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

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