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

on their sites, forced thousands of Hindus to be converted. These innumerable converted Hindus made big farming and feudal estates in this Deccan itself. But Hindus, however, did not massacre these Muslims nor did they destroy them outright as and when they subdued the Muslim power later on. This is what we call the perversion of the concept of virtues! Most often the Hindus used the same War strategy of the Muslims, according to the Military Science of the time 739. On the religious front, the Hindus were, thus, being vanquished mostly because of their own foolish religious concepts and traditions, but on the political front, they were fighting with the Muslims as they ought to have done! Even after being completely overcome, they rose again and again and defeated the Muslims! Craftiness and cunning were generally matched with the same strategic moves by the Hindus! 740. Allauddin surpassed every other Sultan before him in cruelty in the persecution of the Hindus. He would have reached greater heights in cruelty in respect of his treatment of the Hindus, had he not been forced to fight on the other front with the Mongols, who unceasingly hurled their armed might against the western borders of India and caused a great turmoil throughout Mongolia and Cenral Asia. A few of them took to Islam and formed a new Muslim colony in Delhi itself. At last, the enraged Allauddin cut off the whole of this new Muslim colony to a man! Death of Allauddin 741. Allauddin was the first and the last Muslim Sultan to rule over practically the whole of India with the exception of some Hindu states like those of Chitod and others. Neither Akbar nor even Aurangzeb can take that place, as their territories never equalled those of Allauddin. 742. But in his old age, Allauddin was surely afflicted by his bodily diseases, which were the outcome of his physical vices. Naturally, he became a tool in the hands of Maliq Kafur, and in that miserable state, this valorous but Hindu-hater Sultan died of dropsy in A.D. 1316 or as it is said, Maliq Kafur killed him or had him killed. His ‘Allah’ could not bless him with a happy death because of his virtue of Hindu-hatred! In a few days Maliq Kafur, a one-time slave of Allauddin, usurped the whole power of Allauddin, but in the political chaos that ensued after Allauddin, he was soon killed. In the turbulent days that followed, a certain Khushrukhan of exceptional abilities, who had been shining in the diplomatic circles at

Delhi, rose to the highest seat of power. From the point of view of the Hindu nation, his story deserves a separate chapter in the history of India. ❑

Khushrukhan and Devaldevi 743. If the millions of students who are learning history in all the states in the Indian Union today are asked what they know of Khushrukhan, a unique unforgettable character, who was acclaimed as the Sultan of Sultans in the Muslim Sultanate at Delhi, and who was worthy of high praise from the point of view of the Hindus, it is more likely than not, that at least 93 per cent of these millions of students will reply with evident surprise, “Khushrukhan? No, we haven’t come across any major reference to such a man as you describe!” Let alone the students, but even if you were to ask the same question to the teachers in general, to the whole editorial staff of the newspapers in India or even to any educated man or woman, at least 75 per cent of them will very probably reply in the same manner; ‘who is this Khushrukhan? We have never heard even of his name!’ 744. It is for this very reason that we are attempting to give a brief sketch of his life and work, as far as we can do so with the available evidence. For, although he is a unique character in the modern Indian history, his name has been obliterated, as it were, by the Muslim historians and their blind foreign and Indian, Hindu followers, from the textbooks of history used in schools, for his sole offence of putting the Muslim Sultanate to shame in order to avenge the wrongs and insults hurled by them at the Hindu nation. Wherever he has been mentioned, he has been given the most insulting and abusive attributes like, ‘low-bred’, ‘depraved’, ‘a knave’, ‘a hell-hound’ by the Muslim writers. The early history of Khushrukhan 745. When in the reign of Allauddin, Gujarat had to face the first onslaught of the Muslims in A.D. 1298 and the governing authority of the Hindus was much shaken down, in the chaotic conditions then prevailing, a very tender, attractive but very brilliant Hindu youth had been captured and made a slave by the Muslim noblemen and was offered into the service of Allauddin, much the same way and for the same reason as Maliq Kafur was made a slave. This youth was originally a Hindu, belonging to the untouchable caste of Paria of Parwar (sweepers) in Gujarat. One or two Muslim writers deny that he was a Paria (sweeper), but emphatically assert that he was a Rajput. Alter having been captured and converted to Islam, he was first called ‘Hasan’. When he was taken in the service of Allauddin at

Delhi, in keeping with the social vice of the Muslims (viz., sodomy; paragraph 729), the greatest noblemen and generals of the court had unnatural sexual relations with him, and so they were extremely solicitous about serving his whims! When after Allauddin’s death in A.D. 1316, Maliq Kafur became the chief administrator, he also came to have great regard for his abilities. Very soon, Hasan was given the title of Khushrukhan. For, even in the days of Allauddin, he was being sent independently on some small military expeditions in charge of small troops. That Hasan should become Khushrukhan and then a general in the army so rapidly, bespeaks of his exceptional qualities. But more than these qualities of his limitless love that Mubarik, the son of Allauddin, bore towards this charming young man, was responsible for such a spectacular rise. So after both Allauddin and Maliq Kafur died or were dispatched as the case may be, Mubarik got the Sultanate of Delhi mainly with Khushrukhan’s assistance and quite naturally, all the reins of the government passed easily into the hands of Khushrukhan, the dearest, ablest and the most trustworthy young nobleman of Mubarik’s court, and young Khushrukhan, too, proved wholly efficient in the discharge of his responsible job. Mubarik was vicious and pleasure- seeking by nature. Therefore, he considered it a godsend gift to have such an efficient assistant in the person of Khushrukhan to run the whole administration, and especially, a loyal executive to manage his private affairs in the harem. Devaldevi 746. When in the court of Delhi, the attractive Maliq Kafur, who was born a Hindu but converted by Allauddin to Islam, became later on the commander-in-chief and an astute politician, practically at the same time, rose in status another young, handsome, Hindu convert, Khushrukhan, who after the death of Maliq Kafur, wielded all authority at the court of Delhi. In a similar way and simultaneously enough, rose a third figure in the political circles at Delhi, who was equally important, able, and who managed the affairs of the state only with the twitch of her eyebrows, and her sidelong glances—I mean the former Hindu princess of Gujarat and the sometime wife of Shankardev Yadav of Devgiri, namely Devaldevi. 747. Of these three Hindu converts, Maliq Kafur seems later on to have wholly turned a Muslim even mentally, completely forgetting his Hindu origin, the Hindu blood running through his veins, his Hindu parentage, let alone his love for all these! But Khushrukhan and this royal princess of

Gujarat, Devaldevi, seem to have borne in their mind not only the memory, but a love, a fascination for their Hindu origin, their Hindu blood, and their essential Hindu make-up—there seems to be rankling in their hearts, intermittently or continuously, the atrocities inflicted on them by the Muslims. It seemed to burst out through their actions. At last, it is because of their irrespressible yearning to avenge the wrongs done to their ‘Hindutwa’ that in Delhi itself, broke out that great conflagration which like the wild fire of Khandav forest of Mahabharat, reduced to ashes the Muslim Sultanate which had under its sway practically the whole of India, if only for a short while! 748. In the very first expedition of Allauddin against Gujarat, after the Gujarat ruler’s defeat, his crowned queen Kamaldevi fell into the hands of Allauddin while she was fleeing for safety. But the ruler, however, could effect his escape along with his princely daughter, Devaldevi, a mere child then. Used to all sorts of royal comforts and pleasures till the very previous day as she was, how hard and unbearable might this tender and beautiful royal princess have found it to undergo all the calamities and privations and exertions of wandering for days together through forest-after-forest, and trying to evade the ever present possibility of capture by the pursuing Muslims, might easily be imagined. In that tender age, hatred for the Muslims must have been engraved deeply on her bosom, because of other people’s and her own actual experience. Her very mother, Rani Kamaldevi, had become the beloved queen of Sultan Allauddin at Delhi, and that very mother of hers was now out to seize her and make her a Muslim! How painful must this news have been to her tender heart! In order to evade this terrible fate, she was married, even a little against her father’s wishes, to Ramdevrao’s son, Shankardev, the staunch follower of Hinduism. But her evil star did not leave her alone there. In one of the invasions of Maliq Kafur against the Hindus, she was caught and carried away to Delhi as a captive. She must have been smarting with pain and humiliation a hundred thousand times in that moment of despair! At last, on reaching Delhi, she was forced to marry Khijrakhan, the eldest son of Allauddin. Some writers vouch that Devaldevi and Khijrakhan greatly loved each other. But this seems to be the flattering way of the courtly writers. Her subsequent course of action makes it abundantly clear! But that shrewd Hindu princess seems to have affected her love for Islam and for her husband till she got the desired opportunity.

749. It becomes crystal clear from the latter part of her life that after all the atrocities and persecutions, she was constantly worshipping the Hindu god.
750. Even after being forced to marry Allauddin’s eldest son, the mental agonies of Devaldevi did not cease. For, immediately after Allauddin’s death, there was a revolution, in which Allauddin’s second son, Mubarik, attacked and blinded his brother along with his followers and then put them to death. Installing himself as the Sultan, he seized his brother’s wife, Devaldevi, and forced her to marry him.
751. This alone seems to be the civilized and polite tradition of the Muslim Sultans and Emperors to marry again the fairest of queens and wives of the late Sultans or Emperors, dead or put to death!
752. This way did the former Hindu princess, Devaldevi rise to the highest status of a Sultana! However, she abhorred Mubarik most bitterly, yet she had, per force, to keep marital relations with him. Although her precious body was thus continually defiled, she had the most favourite opportunity of her life owing to this marriage of hers with Mubarik.
753. In gaining the Sultanate of Delhi, Mubarik had mainly to depend on the former Hindu slave, who later on was forced to become a Muslim, and who now had become the commander-in-chief of the whole Sultanate of Delhi—namely Khushrukhan! Mubarik himself had willingly entrusted the whole administration to Khushrukhan, for he had no time to mind other things except every sort of depravity and vice. For instance, he was extremely fond of dressing like a woman, going to the greatest noblemen of the court with the whole band of dancing girls, and there dancing himself, or having dancing and musical concerts there. So, while this licentious Mubarik was fully engrossed with his various vices, his chief minister of state, Khushrukhan, who had the burning memory of his former Hindu wife, and his present wife but the former Hindu princess, Devaldevi, who had similar thoughts and tendencies and similar mishaps in life as the former—both being Gujarati Hindus originally—had the greatest opportunity of coming into closest contact, of developing the strongest love-ties and the greatest confidence in each other. They could carry on the day-to-day political intrigues and plans authoritatively and with impunity, even to the solitude of the innermost secret chambers of the Sultan’s private palace.

754. It has to be taken for granted from the latter course of events, that it is there, that they must have hatched some important conspiracy for the benefit of Hinduism.
755. The first proof that contributes to this assertion is that Khushrukhan appointed his former Hindu Paria or Parwar brother to the governorship of Gujarat, his native province.
756. The second very important pointer: Khushrukhan appointed openly in Delhi itself, for his own protection, thousands of his former Hindu warrior compatriots—at least twenty to thirty thousand strong—in the Muslim army.
757. The Third Pointer: These manoeuvres of his were highly resented to by many of the Muslim grandees. But the innormost intention behind them all was kept so very secret that, it is doubtful, whether, it had by that time, become so crystal clear to Devaldevi or even to Khushrukhan himself, let alone the others! Faintly and slowly, yet surely enough, was that intention taking shape in their minds.
758. The Fourth Pointer: Khushrukhan incited the most incapable Sultan like Mubarik to lead an expedition to the South to put down in good time, the rebellions of the conquered Hindus in the Deccan, and he himself accompanied him second-in-command. The Hindus were worsted a lot. Their immeasurable wealth, taken as spoils of war, filled the Sultan’s treasury. Most probably, it was during this expedition, that after the death of Shankardev of Devgiri, his relative, King Harpaldev, rebelled and founded the kingdom of Devgiri once again, for which he was defeated and ordered by the Sultan to be skinned alive and then put to death! And for the defence of his religion, the royal Hindu warrior bore it bravely.
759. Thereafter, Mubarik returned with his army to Delhi. Because of these deeds of valour of his for the sake of a Muslim Sultan and the Muslim state, and because of his devastation of the Hindus, his rival Muslim grandees, too, could not breathe a single word against his unshakable faith in the Islamic religion. They could at the most, only whisper that there was danger of his overthrowing Sultan Mubarik and become the Sultan himself in his stead. But that, he would be a Muslim Sultan and none else, there was not the least doubt.
760. But if at this very time that future conspiracy of a Hinduistic revolution, which was very strange and unheard of before, had germinated

in the minds of Khushrukhan and Devaldevi, it must have been kept highly secret with utmost caution. 761. Very soon, Mubarik sent Khushrukhan to the Deccan for an extensive conquest but he himself did not go with him. So complete was his faith in Khushrukhan! In this expedition, Khushrukhan subdued the King of Malabar too, and exacted therefrom immeasurable plunder in the name of Sultan Mubarik! But 762. But in this very campaign of South India, various open or secret Hindu conspiracies against the Muslim empire began to brew up from various quarters of the South Indian peninsula. The royal Hindu families of Varangal and Gujrath, the valiant Rana Hameer, the redeemer of Chitod, and other Hindu Chiefs, the religious leaders and propagandists in the various religious institutions and monasteries like those of the Shankaracharya and even the common people were becoming restless and agitated with a common antagonism to the Muslim domination. And anonymous complaints by Khushrukhan’s enemies had reached the ears of the Sultan of Delhi to the effect that Khushrukhan was in some mysterious way and most secretly connected with this universal discontent! 763. So, scanty and self-contradictory bits of information are available in the writings of the contemporary Muslim writers about this Khushrukhan, the conqueror of Malabar, and the whole of the Muslim empire, that we have to correlate them into some sort of consistent account, only as far as it is possible from the later happenings! Once in the open court of the Sultan at Delhi there was a rumour, which apprehended that instead of coming back to Delhi amongst the ring of his adversaries, Khushrukhan was about to escape to some neighbouring foreign island by sea with the immense wealth he had amassed in the South. One Muslim writer has gone to the length of saying that Khushrukhan was brought back to Delhi in fetters! 764. With an exceptional daring and ability to cut off the strings of the net of inimical conspiracies with one stroke, Khushrukhan at once declared his intention to go back to Delhi in the grand manner of the conqueror of the South with all his army. For, his secret accomplice, the former Hindu princess but now the Muslim empress, Devaldevi, must have been keeping him posted with every detail of the daily happenings at Delhi! 765. From the few English translations of the Muslim books of the time that are now available, even those who do not know either Persian or

Arabic can have some information. Most of the Muslim writers mention Khushrukhan with utmost scorn and finish him within four or five lines only. The reason is plain enough. The Muslim historians can never bear with equanimity Khushrukhan’s taking the conceit out of the Muslim rule at Delhi. Even these Muslim historians have found it at places improper to distort and garble up the truth about Khushrukhan or to suppress it altogether. Their manuscripts, especially the recently published ones, prove very useful in this respect. Even the account by the recent Hindu historians, who based their conclusions on the above mentioned old Muslim books, is to that extent useless. The Hindu writers have done nothing more than merely repeating the obloquies like ‘mean-minded’, ‘shameless’, ‘dastardly’, hurled at him by the Muslim writers. But there are two honourable exceptions to this general tendency: one is that of the veteran historian Riasatkar Sardesai and the other of Shree Munshi. These two historians, however, have given a comparative account of Khushrukhan and Devaldevi, too, and have attempted to appraise, though very faintly and cursorily, the great revolution they had finally effected to etablish a Hindu empire. But theirs is a half-hearted attempt, which fears its own conclusions, and which could never fully grasp nor could explain the real implications and nature of that unprecedented revolution. A contemporary Hindu writer, who could elucidate the Hindu side of this great event is, obviously enough, not to be found! For, no Hindu of the time could have been dared to express his own independent opinions or judgement. 766. Under these circumstances, it is only possible to give in the form of a connected narrative, the obvious conclusion that can be drawn from what little consistency can be found in the disconnected reports in the above- mentioned original Muslim writings, and the actual undisputed acts of the leading personalities like Khushrukhan, Devaldevi and others. 767. As already told above, Khushrukhan went to Delhi with his victorious army and the immense spoils he had gathered in the Deccan, But why did he go there? Not only in Delhi but even in the Deccan a political rumour was secretly disseminated amongst the Hindu political circles that the Hindu leaders, who were organizing Hindu revolts in the south against the Muslims, were in collusion with Khushrukhan about some deep-laid conspiracy to disrupt the Muslim empire. In Gujarat, Khushrukhan’s brother himself was the de facto ruler, while all the Rajputs were inspired by Rana Hameer to overthrow the India-wide unitary Muslim empire, the first of its

kind, at least till that day. And most wonderful of all, was the fact that Sultan Mubarik's supreme commander and chief administrator, Khushrukhan himself, working as he was directly under Sultana Devaldevi's confidential orders, was taken in confidence by the Rajput leaders in respect of this daring plot to establish a Hindu empire! Such a rare concurrence of opposing forces is bound to astound history itself! Stand to reason, it never can, till at least something miraculous happens. 768. But something of the kind did begin to shape itself at the time. In the fiery brains of Sultana Devaldevi and Khushrukhan, there really was seething some such extraordinarily magnificent and by its very nature almost an incredible idea or plan, which seemed possible only to some mysterious intrigue and daring of a Nurshinh! 769. But neither their enemies nor their friends could breathe it openly! For with what magic wand was this supreme commander of Mubarik—the commander, who had brought all the Hindu states in the Deccan to meek submission before the Muslim Sultan-who had very recently devastated the wealthy Hindu kingdom of Malabar and hoisted there the green Muslim flag of the Delhi Sultanate—and who, above all, had come to Delhi to lay down all that success, all that glory, as an humble homage at the feet of the Muslim emperor—how was he, the sole supporter of the India-wide foreign and non-Hindu empire—he, who, born though he was as a Hindu, had become converted to Islam—how was a man of such a status likely to transform so suddenly the whole Muslim empire into a Hindu one? No staunch Muslim could even dare express it openly. Khushrukhan and Devaldevi had been keeping up till the last, the pretence of their being diehard Muslims and of their greatest loyalty to the Muslim Sultan and his empire so scrupulously and thoroughly, that even their direst enemies who had dark suspicions of their having underground connections with the Hindu rulers, feared that were they personally to charge Khushrukhan before the Sultan in Delhi or in the open court, the Sultan would point out proofs to the contrary and outwit them forthwith. Even the top-level Muslim officials feared this eventuality. Whatever complaints had reached the general populace of Delhi of the ears of the Sultan himself were so baseless and completely anonymous, that nobody credited them with any more veracity or seriousness than they would do hearsay report or false accusations by some mischief-mongers!

770. As soon as he came to Dehli, Sultan Mubrarik did not put him under heavy fetters and custody, as his Muslim enemies had expected, but being extremely pleased with the immense treasure Khushrukhan had laid at his feet and the unlimited power he had gained for the Delhi Sultanate, Mubarik, on the contrary, conferred upon Khushrukhan the administrative, military, civic and all other residual authority. And if he had put anybody under arrest, it was the great Muslim noblemen and Khankhanas of the court, who were dismissed for charging Khushrukhan unreservedly. 770A. On the other hand, in the regime of Khushrukhan as the chief administrator, the strictest bans against the Hindu introduced by Allauddin in former days were now being gradually relaxed; the exploitation of the Hindu-Muslim farmers, and the people in general, also was stopped; the Hindus, too, got much relief in matters religious; the common discontent amongst the subjects against the tyrannical rule of the emperors was on the wane. And the whole credit of this comparatively happy state of things began to go very naturally to Khushrukhan, who was the chief of the imperial administration at that time. Gradually, by Sultan, the common people came to understand, not the vicious and good-for-nothing Mubarik, but his all-in-all, valiant and popular administrator, Khushrukhan, and behind him loomed the Sultana, Devaldevi, with whose internal and open support he could wield this authority.
771. The Hindu began to look upon Khushrukhan as their saviour; even though he was still a Muslim, because he had set them free to a great extent from the vexatious taxes and restrictions imposed on them by Allauddin and the untold humiliation they had to undergo. Khushrukhan began to be popular amongst the Muslim farmers and other citizens, because of the relief they got from heavy taxes. And, above everything else, because of his military exploits, which had resounded throughout the whole of India and his superb adroitness in statecraft, many of the high-ranking Muslim noblemen had enlisted themselves on his side.
772. Seeing such a favourable opportunity, Khushrukhan and Devaldevi thought the right moment had come for them to proclaim boldly their grand scheme of a politicial revolution—for one who hesitates to undertake this hazard under favourable circumstances must be a coward, who would accomplish no daring feat! It was not merely a coup d'etat in a small state; it was an imperial revolution, which sought to subvert the India-wide unitary and danger-free Muslim empire of the late Allauddin and of the

present Mubarik, and to establish in its place overnight, most unexpectedly, a Hindu empire all over India. It was a religious revolution inasmuch as it sought to pull down the enthroned Muslim religion and to supplant it by the Hindu Vedic religion. 773. That such a perfect revolution was most difficult—almost impossible —to be accomplished, even if Hindu-Muslim wars were to be fought continuously for five hundred years, was quite plain from the Arab invasions of Sindh in the seventh century and the later history of Muslim invasions, till the time of Allauddin. But such a complete revolution was in fact brought about by the exceptional genius of Khushrukhan and Devaldevi, even if it was only for a short while! 774. Had not the Muslim Sultanate conquered the Hindus completely by hard fighting for centuries together and turned their country wholly Muslim? Then if Khushrukhan were able to wrench the imperial authority from the single Sultan and if he were to ascend the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in the name of Hinduism, then the whole of the empire would necessarily be a ‘Hindu’ one, with one stroke! Then the Muslim Sultan would necessarily become a Hindu emperor. This feat was as daring in planning as it was easy in execution under those circumstances! It was quite possible too. It is this magic wand that Devaldevi, originally a Hindu princess, and Khushrukhan, the original Hindu Paria youth wielded, which worked as an unparalleled miracle not only in Indian but in the whole human history! 775. Having arranged every minute detail of the future revolution most secretly, Khushrukhan humbly requested Sultan Mubarik, who had willingly allowed himself to be governed completely by the former: “The thousands of Hindus of my caste whom I have stationed in Delhi want to be converted to Islam with proper religious ceremony; but they are fighting shy of doing so openly in the city. Some of them are really afraid to do so. Hence, I wish to bring the choicest amongst them into the palace today and convert them in due course.” Under this pretext, Khushrukhan brought the hundreds of his bravest Hindu warriors in Delhi into the palace and housed them in the barracks for the imperial guards. One day in A.D. 1319, at the dead of night, suddenly there was a great turmoil in the palace in the midst of which Sultan Mubarik was killed.

776. But many had been the tumults and turmoils, causing change of rulers before this. Sultan Allauddin himself, was similarly dispatched. Sultan Mubarik had dealt with Maliq Kafur in this very way. The city of Delhi, which was quite used to such turmoils, began to whisper the next morning: “What terrible things happened in the palace last night?”
777. Within a very short time, only a single proclamation of a political nature gave a violent shock, as that of an earthquake, to the whole capital and brought to it the rude realization that the previous night Khushrukhan’s people had effected at one and the same time, an imperial and religious revolution by putting Sultan Mubarik to death, and it was immediately followed by another that Khushrukhan had installed himself as a Sultan!
778. However, there was nowhere to be seen any immediate, open and organized opposition amongst the people to this unprecedented revolution. The fact that the new Sultan Khushrukhan married Sultana Devaldevi, the queen of Mubarik, as soon as the latter was killed, stirred the revolutionary curiosity of the people but did not overawe them! For, that was the age-old tradition of the earlier Sultans! Kutubuddin’s widows were married to the latter Sultans who succeeded him, while Allauddin’s and his son’s, Khijrakhan’s widow, this very Devaldevi, was espoused by Mubarik himself. Quite consistent with this time-honoured tradition was this act of Khushrukhan of marrying Devaldevi, the widow of the late Sultan Mubarik, with whom he had established very close contacts much earlier and who was really his partner and perhaps a source of inspiration! Why should it not then seem quite natural to everybody in the state? But...!
779. But more startling than this was another proclamation made authoritatively and with every political formality by Khushrukhan and Devaldevi, which suddenly turned this political revolution in the royal palace into a religious one of a unique nature. Everybody in India right from the Kings and Nawabs to the Parias and Parwars, Mahars and Mangs was thrilled with a strange sensation at this unique proclamation! The Hindus were thrilled with unlimited joy while the Muslims were filled with the darkest apprehensions. The said proclamation made by Sultan Khushrukhan himself from his throne on the 15th April, 1320 meant to say:
780. “Although till today I was forced to lead the most detestable life of a convert to Islam, I am originally a son of a Hindu. The mainspring of my

life is Hinduism and the blood that throbs into my veins and arteries is that of a Hindu. Now that I have won independent and powerful status of a Sultan for myself, I am hereby breaking off the shackles of conversion to a foreign religion, and I do hereby declare that I am a Hindu! I have now ascended publicly the throne of the vast and entire, undivided India as a Hindu Emperor! Similarly, Sultana Devaldevi till very recently was originaly a Hindu daughter. Her husband, the Raja of Devgiri, Shankardev Yadav, was most brutally murdered and she was treacherously captured from her father sneaking miserably through dense forest to avoid seizure by the enemy. She was brought to Delhi and put to shame and ignominous disgrace by being forced to marry Khijrakhan, in the first place, and secondly after his brutal murder, Sultan Mubarik, who was killed in the coup d'etat last night. That Devaldevi is my queen, the empress of Hindusthan of today! Being originally Hindu in flesh and blood and a Hindu royal princess, she also hereafter renounces disdainfully her shameful conversion to Islam and henceforth will lead her life strictly according to Hindu religion! May this solemn vow of ours absolve us both of our former sin of forceful conversion!” 781. To refute or to challenge a proclamation of this nature came forth no stronger Hindu, nor even a single Muslim! 782. Hence, hereafter, we are going to address Sultan Khushrukhan as a Hindu Emperor and Devaldevi as a Hindu Empress! 783. This Hindu Emperor did not, however, disclose his original Hindu name of his young years! Most probably, he had no recollection of it whatsoever; today it is eternally lost. The imperial title that he adopted for himself was also a Muslim one, viz., Nasir-ud-din! The reason for this, perhaps, was that the whole of the Muslim world and even the millions of Hindus who were used to Muslim titles for generations together, might not be scandalized in respect of these minor details also. Nasir-ud-din, roughly speaking, means a sort of a defender of faith or religion! Hence, this Hindu Emperor made it clear in the said proclamation that ‘Din’ or religion that he was going to defend was not Islam! Naturally, it must be the Hindu religion! It is, therefore, proper that his name Nasir-ud-din should be translated as the Defender of Hindu Religion—Hindu dharmarakshak! The Unprecedented Revolution! 784. As soon as this unheard of revolution, transforming the India-wide Muslim Empire into the Hindu one, suddenly within a day, was

accomplished, this Hindu Emperor disbursed amongst the thousands of soldiers of his caste, the immense wealth, which he had pillaged in his conquest of Malabar by vanquishing the Hindu states and which had filled the coffers of the late Sultan Mubarik, along with the unlimited wealth accumulated during the regimes of the former Sultans. Similarly, he increased the pay-scale of both the Hindu and Muslim soldiers. Having won over his soldiery in this way, he introduced new reforms, gave to the farmers and common Hindu-Muslim citizens facilities, and allowed them concessions they were never allowed to enjoy by any of the former Sultans! Likewise, he set free thousands of Hindu prisoners who were interned as a diversion in religious persecution and the hundreds of Muslims, who were imprisoned simply because they were repugnant to the former Sultans for one reason or another. No wonder if this Hindu Emperor, Dharmarakshak, immediately became popular amongst the Hindus as well as the Muslims throughout his empire! 785. It is needless to say that he also absolved all the Hindus of all the humiliating bans on their pilgrimages and holy baths. The Jizia tax was repealed and other degrading conditions that had been enforced upon them by Sultan after Sultan were ameliorated forthwith. What wonder then if the whole Hindu world felt a thrill of joy and freedom that at long last, they had a saviour! 786. Even when this Hindu Samrat was fighting in the guise of a converted Muslim, victoriously in the South and reducing Malabar, he had been formulating the scheme of the future revolution. So, all the big Hindu- Muslim officers and generals in the fighting forces, who depended on his patronage and who had risen mainly because of his support, of course, remained loyal to him for safeguarding their own selfish interests and also for protecting themselves from the malice and enmity of the old Muslim Khans, Nizams, and other co-religionists of theirs. For, as a natural consequence of intermingling of the two religious communities, Muslims serving in the armies of many Hindu States had come to form a habit of rendering loyal service to their Hindu masters! The political service of a Hindu King was taboo formerly when the Muslims first came to India, but by this time, the taboo had lost its intensity and in its stead such a loyal service rendered to a Hindu master came to be considered quite in conformity with the Muslim religious code! Many incidents illustrating this point have already occurred so far, and will occur in the following pages

too. Although acceptance of any high office under a Hindu ruler was no more considered contrary to the Muslim religious law, the staunch moulanas and moulavis, however, looked upon such acts as necessary exceptions and bore a secret grudge in their hearts that they were time bombs laid under the Muslim political power! Never from the very beginning, did the Hindus consider it contrary to their religious code to fight in the Muslim army on the side of the Muslims! It was only the exchange of food and women in marriage with the Muslims which endangered the sanctity of their religion! How foolish and suicidal to think so! 786A. This Hindu Emperor did not rest with the mere declaration of his adherence to Hinduism, but he fearlessly began to bring it into action in the presence of the Muslims. Idols of Hindu gods and goddesses were immediately installed in the holiest of places of Muslim civilization, the Diwan-i-Aam and Diwan-i-Khas in the royal palaces of Delhi. All the worships and all the religious rites in royal palaces began to be performed according to the Hindu ritual. Loud chanting of Hindu mantras and singing of Hindu devotional songs took the place of the ‘Ayats’ in the Koran! This Hindu Emperor himself and the hundreds amongst his old Hindu battalions, who had remained Hindus from the beginning and who were guarding the royal palace, paid scrupulous attention to the protection and proper worship of these new idols of Hindu gods and goddesses. The enthusiasm and vigour of the Hindu citizens and especially of the Hindu soldiers in the capital knew no bounds! Just as formerly the aggressive Muslims completely demolished the godly idols in the Hindu temples and turned them into Muslim masjids immediately after they conquered any Hindu capital, so did these counter-revolutionary Hindus install new images of their gods in every masjid as a retaliatory measure, and most ceremoniously converted the masjids into Hindu temples and filled them with loud chanting of mantras. It is only by this counter-attack of the Hindu Parias that the fanatic Muslims could ever have had any idea of the pangs of humiliation and grief that might have rankled in the hearts of the Hindu community, which had grown feeble because of their malady of religious tolerance, when the Muslims polluted the Hindu temples by cow-slaughter and turned them into masjids. 787. It might be true that in the heat and excitement of this unheard of and unprecedented religious revolution, the Muslim scriptures, some Muslim writers charge, might have been exposed to ridicule or shame. But at least

the Muslims, who considered to be Gazis, those scoundrels, who destroyed the whole university of Nalanda in flames and sat warming themselves at that bonfire and laughed scornfully and shamelessly as the valuable religious books of the Hindus were being reduced to ashes, had no moral right whatsoever to blame this incendiarism against the Muslim religion! 787A. This Hindu Samrat converted with their willing consent the young wives, daughters and nieces of the earlier Sultans and other Muslim women to Hinduism and married them to his Hindu Paria followers. 788-789. But more than this, this Hindu Dharmarakshak did not do! Even the Muslim historians do not mention any atrocities or religious persecution or plunder as having been committed by this Hindu Emperor as the Muslim aggressors were wont to do after overpowering any Hindu State. As against the wholesale forcible conversion of the Hindus, the brutal ravaging of Hindu women, the reckless destruction of Hindu property and temples, the Muslim historians have no grievous crime to attribute (impute) to this Hindu Emperor! Even if he had committed the very same atrocities on the Muslim community as a revenge against the Muslim diabolism towards the hapless Hindus, it would have been not a bit derogatory, but all the more glorious for this revolutionary Hindu Emperor! The non-Hindu aggressors would have taken the fright of their lives as never before, and it would have proved a deterrent to their perfidious activities! We have already made it amply clear that it is only the fierce retaliation that destroys atrocity, root and branch! 790. But the main reason why this Defender of Faith (Dharamarakshak Nasir-ud-din) did not commit any such revengeful atrocities on the Muslims must probably be his keen sense of the strength and weakness of his side. Were the whole of the Hindu community in the Indian sub-continent and the ruling Hindu kings of the time to lend him their immediate and active support—had his example in Delhi of reconverting to Hinduism the converted Muslims at their own free will, of turning masjids into Hindu temples and of other revolutionary activities of his, been copied in various towns and cities of India from Rajputana to Southern capitals—and had the Hindus risen openly against the Muslims and if the proclamation of the success of Hinduism were published openly, this Hindu Emperor would have persecuted the Muslims as were the Hindus actually before them and would have also launched a special military offensive against the Muslims and would have made it impossible for them to live as Muslims!

791. But the Hindu kings and Hindu people in general did not openly support this Hindu political revolution. They were, however, inwardly proud of it and overjoyed at it. They did appreciate this utter humiliation and ruination of the Muslim Sultanate at the hands of this Hindu Dharmarakshak ‘Nasir-ud-din’. The Hindu kings and the Hindu society at large nevertheless refrained from attempting any open revolt. The one reason why the Hindu Society failed to attempt the establishment of a Hindu Empire at this most opportune moment, was that the Hindus harboured serious doubts whether this undreamt of revolution would succeed. If that revolution were to fail, they feared, the followers would never escape complete annihilation. So, the Hindu community only waited. Secondly, the entire Hindu society never approved of the mass conversion of Muslims to Hinduism that was effected in and around Delhi as a sound religious practice! The Hindu Dharma of the day meant ban on reconversion, not reconversion! Religious tolerance had been their religion because of their perverted sense of values; their religion never brooked either the demolishing of masjids or converting the Muslims to Hinduism. This sort of reactionary measure was considered by the Hindus to be the greatest sin! So, who could have predicted that the Hindu society itself would not oppose tooth and nail this religious revolution? That possibility could not be ruled out altogether! Muslim opposition to this revolutionary change, however, in the imperial government and religion was quite natural.
792. Under these circumstances, Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) refrained from any further atrocities or revenge upon the Muslims in Delhi or elsewhere in the empire, considering that his religious and political revolution in Delhi was in itself so daring as to put the Muslim power to shame, and so he was satisfied that the Hindu society had now become strong enough to relish and digest such a revolution! And this was not a small achievement! The next step could be deferred to a later date! The next favourable opportunity would most certainly be availed of. He did not, therefore, think it wise to stretch things too far so as to cause a complete break.
793. On the other hand, as had already been told (in Paragraph 784), he allowed the Muslim soldiers and peasants and civilians equal rights to the new facilities and exemption from taxes, which he did in the case of Hindus. Moreover, he kept on sending extremely valuable presents to those Muslim officers and Mullah-Maulvis, whom he suspected to be secretly

despising this religious revolution of the Hindus and the Hindu Empire, as often as he sent them to those Muslim officers, who were loyal to him and with a extremely polite treatment, kept them under his obligation. 794. It is because of this exceptional skill of his at diplomacy that even after the successful realization of this religio-political revolution of the Hindus, immediately or for months together thereafter, there was not a single Muslim revolt—no riots nor brawls—throughout the length and breadth of his vast empire. His whole administration was working as smoothly as it did in the days of the old Muslim Sultans. Revenues, taxes or ransoms were collected from all provinces and remitted to the imperial treasury at Delhi without any default. In Delhi itself, the greatest of Muslim knights and feudatory princes, generals and sardars and other courtiers and officers attended the imperial court on the orders of this Hindu Dharmarakshak and took their appointed seats. Of the great Muslim noblemen reported by the historians of the time to be attending the court of this Hindu emperor, Nasir-ud-din, some may be mentioned here: they were Ain-ul-Mulk Multani, Yusuf Safi, Hatim Khan, Kamaluddin Sufi, Faruk-did an-Tughlak, Mulgati, Mohammed Shah, Baharam Anayya, Yuklakhi, Hoshang, Kaphur Saheb. Because of the presence of these big shots in the Hindu court of Nasir-ud-din and because of written letters promising allegiance to the emperor from governors, and administrators and Muslim officers in the army, peace throughout the whole of India was never broken for months together. 795. On the other hand, the Hindu kings from Rajputana to Madurai did not protest, perhaps according to some previous secret pact, against the revolution effected by this Hindu emperor. Why, availing themselves fully of this military coup in Delhi, they began to rule the Hindu States independently as before. Their chief fault was that at this greatest and rarest of opportunities, they did not make a well-organized effort to proclaim the independence of the Hindus and establish a united strong central imperial power at Delhi. 796. Under the circumstances, the shrewd ‘Dharmarakshak’ (Nasir-ud- din) well knew that although at first his Hindu administration was running smoothly, his revolutionary Hindu empire depended on no other thing than his armed might. He, therefore, kept the thousands of his choicest of Hindu soldiers stationed in the capital in all readiness! At every vital centre of defence in his empire, he drafted his most faithful Hindu battalions and also

the Muslim troops, which had sworn loyalty towards him. For, he knew perfectly well that although the Muslims everywhere in his empire obeyed him implicitly and swore alligance to him, sooner or later some rebellious faction amongst them was bound to organize itself and stage a counter- revolution against his pro-Hindu authority! 797. Want of space obliges us to skip over many intervening events. Suffice it to say that the imperial administration, which nobody could have expected to work smoothly even for a day, ran most efficiently, not for a day, nor a month, but for nearly a year, overthrowing the Muslim domination and turning the very same Muslim ‘Takhta’ (throne) which means a ‘Sinhasan’ of a Hindu emperor, and replacing the green Muslim Chand, which had been flaunting almost over the whole of India by the victorious Hindu flag. Millions of Muslims, rich or poor, liege or serf, throughout the whole of India, accepted without a murmur the overlordship (sovereignty) of the Hindu empire. For, at least a year, the great Muslim governors and officers obeyed implicitly the orders of this Hindu emperor and made the common Muslim community do likewise. This itself was a great wonder that glorifies the Hindu history of the times. 798. And another equally great wonder, which condemns the Hindus of the time and those of later times also, is that in the histories written of the Hindu people and by the Hindu people no major reference, let alone grateful reference is made either to this Hindu imperial and religious revolution and to its architect and engineer Dharmarakshak, (Nasir-ud-din)! Whatever few words are written about him are full of censure and ridicule for him and for his acts, in strict pursuance of the Muslim historical writings! Ghyasuddin Tughlak 799. But before this year of amazement elapsed, one or two top-ranking Muslims ventured to hatch a conspiracy to overthrow the yoke of this Hindu Emperor. Secret provocative pamphlets were being circulated and bigoted moulavis were already instigating sedition secretly in their masjids, that it was a grave insult to the whole Muslim world that the Muslim imperial throne should be turned into a Hindu one, and that the Muslims should be forced to bow down meekly before a ‘kafir’, and finally, that it was highly essential for the Muslims to go on a crusade against the Hindu sovereignty in order to end the utter degradation of Islam. But no Muslim ‘amir’, nor military chief, nor any superior officer offered to lead the