View about emperor Aurangzeb as bigot has colonial roots: US historian

February 28, 2017

New Delhi, Feb 28: Historian Audrey Truschke refuses to buy the argument that Aurangzeb razed temples because he hated Hindus saying it has roots in colonial-era scholarship, where positing timeless Hindu-Muslim animosity embodied the British strategy of divide and conquer.

aurangzebIn her new book, she also says that had Aurangzeb’s reign been 20 years shorter, he would have been judged differently by modern historians. Truschke, an assistant professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University in Newark and an avid follower of Mughal history, New Jersey, has now come up with a new biography on Aurangzeb.

"Aurangzeb: The Man and The Myth", published by Penguin Random House, takes a fresh look at the controversial Mughal emperor. According to Truschke, Hindu and Jain temples dotting the landscape of Aurangzeb's kingdom were entitled to Mughal state protection, and he generally endeavoured to ensure their well-being.

"By the same token, from a Mughal perspective, that goodwill could be revoked when specific temples or their associates acted against imperial interests. Accordingly, Emperor Aurangzeb authorised targeted temple destructions and desecrations throughout his rule," she claims.

"Many modern people view Aurangzeb's orders to harm specific temples as symptomatic of a larger vendetta against Hindus. Such views have roots in colonial-era scholarship, where positing timeless Hindu-Muslim animosity embodied the British strategy of divide and conquer," she writes.

She says there are, however, numerous gaping holes in the proposition that Aurangzeb razed temples because he hated Hindus.

"Most glaringly, Aurangzeb counted thousands of Hindu temples within his domains and yet destroyed, at most, a few dozen. This incongruity makes little sense if we cling to a vision of Aurangzeb as a cartoon bigot driven by a single-minded agenda of ridding India of Hindu places of worship.

"A historically legitimate view of Aurangzeb must explain why he protected Hindu temples more often than he demolished them." Truschke argues that Aurangzeb followed Islamic law in granting protection to non-Muslim religious leaders and institutions.

"Indo-Muslim rulers had counted Hindus as dhimmis, a protected class under Islamic law, since the eighth century, and Hindus were thus entitled to certain rights and state defences.

"Yet, Aurangzeb went beyond the requirements of Islamic law in his conduct towards Hindu and Jain religious communities. Instead, for Aurangzeb, protecting and, at times, razing temples served the cause of ensuring justice for all throughout the Mughal Empire."

Truschke claims state interests constrained religious freedom in Mughal India, and Aurangzeb did not hesitate to strike hard against religious institutions and leaders that he deemed seditious or immoral.

"But in the absence of such concerns, Aurangzeb's vision of himself as an even-handed ruler of all Indians prompted him to extend state security to temples."

She says Aurangzeb had 49 years to make good on his princely promise of cultivating religious tolerance in the Mughal Empire, and he got off to a strong start.

"In one of his early acts as emperor, Aurangzeb issued an imperial order (farman) to local Mughal officials at Benares that directed them to halt any interference in the affairs of local temples."

Truschke claims that political events incited Aurangzeb to initiate assaults on certain Hindu temples. She also argues that if Aurangzeb's reign had been 20 years shorter, closer to that of Jahangir (who ruled for 22 years) or Shah Jahan (who ruled for 30 years), modern historians would judge him rather differently.

"But Aurangzeb's later decades of fettering his sons, depending on an increasingly bloated administration, and undertaking ill-advised warring are a hefty part of his tangled legacy. Thus, we are left with a mixed assessment of a complex man and monarch who was plagued by an unbridgeable gap between his lofty ambitions and the realities of Mughal India," she writes.

Comments

suresh
 - 
Wednesday, 1 Mar 2017

#4,AHMED K.C. - HINDUISM THRIVED FROM AFGANISTHAN TO BURMA,
Its the effect of Muslim rulers today Afganisthan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, have 100% muslim population. And how rest of India hinduism survived was becoz of Rulers like Pritviraj Chauhan, Maharana pratap, Chatrapati Shivaji maharaj, and so on.

Ahmed K.C.
 - 
Wednesday, 1 Mar 2017

Muslims ruled India for 700 years. If there was atrocities against Hindus and forced conversion there would not have been only 24% Muslims at the time of Independence in the year 1947. Even today Muslims are only 15% according to statistics.
If Muslims rulers were really bad, then Muslims population in India would have been 80% and all other would have been 20%

shaji
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017

Undermine muslims is the prime and main agenda of BJP which is agreed by being followed by them including name sake indians Mukhtar Abbas and Shanawaz are following. BJP and Trump are two faces of a coin.

KhasaiKhane
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017

Aurangzeb (Allah have mercy on him) spread justice across \Akhand \" Bharath (which was from Afghan to South of India).
A devout Muslim is always the one who rules over his people with fear of Allah & justice, and he is always hated by a bigoted section.
Beats Shivaji all around Maharashtra, British couldn't establish anything during his reign, Poor enjoyed power, Farmers were given highest preference in his administration, Criminals feared the shariah law.

No rapes, or threats, or lynching, That's why Sanghis hate him!

May Allah forgive his faults, shower his mercy on him...!"

Rikaz
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017

BJP came to power just to undermine Muslims....that is it....no development (vikas).....problem creators....

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com web desk
June 9,2020

Kozhikode, Jun 9: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena T is all set to marry DYFI National President and CPM state committee member PA Muhammad Riyas on June 15. Interestingly, it's the second marriage for both. 

Veena, the elder daughter of Pinarayi Vijayan and Kamala Vijayan, is an IT entrepreneur based in Bengaluru.

According to sources, the marriage will be a simple function in Thiruvananthapuram where only close relatives will participate. The marriage registration has already been done. 

"It's only a private affair of two individuals," Riyas told media persons, reluctant to divulge more details. 

The 44-year-old Muhammad Riyas started his political career with the Students Federation of India (SFI) and climbed up the rungs through DYFI. He had unsuccessfully contested against UDF's M K Raghavan from Kozhikode parliament constituency in 2009. 

The son of retired IPS officer P M Abdul Khadar, Riyas is the familiar face of the left in primetime TV discussions, strongly articulating the CPM stance. 

A law graduate, he had begun at the grassroots level and gradually worked his way up the ladder. 

His marriage to Dr Sameeha Saithalavi, a former syndicate member of Calicut University, happened in 2002. The couple separated in 2015 and they have two sons aged 10 and 13. 

The 40-plus Veena is MD of the IT firm Exalogic Solutions since 2014. 

Prior to that, she was the CEO of RT Technosoft, a Thiruvananthapuram-based company owned by NRI industrialist Ravi Pillai. Before that, she had a six-year stint with Oracle. She has a son from her first marriage. 

"They both were divorced for more than five years. They knew each other and the marriage decision was taken by them only. It's completely a private affair," said a DYFI leader.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 15,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 15: As the central government has not allowed reopening of gyms in the country amid COVID-19 pandemic, many gymnasiums in Bengaluru are on the verge of closing or sale.

Rakshith Gowda, a gym owner and secretary of gym owners association told ANI that they are not even able to pay rent of the premises which is Rs 60,000 to 1 lakh per month.

"The condition of the owners of the gym have worsened. We have to pay a minimum of Rs 60,000 - 100,000 rent of the building and for past 4 months we couldn't pay the rent, salary to trainers and cleaners, EMI," Gowda said.

"I urge the government to take necessary steps to bring up the gym sector as they have allowed opening up of shops, temples, malls. We urge the government to take proper steps in the interest of gyms," added Gowda.

Mahesh, a gymer said that he had to participate in a competition and due to lockdown he could not work on his bodybuilding.

"I was building my body for one year and due to lockdown I couldn't do the workout, I had to take part in a competition, now I need at least another one year to build my body back," Mahesh said.

Prasad, international bodybuilder said, "Most of the bodybuilders and gym owners are running gyms by taking loans, they are not in the situation to pay their loan EMIs."

"It's very important for us to reopen gyms and run them with all precautions and guidelines but the government is not allowing us to pay our loans and many gym owners and trainers are facing a tough time to earn living. We have requested Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol and cabinet ministers to allow us to open, but the government hasn't taken the decision in the interest of gyms which is creating more problems for us," Prasad said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 17,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 17: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday held a meeting with the Ministers-in-charge of eight zones to take stock of the COVID-19 situation and its management in Bengaluru.

Yediyurappa suggested that it should be ensured that both COVID-19 and other patients get timely treatment. He advised home quarantine for asymptomatic patients and hospitals and COVID Care Centers would provide treatment for those who are severely symptomatic.

He said, Rapid Antigen Testing should be carried out for those who died in the hospital, for immediate delivery of the corpse for funeral arrangements. He also said to conduct Rapid Antigen Test for those who have died at home and take action for the funeral of the dead.

The chief minister said, lockdown is not a solution to COVID-19 control, he made it clear that the government has no plans to continue with the lockdown in Bengaluru.

"To fill the shortage of doctors, the process of filling vacancies is ongoing," he said.

"Volunteers are identified and ambulances are assigned to each ward.  Strict action should be taken if private hospitals do not provide beds to patients," the Chief Minister said.

The chief minister said volunteers and nodal officers would be appointed to provide information on the enrollment and availability of beds to COVID-19 infected persons in private hospitals.

"Welfare pavilions and lodges have been identified in each ward, suggesting the use of quarters to quarantine those who do not have separate rooms," the Chief Minister said.

He said, allocate bed within two hours of the result of the test and the ambulance must take action to take the person to the hospital. The Chief Minister suggested that the system be decentralised, zoned, and monitored.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.