|
Background
Islamic literary sources provide far more extensive evidence of temple
destruction by the Muslim invaders of India in medieval times. They also
cover a large area, from Sinkiang and Transoxiana in the North to Tamil
Nadu in the South, and from Siestan province of present day Iran in the
West to Assam in the East. This vast area, which was long the cradle of
hindu culture, came to be littered with the ruins of temples and monasteries,
belonging to all schools of Santana Dharma - Baudhha, Jaina, Shaiva, Sakta,
Vaishnava, and the rest. Archeological explorations and excavations in
modern times have proved unmistakably that most of the mosques, mazars,
ziarats and dargahs which were built in this area, stood on the sites of
and were made from the materials of deliberately demolished Hindu monuments.
Hundreds of medieval muslim historians who flourished in India and
elsewhere in the world of Islam, have written detailed accounts of what
their heroes did in various parts of the extensive Hindu homeland as they
were invaded one after another. It is alear from the literary evidence
collected alone that all Muslim rulers destroyed or desecrated Hindu temples
whenever and whereever they could. Archeological evidence from various
Muslim monuments, particularly mosques and dargahs, not only confirms the
literary evidence but also adds the names of some Muslim rulers whom Muslim
historians have failed to credit with this pious performance.
Some of the literary evidence of temple destruction during Aurangzeb's
rule is listed below.
[Emphasis mine.]
|
