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Compare: Noon had not arrived when the Musulmans had wreaked their vengeance on the infidel enemies of God, killing 15,000 of them, spreading them like a carpe
by msravi 9y ago
Compare:
Noon had not arrived when the Musulmans had wreaked their vengeance on the infidel enemies of God, killing 15,000 of them, spreading them like a carpet over the ground, and making them food for beasts and birds of prey.
...and twice that value was obtained from the necks of those of his relatives who were taken prisoners, or slain, and had become the food of the mouths of hyenas and vultures. God also bestowed upon his friends such an amount of booty as was beyond all bounds and all calculation, including five hundred thousand slaves, beautiful men and women.
with... (ncert text)
One of the best known of such rulers is Sultan
Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanistan. He ruled from 997 to
1030, and extended control over parts of Central Asia,
Iran and the north-western part of the subcontinent.
He raided the subcontinent almost every year – his
targets were wealthy temples, including that of
Somnath, Gujarat.
Much of the wealth Mahmud carried away was used
to create a splendid capital city at Ghazni. He was
interested in finding out more about the people he
conquered, and entrusted a scholar named al-Biruni
to write an account of the subcontinent. This Arabic
work, known as the Kitab-al Hind, remains an important
source for historians. He consulted Sanskrit scholars
to prepare this account.
- sirtaj 9y agoSorry, the former is simply too graphic for a textbook intended for 11/12-year-olds, and I'm not sure why you chose the latter passage vs: "During his campaigns in the subcontinent [Ghazni] also attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols. Sultan Mahmud was not a very important ruler at that time. But by destroying temples – especially the one at Somnath – he tried to win credit as a great hero of Islam. In the political culture of the Middle Ages most rulers displayed their political might and military success by attacking and looting the places of worship of defeated rulers."
- msravi 9y agoI chose the passage to highlight the gross distortion: "He was interested in finding out more about the people he conquered, and entrusted a scholar named al-Biruni to write an account of the subcontinent" No. He was not interested in finding out more about the people he conquered. The biographical works of his time are very clear - he wanted the loot and he wanted to get rid of the infidels and idol worshippers.
- calvinbhai 9y agoAn example of meddling with history, at least in South India, is how Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali are portrayed. There are many areas in Karnataka that have suffered from their plunder, and all we see in text books is that they are heroes, because they fought against British. Now, if you are a muslim in S.India, you'll not speak out against this portrayal. If you are a Kodava (people from Coorg), you'll be seething red with any such portrayals of Tipu and Hyder Ali, because they plundered, massacred, raped and forcefully convereted hundreds of thousands after every attack. Now if Osama Bin Laden was a figure from pre 18th century India, I bet he'd be revered as a hero in Indian school textbooks and movie industry.
- kamaal 9y agoYou can look at any area in India and you would see these stories, because that is how Kings work. How do you think Ashoka built his empire? Techniques weren't any different than what Aurangzeb used. Or what Romans used, or what the Persians used or what the Greeks used. Wars work that way. Also there is a reason why 'foreign culture' gets acceptance in any culture. If you deny education, commerce and other social opportunities to your masses for millenniums they are bound to be attracted to other cultures even if they are foreign. If anything they get a divorce for their unbearable current affairs. A foreign ruler comes across way more acceptable than the existing domestic ruler who doesn't let you study, doesn't let you participate in war, doesn't let you trade and large looks down on your as some sort of slave labor whose sole purpose is tax revenue. Easiest escape from these scenarios is to change your identity- Change language, religion, culture, residence etc. If this is what troubles you, then the solution to this is not rewriting history, but pushing for equality and upliftment of those who have been suffering for thousands of years. And that of course involves dismantling social structures and privileges that have existed for all thousands of years. Otherwise all this is just an exercise in futility. You can rewrite what you like, and if the conditions on the ground don't improve, people will toss out whatever their current identity is and just move on to whatever works for them. And don't blame them, its not exactly wrong to want to live a good life.