The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c6.s3.6

c6.s3.6

Bards and Charans were the historians of the Rajputs. They indulged in gross exaggeration while praising their patrons. But the beauty of their work lies in the fact that these chroniclers also dared utter truths, sometimes most unpalatable to their masters. Only a few of their works have survived and have been rescued from princely states which were generally friendly to the Mughals and therefore escaped repeated sackings. From Chand Bardais *Prithviraj Raso* to the accounts by the Brahmans of the endowments of the temples, from the disputations of the Jains to *Kalpadruma*, a diary kept by Raja Jai Singh of Datia in which he noted every event, Tod was able to get lot of historical material. Padmanabhs *Kanhadde-Prabandh*, Bhandu Vyas *Hammirayan*, Nainsis *Khyat*, Vidyapatis *Purush Pariksha* and *Kirtilata* and Kaviraj Shymaldas Vir Vinod, are regular and not so regular historical works of Hindus through the centuries.²⁵ When the Marathas mounted national resistance against the Mughal empire there was so much to write about, and they wrote excellent histories. And all these works corroborate Muslim chronicles. Persian writers boast of the achievements of their conquerors secured through brute force. The Indians confirm the facts and denounce their atrocities.²⁶