Ayodhya Revisited

by Kunal Kishore

  “Eh Mātā! Pūta esa jin, jessa Durgādāsa!

  Band Mūrdrā rakheo, bin thāmā ākāsa!”

  i.e. Oh, mother! produce such sons as Durgadas, who first supported the dam of Mūrdrā, and then propped the heavens (without a pillar)!”

  Ajit Singh was successfully carried to Jodhpur. One additional information in the epic is that Indra Singh was made king of Jodhpur on his promise of converting to Islam and this was one strong reason that the Rathods’ detested Inder Singh so intensely.

  What happened next is best narrated by Khafi Khan in “Muntakhab-ul Lubab” in the following words:

  “Meanwhile the Rãjpúts had obtained two boys of the same age as the Rãja’s children. They dressed some of the female attendants in the garments of the rãnís, and taking every precaution that their stratagem should not be discovered, they left these women and the boys under guard in their camp. The (real) rãnís, disguised as men, went off at night in charge of two trusted servants and a party of devoted Rãjpúts, and made their way with all speed to their own country. The brave and active chiefs, who might have stopped or overtaken them, were keeping guard over the tents in which the pretended children of the Rãja were. After two or three watches, when a report of the fact was made, some officials were sent to make inquiries, and it was repeatedly stated that the rãnís and the children were still there. Orders were then given for taking all the Rãja’s followers into the fortress. The Rãjpúts and the disguised women, who were ready to fight like men for the honour of their Rãja, made a determined resistance. Many were killed, but a party escaped.

  The flight of the rãnís was not clearly proved. Some men, who wished to show their zeal, and to cover their negligence in the matter, asserted that the boys had escaped, and that the wazír had sent out a force to secure them. The royal forces went in pursuit twenty kos from Dehlí, but they could not overtake the Rãjpúts, and returned unsuccessful. The two (substituted) boys were given into the charge of the women of the royal harem, and were there brought up. The two boys which the Rãjpúts carried off were for a long time rejected by Aurang-zeb, who refused to acknowledge that they were the sons of Jaswant, until all doubt was removed by the Rãnã of Chitor, who married Ajit Singh to a girl of his family.” [pp. 297-98]

  Though three authentic contemporary historians have given the detailed account of the events which followed the death of Jaswant Singh, Prof. Athar Ali has not even mentioned them and on the sole testimony of Waqai Ajmer, the original copy of which he did not even see and just on the basis of its transcript, he has propounded a theory which is a slur on the heroic character of the Rathod leaders who stood solidly in support of Ajit Singh.

  Prof. S.M. Azizuddin Husain, too, in his book ‘Structure of Politics under Aurangzeb 1658–1707’ has criticized Athar Ali for his partisan presentation of the picture depicted in Waqai:

  “But the unfortunate aspect is that he examined Waqai reports from one angle – that is he only saw the problem of succession of Ajit Singh and totally ignored the high-handedness of the Mughal officials in the form of bricking the doors of the temples, demolition of temples, confiscation of the property relating to the trusts of those temples which were demolished during the period 1679-80.” (p. 148)

  Here it should be remembered that Ajit Singh was not the son of queen Hadi, so there was no strong reason for her to bargain the demolition of all temples in Jodhpur for his installation on the throne.

  Prof. Ali should have remembered that the Rathor Rajputs were led by Durga Das, one of the greatest strategists, who saved infant Ajit and Marwar in the most heroic style. The factitious account given in the Waqai Ajmer is a slur on the chivalry of Rathor Rajputs who sacrificed their lives for the safe passage of Ajit Singh who was otherwise to be kept in the emperor’s custody. They knew the fate of the infant in such custody and therefore preferred fight and death to meek surrender. Their heroic fight has been aptly described by A.K. Majumdar who followed Sir Jadunath’s book which was based on the accounts of Ishwar Das Nagar.

  “Then Durga Das’s plan hatched in secret and almost incredible in character, was put into operation and took the Muslims by surprise. Suddenly a gate of the mansion opened and Raghunath Bhattî, with one hundred troopers, rushed out in a wild ‘death-defying’ charge, before which the Muslims quailed. Seizing the opportunity, Durga Das with the rest of his followers and the queens in male attire, slipped out of the mansion and took the road to Jodhpur. For an hour and a half, Raghunath dyed the streets of Delhi with blood, but at last he fell with all his comrades. Then the Mughuls set out in pursuit but in the meantime the fugitives had covered nine miles, when the Mughuls overtook them. Then Ranchhor Das Jodha turned round to check the pursuers with a small band of troopers. And they too resisted the Muslims to the last man. The Mughuls then took up the pursuit again and this time, while the rest continued their journey towards Jodhpur, Durga Das turned round with fifty troopers and fought till all but seven of them died. It was almost evening and at last the tired Mughuls gave up the pursuit and wearily made their way back to Delhi, while Durga Das and his comrades safely carried the royal party to their destination.” (The Mughal Empire, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, pp. 34748)

  For the protection of the Varāha temple near Pushkara Lake in Ajmer hundreds of Rathors sacrificed their lives by fighting continuously for three days and not a single soul sought shelter anywhere. During Aurangzeb’s Ajmer visit when Darab Khan attacked Khandel with a strong force on 8th March 15th safars to demolish the great temple of the place, three hundred and odd men made a bold defence and sacrificed their lives to protect the shrine. And now history is being taught in the Universities that Aurangzeb did a favour to the Rani Hadi and Rathors by destroying temples in accepting their proposal. ‘Madhyakālīna Bhārata’, edited by Harischandra Verma for Delhi University contains the following content in defence of Aurangzeb’s Rajput policy: घइसी बीच जोधपुर के किलेदार ताहिर खाँ ने राठौरों को यह सुझाव दिया कि वे पादशाह को खुश करने के लिए जोधपुर के मन्दिरों का विध्वंस करा कर उनके स्थान पर मस्जिद खड़ी करवा दें। राठौरों की प्रमुख रानी हाड़ी ने यह प्रस्ताव इस शर्त पर मानना मंजूर कर लिया कि जोधपुर को मृतक राणा के पुत्र को ही सौंपा जाएगा।

  अतहर अली का कहना है कि औरंगजेब के निर्णय के प्रति राठौरों की प्रतिक्रिया का एकमात्र कारण इंदरसिंह को मारवाड़ का शासक बनाया जाना था। इंदरसिंह की तुलना में वे खालिसा और शाही प्रशासन को अधिक श्रेयस्कर समझते थे। उन्होंने घोषणा की कि यदि टीका अजीतसिंह को प्रदान किया जाएगा तो वे औरंगजेब की प्रिय योजनाओं को, जैसे जजिया की वसूली, मारवाड़ में मन्दिरों का विध्वंस, इंदर सिंह की अपेक्षा अधिक निष्ठा से अंजाम देंगे। यहाँ यह तथ्य उल्लेखनीय है कि इंदर सिंह ने टीका प्राप्त करने के लिए ऐसा कोई वचन नहीं दिया थाच (Vol. II. pp. 234-35)

  Thus, University students are being taught false history to defend an indefensible policy of a ruler who was a religious bigot in toto. Please have some mercy on glorious history!

  (6) ‘The Religious
Issue in the War of succession’

  In another article ‘The Religious Issue in the War of Succession 1658-59’ in the same book, Prof. Athar Ali has tried to establish that it was not fought on account of religious considerations. He writes:

  “Yet, those who made such statements do not seem to have troubled to ask themselves whether Aurangzeb in fact ever raised the slogan of ‘Islam in Danger’ in order to gain the throne. This question, it must be remembered, is quite different from whether Aurangzeb later on tried to build an Islamic state or persecuted Hinduism. What we wish to enquire here is whether a new religious policy was the chief, or at least the declared, object for which the war of succession was fought.” (p. 246)

  In support of his arguments, he has given many examples, such as his success in neutralising the Rana of Mewar Raj Singh by offering him some favourable terms and conditions of an alliance, and persuading Raja Jai Singh and Jaswant Singh successfully in sabotaging the military expeditions of Dara Shukoh. Then he presents a picture that almost equal number of Hindu nobles had fought on each side and hence it was not fought on communal line. If Aurangzeb succeeded in getting the support of some Hindu nobles, it shows his opportunistic approach and the avarice of those nobles. But when the war of succession was over and he was triumphant, he wrote many letters to his father Shah Jahan who had been made captive by him. In one of the letters to his father, he wrote thus:

  “So long as you held the reins of government I never did anything without your permission, nor did I ever step beyond my jurisdiction. During your illness Dara usurped all power, girt up his loins to promote Hinduism and destroy Islam, and acted as king, totally setting you aside. The government fell into disorder... . My march on Agra was not due to a rebellious spirit, but to a desire to put an end to Dara’s usurpation, his lapse from Islam, and his exaltation of idolatry throughout the empire.... I was compelled, out of regard for the next world, to take up the perilous load of the crown, from sheer necessity and not from free choice, for restoring peace and the rules of Islam in the realm.” (emphasis added)

  It is an irony that Aurangzeb, who fought the war of succession and wrote to his father about its motive, claimed that it was for restoring the rules of Islam in the realm but our established historians have been claiming that it was for the secular purpose.

  Aurangzeb’s admission to his father, after the war of succession was over, is a testimony to the fact that at least one of the reasons for the war of succession was the religious consideration.

  Similarly, on the eve of the war of succession, Aurangzeb wrote to Murad in the same tone and tenour:

  “Whereas the design of acquiring the throne has now been set on foot, and all (my) pious image to uproot the bramble of idolatry and infidelity from the realm of Islam and to overwhelm and crush the idolatrous chief with his followers and strongholds, so that the dust of disturbance may be allayed in Hindustan, and whereas my brother, dear as my own heart, has joined me in this holy enterprise, has conformed anew with strong (professions of) faith the terms of cooperation….”

  But the great historian Athar Ali does not refer to these letters at all and tries to establish him as a secular warrior. This is good in one sense that if such conclusions are not drawn after suppressing historical facts, history will be a quite boring and monotonous subject!

  But Aurangzeb might have been secular in one sense, i.e. torturing his father Shah Jahan. It is said that when Aurangzeb stopped the supply of water from the Yamunā river, the captive king had to quench thirst with brackish water from inside the fort in the dry summer season. The unhappy dethroned Emperor wrote to his son Aurangzeb in a pathetic tone:

  “Praised be the Hindus in all cases, as they offer water to their dead. And thou, my son, art a marvellous Mussalman, as thou causes me in life to lament for (lack of) water.”

  (quoted in the Advanced History of India, Macmillan, p. 477)

  It will not be out of place to mention that Alan M. Guenther, in an article “Hanafi Fiqh in Mughal India: The Fatawa-i-Alamgiri” published in the book ‘India’s Islamic Traditions 711-1750’ edited by Richard M. Eaton and published by Oxford University Press, writes that since Aurangzeb seized power while his father Shah Jahan was still alive, the chief Qazi refused to recite the Khutba in his name after his accession to the throne and thereafter Aurangzeb persuaded another alim Shaikh Abd al-Wahhab to convince the Qazi that his accession was legal. Thus, with a lot of difficulty Aurangzeb Alamgir got the religious approval of his reign.

  (7) Horrendous display of savagery

  The following painting is placed on the frontispiece of the second volume of Venetian Chronicler Niccolao Manucci’s Italian work Storia Do Mogor which was translated into English with introduction and notes by William Irvine and published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, London for the Government of India in 1907.

  This appaling picture was published in “Monuments anciens et modernes de l’Hindoustan” also, which was written by Louis Mathieu Langlès and Barbié Dubocage, and published from Paris in 1821 A.D. The source of this painting is mentioned as ‘Calque sur une miniature du cabinet des Estampes de la bibliotheque du roi’. Thus, the picture of Aurangzeb receiving the head of Dara Shukoh was drawn long before 1821.

  Dara’s severed head is being presented

  to Aurangzeb on a platter.

  Manucci narrates the horrifying sequence of events in the following words:

  “When Aurangzeb learnt that the head of Dara had arrived, he ordered it to be brought to him in the garden on a dish, with the face cleaned of the blood on the surface and a turban on the head. He called for lights to be brought so that he might see the mark borne by the prince on his forehead, and might make sure that it was the head of Dara, and not that of another person. After he had satisfied himself, he told them to put it on the ground, and gave it three thrusts in the face with the sword he carried by way of staff, saying, ‘Behold the face of a would-be king and emperor of all the Mogul realms. Take him out of my sight.’1

  [1. In Sloane MS., No. 811, fol. 140, it is said that, on Dara’s head being brought to him, Aurangzeb stamped on the face, when ‘ the head laft a long ha, ha, ha! in the hearing of all, I, J. Cambell, present.’ ( -Ed.)]

  He gave secret orders to place it in a box, to be sent by runners to the eunuch Atbar can (I‘tibãr Khãn), who had charge of Shahjahan’s prison, with orders to deliver it to him (Shahjahan) when seated at table. It was to be offered in his name as a plat. This was planned by Aurangzeb with great glee, to avenge himself for the love lavished on Dara and the little account made of himself….

  On receipt of Aurangzeb’s orders, I‘tibãr Khãn, to comply with them, waited until the hour when Shahjahan had sat down to dinner. When he had begun to eat, I‘tibar Khan entered with the box and laid it before the unhappy father, saying: ‘King Aurangzeb, your son, sends this plat to your majesty, to let him see that he does not forget him.’ The old emperor said : ‘ Blessed be God that my son still remembers me.’ The box having been placed upon the table, he ordered it with great eagerness to be opened. Suddenly, on withdrawing the lid, he discovered the face of Prince Dara. Horrified, he uttered one cry and fell on his hands and face upon the table, and, striking against the golden vessels, broke some of his teeth and lay there apparently lifeless. Begam Sahib(Jahanara) and the other women present began to wail, beat their breasts, tear their hair, break their ornaments, and rend their garments. Then I’tibar Khan removed the head. When the old man recovered consciousness he began to pluck out his beard till it all bleeding, and to beat his face ; then, dissolving into a flood of tears, he raised both hands to heaven and said these words: ‘Coda teri rasa’ (Khuda! teri riza) that is to say, ‘My God, Thy will be done.’(vol. 1)

  This is the ‘liberal’ face of the ‘great’ Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir who is the darling of a number of historians in the country and abroad.

  Manucci further furnishes the following information on Aurangzeb’s attempt
to poison Shah Jahan to death.

  “It was for this reason that he sent poison and a letter to Mocorrom can (Mukarram Khan), the physician of Shahjahan, a man who had refused to take the side of Aurangzeb when he arrived at Agrah to make his father a prisoner. In this letter it was written that if the physician desired to live a little longer and be left in peace, he must administer to Shahjahan the potion which would be made over to him by the eunuch Fahim, who had been sent for this purpose. If he did not obey, it would cost him his life. Mukarram Khan received the drug, and answered that he would do better than what his majesty required of him. The eunuch Fahim went back with this answer. Mukarram Khan came to the conclusion that it was not right for him to murder King Shahjahan, seeing how he had been raised by him from a humble station to this greatness, with such wealth and the respect and veneration of everybody. Above all, had not Shahjahan confided his royal person into his hands ? Besides this, he perceived clearly that, should he give the poison to Shahjahan, Aurangzeb would never spare his life—experience had taught him that much. He therefore resolved to die honourably, and, swallowing the poison, was thrown into a lethargy, and in half an hour he died in his sleep. Aurangzeb awaited the hoped-for news of his father’s death; but he learnt that Shahjahan had been more respected by one who had only received some of his favours than by one who had received life from him. Nor, after all, was this lesson sufficient to make an entrance into the heart of Aurangzeb, who perversely sought some other means of procuring his father’s death before his own departure to Kashmir.” (vol. 2, p. 65)