.
Great article
Akbar’s Fatehnama-e-Citore and murder of ३०००० unarmed peasants at Chitore after capture of Chitore goes to prove, Akbar was as blood bthirsty as his ancestor Timur Lang and exceeded even Alauddin Khilji in cruelty. His problem were Uzbeks, and Turks like Bairam Khan, Tardi Beg, and Adham Khan. He was not sure of Turanian nobles loyalty. As a politician he built bridges with Rajputs by inducting them as his sword arm. Waiving off Jaziya bought off loyalty of Hindus in Dilli and Agra. Fact remains Rajputs always guarded Mughal emperor palaces right upto times of Farrukhsiyar. They defended Moghuls against both internal and external enemies. But he remained avowed enemy of independent Hindu kingdom of Mewad, Central India, and Orissa.
The writer has used his bigoted views to cloud his interpretation of history. Let me challenge each of the arguments he makes against Akbar-
1 Monserrate wrote that Muslims have destroyed numerous temples but nowhere does he wrote that this was done by Akbar. The destroyed temples were the result of centuries of Muslim rule. Once destroyed and mosques were built on it, it became impossible to reclaim them back as temples even for Akbar or anybody else.
Even with 50 years of hindu rule, it took a court decision to reclaim Ayodhya temple.
2 A ghazi may have negative connotations for us, Hindus and Sikhs, but for Muslims it is a word of respect. It means a warrior for Islam. In those ancient every Muslim king was called ghazi by their Muslim followers, whether they believed that concept or not.
However, actions speak louder than words. If the Muslims considered Akbar a ghazi, then why such a huge outcry when din-I-ilahi was announced in 1582. Why do so many mullah s revolt and called him a heretic.
3 You said Badauni was given two gold coins by Akbar for his words against Hindus.. If that was true why did Badauni complain so much in his writings that Akbar showed favoritism to Hindus and that his Hindu wives exerted too much influence on Akbar.
In fact Badauni was a religious bigot and the worst critic of Akbar. His writings are filled with instances of Akbar discriminating against Muslims and showing too much regard for Hindus.
4 Please give source of cows killling,. Did Akbar order the killing.?
Again if the killing of cows was regular practice then why did Akbar ban the killing of cows. The banning of cow slaughter by Akbar is a verifiable historical fact.
1.) You have very convinently here cast your imagination of Akbar as a benevolent king keen on restoring Hindu temples once lost in the oppressive Islamic rule of his predecessors. I would press you to read just a some dozen pages of the primary source Akbarnama which I did read, to reconsider whether Akbar indeed was such a great man as you think of him to be. You have also painted the last 70 years of Indian rukw, a constitutionally democratic and secular era governed moatly by a secular party which often engaged in appeasement politics as “Hindu” rule. Akbar’s rule was a dictatorially Islamic rule, cannot be compared to the ‘Hindu’ rule of yours Your point about him claiming that those temples were destroyed by Akbar is indeed unfounded, as many of them could have been brought down by his Islamic predecessors.
2.) A Muslim is, imo, much more prone to celebrating a warrior king who killed infidel kaffirs and humiliated them in scores in his Islamic rule as Ghazi, a military champion of Islam, than worship him as a literally new founder of a shining faith, the act which is considered clearly haram by Islam. I would argue many Mullahs around the world and, some even in India argued Osama-bin-Laden was a Shaheed, but even they would discard him as a haram man if he declared the start of a new faith.
3.) Lets consider some examples of mullahs from Pakistan, a nation which has produced the largest number of radical rectums imo. Many if them protested and alleged their Islamic Government of favoritism to Hindus and organised a huge outcry when the government annulled a law that almost legalised forced conversion in Pakistan, 4 years ago. Are the laws in Pakistan anywhere near secular in nature even today for us to consider Pakistan a safe haven for non-muslims? No! What Badauni alleged favouritism in his writings were simply Akbar making political concessions to stabilise and incentivise Rajput submission and him giving him to lust. His hatred for kafirs, again, can be confirmed in a more scholarly primary source, the Akbarnama.
1. No king was saint and benevolent not akbar and nor any other hindu,sikh, Buddhist ruler. Every one was politically ambitious and wanted to expand his kingdom.
2. Akbarnama is primary source which is flattering akbar. You should read what Jesuits had written against him. How he razed down mosques and banned quaran in Agra to fight against orthodox islam in 1585.
3. Not only badauni but many prominent ullemas like srihindi openly celebrated akbar’s death and salim’s accession on throne even in akbar’s lifetime they supported salim to revolt against his father just for sake of islam. His letters are still available you can check his language against akbar.
4. Pakistan has never respected akbar the way they respect even looter like gazni. Akbar is conveniently ignored from history books of Pakistan just because his tolerance whereas Aurangzeb, babur are considered hero.
Amateur historians should leave history to professional historians. Cherry picking history to buttress your point of view is ridiculous.
You mean fraud historian like romila and ifran habib of jnu jokers. Hahaha
You just wrote a page criticising the Amateur Historian, as someone with no verifiable authority ir background. Why did you write it if you believe in the gatekeeping of such fields? K.K Muhammad was an established historian, he was almost excommunicated from this gatekeeping fold just because he seemed to speak what others of his kind did not like. Everyone has the right to raise a point, people can always decide whether to follow or agree, or not. If this platform doesn’t allow then some other platform will.
Not sure about Prayagraj being 24000 years old unless it is a typography error and should be 2400 years. Rest of the article is spot on. The truth is that Akbar did start of as a Ghazi and was no less a religious fanatic then his descendants and ancestors. But to give credit to him he did have an epiphany at some point in life which finally made him see the light. Even Gandhi made mistakes early on in life. As for Mughals they were as Indian as the rest, considering they were all born in this geography and were greatly influenced by the local culture. Some may even have been born to non-Muslim mothers. It is pointless judging them completely by today’s standards. As Indians roads,monuments and institutions can be named after them. But they were definitely not epitomes of enlightenment. While the West was building it’s Oxfords, Cambridges and Harvard’s the Mughals were splashing money on tombs like the Taj Mahal. But I guess Indians have always been more interested in building temples and mosques rather then schools, colleges, universities and hospitals.
Indians had universities way before any other country or region had. Most temple in villages supported a school on its funds.
Really ? Facts or Adityanathism?
Indians had universities that gave fake degrees long before anyone !
Can you tell us why there are no Indian universities in top 500 ?
Not a typo, India is now heading towards a sad fascist demise, the majority will now believe whatever without fact checking
I am wondering how come this time theprint is against muslims???
Mugals and Muslims are not the same! I suppose the Mugals can be considered a sub set of Muslims.
Those days are gone when a closed group of intellectuals used to create and control the narrative history. As more and more common people started reading in detail, we realize how we have been fooled by a smoke screen. After independence we had a chance to build the foundation on the basis of truth but our so called intellectuals tried to deceive the poor and uneducated people with fake narratives. The start based on truth would have been a bit ugly but eventually the scars would have healed and vanished with time.
‘Those days are gone when a closed group of intellectuals used to create and control the narrative history.’
Now, we have scope for fabricators of history to write mythologies and get them accepted. There is also scope to have a forged degree, and get elected as PM. Hindus have advanced India over the Mughals and the British, and have become the vishwa guru.
very well written with lots of insight. I don’t know why we try to glamorize Mughals.
Why don’t you find a Hindu to glamourise that the world will admire ?
@rasgolla. There are already enough Hindus the world admire. Vivekananda to MK Gandhi to Tagore to CV Raman to V Ramakrishna to name a few
‘Vivekananda to MK Gandhi to Tagore to CV Raman to V Ramakrishna to name a few’.
Unfortunately, none of them are real Hindutva Hindus ! You murdered one of them, so you cannot use his name to boost Hindus.
I like how open ThePrint is. Speech is certainly freer in this platform.
Coming to the point, I’d like Zainab to respond to this and I am genuinely interested to see how much I have been lied to by our great history textbooks.
pretty hard to believe the mentioned history, for sure its not 100% accurate. A point to be noted here is if mughal emperors were to destroy hindu places of worship, then for sure they would’ve destroyed and killed hindus as well and today the hindu population would’ve been in minority rather than majority… No religion in the world teaches killing unnecessary!!. We forget that more number of people, including muslims and hindus, were killed since the british occupation/rule. why is that forgotten? Till today we have the kashmir issue unresolved and how they’ve looted India’s valuable assets only to be transferred to their country..
Islam does encourage killing of infidels. Hatred and barbarism are in their genes.
An eye opener to all Hindus
Many Hindus do not have eyes or intellects to open. They believe uneducated Babas and Yogis.
Most educated souls in this planet belong to one community only. And they are not Christians, Hindus or Jews.
I see you are linking in Christians and Jews to cover your own hollowness. Gomutra drinkers are only from one community. Can you explain that ?
Two years back, there was an interfaith conference in Canada. I read an article written by a Hindutva Hindu who went to represent Hindus. He complained that Hindus were not given equal weighting – his grievance was Christians, Jews and Muslims were given equal weighting ! And he suggested how Hindus need to go better prepared next time. The inferiority complex is unbelievable.
An eye opener article indeed.We had enough of these sickulars who have been peddling lies in our text books. These Mughals are a blot on our history. It is really shameful to learn about these bigot bastards. in fact, all the relics including monuments built by this bastard dynasty should be destroyed.
Right from the Imperial Historians, ably, ideologically and zealously assisted by our very own Eminent but discredited Historians, to the present-day Apologists and Distortionists spawned by the Liberal Media, the wanton genocide of facts and the massacre of Truth only reflects, imitates and carries forward the well-documented Iconoclasm of their forbears.
When an Open and Liberal society grants them the Civilised tools of Democratic expression, should it surprise us if they, reverting to type, once more distort and demean that revolutionary war-cry of all liberated people’s worldwide, namely that the Pen is Mightier than the Sword and heap humiliations yet again using the tyranny of words dipped in the blood of millions ?
Why there are Indians like Zainab who want to forget our heritage, history and culture. Muslims and Mughals are not same. Mughals are who oppressed Indians.
Mughals are the ones who built India, and who ruled a larger terrritorial mass than present day India. They built many of its cities, in fact more cities than modern India has built. It is the Brahmins who oppressed the majority of Indians, and they continue. My main criticism of the Mughals is why they employed the Brahmins. Maybe they would have done a service for India if they had eliminated Brahmins.
Joke of the 6th century
Mughals built india???hahaha….madrasa education has taken a toll on you….
Why are publishing these useless and communal Posts.
Ban azan.. most communal prayer on eearth ever receited .
Interesting insights. He rebutted all the claims ( fictitious ) by Zainab.
Congratulations on writing this excellent piece of opinion!
Excellent piece of writing with all the sources of information embedded
On the contrary the article written by Zainab were collated from her whims and fancies without any citation of a source , and she calls herself a journalist.
Abhas should write more articles like this . A big thumbs up
Where did the claim of 24,000 years come from ?
The British discovered the Hindu past, with excavation of Mohenjodaro and Harappa – but that is in Pakistan today ! The Hindus had no idea of history.
Hindus are an inexplicable collection of castes. Even the name ‘Hindu’ was given by outsiders. You have got an inferiority complex, that is why you want to fabricate history. It actually gives the impression that you have no history, you have low self esteem, and you are incapable of managing the present and being a success today.
Your women still needs permission to be in garbage bin bag. At least pardha is just a sari draped around the head. Burkha is wore above the cloth. Lol. Hinduo see itni Jalan hai to Babar aur Gazni kya yaha G Marne aye the kya
MODERATORS:
If you perpetually anaesthetised blokes wake up sometime, censor this fellow Rasgolla for hate speech.
Surprise,SURPRISE, “THE PRINT”giving space this article and print it too. SO CAN WE CALL IT” MODI HAI TO MUMKIN HAI”
Abe joker first read history ? then comment
Let’s now fight with the mughals. LOlz
The evils which are now being associated eith Hindus has its origin with muslim invasions. The status of woman which was quite high went spiral downward trebd when invaders/ barbarians invasion started 1000 yrs back. Woman became a commodity and purdah system developed. You can see status of woman is better in states which are far away from frontiers. Abusive language with disgrace to woman is also prevalant more in states which are near to frontiers. The tradition in western barbaric states from where invaders came give very low status to woman nd converting females of opposing armies to slave girls started the trend of purdah and female forticide.
Zainab needs to read translation of some holy books to understand what India withstand during last millennium.
Allahabad has 24,000 of history. Yes. Earth has over 400 billion years of history. LOlz
Facts first then the opion
“What must be asked is why the Mughals could never build anything so marvellous, like the Taj, back in their homeland?”
Well done, I use to ask the same question to my friends. Well articulated article.
Good question ??
The question also needs to be asked why the Hindus have an inferiority complex over the Taj ? Is it because you could only build some monstrous statues with 12 arms ? Why is it in 70 years you could not develop India ? Why is India known as a nation of slumdogs today but it was known as a golden sparrow in Mughal times ?
India’s title as the “Golden Sparrow” comes from the Roman literature from the Ancient period, before 1000AD. Get your facts right! India’s plight is contributed to the exploitative nature of British and Mughal colonialism during which India steadily degraded from 24.5% of Global GDP in 1500AD (when Babur invades) to 2% in 1947. Both had a characteristic of poorly administering the common people and throwing them into famines and using India’s treasures to send lavish sums of golds to Mecca, Britain and other Islamic rulers
Best article by the print
I wanted to know the source of your assumptions of pry Agra’s having 24000 years of history . Can you please point me to that ?
You need to
1st read the article properly – he talks of prayagraj’s antiquity not Agra’s.
2nd regarding 24000 history, if u go with western dates for rigveda u might see this as wrong, but copious amt of astronomical and geographical info is in the vedas to push back dates by several millennia…
Do read real history , not the one fed to us for so long.
Nonsense Mr Aakash !
The Rig Veda itself can be dated back to only about 2000 BC. Talking of 24000 year history “evidence” of Prayagraj is simply preposterous. And conclusively proves the fact the author is not only a rank amateur when it comes to Historical research, but a pure fraudster and charlatan in the employ of the fascists of Hindutva. Indeed, this textbook fascism – a concocted mythical past where greatness prevailed until foreigners arrived and destroyed everything is a classic trope of Mussolini, Hitler and other thugs.
Indeed, 24,000 years ago, the last traces of Neanderthal man would have vanished and Cro-Magnon type early humans were making their appearance. These were primitive hunter gatherers and not urbanised. Even Mohenjo-daro has been only dated back to about 2500 BC.
Aabhas Maldahiyar’s hallucinations might pass as historical evidence for closet gaurakshaks like you who have been brought up on a healthy dose of Arnab Goswami’s and Adityanath’s hot air. Bbut it is certainly not the historical truth.
Abhyas is genuine Hindu, with high morals, unlike your alley cat morals to admire Moghul rule.
Tiwari ji .. it’s more older than your fake I’d history . Second all masjid are build on temple even your Qutubh Minar. Adina mosque , roopmati mosque and gyanvaypi and Many many more likes of jama masjod of Delhi . Your denial is making making more hardened and research Hindu . Thanks got I junked my Secularism ..
ME TOO
In the article, he has provided sources for a myriad issues more germane to the article and issue under scanner. This is the only thing you noticed? If it is not 24000 but only 5000 .. what does it change?
Plz write chhatarapati Shivaji Maharaj or Shivaji Maharaj, yogi ji told the museum will be renamed as chhatarapati Shivaji Maharaj not only’shivaji’. Write it fully chhatarapati Shivaji Maharaj or Shivaji Maharaj. The only’shivaji’ is disrespect to chhatarapati Shivaji Maharaj, plz write it fully chhatarapati Shivaji Maharaj or Shivaji Maharaj
Missing point completely. Does it weaken the argument against the argument of Zainab Sikander
Thank you sir, we need people like you who can show reality to bigots like Zainab who speak anything without substance but their agenda. And all this is not against Muslims, the problem is Muslims identifying with these tyrants there will be friction as long as they don’t see reality
The problem with you is you have an inferiority complex – you feel you do not have any worthy achievements of your own, in the past or present. You need to fabricate tall stories like antiquity of 24,000 years,
‘It is tough to understand why the Mughals must be given credit for creating a structure when nothing except the order to commission was run by them. India was always home to fabulous architecture like the Kailasha temple. What must be asked is why the Mughals could never build anything so marvellous, like the Taj, back in their homeland?’
It reeks of an inferiority complex ! It is typical thought process of a cheap RSS Hindu. Let us give credit of all the monuments and cities built by the Mughals to the Hindus. And Hindus won all their battles against them. The RSS now claims Maharana Pratap won the battle of Haldighat against Akbar. The logical conclusion is the Mughals never ruled India as Hindus always defeated them ! Will that allow these RSS Hindus to overcome their sense of inferiority ? I do not think so.
The correct conclusion is the Mughals and British were good adminstrators – and the Hindus can learn from them. Looking at the destructive mentality of the RSS and present day Hindus, I cannot see that in them ! The way to disprove that impression is to show good governance. But with the Hindus, the sub continent is divided into three countries now, the economy is collapsing, and bordering states want to break away. Can the Hindus keep the remaining India united ? Not with the present mentality. Historical fabrications do not secure the future. They will be dreaming of the past and Akhand Bharat in the future, but they cannot cope with the present. That is what this article shows.
You are doing a lot of whataboutery here which is completely unrelated to the present discourse. There is no sense of inferiority among Hindus against Muslims or Mughals, if anything I would say some of us might be overestimating ourselves by claiming Hinduism to be 100, 000 years old. Ibwould agree that there is some degree of hatred towards Mughals and Muslims thoigh, and that needs to be resolved not by painting oppressive rulers as secular and benevolent but by simply accelting that they are history and modern-day Muslims have nothing to do with them. His point with the Kailasha temple is that the civilisation had the ability to build enormous structures of equal or more quality with the vast diversity of forms of arts spread throught the subcontinent as far as 1000 years before Taj Mahal too, Hindu rulers simply never felt the urge to deprive their population and throw them to die of hunger to build monuments for personal concerns and interests. The art came out of the act of commission which is universally agreed to be an idiotic and oppressive move.
Also last time I checked, even some Bangladeshis hated Mughals for throwing them into famines and destroying their culture. Then comes the Deccan famine after Taj Mahal, and then a few other famines during British, lets not even talk about their superb administrative skills of exporting riches to their honlmelands. The hatred for British is a mutual sentiment shared by Hindus and Muslims of India alike I would press, not sure about Pakistan.
I would also question the part about the partition being a Hindu thing, but thats another topic in itself, an act that I support. India has never been more united and inclusive already being a special rare case in the world with its diversity and still maintaining unity through a DEMOCRATIC model, which the Mughals and British were not. I can see the Paxtani within you here with how you address and form your narrative about the “Hindus”, “70 yrs India” and fragmenting parts. Would suggest you to attempt peeking out of your state-controlled media first 🙂
Of the two evils , Muslims and British, British were the lesser evil. Both looted the country, but British did not kill its soul, Muslim invaders did.
Both civilised you. Without them, you will return to your jungli roots – as we see today.
‘Hindu rulers simply never felt the urge to deprive their population and throw them to die of hunger to build monuments for personal concerns and interests. The art came out of the act of commission which is universally agreed to be an idiotic and oppressive move.’
Hindu rulers simply had no issue in labeling the majority untouchable and extracting work out of them for nothing. As an upper caste, you will not see that. In fact, it is because of it, that 35% converted – and more will convert in future.
It has been argued that Hindu rulers were building erotic temples in Khajurao and engaged in orgies, that is why they could not defend the country. Without the Muslims, the Hindus fought between themselves.
‘India has never been more united and inclusive already being a special rare case in the world with its diversity and still maintaining unity through a DEMOCRATIC model, which the Mughals and British were not. ‘
India is disintegrating before you with CAA-NRC protests, but you are trying to cover up. Covid saved India, otherwise it was heading for civil war. India’s democratic traditions come from the British, not the Hindus. In fact, Lord Macaulay brought a uniform penal code saying that the penalty for a crime will be the same for a Brahmin and sudra. He said India had suffered too long under the Brahmin code (he did not write India had suffered under the Muslim code). Hence, we should thank the British. Hindus are today undermining democracy, and going back to their jungli ways.
MODERATORS
When the hell will you stop this bigot “rasgolla”from spewing hatred on Hindus and Hindusim?
Excellent article. I’m sure many people are not fully aware of Mughal history. Thanks for giving an idea about what Mughals were actually. So far, secularist (so called) have shown only one side of the history by conveniently picking and highlighting the things to suit their agenda.