भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

made explicit here. It is this, whether it was the Greeks or other foreign
aggressors, whoever came flashing their swords, were ultimately conquered
and engulfed, and completely submerged in our society, leaving not a trace
of their separate existence behind. In every case, it has been amply proved
that it was only when the aggressor’s insolent sword was beaten down—it
was only when the aggressor was vanquished completely in the deadly
armed conflict on the battlefield—that those foreigners became so very
tame and pliable as to be easily overwhelmed and dissolved in our society.
This was achieved not by peaceful persuasion, but by the stronger and
deadlier weapons.
No Religious Persecution—but the most Appropriate Punishment for
Treason!
203. Some of the old Buddhist books, in the loquacious style of the
Puranas, enlarge upon the cruel treatment meted out by Pushyamitra to
Buddhist bhikksus, upon the outright massacre of some of them, and the
destruction of some of the Buddhist monasteries. Even the European
historians have set aside all these references as exaggerated ones! Still, some
of them have stated, that there should be some grain of truth at the root of
these exaggerated accounts that Pushyamitra might have been guilty of some
slight persecution of the Buddhists by way of revenge. We also feel that
Samrat Pushyamitra might have taken good many of the Buddhists to task,
but not for any philosophical or theological difference of opinion.
204. The Buddhists were not persecuted as a class simply because they
believed in nihilism or agnosticism, or because some of them were atheists
while others were non-violent on principle and condemned the Vedas, or
because their religious rituals were in many ways different from those of the
Vedic Hindus. Lord Buddha himself experienced no obstacle in the
propagation of his faith! Let that alone! The Buddhist faith had been more or
less three hundred years old by the time of Chandragupta’s succession to the
throne! In his undivided all-India Hindu empire and also during the tenure of
the ministerial office of the staunch Arya Chanakya, no Buddhist
persecution of any sort was reported by the Greek ambassador,
Megasthenes, who had stayed at the court of the first Maurya Emperor for
years together. Megasthenes does not refer to Buddhism even by name, for
they had not till then formed any anti-national and political alliances
detrimental to the interests of the nation, either with Alexander or with
Seleucos. It was not then possible for them! That is why, along with many