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

ruler, before or after him; who was according to them a veritable Raja Ramchandra amongst the Muslims! 948. But let it also be remembered that, as if not content with this blood- curdling sacrifice of men, women and children of Chitod, Akbar entered the blood-stained city of Chitod, put to sword every one of the bewailing Hindu citizens that remained there—and mark well—he made no exception for the Hindu women. Thirty thousand Hindus lost their lives in this one battle of Chitod. Eventually, it seems the stones and other inanimate objects of Chitod appeared to him as deadly enemies of the Muslims as the Hindus there, and hence this devilish destroyer Akbar went on pulling down the Hindu temples, prayer halls, palaces, houses—everything that came his way, and reduced them all to heaps of rubble and ashes. The temple of the presiding Goddess of Chitod, likewise, was razed to the ground, the idol of the Goddess and all the courtyard being completely destroyed. The beating drums, the fifes, the lamps, jewellery and ornaments, door frames and every sort of valuable or grand articles of Hindu interest were sent away to Agra. Only after quenching his fiendish fanaticism a little with such an inhuman destruction of the Hindu capital of Chitod, did this Muslim Emperor Akbar return to Delhi, calling himself ‘Gazi’ for this virtuous and pious act of his. 949. On the other hand, Uday Singh, who had been wandering in the forest for four years, unable to avenge the brutal destruction of his kingdom and the capital city of Chitod, died of grief in A.D. 1572. Rana Pratap Singh, the jewel among the Hindus 950. Uday Singh’s son, Rana Pratap Singh, immediately ascended the non-existent, imaginary throne of Chitod! But, as he was offered the truly great throne in the hearts of all the staunch Rajputs and as he was considered the very emblem of their invincible courage and valour, this Rana Pratap Singh shone with more dazzling glory than many enthroned kings. He turned out to be the one such Rajput Rana, who would never, under any odds—even at the peril of his life—leave the traditional high sense of honour of the Rajputs. Instead of seeking the humiliating friendship with Akbar and the moments of peace and ease that it would have offered, he preferred to be the direst enemy of the most powerful of Muslim Emperors, regardless of untold miseries and calamities that such an enmity devolved on him. He considered it to be the hallmark of true Hinduism and true Hindu kingship to do so?

951. As Chitod was in the hands of the Muslims, he kept his capital moving with him through villages and towns, in those perilous times, and gradually rescued a large portion of his lost kingdom. He also formed a staunch army of desperate but devoted followers, who held their lives at naught. It is a pity that we cannot describe his thrilling exploits and pitched battles here, for want of space.
952. In the end, his influence grew so powerful and so widespread, that Akbar himself had to send his imperial army to subdue him. Shameful as it is, Raja Mansingh of Jaipur, who had surrendered himself to Akbar and the Rajput convert Mahabat Khan, committed an unpatriotic act of joining Prince Salim's army, marching against Rana Pratap at the Emperor's orders. And at this time, it was that the celebrated battle of Haldighat was fought. In the heat of fighting, Rana Pratap rode his horse straight at the elephant of Prince Salim and that unrivalled horse, Chetak, without the slightest hesitation, made straight at the trunk of the Prince's elephant and planted his front feet on it. With lightning speed, Rana Pratap's spear whizzed past Prince Salim's throat so dreadfully as to stun the latter for a moment. But seeing that his dart missed the mark, Rana Pratap retreated with equal speed and got mixed up with the army the very next moment, and was not to be singled out.
953. Soon he retreated from this undecided battle with thousands of daredevils for his faithful followers, who were sworn to his cause and captivated by his valour and carried the swift guerrilla warfare throughout Mewad, destroying the Muslims and freeing the whole of Mewad except for the capital city of Chitod. In the end, Rana Pratap stabilized his moving capital at Udepur, which never till the end, fell to Akbar. The latter dropped peace-feelers, but Rana Pratap never paid any heed to them. His regime is so replete with chivalrous and romantic adventures, deeds of exceptional valour done by common folks, as those by the great warriors and the Rana himself, that our young generation should delve deep into them and learn them by rote as reverentially as they would, the stories from the Ramayan and the Mahabharat. Fortunately, the romantic Rasos of Rajput Bhats up to the date of the great poet Bhooshan, are still available, which should really be appointed in the secondary schools as compulsory textbooks. But alas! in this critical historical survey of ours, there is no place for citing any passages from them.

954-955. Nor now in the fading light of my last days, is any time left for them! This Rana Pratap Singh, a great ornament to the Hindu society, died in A.D. 1581. The rise of the Sikhs in Punjab—a new awakening of the Hindu might 956. A saintly person, by name Guru Nanak, started a new religious sect in Punjab by the end of the fifteenth century, the followers of which soon organized themselves into a homogeneous group calling themselves Shikh [Sikh— शिष्य—The disciples of Guru Nanak] Shree Guru Nanak was not a sanyasi—a recluse—but a man with a family to bring up. He preached that the worship of God and the service of humanity was possible through devotion. “Every man can follow this path of devotion!”, he asserted. 956A. At that time not only in Punjab but throughout the whole of India, the Muslims had waged a total war against Hinduism and resounded the whole country with the clash of swords, the twang of arrows and the beat of drums. But throughout the whole of India, Hindu rulers and the Hindu populace had been bravely resisting the Muslim aggression on every battlefield. Allauddin’s almost completed India-wide conquest and the consequent Muslim empire, was precipitately broken into numerous fragments and free and strong Hindu States like the Vijaynagar empire had already been established. In Rajputana and Gondwana, too, the Hindu Kings with their daring armies had frequently worsted the Muslim forces! 957. But in Punjab alone, there was left no Hindu strong enough to challenge the Muslim government. At such a dark hour SHREE GURU NANAK began to preach in the Punjab that from the point of view of God, both the Hindus and the Muslims were the same. Both the communities could attain bliss through his path of devotion. Both the communities were one common fraternity. In his sect, he said, he did not recognize any distinction between the two. Yet with all his preaching of this common accord, very few Muslims could be found amongst his disciples. All the others were Hindus. Shree Guru Nanak himself was a Khatri. He died in A.D. 1538. Although he had sons of his own, they did not follow his tenets. So, he installed his disciple Angad as the chief priest after himself. This sect of Shree Guru Nanak, however, was at least up to his death, nothing more than a mere devotional group, a singing choir of devotional songs and mattered very little politically. Still, his grief at the miserable plight of the Hindus, found echoes in some of his writings. For example:

958. क्षत्रियां ही धरम छोड़ियां, मलेच्छ भाषा गही। सृष्टि सब इकबरन हुई, धरम की गति रही॥ नील बरन के कपड़े पहने, तुरक पठानी अमल भया॥ The Kshatriyas have left their religious duties (of protecting the land), as the Muslims have flourished. The whole universe has taken on itself one colour, and religion is in danger; people have begun to wear blue garments and so the Turks and Pathans have become rulers.
959. Many other similar lines ascribed to him have been very popular. Like all other Hindu saints, he also has condemned many blind superstitions and foolish customs.
960. After Guru Angad, the third was Guru Amardas (A.D. 1574) and the fourth Guru was Ramdas. It is said he had an interview with Akbar, and the emperor is said to have bequeathed a large tract of land to him. On the same land, Guru Ramdas dug out a beautiful lake and built a temple on its bank, which is now known as ‘Amritsar’. Guru Ramdas died in A.D. 1581. The fifth Guru was Arjundev, in whose times Sikhism grew rapidly, for they now had a central rendezvous at Amritsar. Moreover, the growing need of a religious text for this growing sect was satisfied by him by collecting whatever sayings of Guru Nanak he could get hold of along with those of other contemporary saints, and thereby creating an authorized religious book for the Sikhs! This very authorized religious textbook was called by him ‘Gurugranth’ or ‘Adigranth’. In it are to be found the sayings of Kabir as also those of the Maharashtrian saint, Namdev. While the Maharashtrian saint, Namdev, was on a pilgrimage of Punjab, his teaching of the path of devotion (भक्ति मार्ग) and his ‘Abhangs’ (hymns) had a widespread influence there. The striking similarity between his teachings and those of Guru Nanak prompted the inclusion of some of Sant Namdev’s Marathi poems in this ‘Gurugranth’. This ‘Gurugranth’ is in Prakrut, which is now called in Punjab as Punjabi. It was not written in the Devnagri script, which was then called ‘Shastri Lipi’, as it was mostly employed by the learned ‘Pandits’ for writing about scientific topics. Just as for ordinary day-to-day affairs, ‘Modi’ script was employed in Maharashtra till very recently, similarly in Punjab at that time in general correspondence of the common people, a Prakrut script was employed and it served for this ‘Adigranth’. The script was commonly called ‘Lundimundi’. But after the ‘Gurugranth’

had been written in it, the Sikhs began to call it Gurumukhi, as it was adopted by their Gurus! 961. When Jahangir became the emperor, his eldest son, Khushru, rebelled against him, and fled to Punjab. As the Sikh Guru Arjundev gave him shelter, the enraged Jahangir captured the Sikh Guru and slew him. In the Sikh history, Guru Arjun was the first heroic martyr who laid down his life while fighting with the Muslims in the cause of his religion. In the days of this very Arjundev, a separate organization was set afoot and a tradition of compulsory religious tax to be paid to the Guru by every Sikh was established, and in order that Sikh sect might grow powerful, a military front was also initiated. 962. The violent death of Guru Arjun secretly rankled in the hearts of the Sikhs, giving rise to inveterate hatred for the Muslims. Most of the Sikh followers in those times, as also later on, were Hindu Jats by caste. As these Hindu Jats were the main support of the Sikh sect and that too, quite strong, the Punjabi Hindus in general had affection for, and a feeling of oneness with them. The militant tendencies and the military organizations began to grow amongst the Sikhs and as a sect of the Hindus, they happened to be staunch defenders of Hinduism against the increasing ferocity of the Muslim religious persecution. So, the Moghal government began to look upon that sect as a troublesome centre of Hindu resistance. 963. Soon the son of Guru Arjun, Guru Hargovind refused to pay taxes to the emperor. He was, therefore, captured and interned in prison for twelve years. Later on, when he was released from captivity, he rebelled against the then Moghal emperor, Shahjahan, who dispatched a small detachment to crush this apparently meagre opposition. But at Sangram, the Sikhs fought with such fierceness that the Muslim detachment was completely vanquished. Although this astounded and pleased the Hindus in Punjab, the Emperor did not mind it. Guru Hargovind died in A.D. 1645 and was succeeded by Harrai, Harkrishan and Teg Bahadur as the high priests of the Sikhs. But it is the exceptional and glorious sacrifice of Teg Bahadur in the cause of religion, that has given dignity and splendour to the seat of the high priest of the Sikhs. 963A. Guru Teg Bahadur lived at Anandpur. Whenever the atrocious conversions of the Hindus to Islam took place in Punjab, Guru Teg Bahadur, with his Sikh warriors, had often fought and opposed them fiercely. And then Aurangzeb, the veritable demon in human form, vowed to root out the whole

Hindu world. Naturally, throughout the whole of India, the Hindus too, opposed him violently. Aurangzeb, particularly, aimed at the top-ranking Brahmins of Kashmir, and enforced on them the Jizia tax, if they did not opt for conversion. This caused a great commotion everywhere. At this time, Guru Teg Bahadur told the Hindus boldly not to pay any such taxes and preached that they should sacrifice their lives rather than forsake their religion. When the Hindus began to give such bold replies, Aurangzeb was aflame with rage. He captured Guru Teg Bahadur and commanded him to court Islam on pain of death. Guru Teg Bahadur thereupon staunchly refused to be a Muslim and defied Aurangzeb, who immediately had him beheaded. This horrible tragedy took place in A.D. 1675. Along with Guru Teg Bahadur, several of his Hindu disciples also were caught and they all suffered horrible deaths after all sorts of atrocities and torments, but they defied the tyrannical Muslim emperor by boldly refusing to be Muslims. The heads of some of the prominent Hindus were actually cut asunder with a big saw. Among these martyrs was Bhai Matidas, whose family was lovingly given the title ‘Bhai’ by the Sikh Gurus and in this very family was born the latter day Hindu patriot, Bhai Parmanand. The son of this very brave Guru was the holiest of the holies, the Hindu national hero, Shree Guru Govind Singh! The Hindu National Hero—Shree Guru Govind Singh 964. To Shree Guru Govind Singh goes all the credit of militarizing Sikhism and to create out of that sect, a militant and invincible organization, which gave a strong impetus to the establishment of a strong and independent Hindu government in Punjab at the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was called Tenth Emperor— दशम बादशाह —because he was the Tenth Guru from Shree Guru Nanak, not only by the Sikhs but even by all the Punjabi Hindus. From innumerable daring and thrilling events in his life, which well illustrate the above remark, only one might suffice here for want of space for others! 965. As inevitably happens in the case of every big religious organisation, Guru Nanak’s disciples also came to be divided into many sections and sub- sections, but they were all living a Hindu way of life. In respect of marriages and other religious rites and social customs, they were not in any way separated from the Hindu society. In the ‘Gurugranth’ itself, the sayings of Hindu saints like Sant Namdev and Kabir were incorporated along with those of Guru Nanak himself. And from the beginning till this

day, that ‘Adigranth’ has always been read with equal reverence for all these sayings. But a son of Guru Nanak himself had started a separate branch of Sikhism. 965A. In course of time, when the Hindus and Sikhs began to be atrociously persecuted by the Muslims, it was felt that an armed force of the Sikhs for self-protection was absolutely necessary, and Guru Govind Singh began to dream of establishing an independent kingdom of the Sikhs. To that end, he wanted a band of daredevils of inviolable loyalty to their Guru. 966. Guru Govind Singh, therefore, called a big assembly of all the Sikhs. Such incidents in his life have been described a little later in poetical compositions, much on the same lines as the colourful descriptions of the Hindu Puranas. But we shall give here only the historically relevant part of it. 967. In that big assembly, Guru Govind Singh invited volunteers, who were prepared even to lay down their lives in the defence of their religion and willing to spend their whole lives in the army, take it up as their profession, for, he said, he had to build a standing army of the Sikhs. It was a very austere vow. Of the many, who thus volunteered, the Guru himself chose for the first time only the best five who were expected to be as sharp and as unbending as steel. To imbibe this principle on their minds, the first religious rite that was performed was the sprinkling on their heads of the holy water that was churned by a sharp steel sword as the mantras were chanted. Then it was enjoined upon them that they were always to have a sword fastened to their waist; they were never to cut the hair on any part of their body. They were asked ever to gird up their loin, to wear kaccha or langot—a loin-cloth, and to wear steel rings round their wrists as a mark of their stern military vow. A comb was also considered to be a must for every Sikh. Thus hair (केश Kesh), a comb (कंग-कंगवा—Kangha), a loin-cloth (कच्छ-लंगोट—Kaccha), a steel ring (कड़ा—Kara) and a sword (कृपाण —Kripan) became the five inseparable marks of every true Sikh, and were called ‘five kakkas’. The military wing of the Sikhs, specially chosen by the Guru has since then been called the ‘Khalsa’, which has become an honourable appellation throughout the whole of India. Khalsa is originally an Urdu word meaning ‘chosen’! 968. As soon as this Khalsa army reached a desired magnitude, Guru Govind Singh began to conquer smaller Hindu-Muslim States or to sack

them. Quite naturally, the Moghal Emperor, Aurangzeb, who had most brutally murdered his father, Teg Bahadur, for not renouncing his religion, sent a detachment of his army to capture Guru Govind Singh. Because of the actions that were fought with the Moghal army, the Guru enclosed himself in the fort of Anandpur, which was immediately invested by the Moghals. Amongst the soldiers fighting with Guru Govind Singh from the fort, were two of his sons below the age of eighteen. In order to boost up the courage of the army, the Guru sent his two sons with other soldiers out of the fort to fight with the Moghals. While these two sons were being done to death in this unequal battle, this strange father was crying words of approbation ‘Wah-wa! Wah-wa!’ At nightfall, the fighting stopped as a matter of course and the remnant of the Khalsa battalion entered the fort very stealthily. But of that Khalsa (chosen) soldiers, many had lost hope. So, the Guru plainly told them all, that those who wanted to save their lives should leave the Khalsa army and forsake him immediately. He, however, was determined to fight on from inside or, if neccessary, out of the fort. Thereupon, from the best chosen (the Khalsa), many Sikh warriors resigned their membership and deserted Guru Govind Singh. Soon on that dark and dismal night, Guru Govind Singh bade adieu to those who remained of his Khalsa army and escaped through the Moghal siege, along with his wife and two sons, who were under twelve. 969. While after leaving the fort, Guru Govind Singh was thus wandering through the forest on that fateful night, he lost track of his two tender children, who unfortunately fell in the enemy hands. Those wicked monsters gave the young kiddies an ultimatum ‘Forsake Hinduism and become Muslims, or else we will kill you with all sorts of tortures!’ Prompt came the reply from the young mouths, thundering dauntlessly—lion’s cubs as they were—’We are prepared to die for our religion!’ They had refused to forsake their Hindu religion. Highly enraged at this defiant reply, the Muslim authorities pronouned their direst sentence. Building a wall round them to suffocate the two children to death was the horrible punishment given. Straight stood the two tender children and brick-upon-brick rose to their very neck, when they were again asked, ‘You kafirs, don’t you forsake your Hindu religion even now?’ ‘No, no never!’ came the smothered voice! And even as the two kids were shouting slogans in praise of Hinduism as loudly as they could in that horrible position, the last bricks were laid, to bury them for ever.

970. This is truly a glorious incident of martyrdom for the sake of Hinduism that has to be honourably listed amongst others in the annals of Hindu nation. It is a true historical fact but is to be found only described in the poetical form.
971. Kumar Haqiqatrai—At this very time, a Hindu lad, by name Kumar Haqiqatrai, happened to draw a picture of the Hindu Goddess of Learning, Saraswati, on his slate for worshipping it. But for this very atrocious deed! the Muslim officers there sentenced him to be converted to Islam. On his refusal to do so, he was threatened with a horrible death. When he defied that threat too, he was killed forthwith. The Hindus of the Punjab even today celebrate his memory every year as a religious and austicious occasion.
972. The End of Guru Govind Singh—After the horrible death of his two sons, Guru Govind Singh sent from his exile a conciliatory letter to Aurangzeb as a strategic move in politics. The Emperor, too, sent a reply and after a certain mutual agreement, Guru Govind Singh was allowed to leave the Punjab. Guru Govind Singh thereafter came wandering to Maharashtra and settled at Nanded. Here it was that two Pathan disciples of his conspired and attacked him while he was soundly sleeping. The wounds that he received in that struggle proved fatal and soon he died.
973. Guru Govind Singh had passed his boyhood days, not in Punjab but in Patna in Bihar, for reasons of safety. As such, he grew fond of the Bihari Hindi language, in which, later on, he became well-versed. His autobiography, ‘Vichitra Natak’, is written in the Bihari Hindi, not in the ‘Gurumukhi’ Punjabi. He also composed a heroic poem on the Goddess, ‘Chandika’. He symbolised the sword as Goddess ‘Chandika’ herself and has writen a hymnal song on it. We have already cited some of its warlike passages in our other books under the caption ‘Jay Tegam’ (Jay Khadgam). As the writings of this tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Govind Singh, are in Hindi, and the duties he had enjoined on the Khalsa sect were not so very palatable to the traditional devotees of Guru Nanak, they did not find a place in the ‘Adigranth’, whereas the sayings of all the former nine Gurus were included in it. So the writings of Guru Govind Singh were collected in the so-called ‘Dasham Granth’ (दशम ग्रंथ), the tenth book.
974. Another fact that is important from the point of view of the Hindus must be mentioned here. Because of the creation of the Khalsa sect, there have been two divisions amongst the Sikhs: Sahajdhari and Keshdhari. The

Sahajdharis follow the path of Guru Nanak. They don’t allow the hair to grow uncut, nor are they particular about following the other ‘kakkas’. Thousands of such Hindu Sikhs fall under this Sahajdhari sect. But it must be remembered that it was Shree Govind Singh who, by giving them a martial garb, built the Sikhs into a virile sub-Hindu nation, which could ultimtely oust the Muslim rule from the Punjab at the point of the sword. 975. Shree Veer Banda Bairagi—The name, which can never be omitted from the list of the brave martyrs of Hindu history, is that of Veer Banda Bairagi, who for the first time avenged the wrongs done by the Muslims on the Hindus and even boldly attacked them. He was originally a Vaishnav saint known round about Nanded, where he happened to meet Guru Govind Singh, from whom he gradually learnt of the miserable plight of the Hindus in Punjab, of the harrowing calamities that befell Guru Govind Singh’s own family and of the relentless war he himself had carried out in spite of all odds. He was particularly much moved to hear the despairing complaint of the Guru that there was nobody left in Punjab to avenge the tragic deaths of his four sons. His blood began to boil and he once again took the bow and arrows of his former vocation in life. Guru Govind Singh wrote a note to all his former disciples to render Veer Banda every possible help. Taking that note and vowing terrible revenge upon the Muslims for the inhuman atrocities committed by them on the Hindus, this brave Hindu soul made his way to the Punjab. 976. But alas! want of space and my own old age makes it imperative that whatever is written so far should be somehow rounded up. Else I would certainly have described, if not in full, at least briefly the havoc Veer Baba Banda wrought amongst the Muslims of Punjab, their grand slaughter, the most appropriate retaliation of the molestation of the Hindu women, the capture of the same Sirhind, where Guru Govind Singh’s two sons were buried alive behind the brick-walls, and the eventual burning of the Muslim locality there, not to speak of the abject parade of Muslim men, women and children, barefooted. In the hot sun, the same atrocious tortures of the Muslims as were visited upon the Hindus for not renouncing Hinduism and finally the proclamation of a Hindu State in the whole of Punjab. We have already shown in the sixth chapter of this book, how the Muslim community was panic-stricken whenever the Hindus opened up religious aggression on the Muslims. Baba Banda also struck terror in the hearts of the Punjabi Muslims by his retaliatory aggression. At last, the Emperor of

Delhi sent a big army to Punjab. Resorting to the guerrilla warfare, Baba Banda defeated it at various places. But as ill-luck would have it, the Khalsa Sikhs began to be jealous of the epithet ‘Hindu commander’, which Baba Banda Bairagi had chosen for himself. Ultimately, that jealousy grew to such an extent that the united Hindu army of Veer Banda broke into two factions, and the one consisting of the Khalsa Sikhs deserted him. The Khalsa Sikh faction was by itself not able to conquer the Muslims. Naturally, the Moghal army grew stronger and in a desperate action, valiant Banda Bairagi fell into the Muslim hands with his only son and close followers. The Muslims were haunted by a false fear that Veer Banda possessed some magic power, and the higher Muslim officials, too, feared that even when he was bound hand and foot with strong iron fetters, Veer Banda Baba would transform himself into a cat and would escape through the ranks of a powerful army. So, he was sent to Delhi, locked in a strong cage, like a wild beast, along with many other captive Hindu warriors. What a horrible scene it was when he was, brought in the presence of the Emperor! How hellishly inhuman the torture of Veer Banda, his only son and his hundred or so Hindu followers, and the streams of blood that flowed! Veer Banda was not beheaded or killed straightway. He was pierced scores of times with red-hot iron bars and lumps of his flesh were cut out every time with a view to making him suffer extreme torture before he died —but there is no scope to describe this harrowing scene here. But every true and grateful Hindu should rather read it from the books written by the Sikhs and Muslim writers themselves. 977. The History of the Sikhs Written by me—I am very sad that I cannot refer the reader to the History of the Sikhs I had written years ago. It is necessary that the reason be explained here. Round about the year 1909, in the thick of the revolutionay activities, when I happened to go from England to France, I stayed for a month or so with Madame Cama. During that short period, I wrote out in Marathi the thrilling history of the Sikhs, running to about two hundred pages or so, based on the proven material It had at my disposal at the time. I had studied almost all the Sikh literature right from the first book of Sikh literature, named ‘Bhai Balaki Janamsakhi’—the lifestory of Guru Nanak written by his disciple ‘Bhai Bala’—to the tenth book—Dasham-granth of the tenth Guru Govind Singh in the original, not to speak of the Histories of the Sikhs by Cunningham and other English writers. I had brought the account of the Sikhs up to the

establishment of a new Hindu Kingdom by Maharaja Ranjit Singh right from the river Shatadru (Sutlej) to the Sindhu (Indus) and much above towards Jammu and Kashmir by uprooting the Muslim power from Punjab and avenging the defeats of Jaypal and Anangpal. But even today, it pains me to say that the manuscript of that book must have very likely fallen into the English hands who destoryed it. Else, the person with whom I had entrusted it to be taken to India for being printed and published, must have drowned it into the sea for fear of the search by the English police somewhere on his way to India. Doubtless it is, that Marathi book of mine has been lost before it could be published—has been destroyed! 978. Even then whoever has a mind should read my poem composed in the Andamans on this tragic, yet imperishable and resplendent martyrdom of Shree Veer Banda, which is available even now. 979. According to the belief prevalent among his disciples, Veer Banda’s body was thrown away into the debris on the outskirts of the city under the impression that he was dead. But with his magic power and some miraculous herb that his disciples made him eat, Veer Banda Baba came to his senses and he was secretly and immediately taken to Punjab. Further on, an institution grew up in his name and hundreds of his Sikh followers have kept it running to this day under the name ‘Bandai’. Like the Kuka followers of Guru Ram Singh of a later date, these ‘Bandais’ call themselves Hindus. 980. After the tragic death of Veer Banda, there was no armed force left either of the Khalsas, Bandais, Sahajdharis or any other Sikh or Hindu sect. Every one of them was disorganized and disgruntled. But on the contrary, the Muslim political power had begun to crumble down by the time it was fighting with Veer Banda. Throughout the whole of India, a new resurgent Hindu power—the Maratha military and political aspiration—was dealing knock-down blows to the Moghal imperial power and the latter existed only nominally from Delhi to Punjab, Multan, Kashmir and Kandahar. Only the local ruffians terrorized the general populace with their bands of scoundrels! 981. How the Sikh power grew thereafter and how, at last in the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, it spread throughout the whole of Punjab and Kashmir, obliterating every vestige of the Muslim rule and how the Hindu independent empire came into existence—we can only just hint at here! For all these events fall out of the period under discussion here.

982. However, two or three statements about this period of Punjabi History can be made here briefly and it is necessary to do so.
983. The first successful attempt to overthrow the Muslim rule in Punjab was made by the Marathas. The belief prevalent in the histories of the Sikhs and in the other loosely written history books of India that the Sikhs ousted the Muslim rule from Punjab for the first time is erroneous. Even when the Sikhs were at the height of their glory, they could not conquer the neighbouring Muslim capital, Delhi. In bringing this to light, we do not in the least mean to disparage the Sikhs, but we do certainly want to stop every attempt at belittling the national glory of the Marathas, by pointing out false things. No doubt, the credit of overthrowing the Muslim rule, at least in the precincts of Punjab and establishing there an independent Hindu State, like that of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, goes primarily to our Sikh organisation. But it is equally true, beyond any vestige of doubt, that the Maratha valour which, lunging, as it did, from Poona, fluttered the victorious and resplendent flag of the Hindu nation to the South right up to Tanjawar (Tanjore) and to the north to the very banks of the Sindhu (Indus) and beyond, fighting battles after battles and reducing the Muslim Emperor of Delhi to a nominal existence—a thing of shreds and patches—can have no parallel at least in the Hindu history of that long period of seven centuries.
984. The Independent Hindu State of Nepal: In our history books and the school textbooks of Indian history, almost every Indian region is mentioned. But strangely enough, the state of Nepal and the valiant Hindu Kingdom there is never mentioned—or if at all, only in passing over the campaigns of Ochterloney—as if Nepal is in no way connected with Hindu India. But, in fact, Nepal is as much an indivisible part of India as are Maharashtra, Punjab or Madras. These regions might have been governed by different rulers at different times, but the term Hindu Nation is equally applicable to all of them. The rest of the Indian continent was subjected to aggressions by Asian Muslims and European Christians during the last nine or ten centuries and there were constant wars. But fortunately, Nepal was singularly immune to all the political and religious aggressions. On the whole, in Nepal alone, could Hindu religion and Hindu culture maintain its independence unimpaired against the incursions of the foreigners. As such, Nepal must really be considered to be the best part of Hindu India, and should be given the palm of honour in the history of our Hindu Nation! But

because of our thoughtlessness, the result is just the reverse. Only because Nepal did not get lost in the mire of foreign domination and slavery and because it kept itself aloof from the political upheavals in India, our frivolous history books mention that nation only in passing or never at all! 985. In order to rectify this spineless (dishonourable) perversion, we started a movement in India as soon as we were released from the Andamans in 1924 in respect of Nepal, as people well know. At that very time, we wrote a book on the History of Nepalese Movement! (नेपाली आंदोलनाचा इतिहास) and in it we gave an account of the brave history of Nepal and its role in the protection and maintenance of the independence of Hindu religion and culture. But now in this discourse on Hindu history, paucity of space prevents any such detailed account--and there is no need for it. In the early part of the tenth century and onwards, Nepal was governed by Newari Hindus. Thereafter, it was captured by some of the Rajputs who left Rajputana because of the Muslim aggression to seek fortune elsewhere. Gradually, these Rajputs spread up to Kathmandu, which they made their capital. The strong Hindu government which these Rajputs established there is the modern Nepal. This much reference is enough here to attract the attention of the Indian Hindus to its importance and to the homogeneity of race of Nepal with ours. 986. These Rajputs being strong worshippers and protectors of the cow (गोरक्षक), eventually came to be called Gorkha by caste. 986A. Although it refers to the more recent times, we should like to make a special mention of the fact that while the whole of India was being governed by the English, thousands of Gorkhas (Gurkhas) had joined the English army and in both the great world wars, they showed so much prowess and bravery and exceptional skill in fighting, that even the best soldiers in England, America and Germany, too, were astounded. Hence, today a Gurkha soldier has proverbially come to mean an excellent warrior! The latter half of Akbar's life 987. It has already been shown, in Paragraphs 946 to 954 of this book, what cruelty and atrocity Akbar resorted to in order to crush Hinduism and the Hindu rulers. Even those passing references alone are quite sufficient to prove that he was as fanatical and as fiercely inimical to Hinduism and the Hindu nation, as was either Allauddin or Aurangzeb.

988. European writers on Indian history slowly hint and our Hindu writers slavishly and thoughtlessly imitate them. When they say that Akbar was not like other Moghal or Muslim fellows, meaning thereby that he did not hate Hinduism and the Hindu nation, that he was just, and never differentiated between the Hindus and the Muslims, that he ruled equitably and, as such, the Hindus must be highly grateful to him. This eulogy of Akbar is utterly false. We, Hindus, can either show respect, gratitude and affection for Rana Pratap or for his dire enemy, Akbar. How can we show equal affection and respect for both of them? How can we worship God and the devil at the same time? How even can we compare the fanatical Akbar who deprived the independence of the Hindu kings like Rana Pratap and thrust the yoke of slavery on their necks, who demanded the Hindu royal princesses as queens and concubines in order to add insult to their injury and attacked with his vast armies those, who declined to do so, and crushed them completely— how can we compare him with those thousands of martyrs and valiant Hindu leaders like Rana Pratap and Rani Durgawati, who laid down their lives on the battlefields in defence of Hindu Nation, Hindu states and Hindu religion?
989. Another important point that has so far escaped the notice of many of our gullible and slavish Hindu writers, is that to say that Akbar treated all his subjects equally and sponsored equality of status for the whole humanity —as is being taught in schools—is absolutely erroneous and is the result of bad habit of extolling the Muslims unproportionately. For, being a Moghal Emperor, he never hesitated to crush down ruthlessly anyone who refused to bear the yoke of his sovereignty—might he then be a Muslim or a Hindu! Now all the Muslims were not Moghals. As a matter of fact, many of them hated the Moghals bitterly, because he had extended his empire by destroying the old Afghan and Turkish Sultanates. It means that like any other ambitious adventurer, Akbar fought for the sake of his own Moghal glory not only against the Hindus alone but against others also. Obviously enough, he did not treat even the Muslims equally. He liquidated and annexed many Muslim kingdoms. Only with a view to safeguarding the interests of his empire, did Akbar in his later life repeal the revolting religious taxes like the Jizia and refrained from opening campaigns of mass conversion of Hindus. There was no such intention of behaving equitably, the Hindus and the Muslims behind this policy, as is generally supposed. On the contrary, he knew quite well that whenever such atrocities were

committed on the Hindus, in the name of religion, by the former Sultans, they were followed with disastrous revolts. Sometimes, even the whole Sultanates were consumed in the conflagration of the Hindu wrath. In order to avoid this disastrous end for his empire, and to establish a tranquil administration of his own, did he treat all his subjects, whether they were Hindus or Muslims, justly so far as their individual life was concerned and much more leniently and harmlessly than other emperor like Allauddin or Aurangzeb. But once again, let it be remembered that it was not because he believed in the equality of men or the equality of the Hindus and the Muslims irrespective of their religion, certainly not because he did not consider the Hindus to be kafirs! 990. Once he became the all-powerful and absolute monarch in temporal affairs of his empire, his ambition goaded him on to found a new religion to be another Paigambar and lord of the spiritual life of the people! To that end, he thought of starting an absolutely new religion quite different from either Hinduism or Islam. But here, also, it must be remembered that as he knew it would be disastrous to force it cruelly on the people, as had other Muslim Sultans done earlier or as Aurangzeb did it later, Akbar very slyly tried to undermine Hinduism through his Din-e-elahi; for the Chief Paigambarship of this religion was to be ceded inevitably to Akbar himself. No Hindu could greet others with a ‘Namaskar’, he had per force to say ‘Allah-o-Akbar!’ The accredited language, too, of this new religion ‘Din-e- elahi’ was Arabic! It may, however, be noted in passing, that this quixotic ambition (idea) of Akbar of becoming the spiritual lord of the human race came to nought. For, beside the flattering sycophants in his court, none of the Hindus or the Muslims accepted it as their creed; the sycophants themselves had nothing to do with it the moment Akbar died. 990A. However, of the many great emperors that lived at the time in Europe or Africa or Asia, Akbar was the greatest in respect of his strategy, his wielding of the widest power, bravery, founding of a vast empire, his patronage of learning and arts and crafts. Although, according to some writers, he was illiterate, he patronized great authors and encouraged the writing of famous books! This comparative greatness history can concede to him, and we do not hesitate to call him great as he really was. But with all that greatness, he was, from our Hindu point of view, foreign, belonging to another religion and mean-minded and, as such, he should be decried by us, Hindus!

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Come the Avengers of the Atrocious Muslims' Rule: The Marathas! 991. It is a common belief that the writing of history must be a prosaic account of bare facts describing them as they have actually happened, and it is mostly right. There ought to be a marked difference between the descriptions of something that is purely imaginary and poetic and of something that has actually happened. The one can best be well expressed in a faithful and matter-of-fact way. 991.A. Yet merely to list out the correct dates and years of historical events, to note the deaths and births of certain individuals, and to keep a record of battles fought or the occurrence of famines and floods cannot be called history, although such a bare record of these various events is the basis of history. It may, at best, be called a chronological account. But there is a borderland between pure history and pure unalloyed poetry, which can adequately and effectively be expressed by a fine blending of history and poetry. Without such a blending of history and poetry, descriptions of such events can never be living. While describing such events, history itself becomes poetry. Such occasions and events can never be effectively described without resorting to mythological and romantic metaphors and grand poetic style. Simple events can be described as truthfully as they happen in prose, but human nature demands that everything that is unique, everything that is stupendous and splendid and exciting, must be expressed in a highly emotional and ornate style, be it an event of a very recent occurrence. Simple dry prose will never be able to sustain it. It is these exciting events that make a man roar with laughter, groan with sorrow, dance with joy or get wild with rage—in short, exciting events make him speak the language of poetry! It may be prose, but poetic prose, often bedecked with dazzling ornaments of simile, metaphor and other figures of speech, as is the prince of princes adorned with the real ones! 992. निषादविद्धाण्डज दर्शनोत्थः श्लोकत्वमापद्यत यस्य शोकः “His grief at the destruction of the bird by the hunter took the form of a four-lined verse—a श्लोक”

993. Is it not testimony enough that the very first quatrain by the very first poet should be born of a highly exciting sentiment, which could never be conveyed in simple words?
994. Precaution, however, must be taken that the poetic description of such exceptional yet exciting events should not pervert the original facts. A well-authenticated history should express itself through all this emotional display.
995. The period of Indian history, which we are now going to discuss in this book is from the point of view of the Hindu Nation so glorious, so thrilling, and so full of daring events that the poetic style of writing alone can describe it adequately and in a living manner.
996. In the twentieth chapter of this book, the Hindu-Muslim war, which had been going on for six centuries, had entered the seventh. But even when such a long time of bitter warfare had elapsed and even when the Hindu Nation had been sorely plagued and profusely bled by the ferocious religio- political aggressions of all the Asian Muslims—the Arabs, the Afghans, the Pathans, the Turks, the Moghals—yet even by the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Hindu Nation had, neither in the north nor in the south, been completely vanquished! Nay, it was still fighting on bravely on the battlefield itself, although sorely smarting under the countless wounds it had so far received. On the contrary, the aggressive might of all the Asian Muslims had been steadily but surely getting weaker and weaker after their incessant warfare with the Hindus right from the beginning of the eighth century to the death of Akbar. We have already shown, in Paragraphs 818 to 857 of this book in the chapter named ‘The Beginning of the Fall of the Muslim Power’, how that ‘beginning’ was made from the 14th century and how the ground was being prepared for the establishment of the victorious Hindu Kingdoms, like that of Vijaynagar.
997. The same resurgent spirit of the Hindus grew steadily every day and ultimately by the time which the course of our story has now reached, the presiding deity of the Hindu Nation seems to have felt the dire necessity to use the histro-mythological phraseology, of bringing forth an extraordinarily, illustrious Hindu family which could ultimately lead the ever-growing Hindu might throughout the whole of India. In the old times when that deity felt a similar need of extirpating the Saka-Hun and other Mlenchhas, she performed, according to Chand Bhat in his epic ‘The Story of Agnikula’, a great sacrifice on Mount Abu and brought forth four Indian

Hindu heroes. But unfortunately, it was not sufficient to bring forth four such valiant heroes to meet the exigency of the times of which we are telling here, to extirpate the Muslim political power throughout India. A whole generation of such divinely blessed heroes was needed for such a stupendous task! As such, to use again the metaphorical style of Chand Bhat, the presiding deity of the Hindu nation glanced all over India. That enraged deity sprinkled her holy water on the heights of Sahyadri thinking, perhaps, that region alone was the fittest one for the final overthrow of the Muslim power after a millennial war with it. How could a small sacrificial pit at Abu be equal to that stupendous task! And all of a sudden, the whole of the Sahyadri mountain was aglow with the fire of war and resonant with the beat of the drum. And there arose a whole class, a whole generation of brave warriors. Each one lighted his individual torch on the general conflagration and traversed the whole of India with the war cry, ‘Har, Har Mahadev’ on his lips to wipe out the Muslim political menace. The name of this national race? It is— ‘MAHARASHTRA BORN OF THE TIMES OF SHIVAJI’ Hindu Maharashtra alone fought with the whole Muslim World 998. At this time in the millennial Hindu-Muslim epic war, such a great catastrophe befell the whole of India—and especially Maharashtra—as had menaced perhaps a very few nations of the world. To add to the Muslim maelstorm, from the north European nations like the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the English dashed on India—and especially the Deccan, with an avalanchine force, and it was practically the lot of the Maharashtra, born out of the times of Shivaji, to face all alone all these terrific aggressions. Stranger than this is the fact that this Maharashtra, born as it was from the sacrificial fire of dire calamities, faced them all successfully and was a match for all the enemies! The Muslim imperial throne of Delhi was hacked to pieces by the Marathas and the Muslim power was finally rooted out throughout the whole of India. 999. The legend of this exceptional glory and valour of Maharashtra has now been generally known in its true perspective and form, to the common people in Maharashtra at least. The credit of making it widely known in its grand and spectacular aspect, in its all-India context, must necessarily go to the great research-scholars and writers of history like Rajwade, Ranade, Khare, Itihasacharya Sardesai and others. But with the exception of Ranade, others have written their books in Marathi. Histories of the Marathas