Return to Index
My India
History
Festivals
Ramayan
Mahabharata
Health
Hindu Philosophy
Hindu Culture
Hindu Life Rituals
Gods and heroes
of
Hinduism
Comparing Religions
My resume
Poems
Travel-logs
Music
Bhajans
Videos
Links
Many people ask - if muslim mis-rule of India was so brutal, how comes India is still majority Hindu? They presume - presume wrongly - that the muslim rule in India was benign and most people converted out of love for islam.
Fact is, upward of 80 - 90 million Hindus were killed, enslaved and sold off to other parts of Islamic world. Check the chronicles of muslim kings and their generals to see the barbarity that was visited upon India. Having fought off Islamic armies for 400 years, the longest resistance to early Islam, Indian north west frontier kingdoms collapsed when they faced new weapon - cannon. Every Afghan, Turki, Mongol, Iranian and Arab warlord rushed to India to claim loot of money, gold, animals and slaves.
Indians continued to resist and refused to convert to escape punishing regime of exploitation and taxes. Every now and again, a zealous kings and generals ordered wholesale slaughter of people to cow the rest of the population into obedience. Killing Brahmins, mostly non-violent intellectuals, was a popular sport for islamic armies. Soliders were awarded for every sacred thread they took in its weight of gold from the dead brahmins. Ancient temples were razed and it's rubble was used to create mosques. The Qtub complex in Delhi, mosques in Ajmer, Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi are just one of many such examples across north India. Statues of Indian Gods were deliberately smashed and laid under the steps of the mosques for the faithful to trample on.
As dhimmis (non-muslims living under muslim rule), Hindus had to pay exorbitant taxes. Their women folk had to remain hidden from view, least a muslim man takes a fancy to her and claims her for himself. In a land were men and women used to roam topless due to heat, Hindu women had to wear all enveloping veils that covered them entirely. Child marriage became common to preserve the modesty and honour even young girls who were pre-pubescent.
Apart from threat of violence and death, Hindus were offered financial incentives, government jobs and lands in concerted efforts to convert them. There was a glass ceiling in the courts. To rise beyond middle level at court, you had to be muslim. People had to convert if they married a muslim - male or female. Non-muslim relatives of muslims were always under threat of being dragged to court on any infringement or for spurious claims of inheritance. Certain trades were made exclusive to muslims, forcing entire communities to convert. Some converted because they were accused of eating beef or eating with muslims and Hindus wouldn't accept them back. Some Hindus also converted out of genuine interest in islam. But the numbers were small. Majority of muslim population was imported from outside India - mainly soldiers and their families from central Asia. This is proved by the fact that despite 1000 years in India, at the time of partition, Indian population was only 25%. In any other country where muslims had ruled for more than a couple of generations, entire nations had converted to islam.
Reason is because fortunately, Hindus are not cattle to be led to slaughter. They resisted islam and muslim mis-rule tooth and nail. Their vigorous response against islamic oppression allowed large swathes of India to remain under Hindu rule. Over the years, various kings and chiefs won sufficient autonomy to remain independent enough to practice their own religion. Muslim rulers also realised that they needed the local population to carry on with farming, trading, manufacturing if they wanted to make money out ruling India. Killing off all non-muslims would have killed off all their productive people. As dhimmis Hindus paid crippling taxes to remain Hindu and this suited the muslim ruler. This is all evident from the court records of kings, emperors and nawabs of India.
Akbar was one of the few enlightened rulers of the Mughal dynasty. Akbar had administrative and military reasons for marrying Hindu princesses and allowing them to keep their religion. His was a nascent kingdom that needed assistance from Rajputs to keep peace within a lose network of tribute paying kings under imperial rule. Rajputs also fought bravely for their imperial overlord, helping the Mughal rule to expand across India. Marriage alliance between Mughal and Rajputs was a political decision that paid dividends to both parties. However, in the same dynasty we have the likes of Aurangzeb who destroyed any Hindu Muslim accord that was present at the time of his ancestors. His brutal suppression of Hindus, wholesale destruction of temples and traditions led to rise of Marathas in the South, Jat and Sikhs in the North and North East who eventually helped to dismember the Mughal empire.
Go anywhere in North India where the muslim rule has lasted the longest and you will see that there very few ‘ancient’ temples. Most are from 200 - 250 years on. Even the temple of Puri on the Eastern coast has been attacked 18 times! Temple treasures have been looted on every occasion, destroying thousands of items of huge cultural importance. Despite all this, Hindus have worked hard to keep their culture intact by preserving their language (sacred and secular), rituals and sacred lore. Hindus fought back with great rigour and this is evidenced by the fact that Hinduism is still the majority religion in India. Ancestors of these Hindus go back to antiquity in an unbroken chain for thousands of years. It hasn't been easy, but the oral tradition of preserving our scriptures and histories has allowed us to survive despite loss of monasteries, libraries and temples. Non-Hindus deride us for our caste system, yet, if Hinduism has survived it is due to the cohesiveness of our caste system.
Hindus has survived by adapting to change without losing their identity. They learned Persian, Urdu and English to work successfully under new regimes. But they still recite their Sanskrit hymns on a daily basis. Though they are derided for respecting cows, they refuse to eat beef and remain steadfastly vegetarian where possible. Though they are admonished for believing in their Gods, Hindus continue to worship them across the globe.
List of massacres in India - Wikipediaa
Persecution of Hindus - Wikipedia
The Biggest Holocaust in World History
Was There an Islamic "Genocide" of Hindus?
Articles: The Greatest Murder Machine in History
Islamic Invasion Of India: The Greatest Genocide In History
Invasion of India through religious zeal and new weappons !
Rule of foreigners over India was a
brutal time for its culture and people.