SIKHISM WAS IN THE EYES OF THE MUGHALS - A PANIC REACTION OF THE HINDUS AGAINST ISLAM
For the Mughals, Sikhism represented a panic reaction from within the Hindu community to salvage its status as non-muslim by accepting the positive ideals of Islam like rejection of idol worship, casteism and ritualism of its Hindu parent religion and infusing militancy into the new Hindu converts to Sikhism. In the eyes of the Mughal rulers, the Sikh reform was detrimental to the conversion of the Hindus to Islam; and the militancy of the Sikhs was harmful to the security of the Mughal empire. Hence the bitter oppression of the Sikhs by the Mughals which was even more severe than the oppression of the Hindus in general.
During the reign of Aurangzeb the severest wave of oppression was unleashed on Non-Muslims with a view to Islamize the country. As the Mughal oppression found tough resistance from the Sikhs they were the favourite target for the Mughals. Here the story of Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh needs to be
MILITARIZATION OF THE SIKHS DUE TO MUGHAL OPPRESSION
The changes brought about by Guru Gobind Singh were so fundamental that they represented a new phase in the history of Sikhism. It is worth recalling the circumstances that led to this change. Understanding this phase of Sikh history is all the more important as it led to the formation of Sikhism as we know it today.
This phase of the Sikh religion was a direct result of Mughal oppression. The Mughal rulers had no love for a sect that originated from among the Kafirs (Hindus) but had adapted Islamic ideas like monotheism rejection of idol worship, military theocracy and who with the indigenous Hindu terminology of expression tried to secure a following also among the adherents of Islam. This was unbearable to the Mughals who looked upon the Sikhs as wanting to usurp the platform of Islam and stall the process of converting Hindus (in Punjab) to Islam.
THE PUNJABI HINDU RESISTANCE TO ISLAM IS CALLED SIKHISM
In one North Indian province, Punjab, the Hindus resisted Islam by removing the deficiencies from their own religion, and then first matching and finally outmatching the ruthlessness of their Muslim tormentors. The Sikhs considered themselves neither Hindus nor Mussalmaans. But in the eyes of the Mughal rulers, the followers of the Gurus were Hindus who tried to undermine Mughal sovereignty. For this the Sikhs were violently repressed. In the reign of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir, Guru Arjan Dev Ji was the first Guru to be martyred (at the hand of the Mughal oppressors). Jehangir sentenced Guruji to be beheaded after being tormented for days. Burning hot sand was poured on his bare body. After being subjected to such inhuman torture, Guruji we are told, expressed a desire as his last wish, to have a bath in the Ravi river before being beheaded. Guru Arjan Dev Ji who had suffered brutally at the hands of his Mughal tormentors, went into the river till his head disappeared into the swirling currents of the Ravi - never to return. Thus he became the first Sikh Guru to lay down his life due to Mughal oppression.
It was under the later Gurus that Sikhism came to appear as the militant wing of the Hindu community. The idea of Sikhs being defenders of Hinduism was strengthened during the tenure of the 9th and 10th Gurus. Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. During the tenure of these two Gurus the nature of the Sikh religion underwent a fundamental change. And from being a sect with ascetic and pacifist ideals, the Sikhs were transformed into an aggressive military theocracy.
Less is known of the Muslim attack on Nepal and Tibet. Flushed with his easy successes in India, Mohammad bin Tughlak, the mad Muslim ruler of Delhi decided to conquer the Hindu kingdom of Nepal and the Buddhist domains of Tibet and convert the Gurkhas and Tibetians to Islam. Till then the Gurkhas had remained out of the path of the Muslim aggression.
But in 1402, Mohammed bin Tughlak launched the first Muslim attack into the Himalayas. The Nepalese King knew the fate of the Hindu rajas of the plains and refused to meet the Muslim army at the border of his kingdom in the Nepalese Terai (plains).
The shrewd Nepalese king withdrew his army into the snowy fastness of the Himalayas and joined forced with the king of Tibet who had sent down his reinforcements, as Tughlak had made clear his aim was to overrun Tibet after the conquest of Nepal.
The Muslim army marched through deserted Nepalese villages and burnt out fields towards the snowy upper reaches of the Himalayas where not a blade of grass grew. The huge Muslim host was now fatigued but marched on, on the orders of Mohammed bin Tughlak, whose aim was to capture Kastha-Madapam (Kathmandu) and Lhasha.
As the Muslim army went deeper into the Himalayas apart from the biting cold and the harsh terrain, they also had to march in small units through different valleys. The much smaller joint Nepalese Tibetean forces lay in wait for the Muslim army at a narrow pass beyond Pokhra. In the snow clad barren valley the battle was joined and the hardened Gurkhas mercilessly cut down the wearied Muslim troops in the harsh snowy and barren terrain. The Muslim army was slaughtered to a man, and only a few stragglers returned to the plains to tell the story of this ignominious defeat.
After this massacre, no Muslim ruler was foolhardy enough to attack Nepal. And so Nepal remained a Hindu kingdom along with Assam and Orissa, all through the seven hundred years of Muslim tyranny over Northern India. It is this ruthless victory that preserved the Hindu character of Nepal.
Had the Muslims overrun Nepal, they would have forcibly converted the Gurkhas to Islam and today we would have seen Muslim Gurkhas wielding their Khukhris (knives) to terrorize the remaining Hindus in Nepal to convert to Islam and indulge in terror attacks against India. The temples of Pashupatinath, Bhaktapur, Patan and Hanuman Dhokha would have been converted into mosques as have been those at Kashi, Ayodhya, Mathura and innumerable other places.
But mercifully because of the foresight of the Nepalese kings into the fatal nature of the Muslim threat and the slaughter of the Muslims aggressors, Nepal today has remained a Hindu majority region.
HOW THE AHOM (ASSAMESE) GENERAL LACHIT BORPHUKAN ANNIHILATED THE MUSLIM MUGHAL ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF SARAIGHAT ON THE BANKS OF THE BRAMHAPUTRA RIVER
The Muslims had made many attempts from the time of Mohammed Bin Tughlak to swallow Assam. But the Ahom kings of Assam stoutly and shrewdly defeated each Muslim incursion in to Assam. Finally the Mughals during the reign of Aurangzeb attacked Assam with a huge force. The shrewd Assamese king laid a trap for the Muslim army at a place named Sariaghat on the Bramhaputra river.
The Battle of Saraighat was fought in 1671 between the Mughals (led by the renegade Rajput Hindu traitor Kachwaha king Raja Ramsingh I), and the Ahoms (led by Lachit Borphukan, the Ahom governor of Guwahati) on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat near Guwahati. Although considered to be the weaker force, the Ahom army defeated the Mughal by using a combination of guerrilla tactics, psychological warfare and military intelligence.
In a surprise night attack, Lachit Barphukan dramatically captured the Mughal post in north Guwahati and, later, their fort in south Guwahati. The present day Kamrup Deputy Commissioner's bungalow is now situated on this site. The greatest threat to Lachit's army were the many Mughal cannons. In another secret mission executed the night before battle the cannons were disabled by Bagh Hazarika, a subordinate of Lachit's, During the night, Hazarika poured water into the cannons' barrels, soaking their gunpowder. With the Mughal cannons disabled, the Ahoms bombarded the Guwahati fort with their cannons. After a heavy cannonade and then a determined charge, the Mughals were defeated and the fort captured. After this the Mughals abandoned Guwahati.
Now Lachit Barphukan anticipated a larger retaliatory attack by the Mughals and he started arranging defenses, obstacles and garhs (earthen walls) around Guwahati, relying upon the hillocks around Guwahati and the Brahmaputra River as natural barriers against an invading army. Lachit was thorough and ruthless in preparing for the defense. He even beheaded his own uncle for neglecting his duty. When Lachit asked his uncle why the work was not progressing as expected, his uncle complained of boredom. Lachit in a fit of fury cut off his uncle's head and said "my uncle is not greater than my country."
The Mughals struck back in March 1679. The Mughal commander-in-chief of the advancing Mughal army had at his disposal 30,000 infantry, 15,000 archers, 18,000 Turkish cavalry, 5,000 gunners, more than 1000 cannons and a large flotilla of boats. Portuguese and other European sailors were employed to man the fleet. These forces moved up the Brahmaputra from Dhaka to Guwahati. Lachit's spies kept him informed of the progress of the Muslim advance. The Mughals laid siege to Guwahati that lasted for more than a year.
Lachit fought from within the barriers knowing that his small cavalry would not stand against the Mug
HEMU VIKRAMADITYA CAME CLOSE TO OVERTHROWING THE MUGHAL DYNASTY AT THE 2ND BATTLE OF PANIPAT
On 24th January 1556 CE the Mughal ruler Humayun slipped while climbing down the steps of his library and fell to his death. The heir to the Mughal throne, 13 year old Akbar was then campaigning in Punjab with his chief minister Bairam Khan. On February 14, 1556, in a garden at Kalanaur, Akbar was enthroned as emperor. The other rivals for the throne of Delhi were the three Afgan princes of Sher Shah. However the main threat to Akbar's future came not from the Afgan princes but from a Hindu anmed Hemu. Hemu was the Hindu chief minister of Afgan prince Adil Shah and he led a surprise attack on Delhi in October 1556.
The Mughal forces under its governor Tardi Beg Khan panicked and went into a sudden ignominious flight. This was Hemu's twenty second consecutive victory in successive battles. After the capture of Delhi, Hemu set up himself as an independent ruler under the Hindu title of 'Raja Vikramaditya'. At this juncture against the advice of most nobles, Akbar and Bairam Khan took a courageous decision, to press forward against Hemu's undoubtedly superior forces. On November 5, 1556 the Mughul forces met the Hemu%u2019s army at Panipat.
In this second battle of Panipat, the Mughals were saved by a lucky accident after a hard fight which looked more than likely to go against them. Hemu who was leading the battle from atop an elephant, veered too close to the enemy ranks, and a archer from the Mughal army used this opportunity to attack him. An arrow hit Hemu in the eye and although it did not kill him it had pierced the cerebral cavity enough to make him unconscious.
In any battle of this period the death of the leader meant an end of the fight, and the sight of Hemu slumped in the howdah of his famous elephant Hawai was enough to make his army turn tail. Akbar%u2019s General, Shah Quli Khan captured the Hawai elephant with its prize occupant, and took it directly to Akbar.
Hemu was brought unconscious before Akbar and Bairam. Bairam advised Akbar to perform the holy duty of slaying the infidel and earn the Islamic holy title of 'Ghazi'. Among much self-congratulation Akbar then severed the head of unconscious Hemu with his saber. Some historians claim that Akbar did not kill Hemu himself, but just touched the infidel's head with his sword and his associates finished the gory 'holy' work. However the latter version seems inconsistent with the events that followed. After the battle Hemu's head was sent to Kabul as a sign of victory to the ladies of Humayun's harem, and Hemu's torso was sent to Delhi for exposure on a gibbet.
Iskandar Khan chased the Hemu's fleeing army and captured 1500 elephants and a large contingent. There was a bloody slaughter of those who were captured and in keeping with the custom of his ancestors Tamerlane and Chengiz Khan, Akbar had a victory pillar built with the severed heads of his fallen Hindu enemies.
Peter Mundy, an Englishman travelling Mughal empire some 75 years later (during Jahangir and Shah Jahan's rein), found such towers were still being built.
Hemu's wife escaped from Delhi with the treasure and although Pir Mohammad Khan's troops chased her caravan they could not lay their hands on her or the tresure. Hemu's aged father was captured and on refusing to accept Islam, was executed. This is the 'glorious' history of Akbar's victory at the battle of Panipat.
Later on Akbar displayed his %u201Cchivalry%u201D once again when he ordered the cold blooded slaughter of thirty thousand Rajput soldiers who had surrendered to him after the battle of Chittod.
KHUSRO KHAN %u2013 A HINDU CONVERT BRIEFLY OVERTHROWS THE KHILJI DYNASTY IN 1320
In the early 14th century (1312) Gujarat was overrun by the Muslim tyrants of who had a century earlier occupied Delhi. As was customary, the Muslims slaughtered countless Hindu victims after every victory. They also carried off many beautiful women and handsome young man as captives, to be used as sex slaves. One such handsome child was Khusro Khan. This was not his original name when he was carried off as a prisoner at the age of eleven. Even at that tender age, he had chiseled features and was fair complexioned. He belonged to the Makwana sub-caste of North Gujarat.
As was the custom, all captives were forcibly converted to Islam and brought up as slaves. After nearly fifteen years in captivity Khusro Khan forgot what his original name was. He only faintly recollected that he had a different childhood which he shared with the other captives from Gujarat.
His stunning features and fair complexion evoked the perverted lust of his captor Sultan Allaudin Khilji%u2019s perverted son, Qutbuddin Mubarak Khalji. He like his more notorious father Alauddin Khalji, were in love with their young male slaves. Qutbuddin Mubarak had a particular fondness for his slave Khusro Khan and as a teenager, Khusro was sexually abused by Qutbuddin Mubarak for eight years.
Khusro seethed for revenge against this barbarity that robbed him of his childhood and early youth.
In 1320, Qutbuddin murdered his ageing father Allaudin and crowned himself emperor. By then Khushro had acquired a position of influence over Qutbuddin. Khusro had also used this influence to gather other captives like him and had arm them to make up Qutbuddin%u2019s bodyguard. Khusro often wanted to put a sword through the Sultan and kill him while he was doing the immoral act of publicly kissing him. All through his teens, Khusro was forced to publicly offer his body to the Sultan like a prostitute. He did this apparent cheer, but within himself he was seething with rage and had been choking up with a desire for revenge at the way the Sultan forced himself upon him and took advantage of him.
During the struggle for power in 1320 when Qutbuddin murdered his ageing father, Khusro got his chance. Qutbuddin had put his trust in his partner in perverted sex, Khusro and put him in charge of guarding his royal quarters. Qutbuddin Mubarak excluded all his father%u2019s men from important duties in the palace and the army.
Taking advantage of his position and the general resentment for Qutbuddin, Khusro murdered Qutbuddin Mubarak Khilji, and crowned himself king and assumed the title Khusro Khan. And what was a shock to the whole of India, especially to the Muslims occupying Delhi was that Khusro declared himself to be a Hindu again!! When he ascended the throne, Khusro Khan was only nineteen years of age. The Muslim nobility was shell-shocked, but with the strong contigent of Gujarati converts around Khusro Khan, they were momentarily stunned into inaction. However, they began plotting the overthrow of Khusro Khan %u2013 who in their eyes was a Murtad who had abjured Islam.
Eventually, after a year, a Muslim General Ghazi Malik (who later took on the title Giyasuddin Tughlak) murdered Khusro and re-established the rule of Muslims in Delhi. After a brief interlude of Hindu rule, Ghazi Malik founded the Tughluq dynasty. But this event proved that if the Hindus had the determination grit and shrewdness, they could overturn Muslim rule in India. A dream that was to be realized later by the Marathas when they marched in to Delhi in 1720.
HEMU VIKRAMADITYA AND KHUSRO KHAN %u2013 HINDUS WHO CAME CLOSE TO LIBERATING INDIA FROM ITS MUSLIM TORMENTORS
In the one thousand years of the gradual Muslim occupation of North India from 715 to 1720 many Hindus aspired to overthrow the tyrannical Muslim occupation of their fatherland.
LESSONS FROM THE MUSLIM%u2019 MASSACRE AND DESTRUCTION OF VIJAYNAGAR IN SPITE OF TREATY PROHIBITING THE MOLESTING OF NON-COMBATANTS
This teaches us two lessons. One that only when you pay back the Muslims with the same barbaric token, that they can come temporarily to their senses. But never ever trust the Muslims for their word, since the word of a Muslim is given only as matter of expediency. Whenever fortune favors them, they would go back on their word! In fact, their founder Mohammed-ibn-Abdallah has set an example for them with his repudiation of the Treaty of Hudaibiya that he signed with his clansmen the Quraish of Makkah. And all Muslims have to follow his %u201Cillustrious(sic)%u201D example in their dealings with all Kafirs (non-Muslims).
Likewise, when all non-Muslims should enter into any agreement with Muslims only if the Muslims cannot be beaten militarily, and when the fortune favors the non-Muslims, they should repudiate any treaty with the Muslims and resume hostilities with the one single aim of destroying Islam. There is no other way of salvation for humankind, from this vile creed of the Islam.
Returining to India, while the Hindu kings of Orissa and of Vijaynagar, successfully defended themselves and arrested the Muslim aggression, it was the Marathas under their shrewd and visionary leader Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj who not only liberated their province of Maharashtra from Muslim tyranny, but took the flame of independence from Muslim tyranny all across Central, Northern India and to parts of Southern and Eastern India.
Shivaji epitomized this successful Hindu counter-attack on Islam where he outdid the Muslims in their games of deceit, treachery, subterfuge, all gift-wrapped with the technique of guerilla warfare that gave the Muslims sleepless night and nightmares to the Muslim tyrant Aurangzeb, who thought that he had begun too see the demise of Muslim power in India.
With the Marathas it seemed that wisdom had finally dawned on some of the Hindus on the only effective way to counterattack the Muslims successfully. Using deceit and cruelty as a rule against the Muslim enemy, the Hindu Marathas seemed poised to dislodge Muslim power from India. But that was not to be as we shall see at the bottom of this article.
