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.
News Network
July 18,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 18: Veteran actor Hulivana Gangadharaiah has passed away due to novel Coronavirus at the age of 70 on Friday night at a private hospital. He has acted in films, plays and serials as well.

He was acting in the romantic serial Premaloka which has Vijay Suriya and Ankitha Navya Gowda in lead roles.

According to reports, after he showed the symptoms of having Coronavirus, he got self-isolated at his farm house. When his health condition deteriorated, he was admitted to the hospital. Gangadhariah has acted in over 100 films, 150 plays and many serials lived his life in a simple way.

Condoling the death of Gangadharaiah, T N Seetharam on his Facebook page posted, “The death of a friend and a wonderful actor Hulivana Gangandharaiah is painful. In Aaspota play, the role of a driver he played brought immense popularity ro the play. When George Fernandes watched the play he appreciated his character. In the serial Muktha Muktha, he played the role of a politician Rajanandaswamy with ease which was aired for over three years brought us closer. In the modern theatre, Nagesh whom I consider as Guru used to cast Gangadharaiah in each play he directed which reflected the kind of faith he had in him. After a few years, he got involved in agriculture so I did not had much contact with him. It’s been nearly eight years I last met him. It is very sad that we have lost him.”

Lead actor of the serial Premaloka, Vijay Suriya has also mourned the death of Hulivana Gangadharaiah who was seen in a pivotal role in the serial.

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
May 27,2020

Bengaluru, May 27: Aimed at giving a boost to affordable housing, the Karnataka government on Tuesday decided to slash the stamp duty on new apartments costing up to ₹35 lakh.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to review the progress of the Stamps & Registration department.

The Chief Minister directed that the stamp duty be cut from the existing five per cent to two per cent on apartments costing less than ₹20 lakh, getting registered for the first time, his office said in a statement.

Further, the stamp duty on apartments costing between ₹21 lakh - ₹35 lakh will be down from five per cent to three per cent, it said. It is estimated that in 2020-21 due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, Stamps and Registration department might fall short of its revenue target by ₹3,524 crore. The revenue target for 2020-21 is ₹12,655 crore.

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
April 17,2020

Kasaragod, Apr 17: Even as this district continue to remain in the high-alert red zone category of Covid-19, Kasaragod has slowly but steadily been limping back to restraint level of the pandemic from a possible slipping into a stage-3 of community spread early this month.

Thanks to the stringent and committed measures implemented by the district administration crisscross the district besides total isolation of few localities by enforcing triple lockdown.

The district had been a Covid-19 hotspot ever since an NRI who returned from the Gulf violated quarantine protocol and travelled wide and far by meeting and contacting with several people including two MLAs of the district. That apart the irresponsible attitude of the people who broke the rules of quarantine and lockdown norms also made things go from bad to worse resulting in contributing for a near-half of the total positive cases in the state at the beginning of April.

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.