Aavarana: The Veil

by S.L. Bhyrappa

Sewell’s A Forgotten Empire

Srinivasa Ritti and B. Gopal’s A History of Karnataka; N.Venkataramanayya’s The Delhi Sultanate; Suryanath Kamath’s A Concise History of Karnataka; P.B. Desai’s Karnataka Through the Ages

George Michael and Philip Wagoner’s definitive Vijayanagara: Architectural Inventory of the Sacred Shrine.

The Ramachandra Temple at Vijayanagara, co-authored by Anna L. Dallapiccola and John M. Fritz, is an exhaustive study of this temple.

‘Khwaja Jahan, it is true, Islam came to Hindustan from outside. Hajjaj, Ghazni, Ghori, Mamulk, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi, Mughal…the list is very long…when every single one of these kings invaded Hindustan, what did your Hindus do?

Bukhara, Samarkhand, Khotan, Balkh, Bamiyan, Kabul, Ghazni, Kandahar, Begram, Jalalabad, Peshawar, Charsaddh, O Hind, Takshashila, Multan, Mir Pukhaas, Nagar Parkar, Sialkot, Srinagar, Kanauj, Shravasti, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Saranath, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Vaishali, Rajagir, Odantapuri, Churhut, Champa, Paharpur, Jagdal, Jaajnagar, Nagarjuna Konda, Amaravati, Kanchi, Dwarasamudra, Devagiri, Bharauch, Valabhi, Gimar, Khambhat, Patan, Jalor, Chandravati, Bhinmal, Didwan, Nagore, Osean, Ajmer, Bairat, Gwalior, Chanderi, Mandu, Dhaar…didn’t

From this distance, the towering mosque appeared like a gigantic fist that had wrapped the whole of Kashi in its thrall. Its dominating presence commanded the sight of every visitor much before he actually entered Kashi. Lakshmi wished she had binoculars. She strained her eyes. She could detect a line of ghats just below the mosque. To its right stood another mosque, not as imposing but tall and eye-catching. ‘Sarmaji, I see only mosques. Where’s the Vishwanath temple?’

‘Oh? Didn’t you know, mataji? See that mosque on the left…’ He pointed with his index finger. ‘The tall, fat mosque that looks like it is sniggering because it’s the biggest mosque in Kashi? That’s the Gyanvapi masjid standing on the original Kashi Vishwanath temple. Aurangzeb Badshah demolished it and built a gumbaz over its walls and pillars in 1669. And though he did all this, people still call it the Gyanvapi mosque. And see the mosque at the right? That’s where the Bindu Madhava temple stood. He demolished that in 1659 and used its pillars and stones and beams to raise this Alamgiri Masjid. That’s what you see now.’ Impressive! He even knows the dates! The best man to tell me the history of all the mosques out here. She put her bent right palm on her forehead to avoid the harsh sunlight and looked around the entire city. Littered with mosques. Everywhere. Size doesn’t matter. Every mosque built on a pre-existing temple. Built to mark Islam’s supremacy. Using the materials of the same destroyed temple. Kashi. Varanasi. Home to Hinduism’s multi-hued sects and paths and schools. Vedic, Jain, Buddhist, Shaakta, Tantra, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Ganapatya, Rama,

Krishna…Kashi opened her portals to everybody. There’s no god or goddess who hasn’t a home in Kashi. Every form of worship that exists in India exists here. People flocked here from all sorts of remote, nameless villages, braving robber gangs and spending their savings to pay the pilgrim tax that the sultans imposed on Hindus, driven only by an unwavering faith that death in Kashi ensured freedom from the endless cycles of birth and death. Every sect has a temple dedicated to its chief deity. Every mino...

explains all these mosques here. Ruled for centuries by the people of a faith who believed that destroying the temples of other faiths and erecting mosques in their place was the definition of religious piety. Kashi welcomed every religion, sect, creed and nourished them equally like a mother, and Kashi would have given Islam all the land it wanted in keeping with her spirit. And Islam in keeping with its spirit of surviving exclusively…a spirit th...

The ghats were clearer now. Every gha...

Assi ghat, Hanuman ghat, Shivala ghat, Baccharaj ghat, Anandamayi ghat, Kedar ghat, Chauki ghat, Narad ghat, Amritrao ghat, Chausatti ghat, Pandey ghat, Rana ghat, Dashashwamedh ghat, Manikarnika ghat, Bhosala ghat, Yagneshwara ghat, Rama ghat, Mangalagowri ghat, Dalapat ghat…she couldn’t recall the rest of the names. Manikarnika was built by the Maratha ruler Baji Rao. Actually, these were built by the Marathas or at least in the time of the Ma...

the alternate history of Kashi. A history where Kashi passed on directly from the Mughals to the British without the rise of the Marathas and asked herself whether it would have survived—whether Hindus would have had their rebirth. Her eyes were focus...

‘Maharaj, Islam has only one god but Hindus have thousands. That’s why Muslims are united and that’s also why Hindus are divided among themselves. Isn’t it true that they have lost their kingdoms everywhere, and Islam is triumphant all over Hindustan?’ ‘Have you heard of Ganesh-worshippers inviting Muslims to kill Vishnu-worshippers? Or Parvati-worshippers doing the same to the devotees of Lakshmi?’ I couldn’t recall any such episode and shook my head but pressed on, ‘But…but isn’t it true that temple after temple is falling in the face

of Allah’s might? Doesn’t this prove that Allah is more powerful?’ ‘Their conception of God is wrong. And we’re accepting their faulty conception only because we’re losing battle after battle. Your question stands on the same reasoning. We create our gods based on the stage of development we are at in matters of ethics, morals and spirituality. Allah is a jealous god. He casts into everlasting Hell anybody who worships another god. Doesn’t this mean that the man who created such a god was endowed with the same jealous spirit? And what kind of a faith is it that claims itself to be the only truth and

allows no accommodation to any other that thinks differently? It is a faith driven by desire, greed, anger, pride, attachment and covetousness. Attaining victory in a war by employing unfair tactics and then attributing such victory as proof of the superiority of their faith…is this spiritually acceptable?’ I was completely stumped. I hadn’t imagined that it was even possible to think about these things in this fashion. I saw him gazing at me, waiting for me to say something. S...

We believe that every man must grow, evolve, mature, and purify himself from the inside. It’s a slow, gradual, ceaseless, and lifelong process. Non-violence, truth, non-covetousness, celibacy, non-acceptance, purity, joy, penance, self-study…have you heard of these?’ ‘Yes. When I was very young. Now, their meanings are hazy.’ ‘Anybody who hasn’t purified himself first by observing these practices is not qualified to talk about God. Like I sai...

stage of such growth brings a different conception of God to your mind . And so, God simply represents the ethical state or the state of spiritual attainment of the person who has conceived that god. Now you tell me, what’s the level of spiritual evolution of someone who says that the god he has created is a jealous god who commands you to destroy the gods of other people?’ This flew over my head. I could barely understand his words. I looked at his face blankly. He understo...

the rishis, the seers preach it is different. Some talk about it in positive terms while others, in negative terms: some call it “Asampragnata Samadhi” while others call it “Pragna”; some ask us to always adhere to truth while yet others ask us to abstain from untruth. Some preach about the means of achieving happiness, and some tell us how to prevent misery. But they’re all saying the same thing: living a virtuous life. The Vedantins, Yogis, Jains, Buddhists…I saw them as preaching...

sought many learned gurus and scholars and discussed these things with them. Once I met a maulvi sahib. I had heard that he was unwilling to enter into debates with non-Muslims. He believed that his faith was supreme and besides, it was also the Last Commandment that God Himself had sent and so there was no question of granting even a second place to any other faith. When I met him, he narrated an incident about the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). He said that God...

the narrations concerning the words and deeds of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) are called Hadis. These narrations were written down in order for the faithful to model their lives and conduct upon those of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). And so Koran is the Heard Revelations while Hadis are Revelations in action and they complement one another. Which is why the life and deeds of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) are ...

‘As far as I kno...

‘Here is the incident that the maulvi sahib told me: the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) was eager to convert all the tribes in Arabia into his fold. One such was a Jewish tribe named Banu Qurayza. They were fiercely attached to their faith and it was impossible to get them to convert like other tribes. And Jews were excellent businessmen. They were shrewd and wealthy and they commanded wide-reaching influence. They were deeply religious and knew the Torah very well and they lived by its tenets. It seems Torah is also called the Old Testament, from which the Christians incorporated lots of teachings into their Holy Book, the Bible. The Koran came many many years after the Bible. And the Jews were well-respected because they were the people of the Oldest Book. It seems the Torah contains a prediction that a prophet will descend to the earth in future. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) thought that his new faith would be accepted throughout Arabia if he suc...

tribes who didn’t accept his prophet-hood and began a series of instigations against him. The prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) decided to teach them a lesson. He entered into a secret treaty with two Arab tribes that were on the side of Banu Qurayza and managed to besiege the fort of the Jews. After many days, the Jews gave up their fort and surrendered and begged the mercy of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). What happened next is important in light of your question. The soldiers o...

twisted around and bound behind their backs. About 1,200 women and children were rounded up separately and pushed around like cattle. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) addressed the leader of the tribe: ‘You must definitely be punished. I will give you a choice. I’ll select one of your own and make him the judge. He will decide the punishment. His words will be final. Do you accept?’ They thought this was a good idea. One of their own would be lenient towards them. So they agreed. Now,...

grievously wounded and had somehow managed to escape alive. The wounds inflicted by the arrows were still fresh. A female attendant of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) was deputed to serve him. He sent for Sa’ad, who arrived riding a donkey. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) addressed him, “You must pronounce the punishment these people deserve.” The prisoners loudly begged for mercy. Sa’ad’s pronouncement was clear and final: the men were to be beheaded and their prop...

approved and prayed to Allah to grant Sa’ad a high place in heaven. The women and children were herded to the city. That night, the prisoners were left on the vast field. Then they were offered a choice to convert to Islam and declare that Mohammad (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) was the promised prophet and save their lives. But the prisoners didn’t fear for their lives. They agreed to die than abandon their age-old faith. And so, the seven hundred of them spent the night reciting from th...

in the middle of the city. In the morning, the prisoners were brought in batches of five or six and made to stand facing the trench. One man would chop the head off so that it landed in the trench and another would push the headless body. This murderous frenzy continued throughout the day till it was time to light the evening lanterns, and it finally ended in a heap of seven hundred heads and bodies with blood flowing like a stream. The soldiers that participated in the sie...

(Peace Be Upon Him) selected her and offered to marry her. But she refused to give up her faith and so he kept her as his concubine. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) laid down that one-fifth of the spoils of war should go to him and the rest were to be divided between the soldiers. The women and children who remained after the division was complete were bartered for war horses and weapons. You know that in Islam one-fifth of the spoils of battle go towards the income of...

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