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

profusely. Not before did Sultan Mahmud completely put down all resistance, could he ever force his way right into the innermost chamber of the temple and break the idol of Somnath with his own hands. In order to celebrate this fanatical act, he took for himself the title, ‘Butshikan’ — Iconoclast! Martyrdom of fifty thousand brave Hindu Soldiers 372. Even Muslim historians write that at least fifty thousand Hindus fell fighting in the defence of their temple. Had someone of these fifty thousand Hindus said, “I am willing to be a Muslim”, he would have been spared by the Muslims, because it was one of their tactics in the religious war. But scorning such a base and defiled life, the Hindu volunteer force courted martyrdom; not one, not even a thousand, but fifty thousand of them sacrificed their precious lives on the altar of this holy battle! 373. While eulogizing an ancient Roman hero, Horatius, who fought with the enemy on a similar occasion, an English poet writes: Thus outspake brave Horatius the Captain of the gate, “To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late, And how can a man die better than by facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers and the temple of his Gods?” 374. Which Hindu will be reluctant to shed his grateful tears for these fifty thousand martyrs, who died defending their religion and temples with the same fervour as is expressed in this verse? 375. But the most disgusting fact is that while narrating this invasion of Mahmud on Somnath, not only the foreign historians but many Hindu historians, ungrateful as they too are, have mocked at the simple faith of the priesthood and other Hindu population of the place, and have not uttered a single word in praise of those Hindu warriors who made such a huge sacrifice, ‘facing fearful odds, for the temple of their Gods’! If the wiseacres are not wise enough to appraise the jewels properly, can it be said that the fault lies with those jewels? 376. Even if it be neccesary to condemn the blind faith of those Hindus, yet those who do so, should also remember that, albeit blind, the Hindu belief in the mysterious divine power of their Gods was not a diabolic, fanatic,