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

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

insurrection. Ultimately, the administrator and governor of Punjab under the Sultan of Delhi, by name Ghyasuddin, aspired to shoulder that responsibility. He began sending secret emissaries and epistles to that effect to various higher Muslim authorities under Sultan Nasir-ud-din. Ghyasuddin himself had sworn allegiance to the Sultan and was appointed military Governor of Punjab, while one of his sons was an officer at Delhi itself under the direct control of this ‘Hinduised Sultan’. Ghyasuddin called this son of his for a private visit under some pretext, and gathered every sort of minute detail about the situation in Delhi in his private interview with that son. Whereupon he came to know for certain that after the murder of Allauddin, his sons and relatives were either killed or deprived of their eyesight and thus rendered useless. When he was thus satisfied that there was no proper heir of Allauddin’s for the Sultanate at Delhi, he was all the more elated to declare boldly, that as there was no proper heir left from the house of Allauddin’s, it was only some powerful Muslim who could lay claim to the throne at Delhi. That kafir Hindu Paria was not to be suffered to touch it even. That kafir had married all the widows of all the earlier sultans and the young Muslim girls and maidens from the royal palace to the Parias (sweepers), whom he had formerly raised to eminence, and converted all those ladies of the Muslim royal families to Hinduism. As no Muslim dared to dethrone such a sinful Hindu kafir, he himself was going to shoulder the responsibility. 800. For the first time, these secret letters of his were turned down with spite by the top Muslim officers, while some others placed them into the hands of Dharmarakshak Nasir-ud-din himself, who having already apprehended such an eventuality and undaunted by it, calmly prepared himself to crush this rising of Ghyasuddin immediately. Good many Muslim generals, who had acknowledged him as a Sultan, enlisted their forces in his service while the Hindu section of that imperial army was always ready to fight at the cost of their lives under his standard. 801. At last, depending chiefly on the Muslim battalions, which were employed under his command for the protection of Punjab and the frontiers, Ghyasuddin decided to march upon Delhi. Some Hindu soldiers, too, were amongst those advancing Muslim forces. No sooner did he hear that Ghyasuddin was marching towards Delhi than the Hindu Emperor— Dharmarakshak Nasir-ud-din himself—attacked him with his whole imperial army. Along with this Hindu Emperor, marched the great Muslim

generals, too, with their battalions to fight under his command. When the two armies met on the first day, the imperial army of Sultan Nasir-ud-din won the field, and Ghyasuddin had to retreat. But the latter did not lose heart. Knowing that depression of heart at this time meant utter ruin, and that success depended briefly on enterprise and intrepidity, Ghyasuddin rearranged his ranks and made ready for another battle. Fortunately for Ghyasuddin, on that very day, one or two Muslim chieftains in the Sultan's armies conspired to betray the Hindu Emperor Nasir-ud-din and let the former know of their decision most secretly. Encouraged by this, Ghyasuddin himself fell upon the forces of Sultan Nasir-ud-din (Hindu Samrat, Shree Dharmarakshak). In the melee that ensued, the betrayal by the Muslim forces brought about the utter defeat of Sultan Nasir-ud-din. So the Sultan—Shree Dharmarakshak—left the field and started for Delhi. But mad with victory, Ghyasuddin marched straight towards Delhi, and in that hot pursuit, Shree Dharmarakhak—Sultan Nasir-ud-din-—fell helpless in the hands of the enemy. 802. When the victor, Ghyasuddin, ordered the captive Sultan, Nasir-ud- din, to be brought before him and charging him with the murder of Mubarik and decided to sentence him to death, he asked the captive the last question: “Setting aside the question of political expediency or the bid for the throne of the Sultan and considering only the personal aspect of this act of yours, what personal wrong did Mubarik do to you, that you might seek to avenge it by his death? To this, the captive Nasir-ud-din (Khushrukhan) replied to this effect: “Of course! He was guilty of a such personal wrong to me! For the most heinous crime of inflicting homosexual and other unbearable atrocities that this mean and vicious Mubarik had perpetrated on my body ever since my tender age and for the humiliation that he had heaped upon my life. I had long vowed most solemnly that at the earliest opportunity, I would avenge all those personal wrongs upon that villain with murder!” 803. Thereupon, Ghyasuddin dispatched him instantaneously. 804. That was the tragic end of Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din). But the last of the accredited Hindu Emperor of Delhi, the valiant Prithviraj Chouhan, was also equally tragically murdered by the Muslims after his utter rout in the last battle! 805. And the dountless Shree Guru Banda of Punjab! After inflicting several crushing defeats upon the Muslims, when at last he fell into the hands of the Muslim monarch, was he not locked up in a cage like a wild

beast? Didn’t red-hot iron pikes and pincers pierce his body and pull out large pieces of his flesh and was he not after so much torture, put to cruel death by the Muslims? 806. But is any thoroughbread Hindu likely to forget the gratitude that we all owe to those various Hindu gallant warriors for their glorious martyrdom in the cause of Hinduism, simply because they were defeated in the end? It is this grateful memory of such martyrs that becomes the perennial source of inspiration for the nation for ages after ages! 807. O You! Hindu Samrat ‘Shree Dharmarakshak! This martyrdom of yours, too, has become a freshwater spring of inspiration for the Hindu nation! It is to atone for the sin of failing to utter a single grateful word for you, to preserve some souvenir, some memento of yours, that the Hindus of your own times or those of the later generations have committed, and it is again in expiation of the sin of our Hindu ingratitude towards you, that we have most reverently offered you this separate chapter in this book. 808. Had you but chosen to remain a Muslim Sultan, you could easily have perpetuated the Sultanate of the whole of India down to your descendants, generations after generations, as it happened in the case of the Khiljee or Slave dynasties after Allauddin or Ghyasuddin. But with glowing respect and pride for the Hindu religion and the Hindu nation, you purified the very Muslim Title of Sultan, turned the Muslim, ‘Takhta’ into a Hindu ‘Sinhasan’, and slighting the Muslim Sultanate, proclaimed yourself Hindu Samrat (Emperor)! 809. After Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan, it was you alone who made a gallant bid to occupy the imperial throne of Delhi as a Hindu Emperor! In spite of your birth in an humble and miserable Hindu family; in spite of your being defiled and converted to Islam and made an abject slave by your Muslim enemies at your tender age, you became the Sultan of Sultans by the dint of your valour, your versatility, your military exploits, your arch- diplomacy and your adroitness in engineering deep-laid plots, and made the whole of India resound with the glory of Hinduism! We have done our duty to relate with proofs, your (in a way) peculiar life to the Hindu Nation and the world at large, so far as it is possible for us to do so. The Peculiar Character of this Hindu Revolution! 810. Although in this millenial Hindu-Muslim war, the Hindu Nation had been fighting on the political and military fronts more or less on equal grounds, using effective counter-offensive and tactics and ultimately

overpowering the Muslim sovereignty, it was incessantly overwhelmed on the religious front, because of their own hateful bans on re-conversion and the like—fetters, which prevented the Hindus from opening any counter- offensive on the Muslim religion as such! But, this Hindu Emperor, Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din), successfully launched a counter-attack upon the Muslims, both on political and military as well as on the religious fronts, using the same means and weapons. To counter-balance the forceful conversion of the Hindus by the Muslims, Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud- din) brought about hundreds of Muslim reconversions to Hinduism and their republication ceremonies under the protection of his armed might. Just as the Muslim used to rush headlong to ravage and convert the Hindu women to Islam, in the same way, the Hindus broke into the harems of the Muslim Sultan and converted the willing Mohamedan women to Hinduism and married them to their Hindu followers. If the Muslims demolished the Hindu temples, Shree Dharmarakshak, in the excitement of this victory, turned the very Muslim Masjids into Hindu temples. It was this Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) who, for the first time in Hindu history, showed so very successfully and on such a large scale, how the Muslim armed aggression upon Hinduism and the religious persecution that they perpetrated before and after, could be retaliated and how the Muslims could be routed completely on the religious front too. If from the beginning, the Muslims had to face such bold opposition and been forced to suffer such powerful counterstrokes on the religious front, they would never have dared to strike, in spite of all their military might at Hinduism. This first blow, which the Hindus delivered to Islam in Delhi, shook the Muslims so very severely! And this is the peculiar character of this Hinduistic revolution brought about by Shree Dharmarakshak (Khushrukhan Nasir-ud-din). 811. We have intentionally called this account of Khushrukhan's life and achievements as based on proofs! Although, as we have pointed out in Paragraph 744, nobody barring some honourable exception, has written any good word about you, O Khushrukhan, the very inconsistent and confused and oblique reference to you, tell a story which is all the more glorious for you! As such, although your life and career as painted by us too has so far not any ‘written’ or ‘oral’ ‘basis’ or any strong proofs, even then there is another equally strong and unimpeachable legal evidence, which, at times, sets aside even written or oral ones, in such historical and judicial matters of daily occurrence. That evidence is called circumstantial evidence!

The Authority of Circumstantial Evidence 812. In the science of logic the authority of circumstantial evidence is considered, at least in certain cases, to be the better mode of reasoning than inference, the word of the elders, or illustration. Especially, when the intentions and feelings or emotions of the engineers of deep-laid political conspiracies and plots are to be ascertained, circumstantial evidence is considered to be the only strong basis for it and it should be thought so, and rightly too! The written confession of the accused under their own signature can be refuted by the circumstantial evidence of bodily persecution and torture; so does written evidence! 813. Your life, O Dharmarakshak, therefore, has been based more on the strictly logical circumstantial evidence than on your own words or the writings of your contemporary and later day historians, hence it is based on solid proof. Even if your words are not available, your very act and deeds are in themselves far more telling. 814. The brother of this Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) was himself a very great warrior and an able administrator. The original Hindu name of this brother of Shree Dharmarakshak is also not known as yet, for in his very early childhood, he too was converted and made a slave. When this Hindu Emperor appointed him the Governor of Gujarat, he openly accepted Hinduism and canvassed for it. In order to overthrow the Muslim government in Gujarat, he raised a Hindu revolt and sent twenty to twentyfive thousand brave warriors of his parwar (community) to help his brother at Delhi. What ultimately became of them all is not known to history. He too deserves place of honour in Hindu history. 815. And on the same basis of this circumstantial evidence, does that former Hindu royal princess and the Yadav Queen, Devaldevi, who was equally responsible for bringing about the unprecedented Hindu revolution of Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) and who was his important accomplice in the secret plot, and who became, after the successful accomplishment of the said revolution, the Hindu Empress of Shree Dharmarakshak, deserves even a greater place of honour, like that of Devi Padmini of Chitod, for the unimaginable mental agonies that she had to suffer in the most adverse circumstances! She deserves the honour of a brave warrior Rajput Princess, burning herself on the pyre or in Johar! 816. Her end, too, is clouded in mystery! One of the writers of the time has said that she was provided for Ghyasuddin after he became the Sultan

of Delhi. Not a Fruitless Martyrdom! 817. Thus were the two valiant associates of the Hindu Emperor, Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) forced to court martyrdom! But their martyrdom lent a wonderful strength to the morale of the Hindu Nation. For, the fact that in Delhi itself, was established a Hindu Empire, which could powerfully and effectively govern the Muslim States, Nawabs, and Muslim populace throughout India for nearly a year, helped the Hindu kings and the Hindu people to shake off the dominant influence of the Muslim political superiority, which had for centuries overawed the Hindu mind. The myth of this Muslim political superiority as at once exploded and a rare confidence was inspired amongst the Hindus that, were they but to run a little risk, they would also be able to crush the Muslim political hold on them. Shree Dharmarakshak courted martyrdom in 1321; it was soon followed by the risings in Hindu States in the north and south of India. The Muslim provinces round about Delhi, too, began fighting with the Muslim imperial power at Delhi in order to establish their own dynasties in their own provinces. In the end, hardly within fifteen to sixteen years of the martyrdom of Shree Dharmarakshak, the Muslim imperial authority at Delhi became extremely weak, and a powerful Hindu revolt culminated in the establishment of a completely independent Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar, the detailed account of which must necessarily be deferred to next chapter. ❑

The Beginning of the Final Overthrow of the Muslim Empire 818. Soon after slaying Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din), Ghyasuddin Tughlak ascended the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in A.D. 1321 and issued a proclamation to that effect. This was the end of the Khilji dynasty and the beginning of the Tughlak rule. 819. Ghyasuddin too was old. Naturally, he treated the Muslims leniently. But although born of a Hindu jat mother, he strangely enough did not fall short of any type of religious persecution of the Hindus perpetrated by any or all of the former Muslim Sultans! 820. Ghyasuddin died in A.D. 1326 and was succeeded by his son Mohammed Tughlak, who has gone down in history as ‘crazy’. He once had a strange whim of shifting his capital from Delhi to Devgiri in the south. Immediately, he changed the name of Devgiri, according to the Muslim tradition, into Doulatabad, just as Warangal had been changed earlier by the Muslim into Sultanpur. But this change of capital from Delhi to Devgiri caused him and his subjects so much trouble, disrupted his already confusion-fraught revenue system so completely, and so many insurrections and political risings were brewing in the royal families and the people at large in the Deccan (as already pointed out in the previous chapter) that this ‘crazy’ Mohammed was ultimately forced to have another whim of shifting the capital once again back to Delhi. But this short interlude cost millions (crores) of rupees and thousands of lives. 820A. With a view to getting out of this financial trouble, he introduced the copper coins, which drained his treasury completely; but he blamed the farmers and the other gentry for it, saying that they did not pay the taxes. He, therefore, issued orders to his fighting forces to collect the revenue under compulsion, but while the Muslims were shown all leniency in the collection of taxes, the Hindus were most cruelly forced to pay them. Just as the beasts are surrounded on all sides in a hunting expedition and are held at bay and then massacred, similarly a number of Hindu towns and villages were besieged and the Hindu population therein was mercilessly put to the sword. (This sort of persecution devastated numerous Hindu towns and villages, while whole province like Kanouj were rendered desolate!)

821. Nevertheless, there darted from the bow of the Hindu nation a Ram- ban [an arrow of Ram—an (unerring) unmistakable shot!], which put a stop, even if temporarily, to the Ravan-like atrocities by the Muslims perpetrated under every Sultan over the Hindus for centuries together!
822. The diabolic Muslim ambition to spread the unitary Muslim empire to the ends of Hindusthan (Paragraphs 636-737) received a death blow in the very hour of its fruition. For (as it is shown in the previous chapter) with the first vigorous blow struck by the Hindu Emperor, Shree Dharmarakshak, the extensive Muslim Empire had already begun to dwindle, while the Hindu discontent, especially in the Deccan, culminated into a powerful insurrection, which shattered the already dwindling Muslim empire into small fragments. New Hindu State
823. For, in A.D. 1336, was established the new, independent, and powerful Hindu State of Vijaynagar, defying the Muslim might in the very lifetime of this ‘crazy’ Mohammad Tughlak, a detailed account of which will be given in the next chapter.
824. Immediately after this momentous event, the Deccanese Muslims under Hasan Bahamani rose in rebellion against the Delhi Sultanate following the age-old separatist tendency of the Muslims, which had been exhibited in their fratricidal wars ever since the times of Mohammad Paigambar. Hasan Bahamani was crowned with success in this attempt, and so he founded the Bahamani kingdom in A.D. 1347 and proclaimed himself to be an independent Sultan.
825. This act of Hasan Bahamani will explode the popular misconception of the millions of credulous gulls amongst the Hindus, that the Muslims always showed a united front in their political as well as religious wars, that they never fought amongst themselves and that they had no separatist tendencies—a baseless misconception, which is not only foolish in the extreme but which falsely extols the foreigners and undeservedly runs down our own Hindu community. A number of such instances have already been cited in this volume and many more will occur in the pages that follow. The history of the Muslim community all over world is replete with such instances. A Grievous fall and Breaking of the Dream of an Unbroken Muslim Empire

826. Just as perhaps some adventurous mountaineer should, in the excitement of his almost impracticable ambition to scale the highest peak of the Himalayas and to hoist his national flag there before anybody else does it, climb on and on, and after reaching some altogether different peak should victoriously cry out, ‘This is the very same highest peak!’ when all at once, the seemingly highest peak should give way under the heavy load of his ambition, being made as it really is, not of any solid rock, but of a frozen heap of snowflakes, and the ambitious climber should topple down and fall headlong from crag to crag into the deep ravine of destruction along with the bits and fragments of his signal victory—in the very same way, the Muslim ambition to establish the centralized paramount Muslim power over the whole of India was beguiled for a while, and ultimately came to naught. All the Asian Muslim States right from the Arabs to the Mongols invaded India one after another and carried on for seven or eight centuries continuously the bitterest, bloodiest and cruellest wars and at last, when in the regime of Allauddin, practically the whole of India passed under the Muslim sway round about the year A.D. 1310, the Muslim ambition seemed to be almost fulfilled! But, as it is already told, with a hard knock from the resurgent Hindu valour, the Muslim rule collapsed from the highest peak of success attained by Sultan Allauddin and was shattered to pieces within only seven or eight years, never to rise to that giddy height again! The Hindu might went on increasing like the crescent moon! Death of ‘Crazy’ Mohammad and after
827. This ‘crazy’ Sultan Mohammad died in A.D. 1351 and his tottering crown with the disintegrating Sultanate of Delhi passed on to his cousin ‘Pherozshah Tughlak’. This Pherozshah’s mother was the daughter of the Rajput King Malbhatti of Deepalpur. When Pherozshah’s father demanded her (that Rajput Princess) in marriage, King Malbhatti flatly refused to give her up, whereupon Pherozshah’s father marched on Malbhatti and began to persecute the Hindus most cruelly. The princess could not bear the inhuman sufferings of her father and her Hindu brethren in the kingdom. So, she volunteered to marry Pherozshah’s father. However praiseworthy the tenderness of her heart might be, it has permanently stained her father’s family. Had she swallowed fire like some Padmini of Chitod and followed the path of martyrdom for the sake of religion, her life and her family tradition would both have been for ever glorified! The Superstitious Muslims!

828. An anecdote of this time of the Tughlaks, which is recorded in history, may be related here so that the reader might have some idea of the extent the superstitious nature of the Muslims could go to, and of the influence the religious credulity and fanaticism of the Arabs invariably had over the Muslims of later days, ever since the inception of Muslim religion. 828A. In order to atone for the crazy religious acts and the harassment of the subjects by the ‘mad’ Mohammad (setting aside the religious persecution of Hindus, which was deemed harmonious with the tenets of the Muslim religion), Sultan Pherozshah interned with the bones of the late ‘mad’ Mohammad, the original papers regarding the reimbursement of the unjust land revenue collected by him, refund of fines and compensation for the other unjust acts of his, or their governmental acknowledgments along with other original papers signed by Mohammed himself. This action of Pherozshah was perhaps prompted by his credulous belief, that on the strength of this written record of the compensation for all his crimes, the great Allah would forgive Mohammad on the last day of the judgment! And, be it remembered that Pherozshah was well-educated, according to the standards of the time! What to say, then, of the common people!
829. Although in the beginning, Pherozshah proclaimed himself as the Sultan of Hindusthan, everywhere in India, with the only exception of Delhi and a small region around it, the Hindus and the Muslims began one after another to repudiate his imperial authority. In the South, the celebrated kingdom of Vijaynagar had openly asserted its freedom. Under these circumstances, Pherozshah Tughlakh decided finally to acknowledge the independence of the recalcitrant people under him in order to assuage their political bitterness, and to consolidate whatever little he could retain rather than lose all. He, therefore, gave an official recognition to the independence of the Bahamani Kingdom in the south and to that of the valiant Hindu Kingdom of Vijaynagar, which was founded by the great Hindu leaders, who were fired with the bitterest hatred for the Muslim domination and were bent on driving it away right out of India.
830. Thus was the Muslim imperial power, which had reached its zenith round about the years A.D. 1310-12 in Allauddin’s times as a result of the incessant Hindu-Muslim wars for about six or seven centuries, and which had spread over almost the whole of India, dissolved by the very descendant of the same illustrious Sultan, for he could not help yielding to the powerful Hindu resistance. The Muslim empire over the whole of India was

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!

834. But the account of one of those Brahmins is the most remarkable for his martyrdom. In the city of Delhi itself, this old Brahmin openly worshipped an idol. Now the diabolic religion of Sultan Pherozshah Tughlak had absolutely banned any such idol-worship throughout his kingdom. But in order to protest against this ban, that Brahmin collected all the Hindus in the courtyard of his house and worshipped the idol with such great pomp that many Muslim men, women and children, too, became the devotees of that idol. The rumour quickly spread far and wide that this Brahmin’s God always came to the rescue of his devotee. The news that this Brahmin openly worshipped idols painted on a wooden plank reached the ears of the Sultan, who immediately had him brought as a captive, along with his idol, before him. Thereupon, he called all the ulemas (the Muslim religious priests) and asked them: “What punishment should be inflicted on this Brahmin?” They replied: “This Brahmin should either be a Muslim or be burnt alive to death.” The Brahmin, thereupon, chose to die that horrible death by burning. In Delhi, just before the king’s court, a big pile of wood was made and the Brahmin was placed on it, bound hand and foot, with the idol painted on the wooden plank. The Muslim demons set fire to that pile of wood from all sides. Still, the Brahmin would not consent to be converted to Islam. In a few cruel moments, the fire blazed very hot on all sides. But without even a faint sigh of pain or grief, the Brahmin remained bowing down to the idol. Within a moment, the hungry flames swallowed up the devoted Brahmin!
835. This arch-enemy of the Hindus, Sultan Pherozshah Tughlak, died in A.D. 1388, followed by an utter chaos in the meagre remains of his kingdom, whereas on one occasion, two of his grandsons fell out and at the two ends of the city of Delhi, there ruled two Sultans at one and the same time, Mohammadshah and Nasratshah, the two grandsons of Pheroz. Half the city of Delhi became the capital of the one, while the other half, that of the other!! Invasion by Taimurlang
836. Under these chaotic conditions, Delhi fell a prey to the inhuman ravages of the notorious Taimurlang, the Sultan of the far off Samarkand.
837. Taimur was a Turk, and not originally a Muslim. After conquering the city of Baghdad, he burned to ashes the whole library of literature and at many places, he even burned Masjids! In A.D. 1369, he became the King of Samarkand. Following the lead of Chengeezkhan before him, he had

conquered not less than twenty-seven crowns from Russia in the West to Afghanistan in the South-East! Because he had lost a leg in one of the battles, he received the nickname ‘lang’ (lame). Thereafter, he happened to cast his eyes on India, not simply because of any allurement of political power or the lust for victory, but because he had formed a bitter hatred towards India. For, he had in the meantime become a Muslim. His original destructive tendencies now received this new ghastly impetus! Says he in his autobiography: “My intention in marching upon India is to massacre the Kafir Hindus there, destroy the idols of their Gods, convert them all to Islam and thus win the title of a ‘Gazi’ in the court of the Allah.” 838. So, immediately in A.D. 1397, he invaded India. He had under him a gigantic force of ninety thousand strong. He marched straight up to Punjab. Still nobody came forward to oppose him. He, therefore, swooped down straight on Delhi, where a small force came to oppose him in the name of the Sultan of Delhi, but it was soon put to rout. An interesting point to note is that this veteran army of Taimurlang, which had trampled over half the world, was scared to death for a time by the mere sight of elephants in this ludicrous army of the Sultan of Delhi, for they had seen such huge beasts for the first time in their lives. Yet it got over the fear very soon and as soon as the Sultan’s forces were completely routed, it dashed violently into the city of Delhi, letting loose the orgy of wholesale massacre, plunder and arson. Millions of lives were lost this day. After having thus quenched his thirst for Hindu blood to some extent, Taimur turned further to Meerut and Haridwar, smashing to pieces Hindu idols at many places on his way. At Haridwar, he reached the pinnacle of his cruelty in the Hindu bloodbath. How many instances is one to quote of the harrowing atrocities which the Hindu community had to suffer simply because of their dire determination and holy resolve not to forsake their religion! From Haridwar, this fiendlike Taimur went further to the north, raining Hindu blood on the Shivalik hills, Nagarcote, Jammu and demolishing Hindu temples on the way. On his way, he got the news of his native capital of Samarkand being threatened by the rebels. So, mad with fury and mental anguish, he hurried straight off to Samarkand with the whole of his army. 839. In this Taimurlangian deluge was washed off the little that was left of the Tughlak Sultanate. In the chaotic conditions that then prevailed in north India, the Sayyads usurped the nominal Sultanate of the Tughlaks.

840. Availing themselves of this miserable condition of the Muslim power at Delhi, the veteran defenders of the Hindu religion, the independent Rajput kings, went on setting free the territories formerly conquered by the Muslims. For that matter, the holy places of the Hindus like Kashi, Prayag and others hand, even before this time, been reconquered from the Muslims. But!—Although the political power there was defeated and uprooted, their colonies and their religious centres like their Masjids and mosques were not destroyed—as did the Muslims, whenever they conquered the Hindu territories, slaughtering the Hindus irrespective of their age or sex and pulling down the Hindu holy places of worship, so as to make mere existence impossible for them. But because the Hindus did not emulate the Muslims in this respect, these local Muslims, who were left alive and unmolested, turned traitors, like serpents fed and fostered as pets, and invited again and again the Muslim aggressors for help and made life miserable for the Hindus in those holy places and cities. But the Rajput malady of the suicidal generosity even now persisted without any moderation. (The reader is referred to the detailed discussion in this regard in Paragraphs 421 to 426). Rana Kumbha
841. Most notable among the Rajput heroes of the time was Rana Kumbha, who excelled not only the great leaders of Chitod but even those of Hindusthan in respect of valour and success. He went to war with a powerful neigbhouring Muslim Sultan, Mohammad Khilji of Malwa, who had become independent by renouncing the overlordship (paramountcy) of the Sultan of Delhi, and in a battle near Sultanpur, vanquished the latter completely. Sultan Mohammad Khilji of Malwa was at last caught alive by Rana Kumbha. But grossly affected as he was by the age-old malady of the perverted sense of virtues, as the other Hindu heroes before him were, he allowed the Sultan to go free, considering it a noble act on his own part. Had but Rana Kumbha been taken captive by the Muslim Sultan, Mohammad Khilji, he would very likely have been deprived of his eyesight, as Prithviraj was, and brutally murdered according to the diabolic war- ethics of the Muslims. In fact, this diabolic war-ethics is the only one that is beneficial to a nation in such fiendish wars and hence is highly pious and thoroughly sound!

842. This battle was considered so unique and unparalleled in the Hindu history of those days that in order to celebrate it, Rana Kumbha erected a colossal and artistic pillar of victory at Chitod, which still stands to the admiration of all visitors! In a like manner, did Rana Kumbha beat down Sultan Kutbuddin of Gujarat when the latter attacked Kumbhalgad, and Kutbuddin had ultimately to sue for peace and save his life.
843. Even after Rana Kumbha, Rajputana claims so many brave and capable leaders of men that whole volumes ought really to be devoted to the generations that produced each of them. But, our recent histories are so much haunted by those of the Muslim and European nations, that they fight shy of recording the glorious acts of the Hindus—it is, in fact, a clear proof of the absence of any independent research made by them and of their glaring ignorance! Fortunately, the contemporary Rasos, written honestly and with a rare literary flavour, and inspired by the exceptional valour of the Hindus of the times, are available here and there. Prithviraj Raso, Hameer Raso, Chhatrasal Raso and many others—beautiful heroic ballads and narrative poems of varied lengths—are to be had even today. But God knows if these historians know them even by name! Again, modern historical research has discovered many rock inscriptions not only in Rajputana, but in the caves at various other places. They also are likely to help a lot in re-writing the history of these Hindu heroes. But the present doesn’t seem to be the proper time to undertake that work on a major institutional basis! Till such a propitious time comes, smaller institutions or individual scholars can start, if not the actual research work, at least, the work of collection of this vast deal of source material. Such a fond hope can safely be entertained, if we remember the celebrated name of Rajwade alone! Lodi Dynasty
844. After the end of the Sayyad Dynasty in A.D. 1450, some Lodis of Afghan extraction ruled as Sultans at Delhi for some time. Of them all Shikandar Lodi tried to consolidate his power during A.D. 1485 to 1517. This Shikandar Lodi again was born of a Hindu mother, but like every other Muslim ruler, he always had a stern eye upon the Hindus. He again enforced the ban on the Hindu pilgrimages, which the Hindus had begun to make in the meanwhile. He even forbade collective baths in holy rivers on Parvani days. Nevertheless, as elsewhere, the Hindus resisted stubbornly