From “Hindu Masjids” written by Praful Goradia

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From " Hindu Masjids " written by Praful Goradia

 

 

 

Repeated destruction of Mathura.

 

 

 

The richly jeweled idols taken from the pagan temples were transferred to

Agra and there placed beneath the steps leading to the Nawab Begum Sahib's

mosque, in order that they might ever be pressed under foot by the true

believers. The city's name was changed to Islamabad. Can you guess the name

of this unfortunate place? We can tell who published those words. He was

Vincent A. Smith ICE, the famous historian.

 

 

 

If you cannot guess, it was Mathura, the birth place of Sri Krishna. Most of

the idols were from the just destroyed Kesava Deva Mandir, built at the spot

where the popular avatar was believed to have been born some 3,400 years

ago. If Mohmud Ghazni was a jaahil or a barbarian, one might have been

inclined to overlook his outrage and excuse him. But both AL-Beruni and

Utbi, who were chroniclers and lived in Ghazni's times, certified that

Mahmud was devout and built beautiful mosques in his Ghazna. For the author

it is difficult to do unto others what he would dislike others doing unto

him. It is not easy a conscience to live with double standards. The author

is not a regular worshipper and yet he can appreciate what puja, prayer or

ibadat means to others. He would hate to disturb them. So much for

sentiment. Beyond that of course is the Hindu in him which tells him that

every karma leads to bhagya, every deed goes to shape destiny. Every action

has a reaction, equal and opposite.

 

 

 

This reasoning must have been alien to Mahmud Ghazni in 1017 AD, although

his forefathers must have been Hindu or Buddhist, or possibly, pagan (there

was no Islam until the seventh century). Do you think that the misfortunes

of the Afghan people, especially since the Soviet invasion in April 1978 are

the Bhagya resulting from the karmas of isonoclasts like Mahmud? He was not

the only blood thirsty invader. There were a series of them from

Afghanistan. The last big vandal was Ahmed Shah Abdali of the 18th century.

What was perpetrated at Mathura, is unthinkable in any context of

civilization.

 

 

 

You will experience it better when you read what a British Christian had to

say. As a Hindu, all that athe suthor will say is that no one is more widely

adored amongst us than Sri Krishna. From Jammu in the north to Kanyakumari

in the south, from Dwarka in the west to Imphal in the east, there are many

number of Krishna worshippers. Moreover, there is no hindu who would not be

an adorer of this son of Mathura. He gave the Bhagawat Gita to us. Even

today, every Hindu swears by it before answering in any court, just as

Christians and Muslims swear by the Bible and Quran respectively. If there

be anyh one book from which a Hindu wishes to understand his faith, it is

the Gita. In fact, everyone, at least in India, understand what Sri Krishna

means to the Hindu psyche. Just as Sri rama exemplifies the uncompromising

idealist, Krishna personifies the comprehensive realist. When a Hindu has a

problem, he wonders what Kesava would have done to solve it with his genius

for tactics and strategy. If he wishes to celebrate a festival, he thinks of

Giridhar Gopal. If he dreams of frolis, he sees Gopinath. If he looks for

love, he cannot but help dream of Radheshyam.

 

 

 

If his Mathura: A District Memoir, Growse has recorded his exhaustive

survey and research about Brajbhoomi. He was so overwhelmed by the vandalism

that visited the area repeatedly, that he wrote feelingly, although his home

was in far away England. To quote*: thanks to Muhammadan intolerance, there

is not a single building of any antiquity either in the city itself or its

environs. Its most famous temple – that dedicated to Kesava Deva – was

destroyed in 1669, the eleventh year of the reign of the iconoclast

Aurangzeb (Alamgir was also his name). The mosque (idgah) erected on its

ruins is a building of little architectural value.*

 

 

 

Mahmud Ghazni was however the first isonoclast to candalise Mathura. That

was in 1017 AD about which Growse wrote: *If any one wished to construct a

building equal to it, he would not be able to do so withour expending a

hyndred million dinars, and the work would occupy two hundred years, even

though the most able and experienced workmen were employed. Orders were

given that all the temples should be burnt with naphtha and fire and leveled

with the ground. The city was given up to plunder for twenty days. Among the

spoils are said to have been five great idols of pure gold with eyes of

rubies and adornments of other precious stones, together with a vast number

of smaller silver images, which, when broken up, formed a load for more than

a hundred camels. The total value of the spoils has been estimated at three

millions of rupees; while the number of hindus carried away into captivity

exceeded 5,000.*

 

 

 

Today Balkrishna is worshipped in a little room which appears like a servant

quarter attached to the back of the idgah. Pathos can be experienced by any

visitor, whether a devotee or otherwise.

 

 

 

To go back to Aurangzeb, over two centuries after the desecration, Growse

felt tha: of all the sacred placed in India, none enjoys a greater

popularity than the capital of Braj, the holy city of Mathura. For nine

months in the year, festival follows upon festival in rapid succession and

the ghats and temples are daily thronged with new troops of way-worn

pilgrims. So great is the sanctity of the spot more meritorious than a

lifetime passed at Benares. All this celebrity is due to the fact of it

being the birthplace of the demi-god Krishna.

 

 

 

In his chapter entitled The Braj Mandal, the Ban Yatra and the Holi as

Growse puts it: *not only the city of Mathura, but with it, the whole of the

western half of the district has a special interest of its own as the

birthplace and abiding home of Vaishnava Hinduism. It is about 42 miles in

length with an average breadth of 30 miles and is intersected throughout by

the river Jamuna. In the neighbourhood is Gokul and Brindaban, where the

divine brothers Krishna and Balaram grazed their herds. He continues: Almost

every spot is traditionally connected with some event in the life of Krishna

or of his mythical mistress Radha.*

 

 

 

To paraphrase William Shakespeare, not all the scents of Arabia would

suffice to wash away the sins of Ghazni and Alamgir at Mathura. And since it

is not possible to claim back what was destroyed long age, the return of the

Idgaah and the Shuddhi of Krishna Janmabhoomi or the birth place of Krishna,

is the only alternative.