The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c12.s2: Medieval Monuments
The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c12.s2
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Medieval Monuments
c12.s2.1
But if music unites, many monuments of the medieval period revive bitter memories in the Hindu mind. These are found almost in every city, every town and even in many villages either in a dilapidated state or under preservation by the Archaeological Survey of India. Many of these have been converted from Hindu *temples* and now are extant in the shape of *mosques*, *Idgahs*, *Dargahs*, *Ziarats* (shrines) *Sarais* and *Mazars* (tombs) *Madrasas* and *Maktabs*. Throughout the Muslim rule destruction of Hindu shrines and construction of mosques and other building from their materials and at their very sites went on as a normal practice. From the Quwwal-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi built out of twenty-seven Hindu and Jain temples in the twelfth century to the Taj-ul-Masajid built from hundreds of Hindu and Jain temples at Bhopal in the eighteenth century, the story is the same everywhere.
c12.s2.2
For temples were not broken only during war, but in times of peace too. Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq writes: I destroyed their idol temples, and instead thereof raised mosques where infidels and idolaters worshipped idols, Musalmans now, by Gods mercy, perform their devotion to the true God.⁹ And so said and did Sikandar Lodi, Shahjahan,¹⁰ Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan. Shams Siraj Afif writes that some sovereigns like Muhammad Tughlaq and Firoz Tughlaq were specially chosen by the Al-mighty from among the faithful, and in the whole course of their reigns, whenever they took an idol temple, they broke and destroyed it.¹¹
c12.s2.3
Why did Muslim conquerors and rulers break temples? They destroyed temples because it is enjoined by their scriptures. In the history of Islam, iconoclasm and razing other peoples temples are central to the faith. They derive their justification and validity from the Quranic Revelation and the Prophets *Sunna* or practice. Shrines and idols of unbelievers began to be destroyed during the Prophets own time and, indeed at his behest. Sirat-un-Nabi, the first pious biography of the Prophet, tells us how during the earliest days of Islam, young men at Medina influenced by Islamic teachings used to break idols. However, desecration and destruction began in earnest when Mecca was conquered. Umar was chosen for destroying the pictures on the walls of the shrine at Kabah. *Tarikh-i-Tabari* tells us that raiding parties were sent in all directions to destroy the images of deities held in special veneration by different tribes including the images of al-Manat, al-Lat and al-Uzza.¹² Because of early successes at home, Islam developed a full-fledged theory of iconoclasm.¹³ India too suffered terribly. Thousands of Hindu shrines and edifices disappeared in northern India by the time of Sikandar Lodi and Babur. Since the wreckage of Hindu temples became scarcer and scarcer to obtain, from the time of Akbar onwards many Muslim buildings began to be constructed, not from the debris of Hindu temples, but from materials specially prepared for them like pillars, screens etc. Alauddin Khaljis Alai Darwaza at Delhi, Akbars Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri and Adil Shahs Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur are marvels of massive elegance, while Humayuns tomb at Delhi and Taj Mahal at Agra are beauteous monuments in stone and marble. Any people would be proud of such monuments, and the Indians are too. But for an if. If there was no reckless vandalism in breaking temples and utilizing their materials in constructing Muslim buildings which lie scattered throught the country, Hindu psyche would not be hurt. Will Durant rightly laments in *Story of Civilization* that We can never know from looking at India to-day, what grandeur and beauty she once possessed. Thus in the field of architecture, the legacy is a mix of pride and dejection. With impressive Muslim monuments, there is a large sprinkling of converted monuments which are an eye-sore to the vast majority of the population.