Bravehearts of Bharat: Vignettes from Indian History

by Vikram Sampath

The fact that we are still surviving as one of the most ancient civilizations of humanity, and that our cultures, traditions, languages and religions have survived clearly indicates that there must have been strong resistance we always offered or some battles we decisively won as well, and this must have come from every region of this vast nation.

As Arab cartographer Muhammad al Idrisi noted: The Indians are naturally inclined to justice, and never depart from it in their actions. Their good faith, honesty, and fidelity to their engagements are well known, and they are so famous for these qualities that people flock to their country from every side; and hence the country is flourishing and their condition prosperous.19

The capital of Sindh was pilloried to the last brick. Sixty thousand people including several women of princely families were taken as slaves. Dahar’s wife Rani Bai decided to defend the fortress of Raor with about 15,000 warriors, but eventually gave up.35 As documented by Chintaman Vinayak Vaidya, Qasim molested and forcefully married one of Dahar’s wives Ladi,36 while Rani Bai immolated herself along with several Rajput women after failing to protect the fortress—perhaps the first instance of jauhar in India where royal women gave up their lives to prevent themselves from falling into the hands of lustful and barbaric conquerors. Dahar’s daughters Suryadevi and Parimaldevi were packed off to the Caliph’s harem.

Rajaraja then managed easy success over the Gangas and their feudatories the Nolambas around 1000 CE.

Brihadeswara or the Big Temple in Thanjavur that was completed in 1010 CE.

Mahmud is said to have taken a pledge to undertake a holy war (jihad) against India every year.3 There are varied accounts of anything between twelve to seventeen expeditions that he undertook against India. Right from 1001 CE, Mahmud launched several attacks on various parts of India, looting treasures, perpetrating wanton destruction of temples and forcibly converting people to Islam. From Kabul to Kashmir, Punjab to Kannauj and Gwalior, northern and western India was constantly exposed to his frequent barbaric attacks. The Turkish raids were given a befitting reply several times by the Shahi ruler of Kapisha (Kabul), Jayapala. He, in fact, conducted raids against the territory of Ghazni around 986–87 CE.4 In this battle Mahmud was reduced to great despair and peace was brokered with Jayapala.

Mahmud Ghazni’s desecration of the holy town of Mathura invited indignation from a host of rulers of north India, including the Chandela king Vidyadhara, the Shahis Trilochanapala and Nidar Bhima and others. They formed another confederacy to avenge Mahmud’s misadventure and forced a retreat of the invader in 1019 CE. As historian Sita Ram Goel rues: ‘Hindus could have destroyed him [Mahmud] had they pursued him in his retreat … Hindus had lost [that vision]. Pursuit of a retreating enemy was contrary to the Rajput code of honour.’10 It was thus the application of moral codes of ethical military conduct with an opponent who neither believed nor honoured such protocols that cost the Indian forces heavily during various critical milestones of history. Mahmud thus lived on to inflict more misery on the country.

From Multan, which he vanquished, he marched to Somnath in 1025 CE, via Anahilapatan that fell on his path to the temple town. Bhimadeva was taken by surprise as he had not expected this invasion of Mahmud and hence retreated to Kutch to reorganize himself. The defenceless capital (referred to by the Muslim chroniclers, numerously as Nahrwara, Narwalla, Naharwalah) was ravaged by the plunderer. But his eyes were set on Somnath to which he marched without delay. He was not expecting to see over 50,000 armed Hindus trying to defend their faith against this onslaught, even as they were ‘prostrating themselves in tears before the Idol, prayed for assistance’.13 The struggle to defend Somnath went on for three long days and Bhima and another Indian prince whom Ferishta calls as Dabishleem sent reinforcements to those who were defending their temple and their faith. But after three days of successfully holding back the invader, a dance of death followed with most of the defenders being killed by the marauders. Nearly all of the 50,000 men were mercilessly butchered.14 Mahmud then rushed to the sanctum to find the stone idol of Somnath, ‘five yards in height, two of which were sunk in the ground’.15 The Brahmin priests tried their best to save their God by making a last-ditch attempt with Mahmud, bribing him with some crores in gold if he left the place without destroying the deity. The Sultan haughtily replied that accepting this offer would make him a seller of idols and that h...

He was publicly exhibited, bound upon a camel and forced to convert to Islam. Upon his refusal, the worst of tortures were inflicted on him for over thirty-nine days. A red-hot iron rod was thrust into his eyes and his tongue was cut off. On 11 March 1689, his head was then chopped off and paraded from the emperor’s camp towards Bijapur, while his body was mercilessly hacked to pieces.8 This was the darkest hour in the barbarity of the Mughal hegemony, which shook the Marathas to the core and also instilled in them an undying spirit of vengeance for what was meted to their ruler.

‘born and begotten of the sea, full of its wild and savage energy … rocked to and fro by its waves into hardihood and indomitable pluck.’

When Guru Govind Singh was forced to evacuate Anandpur Sahib, in the confusion that ensued, the two young boys and the Guru’s old, widowed mother Mata Gujri fell into the hands of Aurangzeb’s army. They were forced to convert to Islam and when they refused, their fingers were blown off with firecrackers, they were bricked up alive in a minar (tower) on 27 December 1704 in the presence of the old lady, who died on the spot out of the shock and grief.3 As historian James Browne noted: ‘Of all instances of cruelty exercised on the propagators of new doctrines, this is the most barbarous and outrageous. Defenceless women and children have usually escaped even from religious fury. No wonder then, that the vengeance of the Sikhs was so severe.’

On reaching the fort, Banda Singh, Baj Singh, Fateh Singh and other leaders were packed off to the Tripolia prison. Banda Singh’s wife, his four-year-old son Ajai Singh and the child’s nurse was handed over to the harem. The remaining 694 Sikhs were sent away for execution that began from 5 March 1716 in batches of hundred every day, going on for a week. Life was promised to anyone who chose to renounce his faith and embrace Islam, but not one among the 700 opted for it or sought pardon.26

Banda Singh was offered the usual option between death or Islam and expectedly he refused to renounce his faith. To compound the brutality, his four-year-old son was placed in his lap and he was asked to kill him. As no father could commit such an act, Banda too refused. The executioner then hacked the little boy to pieces, right in front of Banda’s eyes and his quivering liver was pulled out and thrust in his father’s mouth, who stood like a statue, unmoved and completely resigned to God’s will. 28

His own tragic turn came next. First, his right eye was gouged out by a butcher’s knife and then his left. His left foot was cut off next and then his two hands were severed from his body. His flesh was then torn with red-hot pincers. Finally, he was decapitated and hacked to pieces, limb by limb. But what stunned the barbarians was that all through the ordeal, Banda Singh Bahadur remained alarmingly calm and serene and died with unshaken steadiness. Years of spiritual practices and penance had seeped in deep to make him withstand such unimaginable horrors with surprising calmness and equanimity. The other Sikh prisoners, too, met similar fates. 29