The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c6.s1.12

c6.s1.12

It is sometimes argued that in the early years of Muslim rule Muslim chroniclers did not know much about the Hindus. Unlike the later historians like Abul Fazl, Badaoni and Khafi Khan, who tried to understand the social and cultural milieu of the country, chroniclers like Hasan Nizami and Ziyauddin Barani do not refer to the vast majority of the Hindus at all. Only rarely do they speak about them but then only in derogatory terms, which also shows their ignorance. But that is not always true. Even when times had changed in the sixteenth-seventeenth century, the attitude and language of the chroniclers did not change. For instance, Badaoni writes that His Majesty (Akbar), on hearing how much the people of the country prized their institutions, commenced to look upon them with affection.⁹ Similarly, he respected Brahmans who surpass other learned men in their treatises on morals.¹⁰ Then, The Hindus are, of course, indispensable; to them belongs half the army and half the land. Neither the Hindustanis (Indian Muslims) nor the Mughals can point to such grand lords as the Hindus have among themselves.¹¹ So also said Abul Fazl when he wrote that the king, in his wisdom, understood the spirit of the age, and shaped his plans accordingly.¹² And yet this very Badaoni sought an interview with Akbar, when the Kings troops started marching against Rana Pratap, begging the privilege of joining the campaign to soak his Islamic beard in Hindu, infidel blood. Akbar was so pleased at this expression of allegiance to his person and to the Islamic idea of *Jihad* that he bestowed a handful of gold coins on Badaoni as a token of his pleasure.¹³ This was in 1576. Akbar became more and more rational and tolerant as years passed by. His so-called infallibility decree was passed in 1579, his *Din-i-Ilahi* promulgated in 1582. And yet the language of the chroniclers about the non-Muslims did not change. For, in 1589, Badaoni thus wrote about the two greatest personalities of the Mughal Empire: In the year 998 (H./1589 C.E.) Raja Todarmal and Raja Bhagwandas who had remained behind at Lahore hastened to the abode of hell and torment (that is, died) and in the lowest pit became food of serpents and scorpions. May Allah scorch them both.¹⁴