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

despising this religious revolution of the Hindus and the Hindu Empire, as
often as he sent them to those Muslim officers, who were loyal to him and
with a extremely polite treatment, kept them under his obligation.
794. It is because of this exceptional skill of his at diplomacy that even
after the successful realization of this religio-political revolution of the
Hindus, immediately or for months together thereafter, there was not a
single Muslim revolt—no riots nor brawls—throughout the length and
breadth of his vast empire. His whole administration was working as
smoothly as it did in the days of the old Muslim Sultans. Revenues, taxes or
ransoms were collected from all provinces and remitted to the imperial
treasury at Delhi without any default. In Delhi itself, the greatest of Muslim
knights and feudatory princes, generals and sardars and other courtiers and
officers attended the imperial court on the orders of this Hindu
Dharmarakshak and took their appointed seats. Of the great Muslim
noblemen reported by the historians of the time to be attending the court of
this Hindu emperor, Nasir-ud-din, some may be mentioned here: they were
Ain-ul-Mulk Multani, Yusuf Safi, Hatim Khan, Kamaluddin Sufi, Faruk-did
an-Tughlak, Mulgati, Mohammed Shah, Baharam Anayya, Yuklakhi,
Hoshang, Kaphur Saheb. Because of the presence of these big shots in the
Hindu court of Nasir-ud-din and because of written letters promising
allegiance to the emperor from governors, and administrators and Muslim
officers in the army, peace throughout the whole of India was never broken
for months together.
795. On the other hand, the Hindu kings from Rajputana to Madurai did
not protest, perhaps according to some previous secret pact, against the
revolution effected by this Hindu emperor. Why, availing themselves fully
of this military coup in Delhi, they began to rule the Hindu States
independently as before. Their chief fault was that at this greatest and rarest
of opportunities, they did not make a well-organized effort to proclaim the
independence of the Hindus and establish a united strong central imperial
power at Delhi.
796. Under the circumstances, the shrewd ‘Dharmarakshak’ (Nasir-ud-
din) well knew that although at first his Hindu administration was running
smoothly, his revolutionary Hindu empire depended on no other thing than
his armed might. He, therefore, kept the thousands of his choicest of Hindu
soldiers stationed in the capital in all readiness! At every vital centre of
defence in his empire, he drafted his most faithful Hindu battalions and also

the Muslim troops, which had sworn loyalty towards him. For, he knew
perfectly well that although the Muslims everywhere in his empire obeyed
him implicitly and swore alligance to him, sooner or later some rebellious
faction amongst them was bound to organize itself and stage a counter-
revolution against his pro-Hindu authority!
797. Want of space obliges us to skip over many intervening events.
Suffice it to say that the imperial administration, which nobody could have
expected to work smoothly even for a day, ran most efficiently, not for a
day, nor a month, but for nearly a year, overthrowing the Muslim
domination and turning the very same Muslim ‘Takhta’ (throne) which
means a ‘Sinhasan’ of a Hindu emperor, and replacing the green Muslim
Chand, which had been flaunting almost over the whole of India by the
victorious Hindu flag. Millions of Muslims, rich or poor, liege or serf,
throughout the whole of India, accepted without a murmur the overlordship
(sovereignty) of the Hindu empire. For, at least a year, the great Muslim
governors and officers obeyed implicitly the orders of this Hindu emperor
and made the common Muslim community do likewise. This itself was a
great wonder that glorifies the Hindu history of the times.
798. And another equally great wonder, which condemns the Hindus of
the time and those of later times also, is that in the histories written of the
Hindu people and by the Hindu people no major reference, let alone
grateful reference is made either to this Hindu imperial and religious
revolution and to its architect and engineer Dharmarakshak, (Nasir-ud-din)!
Whatever few words are written about him are full of censure and ridicule
for him and for his acts, in strict pursuance of the Muslim historical
writings!
Ghyasuddin Tughlak
799. But before this year of amazement elapsed, one or two top-ranking
Muslims ventured to hatch a conspiracy to overthrow the yoke of this
Hindu Emperor. Secret provocative pamphlets were being circulated and
bigoted moulavis were already instigating sedition secretly in their masjids,
that it was a grave insult to the whole Muslim world that the Muslim
imperial throne should be turned into a Hindu one, and that the Muslims
should be forced to bow down meekly before a ‘kafir’, and finally, that it
was highly essential for the Muslims to go on a crusade against the Hindu
sovereignty in order to end the utter degradation of Islam. But no Muslim
‘amir’, nor military chief, nor any superior officer offered to lead the

insurrection. Ultimately, the administrator and governor of Punjab under the
Sultan of Delhi, by name Ghyasuddin, aspired to shoulder that
responsibility. He began sending secret emissaries and epistles to that effect
to various higher Muslim authorities under Sultan Nasir-ud-din.
Ghyasuddin himself had sworn allegiance to the Sultan and was appointed
military Governor of Punjab, while one of his sons was an officer at Delhi
itself under the direct control of this ‘Hinduised Sultan’. Ghyasuddin called
this son of his for a private visit under some pretext, and gathered every sort
of minute detail about the situation in Delhi in his private interview with
that son. Whereupon he came to know for certain that after the murder of
Allauddin, his sons and relatives were either killed or deprived of their
eyesight and thus rendered useless. When he was thus satisfied that there
was no proper heir of Allauddin’s for the Sultanate at Delhi, he was all the
more elated to declare boldly, that as there was no proper heir left from the
house of Allauddin’s, it was only some powerful Muslim who could lay
claim to the throne at Delhi. That kafir Hindu Paria was not to be suffered to
touch it even. That kafir had married all the widows of all the earlier sultans
and the young Muslim girls and maidens from the royal palace to the Parias
(sweepers), whom he had formerly raised to eminence, and converted all
those ladies of the Muslim royal families to Hinduism. As no Muslim dared
to dethrone such a sinful Hindu kafir, he himself was going to shoulder the
responsibility.
800. For the first time, these secret letters of his were turned down with
spite by the top Muslim officers, while some others placed them into the
hands of Dharmarakshak Nasir-ud-din himself, who having already
apprehended such an eventuality and undaunted by it, calmly prepared
himself to crush this rising of Ghyasuddin immediately. Good many
Muslim generals, who had acknowledged him as a Sultan, enlisted their
forces in his service while the Hindu section of that imperial army was
always ready to fight at the cost of their lives under his standard.
801. At last, depending chiefly on the Muslim battalions, which were
employed under his command for the protection of Punjab and the frontiers,
Ghyasuddin decided to march upon Delhi. Some Hindu soldiers, too, were
amongst those advancing Muslim forces. No sooner did he hear that
Ghyasuddin was marching towards Delhi than the Hindu Emperor—
Dharmarakshak Nasir-ud-din himself—attacked him with his whole
imperial army. Along with this Hindu Emperor, marched the great Muslim

generals, too, with their battalions to fight under his command. When the
two armies met on the first day, the imperial army of Sultan Nasir-ud-din
won the field, and Ghyasuddin had to retreat. But the latter did not lose
heart. Knowing that depression of heart at this time meant utter ruin, and
that success depended briefly on enterprise and intrepidity, Ghyasuddin
rearranged his ranks and made ready for another battle. Fortunately for
Ghyasuddin, on that very day, one or two Muslim chieftains in the Sultan's
armies conspired to betray the Hindu Emperor Nasir-ud-din and let the
former know of their decision most secretly. Encouraged by this,
Ghyasuddin himself fell upon the forces of Sultan Nasir-ud-din (Hindu
Samrat, Shree Dharmarakshak). In the melee that ensued, the betrayal by
the Muslim forces brought about the utter defeat of Sultan Nasir-ud-din. So
the Sultan—Shree Dharmarakshak—left the field and started for Delhi. But
mad with victory, Ghyasuddin marched straight towards Delhi, and in that
hot pursuit, Shree Dharmarakhak—Sultan Nasir-ud-din-—fell helpless in
the hands of the enemy.
802. When the victor, Ghyasuddin, ordered the captive Sultan, Nasir-ud-
din, to be brought before him and charging him with the murder of Mubarik
and decided to sentence him to death, he asked the captive the last question:
“Setting aside the question of political expediency or the bid for the throne
of the Sultan and considering only the personal aspect of this act of yours,
what personal wrong did Mubarik do to you, that you might seek to avenge
it by his death? To this, the captive Nasir-ud-din (Khushrukhan) replied to
this effect: “Of course! He was guilty of a such personal wrong to me! For
the most heinous crime of inflicting homosexual and other unbearable
atrocities that this mean and vicious Mubarik had perpetrated on my body
ever since my tender age and for the humiliation that he had heaped upon
my life. I had long vowed most solemnly that at the earliest opportunity, I
would avenge all those personal wrongs upon that villain with murder!”
803. Thereupon, Ghyasuddin dispatched him instantaneously.
804. That was the tragic end of Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din). But
the last of the accredited Hindu Emperor of Delhi, the valiant Prithviraj
Chouhan, was also equally tragically murdered by the Muslims after his
utter rout in the last battle!
805. And the dountless Shree Guru Banda of Punjab! After inflicting
several crushing defeats upon the Muslims, when at last he fell into the
hands of the Muslim monarch, was he not locked up in a cage like a wild

beast? Didn’t red-hot iron pikes and pincers pierce his body and pull out
large pieces of his flesh and was he not after so much torture, put to cruel
death by the Muslims?
806. But is any thoroughbread Hindu likely to forget the gratitude that we
all owe to those various Hindu gallant warriors for their glorious martyrdom
in the cause of Hinduism, simply because they were defeated in the end? It
is this grateful memory of such martyrs that becomes the perennial source
of inspiration for the nation for ages after ages!
807. O You! Hindu Samrat ‘Shree Dharmarakshak! This martyrdom of
yours, too, has become a freshwater spring of inspiration for the Hindu
nation! It is to atone for the sin of failing to utter a single grateful word for
you, to preserve some souvenir, some memento of yours, that the Hindus of
your own times or those of the later generations have committed, and it is
again in expiation of the sin of our Hindu ingratitude towards you, that we
have most reverently offered you this separate chapter in this book.
808. Had you but chosen to remain a Muslim Sultan, you could easily
have perpetuated the Sultanate of the whole of India down to your
descendants, generations after generations, as it happened in the case of the
Khiljee or Slave dynasties after Allauddin or Ghyasuddin. But with glowing
respect and pride for the Hindu religion and the Hindu nation, you purified
the very Muslim Title of Sultan, turned the Muslim, ‘Takhta’ into a Hindu
‘Sinhasan’, and slighting the Muslim Sultanate, proclaimed yourself Hindu
Samrat (Emperor)!
809. After Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan, it was you alone who made a
gallant bid to occupy the imperial throne of Delhi as a Hindu Emperor! In
spite of your birth in an humble and miserable Hindu family; in spite of
your being defiled and converted to Islam and made an abject slave by your
Muslim enemies at your tender age, you became the Sultan of Sultans by
the dint of your valour, your versatility, your military exploits, your arch-
diplomacy and your adroitness in engineering deep-laid plots, and made the
whole of India resound with the glory of Hinduism! We have done our duty
to relate with proofs, your (in a way) peculiar life to the Hindu Nation and
the world at large, so far as it is possible for us to do so.
The Peculiar Character of this Hindu Revolution!
810. Although in this millenial Hindu-Muslim war, the Hindu Nation had
been fighting on the political and military fronts more or less on equal
grounds, using effective counter-offensive and tactics and ultimately

overpowering the Muslim sovereignty, it was incessantly overwhelmed on
the religious front, because of their own hateful bans on re-conversion and
the like—fetters, which prevented the Hindus from opening any counter-
offensive on the Muslim religion as such! But, this Hindu Emperor, Shree
Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din), successfully launched a counter-attack upon
the Muslims, both on political and military as well as on the religious
fronts, using the same means and weapons. To counter-balance the forceful
conversion of the Hindus by the Muslims, Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-
din) brought about hundreds of Muslim reconversions to Hinduism and
their republication ceremonies under the protection of his armed might.
Just as the Muslim used to rush headlong to ravage and convert the Hindu
women to Islam, in the same way, the Hindus broke into the harems of the
Muslim Sultan and converted the willing Mohamedan women to Hinduism
and married them to their Hindu followers. If the Muslims demolished the
Hindu temples, Shree Dharmarakshak, in the excitement of this victory,
turned the very Muslim Masjids into Hindu temples. It was this
Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) who, for the first time in Hindu history,
showed so very successfully and on such a large scale, how the Muslim
armed aggression upon Hinduism and the religious persecution that they
perpetrated before and after, could be retaliated and how the Muslims could
be routed completely on the religious front too. If from the beginning, the
Muslims had to face such bold opposition and been forced to suffer such
powerful counterstrokes on the religious front, they would never have dared
to strike, in spite of all their military might at Hinduism. This first blow,
which the Hindus delivered to Islam in Delhi, shook the Muslims so very
severely! And this is the peculiar character of this Hinduistic revolution
brought about by Shree Dharmarakshak (Khushrukhan Nasir-ud-din).
811. We have intentionally called this account of Khushrukhan's life and
achievements as based on proofs! Although, as we have pointed out in
Paragraph 744, nobody barring some honourable exception, has written any
good word about you, O Khushrukhan, the very inconsistent and confused
and oblique reference to you, tell a story which is all the more glorious for
you! As such, although your life and career as painted by us too has so far
not any ‘written’ or ‘oral’ ‘basis’ or any strong proofs, even then there is
another equally strong and unimpeachable legal evidence, which, at times,
sets aside even written or oral ones, in such historical and judicial matters
of daily occurrence. That evidence is called circumstantial evidence!

The Authority of Circumstantial Evidence
812. In the science of logic the authority of circumstantial evidence is
considered, at least in certain cases, to be the better mode of reasoning than
inference, the word of the elders, or illustration. Especially, when the
intentions and feelings or emotions of the engineers of deep-laid political
conspiracies and plots are to be ascertained, circumstantial evidence is
considered to be the only strong basis for it and it should be thought so, and
rightly too! The written confession of the accused under their own signature
can be refuted by the circumstantial evidence of bodily persecution and
torture; so does written evidence!
813. Your life, O Dharmarakshak, therefore, has been based more on the
strictly logical circumstantial evidence than on your own words or the
writings of your contemporary and later day historians, hence it is based on
solid proof. Even if your words are not available, your very act and deeds
are in themselves far more telling.
814. The brother of this Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) was himself
a very great warrior and an able administrator. The original Hindu name of
this brother of Shree Dharmarakshak is also not known as yet, for in his
very early childhood, he too was converted and made a slave. When this
Hindu Emperor appointed him the Governor of Gujarat, he openly accepted
Hinduism and canvassed for it. In order to overthrow the Muslim
government in Gujarat, he raised a Hindu revolt and sent twenty to
twentyfive thousand brave warriors of his parwar (community) to help his
brother at Delhi. What ultimately became of them all is not known to
history. He too deserves place of honour in Hindu history.
815. And on the same basis of this circumstantial evidence, does that
former Hindu royal princess and the Yadav Queen, Devaldevi, who was
equally responsible for bringing about the unprecedented Hindu revolution
of Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) and who was his important
accomplice in the secret plot, and who became, after the successful
accomplishment of the said revolution, the Hindu Empress of Shree
Dharmarakshak, deserves even a greater place of honour, like that of Devi
Padmini of Chitod, for the unimaginable mental agonies that she had to
suffer in the most adverse circumstances! She deserves the honour of a
brave warrior Rajput Princess, burning herself on the pyre or in Johar!
816. Her end, too, is clouded in mystery! One of the writers of the time
has said that she was provided for Ghyasuddin after he became the Sultan

of Delhi.
Not a Fruitless Martyrdom!
817. Thus were the two valiant associates of the Hindu Emperor,
Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) forced to court martyrdom! But their
martyrdom lent a wonderful strength to the morale of the Hindu Nation.
For, the fact that in Delhi itself, was established a Hindu Empire, which
could powerfully and effectively govern the Muslim States, Nawabs, and
Muslim populace throughout India for nearly a year, helped the Hindu kings
and the Hindu people to shake off the dominant influence of the Muslim
political superiority, which had for centuries overawed the Hindu mind. The
myth of this Muslim political superiority as at once exploded and a rare
confidence was inspired amongst the Hindus that, were they but to run a
little risk, they would also be able to crush the Muslim political hold on
them. Shree Dharmarakshak courted martyrdom in 1321; it was soon
followed by the risings in Hindu States in the north and south of India. The
Muslim provinces round about Delhi, too, began fighting with the Muslim
imperial power at Delhi in order to establish their own dynasties in their
own provinces. In the end, hardly within fifteen to sixteen years of the
martyrdom of Shree Dharmarakshak, the Muslim imperial authority at
Delhi became extremely weak, and a powerful Hindu revolt culminated in
the establishment of a completely independent Hindu Kingdom of
Vijayanagar, the detailed account of which must necessarily be deferred to
next chapter.
❑

The Beginning of the Final Overthrow of
the Muslim Empire
818. Soon after slaying Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din), Ghyasuddin
Tughlak ascended the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in A.D. 1321 and issued
a proclamation to that effect. This was the end of the Khilji dynasty and the
beginning of the Tughlak rule.
819. Ghyasuddin too was old. Naturally, he treated the Muslims leniently.
But although born of a Hindu jat mother, he strangely enough did not fall
short of any type of religious persecution of the Hindus perpetrated by any
or all of the former Muslim Sultans!
820. Ghyasuddin died in A.D. 1326 and was succeeded by his son
Mohammed Tughlak, who has gone down in history as ‘crazy’. He once
had a strange whim of shifting his capital from Delhi to Devgiri in the
south. Immediately, he changed the name of Devgiri, according to the
Muslim tradition, into Doulatabad, just as Warangal had been changed
earlier by the Muslim into Sultanpur. But this change of capital from Delhi
to Devgiri caused him and his subjects so much trouble, disrupted his
already confusion-fraught revenue system so completely, and so many
insurrections and political risings were brewing in the royal families and the
people at large in the Deccan (as already pointed out in the previous
chapter) that this ‘crazy’ Mohammed was ultimately forced to have another
whim of shifting the capital once again back to Delhi. But this short
interlude cost millions (crores) of rupees and thousands of lives.
820A. With a view to getting out of this financial trouble, he introduced
the copper coins, which drained his treasury completely; but he blamed the
farmers and the other gentry for it, saying that they did not pay the taxes.
He, therefore, issued orders to his fighting forces to collect the revenue
under compulsion, but while the Muslims were shown all leniency in the
collection of taxes, the Hindus were most cruelly forced to pay them. Just as
the beasts are surrounded on all sides in a hunting expedition and are held at
bay and then massacred, similarly a number of Hindu towns and villages
were besieged and the Hindu population therein was mercilessly put to the
sword. (This sort of persecution devastated numerous Hindu towns and
villages, while whole province like Kanouj were rendered desolate!)

821. Nevertheless, there darted from the bow of the Hindu nation a Ram-
     ban [an arrow of Ram—an (unerring) unmistakable shot!], which put a stop,
     even if temporarily, to the Ravan-like atrocities by the Muslims perpetrated
     under every Sultan over the Hindus for centuries together!
822. The diabolic Muslim ambition to spread the unitary Muslim empire
     to the ends of Hindusthan (Paragraphs 636-737) received a death blow in
     the very hour of its fruition. For (as it is shown in the previous chapter) with
     the first vigorous blow struck by the Hindu Emperor, Shree Dharmarakshak,
     the extensive Muslim Empire had already begun to dwindle, while the
     Hindu discontent, especially in the Deccan, culminated into a powerful
     insurrection, which shattered the already dwindling Muslim empire into
     small fragments.
     New Hindu State
823. For, in A.D. 1336, was established the new, independent, and
     powerful Hindu State of Vijaynagar, defying the Muslim might in the very
     lifetime of this ‘crazy’ Mohammad Tughlak, a detailed account of which
     will be given in the next chapter.
824. Immediately after this momentous event, the Deccanese Muslims
     under Hasan Bahamani rose in rebellion against the Delhi Sultanate
     following the age-old separatist tendency of the Muslims, which had been
     exhibited in their fratricidal wars ever since the times of Mohammad
     Paigambar. Hasan Bahamani was crowned with success in this attempt, and
     so he founded the Bahamani kingdom in A.D. 1347 and proclaimed himself
     to be an independent Sultan.
825. This act of Hasan Bahamani will explode the popular misconception
     of the millions of credulous gulls amongst the Hindus, that the Muslims
     always showed a united front in their political as well as religious wars, that
     they never fought amongst themselves and that they had no separatist
     tendencies—a baseless misconception, which is not only foolish in the
     extreme but which falsely extols the foreigners and undeservedly runs down
     our own Hindu community. A number of such instances have already been
     cited in this volume and many more will occur in the pages that follow. The
     history of the Muslim community all over world is replete with such
     instances.
     A Grievous fall and Breaking of the Dream of an Unbroken Muslim
     Empire

826. Just as perhaps some adventurous mountaineer should, in the
     excitement of his almost impracticable ambition to scale the highest peak of
     the Himalayas and to hoist his national flag there before anybody else does
     it, climb on and on, and after reaching some altogether different peak
     should victoriously cry out, ‘This is the very same highest peak!’ when all
     at once, the seemingly highest peak should give way under the heavy load
     of his ambition, being made as it really is, not of any solid rock, but of a
     frozen heap of snowflakes, and the ambitious climber should topple down
     and fall headlong from crag to crag into the deep ravine of destruction along
     with the bits and fragments of his signal victory—in the very same way, the
     Muslim ambition to establish the centralized paramount Muslim power over
     the whole of India was beguiled for a while, and ultimately came to naught.
     All the Asian Muslim States right from the Arabs to the Mongols invaded
     India one after another and carried on for seven or eight centuries
     continuously the bitterest, bloodiest and cruellest wars and at last, when in
     the regime of Allauddin, practically the whole of India passed under the
     Muslim sway round about the year A.D. 1310, the Muslim ambition seemed
     to be almost fulfilled! But, as it is already told, with a hard knock from the
     resurgent Hindu valour, the Muslim rule collapsed from the highest peak of
     success attained by Sultan Allauddin and was shattered to pieces within
     only seven or eight years, never to rise to that giddy height again! The
     Hindu might went on increasing like the crescent moon!
     Death of ‘Crazy’ Mohammad and after
827. This ‘crazy’ Sultan Mohammad died in A.D. 1351 and his tottering
     crown with the disintegrating Sultanate of Delhi passed on to his cousin
     ‘Pherozshah Tughlak’. This Pherozshah’s mother was the daughter of the
     Rajput King Malbhatti of Deepalpur. When Pherozshah’s father demanded
     her (that Rajput Princess) in marriage, King Malbhatti flatly refused to give
     her up, whereupon Pherozshah’s father marched on Malbhatti and began to
     persecute the Hindus most cruelly. The princess could not bear the inhuman
     sufferings of her father and her Hindu brethren in the kingdom. So, she
     volunteered to marry Pherozshah’s father. However praiseworthy the
     tenderness of her heart might be, it has permanently stained her father’s
     family. Had she swallowed fire like some Padmini of Chitod and followed
     the path of martyrdom for the sake of religion, her life and her family
     tradition would both have been for ever glorified!
     The Superstitious Muslims!

828. An anecdote of this time of the Tughlaks, which is recorded in
     history, may be related here so that the reader might have some idea of the
     extent the superstitious nature of the Muslims could go to, and of the
     influence the religious credulity and fanaticism of the Arabs invariably had
     over the Muslims of later days, ever since the inception of Muslim religion.
     828A. In order to atone for the crazy religious acts and the harassment of
     the subjects by the ‘mad’ Mohammad (setting aside the religious
     persecution of Hindus, which was deemed harmonious with the tenets of
     the Muslim religion), Sultan Pherozshah interned with the bones of the late
     ‘mad’ Mohammad, the original papers regarding the reimbursement of the
     unjust land revenue collected by him, refund of fines and compensation for
     the other unjust acts of his, or their governmental acknowledgments along
     with other original papers signed by Mohammed himself. This action of
     Pherozshah was perhaps prompted by his credulous belief, that on the
     strength of this written record of the compensation for all his crimes, the
     great Allah would forgive Mohammad on the last day of the judgment!
     And, be it remembered that Pherozshah was well-educated, according to the
     standards of the time! What to say, then, of the common people!
829. Although in the beginning, Pherozshah proclaimed himself as the
     Sultan of Hindusthan, everywhere in India, with the only exception of Delhi
     and a small region around it, the Hindus and the Muslims began one after
     another to repudiate his imperial authority. In the South, the celebrated
     kingdom of Vijaynagar had openly asserted its freedom. Under these
     circumstances, Pherozshah Tughlakh decided finally to acknowledge the
     independence of the recalcitrant people under him in order to assuage their
     political bitterness, and to consolidate whatever little he could retain rather
     than lose all. He, therefore, gave an official recognition to the independence
     of the Bahamani Kingdom in the south and to that of the valiant Hindu
     Kingdom of Vijaynagar, which was founded by the great Hindu leaders,
     who were fired with the bitterest hatred for the Muslim domination and
     were bent on driving it away right out of India.
830. Thus was the Muslim imperial power, which had reached its zenith
     round about the years A.D. 1310-12 in Allauddin’s times as a result of the
     incessant Hindu-Muslim wars for about six or seven centuries, and which
     had spread over almost the whole of India, dissolved by the very descendant
     of the same illustrious Sultan, for he could not help yielding to the powerful
     Hindu resistance. The Muslim empire over the whole of India was

completely shattered in the hour of its fruition, never to be rebuilt on such a
vast scale. Now the Hindu resurgent independent power had begun its
inroads on the Muslim might, which were never to cease again!
831. In fact, the moment Pherozshah Tughlak recognized the political
independence of the South, the Muslim imperial power came to an end! He,
as it were, rang the death knell of the Muslim ambition of an imperial
power!
The Direct Evidence
832. This explicit recognition of the political independence of the Deccan,
including that of the newly established Hindu state of Vijaynagar by the
Sultan of Delhi, Pherozshah Tughlak himself, conclusively proves the
statement that we have made in paragraphs 807 to 817 and that has so far
escaped the notice of the writers of Hindu history. It is the two-fold
politico-religious aggression of the Hindu Emperor, Shree Dharmarakshak,
(Nasir-ud-din) in Delhi itself on the Muslim power, and especially his
frightful revenge of the religious persecution of the Hindus over the
Muslims in much the same horrid way, and the terror it struck in the minds
of the Muslims, which inspired this political rising of Vijaynagar, which in
its turn dashed to pieces the Muslim ambition of an all-India empire!
833. Although Sultan Pherozshah helplessly surrendered his overlordship
over the Deccan, he still mercilessly continued to persecute the Hindus in
the big cities like Delhi under his direct control. The Hindus, too, persisted
in their staunch resistance in the defence of their religion, even at the risk of
martyrdom. Numerous instances of the varied kinds of this Hindu reaction
to the Muslim atrocities are recorded, one of which might be given here on
the authority of the Muslim writers themselves.
833A. Sultan Pherozshah hated the Brahmins far more bitterly than the
other Hindus. He said, “Brahmins are the veritable keys to the strong
fortress of the Hindu religion.” It is the Brahmins who organised a resistance
movement against the Jizia tax, freshly imposed on the Hindus by Sultan
Pherozshah. They organized collective hunger strike before the royal palace
and announced their determination to swallow fire and court martyrdom.
But the Sultan heeded it not. So, many Brahmins, no longer able to bear the
humiliation, died in that horrible manner. In the end, the Hindus of other
castes paid up the tax for such staunch defenders of their religion that still
survived and saved their lives!

834. But the account of one of those Brahmins is the most remarkable for
     his martyrdom. In the city of Delhi itself, this old Brahmin openly
     worshipped an idol. Now the diabolic religion of Sultan Pherozshah
     Tughlak had absolutely banned any such idol-worship throughout his
     kingdom. But in order to protest against this ban, that Brahmin collected all
     the Hindus in the courtyard of his house and worshipped the idol with such
     great pomp that many Muslim men, women and children, too, became the
     devotees of that idol. The rumour quickly spread far and wide that this
     Brahmin’s God always came to the rescue of his devotee. The news that this
     Brahmin openly worshipped idols painted on a wooden plank reached the
     ears of the Sultan, who immediately had him brought as a captive, along
     with his idol, before him. Thereupon, he called all the ulemas (the Muslim
     religious priests) and asked them: “What punishment should be inflicted on
     this Brahmin?” They replied: “This Brahmin should either be a Muslim or
     be burnt alive to death.” The Brahmin, thereupon, chose to die that horrible
     death by burning. In Delhi, just before the king’s court, a big pile of wood
     was made and the Brahmin was placed on it, bound hand and foot, with the
     idol painted on the wooden plank. The Muslim demons set fire to that pile
     of wood from all sides. Still, the Brahmin would not consent to be
     converted to Islam. In a few cruel moments, the fire blazed very hot on all
     sides. But without even a faint sigh of pain or grief, the Brahmin remained
     bowing down to the idol. Within a moment, the hungry flames swallowed
     up the devoted Brahmin!
835. This arch-enemy of the Hindus, Sultan Pherozshah Tughlak, died in
     A.D. 1388, followed by an utter chaos in the meagre remains of his
     kingdom, whereas on one occasion, two of his grandsons fell out and at the
     two ends of the city of Delhi, there ruled two Sultans at one and the same
     time, Mohammadshah and Nasratshah, the two grandsons of Pheroz. Half
     the city of Delhi became the capital of the one, while the other half, that of
     the other!!
     Invasion by Taimurlang
836. Under these chaotic conditions, Delhi fell a prey to the inhuman
     ravages of the notorious Taimurlang, the Sultan of the far off Samarkand.
837. Taimur was a Turk, and not originally a Muslim. After conquering
     the city of Baghdad, he burned to ashes the whole library of literature and at
     many places, he even burned Masjids! In A.D. 1369, he became the King of
     Samarkand. Following the lead of Chengeezkhan before him, he had

conquered not less than twenty-seven crowns from Russia in the West to
Afghanistan in the South-East! Because he had lost a leg in one of the
battles, he received the nickname ‘lang’ (lame). Thereafter, he happened to
cast his eyes on India, not simply because of any allurement of political
power or the lust for victory, but because he had formed a bitter hatred
towards India. For, he had in the meantime become a Muslim. His original
destructive tendencies now received this new ghastly impetus! Says he in
his autobiography: “My intention in marching upon India is to massacre the
Kafir Hindus there, destroy the idols of their Gods, convert them all to
Islam and thus win the title of a ‘Gazi’ in the court of the Allah.”
838. So, immediately in A.D. 1397, he invaded India. He had under him a
gigantic force of ninety thousand strong. He marched straight up to Punjab.
Still nobody came forward to oppose him. He, therefore, swooped down
straight on Delhi, where a small force came to oppose him in the name of
the Sultan of Delhi, but it was soon put to rout. An interesting point to note
is that this veteran army of Taimurlang, which had trampled over half the
world, was scared to death for a time by the mere sight of elephants in this
ludicrous army of the Sultan of Delhi, for they had seen such huge beasts
for the first time in their lives. Yet it got over the fear very soon and as soon
as the Sultan’s forces were completely routed, it dashed violently into the
city of Delhi, letting loose the orgy of wholesale massacre, plunder and
arson. Millions of lives were lost this day. After having thus quenched his
thirst for Hindu blood to some extent, Taimur turned further to Meerut and
Haridwar, smashing to pieces Hindu idols at many places on his way. At
Haridwar, he reached the pinnacle of his cruelty in the Hindu bloodbath.
How many instances is one to quote of the harrowing atrocities which the
Hindu community had to suffer simply because of their dire determination
and holy resolve not to forsake their religion! From Haridwar, this fiendlike
Taimur went further to the north, raining Hindu blood on the Shivalik hills,
Nagarcote, Jammu and demolishing Hindu temples on the way. On his way,
he got the news of his native capital of Samarkand being threatened by the
rebels. So, mad with fury and mental anguish, he hurried straight off to
Samarkand with the whole of his army.
839. In this Taimurlangian deluge was washed off the little that was left of
the Tughlak Sultanate. In the chaotic conditions that then prevailed in north
India, the Sayyads usurped the nominal Sultanate of the Tughlaks.

840. Availing themselves of this miserable condition of the Muslim power
     at Delhi, the veteran defenders of the Hindu religion, the independent
     Rajput kings, went on setting free the territories formerly conquered by the
     Muslims.
     For that matter, the holy places of the Hindus like Kashi, Prayag and
     others hand, even before this time, been reconquered from the Muslims.
     But!—Although the political power there was defeated and uprooted, their
     colonies and their religious centres like their Masjids and mosques were not
     destroyed—as did the Muslims, whenever they conquered the Hindu
     territories, slaughtering the Hindus irrespective of their age or sex and
     pulling down the Hindu holy places of worship, so as to make mere
     existence impossible for them. But because the Hindus did not emulate the
     Muslims in this respect, these local Muslims, who were left alive and
     unmolested, turned traitors, like serpents fed and fostered as pets, and
     invited again and again the Muslim aggressors for help and made life
     miserable for the Hindus in those holy places and cities. But the Rajput
     malady of the suicidal generosity even now persisted without any
     moderation. (The reader is referred to the detailed discussion in this regard
     in Paragraphs 421 to 426).
     Rana Kumbha
841. Most notable among the Rajput heroes of the time was Rana
     Kumbha, who excelled not only the great leaders of Chitod but even those
     of Hindusthan in respect of valour and success. He went to war with a
     powerful neigbhouring Muslim Sultan, Mohammad Khilji of Malwa, who
     had become independent by renouncing the overlordship (paramountcy) of
     the Sultan of Delhi, and in a battle near Sultanpur, vanquished the latter
     completely. Sultan Mohammad Khilji of Malwa was at last caught alive by
     Rana Kumbha. But grossly affected as he was by the age-old malady of the
     perverted sense of virtues, as the other Hindu heroes before him were, he
     allowed the Sultan to go free, considering it a noble act on his own part.
     Had but Rana Kumbha been taken captive by the Muslim Sultan,
     Mohammad Khilji, he would very likely have been deprived of his eyesight,
     as Prithviraj was, and brutally murdered according to the diabolic war-
     ethics of the Muslims. In fact, this diabolic war-ethics is the only one that is
     beneficial to a nation in such fiendish wars and hence is highly pious and
     thoroughly sound!

842. This battle was considered so unique and unparalleled in the Hindu
     history of those days that in order to celebrate it, Rana Kumbha erected a
     colossal and artistic pillar of victory at Chitod, which still stands to the
     admiration of all visitors! In a like manner, did Rana Kumbha beat down
     Sultan Kutbuddin of Gujarat when the latter attacked Kumbhalgad, and
     Kutbuddin had ultimately to sue for peace and save his life.
843. Even after Rana Kumbha, Rajputana claims so many brave and
     capable leaders of men that whole volumes ought really to be devoted to the
     generations that produced each of them. But, our recent histories are so
     much haunted by those of the Muslim and European nations, that they fight
     shy of recording the glorious acts of the Hindus—it is, in fact, a clear proof
     of the absence of any independent research made by them and of their
     glaring ignorance! Fortunately, the contemporary Rasos, written honestly
     and with a rare literary flavour, and inspired by the exceptional valour of the
     Hindus of the times, are available here and there. Prithviraj Raso, Hameer
     Raso, Chhatrasal Raso and many others—beautiful heroic ballads and
     narrative poems of varied lengths—are to be had even today. But God
     knows if these historians know them even by name! Again, modern
     historical research has discovered many rock inscriptions not only in
     Rajputana, but in the caves at various other places. They also are likely to
     help a lot in re-writing the history of these Hindu heroes. But the present
     doesn’t seem to be the proper time to undertake that work on a major
     institutional basis! Till such a propitious time comes, smaller institutions or
     individual scholars can start, if not the actual research work, at least, the
     work of collection of this vast deal of source material. Such a fond hope can
     safely be entertained, if we remember the celebrated name of Rajwade
     alone!
     Lodi Dynasty
844. After the end of the Sayyad Dynasty in A.D. 1450, some Lodis of
     Afghan extraction ruled as Sultans at Delhi for some time. Of them all
     Shikandar Lodi tried to consolidate his power during A.D. 1485 to 1517.
     This Shikandar Lodi again was born of a Hindu mother, but like every other
     Muslim ruler, he always had a stern eye upon the Hindus. He again
     enforced the ban on the Hindu pilgrimages, which the Hindus had begun to
     make in the meanwhile. He even forbade collective baths in holy rivers on
     Parvani days. Nevertheless, as elsewhere, the Hindus resisted stubbornly

even at the cost of their lives. The following account of a great martyr
should suffice to illustrate the foregoing remarks.
845. At a certain town near Lakhnau (Lucknow) lived a Brahmin, named
Buddha, who preached that whatever just and virtuous religious code one
followed, so long as one followed it sincerely, was equally acceptable to
God. In spite of all the harassment caused to him by the Muslims on this
account, he propagated his views so very vigorously that even the Kazi of
Lakhnau had to give way. In the end, the authorities committed this
complaint to the Sultan, Shikandarkhan, thereupon, had a full-dress debate
between this Brahmin and nine other learned moulavis. But the Brahmin,
loyal as he was to his own religion and to truth, would not give in. So the
Sultan himself threatened him: “Be a Muslim or you will be put to instant
death.” And as the said Brahmin spurned his threat, he was killed forthwith.
Rana Sang
846. After the death of Shikandar Lodi in A.D. 1517 his son Ibrahim Lodi
ascended the tottering throne of the Sultan of Delhi. For the disintegrating
Muslim power at Delhi experienced excruciating death pangs at the hands
of the Rajputs of the time, who had in Rana Sang a very great, valiant
leader. Even the smaller Muslim rulers took great offence at the brave deeds
of Rana Sang. The ruler of Idar expressed his malice against Rana Sang by
naming a dog at his door Sangrana. In order to chastise this monkeying of
the Muslims, Rana Sang marched with a large army against Idar, and
vanquishing them completely at every place, he avenged in full the wrongs
done to the Hindus. This battle caused no harm to the Hindus round about.
On the contrary, they looked upon him with evident pride and pleasure as
their Godsend saviour and protector. Registering his conquests over the
Muslim foes at every place with triumphal marches amidst popular
applause, the loud beats of his war-drums and the gay fluttering of his
victorious flag, he returned to Chitod in A.D. 1519. He had, by this time,
liberated Ratanbhor, Gagrone, Walpi (Kalpi?), Bhilsa and Chanderi from
the Muslim domination and annexed them to his own kingdom.
Defeat of Sultan Ibrahim lodi by Rana Sang in the battle of Khanoli
846A. In order to improve the decaying condition of the Muslim power,
constantly harmed by the Rajputs, Sultan Ibrahim Lodi gathered all his
strength and invaded Rana Sang. The two parties joined battle at Khanoli,
where in a bloody action, Rana Sang put to rout the Sultan’s army and sent
him back to Delhi downcast and crestfallen.

Babar’s Invasion
847. Beset with such calamities, Subedar Daulatkhan Lodi of Lahore
became, along with other Muslim chieftains, quite pessimistic about their
own safe existence. As a last resort, they invited Babar, the then powerful
ruler of Afghanistan, to help them put down Rana Sang. Babar, too had
been waiting for such an opportunity, for as a descendant of Taimurlang, he
claimed a direct right to the sovereignty of India. So Babar hastened to help
Daulatkhan Lodi in A.D. 1526.
848. Seeing this allied Muslim army come menacingly, the scared Sultan
Ibrahim Lodi sought the help of the valiant Hindu King of Chitod, Rana
Sang, in spite of the fact that the latter had very recently inflicted a crushing
defeat on him. But the Muslims were never ashamed of eating the humble
pie before the Hindus on such occasions. Again, it has been already shown
and will, hereafter, be shown, how foolish and baseless are our popular
notions that the Muslims never fought amongst themselves, or that they
never sought help from the Hindus to fight with their fellow Muslims,
should such an eventuality arise! Sultan Ibrahim’s is a glaring instance in
point. With the help of Rana Sang, Sultan Ibrahim fought with the invading
Babar at Panipat in A.D. 1526. But as Ibrahim himself was killed on the
battlefield and his army took to flight, Rana Sang too had to retreat. While
wandering through forest-after-forest, organising a strong army to meet
Babar again on the battlefield, this high-minded Maharana Sang succumbed
to incurable diseases in A.D. 1530, and the Hindus lost a precious diadem.
Moghul Dynasty founded at Delhi
849. After this signal victory, Babar grasped the Sultanate of Delhi for
himself in A.D. 1526, setting aside the original aspirant to that place,
Subedar Daulatkhan Lodi of Punjab. This was the beginning of the Moghul
Empire of Delhi.
Notable Events in the Remaining Provinces of North India at the
Time
850. SINDH: The reconquest of Sindh from the Arab hands by the Hindus
has already been noted (cf. Paragraphs 655 to 656). Those Sumer Rajputs
retained Sindh in their hands till A.D. 1336. In A.D. 1336, a Rajput King
named Jam Afra, was ruling there as an independent potentate. There were
constant wars between this Hindu monarchy and the Sultans of Delhi. From
A.D. 1367 to 1380, a Hindu monarch was succeeded to the throne by

another Rajput Prince, who, however, because of many maladies, lost his
balance of mind and voluntarily became a Muslim.
851. BENGAL: When ultimately in A.D. 1192, Mohammad Ghori
subjugated the Sultanate of Delhi for ever, he sent many valorous chieftains
under him to subdue the Hindu states round about. One of them, Bakhtyar
Khilji, overcame the Hindu rule in Bihar and Bengal in A.D. 1195 and
founded the Muslim rule there for the first time. Of his persecution of the
Hindus and especially of the Buddhists and their wholesale conversion to
Islam, we have already said enough in Paragraph Nos. 342 to 356. On this
very occasion, this wild fiendish commander of the Muslim forces razed to
the ground the world famous University of Nalanda, which had a glorious
tradition of over five centuries to its credit. The Muslims set fire to the vast
and invaluable collection of innumerable books, which had kept burning, it
is said, for six months. But the Muslims never allowed anybody to put the
fire down before it quenched of itself, and every written record was reduced
to ashes!
Want of armed might renders the power of Science as also the power
of Religion Miserably Helpless—one more illustration!
852. In that vast burning library, there were innumerable valuable books
of the Vedic, Buddha, Jain and other religions. But to protect them from fire
came neither the Vedic Gods, nor Lord Buddha, no, not even Lord Jain! The
actual armed might of the devotees is the only armed strength the Gods
seem to have!
853. In the end, Bakhtyar Khilji conquered the last of the Sen Kings and
after annexing Bengal, started his campaign of the wholesale conversion of
the Hindus to Islam.
854. The Muslim Subedars themselves rebelled from time-to-time against
the paramount power of Delhi and calling themselves the Sultans of Bengal,
ruled the province independently. Fakruddin was the first of them to
announce his independent sway over Bengal in A.D. 1347. Since then, these
Afghan Sultans had ruled the province till A.D. 1576. Once in the meantime
in A.D. 1386, a Hindu Jamindar named Kans overthrew this Afghan rule
and established Hindu power in Bengal. When this King Kans died in A.D.
1392, his son Jitmalla came to the throne of Bengal. But to the greater
discredit of the Hindus there, this Hindu King Jitmalla once had the wanton
caprice to court Islam, and he changed his name to Jalaluddin! And to the
greater shame of the Hindus, be it said that not a single Hindu throughout