Thread from my book review.
"Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked & plundered Mathura in 1071. Al-Utbi recorded the destruction,describing a beautiful temple that would take “200 years” & “hundred thousand red dinars” to replicate,& which had 5 idols made of red gold, each five yards high."
"Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked & plundered Mathura in 1071. Al-Utbi recorded the destruction,describing a beautiful temple that would take “200 years” & “hundred thousand red dinars” to replicate,& which had 5 idols made of red gold, each five yards high."
"Ghaznavi had all the temples burnt and levelled to the ground. Alberuni, an Iranian chronicler in the eleventh century, wrote that Mathura was venerated “because Vasudeva was there born”."
"A temple built at Katra by Jajja (a vassal in charge of Mathura) in 1150 CE was destroyed by Qutubuddin Aibak, general of Muhammad Ghori."
From "Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura", by Prof. Meenakshi Jain
@AryanBooksInt
From "Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura", by Prof. Meenakshi Jain
@AryanBooksInt
"Hindu power went into decline in the 12th century and “all Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu shrines in and around Mathura” were destroyed. While “Buddhism never recovered from the assault… for the next four centuries any Jain or Hindu shrine constructed, was demolished”."
Moving to a few hundred years later, Sikandar Lodi continued the desecration and vandalization of Hindu temples—recorded by Ferishta, an Iranian historian in the sixteenth & early seventeenth centuries, and later by Abdullah, a historian during the reign of Mughal king Jahangir.
Temples were turned into rest-houses & stone images were given to be used as meat-weights by butchers.
During Jahangir’s reign (r. 1605-1627 CE) political compulsions allowed Bir Singh Deo Bundela, to whom Jahangir owed the throne, opportunity to rebuild the Keshava Deva temple.
During Jahangir’s reign (r. 1605-1627 CE) political compulsions allowed Bir Singh Deo Bundela, to whom Jahangir owed the throne, opportunity to rebuild the Keshava Deva temple.
When completed, this temple, in the words of Niccolao Manucci, Venetian writer and traveller, “was of such a height that its gilded pinnacle could be seen from Agrah”.
Built at an estimated cost of 3.3 crore rupees, Mahmud Balhi, a Central Asian traveller, visited this temple in 1625 & described it as being “more than a hundred yards” in height and with a black stone idol six yards high. (the Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur is 208 feet tall)
Two generations later, Mughal king Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) prohibited Holi and Diwali celebrations and cremations of the dead on the banks of the Yamuna in 1665.
From my review of Prof. Meenakshi Jain's book, "Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura", pub. @AryanBooksInt
From my review of Prof. Meenakshi Jain's book, "Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura", pub. @AryanBooksInt
In 1669, Aurangzeb “issued a general order for the demolition of Hindu schools and temples, and in 1670, specifically ordered the destruction of the Keshavadeva temple”.
Chronicler Saqi Musta’id Khan recorded the destruction of the Keshavadeva Temple as having taken place on January 27th, 1670.
He wrote that “the destruction of this strong foundation of infidelity was accomplished and on its site a lofty mosque was built by the expenditure of a large sum”
— Chronicler Saqi Musta’id Khan
— Chronicler Saqi Musta’id Khan
“The idols, large and small, set with costly jewels, … were brought to Agra, and buried under the steps of the mosque of the Begum Sahib in order to be continuously trodden upon.”
— Chronicler Saqi Musta’id Khan
— Chronicler Saqi Musta’id Khan
100 years later, Marathas wrested Agra and Mathura from a declining Mughal empire & declared the entire Katra Keshavdeva area as nazul (government land) in 1770.
When the Marathas were defeated by the East Indian Company in 1803, the land continued to be treated as nazul land.
When the Marathas were defeated by the East Indian Company in 1803, the land continued to be treated as nazul land.
Alexander Cunningham, founder Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, did several surveys of Mathura, and examined several slabs on the pavement (at the Jama Masjid at Mathura), some of which contained dates and other Nagari inscriptions.
His conclusion was that “it is certain that the Hindu temple was still standing at the beginning of his (Aurangzeb) reign”. Based on his measurements, Cunningham wrote that “the temple of Kesava Deva must have been one of the largest in India”.
In 1815, the “entire land of Katra Keshavadeva (13.37 acres) was sold by auction to Raja Patnimal of Banaras and was duly recorded in revenue and municipal records”. Several decrees passed reinforced the ownership of the land with the heirs of Raja Patnimal
multiple cases filed by Muslims against this sale were dismissed by the courts and British administration—in 1832, 1897, 1920, 1921, 1928, 1929, and other years.
Multiple judges concluded that Raja Patnimal’s ownership of the land was indisputable, the land in dispute did not belong to the mosque, Muslim plaintiffs had not been in possession of the land, & that Katra Keshavadeva had never been described as Katra Idgah
One can end with Ghulam Husain Samin’s vivid eyewitness account of the destruction wrought by Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Abdali’s massacre at Mathura and Vrindavan in 1757. Samin was present at the invader’s camp and wrote in details what he observed.
These were translated by historian William Irvine. Abdali offered his troops a reward of 5 rupees for every infidel head they brought. After the sack, each horseman brought back with him “ten to twenty horses, each attached to the tail of the horse preceding it”.
He wrote that “every horseman had loaded up all his horses with plundered property, and atop of it rode the girl-captives and the slaves. The severed heads were tied up in rugs like bundles of grain and placed on the heads of the captives
"… an order was given to carry the severed heads to the entrance gate of the chief minister’s quarters, where they were to be entered in registers, and then built up into heaps and pillars."
"Each man, in accordance with the number of heads he had brought in, received, five rupees a head. Then the heads were stuck upon lances and were taken to the gate of the chief minister… It was a marvellous state of things, this slaying and capturing"
These are excerpts from my review of Prof. Meenakshi Jain's book, "Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura".
Publisher: @AryanBooksInt
Buy the book from aryanbooks.com
sundayguardianlive.com
Publisher: @AryanBooksInt
Buy the book from aryanbooks.com
sundayguardianlive.com
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