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

made explicit here. It is this, whether it was the Greeks or other foreign aggressors, whoever came flashing their swords, were ultimately conquered and engulfed, and completely submerged in our society, leaving not a trace of their separate existence behind. In every case, it has been amply proved that it was only when the aggressor’s insolent sword was beaten down—it was only when the aggressor was vanquished completely in the deadly armed conflict on the battlefield—that those foreigners became so very tame and pliable as to be easily overwhelmed and dissolved in our society. This was achieved not by peaceful persuasion, but by the stronger and deadlier weapons. No Religious Persecution—but the most Appropriate Punishment for Treason! 203. Some of the old Buddhist books, in the loquacious style of the Puranas, enlarge upon the cruel treatment meted out by Pushyamitra to Buddhist bhikksus, upon the outright massacre of some of them, and the destruction of some of the Buddhist monasteries. Even the European historians have set aside all these references as exaggerated ones! Still, some of them have stated, that there should be some grain of truth at the root of these exaggerated accounts that Pushyamitra might have been guilty of some slight persecution of the Buddhists by way of revenge. We also feel that Samrat Pushyamitra might have taken good many of the Buddhists to task, but not for any philosophical or theological difference of opinion. 204. The Buddhists were not persecuted as a class simply because they believed in nihilism or agnosticism, or because some of them were atheists while others were non-violent on principle and condemned the Vedas, or because their religious rituals were in many ways different from those of the Vedic Hindus. Lord Buddha himself experienced no obstacle in the propagation of his faith! Let that alone! The Buddhist faith had been more or less three hundred years old by the time of Chandragupta’s succession to the throne! In his undivided all-India Hindu empire and also during the tenure of the ministerial office of the staunch Arya Chanakya, no Buddhist persecution of any sort was reported by the Greek ambassador, Megasthenes, who had stayed at the court of the first Maurya Emperor for years together. Megasthenes does not refer to Buddhism even by name, for they had not till then formed any anti-national and political alliances detrimental to the interests of the nation, either with Alexander or with Seleucos. It was not then possible for them! That is why, along with many