1089-1101 AD: King Harsha of Kashmir of the first Lohara dynasty indulged in ruthlessly looting the treasures of the temples of Bhimasai and also systematically confiscated and defiled the metallic statues of Gods by outcasts throughout the Kashmir valley in order to obtain the valuable material. He even imposed tax on the night soil. (Ref. Kalhana, Rajataran-gini, Vol. 1, sec. 5, Motilal Banarsidas, page 113)
Between 986 and 1192 AD several invaders plundered North India and took away a lot of movable wealth. These kings included Sabuktagin and Mahmood Ghaznavi (who ruled Kabul between 998 and 1130 AD).
%u2022 642 AD: Pallava king Narasimhavarman I looted the image of Ganesha from the Chalukyan capital of Vatapi (present day Badami in Belgaum dist.)
%u2022 692 AD: Chalukyas invaded North India and brought back to the Deccan what would appear to be images of Ganga and Yamuna looted from defeated powers.
%u2022 8th century AD: Bengali troops sought revenge on King Lalithaditya%u2019s kingdom in Kashmir by destroying what they thought was an image of Vaikunta the state deity of Kashmir kingdom.
%u2022 9th century AD: Rashtrakuta king Govinda III invaded and occupied Kanchipuram which so intimidated the King of Sri Lanka that he sent Govinda (probably Buddhist) images representing the Sinhala state.
%u2022 Rashtrakuta king Indira III not only destroyed the temple of Kalapriya at Kalpa near the Jamuna river, patronized by their deadly enemies, the Pratiharas, but they took special delight in recording the fact.
%u2022 9th century AD: Pandyan King Srimara Srivallabha also invaded Sri Lanka and took back to his capital golden Buddha image.
%u2022 Early 10th century, Pratihara King, Hermabapala, seized solid gold image of Vishnu Vaikunta when he defeated the Sahi kings of Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)
%u2022 Early 11th century: Chola King, Rajendra I furnished his capital with images he seized from several prominent neighboring kings: Durga and Ganesha images from the Chalukyas, Bhairava, Bhairavi and Kali images from the Kalingas or Orissa as Nandi image from the Eastern Chalukyans. (Ref: David Gilmartin and Bruce B. Lawrence (ed.), Beyond Hindu and Turk, University Press of Florida, 2000.
In short, the temples were the sites where royal authority was challenged before the arrival of Muslim Turks in India. This generally happened with early Muslim rulers. But this practice declined after Muslims began to wrest territories and rule from the territories held by their preceding Muslim rulers.
Aurangzeb Never leave Temple and Mosque
It was not merely temples but even mosques were not spared if the Muslim emperors suspected their edifices being used for purposes other than worship. Aurangzeb ordered the demolition of Jama Masjid of Golconda after sacking the Qutb Shahi kingdom in 1687 to get access to the revolts and treasure that lay beneath the mosque floor.
It will be less than fair to attribute desecration or defiling of religious places to bigotry and hatred. It owed much to the customs of the age whereby vanquished kings had to be divested of the religious halo and authority. Rulers, Hindu or Muslims, followed the practice regardless of their own religious beliefs.
RE:Why blame only to Aurangzeb History full of this practices
by Secular Indian on Mar 07, 2007 03:17 PM Permalink
Perhaps the equivalent example will be if killed Muslims for refusing to convert to Hinduism.
RE:RE:RE:Why blame only to Aurangzeb History full of this practices
by santan g on Mar 07, 2007 06:37 PM Permalink
Yah, yah! the black, broken and shapeless stone that holds you know what in a deserted place holds every thing right
RE:RE:RE:Why blame only to Aurangzeb History full of this practices
by Dr_Ramanand Rao on Mar 08, 2007 09:27 AM Permalink
Isn't the Ka'aba a lifeless stone?
RE:RE:RE:Why blame only to Aurangzeb History full of this practices
by Secular Indian on Mar 07, 2007 03:50 PM Permalink
Are you paying me a compliment or abusing me ? How many Jewish people have you met in your life ? LOL
RE:Why blame only to Aurangzeb History full of this practices
by Dr_Ramanand Rao on Mar 08, 2007 09:26 AM Permalink
Islam wipes out not just the religion but also the culture (as can be seen in Egypt, Iran etc.) which is not the case with Hinduism
RE:Why blame only to Aurangzeb History full of this practices
by Secular Indian on Mar 07, 2007 03:12 PM Permalink
The internecine warfare between the Hindus is of no relevance when talking about Islam and what the Muslim kings or raiders did. It's for the Hindus to sort out amongst themselves. We are concerned with the looting and killing of non-muslims in the name of Islam as ordered by Muhammad in the Koran.
RE:RE:Why blame only to Aurangzeb History full of this practices
by Rationalist on Mar 10, 2007 01:40 PM Permalink
FIY the Ganesha looted from by Narasimhavarman was established & even today is worshipped, it was not destroyed, same is the case for most of what u have mentioned.
