The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c6.s5.8

c6.s5.8

On the basis of the study of medieval chronicles, scholars like Ishwari Prasad and A.L. Srivastava arrived at the conclusion that the medieval age was a period of unmitigated suffering for the Hindus; to others like I.H. Qureshi and S.M. Jaffar it was an age of all-round progress and prosperity. Writing about the Sultanate period, Ishwari Prasad says: There was persecution, partly religious and partly political, and a stubborn resistance was offered by the Hindus The state imposed great disabilities upon the non-Muslims Instances are not rare in which the non-Muslims were treated with great severity The practice of their religious rites even with the slightest publicity was not allowed, and cases are on record of men who lost their lives for doing so.³⁷ According to A.L. Srivastava the Sultanate of Delhi was an Islamic State, pure and simple, and gave no religious toleration to the Hindus and indulged in stifling persecution.³⁸ About the Mughal times his conclusion is that barring the one short generation under Akbar when the moral and material condition of the people was on the whole good, the vast majority of our population during 1526-1803 led a miserable life.³⁹ On the other hand, I.H. Qureshi had the mendacity to declare that The Hindu population was better off under the Muslims than under the Hindu tributaries or independent rulers. Their financial burden was lighter than it had been for some centuries in pre-Muslim days Nor was the Hindu despised socially. The Muslims, generally speaking, have always been remarkably free from religious prejudice.⁴⁰