This article was published in Hindustan Times on December 28, 1997On the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition (December 6, 1992),it is important for Hindus (and Muslims) to understand the importanceof the event in the context of Hindustan's history, past and recent,present and the future.Savages at a very low level of civilisation and no culture worth thename, from Arabia and west Asia, began entering India from the earlycentury onwards. Islamic invaders demolished countless Hindu temples,shattered uncountable sculpture and idols, plundered innumerablepalaces and forts of Hindu kings, killed vast numbers of Hindu men andcarried off Hindu women. This story, the educated-and a lot of eventhe illiterate Indians-know very well. History books tell it inremarkable detail. But many Indians do not seem to recognise that thealien Muslim marauders destroyed the historical evolution of theearth's most mentally advanced civilisation, the most richlyimaginative culture, and the most vigorously creative society.It is clear that India at the time when Muslim invaders turned towardsit (8 to 11th century) was the earth's richest region for its wealthin precious and semi-precious stones, gold and silver, religion andculture, and its fine arts and letters. Tenth century Hindustan wasalso too far advanced than its contemporaries in the East and the Westfor its achievements in the realms of speculative philosophy andscientific theorising, mathematics and knowledge of nature's workings.Hindus of the early medieval period were unquestionably superior inmore things than the Chinese, the Persians (including the Sassanians),the Romans and the Byzantines of the immediate proceeding centuries.The followers of Siva and Vishnu on this subcontinent had created forthemselves a society more mentally evolved-joyous and prosperoustoo-than had been realised by the Jews, Christians, and Muslimmonotheists of the time. Medieval India, until the Islamic invadersdestroyed it, was history's most richly imaginative culture and one ofthe five most advanced civilisations of all times.Look at the Hindu art that Muslim iconoclasts severely damaged ordestroyed. Ancient Hindu sculpture is vigorous and sensual in thehighest degree-more fascinating than human figural art createdanywhere else on earth. (Only statues created by classical Greekartists are in the same class as Hindu temple sculpture). AncientHindu temple architecture is the most awe-inspiring, ornate andspell-binding architectural style found anywhere in the world. (TheGothic art of cathedrals in France is the only other religiousarchitecture that is comparable with the intricate architecture ofHindu temples). No artist of any historical civilisation have everrevealed the same genius as ancient Hindustan's artists and artisans.Their minds filled with venom against the idol-worshippers ofHindustan, the Muslims destroyed a large number of ancient Hindutemples. This is a historical fact, mentioned by Muslim chroniclersand others of the time. A number of temples were merely damaged andremained standing. But a large number-not hundreds but manythousands-of the ancient temples were broken into shreds of crackedstone. In the ancient cities of Varanasi and Mathura, Ujjain andMaheshwar, Jwalamukhi and Dwarka, not one temple survives whole andintact from the ancient times.The wrecking of Hindu temples went on from the early years of the 8thcentury to well past 1700 AD a period of almost 1000 years. EveryMuslim ruler in Delhi (or Governor of Provinces) spent most of histime warring against Hindu kings in the north and the south, the eastand the west, and almost every Muslim Sultan and his army commandersindulged in largescale destructions of Hindu temples and idols. Theyalso slaughtered a lot of Hindus. It is easy to conclude thatvirtually every Hindu temple built in the ancient times is a perfectwork of art. The evidence of the ferocity with which the Musliminvaders must have struck at the sculptures of gods and goddesses,demons and apsaras, kings and queens, dancers and musicians isfrightful. At so many ancient temples of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,for example, shattered portions of stone images still lie scattered inthe temple courtyards. Considering the fury used on the idols andsculptures, the stone-breaking axe must have been applied to thousandsupon thousands of images of hypnotic beauty.Giving proof of the resentment that men belonging to an inferiorcivilisation feel upon encountering a superior civilisation ofindividuals with a more refined culture, Islamic invaders from Arabiaand western Asia broke and burned everything beautiful they cameacross in Hindustan. So morally degenerate were the Muslim Sultansthat, rather than attract Hindu "infidels" to Islam through force ofpersonal example and exhortation, they just built a number of mosquesat the sites of torn down temples-and foolishly pretended they hadtriumphed over the minds and culture of the Hindus. I have seen stonesand columns of Hindu temples incorportated into the architecture ofseveral mosques, including the Jama Masjid and Ahmed Shah Masjid inAhmedabad; the mosque in the Uparkot fort of Junagadh (Gujarat) and inVidisha (near Bhopal); the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra right next to thefamous dargah in Ajmer-and the currently controversial Bhojshala"mosque" in Dhar (near Indore). Hindu culture was at its imaginativebest and vigorously creative when the severely-allergic-to-imagesMuslims entered Hindustan. Islamic invaders did not just destroycountless temples and constructions but also suppressed cultural andreligious practices; damaged the pristine vigour of Hindu religion,prevented the intensification of Hindu culture, debilitating itpermanently, stopped the development of Hindu arts ended the creativeimpulse in all realms of thought and action, damaged the people'scultural pride, disrupted the transmission of values and wisdom,cultural practices and tradition from one generation to the next;destroyed the proper historical evolution of Hindu kingdoms andsociety, affected severely the acquisition of knowledge, research andreflection and violated the moral basis of Hindu society. The Hindussuffered immense psychic damage. The Muslims also plundered the wealthof the Hindu kingdoms, impoverished the Hindu populace, and destroyedthe prosperity of Hindustan.Gaze in wonder at the Kailas Mandir in the Ellora caves and rememberthat it is carved out of a solid stone hill, an effort that(inscriptions say) took nearly 200 years. This is art as devotion. Thetemple built by the Rashtrakuta kings (who also built the colossalsculpture in the Elenhanta caves off Mumbai harbour) gives proof ofthe ancient Hindus' religious fervor.But the Kailas temple also indicated a will power, a creativeimagination, and an intellect eager to take on the greatest ofartistic challenges.The descendants of those who built the magnificent temples of Bhojpurand Thanjavur, Konark and Kailas, invented mathematics and brainsurgery, created mindbody disciplines (yoga) of astonishing power, andbuilt mighty empires would almost certainly have attainedtechnological superiority over Europe.It is not just for "political reasons" that Hindus want to build grandtemples at the sites of the (wrecked) Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, theGyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, and the Mathura idgah. The efforts ofreligion-intoxicated and politically active Hindus to rebuild the RamMandir, the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, and the Krishna Mandir are justthree episodes m a one-thousand year long Hindu struggle to reclaimtheir culture and religion from alien invaders.The demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992 wasjust one episode in the millennial struggle of the Hindus to repossesstheir religion-centered culture and nation. Meanwhile, hundreds ofancient Hindu temples forsaken all over Hindustan await thereawakening of Hindu cultural pride to be repaired or rebuilt andrestored to their original, ancient glory.
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