भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)
Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History by Veer Savarkar
स्वातंत्र्यवीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर द्वारा
much ability and skill, as Allauddin himself. The ageing Allauddin began to
call the slave Maliq-Kafur. Later still, he began to run the whole
administration of the empire with the latter’s advice.
The second Muslim campaign on Ratanbhor
730. It has already been told that Jalalludin was defeated by the Hindus of
Ratanbhor. In order to avenge that defeat, Allauddin marched again for the
second time on the fort of Ratanbhor in A.D. 1301. Even the then Rana
Hameer of Ratanbhor fought to the last, and laid down his life along with
thousands of his soldiers in that furious battle, and on seeing the fall of the
Rajput warriors, hundreds of Rajput ladies including Hameer’s queen
standing on the ramparts of the fort, leapt into the blazing fire according to a
pre-settled plan and burned themselves to death. How often have the Hindu
warriors and their brave wives done such magnificent deeds of valour and
sacrificed their lives! That is the only reason why the Hindu nation could
still remain alive!
Invasions of Chitod Subsequent to the fall of Ratanbhor
731. The most beautiful daughter of the Rajput king of Ceylon, named
Padmini, was married to Rana Bheemsingh of Chitod. According to the
shameless but proud vaunt of the Muslims in general that to kidnap the non-
Muslim beautiful women openly was a Muslim’s religious duty, Allauddin
openly demanded from Rana Bheemsingh his charming queen, and as the
Rajputs spurned it, Allauddin marched on Chitod round about A.D. 1302.
While describing the battles at that time, the Rajput history tells a story how
in order to deceive Allauddin, the Rajputs promised to send Padmini to him
but actually sent armed gallant fighters disguised as women in several
palanquins and successfully executed a daring plan of rescuing the captured
Bheemsingh, but the paucity of space prevents us from narrating it in any
detail. Finding it impossible to crush the mighty Rajput valour even in that
furious battle, Allauddin had to return to Delhi. This incident clearly shows
that Rajputs, too, could resort to cunning.
732. In order to avenge the defeat inflicted by the Rajputs in this battle and
for the sake of Padmini, Allauddin once again invaded Chitod in A.D. 1303,
when once again the brave Rajputs donned the ‘ Kesaria’ (saffron garments)
and fought till the end, slaying hundreds of Muslims, and died to a man.
Seeing the victory smile upon the Muslims and fortune darken upon the
Rajputs, about ten thousand Rajput women, including Rani Padmini, leapt
into the blazing fire with their children at their breasts. Allauddin conquered
Chitod, only to collect the ashes of Padmini! When the Hindu warriors and
Hindu women fought, they fought thus!
733. It must be told here that before the old Allauddin breathed his last, this
defeat of the Hindus was avenged under the very nose of Allauddin in A.D.
1313 by the famous Rajput, Hameer, who conquered Chitod, after inflicting a
crushing defeat upon the Muslims. He even captured a son of Allauddin alive
—but he was not converted to Hinduism. He should have been, at least, to
pay the enemy in its own coin! This is the very same suicidal generosity of
the Hindus.
734. In A.D. 1307, this Maliq Kafur, Allauddin’s famed general, was sent
by the Sultan to invade the South. Ramdevrao was once again defeated, but
he made peace by paying off the accumulated ransom. But during this
turmoil, the runaway Princess Devaldevi of Gujarat, who was married to
Ramdevrao’s son Shankardev, was captured and sent to Delhi by Maliq
Kafur. Soon after in A.D. 1308, he invaded the Deccan for the third time and
defeated in a bloody action Raja Pratapdev of Varangal, the heroic king who
had once vanquished the Muslims. Raja Pratapdev had to swear allegiance to
the Sultanate at Delhi.
735. Flushed at this success, Maliq Kafur marched on the third Hindu State
in the Deccan and defeated the Hoysal king there likewise. Kafur’s victorious
sword then subdued the remaining Hindu kingdom of Madura.
736. Thus, for the first time, during the past two thousand years, practically
the whole of the Deccan passed into foreign and non-Hindu enemy hands!
The independence and prosperity of the Deccan came to an end in this year!
At the Southern-most end of the Deccan, Maliq Kafur built a fine Masjid as
if to commemorate this Muslim conquest of South India. But the Hindu
reaction to it was to precipitate the successful Hindu conspiracies against
Muslim bondage.
737. Ramdevrao’s son, Shankardev, succeeded him to the throne of
Devgiri, and soon repudiated the oath of allegiance to Sultan Allauddin,
whereupon Maliq Kafur swooped down on the Deccan once again.
Shankardev did not surrender till the last and fought furiously till he was
killed.
738. As Allauddin and Maliq Kafur stamped out the Hindu political
power from the Deccan during their frequent invasions, they likewise
crumbled to dust the huge and magnificent Hindu temples of the South, cut
up their golden pinnacles and in majority of the cases, built palatial masjids
on their sites, forced thousands of Hindus to be converted. These
innumerable converted Hindus made big farming and feudal estates in this
Deccan itself. But Hindus, however, did not massacre these Muslims nor
did they destroy them outright as and when they subdued the Muslim
power later on. This is what we call the perversion of the concept of
virtues!
Most often the Hindus used the same War strategy of the Muslims,
according to the Military Science of the time
739. On the religious front, the Hindus were, thus, being vanquished
mostly because of their own foolish religious concepts and traditions, but
on the political front, they were fighting with the Muslims as they ought to
have done! Even after being completely overcome, they rose again and
again and defeated the Muslims! Craftiness and cunning were generally
matched with the same strategic moves by the Hindus!
740. Allauddin surpassed every other Sultan before him in cruelty in the
persecution of the Hindus. He would have reached greater heights in cruelty
in respect of his treatment of the Hindus, had he not been forced to fight on
the other front with the Mongols, who unceasingly hurled their armed might
against the western borders of India and caused a great turmoil throughout
Mongolia and Cenral Asia. A few of them took to Islam and formed a new
Muslim colony in Delhi itself. At last, the enraged Allauddin cut off the
whole of this new Muslim colony to a man!
Death of Allauddin
741. Allauddin was the first and the last Muslim Sultan to rule over
practically the whole of India with the exception of some Hindu states like
those of Chitod and others. Neither Akbar nor even Aurangzeb can take that
place, as their territories never equalled those of Allauddin.
742. But in his old age, Allauddin was surely afflicted by his bodily
diseases, which were the outcome of his physical vices. Naturally, he
became a tool in the hands of Maliq Kafur, and in that miserable state, this
valorous but Hindu-hater Sultan died of dropsy in A.D. 1316 or as it is said,
Maliq Kafur killed him or had him killed. His ‘Allah’ could not bless him
with a happy death because of his virtue of Hindu-hatred! In a few days
Maliq Kafur, a one-time slave of Allauddin, usurped the whole power of
Allauddin, but in the political chaos that ensued after Allauddin, he was
soon killed. In the turbulent days that followed, a certain Khushrukhan of
exceptional abilities, who had been shining in the diplomatic circles at
Delhi, rose to the highest seat of power. From the point of view of the
Hindu nation, his story deserves a separate chapter in the history of India.
❑
Khushrukhan and Devaldevi
743. If the millions of students who are learning history in all the states in
the Indian Union today are asked what they know of Khushrukhan, a unique
unforgettable character, who was acclaimed as the Sultan of Sultans in the
Muslim Sultanate at Delhi, and who was worthy of high praise from the
point of view of the Hindus, it is more likely than not, that at least 93 per
cent of these millions of students will reply with evident surprise,
“Khushrukhan? No, we haven’t come across any major reference to such a
man as you describe!” Let alone the students, but even if you were to ask
the same question to the teachers in general, to the whole editorial staff of
the newspapers in India or even to any educated man or woman, at least 75
per cent of them will very probably reply in the same manner; ‘who is this
Khushrukhan? We have never heard even of his name!’
744. It is for this very reason that we are attempting to give a brief sketch
of his life and work, as far as we can do so with the available evidence. For,
although he is a unique character in the modern Indian history, his name has
been obliterated, as it were, by the Muslim historians and their blind foreign
and Indian, Hindu followers, from the textbooks of history used in schools,
for his sole offence of putting the Muslim Sultanate to shame in order to
avenge the wrongs and insults hurled by them at the Hindu nation.
Wherever he has been mentioned, he has been given the most insulting and
abusive attributes like, ‘low-bred’, ‘depraved’, ‘a knave’, ‘a hell-hound’ by
the Muslim writers.
The early history of Khushrukhan
745. When in the reign of Allauddin, Gujarat had to face the first
onslaught of the Muslims in A.D. 1298 and the governing authority of the
Hindus was much shaken down, in the chaotic conditions then prevailing, a
very tender, attractive but very brilliant Hindu youth had been captured and
made a slave by the Muslim noblemen and was offered into the service of
Allauddin, much the same way and for the same reason as Maliq Kafur was
made a slave. This youth was originally a Hindu, belonging to the
untouchable caste of Paria of Parwar (sweepers) in Gujarat. One or two
Muslim writers deny that he was a Paria (sweeper), but emphatically assert
that he was a Rajput. Alter having been captured and converted to Islam, he
was first called ‘Hasan’. When he was taken in the service of Allauddin at
Delhi, in keeping with the social vice of the Muslims (viz., sodomy;
paragraph 729), the greatest noblemen and generals of the court had
unnatural sexual relations with him, and so they were extremely solicitous
about serving his whims! When after Allauddin’s death in A.D. 1316, Maliq
Kafur became the chief administrator, he also came to have great regard for
his abilities. Very soon, Hasan was given the title of Khushrukhan. For,
even in the days of Allauddin, he was being sent independently on some
small military expeditions in charge of small troops. That Hasan should
become Khushrukhan and then a general in the army so rapidly, bespeaks of
his exceptional qualities. But more than these qualities of his limitless love
that Mubarik, the son of Allauddin, bore towards this charming young man,
was responsible for such a spectacular rise. So after both Allauddin and
Maliq Kafur died or were dispatched as the case may be, Mubarik got the
Sultanate of Delhi mainly with Khushrukhan’s assistance and quite
naturally, all the reins of the government passed easily into the hands of
Khushrukhan, the dearest, ablest and the most trustworthy young nobleman
of Mubarik’s court, and young Khushrukhan, too, proved wholly efficient in
the discharge of his responsible job. Mubarik was vicious and pleasure-
seeking by nature. Therefore, he considered it a godsend gift to have such
an efficient assistant in the person of Khushrukhan to run the whole
administration, and especially, a loyal executive to manage his private
affairs in the harem.
Devaldevi
746. When in the court of Delhi, the attractive Maliq Kafur, who was born
a Hindu but converted by Allauddin to Islam, became later on the
commander-in-chief and an astute politician, practically at the same time,
rose in status another young, handsome, Hindu convert, Khushrukhan, who
after the death of Maliq Kafur, wielded all authority at the court of Delhi. In
a similar way and simultaneously enough, rose a third figure in the political
circles at Delhi, who was equally important, able, and who managed the
affairs of the state only with the twitch of her eyebrows, and her sidelong
glances—I mean the former Hindu princess of Gujarat and the sometime
wife of Shankardev Yadav of Devgiri, namely Devaldevi.
747. Of these three Hindu converts, Maliq Kafur seems later on to have
wholly turned a Muslim even mentally, completely forgetting his Hindu
origin, the Hindu blood running through his veins, his Hindu parentage, let
alone his love for all these! But Khushrukhan and this royal princess of
Gujarat, Devaldevi, seem to have borne in their mind not only the memory,
but a love, a fascination for their Hindu origin, their Hindu blood, and their
essential Hindu make-up—there seems to be rankling in their hearts,
intermittently or continuously, the atrocities inflicted on them by the
Muslims. It seemed to burst out through their actions. At last, it is because
of their irrespressible yearning to avenge the wrongs done to their
‘Hindutwa’ that in Delhi itself, broke out that great conflagration which like
the wild fire of Khandav forest of Mahabharat, reduced to ashes the Muslim
Sultanate which had under its sway practically the whole of India, if only
for a short while!
748. In the very first expedition of Allauddin against Gujarat, after the
Gujarat ruler’s defeat, his crowned queen Kamaldevi fell into the hands of
Allauddin while she was fleeing for safety. But the ruler, however, could
effect his escape along with his princely daughter, Devaldevi, a mere child
then. Used to all sorts of royal comforts and pleasures till the very previous
day as she was, how hard and unbearable might this tender and beautiful
royal princess have found it to undergo all the calamities and privations and
exertions of wandering for days together through forest-after-forest, and
trying to evade the ever present possibility of capture by the pursuing
Muslims, might easily be imagined. In that tender age, hatred for the
Muslims must have been engraved deeply on her bosom, because of other
people’s and her own actual experience. Her very mother, Rani Kamaldevi,
had become the beloved queen of Sultan Allauddin at Delhi, and that very
mother of hers was now out to seize her and make her a Muslim! How
painful must this news have been to her tender heart! In order to evade this
terrible fate, she was married, even a little against her father’s wishes, to
Ramdevrao’s son, Shankardev, the staunch follower of Hinduism. But her
evil star did not leave her alone there. In one of the invasions of Maliq
Kafur against the Hindus, she was caught and carried away to Delhi as a
captive. She must have been smarting with pain and humiliation a hundred
thousand times in that moment of despair! At last, on reaching Delhi, she
was forced to marry Khijrakhan, the eldest son of Allauddin. Some writers
vouch that Devaldevi and Khijrakhan greatly loved each other. But this
seems to be the flattering way of the courtly writers. Her subsequent course
of action makes it abundantly clear! But that shrewd Hindu princess seems
to have affected her love for Islam and for her husband till she got the
desired opportunity.
- It becomes crystal clear from the latter part of her life that after all
the atrocities and persecutions, she was constantly worshipping the Hindu
god. - Even after being forced to marry Allauddin’s eldest son, the mental
agonies of Devaldevi did not cease. For, immediately after Allauddin’s
death, there was a revolution, in which Allauddin’s second son, Mubarik,
attacked and blinded his brother along with his followers and then put them
to death. Installing himself as the Sultan, he seized his brother’s wife,
Devaldevi, and forced her to marry him. - This alone seems to be the civilized and polite tradition of the
Muslim Sultans and Emperors to marry again the fairest of queens and
wives of the late Sultans or Emperors, dead or put to death! - This way did the former Hindu princess, Devaldevi rise to the highest
status of a Sultana! However, she abhorred Mubarik most bitterly, yet she
had, per force, to keep marital relations with him. Although her precious
body was thus continually defiled, she had the most favourite opportunity of
her life owing to this marriage of hers with Mubarik. - In gaining the Sultanate of Delhi, Mubarik had mainly to depend on
the former Hindu slave, who later on was forced to become a Muslim, and
who now had become the commander-in-chief of the whole Sultanate of
Delhi—namely Khushrukhan! Mubarik himself had willingly entrusted the
whole administration to Khushrukhan, for he had no time to mind other
things except every sort of depravity and vice. For instance, he was
extremely fond of dressing like a woman, going to the greatest noblemen of
the court with the whole band of dancing girls, and there dancing himself,
or having dancing and musical concerts there. So, while this licentious
Mubarik was fully engrossed with his various vices, his chief minister of
state, Khushrukhan, who had the burning memory of his former Hindu
wife, and his present wife but the former Hindu princess, Devaldevi, who
had similar thoughts and tendencies and similar mishaps in life as the
former—both being Gujarati Hindus originally—had the greatest
opportunity of coming into closest contact, of developing the strongest
love-ties and the greatest confidence in each other. They could carry on the
day-to-day political intrigues and plans authoritatively and with impunity,
even to the solitude of the innermost secret chambers of the Sultan’s private
palace.
- It has to be taken for granted from the latter course of events, that it
is there, that they must have hatched some important conspiracy for the
benefit of Hinduism. - The first proof that contributes to this assertion is that Khushrukhan
appointed his former Hindu Paria or Parwar brother to the governorship of
Gujarat, his native province. - The second very important pointer: Khushrukhan appointed openly
in Delhi itself, for his own protection, thousands of his former Hindu
warrior compatriots—at least twenty to thirty thousand strong—in the
Muslim army. - The Third Pointer: These manoeuvres of his were highly resented to
by many of the Muslim grandees. But the innormost intention behind them
all was kept so very secret that, it is doubtful, whether, it had by that time,
become so crystal clear to Devaldevi or even to Khushrukhan himself, let
alone the others! Faintly and slowly, yet surely enough, was that intention
taking shape in their minds. - The Fourth Pointer: Khushrukhan incited the most incapable Sultan
like Mubarik to lead an expedition to the South to put down in good time,
the rebellions of the conquered Hindus in the Deccan, and he himself
accompanied him second-in-command. The Hindus were worsted a lot.
Their immeasurable wealth, taken as spoils of war, filled the Sultan’s
treasury. Most probably, it was during this expedition, that after the death of
Shankardev of Devgiri, his relative, King Harpaldev, rebelled and founded
the kingdom of Devgiri once again, for which he was defeated and ordered
by the Sultan to be skinned alive and then put to death! And for the defence
of his religion, the royal Hindu warrior bore it bravely. - Thereafter, Mubarik returned with his army to Delhi. Because of
these deeds of valour of his for the sake of a Muslim Sultan and the Muslim
state, and because of his devastation of the Hindus, his rival Muslim
grandees, too, could not breathe a single word against his unshakable faith
in the Islamic religion. They could at the most, only whisper that there was
danger of his overthrowing Sultan Mubarik and become the Sultan himself
in his stead. But that, he would be a Muslim Sultan and none else, there was
not the least doubt. - But if at this very time that future conspiracy of a Hinduistic
revolution, which was very strange and unheard of before, had germinated
in the minds of Khushrukhan and Devaldevi, it must have been kept highly
secret with utmost caution.
761. Very soon, Mubarik sent Khushrukhan to the Deccan for an extensive
conquest but he himself did not go with him. So complete was his faith in
Khushrukhan! In this expedition, Khushrukhan subdued the King of
Malabar too, and exacted therefrom immeasurable plunder in the name of
Sultan Mubarik!
But
762. But in this very campaign of South India, various open or secret
Hindu conspiracies against the Muslim empire began to brew up from
various quarters of the South Indian peninsula. The royal Hindu families of
Varangal and Gujrath, the valiant Rana Hameer, the redeemer of Chitod,
and other Hindu Chiefs, the religious leaders and propagandists in the
various religious institutions and monasteries like those of the
Shankaracharya and even the common people were becoming restless and
agitated with a common antagonism to the Muslim domination. And
anonymous complaints by Khushrukhan’s enemies had reached the ears of
the Sultan of Delhi to the effect that Khushrukhan was in some mysterious
way and most secretly connected with this universal discontent!
763. So, scanty and self-contradictory bits of information are available in
the writings of the contemporary Muslim writers about this Khushrukhan,
the conqueror of Malabar, and the whole of the Muslim empire, that we
have to correlate them into some sort of consistent account, only as far as it
is possible from the later happenings! Once in the open court of the Sultan
at Delhi there was a rumour, which apprehended that instead of coming
back to Delhi amongst the ring of his adversaries, Khushrukhan was about
to escape to some neighbouring foreign island by sea with the immense
wealth he had amassed in the South. One Muslim writer has gone to the
length of saying that Khushrukhan was brought back to Delhi in fetters!
764. With an exceptional daring and ability to cut off the strings of the net
of inimical conspiracies with one stroke, Khushrukhan at once declared his
intention to go back to Delhi in the grand manner of the conqueror of the
South with all his army. For, his secret accomplice, the former Hindu
princess but now the Muslim empress, Devaldevi, must have been keeping
him posted with every detail of the daily happenings at Delhi!
765. From the few English translations of the Muslim books of the time
that are now available, even those who do not know either Persian or
Arabic can have some information. Most of the Muslim writers mention
Khushrukhan with utmost scorn and finish him within four or five lines
only. The reason is plain enough. The Muslim historians can never bear
with equanimity Khushrukhan’s taking the conceit out of the Muslim rule at
Delhi. Even these Muslim historians have found it at places improper to
distort and garble up the truth about Khushrukhan or to suppress it
altogether. Their manuscripts, especially the recently published ones, prove
very useful in this respect. Even the account by the recent Hindu historians,
who based their conclusions on the above mentioned old Muslim books, is
to that extent useless. The Hindu writers have done nothing more than
merely repeating the obloquies like ‘mean-minded’, ‘shameless’,
‘dastardly’, hurled at him by the Muslim writers. But there are two
honourable exceptions to this general tendency: one is that of the veteran
historian Riasatkar Sardesai and the other of Shree Munshi. These two
historians, however, have given a comparative account of Khushrukhan and
Devaldevi, too, and have attempted to appraise, though very faintly and
cursorily, the great revolution they had finally effected to etablish a Hindu
empire. But theirs is a half-hearted attempt, which fears its own
conclusions, and which could never fully grasp nor could explain the real
implications and nature of that unprecedented revolution. A contemporary
Hindu writer, who could elucidate the Hindu side of this great event is,
obviously enough, not to be found! For, no Hindu of the time could have
been dared to express his own independent opinions or judgement.
766. Under these circumstances, it is only possible to give in the form of a
connected narrative, the obvious conclusion that can be drawn from what
little consistency can be found in the disconnected reports in the above-
mentioned original Muslim writings, and the actual undisputed acts of the
leading personalities like Khushrukhan, Devaldevi and others.
767. As already told above, Khushrukhan went to Delhi with his
victorious army and the immense spoils he had gathered in the Deccan, But
why did he go there? Not only in Delhi but even in the Deccan a political
rumour was secretly disseminated amongst the Hindu political circles that
the Hindu leaders, who were organizing Hindu revolts in the south against
the Muslims, were in collusion with Khushrukhan about some deep-laid
conspiracy to disrupt the Muslim empire. In Gujarat, Khushrukhan’s brother
himself was the de facto ruler, while all the Rajputs were inspired by Rana
Hameer to overthrow the India-wide unitary Muslim empire, the first of its
kind, at least till that day. And most wonderful of all, was the fact that
Sultan Mubarik's supreme commander and chief administrator,
Khushrukhan himself, working as he was directly under Sultana
Devaldevi's confidential orders, was taken in confidence by the Rajput
leaders in respect of this daring plot to establish a Hindu empire! Such a
rare concurrence of opposing forces is bound to astound history itself!
Stand to reason, it never can, till at least something miraculous happens.
768. But something of the kind did begin to shape itself at the time. In the
fiery brains of Sultana Devaldevi and Khushrukhan, there really was
seething some such extraordinarily magnificent and by its very nature
almost an incredible idea or plan, which seemed possible only to some
mysterious intrigue and daring of a Nurshinh!
769. But neither their enemies nor their friends could breathe it openly!
For with what magic wand was this supreme commander of Mubarik—the
commander, who had brought all the Hindu states in the Deccan to meek
submission before the Muslim Sultan-who had very recently devastated the
wealthy Hindu kingdom of Malabar and hoisted there the green Muslim flag
of the Delhi Sultanate—and who, above all, had come to Delhi to lay down
all that success, all that glory, as an humble homage at the feet of the
Muslim emperor—how was he, the sole supporter of the India-wide foreign
and non-Hindu empire—he, who, born though he was as a Hindu, had
become converted to Islam—how was a man of such a status likely to
transform so suddenly the whole Muslim empire into a Hindu one? No
staunch Muslim could even dare express it openly. Khushrukhan and
Devaldevi had been keeping up till the last, the pretence of their being
diehard Muslims and of their greatest loyalty to the Muslim Sultan and his
empire so scrupulously and thoroughly, that even their direst enemies who
had dark suspicions of their having underground connections with the
Hindu rulers, feared that were they personally to charge Khushrukhan
before the Sultan in Delhi or in the open court, the Sultan would point out
proofs to the contrary and outwit them forthwith. Even the top-level
Muslim officials feared this eventuality. Whatever complaints had reached
the general populace of Delhi of the ears of the Sultan himself were so
baseless and completely anonymous, that nobody credited them with any
more veracity or seriousness than they would do hearsay report or false
accusations by some mischief-mongers!
- As soon as he came to Dehli, Sultan Mubrarik did not put him under
heavy fetters and custody, as his Muslim enemies had expected, but being
extremely pleased with the immense treasure Khushrukhan had laid at his
feet and the unlimited power he had gained for the Delhi Sultanate,
Mubarik, on the contrary, conferred upon Khushrukhan the administrative,
military, civic and all other residual authority. And if he had put anybody
under arrest, it was the great Muslim noblemen and Khankhanas of the
court, who were dismissed for charging Khushrukhan unreservedly.
770A. On the other hand, in the regime of Khushrukhan as the chief
administrator, the strictest bans against the Hindu introduced by Allauddin
in former days were now being gradually relaxed; the exploitation of the
Hindu-Muslim farmers, and the people in general, also was stopped; the
Hindus, too, got much relief in matters religious; the common discontent
amongst the subjects against the tyrannical rule of the emperors was on the
wane. And the whole credit of this comparatively happy state of things
began to go very naturally to Khushrukhan, who was the chief of the
imperial administration at that time. Gradually, by Sultan, the common
people came to understand, not the vicious and good-for-nothing Mubarik,
but his all-in-all, valiant and popular administrator, Khushrukhan, and
behind him loomed the Sultana, Devaldevi, with whose internal and open
support he could wield this authority. - The Hindu began to look upon Khushrukhan as their saviour; even
though he was still a Muslim, because he had set them free to a great extent
from the vexatious taxes and restrictions imposed on them by Allauddin and
the untold humiliation they had to undergo. Khushrukhan began to be
popular amongst the Muslim farmers and other citizens, because of the
relief they got from heavy taxes. And, above everything else, because of his
military exploits, which had resounded throughout the whole of India and
his superb adroitness in statecraft, many of the high-ranking Muslim
noblemen had enlisted themselves on his side. - Seeing such a favourable opportunity, Khushrukhan and Devaldevi
thought the right moment had come for them to proclaim boldly their grand
scheme of a politicial revolution—for one who hesitates to undertake this
hazard under favourable circumstances must be a coward, who would
accomplish no daring feat! It was not merely a coup d'etat in a small state;
it was an imperial revolution, which sought to subvert the India-wide
unitary and danger-free Muslim empire of the late Allauddin and of the
present Mubarik, and to establish in its place overnight, most unexpectedly,
a Hindu empire all over India. It was a religious revolution inasmuch as it
sought to pull down the enthroned Muslim religion and to supplant it by the
Hindu
Vedic religion.
773. That such a perfect revolution was most difficult—almost impossible
—to be accomplished, even if Hindu-Muslim wars were to be fought
continuously for five hundred years, was quite plain from the Arab
invasions of Sindh in the seventh century and the later history of Muslim
invasions, till the time of Allauddin. But such a complete revolution was in
fact brought about by the exceptional genius of Khushrukhan and
Devaldevi, even if it was only for a short while!
774. Had not the Muslim Sultanate conquered the Hindus completely by
hard fighting for centuries together and turned their country wholly
Muslim? Then if Khushrukhan were able to wrench the imperial authority
from the single Sultan and if he were to ascend the throne of the Delhi
Sultanate in the name of Hinduism, then the whole of the empire would
necessarily be a ‘Hindu’ one, with one stroke! Then the Muslim Sultan
would necessarily become a Hindu emperor. This feat was as daring in
planning as it was easy in execution under those circumstances! It was quite
possible too. It is this magic wand that Devaldevi, originally a Hindu
princess, and Khushrukhan, the original Hindu Paria youth wielded, which
worked as an unparalleled miracle not only in Indian but in the whole
human history!
775. Having arranged every minute detail of the future revolution most
secretly, Khushrukhan humbly requested Sultan Mubarik, who had
willingly allowed himself to be governed completely by the former: “The
thousands of Hindus of my caste whom I have stationed in Delhi want to be
converted to Islam with proper religious ceremony; but they are fighting shy
of doing so openly in the city. Some of them are really afraid to do so.
Hence, I wish to bring the choicest amongst them into the palace today and
convert them in due course.” Under this pretext, Khushrukhan brought the
hundreds of his bravest Hindu warriors in Delhi into the palace and housed
them in the barracks for the imperial guards. One day in A.D. 1319, at the
dead of night, suddenly there was a great turmoil in the palace in the midst
of which Sultan Mubarik was killed.
- But many had been the tumults and turmoils, causing change of
rulers before this. Sultan Allauddin himself, was similarly dispatched.
Sultan Mubarik had dealt with Maliq Kafur in this very way. The city of
Delhi, which was quite used to such turmoils, began to whisper the next
morning: “What terrible things happened in the palace last night?” - Within a very short time, only a single proclamation of a political
nature gave a violent shock, as that of an earthquake, to the whole capital
and brought to it the rude realization that the previous night Khushrukhan’s
people had effected at one and the same time, an imperial and religious
revolution by putting Sultan Mubarik to death, and it was immediately
followed by another that Khushrukhan had installed himself as a Sultan! - However, there was nowhere to be seen any immediate, open and
organized opposition amongst the people to this unprecedented revolution.
The fact that the new Sultan Khushrukhan married Sultana Devaldevi, the
queen of Mubarik, as soon as the latter was killed, stirred the revolutionary
curiosity of the people but did not overawe them!
For, that was the age-old tradition of the earlier Sultans! Kutubuddin’s
widows were married to the latter Sultans who succeeded him, while
Allauddin’s and his son’s, Khijrakhan’s widow, this very Devaldevi, was
espoused by Mubarik himself. Quite consistent with this time-honoured
tradition was this act of Khushrukhan of marrying Devaldevi, the widow of
the late Sultan Mubarik, with whom he had established very close contacts
much earlier and who was really his partner and perhaps a source of
inspiration! Why should it not then seem quite natural to everybody in the
state?
But...! - But more startling than this was another proclamation made
authoritatively and with every political formality by Khushrukhan and
Devaldevi, which suddenly turned this political revolution in the royal
palace into a religious one of a unique nature. Everybody in India right
from the Kings and Nawabs to the Parias and Parwars, Mahars and Mangs
was thrilled with a strange sensation at this unique proclamation! The
Hindus were thrilled with unlimited joy while the Muslims were filled with
the darkest apprehensions. The said proclamation made by Sultan
Khushrukhan himself from his throne on the 15th April, 1320 meant to say: - “Although till today I was forced to lead the most detestable life of a
convert to Islam, I am originally a son of a Hindu. The mainspring of my
life is Hinduism and the blood that throbs into my veins and arteries is that
of a Hindu. Now that I have won independent and powerful status of a
Sultan for myself, I am hereby breaking off the shackles of conversion to a
foreign religion, and I do hereby declare that I am a Hindu! I have now
ascended publicly the throne of the vast and entire, undivided India as a
Hindu Emperor! Similarly, Sultana Devaldevi till very recently was
originaly a Hindu daughter. Her husband, the Raja of Devgiri, Shankardev
Yadav, was most brutally murdered and she was treacherously captured
from her father sneaking miserably through dense forest to avoid seizure by
the enemy. She was brought to Delhi and put to shame and ignominous
disgrace by being forced to marry Khijrakhan, in the first place, and
secondly after his brutal murder, Sultan Mubarik, who was killed in the
coup d'etat last night. That Devaldevi is my queen, the empress of
Hindusthan of today! Being originally Hindu in flesh and blood and a
Hindu royal princess, she also hereafter renounces disdainfully her
shameful conversion to Islam and henceforth will lead her life strictly
according to Hindu religion! May this solemn vow of ours absolve us both
of our former sin of forceful conversion!”
781. To refute or to challenge a proclamation of this nature came forth no
stronger Hindu, nor even a single Muslim!
782. Hence, hereafter, we are going to address Sultan Khushrukhan as a
Hindu Emperor and Devaldevi as a Hindu Empress!
783. This Hindu Emperor did not, however, disclose his original Hindu
name of his young years! Most probably, he had no recollection of it
whatsoever; today it is eternally lost. The imperial title that he adopted for
himself was also a Muslim one, viz., Nasir-ud-din! The reason for this,
perhaps, was that the whole of the Muslim world and even the millions of
Hindus who were used to Muslim titles for generations together, might not
be scandalized in respect of these minor details also. Nasir-ud-din, roughly
speaking, means a sort of a defender of faith or religion! Hence, this Hindu
Emperor made it clear in the said proclamation that ‘Din’ or religion that he
was going to defend was not Islam! Naturally, it must be the Hindu
religion! It is, therefore, proper that his name Nasir-ud-din should be
translated as the Defender of Hindu Religion—Hindu dharmarakshak!
The Unprecedented Revolution!
784. As soon as this unheard of revolution, transforming the India-wide
Muslim Empire into the Hindu one, suddenly within a day, was
accomplished, this Hindu Emperor disbursed amongst the thousands of
soldiers of his caste, the immense wealth, which he had pillaged in his
conquest of Malabar by vanquishing the Hindu states and which had filled
the coffers of the late Sultan Mubarik, along with the unlimited wealth
accumulated during the regimes of the former Sultans. Similarly, he
increased the pay-scale of both the Hindu and Muslim soldiers. Having won
over his soldiery in this way, he introduced new reforms, gave to the
farmers and common Hindu-Muslim citizens facilities, and allowed them
concessions they were never allowed to enjoy by any of the former Sultans!
Likewise, he set free thousands of Hindu prisoners who were interned as a
diversion in religious persecution and the hundreds of Muslims, who were
imprisoned simply because they were repugnant to the former Sultans for
one reason or another. No wonder if this Hindu Emperor, Dharmarakshak,
immediately became popular amongst the Hindus as well as the Muslims
throughout his empire!
785. It is needless to say that he also absolved all the Hindus of all the
humiliating bans on their pilgrimages and holy baths. The Jizia tax was
repealed and other degrading conditions that had been enforced upon them
by Sultan after Sultan were ameliorated forthwith. What wonder then if the
whole Hindu world felt a thrill of joy and freedom that at long last, they had
a saviour!
786. Even when this Hindu Samrat was fighting in the guise of a
converted Muslim, victoriously in the South and reducing Malabar, he had
been formulating the scheme of the future revolution. So, all the big Hindu-
Muslim officers and generals in the fighting forces, who depended on his
patronage and who had risen mainly because of his support, of course,
remained loyal to him for safeguarding their own selfish interests and also
for protecting themselves from the malice and enmity of the old Muslim
Khans, Nizams, and other co-religionists of theirs. For, as a natural
consequence of intermingling of the two religious communities, Muslims
serving in the armies of many Hindu States had come to form a habit of
rendering loyal service to their Hindu masters! The political service of a
Hindu King was taboo formerly when the Muslims first came to India, but
by this time, the taboo had lost its intensity and in its stead such a loyal
service rendered to a Hindu master came to be considered quite in
conformity with the Muslim religious code! Many incidents illustrating this
point have already occurred so far, and will occur in the following pages
too. Although acceptance of any high office under a Hindu ruler was no
more considered contrary to the Muslim religious law, the staunch
moulanas and moulavis, however, looked upon such acts as necessary
exceptions and bore a secret grudge in their hearts that they were time
bombs laid under the Muslim political power! Never from the very
beginning, did the Hindus consider it contrary to their religious code to fight
in the Muslim army on the side of the Muslims! It was only the exchange of
food and women in marriage with the Muslims which endangered the
sanctity of their religion! How foolish and suicidal to think so!
786A. This Hindu Emperor did not rest with the mere declaration of his
adherence to Hinduism, but he fearlessly began to bring it into action in the
presence of the Muslims. Idols of Hindu gods and goddesses were
immediately installed in the holiest of places of Muslim civilization, the
Diwan-i-Aam and Diwan-i-Khas in the royal palaces of Delhi. All the
worships and all the religious rites in royal palaces began to be performed
according to the Hindu ritual. Loud chanting of Hindu mantras and singing
of Hindu devotional songs took the place of the ‘Ayats’ in the Koran! This
Hindu Emperor himself and the hundreds amongst his old Hindu battalions,
who had remained Hindus from the beginning and who were guarding the
royal palace, paid scrupulous attention to the protection and proper worship
of these new idols of Hindu gods and goddesses. The enthusiasm and
vigour of the Hindu citizens and especially of the Hindu soldiers in the
capital knew no bounds! Just as formerly the aggressive Muslims
completely demolished the godly idols in the Hindu temples and turned
them into Muslim masjids immediately after they conquered any Hindu
capital, so did these counter-revolutionary Hindus install new images of
their gods in every masjid as a retaliatory measure, and most ceremoniously
converted the masjids into Hindu temples and filled them with loud
chanting of mantras. It is only by this counter-attack of the Hindu Parias
that the fanatic Muslims could ever have had any idea of the pangs of
humiliation and grief that might have rankled in the hearts of the Hindu
community, which had grown feeble because of their malady of religious
tolerance, when the Muslims polluted the Hindu temples by cow-slaughter
and turned them into masjids.
787. It might be true that in the heat and excitement of this unheard of and
unprecedented religious revolution, the Muslim scriptures, some Muslim
writers charge, might have been exposed to ridicule or shame. But at least
the Muslims, who considered to be Gazis, those scoundrels, who destroyed
the whole university of Nalanda in flames and sat warming themselves at
that bonfire and laughed scornfully and shamelessly as the valuable
religious books of the Hindus were being reduced to ashes, had no moral
right whatsoever to blame this incendiarism against the Muslim religion!
787A. This Hindu Samrat converted with their willing consent the young
wives, daughters and nieces of the earlier Sultans and other Muslim women
to Hinduism and married them to his Hindu Paria followers.
788-789. But more than this, this Hindu Dharmarakshak did not do!
Even the Muslim historians do not mention any atrocities or religious
persecution or plunder as having been committed by this Hindu Emperor as
the Muslim aggressors were wont to do after overpowering any Hindu
State. As against the wholesale forcible conversion of the Hindus, the brutal
ravaging of Hindu women, the reckless destruction of Hindu property and
temples, the Muslim historians have no grievous crime to attribute (impute)
to this Hindu Emperor! Even if he had committed the very same atrocities
on the Muslim community as a revenge against the Muslim diabolism
towards the hapless Hindus, it would have been not a bit derogatory, but all
the more glorious for this revolutionary Hindu Emperor! The non-Hindu
aggressors would have taken the fright of their lives as never before, and it
would have proved a deterrent to their perfidious activities! We have
already made it amply clear that it is only the fierce retaliation that destroys
atrocity, root and branch!
790. But the main reason why this Defender of Faith (Dharamarakshak
Nasir-ud-din) did not commit any such revengeful atrocities on the Muslims
must probably be his keen sense of the strength and weakness of his side.
Were the whole of the Hindu community in the Indian sub-continent and the
ruling Hindu kings of the time to lend him their immediate and active
support—had his example in Delhi of reconverting to Hinduism the
converted Muslims at their own free will, of turning masjids into Hindu
temples and of other revolutionary activities of his, been copied in various
towns and cities of India from Rajputana to Southern capitals—and had the
Hindus risen openly against the Muslims and if the proclamation of the
success of Hinduism were published openly, this Hindu Emperor would
have persecuted the Muslims as were the Hindus actually before them and
would have also launched a special military offensive against the Muslims
and would have made it impossible for them to live as Muslims!