History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.325

v7.c91.325

How intolerant most Moslem kings were need not be dwelt upon at length. A few typical examples may be cited from the Cambridge History of India, vol. III. Firuz Shah Tughlak burnt a brāhmaṇa who tried to propagate his religion (*ibid*. p. 187); Sikander Lodi did the same (*ibid* p. 246) to a brāhmaṇa and was guilty of wholesale destruction of Hindu temples; Sultan Sikandar of Kashmir offered his subjects the choice between Islam and exile (*ibid* p 280); Hussein Shah of Bengal sent an army to destroy Navadvīpa and converted many brāhmaṇas forcibly Jehangir says in his ‘Memoirs’ (translated by A. Rogers and edited by H Beveridge, 1909 pp. 72–73) that he killed Guru Arjun for his religious activities. Vide ‘History of Aurangzeb’ by Jadunath Sarkar vol III. chap. XXX. pp. 265–279 for firmans to demolish temples such as those of Somanātha, Mathurā, Viśvanātha in Benares, Ujjain and Appendix V. It is not necessary to go into great details about the terrible persecution of the Jews in Europe and the horrible deeds of the Inquisition in Europe and particularly in Spain and Portugal. For the persecution and expulsion of the Jews in Europe one may read ‘A short History of the Jewish people’ by Cecil Roth (MacMillan and Co 1936) chapters XX–XXI References to several works have been given above on p. 933 note 1494 about the Inquisition A few instances of the intolerance and barbarities of that body may be cited The Inquisition staged what are called acts of faith or ‘*autos-da-fé*’. In the presence of thousands of people severe punishment would be inflicted on harmless individuals whose adherence to the Holy Catholic faith was suspected Those that professed penitence were stripped of their property and condemned to imprisonment, deportation or the galley. The minority who refused to confess to their crime of heresy or gloried in their views would be burnt at once. Kings and nobles graced such spectacles by their presence and such spectacles were arranged at the marriages of high persons or on the birth of a son to the reigning monarch During the three centuries when the Inquisition was active, it is found that the it condemned about 375000 people, of whom at least one-tenth were burnt; vide Cecil Roth's ‘A short History of the Jewish people’ (1936) p 312. Henry C. Lea in ‘Superstition and force' (1878) pp. 426-427 remarks 'The whole system of the Inquisition was such as to render resort to torture inevitable. Its proceedings were secret, the prisoner was carefully kept in ignorance of the exact charges against him and of the evidence on which they were based. He was presumed to be guilty and his judges bent all their energies to force him to confess. To accomplish this no means were too base or too cruel '