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

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!