What if India had turned Islamic ?

Post author By admin
Post date April 7, 2014
4 Comments on What if India had turned Islamic ?

Imagine an India where after hundreds of years of dogged resistance the Hindus fail to rise again. Imagine the end of the fourteenth century – a Delhi laid waste by the invasions of Timur and the horrors that lay in his wake. Imagine no renaissance of the warrior clans in Rajasthan under Rana Kumbha and the raising of the tower of victory. Imagine no resurgence in the south under the inspirational leadership of the Sangama brothers to create the golden empire of Vijaynagar. Imagine no hosts of fearless Sadhus and Saints traversing the subcontinent spreading the message of dharma and bhakti.

Imagine there was no empire of the Gajapati kings in Orrisa or the Ahoms in Assam giving the Mughals a resounding defeat in 1671. Imagine a land beaten down by the forces of Islamic Imperialism after centuries of struggle and bloodshed eventually falling by the 1400’s to the Crescent banner of the Arabs and Turks. Is it so hard to imagine ?

Then look back upon history and see the rise of the Sassanian Empire in Persia – the inheritors of the Parthians who faced the might of the Roman Empire at its peak defeating the legions under Marcus Crassus – the same Sassans under their Emperor Shapur who defeated the Roman Emperor Valerian at the Battle of Edessa in 260 CE and after capturing him used him as a footstool for the remainder of his captivity.

The Sassans who faced the Byzantines in perpetual conflict and turned Zoarasterism into a state religion.The rise of the Arabic Islamic Caliphate put an end to the once mighty Sassanids – from 633 CE to the final elimination of their remnants by the Ninth Century – the imposition of the Jizya, the submission of the majority non Muslims to dhimmi status led the eventual collapse of the ancient religion of Zoroaster with their scattered remnants fleeing from persecution to India.

Further west, the once all encompassing Hellenic culture which produced Socrates, Aristotle, Democritus, Plato and many others fell to the missionary zeal of early Christianity. The Byzantines became the vanguard of the Eastern Church and soon the great library of Alexandria fell together with the Oracle of Delphi and the destruction of the Sybylline books. the ancient lands of Egypt, West Asia and Greece were Christianised by the fifth century of the Common Era and the banning of the practice of ‘Pagan’ religions and the smashing of their temples led to an almost total Christianisation of the region by the early sixth century CE.

Their great rivalry with the Sassanids of Persian was partly predicated upon religious rivalry between the church and advocates of the fire temples of Zoaraster. Both were however eclipsed by the rise the Islamic Caliphate. With remarkable energy and speed the once glorious Sassanids fell into oblivion and the Imperial cult of Zoarasterianism was reduced within generations to the a few scattered remnants far from the scenes of their once exalted status.

Within a few hundred years and the decline of the Byzantines in the face of determined Arab followed by Turk incursions the majority of the region converted to Islam and in a few generations became amongst the most fanatical votaries of their new faith.

In the vast open regions of Central Asia lay the fabled Silk Route. Mighty Empires rose and fell and the wild horse borne archers of the steppes were feared for the skill and ruthlessness. Over all ruled the benign image of the Buddha – the quintessential image of peace and serenity created a curious dichotomy between the nomadic tribesmen and the practitioners of non violence.

The great statues of Bamiyan, the organised and missionary activities of the Sangha led to whole masses of the population becoming Buddhists under the tutelage of the monks vestiges of which we can still see in the societies of Burma, Sri Lanka and Tibet. The grant empire of the Kushans which lay straddled across the Silk route saw the Emperors venerating the Buddha and facilitating his message acorss the face of the known world.

In 634 the Battle of Talas heralded the defeat of the Chinese empire by the Arabs and gradual Arab penetration and Islamisation of the region. Within a few centuries the Buddhists were fleeing eastward and towards India – those that remained saw the graven images of ‘But’ being flung to the ground and trampled underfoot as the advocates of the desert faith called the faithful to prayer. Today hardly an echo of the ancient faith of Buddhism remains in the region which can be most clearly seen in the once Buddhist stronghold of Afghanistan.

An Arab invasion stormed into Sindh in 666 CE before a determined Hindu coalition under the legendary Bappa Rawal defeated them in the Battle of Rajasthan in 738 CE bringing to an end the eastward expansion of the Caliphate, much like the westward expansion being stopped at the Battle of Tours by Charles Martel in 732 CE.

The aforesaid conversion of Central Asia led the incursions of the Turk tribes westward to fight the Crusaders and further to the east towards the fabled land of India. Centuries of resistance were eventually overcome and the kings of the frontiers known as the Hindu Shahis fell.A veritable tide of bloodshed that had few parallels in history followed. Into this cauldron of bloodletting the multi ethnic and multi religious region of South Asia was subjected to an orgy of violence and hatred that beggars few comparisons in history. Echoes of this carnage can be seen in the endless wanderings and sufferings of the ‘Gypsies’ around the world as they fled fleeing from India to escape the horrors.

The ancient seats of learning of Nalanda and Taxila were razed to the ground and the monks massacred in the sacred premises where students from across three continents would come to learn. Stupas, Temples and Holy sites were leveled to the ground or converted into mosques. Swathes of people bereft of their political and spiritual leadership were converted to the faith of the invaders.

The Buddhists seemed to be particularity susceptible in this case with their population bereft of guidance following the destruction of the stupas and the slaying of the monks. The once widespread religion of the Jains were whittled down to a handful of secretive and hidden trading clans where it remains today. It is thought that the obliteration of the materialist and atheistic Carvakas is dated from this time.

The Hindus ensured however – the resistance following the Battle of Tarain in 1192 confounded the invader. The genocidal forces of monotheistic fervour was confronted with implacable resistance – the resistance continued from the towns, to the deserts, to the forests and far into the mountains. And so amidst the raging wars and the collapse of the medieval Indian civilisation the Turkic forces suffered terrible losses.

And so Muhammed Ghori was slain by Hindu rebels in Punjab, and so Raziya Sultan was killed in revenge by the Hindus in Mewat and so tens and thousand gave their lives in a furious attempt to resist forced conversion, enslavement and submission – And so just decades after the Battle of Tarain the nascent Sultanate in Delhi was close to collapse – According to the historian, Firishta it was the constant immigration of Muslims into India that kept their momentum up – the endless cycle of war and resistance claimed the lives of so many Arab, Turk and Persian warriors that a constant flow of migration was required to maintain the forces of Jihad in the land of the Pagans. And just as Rome and Greece fell to Christianity in the early part of the millennium and the Near East , Persia and Central Asia went under the banner of Islam it was expected that India too would inevitably fall.

But the reality defied the lessons of history – by the 1500’s the majority of the subcontinent was under the rule of the resurgent Hindus – the teachings of the wandering Saints combined with the fervour of an undefeated dharma was only brought to a tenuous compromise by the Mughal emperor Akbar with his rejection of formal Islam.

This compromise was shattered by the return of fanaticism under the iconoclastic rule of Aurangzeb and amidst the shattered remains of the Mughals rose again the Rajputs of western India, the Gurkhas in the far northern hill, the Ahoms in the jungles and forests of the east, the Jaats in the plains of Hindustan and above all the rise of the Maratha Empire from Shivaji the Great to the conquests of Baji Rao from 1720-1740.

E Keane characterised the finality of this resurgence culminating in the rise of the Maratha warlord Mahadji Sindhia as the Hindu reconquest of India – This reconquest was only stopped by the entry of the colonial powers and after a desperate struggle culminating in the bloody rising of 1857 British control was established over the subcontinent. Since independence 90 nears thereafter has seen the creation of a fast rising economic and military power of modern day India adjoining a militarised state of Pakistan veering on the edge of a collapse into medieval theocracy.

Now imagine once again the alternative – Imagine an India where Islam had emerged triumphant – imagine 1.2 billion more adherents to Islam in a single stroke increasing the worlds population of Islam to almost 40% of the total – Imagine how history would have changed – how fanatical hordes pouring from the shores and borders of South Asia into China – into South East Asia, across the shores into Africa. Imagine a war on terror with no end.

Imagine also a world with no yoga, with no spirituality, with no selfless teachers reaching out across the globe, with no Ayurveda, with no Mahatma Gandhi, no Swami Vivekananda , with no link to the ancient past which has all but been obliterated from the majority of the globe.

Think then of the sacrifices made for the sake of Dharma- think of the millions who gave their lives over the blood soaked centuries think of the determined and relentless resistance provided generation after generation rising with arms and faith again and again – think of how the history of the world would have changed had the Hindus failed.

Charles Martel is called the saviour of Europe following the Battle of Tours but how many today remember the Battle of Rajasthan, Raja Bhoja, Shivaji, Baji Rao and countless others – Remember the struggle that has convulsed South Asia and the Hindus for a thousand years and the rise once again into the modern world of an ancient civilisation undefeated and undaunted.

Also Read : The Myth of “1000 Years of Hindu Slavery”

Save

(9238)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags Bappa Rawal, buddhism, buddhist monks.hindu warfare, Charles Martel, Christianity.islam, hindu india, hindu warriors, hinduism, india islamic, Islamic Caliphate, islamic invasions, mughals, Muhammed Ghori, pagans, rajputs, Rana Kumbha

Sacred Weapons

The Gurkha Khukri – A Saga of Snow, Steel, Blood and Sacrifice

Post author By admin
Post date March 9, 2014
2 Comments on The Gurkha Khukri – A Saga of Snow, Steel, Blood and Sacrifice

While there are several legends about the origin of this blade called the Khukri, what is know is that origin of this blade lies in Nepal. Some say it was originated from a form of knife first used by the Mallas who came to power in Nepal in the 13th Century.

There are some Kukris displayed on the walls of National Museum at Chhauni in Kathmandu which are 500 years old or even more among them one belonged to Drabya Shah, the founder king of the kingdom of Gorkha, in 1627 AD. But the some facts shows that the Kukri’s history is centuries old then this. But other suggest that the Kukri was first used by Kiratis who came to power in Nepal before Lichchhavi age, about 7th Century.

Whatever may be the facts of how and when it was made, Kukri is the national knife of Nepal, originated in ancient times. More than being just a reverted and effective weapon, however, the kukri is also the peaceful all- purpose knife of the hill people of Nepal. It is a versatile working tool and therefore an indispensable possession of almost every household. Moreover, apart from the fact that the kukri symbolizes bravery and valor and is a Nepalese Hindu cultural icon.

One unique thing that makes one swallow his fear is the notch just before the start of the blade. What it really did and still does is to interrupt the blood flow to the handle and to let it drip to the soil so one can maintain grip during battle.

The distinctive indentation serves the practical purpose of preventing blood running down handle but also has a religious significance as at Dashain, the Hindu religious festival, a ceremonial version of the kukri, (a konra) is used to sever the head of an animal in one blow. A clean cut signifies good luck and wellbeing for those attending the ceremony.

Made by the Nepalese Kami clan of blacksmiths, an average kukri is 14-16 inches in length with a steel blade and a wooden, bone or metal curved handle. Its compact size means less metal is used in its manufacture than a conventional sword.

The sheath of the khukri is usually made with wild buffalo skin . Blade is always full tang and is attached to the hilt/handle , which is made with buffalo bone for its ability to be a good insulator of shocks received which laying blows. On the bottom side of the khukhri is carved out the symbol of the Hindu Goddess Kali, the primary deity of Hindus who is invoked during war. The typical Gurkha war cry is “Jai Bhadrakali, Aayoo Gurkhali”.

The symbol in the center of the shealth as shown in the picture represents the Vajra, the weapon of Indra crafted by the bones of the Rishi Dadhichi, and the three smaller circular symbols represent the tridevi – Durga, Saraswati and Lakshmi.

(3414)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags Aayoo Gurkhali”., east india company, General Balbhadra Kunwar, General Gillespie, ghorkali, ghorkas, ghurkas, hindu knife, Hindu Lion, Jai Bhadrakali, Kukris, Nepal

Historical Figures

Prolaya Vema Reddy : Rise of the Warrior King

Post author By admin
Post date March 6, 2014
4 Comments on Prolaya Vema Reddy : Rise of the Warrior King

Often Hindus say that Hinduism is resilient and it will survive whatever happens giving an impression that it’s ok don’t worry about the attacks on Hinduism but just go on with your life and somehow Hinduism will miraculously survive anyway. So did our forefathers just go on with their lives while foreign invaders indulged in plunder and destruction? Historically the answer to that question shows that Hindu resilience was expressed in warfare on every level for nearly a thousand years. Where A stream of Hindu Sages and Warriors combined to keep the flame of Sanatana Dharma alive through the ages .This is probably the longest war that’s ever taken place on Mother Earth and is still continuing in some form or another.

If we are Hindus today it’s because someone somewhere in the past sacrificed his or her life to defend the Hindu way of life but unfortunately most Hindus of today are not even aware of what took place back in time.There’s no celebration or remembrance or even any awareness kept for so many sacrifices , bravery and courage that took place in the history of the Hindus . All across the Hindu civilisation there is a story to tell like the following one ..

In 1311 Alla-ad-din Khalji sent his lover and general Maliq Kaffr to devastate the Telengana region with his ferocious army of Islam. The invasion was savage and Hindu kshatriyas of the Kakatiya, Chalukya and Chola clans fought with great valor but were routed in the battles around Warangal. The survivors took shelter in the fort of Kondapalli and held out against the Mohammedan blizzard.

However, in 1316 Alla-ad-din died and the tumultuous events in Delhi triggered by the Gujarati rebellion prevented the Mohammedans from consolidating their grip over Telangana. As result there was severe local unrest and Kakatiyas under Prataparudra started re-establishing themselves. The veteran Ghazi from Afghanistan, Ghazi al Maliq Tughlaq, soon set matters right for the Mohammedans in Delhi and decided to consolidate the flagging Jihad in peninsular India.

He sent his able successor Mohammed bin Tughlaq to prosecute the Jihad with unrelenting vigor in South India. M b Tughlaq charted elaborate plans for the invasion of Pune, Devagiri, Telengana and Tondaimandalam and set them rolling in 1321. After having sacked Pune in course of a year long siege of Kondana which was valiantly defended by Naga Nayaka he plowed through Devagiri and turning south east arrived in Telengana in 1322.

After a prolonged, fierce see-saw encounter in which the Mohammedans constantly receiving supplies from Devagiri and Delhi the Kakatiya army of Prataparudra was vanquished at Warangal.

They were forced into the defensive as the army of Islam mounted a massive encirclement attack on the fort of Rajamahendravaram. They held out for 6 months but at the end of it the Mohammedans stormed the fort and massacred the defenders to man. Prataparudra and his family was captured and sent to Delhi, but on the way he killed himself rather than go through the ordeal of converting to Islam. The grand Shri Venugopala Swami temple built by the Chalukyas was demolished by Tughlaq and he erected a mosque using the material from the temple. With that the kshatriya presence in Telengana had been smashed the the oppressive crescent banner terrorized the land.

In 1325 the responsibility of organizing defense of the dharma was taken up by the valiant shudra warrior Prolaya Vema Reddy. Son of local warlord, he describes himself “as one of the 4th varna that emerged from the feet of mahavishnu” who decided to rid the land of the wicked Turks after kshatriyas had all been killed for the protection of the agraharas and brahmanas.

Vema Reddy drawing inspiration from his deity ga~nga, who had also apparently emerged from the feet of vishnu as the fourth varna, and the warrior god kumara assembled a large army drawn from the peasants and herdsmen of the ravaged land. His clan had long excelled in cattle raids and honed the skills of the the rapid hit and run methods. He joined hands with two other major local landowners like Prolaya Nayaka and Kaapaya Nayaka and they formed a coalition with at least 75 other local strongmen and warlords. Reddy assembled his Hindu armies at Addanki and marched on the Tughlaq army.

The Reddys apparently used biological warfare in this conflict and contaminated the water supplies leading to the Mohammedans with sewage resulting a raging dysentry which decimated the Tughlaq army. Tughlaq himself fell ill and retreated. As the Moslems were in disarray the Hindu army fell upon them and crushed remanants in pitched encounter at the outskirts of Warangal. The Vema Reddy realized that even though the army had departed the local Moslem Amirs and merchants were a major obstacle in restoring Hindu rule. So he conducted a series of raids destroy their trading networks and militias and extirpating the pockets of Islamic garrisons distributed over the country. In the process they were aided by the Hindu king Vira Ballaala of Dwarasamudra, who staved of attacks by the army of Islam from its head quarters in Devagiri.

In 1335 M b Tughlaq sent a large force under Maqbool Iqbal to smash the Hindu revival in Telengana. However, the Reddy and Nayaka army aided by auxillaries sent by Vira Ballaala inflicted a massive defeat on them, killing 15 Moslem Amirs on the field. Vema Reddy chased Iqbal into the Warangal fort and seeing that he was hard-pressed to defend it Kaapaya Nayaka stormed the fort.

Vema Reddy then moved on the fort of Kondvidu and stormed it by hacking off the head Maliq Gurjaar, the Moslem commander. Then liberated Nidadavolu, Vundi and Pithapuram after pitched battles. He then massacred an army of Jalal-ud-din Shah in a raid on Tondaimandalam even as Ballaala engaged the sultan himself.

However, after a long struggle with the Sultans of Madhurai and Delhi, Ballaala finally fell into the hands of the Moslems. He was skinned alive and his dry skin was pegged on one of the wall of Madhurai (seen later by ibn Battuta). Undaunted Vema Reddy launched a series of daring attacks on the Moslem garrisons in the forts of Bellamkonda, Vinukonda and Nagarjunakonda and captured all of them after slaughtering the defenders.

He raised his flag in Kondavidu and declared himself a Raja. His famous inscriptions from this period state:

” I restored all the agraharas of Brahmins, which had been taken away by the evil Moslem kings”. “I am indeed an Agastya to the ocean which was made of the Moslem”.

To restore the dharma he instituted major repairs to the Shrishailam rudra temple and built a flight of steps from the Krishna river to the temple on the mountain top. He also repaired the vishnu temple at Ahobilam. He also built a palace in Kondavidu for housing the women he had acquired. This became the harem for all the other subsequent Reddys. His restoration of the dharma also caused a major revival of local literature, especially under the auspices of the Telugu author Erranna, a vatsa bhargava brahmana of the middle migration of the bhargavas. His ramayana was supposed to have been a master piece.

His successor was Anavema Reddy continued the struggle against the army of Islam. His began by liberating Rajahmahendravaram and demolished a Mazar which had been built there on a Hindu shrine. He then scaled the fort of Korukonda with a small force at night liberated it from the Moslem garrison. Next he conquered Simhachalam fort and parts of the Kalinga kingdom.His inscription states “I the valiant member of the 4th varna destroyed the throngs of Moslems and gathered learned brAhmaNas at this court”. He built the vIra shiromanDapam in the Shrishailam temple. The Shrishailam temple was also renovated by two other great Hindu fighters, Krishnadeva Raya and Shivaji Chatrapati at a later time.

The war of independence in Telengana is one more of those largely forgotten stories of the provincial Hindu resistance in the aftermath of the Khalji-Tughlaq years.

Source

Kondaveedu Fort English Documentary

(14355)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags Alladdin Khalji, andhra pradesh, hindu warriors, Kakatiya dynasty, Kondaveedu Fort, M b Tughlaq, Prolaya Vema Reddy, Reddy dynasty, Telengana

Video : Raja Raja Chola’s Samadhi left in Ruins

Post author By admin
Post date February 23, 2014
4 Comments on Video : Raja Raja Chola’s Samadhi left in Ruins

In the village of Udayalur, half submerged in a field behind a farmer’s house, lies a lingam. A flimsy pandal over the lingam, constructed with sticks and thatched leaves, is the only symbol that betrays the significance of this site. The spot is supposed to be the samadhi of Raja Raja Chola, one of the greatest Hindu kings that ever lived.

The illustrious Raja Raja Chola, is well known for his patronage of the arts, his vast conquests, and his tremendous temple building campaign. The famous Brihadeesvara temple, which recently turned a thousand years old, was consecrated by Raja Raja for Mahadeva.

This dilapidated samadhi of the Chola king is not an exception. Across India, we find similar examples that showcase the modern Hindu’s insouciant attitude towards the pitiful condition of historical structures that preserve the memory of our ancestors’ heroism and sacrifices.

The samadhi mandirs of Baji Rao, Hemu, and many others suffer from the same indifference. The cruel twist in this story is the ridiculous deification by modern Hindus of personalities who have been dedicated to the destruction of Hindus. Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati, both have opulent temples dedicated to them by their sycophantic followers. Then there are the temples devoted to the Tendulkars, Bacchans, and Kushboos of our country. In this age of Kali, the bull of morality stands on one leg. And so, the memory of the great Chola is relegated to such an ignoble fate.

Below part of Raja Raja Chola’s Legacy

1000 years ago, Raja Raja Chola did exactly that. Going down in the history of India as one of the greatest kings, he expanded the Chola kingdom over the whole of South India, Kalinga and Sri Lanka, his reign is considered the golden period of the Chola Dynasty. To commemorate the great achievements of his kingdom, he set out to leave behind a mark of his kingdom’s supremacy, something that told generations to come what a mighty and great dynasty ruled over the land. The culmination of that thought was the Brihadeeswara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva at the then capital of the Chola kingdom, Thanjav

(17030)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags hindu warriors, india, Raja Raja Chola's Samadhi

Historical Figures

Puli Thevar : The Ultimate Rebel Warrior

Post author By admin
Post date February 8, 2014
No Comments on Puli Thevar : The Ultimate Rebel Warrior

Long before Mangal Pandey who ignited the revolt of 1857, there was another Hindu , born in the land of the Raja Raja Cholan, who was the scourge of the enemies of Dharma. His name was Puli Thevar. The name Puli in Tamil means a Tiger, and this brave devotee of Mahadeva was one who lived to his name. Unmatched in skill of warfare, understanding of politics and full of fire this man was born to be a rebel. Not a rebel without cause, rather a rebel against Adharma.

Puli Thevar was born in the martial community of Hindu Marvars . After defeating a coalition of Islamists(the soldiers of the nawab of Arkot)-British forces, he was taken as a prisoner by deceit while on his way to the Sankaran Kovil temple. He was taken through the town streets, in a procession, by the muslim soldiers to shame him and left him alone in the sacred sanctum of the temple before they could take him to the courts for dispensing justice to the man who brought the mercenaries of Adharma to their knees.

What happened after is nothing less that divine intervention. Puli Thevar started singing hymns in praise of Mahadeva and all of sudden the sound of the cracking of handcuffs were heard by the soldiers camping outside the temple. Disturbed by the sounds the soldiers rushed inside the temple to see what happened, only to see broken handcuffs and chains with Puli Thevar nowhere in sight and never to be seen again by any mortal. Some say he was taken by the Lord himself to his abode……

Not being a man who would give up or prostrate in front of the British their Muslim lackeys, Puli Thevar was thoroughly maligned by the British historians as a man who never kept his word and was deceitful to the core. While these events occurred in late 1760, the truth of the events was never fully told by the Marxist historians of secular India. Therefore I shall try and tell the tale of the heroic exploits of this man who very few Hindus outside of Southern India have ever heard about.

Seeds of this rebellion were in 1736 when the Muslim Nawab of Arcot, Mohammed Aley, annexed the Hindu kingdom of Madura in present day Tamil Nadu. The Hindu Poligars (Chieftans and vassals to the king), being the descendants of the Cholas and Pandyas, were in no mood to accept the lordship of a usurper and Adharmika refused to compromise with him or pay taxes of homage to him.

Over the next twenty years s confederation of seventy seven Poligars belonging to the Marvar community joint hands to defy the dictate of the usurper Mohammed Aley. The Poligars who lived in the vicinity of their hill fortress surrounded by forests and armed with ammunition, guns and traditional Hindu weapons attacked Mohammed’s forces at will defying him at each opportunity.

Scared of the might and defiance of the Hindu Poligars Mohammed the Nawab decided to find shelter in the British camp and beg them for help. The British eyeing an opportunity to grab Hindu lands that lay between Trichinapally and Cape Comorin decided to take nawab under their wing. This was a mistake that both the British and their lackey the nawab would go on to regret.

The British sent a large army commanded by Colonel Heron to assist their muslim vassal, Mohammed. On reaching the Poligar country this army started acting like street thugs, looting ordinary village folks, burning homes and even devastating the Hindu temples and shrines. Continuing his march forward Heron managed to used his skills of deceit to fight the Polingars into submission. The strongest Polingar was the Kattabomman of Panjalakurichi. He too surrendered and as he did not pay the full sum demanded by the British as tribute, he surrendered some of his close male relatives as collateral.

Assuming their victory was complete the British, under Heron, decided to head back to their base. However on their way back home Heron came up with an idea and the idea was to seek the submission of a minor Poligar of Nelkattumseval, his name was Puli Thevar. While the owner of a very small estate his influence amongst the Western Polingars was immense due to the fame of his abilities as an able administrator and considerable warrior.

What followed after this idea were a series of attacks, sieges and battles.

The First Siege: Nelkattumseval 1755 CE

No sooner had Puli Thevar refused the British demand for the payment of fief as an acceptance of their lordship over him, they launched an attack on Thevar. Puli Thevar’s informant in the British camp, the interpreter of Heron, sent him news that the British were short on supplies and did not have much heavy artillery. Hearing this Thevar decided to hold the British attack further.

Although Heron ordered a massive bombardment on Puli Thevar’s fort his forces couldn’t make much progress due to the thick walls of the fort. Forced to acknowledge that he couldn’t raid the fort, Heron sent a message to the Puli asking for a paltry sum of rupees twenty thousand to be paid. However Puli who by now understood the British game replied thus

“ My estate does not have that much income….. besides I know the value of money and don’t expect me to pay you even a single rupee”

After facing such a humiliating defeat at the hands of the brave Marvar, the British ducked tail and retreated. However this defeat of the British ignited a fire of rebellion that would make the foreigners pay a very heavy price before it went out in a blaze of glory in 1763. The Polingars emboldened by their fellow Hindu’s victory soon joined hands against the British and started an all out revolt under the able leadership of Puli Thevar.

After the retreat of Heron was complete, Thevar gathered his Marwars and let them loose to seize the entire countryside. The Marwars who were the ablest of warriors, famed for their ferocity in war and predatory warfare started ambushing and looting the British units burning down the villages that had supported the British in their war effort and overran the entire countryside.

The Second Battle: Kalakadu, 1755 CE

Understanding fully well that the British would not back down and would come back to attack his people again, Puli Thevar sent one of his generals to Travancore to win over the support of Maharajadhiraj Marathanda Varma who was the regent of Travancore. The general managed to convince His Majesty to support the Polingar confederacy lead by Puli Thevar and returned back with 4000 troops.

These troops were then added to his existing armies in order to fight the forces of Mahfuz Khan, the younger brother of Mohammed Aley and a British appointed governor of Madura. While Mahfuz Khan had a well equipped army, owing to the reinforcements received by the British , they were no match for Thevar’s much smaller army’s bravery or morale. These early victories boosted the morale of Thevar and he besieged the fort at Kalakadu. In order to end this siege Mahfuz Khan sent an entire division of cavalry. It was at this critical juncture that the Travancore forces had to retreat and head back home to control a major rebellion lead by Moplahs back in Travancore. With a large chunk of his men lost, Thevar knew that this battle was lost and so he retreated.

Second Siege of Nelkattumseval, 1755-1756 CE

Being very well aware that without the reinforcements from Travancore his army stood little chance against the gigantic cavalary of Mahfuz Khan, Thevar assembled all his troops and guns inside his fort complex at Nelkattumseval. Taking advantage of the situation the devious Khan sent his troops to devastate the Marvaras who had given him a hard time Kalakadu. The Muslim troops reestablished control of Arcot, which till then had been devastated by the Marvaras, and surrounded Puli Thevar in fort.

Thevar quickly asked his general to Mudemiah to engage Travancore once again, who by then had subdued the rebellion. The Travancore troops came out victorious, however knowing the sort of pain Puli Thevar could be Mahfuz went ahead with the siege of Thevar’s fort as he couldn’t afford to loose Puli.

Since this siege lasted quite some time Mahfuz’s troops ran short of supplies and begged the British for more. Seizing this opportunity, Puli Thevar instructed his crack troops to attack the British convoy. They more than obliged and looted the caravans and increasing Mahfuz Khan’s misery. Mahfuz who was by now in a state of shock decided to head back to his base in Tirunelveli in order to meet payroll and supply his troops.

Now a confident Thevar decided that he must launch an assault to fully obliterate his Arcot-British enemies. For this purpose he persuaded the Eastern Poligar council to join hands with him so that they could together fight their common enemies. Sadly the strongest of the Eastern Poligar ,Kattabomman, still had his relatives as captives under the Nawab. Out of fear for loosing his loved ones he decided to opt out of this council, despite wanting to join hands with Puli Thevar. However all the Madura Poligars joined hands with Puli Thevar and ensured troops in case of a war. Thereafter Puli went on to ask the Poligars of Nattam tojoin him.

This confederacy of Polingars had a single point agenda which was to seize the ancient and strategic city of Madura, as that would be a symbolic restoration of pre-1736 order in addition to enabling them to oust the Anglo-Muslim garrisons and seize control the country south up to Cape Comorin. Their objective was to restore Hindu rule in what was once the kingdom of Madura.

British soon learnt of this preparation for war and they were alarmed by the sheer scale of ambitions of Thevar. They blamed Mahfuz’s incompetency for this dangerous situation and resolved to intervene directly. They dispatched 1000 sepoys under Yusuf Khan and also put Mafuz’s armies under Yusuf Khan’s orders.

Siege of Srivilliputtur, 1756

By the time these sepoys arrived, Puli Thevar had already started out on his victory march leading the Marwar confederate army. They had assembled in Nelkattumseval and were supposed to attack Madura in order to recapture it from the Mohammed Aley, the usurper. As they marched, they faced the fort of Srivilliputtur, which they had seize if the wished to march on to Madura.

This fort was under the lordship of one Abdul Rahim and he was confident that he could easily rout Puli Thevar and his marvars. Initially they engaged in an open battle with Thevar’s forces but found themselves to be no match for the Hindu skill and bravery and hence retreated back to their fortress. Puli Thevar had them surrounded so badly that the Arkot troops got demoralized and all of them, including Rahim Khan, fled to save their lives.

Seing this victory the rest of the Polingars appealed to Puli Thevar to change the original plan of to march from Nelkattumseval to Madura and instead seize Tirunelveli in the south and then move to Madura. Thevar agreed and this turned out to be a catastrophic decision. At that time Madura was held lightly by Arckot troops and a siege of on Madura would have passed the entire kingdom into Puli Thevar’s hands. As fate would have it Mahfuz Khan, with his strong troops in place, in Tirunelveli persuaded Kattabomman to support him in the war initiative and promised him land grants, riches, etc in return. As Kattabomman led the Eastern Poligars, war that began as a war of independence now became a civil war.

Battle of Tirunelveli, 1756

Despite the sabotage by his own Hindu brothers, The Polingars of the East, Thevar didn’t loose his resolve to meet the enemy forces in battle. Both sides had an equal number of men, totaling forty thousand, facing each other. However Mahfuz had an great advantage over the Poligars due to his superior calavry which was supported by his British masters. Not loosing hope and with the name of Mahadeva on his lips Puli Thevar and his brave twenty thousands left upon the enemy, however they were no match for the cavalry that supported Mahfuz. Had it not been for Kattabomman’s greed the Arcot troops, it would have been a funeral for Mahfuz and his troops and almost all of the entire the lands of Thamiz would have been in the hands of the Hindus. Sadly Thevar’s rank crumbled and he and his men returned back to Nelkattumseval.

After this catastrophe, Puli Thevar noticed a drop of morale among his fellow Poligars. He himself evaluated the situation and decided on a clever policy. Thevar sent out affirmations of loyalty to the Nawab and the British and even met the Tirtarappa Mudali, a fellow Hindu belonging to the Vellala community and Nawab’s new viceroy in Madura and paid him a large sum as tribute. Meanwhile, he let his Maravas loose once more to loot and devastate enemy held territories once more. When Arcot sepoys tried to control them, they looted Arcot camps as Arcot troops watched helpless. Thevar was determined that the British and the Nawab should never know any peace.

This came to the attention of Yusuf Khan, the military commander of the Mohammed Aley the Nawab’s trops. He ordered Thevar to return back to his fort at Nelkattumseva. Thevar instead met Kattabomman and rallied the Polingars again to fight the enemies of Dharma and the usurpers of Hindu lands. Puli Thevar managed to assemble ten thousand men within a short span of time proceeded towards a forest that was under Kattabomman’s protectorate and stretched to the outskirts of Tinnevelly.

Capture of Tirunelveli, 1756

Thevar being an astute militant commander decided to take this difficult route instead of a straight highway inorder to conceal the movement of his troops and to take the enemy by surprise.His plan was based in the information of a spy’z report that Mudali had camped his bulk force some twenty miles away where he anticipated Thevar;’s attack. Thevar decided to wait till nightfall before entering Tinnevelly. By dawn they had infiltrated into the town in small bands through unguarded points.

By sunrise Thevar and his men had seized the town of Tirunelveli. Mudali who had heard that he had been outwitted by Thevar, decided to assemble his troops at Palamkotta fort instead of attacking Tirunelveli. Thevar had no artillery so ordered his cavalry to encircle the fort and burn a large area around the fort to deprive them of supplies. His troops could not scale the fort walls because of gun-fire by Mudali’s troops; their only option is to wait and starve the enemy.

In the meantime Yusuf Khan who heard of the fall of Tirunelveli gathered his troops to attack Puli Thevar. On being informed of this Puli Thevar had to abandon the fort and move to Gangai Konda, north of Tirunelveli.

Thevar’s troops attacked from all sides but suffered huge losses as Yusuf Khan’s artillery took its toll on Thevar’s ranks. Thevar realised that the battle was lost and ordered a retreat. Thevar’s army split into three; the forces of Polygars under Thevar fled into the jungle, one of his generals with his horsemen went to Madura and another retreated towards Srivilliputtur.

Puli Thevar had not lost hope. He opened talks with agents of Mysore at Dindigul and offered them half a million (five lakh) rupees in exchange for military help. He also tried to persuade the corrupt officers of Mahfuz Khan to give up Cholavandan, a region through which the only road between Dindigal and Madura passed through a mountain defile. In order to tempt Mahfuz Khan to join his side, Thevar also tempted him with promise of high office in Mysore.

Thevar’s agenda was to out both the British and their underling the Nawab Mohammed Aley and restore the throne to the rightful Hindu heir of ruling dynasty of Madura. The British got a scent of his plans for the formation of a third confederacy and the dispatched a huge force under Yusuf Khan and Mudali.

A third of this force was posted in Tirunelveli and another third was aseembled in the fort of Palamkotta. Yusuf Khan’s strategy in this battle was to overwhelm Thevar into submission by excessive use of force so that the rest of the Poligars would be dissuaded to join forces with him. Yusuf sent his envoys to Puli Thevar’s camp to invite him for negotiations.

Thevar accepted the invitation and sent three hundred of his marvars to the Muslim camp in order to conduct negotiations, which failed. As result Yusuf decided to send Alagappa to settle matters with Thevar. Yusuf Khan’s envoy offered large lands as grants to Puli Thevar if we gave an affirmative to the peace deal. Thevar was too shrewd to fall for these lies, as he was fully aware of the lying and deceit nature enshrined in the ethos of the enemy. However instead of refusing the offer outright what he did was was to send his main army to join his generals and the sent small attack teams to go and ravage the enemy territories west of Tirunelveli, intending the negotiations to fail.

Soon Thevar got what he wanted as the nawab’s men killed some of the envoys he had sent to the Arckot camp for negotiations, accusing them of stealing their horses and oxen. Thevar used this an excuse to launch a full fledged attack on the Nawab.In the meantime Mahfuz Khan ,being unscrupulous character, understoof that his existence depended on the good will of Puli Thevar so he came to Nelkettuseval with troops by the end of 1756. Several of the NAwab;s officers also revolted. However since Mahfuz Khan didn’t have the stomach for more battle he was chased away by the British after they left leaving the Nawab in charge.This was exactly the opportunity that Puli Thevar was looking for as he had completed his preparations for the siege of Madura by that time and without the British reinforcements Mohammed Aley the nawab’s forces wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

Second Capture of Tirunelveli, 1756

Maravan History - pandaravanniyan In early 1757, Thevar along with Mahfuz Khan and supported by many Polygars marched towards Tirunelveli for the third time at the head of an army of 10,000 men. They camped near Tirunelveli but did not attempt to capture the town. Thevar remembered well what would happen if a largely primitive force engaged with the well-equipped army which held Tirunelveli.

Instead, in an effort to seize the country-side, Thevar sent messages to Mudalis, or tax collectors, that from now on he was in charge and that they must pay tax to him.Talks were opened with the Raja of Travancore to persuade him into lending support the war efforts of the Poligar confederacy in exchange for which Thevar promised him those territories on which Raja of Travancore coveted.

Soon the troops that held Tirunelveli marched to Madura and Mahfuz Khan marched into the abandoned town. Mahfuz was so intoxicated by this success-in reality only luck-that he on his own, ordered his men to assault the nearby fort of Palamkotta; his men suffered staggering losses. The commandant of Palayamkotta enticed Kattabomman, the rank opportunist to support him in exchange for lucrative land grants.

Kattabomman’s troops routed Mahfuz’s troops who camped some distance away from the fort. After this Kattabomman retreated but Yusuf Khan came to the scene. Mahfuz Khan fled the scene to Nelkettumseval to join Thevar, who had left much earlier as he understood that plans were not working as he had envisaged.

In the summer of 1758, Puli Thevar, for the fourth time, was ready to clash with the British and Nawab. Puli Thevar was supported by Poligars of Wadagiri, Kotaltava, Naduvakurichi and Sorandai. Ettaiyapuram Poligar also joined Thevar’s confederacy and soon confederates persuaded the Polygar of Settur to join them.

Stand At Settur & Aftermath, 1759

Puli Thevar camped his troops inside the Settur fort, only 15 miles from Srivilliputtur and their joint force ravaged the enemy-held surrounding zone. Yusuf Khan besieged the Settur fort, whose Poligar lost nerve and expelled Thevar’s troops, paid a fine and surrendered.

Thevar’s troops re-grouped and they seized all enemy outposts from Nelkettumseval to Tirunelveli and massacred the garrisons they overran. This great success elated Thevar and his confederates and they attacked and captured the Uttumalai fort held by a British lackey Poligar and prepared to capture Palamkotta and Tirunelveli.

The arrival of Yusuf Khan’s troops at Srivilliputtur checked their progress. Instead of an open fight, Thevar wisely chose to strengthen the chain of posts he had captured. He also sent troops to Nelkettumseval to prepare for defense and spread out his troops around Yusuf’s army in order to harass Yusuf’s troops. Yusuf had far greater troops and soon he recaptured all the outposts seized by Thevar and then he marched and destroyed much of Poligar country by fire and sword. But even so his attempt to reduce Poligars went only slowly as Poligars retreated into their strong impregnable forts. Soon Yusuf was forced to retreat because of orders from British authorities.

In 1759, Thevar took revenge as he marched towards Palamkotta and the garrison troops came out and fought Thevar’s men. Thevar devastated his enemy’s force in open field, but retired-as he knew that it would be nearly impossible to storm a well-defended fort. The incident was an embarrassment and shock to the British. Thevar’s troops overran the countryside from Nattam to Travacore also. Enemy garrisons were safe only in their forts. They once more deputized Yusuf Khan to crush Puli Thevar. Thevar was worried that Mahfuz Khan might switch sides as he was a rank opportunist and so kept him under close watch.

Second Struggle with Yusuf Khan

The pro-British Kattabomman died and the new Kattabomman loathed them. He, as the leader of Eastern Poligars, pledged support to Puli Thevar, the undisputed leader of Western Poligars. This union was aimed to meet the threat of Yusuf Khan.

Yusuf Khan could have been driven back easily if he had to face so mighty a confederacy alone. Some Poligars were eager to collaborate with enemy. Yusuf came into Poligar country with only 1000 men but soon his army grew to 4000 with support from these fallen Hindu Poligars. Even so he was not ready.

He waited for reinforcements to come. His strategy, till he received reinforcements, was to prevent the armies of Puli Thevar and Kattabomman from joining. He sent a heavily armed force into Ettaiyapuram with this task-they were to fight and block Eastern Polygars’ troops so that he could deal with Puli Thevar and men separately.

Once fully prepared, Yusuf Khan marched on. His force captured the strategic fort of Kollarpetti and reached Tirunelveli. Mahfuz Khan requested a pardon from Yusuf Khan and a jagir for himself if he left Thevar’s camp. Yusuf Khan assured him that his demands would be met. Puli Thevar surprised an enemy army at Sorandai and massacred and looted it. Yusuf immediately sent another force to retaliate, but Thevar had left by that time. Travancore troops began incursions into lands between Cape Comorin and Kalakadu. The Maravas of Puli Thevar and his allies ravaged all of Tamil country south of Tirunelveli and Yusuf who had to deal with three enemies, appeared in dire straits.

An idiotic action by the Poligar of Wadagiri turned the tables. He had let his Maravas repeatedly plunder the territories of the Travancore Raja who was his neighbor too. The Maharaja of Travancore, angry at this policy, began to have second thoughts. Yusuf Khan exploited this by opening talks with the Raja of Travancore. This talk was to have fatal consequences. The Raja of Travancore agreed to side with Yusuf, if he left the Poligar confederacy. The Raja sent a large force of musketeers to join with Yusuf’s troops-altogether 20,000 men marched towards the fort of Wadagiri, and Polygar had to escape as he could not withstand them for more than a day.

The Polygar of Wadagiri took refuge with Puli Thevar at Nelkattumseval. Puli Thevar himself was worried as the most powerful Western Polygar-Wadagiri Polygar was finished. He learnt that the French had sent a letter to Mahfuz Khan which stated that soon the English would be finished and that Mahfuz would be crowned as Nawab after the present Nawab, an English puppet, was ousted. Thevar exploited this situation.

He sent a message to Travancore Raja about this letter and argued that since the French will win in the end, what would Travancore gain if they allied with the English, whose man was Yusuf? Thevar offered that if Travancore Raja side with them, he would let Raja have those parts of Tirunelveil of his own choice.

The Travancore Raja told Yusuf Khan of this communication of Puli Thevar. The Raja of Travancore argued that since Thevar had offered him so much, he will side with Yusuf only if Yusuf ceded the land between Cape Comorin and Kalakadu that Nawab had denied to Travancore. He also threatened Yusuf that if he supported Thevar that would mean the end of Nawab’s ambitions in country south of Tirunelveli-which indeed was a real threat.

The Dutch seizure of artillery sent by English meant for Yusuf Khan, opened the prospect of war with Dutch in Tuticorin (Toothukudi). Yusuf relented and ceded the territories demanded by the Raja and so Puli Thevar’s attempt to win this Raja ended in failure. If the Raja had allied with Thevar, the British conquest of South India might have been delayed by years and even decades. Thus Yusuf Khan was saved because by that time, Maravas across southern Tamil Nadu had flocked to Thevar’s fort to fight for their hero. It was beyond the capacity of Yusuf Khan to overpower so great a host alone, but with help from Travancore assured, he was confident. Soon, Travancore troops and Yusuf Khan’s units jointly captured the fort of Isvara Thevar, a vassal of Puli Thevar. Isvara Thevar and his men retreated to Nelkettumseval, but this victory had exhausted his ammunition and he was delayed in his next move. As they waited, a force of 6000 Maravas launched a surprise raid on the Travacore camp and killed several troops. But by time Yusuf Khan marched with his men, Marava force had retreated.

Siege of Vasdevanellur, 1759–1760

In December, 1759, Yusuf besieged fort of Vasudevanellur with his allied troops after he received a large stock of ammunition. This fort belonged to Puli Thevar and was his second strongest fort, located on top of a mountain range and was covered by a vast forest on all sides.

Puli Thevar kept 1000 men in the fort and spread out the rest of his force in the forest that surrounded the fort. These troops raided enemy camps, sniped and ambushed scattered units of Yusuf’s armies and they also disrupted his effort to build a massive construction for artillery batteries it took three weeks for Yusuf to complete the construction; relentless bombardment caused Yusuf to lose some of his heavy artillery and most of his ammunition. He had breached the wall of this mighty fort and he unwisely decided to engage his troops in a hand to hand combat with Thevar’s soldiers.

Puli Thevar was at this time not at Vasudevanellur, he was at his headquarters of Nelkattumseval. As both sides prepared for the final struggle for Vasudevanellur, Thevar collected 3000 of his ablest Maravas and led them in a night march from Nelkattumseval to Vasudevanellur.

Once he approached Vasudevanellur’s neighborhood, Thevar led his troops through the forest below the fort to avoid detection by enemy and sprang into a surprise attack on Yusuf Khan’s camp. Thevar’s troops devastated the enemy camp and Yusuf Khan threw a large force into the fray to tilt the balance. The Maravas, intoxicated by their success, fought with great ardour. In the meantime, those Maravas who had concealed themselves in forests and ambushed Yusuf Khan’s troops for the last 3–4 weeks came out of the woods and began to attack Yusuf Khan’s battery positions and the enemy infantry that was trying to move into the fort through the breach.

The Maravas were repeatedly beaten back by Yusuf’s men, but each time they returned to the attacks. These Maravas worked together with the garrison to check the enemy advance into the fort and they were successful. The Maravas then returned to the woods below the fort and lay in wait for a renewed enemy attack in night. But Yusuf Khan was nearly exhausted of his ammunition and he foresaw the catastrophe if he stood before the fort without ammunition.

The following day, Yusuf Khan and Travancore troops retreated and they split into two-Travancore troops went home while Yusuf and his men went to Tirunelveli. Yusuf Khan no longer had the ability to launch an offensive into Puli Thevar’s country so he stayed at Tirunelveli and posted his men at key points to limit Puli Thevar’s raids. For the time being his grand plan to crush this turbulent Polygar was shelved.

Thevar did not leave Yusuf Khan in peace. His Maravas ravaged Tirunelveli country so much that Yusuf Khan himself realised that he could not crush them by force so he bribed many of them to join his side. Yusuf soon found himself at war with Mysore and Dutch, which bought Thevar time. Yusuf Khan crushed a force of 3000 men sent by Kattabomman. Thevar learnt that the French were besieged in Pondicherry by the English and that Mahfuz Khan had gone over to Nawab, but his Maravas ravaged lands held by Yusuf Khan so much that he soon deployed the bulk of his force in front of Nelkettumseval in order to force the Maravas to abandon his lands.

He bought several pieces of heavy artillery but had no ammunition and sent a message to the British camp in Trichinopoly to send him ammunition. As he awaited, Puli Thevar launched a lightning raid on Yusuf’s camp and after killing and wounding several of Yusuf’s men retreated.

Finally after a long and ardous battle Puli Thevar was captured on his way to pilgrimage, and the rest as they say is the miracle of Mahadeva.

Puli Thevar’s desecendants are spread all over present day Tamil Nadu in the southern part. Most of them are located around the region called as nel kattan sevval (the place which doesn’t pay rice tribute) which before Puli Thevar’s war and after the Mohammaed Aley’s taking over Madura was known as Nel kattum sevval (The place that pays the rice tribute)
.

(28846)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags british, east india company, Marava, muslims, Poligars, Puli Thevar .hindu warriors, slider, tamil hindus

Historical Figures

General Balbhadra Kunwar : The Hindu Lion of Nepal

Post author By admin
Post date February 5, 2014
2 Comments on General Balbhadra Kunwar : The Hindu Lion of Nepal

While not much is known about the early life and exact year of birth, it is estimated that this brave Hindu warrior was born between 1775-90 in beautiful valley of Kathmandu home to the illustrious Pashupatinath temple. Balbhadra Kunwar was the first among three sons of Chandra Bir Kunwar who belonged to the Hindu Rajput clan. Historical records suggest that the family had arrived in the Terrai region following the fall of Chittorgadh fort, in a siege by the Muhammadan Warlord Akbar, in the year 1568 CE.

The Kunwars had since set up an alliance with the Shah kings of Nepal from the dynasty of the Hindu monarch Prithvi Narayan Shah and held several important positions under the dynasty, helping to consolidate the Shah rule over Nepal.

While having many a great exploits fighting for the Hindu Gorkhali army of Nepal, Balbhadra Kunwar moment of glory lay in the part he played in the Gorkha-Anglo wars.

It was in the month of October 1814 that the soldiers of the British East India Army advanced towards the Hindu kingdom of Nepal. Being lead by Rollo Gillespie the major General, a horde of 3500 soldiers , armed with latest weapons and cannons, this force advanced to occupy the territories between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in Garwal and Kumaon. Realizing that he could not defend the non-combatants against this assault in the valley of Dehradun the brave Gorkha General decided to take them to Nalapani fort (located due North East from Deradun).

A night before the declaration of war, the British General Gillespie had sent a letter to Balbhadra asking him to surrender and he would be made the Governor of Dehradun. In reply he tore the letter and said,

“ I shall meet your General in the battlefield “.

It was at this time that Balbadra supported by only 600 troops (including women, the young and elderly) and fight these foreign mercenaries who had come to occupy his Hindu lands.

The Hindu troops used basic rifles, stones and arrows to fight the British hordes. This was so much in contrast to the modern rifles and 11 cannons with which the British were armed. What followed was a fierce battle between the brave Hindu Gorkha troops and the British mercenaries for the next one month.

After realizing that military might would not make these brave Hindu surrender the cowardly British decided to cut off the only supply of water to the fort at Nalpani. This causes immense trouble to the Hindus inside the vicinity of fort, especially due to the presence of small children, women and the elderly. The walls of the fort had also been battered by the fodder of the British cannons.

Many brave Hindus had lost their lives fighting for the sake of their lands. Therefore to prevent any further harm to the defenceless Babhadra Kunwar decided to take the inhabitants, combatants and non-combatants alike, to the safety Dwarka on the night of Nov 16 1814. The Brtish continued to launch attacks on them, knowing fully well that they had non-combacts with them. The proud Hindus continued to respond to these kind while couriering the defenseless and weak to safety.

Thereafter a message was sent to the British

“We had handed over to you your deed and injured soldiers on your request. We now request you to hand over our injured soldiers to us”

a request declined by the British although they claimed that they were taking care of POWs.

Seeing the condition of his people, Balbhadra decided to ask Kathmandu for more troops as reinforcement to fight the foreigners. Sadly as the Shah’s were still consolidating the Hindu Kingdom, these troops could not be provided on time and so the Commander decided to move on to Gopichand hill fort from Dwara on Nov 18, 1814.

The Hindus spent the night at Gopichand hills while the British kept on bombarding them with their cannon fire. Meanwhile his trusted lieutenant Sardar Ripumardan Thapa (sardar standing for a leader and not a Sikh should any misunderstanding ensue) sustained an injury in his right arm from an enemy shell. Sadly he couldn’t continue the ascend uphill and had to stop while the rest of the Hindus continued to climb uphill to safety.

The next day on Nov 19,1814, men sent by Balabhadra carried Ripumardana to Chamuwa for treatment. Kaji Ranadipa Simha Basnyat, Kaji Rewanta Kunwar and Subedar Dalajit Kanwar also had arrived by this time for the assistance of Gurkhas, even though they were killed by enemy fire on the very next day.

Defiant to the last of his resources ultimately after four days of thirst, hunger, weariness and enduring severe wounds the Hindu lion Balbhadra emerged out of the camp with khurkris drawn in both his mace like hands (along with the rest of 70 surviving Hindus) and roared to the British Merceneries –“ You could have never won this battle but now I myself voluntarily abandon this fort. There is nothing inside the fort other than corpses of the children and women” Saying thus, he and his Gurkhas left for the hills.

Finally a peace treaty was signed between the British East India Company and His Royal Highness Maharaja Dhiraj Girvan Vikram Shah and the British East India Company, known as Sugauli Treaty. While the Hindu Gurkhas might not have won this war, they still came out as victors. Victors of the spirit of Sanatana Dharma, the fire that ignites the hearts of countless Hindu men and women since ages which tells them to never give up not even in the face of extreme opposition. So enamored were the British by the bravery of brave Hindu Gurkhas that one of their poets, John Ship, dedicated the following lines to them,

“I never saw more steadinesses Or bravery exhibited in my life. Run they would not and of death They seemed to have no fear Though their comrades were falling Thick around them, as bold For we were so near to know That every shot of ours told’.”

Bhalbhadra Kunwar did not loose his life in the Gurkha-Anglo war, he procceded to Lahore, then capital of Punjab to join ranks with the new Lahore regiment formed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Balbhadra Kunwar in keeping with his brave past was made the General of this new regiment, which consisted of entirely Hindu Gorkhali troops. The word Gorkhali was strictly reserved for those Hindus who served under the Hindu kings, others who had served the Muhammadan warlords were known as “Munglane” and were seen as lowly and unclean.

It was during the Sikh-Afghan war, that the brave General finally met his heroic end while fighting the afghans tribals during a bout of heavy artillery fire. It is said that he was the last man in his regiment to fall and kept fighting to his end. Thus came a comma to the great and heroic life of a great Hindu warrior (I saw comma because in Sanatana Dharma there is no fullstop). As a tribute to his gallantry the British erected a war memorial at Nalapani, where the following words bear inscribed bear testament to his life

“as a tribute of respect for our gallant adversary Balbudder Commander of the fort and his brave Gorkhas who were afterwards while in the service of Ranjit Singh shot down in their ranks to the last man by the Afghan artillery.”

Later Capt. Balbhadra Kunwar´s descendants and family members were to establish the Rana dynasty in the middle of the 1800´s led by Jung Bahador Kunwar Rana.

Today the decendants of Balbhadra live mainly in Nepal (kathmandu and pokhara, other cities too) but are also found Internationaly in the India, USA, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, U.A.E among other places.

By Amit

(10873)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags east india company, Featured, General Balbhadra Kunwar, General Gillespie, ghorkali, ghurkas, Hindu Lion, khurkri, Nepal, rajputs, ranjit singh

Historical Figures

Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar (1725-1795)

Post author By admin
Post date February 1, 2014
11 Comments on Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar (1725-1795)

Western ‘scholarship’ has generally painted a picture of Hindu society in which women have forever been secluded from public life. This view has penetrated widely into the public mind, and has even been internalised by many Hindus. Yet if fails to take into consideration many facts.

For example, that women in much of India got the right to vote before women in Britain, that female saints were amongst the composers of the Vedas, that in some parts of India property has traditionally been passed down to the women in the family rather than to the men, or the fact that Hinduism is the only religion that could conceive of the Supreme Being as being female.

While it is true that there have been many problems for women in Hindu society, the same can be said for all societies in the world. There are many great women in Hindu history who have achieved great renown for their deeds in many spheres of life, who are remembered fondly by all Hindus, not as rebels who went against the norms of society, but as ideals that should inspire all people.

Ahilyabai Holkar is one such figure. She is fondly remembered as a noble, saintly and courageous woman. She ruled the kingdom of Indore (which was then part of the wider Maratha Empire) for several decades. Her rule is remembered as a golden age in Indore’s history.

From an agricultural background herself, she married Khanderav, prince of Indore. Thereafter, she resided in the Royal Palace. Later, she was trained in statecraft and accompanied the army to war on many occasions. At that time the Maratha Empire (which was founded by Shivaji) was at the apex of its power. There were frequent battles and skirmishes, both against foreigners as well as internal feuds. In one such battle in 1754, Ahilyabai’s husband was killed. Her aged father-in-law was shattered at the death of his son. He summoned Ahilyabai who he loved deeply, and said: “You are now my son. I wish that you look after my kingdom.”

On taking control of Indore, she declared, “This kingdom belongs to Shankar (Shiva). On behalf of Shankar I will do my duty to manage the affairs for the benefit of the people.” She lived a very simple life. Instead of living in the palace she preferred to live on the banks of the River Narmada at the pilgrimage site called “Maheshwar”. Very few rulers in history have demonstrated such a lifestyle in which they give up all royal comforts but at the same time carried on their job very well.

In 1766 the kingdom passed to Ahilyabai’s son. He is remembered as being an unworthy ruler – addicted to vice and at times cruel. At any rate, he died young and once again Ahilyabai resumed control of the kingdom’s affairs. Soon the kingdom became very prosperous. This attracted the envy of many.

The supreme ruler of the Empire, Peshwa Raghoba, was instigated by one of Ahilyabai’s own ministers to confiscate the excess wealth of Indore. Ahilyabai pointed out to him that under the agreements that existed the wealth of the treasury was supposed to be for the well being of her subjects or for charitable purposes.

The Peshwa was infuriated that she defied him, and threatened military action. She in turn challenged him to come and meet her on the battlefield. She gathered a small force, which included many women, and set out to fight. A message was sent to the Peshwa: “Now I will show you how weak I am. If I lose fighting against men I will have lost nothing. But if you lose against women then you will be in the soup! And remember, that is exactly what will happen.”

The Peshwa had a change of heart. He said, “You have misunderstood. I do not come to fight, but to mourn your son’s death.” He ended up staying as Ahilyabai’s guest for a month and was thoroughly impressed at the skill with which she ruled. For example, she had greatly reduced crime and theft, by encouraging poor people to get involved in trade and farming.

She employed forest tribes to be the protectors of travelling merchants; a job for which they were paid handsomely provided it was performed well. She spent wealth on projects such as construction of roads, wells, dharamshalas (resthouses) and mandirs (temples). She even contributed to projects outside her dominion, particularly the restoration of ancient Hindu shrines that had been destroyed by Islamic invaders.

Two famous examples were the Vishnupad Mandir in Gaya and the Somnath Mandir in Gujarat. Every day she distributed food and clothes to the poor and to holy men and women. She would personally see any citizen who wished to lodge a complaint, whether it was a poor peasant or a rich merchant. Her success in administration stands out in contrast with most other important Hindu rulers of the time who were involved in petty feuds, and were not discharging their duties fully.

Ahilyabai’s humility was one of her outstanding characteristics. Considering her achievements, she had every reason to become arrogant, a common trait in many otherwise great men and women. But quite the opposite. A court-poet once compiled a book of poems praising Ahilyabai She had the book thrown into a river! The reason was that she did not want to receive all these eloquent praises. She just wanted to discharge her duties.

At the age of 70 Ahilyabai passed away in Rameshwar. Her life shines brightly in the firmament of history, for ruling her kingdom with piety and selflessness; sincerely devoting herself to her subjects while keeping Dharma at the forefront of all that she did. Her life will be an inspiration for future generations of Hindus.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh paying floral tributes at the statue of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar

“For thirty years her reign of peace,
The land in blessing did increase;
And she was blessed by every tongue,
By stern and gentle, old and young.
Yea, even the children at their mothers feet
Are taught such homely rhyming to repeat
“In latter days from Brahma came,
To rule our land, a noble Dame,
Kind was her heart, and bright her fame,
And Ahlya was her honoured name.”

-Poem on Rani Ahilyabai Holkar by Joanna Baillie in 1849

(26885)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags Ahilyabai Holkar, Hindu history, hindu women, hindu women warrior, india, Maratha Empire, Peshwa Raghoba, River Narmada, shivaji, Somnath Mandir, Vishnupad Mandir

Analysis

The Gita and the Freedom of India

Post author By admin
Post date January 25, 2014
2 Comments on The Gita and the Freedom of India

The struggle against British colonialism marked a period when a huge number of Hindus became free from a very exploitative regime (and although the new regimes in India have eventually turned out just as worse as the British working against the interest of Hindus) – it cannot be denied that the freedom fighters against the British Raj deserve the respect of all.

The post-World War 2 era of world history saw the dramatic end of colonialism all around the world. The first and most devastating blow to colonialism was the freedom of India, in which over night 1/5^th of humanity were freed. Despite the sad events that accompanied Independence (i.e. the partition of India and the accompanying massacres), Independence Day is a happy event, celebrated by over a billion people every year. India was the first country to free herself, and her freedom gave impetus and hope to the freedom movements of so many other countries spread out over. Asia and Africa. This section is dedicated to the sacrifice of all of the freedom fighters who struggled against European colonialism.

Many of the most prominent freedom fighters were inspired by the Bhagavad Gita. Many even went to the gallows and were executed with the Gita in their hands. The Swadeshi movement of Bengal in 1905 began with a gathering of 50,000 people on the streets on the streets of Calcutta, each with the Gita in their hands. The crowds proceeded to the Kali Temple where they vowed to boycott British goods and drive the British from their lands. The following are very brief biographies about some of the many great leaders and freedom fighters that drew inspiration from the Gita:

Lokmanya Tilak (1856-1920) was known as the “Father of Indian Unrest”. He was the very first person to demand full independence from Britain in the Congress sessions. He explained: “The most practical teaching of the Gita, and one for which it is of abiding interest and value to the men of the world with whom life is a series of struggles, is not to give way to any morbid sentimentality when duty demands sternness and the boldness to face terrible things.” And “It is my firm conviction that it is of utmost importance that every man, woman and child of India understands the message of the Gita.” He write a commentary on the Gita called “Gita Rahasya”, which even today is one of the best books written on the Gita

Bankim Chandra Chatterji (1858-1930) – Bankim Chandra was not a freedom fighter, but through his writings he sparked of an intense freedom struggle and breathed a new passion and life into the nation, particularly his native region of Bengal, which became kindled with religious, nationalistic and artistic fervour after being infused with the powerful visions contained in his writings. Virtually all of you will have heard the famous slogan “Vande Mataram” (I bow to the Mother). The poem and song by this name was first written by him in his famous novel “Anandamath”. The Anandamath story is set in 18^th century India, when a group of warrior sannyasis mounted a guerilla war against Muslim rule (based on a true historical attempt by sannyasis to do precisely this). It was a riveting story line with amazing characters and meaningful dialogues. Yet more importantly, hundreds of thousands of Indians took the story as a metaphor for their own present day situation, understanding it as a call to arms to drive the new tyrants (the British) away from the sacred soil. “Vande Mararam” became the slogan of the freedom struggle. Bankim Chandra drew deep inspiration from the Gita. He wrote a commentary on the Gita, which was only three quarters complete when he died, and an inspiring life sketch of Krishna based on historical and literary research, titled Sri Krishna Charitra.

Image result for Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi’s (1869-1948) role in the freedom movement of India needs no explanation. His very name invokes images of India’s Independence. He was a kshatriya who fought his battle with unique weapons. He drew great inspiration and courage from the Gita, “I find a solace in the Bhagavad-Gita that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount [Gandhi felt that the Sermon was the most deep and meaningful dialogue in the Christian teachings]. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad-Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there , and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies — and my life has been full of external tragedies — and if they have left no visible or indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavad-Gita.”

Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950) was one of the greatest revolutionaries in the early phase of the Indian freedom struggle, and is recognised throughout the world as a great mystic, intellectual and visionary. He felt that India’s weakness had been due to a weak-minded and cowardly group of leaders, who did not have the nerves to face hardship and take risks for the better of the nation. He emphasised the necessity of the Gita in uplifting India as well as liberating humanity from the bondage of our lower nature into the bliss of divinity. He wrote a beautiful selection of essays on the Gita and its secrets. “A certain class of minds shrink from aggressiveness as if it were a sin. It is an error, we repeat, to think that spirituality is a thing divorced from life…. It is an error to think that the heights of religion are above the struggles of this world. The recurrent cry of Sri Krishna to Arjuna insists on the struggle; “Fight and overthrow thy opponents!”, “Remember me and fight!”, “Give up all thy works to me with a heart full of spirituality, and free from craving, free from selfish claims, fight! Let the fever of thy soul pass from thee.”

Damodarpanth Chapekar (executed 1898) – In the late 1890’s, in the Maharashtra province of India, there was a devastating plague, which killed many people. The British colonial government was very unhelpful about relief for the suffering people. Indeed, the British agricultural policies (enforcing production of cotton rather than traditional food crops) seriously compounded the problem. The celebrations of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee (50 year’s of rule) were held in the Poona city of Maharashtra. The celebration was carried out with such immense pomp and splendour, in a region where innumerable people were suffering. This sent a wave of resentment amongst the Indian populace, against the colonial government. It was at this time that the erstwhile limited freedom struggle against the British gained support and momentum. As a mark of the people’s resentment against the British administration, an important incident occurred which was to breath a hitherto unknown fire into the revolutionary freedom movement. Outraged by the countless miseries of the famine and plague stricken masses and the excesses committed by the British soldiers, Damodarpant Chapekar shot dead the British plague commissioner, Mr Rand, and the British officer Mr Ayerst on June 22, 1897, in Poona (the city which has been a cradle of heroes throughout history). He was later betrayed by two friends, and was sentenced to death. He embraced the gallows with the Bhagavad Gita in his hands on April 18^th 1898.

Madanlal Dhingra (1887-1909) was the assassin of Sir Cyrzon Wyllie, in London in 1909. He was executed in London on 17 August 1909. Bhagat Singh acknowledged Dhingra as his predecessor. A colourful and brave personality throughout his short life, he died with the Gita in his hands.

Khudiram Bose (1889-1906) was a young revolutionary from Bengal. He was brought up with a deep knowledge of the Hindu heritage, and he was constantly pained that a country which had once achieved so much was now bankrupt and under foreign yoke. He was arrested and hung at the young age of 17 for his part in an attack on British targets. He had the words “Vande Mataram” on his lips and the Bhagavad Gita in his hands when he died.

Hemu Kalani (1923-1943) was a freedom fighter from Sindh, who participated in all aspects of the freedom struggle, from the boycott of British goods, to Gandhi’s campaigns and revolutionary activities. He was caught in a plot to steal British munitions and supply it to Indians. While marching to the gallows, he consoled his distressed mother by quoting verses from the Gita regarding the indestructibility of soul. This shows the bravery and coolness that the Gita can inspire, even in the face of calamity. He said as he was about to be executed that he would like to be born again to finish the job of liberating India. He embraced the gallows with the Bhagavad Gita in his hands on April 18^th 1898.

(6314)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Damodarpanth Chapekar, Gita, Hemu Kalani, hindus, india independence, indian freedom fighters, Khudiram Bose, Lokmanya Tilak, Madanlal Dhingra, Mahatma Gandhi, slider, Sri Aurobindo Ghose

Legendary Battles

Raja Bhoja’s Vengeance

Amidst the horrific stench and screaming of dying men a battered and torn saffron flag fluttered. Over the defeated and crushed armies of the Yamini dynasty a band of warriors rode, heedless of the multitude of corpses ranged around them in the blaze of the midsummer Indian sun.

A defeat so calamitous had never been before thought of by the proud Yamini kings and their armies, also known as the Ghaznavids. Under their inspirational leadership of Mahmud of Ghazni the Central Asian Turk tribes had conquered from the borders of modern day Iraq to the doors of South Asia. There meeting determined opposition from the Hindu Shahi kings who sacrificed three generations of their kings to defend the entry to India the Ghaznavids broke through utilising their unmatched cavalry tactics which had defeated the Persians and Byzantines and were shortly to face down the Crusaders of Western Europe

The damage to the subcontinent was significant and the destruction of the ancient Hindu and Buddhist heritage of India was incalculable. The loss of population was significant due to war and pestilence and displacement of peoples.

The impact on the Indian psyche was enormous – the ancient seats of learning from Taxila to Nalanda were torn down – the seats of Buddhist learning once stretching into Central Asia in a vast circuit of Buddhist kingdoms collapsed like a house of cards. The once mighty Sassanid Empire of Persia who had defeated and humbled the Roman Empire and dragged the Emperor Valerian in chains to Ctesiphon , the custodians of Zoroastrianism were humbled and disappeared from the pages of history under the Arab Muslim onslaught. Their remnants fled to India for protection and others to the Chinese empire.

The waves of monotheism attack however did not subside. The organised and disciplined custodians of Buddha and Zoroaster were wiped from the pages of history in Persia, Central Asia and Afghanistan. It was at this juncture that the valiant Hindu Rajput clans united under the leadership of Bappa Rawal and the guidance of Guru Gorakhnath and in a vast clash of arms with the armies of the Arab Caliphate delivered to them their first great defeat at the Battle of Rajasthan in 745 CE and stopped forever the further Arab expansion into South Asia.

For 300 years this tenuous peace remained until the conversion of the Turk tribes to Islam in the last period of the first millennia Common Era which led to the infamous invasions of the subcontinent by Mahmud Ghazni. He was succeeded by his nephew Masud Salur who seeking to emulate Mahmud led a vast invasion of the Ghaznived forces into the subcontinent. Despite the success of his invasions Mahmud could not create an empire in India and Masud now sought to rectify this by leading the Ghaznavid veteran army into the north Indian plains. The proud soldiers who had marched from India to the Middle East under the banner of Islam entered India with an army of more than 100,000 men with 50,000 horses accompanied by two generals Meer Hussain Arab and Ameer Vazid Jafar in May 1031 AD

The march was joined by his uncle Salar Saifuddin, Meer Wakhtiar, Meer Sayyad Ajijuddin and Malik Bahruddin and their armies. After raiding through what is modern UP leaving a trail of plunder and rapine in their wake.

The invasion was stiffly opposed. His general, Syad Aziz-ud-din was killed by Hindus near Hardoi together with his relatives Jalaluddin Bukhari and Syed Ibrahim Bara Hazari whose graves can be found in Haryana today.

The famous Raja Bhoja who had faced down Mahmud Ghazni decades earlier and rebuilt the historic Somnath Temple after its desecration by the Muslims collected a coalition of Hindu warriors. Warriors from the disparate clans gathered under Raja Bhoja and on open plain near modern day Bharaich the coalition of Hindu clans faced up against their Islamic adversaries each side confident of victory.

The young Sultan Masur’s fame was already spread across the Ghaznivid Empire as an able soldier and general. In his ranks he boasted the famous light cavalry of the Central Asian Turkic tribes who were inspired with the zeal of their newly founded Muslim faith and eager to win victory and to finally establish their rule over Hindu dominated India or attain martyrdom and paradise as per the tenents of their faith.

The Hindu coalition was led by the Rajput Clans who emerged from the furnace of the decline of the Gupta Empire and the defeat of the Hun invasions which had devastated Europe to the early sixth century. From this crucible of endless conflict and religious turmoil rose the clans of the Rajput’s. Many traced their origin to the legendary Saint Gorakhnath and under his influence were able to repel and humiliate the Arab Caliphate in 745 AD. Their codes of conduct and bravery ushered in a new age of chivalry and honour of which the world has scarce seen.

Theses codes however were unable to cope with a new ruthless foe, Turmoil again engulfed the clans with the invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni and the northern plains were lacerated with violence and bloodshed. The terminal decline of Buddhism and Zoarasterism are also dated from this time. The swift footed cavalry and speed of movement was alien to the proud Rajput Hindu warriors and their concept of honour and valour. However it was only through their reckless bravery and raw courage that the Hindu warriors were able to hold the enemy at bay.

On this occasion under the skilful leadership of Raja Bhoja the Hindu army by swift movements were able to cut of the supplies of the Ghaznavids and pen them into a closely contested siege. Very soon the vast multitude of Muslim soldiers were running short on supplies and reinforcements. The close investment led Sultan Masur that he was left with only one choice – to force a decision on the battlefield.

Therefore on the blazing midsummer Indian plains that vast horde of the Ghaznavi army marched out to meet its Hindu enemy. the battalions of Turks, many of them veterans from the campaigns of Mahmud Ghanavi and brimming with the firmly held conviction that they marched in jihad against the enemies of their faith faced off against the aged Raja and his Rajput’s.

A desperate struggle ensued. The sweeping charges of the Turks were brought to bay by the Hindus. Trained from birth to excel in arms the Rajput warriors eagerly closed with their hated foe – before the gates of ancient Ayodhya they fought for ‘the ashes of their fathers and the temples of their Gods’ . The battle contended through the morning into the afternoon, charge after counter charge with brief moments of retreat and consolidation with neither side wiling to break. The battle cries of Allah how Akbar contended with the ancient cry of Har Har Mahadev as the soldiers closed in and grappled with their weapons and bare hands as thousands of their colleagues fell dead or dying amongst them.

The fighting continued unabated into the night with temperoay paused and the cool night air was rent with the shrieks of the dead and dying. The ground piled high in gore became slippery and unstable and the close fighting in the dark lent to the horror of enemies pouring out of the unknown at any time.

The high spirits of the Turk soldiers motivated by dreams of jihad and paradise were matched against the raw courage and matchless skill of the individual Hindu warriors with their flowing hair kept under check under steel caps and helmets fought whilst adopting the dread form of the God of Destruction, Shiva himself. Their utter contempt for their own lives and desire for freedom and dharma in the ancient land of the Rishis steadily began to wear down their enemies.

As the day wore on and the Muslims becoming increasingly enclosed in an ever tightening circle of steel the Sultan led a final desperate charge for victory. Here on the open plain he was brought to bay by the Rajput warriors and slain – the enraged Hindus cut of his head and displayed it on a pike to their enemies. This was the final straw for the Muslim army and it broke and fled. But there was nowhere to flee – hundreds of miles from their bases and surrounded by hostile foes the rout turned into a massacre and history tells us that not a single Muslim soldier returned to his home.

Raja Bhoja passed into legend. The terrible, slaughter of the Ghaznavids kept further attacks at bay and the Ghazanvaids never dared to attack India again.

POSTCRIPT:

Further attacks and counter attacks from Muslim kingdoms were defeated with great slaughter eventually passing into legend and merging with the later tragic tale of Prithviraj Chauhan. The defeat of Mohamad Ghouri in the first Battle of Tarain in which with great chivalry he released the captive Sultan was followed the next year by the second Battle of Tarain in which Prthivraj was defeated has entered into folklore. The tale has been magnified to indicate that Prithviraj defeated the Sultan no less than 17 times which is clearly a falsehood. In historical terms this is a garbled reference to the numerous attacks by the Arabs and Turk Muslims on India which were defeated by a succession of Hindu warrior kings from Bappa Rawal in the Battle of Rajasthan, to the wars from the Ghaznavi period onwards:

In 1072 CE Prince Mahmud was defeated and driven away by Lakshmadeva, the Paramara ruler of Ujjain. Mahmud also tried to take Kalanjar. But the Chandellas again proved more than a match for the army of Islam. Muslim historians record only his safe return from Hindustan.

Ibrahim’s successor, Masud III (AD 1099-1115), fared no better. The armies of Islam were defeated repeatedly by Govindachandra, the Gahadavad ruler of Kanauj. Inscriptions of Hindu princes around this period speak again and again of the rout of Turushka armies. These may refer either to the failure of feeble attempts which might have still been made by the Yamini (Ghaznavid) kings to extend their dominions in India or to the extermination of isolated pockets of Muslim domination beyond the Punjab.

One of the worst defeats suffered by the Muslims was at the hands of Arnoraja, the Chauhan ruler of Ajmer (AD 1133-1151). The Muslim commander fled before the Chauhans. Muslim soldiers died of exhaustion and an equal number perished from thirst. Their bodies lay along the path of retreat and were burnt by the villagers. A Chauhan prasasti of Ajmer Museum, line 15, states: The land of Ajmer, soaked with the blood of the Turushkas, looked as if it had dressed itself in a dress of deep red colour to celebrate the victory of her lord’

[box_dark]In an added irony of history the defeated Sultan Masurs body was flung into a pit by the enraged Hindus with the corpses of his soldiers and generals. Hundreds of years later the murderous Sultan Firuz Tughlaq raised a monument to the first ‘martyr of Islam’ in India.

In later times the monument became a shrine under the tutelage of Sufi preachers and in modern times incredulous and unwitting Hindus pay their respects to the shrine of a deceased ‘baba’ not knowing the history and background of the monument. That Sultan Masur came to India to murder and butcher the population or convert them to Islam was lost on the later generations of accommodating Hindu population.

[/box_dark]

The long and bloody history and struggle for survival of Hinduism has led to a growing awareness and confidence in our history and the facts of the great victories of Raja Bhoja are another reminder of the countless sacrifices made in the long and steady awakening and flowering of Hinduism under the challenge of relentless hatred and genocidal attack.

(14590)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags hindu warriors, hindu warriors.war of dharma, Jihad, Mahmud of Ghazni, Raja Bhoja, rajputs, Somnath Temple, Sultan Masur, Turks

The Renaissance man

Subhash Kak is Regents Professor of Computer Science at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. He has written six books of verse in English and Hindi and another 14 on a wide variety of subjects, including history of science and art. He was the anchor of Raga Unveiled, a four-hour documentary on Hindustani music. His books of poetry are The Conductor of the Dead, The London Bridge (Writers Workshop, Kolkata), The Secrets of Ishbar (Vitasta), The Chinar Garden (Blue Sparrow), Eka Taal Ek Darpana (Raka Prakashan), and Mitti Ka Anuraag (Alakananda). Excerpts from an interview:

You have been described as a Renaissance man. As an India scholar, what period in Indian History would be comparable with the term?

I think the term “Renaissance” is most apt for the last 200 years of Indian history, the period of its engagement with Europe, and a period of grave danger to its very existence. To serve as a profitable colony of Britain, India had to be mastered and refashioned in the image of Europe. The British Empire set in motion forces that destroyed most traditional institutions, but these forces also compelled Indians to question themselves and go back to the essential roots of her culture.

The destruction of Indian institutions took place as much by neglect as by design. Until the late 18th century, India was as prosperous as Europe. But after the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century (by which time Britain controlled Indian banking and other institutions), British factories were able to produce goods with which old methods of production could not compete. This suited Britain because India became the destination for its goods and since no comparable investments were made in Indian factories, India slipped further and further behind Britain. In the 200 years of British rule, Indian share of world economy dropped from 25 per cent to about two per cent, leading to unprecedented impoverishment of the country. The spread of misery was slow and relentless so that new generations did not even associate it with the British Raj, which was thanked for bringing the railways and telegraph to the country.

Mathematics, Cryptography, Indic Studies, mythology, neural networks, astronomy, poetry… how do the many meet?

Many years ago the British novelist C.P. Snow spoke of two cultures — the sciences and the humanities — which have their own mutually incomprehensible languages. Personally, I don’t agree. I think the creative impulse is the same in all fields. Each of these subjects is a collection of stories, with its own vocabulary and standards of style. Once one has mastered these elements, one is creative if one is able to see familiar things in new ways. And as far as aesthetics is concerned, there is a marvellous 1000-year-old Indian theory of it called dhvani, according to which the best way to communicate new insights is through hint, example and suggestion.

I am curious to know where you have found an overlap between Science and Vedic Religion/Philosophy.

The essence of the Vedas is a narrative on who the experiencing self is. Ordinary science informs us of the relationships between objects and also their transformations. But the Vedas say that this ordinary science leaves out the self who observes these objects. The Vedas speak of two kinds of sciences: the lower (rational and linguistic), and higher (transcendental).

What sparked your interest in Indic Studies?

I think it was triggered by an essay by a Western linguist who claimed that Panini’s 2400-year old grammar of Sanskrit had anticipated the abstract form of the modern computer. In his autobiography, the great physicist Erwin Schrödinger, one of the creators of quantum mechanics, credited the Upanishads with the key idea of quantum mechanics, that reality at the deepest level is a superposition of mutually exclusive attributes.

When I was young, my father had spoken to me about Panini but I did not pay any attention. When I began a systematic study of Indian texts, the journey took me to not only to mathematics and astronomy but also to texts on art and architecture, philosophy and Puranic encyclopedias, music and literature. India, given its very ancient history, has had many cycles of decay and renaissance. The later flowerings had their unique insights and accomplishments. For example, Rajendra Chola and his successors created some of the greatest wonders of art and architecture in India and Southeast Asia at about the same time as the great Vaishnava acharyas wrote their philosophical texts. The period of the Vijayanagara Empire was coeval with Kerala’s great achievement in mathematics and astronomy.

Your view is that the Indian way is harmony and the perception of spirit or consciousness preceding material reality. How do you understand the present reality of Indian society as it is now?

As at any other time, India is precariously balanced between the horrific and the sublime. Many Indians have become “mimic men,” to use one of V.S. Naipaul’s memorable phrases. There is uncritical copying of West and excess, but on the other hand, there is increasing spiritual yearning.

In some sense, your most popular work is the book you co-authored with David Frawley. How did it come about?

In the early 1990s our family was on a driving tour through the Western states and we were surprised to hear of Hanuman temple run by Americans in Taos in New Mexico. We visited the place next day; it was like an ashram and met many idealistic young people there. There, somebody told us of David and his work in the Vedas. When I returned to Baton Rouge, Louisiana I wrote to him and soon we established a fruitful dialogue. I had discovered a long-lost astronomy of the Vedic period, which had important implications for the understanding of the earliest history of India, and I thought it would be good for us to write a popular book on the subject. David then recruited Georg Feuerstein (who sadly died last year), one of the world’s foremost scholars of yoga, to join as a co-author.

In your essay ‘Rituals, Masks and Sacrifice’, you state that word-bound religions do not encourage mythology.

Mythology is coded narrative used to describe paradoxical and transcendent aspects of reality. Word-bound religions do not admit to such paradoxes. While they speak of transcendence, it only occurs on the Day of Judgment. Knowledge is the goal of life according to the Indian religions; in word-bound religions, living within religious laws is central for which there is reward as everlasting life in paradise.

Reading through the poems in The Secrets of Ishbar, I was overwhelmed by the sense that your poems seek beauty or intuitively grasp beauty.

Beauty takes us to a space that is ineffable, a place of secrets. Sometimes when explaining beauty we speak of symmetry as an element, but there is much to it that is beyond form and words. There is a saying in Sanskrit that looking fresh and new each time is the sign of beauty. We cannot define beauty but we recognise it from signs. The challenge for the poet is to capture the dhvani of beauty. This idea of dhvani was developed by Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta who argued that behind each word and phrase are associations and evocations that one must pause on to arrive at the sentiment or rasa of the poem. That is why the best writings can be read at so many different levels.

Do you see yourself as a Kashmiri poet in particular?

Kashmir has had a great and old tradition of mystical poetry, much of it in the style of bhakti poetry where one speaks of the separation from Krishna or the unnamed beloved. The intertwining of romantic love with mystical yearning is sometimes called lol, a hallmark of Kashmiri poetry. But Kashmiri creativity also finds expression in simple, iconic forms, and contemplative music. Historians believe that the meditative discipline of dhyāna went from Kashmir to China (where it was called chan) and eventually becoming Zen in Japan. I mention this as I am an admirer of Zen poetry and haiku. So it is hard to say if my work belongs to the Kashmiri canon. I think my sensibility has an austere edge and I have sought simplicity.

Your poems tend to peak in the closing lines. What is your personal prosody and perception of form versus content in a poem?

To the extent that a poem is a thing, it has to have a form where the pieces fit together. This is what I try to do in the closing lines of the poem by bringing the elements that are seemingly in opposition and tie them together.

Is exile a necessary condition of poetry?

Yes, exile is necessary for poetry. Exile provides distance and you see places in ways that you never suspected when you were around them. Familiarity throws a curtain over things and exile, with its accompanying suffering, is essential for one to be able to really see. For me and many other Kashmiris, it has been a physical exile from the valley of our forefathers but, for other poets, it may not be a physical exile but a separation and a tearing apart.

What is particularly American and particularly Indian in your poetry?

I believe we live in the global village and it is very difficult to separate different cultural influences in any individual. I am sure my American life has shaped me in a thousand different ways that gets reflected in my writings. On the other hand, my Indian modes of thought (samskaras) are very deep.

Poets that inspire you…

I have found inspiration from poets of diverse cultures in English translations and in originals in Hindi, Urdu, Kashmiri, and Sanskrit. Some names that pop up are Lalla, Hafiz, Rumi, Mirabai, Ghalib, Yeats, Eliot, Cummings, Neruda.

What is the place of philosophy in poetry, if it holds one?

The structure that we give to our works is informed by a philosophy of which we may not be consciously aware. In my view, the purpose of poetry is to communicate deep truths that are not accessible to ordinary narrative. Poetry is a powerful vehicle of dhvani as is music.

Does the scientist in you restrict the poet in you or enrich it?

The scientist in me enriches my poetry. If the poet must find a unique voice, mine is different from most others because my experience has not only literature but also a big dose of science in it.

I want to touch specifically upon the Prajna Sutras because I think you’ve achieved something quite out of the ordinary in that collection. As a contemporary Indian poet you bring philosophy back to the realm of poetry and the notion of poetry as revealed literature. Comment.

I agree that the Prajna Sutras are special for they go to the heart of the poetic impulse and they do so in a way that is uniquely Indian. Indian writing is often shallow not only because it is imitative but because it plays on the stereotypes familiar to the Western reader for it is written for that audience. Indian writing will become world class only when it finds its own dhvani.

The sutras are paradoxical in the sense they state the insufficiency of language to state reality; it can only be suggested. Is poetry inadequate in the final analysis as it operates through language mostly as a medium?

Poetry will be limited in its linguistic content but, unlike other literature, it has the capacity to evoke rasa, and take the reader to the place of mystery.

Source

(2651)

Facebook Comments Box

Tags Eka Taal Ek Darpana, Hindu history, india, Indian poetry, Subhash Kak, The Conductor of the Dead, The Secrets of Ishbar