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

began their onward march right up to Rameshwaram and for all these
twelve hundred years or so from A.D. 711, to the time the British left India
in 1947, the Hindus had been rotting in slavery. This assumption is as false
as it is insulting to the Hindus. This is an unbearable perversion of facts.
659. Hereafter, at least a truth-loving writer of history should
scrupulously avoid this falsehood, this perversion of facts from school or
college textbooks as also from those of a greater worth and importance.
These three hundred years
660. For during these three hundred years i.e., up to A.D. 1000 or so in
the whole of India, right from Hindukush to Ceylon and to Burma in the
east, the Hindu Sovereign states ruled proudly. At such an early date as
that, the Hindu kings in the south such as the Cher, Chowl, Pandya,
Rashtrakut and others, sometimes the one, at others the next, ruled the vast
southern seas so powerfully as to call themselves Trisamudreshwar. To say
that the whole of India sweated in slavery under the Muslims or some
other rulers, ignoring its prosperous and independent sovereign status, is to
belie history.
From A.D. 1000 To A.D. 1030
661. All of a sudden, like a comet, rose Mahmud of Ghazni at this time.
At his accession to the throne, he vowed to Muslimize the whole of India
and as has been already described in paragraphs 365 to 375, carried on a
series of depredations and arson, religious persecution and rapes, and
pollution and conversion, throughout the vast tract from Multan in Punjab
to Someshwar in Sourashtra.
662. But it is because, at such cataclysmal times, the Hindus showed
exemplary valour and perserevence and forbearance in facing all these
calamities, never losing self-respect or courage, that Hindu states could
again raise their banners overthrowing the Muslim ascendancy hardly
within twenty-five to thirty years of Mahmud Ghazni's death in A.D.
1030, with the sole exception perhaps of the northern part of Punjab
beyond the Indus. This can surely be cited as the astonishing illustration of
the tenacity of any nation for that matter.
663. Secondly, it must be remembered that during the thirty or forty
years of the political havoc wrought by Mahmud of Ghazni in the north,
the whole of South India had been displaying daring and adventure while
enjoying independence, prosperity and the mastery of the three seas as
nonchalantly as before.

664. This is why even during those thirty or forty years of Ghazni’s raids,
     India as a whole can never be said to be slaving under the foreign heels.
     Of course, we do not deny that a small part of the north-western Punjab
     was annexed by Ghazni, establishing political as well as religious
     ascendancy firmly over there. However, it must also be borne in mind that
     even at that time, Kashmir was a Hindu state.
     Hundred-and-Fifty years after the death of Mahmud of Ghazni in
     A.D. 1030
665. A hundred-and-fifty years, i.e. about five generations after A.D.
     1030, the whole of India, right from Kashmir to Assam and Burma in the
     north and Rameshwaram in the South, was politically independent,
     powerful and prosperous as before. Great preachers, saints and mahants
     and priests following the path of Shree Shankaracharya were, along with
     Smritikars Deval and Medhatithi, leading the cultural life of the whole of
     India and its overseas colonies. Sanskrit was the Indian priestly language
     throughout. Kashi was the cultural centre of the whole Hindu nation. The
     great wounds suffered by our Hindu nation on the political front during the
     raids of Mahmud of Ghazni were healed up by rulers dining these years. If
     the temple of Somnath was rebuilt on this side, new sky-high temples like
     that of Bhuvaneshwar and religious centres in Orissa and Assam rose to
     their full glory. The Hindu mastery of the Eastern, Western and the
     Southern seas, their trade and commerce, to-and-fro movement of
     thousands of their troops, their royal visits and return visits up to Maxico
     in the far east and to Africa in the west, continued unhampered and,
     therefore, the Indians overseas could keep constant contact with their
     motherland, and thereby prospered materially as well as culturally.
666. Can any Hindu-hater dare say, therefore, of this period at least, that
     the whole of India was rotting in abject slavery?

From the 12th Century A.D. to the end of
the 13th Century A.D.
667. After the death of Mahmud of Ghazni, the Muslim power there grew
far too weak because, in the first place, the population there consisted
mainly of the aboriginal tribe converted quite recently by craft or coercion
to Islam and secondly, because the Arabian Muslim States were being
destroyed completely by the Mongols and the Turks, the two great Asian
tribes that had not yet sworn allegiance to Islam, during their sweeping
raids through the vast tract of Central Asia right up to Europe.
668. As has already been pointed out, many big and small Hindu
communities and royal families ruled this region for a long time. Ghuri was
one of these Hindu communities round about Ghazni, which was wholly
converted to Islam during the Muslim religio-political aggressions. Being
forced to follow the Muslim socio-religious practices for generations, this
originally Hindu community of the Ghuries became too staunch and
bigoted in their faith, that they ardently desired to rule the other Muslims in
Ghazni. From the same Muslim (yet originally Hindu), Ghuri community
rose to power one Mohammad Ghori, who, subjugating all the warring
tribes during the internecine battles that broke out after the death of
Mahmud of Ghazni, finally proclaimed himself, the Sultan of the State. In
order to enlist the loyal support of all the Muslims, he made everywhere
the stock-in-trade proclamation, which reverberated throughout that region
and the northwest region of Hindusthan, that he would force all the kafirs
(meaning Hindus) in India to accept Islam and would found an empire
there.
669. However, in spite of his ambition, he could not do anything of the
kind Mahmud of Ghazni had done before him in his seventeen horrible
predatory raids because of the adverse circumstances. In A.D. 1176,
Mohammed Ghori first captured the strong fort of Ooch near the
confluence of the Panchnad with the Indus. Enraged at the weakness of her
husband, the queen in the fort killed him and married her daughter to the
victorious Mohammed surrendering the overlordship of the region at the
same time.

670. Then in order to size up the Hindu kingdoms, Mohammed Ghori
     marched on the weakest one of Gujarat by proceeding stealthily along the
     borders of Rajasthan. For, the King of Gujarat having died, the Queen and
     her military chief enthroned a minor. This led Mohammed Ghori to think
     that it was weak enough to be attacked. But he was misled by appearances.
     For, in learning of Ghori's ensuing invasion, the Hindu army of Gujarat,
     augmented by those of other sympathising Hindu Kings, marched forward
     to the mountain-ranges of Abu. The Queen herself fought in the battle most
     valiantly, urging all the soldiers to defend the infant king whom, she said,
     she had delivered to their care. Inflamed by her words, the whole Hindu
     army fought so furiously that the Muslims were routed completely in all
     directions. Mohammed Ghori himself escaped narrowly and fled straight to
     his domain beyond the borders.
     Second major defeat of Mohammed Ghori by the Hindus
671. Mohammed Ghori, however, was not to be daunted by adversities.
     So, without being discouraged by his recent defeat at Abu, he once again
     marched on India in A.D. 1191, invading this time the territory of Prithviraj
     Chouhan, whereupon that gallant monarch of Delhi along with as many
     Hindu rulers as he could then gather, advanced against Ghori and joining
     battle at Tarayan to the north of Karnool near Panipat, dealt a crushing
     defeat on the invader after a bloody day. Mohammed Ghori himself was
     captured alive by Prithviraj. This battle is known as the Battle of Talavadi.
672. Emperor (Samrat) Prithviraj and his feudatory princes were after all
     Hindus by birth and belonged to the topmost Rajput ranks. Hence, they
     sincerely believed that to let go the captive national enemy alive, however
     treacherous he might be, to give back his kingdom with all pomp and show,
     was the highest form of religious conduct, conducive to heavenly bliss as
     regards a true warrior was concerned.
673. सांप बिखारी देशभूमिचा ये घेउं चावा।
     अवचित गांठुनि ठकवुनि भुलवूनि कसाहि ठेचावा॥
     Were a serpent (an inveterate national enemy) to come with a view to
     biting the motherland, he should be smashed to pieces with a surprise
     attack, deceit or cunning or in any other way possible. Although this war-
     strategy of Shree Krishna and Chanakya was taught to the Hindus long ago,
     at that time, it appeared to them like one of the five deadliest sins. For, as
     we have already shown in paragraphs 397 to 454, the whole of the Hindu

nation was at that time utterly infatuated with the perverted sense of virtues.
But the Muslims, however, followed this very war-strategy most
scrupulously.
674. See how: Had Prithviraj Chouhan, instead of Mohammed Ghori,
invaded Ghazni and had the Muslims defeated the Rajputs (as the Rajputs
had actually done with Mohammed Ghori), they would have not only
killed Prithviraj but would also have converted, by using force and
cunning, all the captive Rajputs to Islam, would have made them their
wives and children slaves for the whole of their lives in their houses, and
the beautiful among the Hindu captive women Ghori himself might have
taken into his harem and ravaged. To such a damned, demoniacal enemy
of our religion like Mohammed Ghori, was mercy shown by Prithviraj and
the other confederated Rajput rulers, following sheepishly the textual
maxim क्षमा वीरस्य भूषणम् (a maxim to be used only in the case of
some noble and magnanimous enemy!) without the slightest consideration
being given to the propriety of time, place and the circumstances and
persons involved! Nay, they showed mercy not only to Mohammed Ghori
but even to the whole Muslim army, only to respect the noble Rajput
tradition of assuring full protection from fear to those who surrendered
meekly. Only an oral promise was obtained from Mohammed Ghori that
he would not again invade India and he was allowed to go alive. His
domain of Ghazni, too, was returned to him and proud, more of their
suicidal and credulous generosity than of their having defeated the Muslim
army of Mohammed Ghori, those Rajput warriors marched triumphantly to
Delhi and celebrated their victory!
But what did Mohammed Ghori do on Reaching Ghazni?
675. Did Mohammed Ghori forget his enmity to the Hindus because of
this generosity of Prithviraj Chouhan? No! On the contrary like a snake,
provoked by a slight injury, Mohammed Ghori and all the Muslims in his
kingdom, without any sense of gratitude for the Hindu imbecile generosity
were all the more embittered, and resolved to crush the Hindus altogether.
And with a huge army, Mohammed Ghori once again attacked Prithviraj in
A.D. 1193.
The Rajput ‘rasos’ and the best among them the ‘Prithviraj Raso’ of
Chand Bhat
676. In fact, it is impossible and improper to write any trustworthy history
of the Rajputs without closely studying the contemporary historical

accounts written by the Rajput Bhats, Charans in their heroic and, to some
exent, poetic style and known in that region as ‘Rasos’. But it is doubtful
whether amongst our historians, there be five or at the most ten such as have
read them with any scientific curiosity! That is why none of the histories
written of the Rajputs of the times or, for that matter of the whole Hindu
society of that age, with the solitary exception of that of Col. Tod, really
deserves to be truly called histories. They are mere translations or
transliterations of stray incoherent remarks and disconnected and perverted
accounts of the Muslim or the English writers. Independent ‘Rasos’ seem to
have been composed on valiant Rajput Ranas, proud of their religion
(Hamir Raso, Chhatrasal Raso, etc.). The ‘Rasos’ are not pure,
unadulterated histories! But the forceful and vivid descriptions of the
various events, their high fervour and the fact of their authors’ participation
to a lesser or greater degree, in those particular historical events, make
those grand incidents live, as it were, before the imagination of the reader,
as the above-mentioned sketchy outlines of chronological accounts can
never do. ‘Prithviraj Raso’ by the famous Chand Bhat, who was in the pay
of Prithviraj, bears out the above remark by its epic serenity, calm dignity
and moving pathos in the descriptions of the Hindus of the time and of its
account of the first Muslim raids from the north-west.
677. The Story of the fire race (अग्नि-कुल)
678. The Nagari Pracharini Sabha had undertaken to republish this
‘Prithviraj Raso’ in 1922-23, when 1 was in prison at Ratnagiri, where
some parts of it were sent to me on request by my brother for my essay on
Hindutwa. I do not know, however, whether this whole book was ever
published.
These non-Hindus are Shameless, we Hindus, fight shy!
निर्लज्ज म्लेच्छ लजै नहीं, हम हिन्दू लजवान्
679. The ‘Prithviraj Raso’ describes the Hindu-Muslim skirmishes and
frays in the epic style of Mahabharat, and the poet has praised the Hindus
highly for vanquishing Mohammed Ghori again and again and then setting
him free to go alive, because this noble act of the Hindus, he thought, added
to their glory! But when Mohammed Ghori again attacked Prithviraj in
A.D. 1193, violating his promise that he would never again invade India,
Chand Bhat wrote wrathfully, “We Hindus are scrupulous about religious

and irreligious conduct, about truth and falsehood, we fight shy of sinful
acts, but these non-Hindus (meaning Muslims) are utterly shameless!’’
680. But the breach of promise, which could Muslimize the whole of the
kafir state, was a highly religious duty for the Muslims, and because
Mohammed Ghori broke his promises again and again, he became a Gazi
among the Muslims! This fact also must be engraved on the hearts of the
Hindus that (the Muslims who acted irreligiously according to Chand Bhat
were blessed with success by God, whereas the Hindus who never broke
any promise but showed the quixotic greatness of setting the enemy free
alive, were crushed outright owing to their steadfast adherene to their so-
called religious conduct!
681. There was another reason why Mohammed Ghori thought it to be the
best opportunity to march against Prithviraj, Jaychand the King of Kanouj,
had secretly given a solemn promise to help him against Prithviraj, his
direst enemy, a promise that later proved fatal to himself. In A.D. 1193, the
Hindu-Muslim armies met at ‘Sthaneshwar, where in the thick of the fray
fell in the hands of the Muslims dead or alive the Rajput princes,
Chamundrai, Hamir, Hada and good many other warriors! Muslim losses in
lives were also terrible. All this detailed account should really be read, if
possible, from the ‘Prithviraj Raso’ itself, because in the historical accounts
by the Muslim writers, nothing but censure and condemnation of the kafirs
can only be met with, and with the exception of these poetical Rasos,
histories written by Hindu writers, do not simply exist. The Muslim writers
vouch that Prithviraj was, at length, killed in the battle and the Muslims
were victorious. Soon after this victory, Mohammed Ghori marched
straight to Delhi, because he had to perform his diabolically pious deed of
demolishing the Hindu temples, of slaughtering the masses of Hindus, of
arson and especially of ravaging the young wife of Prithviraj, the daughter
of Jaychand, Sanyogita, who was well-known at that time for her
exceptional beauty. Fast as Mohammed Ghori made for Delhi, faster still
went the tragic news of the defeat of Prithviraj and of his death or probable
capture by the Muslims, to the royal palace of Delhi, whereupon, according
to the pre-arranged plan, perhaps the empress Sanyogita lost not a minute
to face the danger boldly in the traditional Rajput way. At once, leaving
aside all consideration for wealth, parental love, fraternal affection, the
attachment to her earthly existence and breaking all ties of love and duty,
she jumped from the top-most floor of the palace and killed herself with the

word Jayhar (जयहर) --glory to God Shiv! on her lips, she performed
Jayhar—Johar! What of the empress, Sanyogita, hundreds of other Hindu
women leapt one after another into the Yamuna (Jamuna) and drowned
themselves before the Muslims could even touch or pollute them!
682. On reaching Delhi, Mohammed Ghori immediately set to plunder
and destroy the royal palaces and the citizens with fire and sword to his
heart’s content. Proclaiming next the establishment of the Muslim power
there, he appointed a trusted slave of his, one Kutubuddin, as his chief
administrator and went straight off to Ghazni. Later on, within two years in
A.D. 1195, Mohammed Ghori attacked Jaychand. With his administrator
Kutubuddin to assist him, he marched on Kanouj, where in a furious scuffle,
Jaychand was utterly vanquished and killed. In a sense, the Indian King
received a fitting reward for his high treason against the Hindu nation!
683. Nearly a hundred years or more had elapsed since the dreadful raids
of Mahmud of Ghazni and as such their recollection was growing fainter
like an evil hallucination or dream in the Hindu mind. So, with these two
invasions of Mohammed Ghori, every Hindu King, Emperor, Saint,
dignitary of every sort, down to the hut-dweller was shocked to the marrow
of his bones at this miserable plight of Hindu courage and strength.
Mohammed Ghori, too, was elated at this unexpected victory, and hearing
of Kashi (Benares) as the holiest of Hindu places of worship, he headed
straight for it in order to destroy Hindu religion.
684. The people at Kashi were taken unaware by this fanatical and
bloodthirsty raid and, as such, had no arrangement to face it. Naturally,
Mohammed Ghori captured Kashi in no time, started forthwith to slaughter
Hindu men and women, to plunder the Hindu houses, to ravish Hindu
women and specially to force countless Hindu men and women to accept
Islam and slavery. Above all, he raised to big heaps of rubble and brick every
Hindu temple and broke the idols within it to bits.
685. But he immediately heard the news that in the Hindu states beyond
and especially in Rajasthan, plans were being chalked out of encircling him;
and having the bitter experience of the united Hindu swordsmen twice
before, he satisfied himself with whatever he could achieve during one
sweep from Kanouj to Kashi (Benaras) and went back to Ghazni. As before,
he appointed his versatile, brave and trusted slave Kutubuddin himself as
the Governor of the recently won territory up to Kanouj.

686. And alas! At this very evil, unpropitious moment, our age-old Capital
     of the Hindu empire since the days of Yudhishthir, this our Indraprastha,
     Hastinapur or modern Delhi was lost to the non-Hindus and there was laid
     the foundation stone of the Muslim empire for centuries to come! Delhi
     became the centre of servitude and remained so, rotting under the foreign
     rule for the next five or six hundred years (with very short breaks in
     between), till at last, the Marathas triumphantly hoisted their saffron-
     coloured flag at Attock, and overthrowing the Muslim imperial power
     beyond, made it the handmaid of the Hindu imperial authority.
687. Soon after he reached Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori was killed (in the
     opinion of some Muslim historians) by a small band of soldiers in his
     army, but Chand Bhat gives a colourful and detailed description in his
     Raso of how Prithviraj seized the one unique opportunity to kill him and
     avenged his defeat. Although no other support for this folklore can be
     found, as yet, it is not unworthy of a mention here. The essence of this
     superbly described folklore in the poetical ‘Prithviraj Raso’ is that
     Prithviraj was captured alive by Ghori and was not killed in the battle.
     Mohammed Ghori took him to Ghazni as a captive and struck out his eyes,
     making him blind. At this shocking news, Chand Bhat went on his own to
     Ghori’s court at Ghazni in order to do his traditional duty as a Bhat of
     laying down his life for his emperor. Charans and Bhats were supposed to
     bear a charmed life—they were not to be killed—and the Muslim rulers
     also could not generally break this convention! Sultan Mohammed Ghori
     too asked Chand Bhat to have his say. Chand Bhat was a well-known and
     ready-witted, facile poet, who sang out at the top of his sonorous voice a
     heroic ballad to mean, “My master is your captive and you are sure to end
     his life as best you please. But my sole request is that I should also be
     killed with him in the same or any other manner. Secondly, I submit that
     the Sultan should himself witness a demonstration of the exceptional skill
     of my master in the wonderful art of hitting the sound (शब्दबेध) in
     archery. “This request made the Sultan curious about this wonderful art.
     Even then, with every precaution, the necesary arrangments for the
     demonstration were made. Twenty-one pans were hung in a row. Sultan
     Mohammed sat eagerly with his select retinue and his noblemen at a high
     place in the court to witness the feat. Chand Bhat and Prithviraj, the last
     Hindu Emperor of Delhi, were made to sit before the pans in the wake of a
     strong military guard. Then, as each pan was struck, the stroke rang clear

and loud. As soon as the sound rang out, the blinded Emperor Prithviraj
took an unmistakable aim at the pan concerned and hit the mark. As this
feat was repeated with exceptional accuracy of aim for twenty-one times,
the whole court was thrilled with wonder and admiration and the clapping
of hands went on unceasingly and finally the Sultan himself shouted aloud
‘shabas’ shabas’—bravo, bravo!! At that very moment, the captive Chand
Bhat sitting near Prithviraj composed a couplet (दोहा) on the spur of the
moment, telling Prithviraj to shoot, without wasting a moment, the Sultan
sitting at a particular distance, shouting ‘shabas, shabas—Bravo, bravo’.
At this, the blinded Emperor Prithviraj took an aim in the direction of the
Sultan shouting ‘Shabas, Shabas’ and killed him with a sharp arrow. At
once, there was an uproar and confusion everywhere, but before the guards
of the Sultan could fall upon them with their weapons, Prithviraj and
Chand Bhat drew out their own swords and cut off their own heads!
The Slave Dynasty
688. Soon after the death of Mohammed Ghori, his slave (governor)
administrator in India, Kutubuddin, himself became the Sultan and
established his independent kingdom at Delhi. Kutubuddin was a Turk by
birth, but as he was a slave of Mohammed Ghori, his dynasty is called the
Slave Dynasty.
The fictitious story of Kutubminar
689. The legend that he built the famous Kutubminar as a memorial to his
victory is altogether false. This pillar of victory was built as Vishnu stambh
—the pillar of Vishnu—by a certain Hindu emperor, most probably by
Samudra Gupta and was dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Recent excavations have
discovered an ancient idol of Shree Vishnu near the pillar, which supports
the above assertion. Thereafter, Prithviraj Chouhan improved it to a great
extent, so in the Rajput period it was sometimes called Prithvistambh. The
Muslims had grown very much fond of obliterating the names and all other
traces of the old monuments and stamping them with their own seals
wherever they went on with their expeditions. Hence in India, too, they
changed the old original names of the capitals they conquered, the holy
places of pilgrimage, the important sites, works of art and gave them all
their Muslim names. According to this mischievous habit, Kutubuddin
named this very monument of Vishnustambh, Kutubminar. At many places
on that pillar, he got the hymns and aphorisms from the Koran engraved in
Arabic, and added some new features to the pillar here and there. But the

blocks of stones that were required for this purpose were intentionally
procured from the demolished Hindu temples and the idols therein.
Raids on Chitod and Hindu Victories
690. While Kutubuddin was conquering the Punjab, Delhi, Kanouj and
other Hindu states, he was uneasy about the Rajput states. Soon he learnt of
the death of Rana Samarsingh of Chitod and of the succession of his minor
son, Karna, to the throne. He was not a fool to let go this fine opportunity
to subdue it. But the mother of the minor king of Chitod, Karundevi, was
very brave and of great ablilities. That young mother-queen took the
leadership of the army and inspiring the other neighbouring Hindu states to
fight on her side, dealt a memorable defeat on the Muslim army in a battle
near Ambar (Amber or Amer). In order to avoid complete destruction,
Kutubuddin retreated to Delhi. Later on, when Rahup succeeded Karna to
the throne of Chitod, Kutubuddin's army once again marched on Chitod.
But once again, the Rajputs put the Muslim army to rout. Rana Rahup
proved to be a very able ruler. The Muslims, therefore, never thought of
invading Chitod till his death.
691. But it must be remembered here that even while the Muslims
launched repeated attacks on the Hindu states, the Hindus as a rule, never
invaded them nor ever pursued the fleeing Muslim army, nor again besieged
the Muslim localities left behind and destroyed them or their masjids. It is
because the Hindus never thus retaliated the Muslim aggression owing to
their perverse sense of virtues, the latter again and again perpetrated these
crimes against the former.
692. After Kutubuddin’s death in A.D. 1210, one or two incapable Sultans
came to the throne of Delhi, but as they were soon deposed, Sultana Razia
began to rule. She was well trained in the affairs of the State by Kutubuddin
himself. She attended the court or her army in the guise of a man. Later on,
she fell in love with a trusty slave of hers, named Jalaluddin, who chiefly
manoeuvred things in the court and began to live openly with her. This was,
however, most detestable to the Turkish noblemen of her court, because
Jalaluddin was a Negro. The Turks thought themselves to be of high rank and
despised the Negroes as lowbred.
693. This will make another point clear to the reader that although the
Turks, the Mongols, the Arabs, the Pathans, the Negroes (Abyssinians) and
others called themselves Muslims, and proudly proclaimed the absence of
caste differences and exhibited in place and out of place, the equality of

status for all in order to belittle the Hindus on that account, they were not
altogether free from those caste differences. These distinctions were on the
contrary, far too pronounced amongst them and caused a good deal of
trouble.
694. Shortness of space compels us to refer the reader to a chapter in our
book, ‘Essay on Abolition of Castes’ (जात्युच्छेदक निबंध) named ‘Sects
and Factions Amongst the Muslims’.
695. In the end, the Turkish noblemen rose in rebellion against the Negro
J alaluddin and Sultana Razia under the leadership of Altunia, the governor
of Sarhind, and defeated Razia in a battle, whereupon, Razia cast her spell
upon the victor Altunia and married him. The newly-wedded couple
marched on Delhi once again, but were defeated and killed by the noblemen
and the army there. After considerable court intrigues and plots, and
counter-plots a nobleman named ‘Bulban’, usurped the throne and became
the Sultan of Delhi.
Mongol Raids—Chengeezkhan
696. During the reign of this very slave dynasty, Mongol raids on India’s
farthest borders through Central Asia were causing constant trouble. Like
whirlwinds, great armies from Mongolia who had not so far sworn their
allegiance to Islam, went on trampling over, and crushing, all the nations and
countries from the Pacific to the Black Sea. Their leader, in those days, was
the world-famous Chengeezkhan, who till the last moment of his life, heaped
all possible ignominies and insults on the Muslim and Arab States and the
Muslim religion. He deposed and killed the Khaliph of Baghdad, whom the
Muslims highly respected as the political and religious representative of God,
and razed to the ground the city of Baghdad. Yet the Allah could do
absolutely nothing against him. With his ploughshare of destruction, he
furrowed the vast territory right up to Russia without the least obstruction; he
overthrew the kingdom of Kiev in Russia, ravaged the whole tract straight up
to the Black Sea with massacre, plunder, arson and annexed it to his trans-
continental empire. But no power on this vast earth dared restrain this
destructive hand of Chengeezkhan! On their way back from Russia, these
Mongol armies were obviously to dash violently against India. But quite
mysteriously, he went straight off to Mongolia, after first subduing the
Muslim kingdom of Ghazni and quite suddenly died there in A.D. 1227.
Later on, this extensive empire passed into the hands of one of this Mongol
race—Kublai Khan. These Mongols had already reduced the whole of China

and Korea. Kublai Khan made the age-long Chinese capital of Peking his
own.
697. One after-effect of this Mongol-Turkish struggle was that they had a
mixed progeny, which was called Moghal or Mughal. These Moghals
frequently tried to rush into India and finally reached Delhi. Some of them
took to Islam, but the old Muslims did not treat them equally; they
considered them to be low-born. These Moghals founded in Delhi, a
separate colony of theirs, named ‘Moghalpura’. Some others of them went
to the Rajputs for shelter because the old Muslims scoffed at them.
Especially, some two thousand of them sought employment in the army of
the valiant Hindu king of Ratanbhor.
698. Sultan Bulban of the Slave Dynasty was, in a sense, the most
powerful and able; he called himself the true representative of Allah. But as
regards his hatred towards the Hindus, he surpassed everybody from the
emperor to the meanest of servants. He imposed various heavy taxes on the
Hindus, forbade their pilgrimages to the holy places while their forcible
conversions and massacres went on unceasingly from village to village.
699. Bulban died in old age in A.D. 1286. There being no able person
from the Slave Dynasty to succeed him, within four years, a nobleman from
the Khilji family, Jalaluddin, slew the sons and grandsons of Bulban and
proclaimed himself the Sultan of Delhi, putting a stop to the Slave Dynasty
for ever, and starting his own.
Khilji Dynasty
700. This Khilji dynasty of Jalalluddin called itself Pathans (Afghans), if
at all it was of Turkish extraction. Jalalluddin himself was, as the other
Sultans and Muslims were, fired with the devilish ambition to destory the
Hindu political, as well as religious power, root and branch. He was just, as
regards other departments of administration, but was partial to the Muslims.
Seeing the tremendous loss of Muslim lives in the siege of Ratanbhor, he
raised the siege and decamped saying, “I value a single hair of a Muslim
more than a hundred such forts.” But this wisdom of his was so belated, that
the cause for this action of his has to be sought in the unbeaten valour of the
Rajputs. After this failure, he never again troubled the Rajputs.
701. The old Jalalluddin really wanted to enthrone his one ambitious,
brave and staunch Muslim nephew, Allauddin after his own death. So he
had sent him with a large army to face the Rajputs. But not content with this
assignment, which seemed too meagre for his daring Hindu-hatred, he

marched straight off without the Sultan's permission to conquer the
southern Hindu states and rob them of their reported fabulous wealth, of
which he had lately grown covetous beyond every limit. The first Hindu
state to fall a victim to this unexpected attack of Allauddin was that of the
Yadava of Devgiri.
702. There is one special point to be noted as regards this southern
conquest of Allauddin. The Hindu society of the south had, for more or less
two thousand years, from the early beginnings of the modern history, i.e.
from 500 or 600 B.C. to the 13th century A.D., been enjoying complete
political, religious and social independence and had been economically
highly prosperous. It had never been successfully invaded throughout these
two thousand years. Whoever of the foreign invaders dared to do so, was
ruthlessly crushed on the borders themselves. So, this invasion of Allauddin
was the first of its kind and was bound to be successful with far-reaching
harmful effects. Because of this special revolutionary and harmful character
of this invasion of Allauddin, it has to be dealt with in a fresh chapter.
❑

Muslim Invasions on South India upto the
Beginnings of the 14th Century
703. Right from the beginnings of known history, i.e. from about 500 to
600 B.C. to the beginning of the 14th century, South India never knew any
great foreign invasion either by land or sea. The Hindu states there enjoyed
their political liberty and power almost unhampered and unimpeded. On the
contrary, millions of Hindu people and armies of the Kalings, Pandyas,
Chers, Chols, Andhras, Rashtrakuts, Chalukyas, Yadavas and others up to
Dwarka had victoriously spread their political and commercial supremacy,
their theological and scientific knowledge, their art and sculpture up to
Mexico on the one side and to central Africa on the other.
704-705. But this glorious achievement of the Hindu states of the South of
maintaining their independence for over two thousand years has never been
so specifically and forcibly stated anywhere in history! We, however,
challenge if any country or state of such magnitude as that of the continent
like South Indian peninsula can be found on the face of this earth, which
has valiantly maintained its independence, power and empire and kept
foreign invaders either by land or sea, off its territories for such a long
period!
706. And such a country like India, more than half of whose territory
enjoyed such a glorious past, is derided by some half-crazy jealous
historians, foreign as well as Indian, or by some Hindu-haters like Dr.
Ambedkar or by some quite ignorant writers, so as to say, “Indian history
from the beginning is a history of a slavish people sunk deep into foreign
bondage and constantly trampled under foreign heels. “The word ‘slavery’
sums up the whole history of the Hindus who have been dragging on the
poor existence for tens and scores of centuries!”
707. At least, from now onwards, every Indian or non-Indian historian
must, for the love of truth, mention specifically this glorious peculiarity of
South India! Then alone, their writings would deservedly be called history!!
The Credit due to the Hindus of the North
708. Of course, while speaking of this glorious achievement of the South
of India—of maintaining its independence and vast empire over such a
long period—due credit must be given to the Hindu warriors, who

tenaciously fought for more than six or seven hundred years the bloody and
disastrous wars with the Arabs, the Pathans, the Turks, the Moghals,
millions of pillaging aggressors of numerous nations and communities of
almost the whole of Asia and halted their all-sweeping advance there in the
North for such a long period; and to those millions of Hindu martyrs who
gave away their lives for defending their religion by leaping into the
hungry flames, into the bounding waves of the Hooded rivers or in the
wholesale man-slaughter carried on by the enemy, but never forsook their
religion as per their various beliefs! The Hindus, history can never forget—
must never forget—these immeasurable obligations of those generations of
Hindus of the North over the whole of the Hindu nation-obligations which
can have no requital whatsoever!
709. However, world history itself tells us that even the greatest of
nations, too, fall victims some time or the other, even if after a very long
lapse of time, to some foreign domination. Similarly, towards the very end
of the 13th century (in A.D. 1294), this sub-continent of South India was
overcome with this calamity of the foreign Muslim aggression.
710. But it must be remembered here that the only nation in the then known
world, which could be fairly compared with India as regards its extent and
greatness—the Chinese nation—was overrun from end-to-end, and
subjugated by Chengeezkhan nearly a hundred years prior to the 14th
century; and simultaneouly with the first invasion of South India by
Allauddin—of which we are going to write very shortly—it had already
become the footstool of the foreign throne of the Mongol Emperor, Kublai
Khan! But can any profane, abusive writer make bold to say that the Chinese
nation has all along been rotting in foreign bondage?
Modern History of South India
711. The relevant and sufficient portion of the ancient history of South
India has already been referred to in an early part of this book. We can
safely assume that with the downfall of the Shalivahan dynasty in A.D. 236
or thereabout, began the modern history of South India. Thereafter, the
gallant Chalukya Emperor, Pulakeshi shone like a lighthouse tower,
counting the passage of time, in the history of the South. He too has been
mentioned in the earlier chapters. To his court had come the famous
Chinese traveller, Huen-tsang (or Yuan Chwan), who has first used the word
Maharashtra to describe Pulakeshi's kingdom. That is the first important
recorded use of the word in history. Emperor Pulakeshi fell fighting with the

Pullav King, Nursinh Varma, of the South in A.D. 642 and his kingdom was
conquered by the Pallavas. But very shortly afterwards, it was reconquered
by his son, Vikramaditya I, after defeating the Pallavas in a furious battle.
712. To this very Chalukya dynasty, belonged Vikramaditya II, who later
on in the 8th century A.D., sent a huge army to Navasari and defeated the
Arab invaders there!
713. Various such Hindu conquests over the Muslims are not even
mentioned in modern histories. History, of late, has become too partial and
vulgar. The various such incidents of Hindu supremacy and superior craft,
that have been mentioned heretofore, can very rarely be found in the
contemporary histories written by Muslim writers. Hereafter, at least Hindu
writers should describe such glorious acts of valour of the Hindu kings and
warriors after careful research.
714. The above-mentioned royal dynasty of the Pallavas was one of the
valorous and prosperous ones of the South. They had their capital at Kanchi
(Kanjivaram) for some time. At the end of the ninth century A.D., a Chol
king of South India itself, named Aditya, overpowered Aparajit Pallav and
subdued his kingdom for ever.
The Rashtrakuts
715. After the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakuts had established a prominent and
very powerful kingdom, bringing practically the whole of the South and
even the southern part of Gujarat under their sway. For some time, they had
their capital at Malkhed. By far, the most important achievement of theirs is
getting the famous Kailas cave carved at Verul (Ellora).
716. After the 10th century A.D., there were only two prominent
kingdoms in the South: those of the Cholas of Tanjawar (Tanjore) and the
Pandyas of Madura. Fortunately, we have the eyewitness account of the
political independence of the South, their prosperous state, and their
gallantry, by a third party, namely Marco Polo, the celebrated, discerning,
learned European (Italian) traveller and writer, who had spent many years
of his life in the court of Kublai Khan in China and who on his way back,
had at this very time, stayed for some days at Madura, the Pandya capital.
His testimony as to the Hindu mastery of the three seas and their overseas
empires, which we can find in his book of travels, is the most important. For
when he came from China to India, he came via Indo-China and visited the
Hindu states in Sumatra and other islands. At the time of his sojourn in
Sumatra, the island was ruled by one Hindu King, Shree Vijay, who gave

equal protection to the Buddhists also. Marco Polo, thereafter, went back to
Venice, his place of birth, about the year A.D. 1295. Two or three other
foreign travellers had come and stayed in India at that time, and have left
behind them some account of their travels, which, along with that of Marco
Polo, bear important and independent witness to the fact of the complete
political freedom of the Southern Hindu states, of their political,
commercial and religious supremacy over many other nations around them,
of their overlordship of the Eastern, Western and Southern Seas, of their
powerful navies and merchant marine, which traversed the tides of the three
seas unopposed, and of the unrivalled title of ‘Trisamudreshwar’, which
these Southern Hindu kings proudly took lor themselves.
717. ‘Trisamudreshwar’ emperor Rajendra Chola died in A.D. 1042 and
after one or two powerful kings after him, the Chowl dynasty and the
Chowl empire perished at the end of the 13th century.
Religious Preachers like Shankaracharya and others
718. During these years, South India saw not only the rise of royal heroes
like Rajendra Chowl, but also the glorious heights reached by religious
heroes, the foremost among them being Shreemat Shankaracharya, defeating
the various so-called heretical views that were being advocated throughout
India against the Vedic religion. At Kalindi in Karal, was born this great
personality of Shankaracharya in a Nambudri Brahmin family. Being well-
versed in the Vedic lore and having taken the vow of Sannyas (having
renounced the worldly life) even before the tender age of sixteen, he began
to preach and conquer the heretics in all quarters. Kumarilbhatta, the well-
known exponent of the Karma theory, who successfully refuted the Buddhist
religious opinions, was also preaching throughout the four corners of India
round about this time. Another preacher Diggaja (दिग्गज)—(the elephant
defending the directions)—Mandanmishra, was also the contemporary of
this young Shankaracharya. In order to establish his theory of अद्वैत (the non-
existence of duality between—the unison [unity] of—Jeevatma and
Paramatma) and to hoist the victorious banner of Vedic religion throughout
the whole of India, Shankaracharya went on searching out and completely
defeating in religious debate not only the followers of the absolute theory of
karma, but also the other non-Vedic beliefs and even the renowned leaders
of the Buddhist religion. Finally he paraded the victorious Vedic banner
througout India and established authoritative religious institutions of his

order at four places in the four directions of India: at Shringeri in the south,
at Dwarka to the west, Jagannathpuri in the eastern quarter and at Kashmir
to the farthest north. These religious seats (institutions) received full
Government support so long as Hindu states existed in those various places.
Having accomplished this wonderful work of religious propaganda and
having written the (unparalleled) unrivalled book, ‘Shankarbhashya’, he
entered the cave-took a living samadhi—(ended his life by restraining his
breath).
The Political Activities of the Shaivite sects like the Pashupatas
719. Even before this period was resuscitated, the Shaivite Sect of the
Pashupatas, which being militant like the Shaktas, extremely hated the
meek अहिंसा—‘non-violence’—and renunciation of the worldly life of
the Buddhists and Jains. It fomented and fanned to red heat’, at least
indirectly, among the Hindus, the tendency to oppose the non-Hindu
religious aggressors and a love for war. Shree Lakulesh was their apostle,
who was born in Gujarat and whose great work and Influence made the
Hindus take him for the very incarnation of Lord Har (Shiv), and whom
even Shankaracharya mentions proudly.
Bengal during these years
720. Till 700 to 800 A.D., Bengal was ruled by the Pal kings, the first of
whom was king Gopal. He was a Buddhist. He had from his queen
Deddadevi, a son, named Dharampal, who ruled from 800 to 825 A.D. He
too was a Buddhist and had been married to Ranadevi, the daughter of the
Rashtrakut king Govind, who was most famous in the South. By about A.D.
1095, the Sen dynasty destroyed the Pal kings and founded their own
kingdom. These Sen kings were the Kshatriyas from karnatak in the South,
who had their silent access to the royal circle perhaps through the retinue of
the above-mentioned Rashtrakut princess, Ranadevi. Whatever that is, as
these Sen kings were the staunch followers of the Vedic religion, they
suppressed Buddhism in Bengal and vigorously revived the caste-system,
rendered chaotic by intermingling of different castes during the Buddhist
period as also the Vedic lore and other Vedic religious institutions. The
book on Sanskrit grammar, Mugdhabodh, written by Bopdev was very
popular in Bengal at this time.
The contemporary history of Gujarat
721. The famous King Karnaraj, who built the extensive lake of
Krishnasagar, ruled Gujrath from A.D. 1063 to 1093. The original capital of

his royal family was at Pattan, which he shifted later on to a new place and
named it Karnavati, and it remained the capital of Gujarat even afterwards.
722. But later on, when Gujarat was overcome by the Muslims, Sultan
Ahmedshah, who persecuted the Hindus most cruelly, changed the
historical Hindu name of Karnavati to Ahmedabad in A.D.1412, befitting
the traditional Muslim malignity towards the Hindus, and added to it, a
newly built suburb. And the meek and submissive attitude of the Hindus of
those times has been fondling that name ever since as their own.
The first Invasion of the South by the Foreigners and Non-Hindus
723. Sultan Jalalluddin's nephew, Allauddin crossed the Vindhyas with a
huge army without any permission from his uncle and attacked the south of
India, to loot the fabulous wealth, of which he had so long been receiving
tempting reports. This invasion was so unexpected and the negligence,
conceit and narrow-mindedness of the South Indian Hindu Kings of that
time were so profound and criminal, that perhaps it is after his kingdom was
actually attacked that the king of Devgiri, Maharaja Ramdevrao Yadav,
came to know of it, and being thoroughly unprepared to face it, was utterly
confused.
723A. Is it not really strange that even while the Muslim states were
being founded everywhere in the north of India, while they had been so
very cruelly ravaging the Hindu religion and Hindu states for two or three
centuries, while thousands of Hindu temples were being continuously and
insultingly demolished, while Kashi was almost turned into Mecca, while
Dnyandev, Namdev and other saints and their followers and millions of
travelling Hindu pilgrims were going right up to the Punjab to visit the
holy places and were returning aggrieved at the sad plight of Hindu
religion there, while the Muslims were openly swearing and voicing their
ambition to invade the South and convert it to Islam, the Hindu kings of
the South should be so very careless and negligent, that instead of
collecting their armies and sending them to the north to help the Rajputs
face the Muslim aggression, Ramdevrao's forces under some of his
chieftains, should have gone far to the South, and Ramdevrao himself
should have been wandering most frivolously with his small army, hunting
wild animals away from his capital? But...
724. Let alone Ramdevrao's state of Devgiri, but didn't even a single spy
from the secret intelligence service of the four or five prominent Hindu
states in the south go to the north and observe and inform his king or kings