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

4^TH GLORIOUS EPOCH 4. Yashodharma, the Conqueror of The Huns The Hunnish Onslaught over the whole World 265. A reference has already been made earlier in this book to the Huns who routed all the Saka and Kushan tribes from their original homes and themselves occupied the vast tracts of lands. These very Huns, fiercer and far more cruel than their predecessors, now menaced not only the whole of Asia but also the whole of Europe. Every one of the then well-established, civilized, and strongly built nations and kingdoms of the world, right from China to Rome, was rocked to its bottom at the very thought of this impending doom. There was no limit to their number, nor were their raids limited to this region or that. 266. When their armies marched out, thousands of their men and women carried fire and sword to every city and every village they entered and to every human being, young or old, child or woman, whom they came across. Not only by day, but even at the very dead of night, did they carry on these nefarious activities, shouting wildly like beasts and engulfing the enemy lands like wildfire. At the end of every bloody battle, they celebrated their victory then and there, dancing wildly, and drinking strong liquors in cups made of the very skulls of the slaughtered enemy soldiers and their women or children. 267. Being very close to the original Hunnish territory, almost all the provinces of the vast Chinese empire were rendered desolate because of their terrible raids. The great China Wall of today is a glaring testimony to prove the incapacity of the Chinese Emperor to ward off these Hunnish locusts. The one great wonder of the world—this China Wall-is indeed the greatest monument to Hunnish Terror! 268. One of the leaders of these Huns, Attila, organized these horsemen, who pillaged Central Asia and made straight for Europe. His various marauding armies dashed like an avalanche into European Russia through whichever inlet they could find and wrought havoc everywhere. Universities and art centres, houses and churches, the poor men’s huts and rich palaces, towns and cities—whatever they could lay their hands on,