10.

Intermittent Hindu Retaliation Against

Muslim Religious Aggression

497. At the end of an earlier chapter, we had expressed our astonishment
     as to how the Hindu Society did not perish completely in spite of the
     various defects of class-differences, ban on reconversion misconceptions
     about virtues and the like, and how it escaped with the loss of only some
     millions of Hindus converted. For beyond the frontiers of India, wherever
     such Muslim religious aggression took place, the natives there were totally
     deprived of their religions. The northern coast of Africa up to Spain and the
     Asian lands up to the frontier India, were totally converted to Islam. But in
     India alone, then attempts were not completely successful. At the time of
     Muhammad Kasim’s invasion of Sindh in the 8th century and then from the
     11th century, i.e. for nearly a thousand years, from the marauding
     expedition of Mahmud of Ghazni and of Ghori to the complete overthrow
     of the Moghul empire by the Peshwas in the 18th century, the Muslim
     invaders violently converted lakhs of Hindus and tried to multiply their
     numbers. The circumstances in this land—most adverse for the Hindus—
     also favoured them. Why then did the Muslims fail to destroy the Hindu
     Society completely?
498. The first reason that can explain this strange occurrence is the
     political defeat, which the Hindus inflicted on these Muslims. In the initial
     stages, Bhim and Rana Pratap and other Rajput princes and next, the Hindu
     kings of Vijayanagar had rendered the Muslim power out of gear and
     crippled it. Lastly, the Marathas dealt it deadly blows and fluttered their
     victorious banner under the leadership of the Peshwa right up to Attock.
     This political defeat of the Muslims at the hands of the Hindus, which is
     well known to all, made it impossible for the Muslims to bring all the
     Hindus under their green flag.
499. But the other potent reason for this strange phenomenon is that there
     arose from time to time, heroic men and women warriors, who staunchly
     opposed the armed religious aggression of the Muslims with counter
     aggression following the precepts of Maharshi Deval and Medhatithi. It is
     this counter-aggression on the religious front by the Hindus, that has really