Religious policy of the Mughals after Akbar

The Mughal Empire, which was established following the defeat of Ibrahim Lodi in 1526 at the First Battle of Panipat and consolidated over the time with expansionist policy of its rulers, derived its strength from its nobility which was hypergamous and included the Turks, Afghans, Uzbegs and even Hindu Rajputs and Khatris. The Mughal rulers were successful in reigning over a long period of time over the vast area of the subcontinent because of their administrative and religious policy, which provided for the cohesion among various sects and creeds. Both Babur and Humayun were busy throughout their regnal years in wars and conquest apart from suppression of revolt and couldn't devote enough time for the administration and policies formulation. It was Akbar (who promoted the syncretic religion called Dīn-i Ilāhī ) during whose reign the religious policy of the Mughals were formulated. The later Mughals followed Akbar but violation of his policy went unbated many a times leading to the complete downfall of the theory of "divine religion" propounded by Akbar during the regnal years of Aurangzeb.

Quotes

During the reign of Jahangir

• As an example, the exploits of one of Jahangir’s commanders, Abdullah Khan Uzbeg Firoz Jung, can provide an idea of the excessive cruelty perpetrated by the government. Peter Mundy, who travelled from Agra to Patna in 1632 saw, during his four days’ journey, 200 minars (pillars) on which a total of about 7000 heads were fixed with mortar. On his way back four months later, he noticed that meanwhile another 60 minars with between 2000 and 2400 heads had been added and that the erection of new ones had not yet stopped. Abdullah Khan’s force of 12,000 horse and 20,000 foot destroyed, in the Kalpi-Kanauj area, all towns, took all their goods, their wives and children as slaves and beheaded and ‘immortered’ the chiefest of their men.
  • Mundy, Travels, II, pp. 90, 185, 186. quoted from Lal, K. S. (1992). The legacy of Muslim rule in India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 7

• Abdulla Khan Uzbeg’s force of 12,000 horse and 20,000 foot destroyed, in the Kalpi-Kanauj area alone, all towns, took all their goods, their wives and children as slaves and beheaded and ‘immortered’ (fixed heads with mortar in walls and pillars) the chiefest of their men. No wonder he once declared that “I made prisoners of five lacs of men and women and sold them. They all became Muhammadans. From their progeny there will be crores by the day of judgement.”
  • Shah Nawaz Khan, Maasir-ul-Umara, I, 105. quoted from K.S. Lal, Muslim slave system in medieval India, chapter 6

• Under Jahangir converts to Islam, according to Jesuit authorities, were given daily allowances... Further, when Jahangir discovered in his fifteenth year that the Hindus at Rajauri converted and married Muslim girls of the locality, he gave orders that this practice be put a stop to and the guilty be punished.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 4

• Jahangir continued, with some exceptions, his father’s practice of allowing non-Muslims to build public places of worship. His friend, Bir Singh Bundela, built a magnificent temple at Mathura, which was now once again rising into prominence as the sacred city of the Vaishnavas. He raised another magnificent place of public worship in his own State as well. More than seventy new temples were built in Banaras alone towards the end of his reign. They were, however, not yet complete when Jahangir died. He allowed the Christian Fathers to open a church at Ahrnedabad in 1620 and another at Hugh. At Lahore and Agra public cemeteries for the Christians were allowed to be set up. But when he made war on the Hindus and the Christians these ; considerations were sometimes given up. When Mewar was invaded, many temples were demolished by the invading Mughal army...
  Sometimes his fury would break out even without the aggravating cause of war. When he visited Ajmer in the eighth year, the temple of the Boar god, Varsha, was destroyed and the idols were broken. Probably these instances made a contemporary poet of his court sing his praises as the great Muslim emperor who converted temples into mosques. These exceptions apart, Jahangir usually followed the path shown by his father. It is interesting to note that some of the Hindu shrines of Kangra and Mathura continued to attract a large number of Muslim pilgrims besides their Hindu votaries.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 4

During the reign of Shah Jahan

• So far as the Public Services were concerned Shah Jahan started by issuing rather a tall order. It was decreed that only Muslims were to be recruited to the public services. But this order does not seem to have been enforced.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• Shah Jahan did not reimpose the Jizya but tried to make money out of the religious convictions of the Hindus in other ways. The pilgrimage tax was revived. It was a heavy burden, and an obstacle in the way of the Hindus who wanted to fulfil their religious obligations.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• Shah Jahan changed the spirit of religious toleration that had characterised the Mughal government so far in several other ways as well . To begin with, the emperor forbade the completion of certain temples that had been started during his predecessor’s reign. Repairs to old temples were prohibited and the building of new temples was forbidden. Complaints against the Hindus on the frontiers of the Punjab had been received. It was alleged they had rebuilt seventy temples using the material of the mosques ; which had been in their turn built utilizing the material of the temples which had originally stood there. All these temples were ordered to be destroyed and mosques built in their place. Shah Jahan now embarked on a campaign of complete destruction of the new temples of the Hindus. Three temples were destroyed in Gujarat, seventy-two temples in Banaras and its neighbourhood, and probably four temples elsewhere in the province of Allahabad, Some temples in Kashmir were also sacrificed to the religious fury of the emperor. The Hindu temple of Ichchhabal was destroyed and converted into a mosque. This betokened a rather serious fit of religious frenzy which Akbar’s reign seemed to have made impossible. The materials of some of the Hindu temples were used for building mosques...
  * In the ninth year a magnificent temple built by Bir Singh Bundela at Urchha was destroyed during the course of military ; operations against Jujuhar Singh Bundela. Several other temples suffered the same fate or were converted into mosques. When the ' fort of Khata Kheri was conquered and taken from its Bhil ruler Bhaglrath in 1632, Muslim rites were performed there just as had happened in the temple of Kangra on its conquest by Jahangir. The fort of Dhamuni under Jujuhar Singh was similarly desecrated in A.D. 1644-45 (1045 a.h.). Earlier, in a.d. 1630-31 (1040 a.h.) when Abdal, the Hindu chief of Hargaon in the province of Allahabad, rebelled, most of the temples in the state were either demolished or converted into mosques. Idols were burnt. Prince Aurangzeb while viceroy of Gujarat (February, 1645 to January, 1647) was responsible for the demolition of several temples. In Ahmedabad and elsewhere in Gujarat and Maharashtra many temples were destroyed, among them being the temple of Khandai Rai at Satara, and the temple of Ghintaman close to Sarashpur. Probably after Aurangzeb’s departure in 1647 many of these temples were again taken possession of by the Hindus.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• Shah Jahan thus reverted to the practice of systematically desecrating the religious shrines of rebel chiefs and enemies. He also tried to enforce the Muslim injunction against new place of worship being built by non-believers. But it seems that his fury did not last long. Though in general terms some of the chroniclers of the reign remember the emperor as the destroyer of temples, no more specific cases find mention in the later part of his reign. Probably due to Dara’s increasing influence we find Shah Jahan reversing this policy. The prince presented a stone railing to the temple of Kesho Rai at Mathura. A letter written during the year a.d. 1643-44 (1053 a.h.) to Jai Singh, Raja of Jaipur, conceded to him full liberty to appoint the presiding priest at the temple of Brindaban built by Man Singh. Man Singh’s mother had died in Bengal and by a letter dated August, 1639, Shah Jahan granted two hundred digkas of land to be attached to her mausoleum in order to ensure its upkeep. The restoration of their temples to the Hindus of Gujarat, however, took place after 1647.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• Shah Jahan also stopped the prevailing practice of allowing the Hindus and the Christians to make converts to their religion.... In the case of the Hindus, however, it was otherwise. They had been actually absorbing a number of Muslims by conversion to Hinduism. In the sixth year of his reign when Shah Jahan was returning from Kashmir through Jammu, he discovered, as Jahangir had discovered before him, that the Hindus of Bhadauri and Bhimbar accepted daughters of. Muslim parents and converted them to their own faith. These women were cremated at their death according to Hindu rites. Jahangir had tried to stop this practice but to no avail. Shah Jahan not only issued order making such marriages unlawful henceforward, but ordered that these converted Muslim girls be taken away from their husbands, who in turn were to be fined. They could escape the fine if they accepted Islam. So widespread was this practice of converting Muslim girls to Hinduism that these orders discovered more than 4,000 such women.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• In his tenth year Shah Jahan discovered that his orders had not completely stopped this source of conversion to Hinduism. Dalpat, a Hindu of Sirhind, had converted a Muslim girl, Zinab, given her the Hindu name, Ganga, and brought up their children as Hindus. He had also converted one Muslim boy and six Muslim girls (his own) to Hinduism. The emperor was now exasperated by this persistence and defiance of his orders. To put a stop to this practice and warn all future transgressors of the law, Dalpat’s wife and children were taken away from him. He was sentenced to death by dismemberment with the option that he could save himself by becoming a Muslim. Dalpat, however, was made of the stuff of which martyrs are made and he flatly refused the offer. He was cruelly done to death.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• But under Shah Jahan, apostasy from Islam had again become a capital crime. His order made conversions from among the Hindus easier and gave the state full power for keeping Muslims true to their faith. It is no wonder that this led to forcible conversion in times of war. When Shuja was appointed governor of Kabul, his assumption of office was accompanied by a ruthless war in the Hindu territory beyond the Indus. Shankar was the ruler of these tribes. During the war, sixteen sons and dependants of Hath were converted by force. The sword of Islam further yielded a crop of 5,000 new converts. Hindu temples were converted into mosques. Anyone showing signs of reverting to the faith of his forefathers was executed. The rebellion of JuJuhSr Singh yielded a rich crop of Muslim converts, mostly minors. His young son Durga and his grandson Durjan Sal were both converted to become Imam Qpli and ‘Ali Quli. Udai Bhan, his eldest son, when captured preferred death to Islam. Another son who was a minor was however converted. Most of the women had burnt themselves to death but such as were captured — probably slave girls or maids — were converted and distributed among Muslim mansabdars. When Pratap Ujjainya rebelled in the tenth year, one of his women was captured, converted to Islam and married to a grandson of Firoz Jang. The conquest of Beglana was followed by the conversion of Naharji’s son and successor who now became Daulatmand. Nasrat Jang converted a Brahman boy to Islam who, however, seemed to have resented it and killed his ‘benefactor’ while he lay asleep.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• As Shah Jahan made apostasy criminal, he took similar measures to enforce the Muslim penal code in connexion with other religious crimes as well. Blasphemy was once again made a criminal offence. A Hindu who was alleged to have behaved disrespectfully towards the Quran was executed. Ghhaila, a Brahman and provincial qSnungo of Berar, lost his head because he was similarly accused of disrespectful language towards the Prophet. While Aurangzeb was Viceroy of Gujarat, Raju, a Sayyid holding heretic views, was first expelled from Ahmedabad and subsequently killed on his opposing the imperial officers sent in order to accomplish and hasten his departure.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 5

• It had been brought to the notice of His Majesty that during the late reign many idol temples had been begun, but remained unfinished at Benares, the great stronghold of infidelity. The infidels were now desirous of completing them. His Majesty, the defender of the faith, gave orders that at Benares, and throughout all his dominions in every place, all temples that had been begun should be cast down. It was now reported from the province of Allahãbãd that seventy-six temples had been destroyed in the district of Benares.
  • Badshah-Nama, by Abdul Hamid Lahori, in Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, Vol. VII, p. 36. Also quoted in B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946) [1] , in Hindu Temples, Volume 2

• In obedience to the commandment of the Almighty God, the Lord of both the worlds; and in love of… the exalted Prophet: During the reign of Shãhjahãn, the king of the seven climes, the viceregent of God (lit. Truth), the master of the necks of people… the benevolent and generous Prince Aurangzeb, whose existence is a blessing of the Merciful God on people: He built a house for worship with (all) the qualities of heaven: after the site has been previously occupied by the temple of infidels…
  • Inscription on Ãlamgîrî Masjid Mosque at Bodhan, Nizamabad District of Andhra Pradesh, ca. 1655. “The place,” writes G. Yazdani, “is strewn with sculptures of Jaina and Brahmanical professions of faith… Contemporary history does not mention Bodhan; but the array of antiquities and the discovery of both Hindu and Muslim inscriptions in recent times establish the fact that the town possessed considerable religious and strategic importance in early days.” About another mosque in the same town : “The Deval Masjid,” comments G. Yazdani, “as its name signifies, was originally a Hindu temple, and converted into a mosque by Muhammad Tughlaq at the time of his conquest of the Deccan. The plan of the building is star-shaped; it has undergone little alteration at the hands of Moslems excepting the removal of the shrine-chamber and the setting up of a pulpit. The original arrangement of the pillars remains undisturbed and the figures of tirthankaras may be noticed on some of them to this day.” Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica, 1919-1920, p. 16-18

During the reign of Aurangzeb

• "The Emperor said to Shaikh Nizam that his prayers were not having any effect. What could be the reason for this ? The Shaikh said, 'The reason is that a large number of Hindus are serving as ahlikhidmat (officials and officers) and as musahibs (courtiers) and they are ever (seen) in the Royal presence, and, as a result, the prayers do not have any effect'. The Emperor ordered that it is necessary that the Musalmans be appointed to serve in place of the Hindus."
  • Aurangzeb. Siyaha Waqai Darbar, Julus (R.Yr.) 10, Muharram 18 / 1st July 1667.

• Hindu writers have been entirely excluded from holding public offices, and all the worshipping places of the infidels and great temples of these infamous people have been thrown down and destroyed in a manner which excites astonishment at the successful completion of so difficult a task. His Majesty personally teaches the sacred kalima to many infidels with success. All the mosques in the empire are repaired at public expense. Imama, criers to the daily prayers, and readers of the khutba, have been appointed to each of them, so that a large sum of money has been and is still laid out in these disbursements.
  • Mir-at-i 'alam, Mir-at-i Jahan-numa, of Bakhtawar Khan, in Elliot and Dowson, Vol. VII, p. 159.

• “Orders were issued by the Sublime Court to dismiss the Hindu Chowkinavis and to appoint in their place Musalmans, and, likewise, a way should be found for replacing the Amins of the Haft-chowkis by the Musalmans.”
  • Hindu Chowkinavis and Amins of the Haft-chowkis to be replaced by the Musalmans. Siyaha Akhbarat Darbar Mu'alla, Julus (R. Yr.) 10, Zilhijja 16/30 May 1667 also [2]

• “The Emperor ordered Jumdat-ul-Mulk to write to the Mutsaddis of all the subahs (provinces) of the empire that display of fire-works (atishbazi) is being forbidden. Also, Faulad Khan was ordered to arrange for announcement in the city by the beat of a drum that no one is to indulge in atishbazi.”
  • Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mu‘alla, Julus 10, Shawwal 24 / April 9th 1667. also [3]

• "Shaikh Abdul Momin, the Faujdar of Bithur, wrote to Jumdatul Mulk that he had converted one hundred fifty Hindus making them Musalman, and had given them saropas and cash (naqd).... The Emperor said “continue giving liberally."
  • Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mu‘alla, Julus (R.Yr.) 10, Shawwal 26 / 11th April 1667. also [4]

• [Aurangzeb] directed that the higher officers at the court who were Hindus should no longer hold their charges, but into their places Mahomedans should be put.
  • Niccolao Manucci, STORIA DO MOGOR, Vol-2, p.154. [5]

• He valiantly tried to replace Hindu public servants by Muslims wherever he could. [Newsletter dated July 27, 1703 records] “Twenty Hindu musketeers of the royal guards were dismissed to give place to Muslims on…“
  • Religious policy of Aurangzeb The Religious Policy Of The Mughal Emperors by Sri Ram Sharma

• [Newsletter dated November 19, 1702, notes that Aurangzeb ordered] “no Hindu in the army was to employ Muslim servants…“
  • Religious policy of Aurangzeb The Religious Policy Of The Mughal Emperors by Sri Ram Sharma

• A letter preserved in the Yasho-Madhav temple of Dhamrai in the Dacca district, dated 27 June 1672, reads as : “In every pargana officers have come from the thanas with orders from the Presence for the destruction of idols.“
  • [7]: Quoted by Sir J. Sarkar, HISTORY OF AURANGZIB, Vol-3, p.284 [6]

• “Darab Khan was sent with a strong force to punish the Rajputs of Khandela and demolish the great temple of that place…” “He attacked the place on 8th March 1679, and pulled down the temples of Khandela and Sanula and all other temples in the neighbourhood.”
  • News Letter 8 March 1679, quoted by J. Sarkar, HISTORY OF AURANGZIB, Vol-3, p.284 [7]

• “When the war with the Rajputs was over, Aurangzeb decided to leave Ajmer for the Deccan. His march seems to have been marked with the destruction of many temples on the way. On 21 May 1681, the superintendent of the labourers was ordered to destroy all the temples on the route…“. [11]

  • News Letter, 21 May 1681, cited by Prof. Sri Ram Sharma in THE RELIGIOUS POLICY OF THE MUGHAL EMPERORS, p.145

• “On 27 September 1681, the emperor issued orders for the destruction of the temples at Lakheri…” [12]

  • News Letter, 27 September 1681, cited by Prof. Sri Ram Sharma in THE RELIGIOUS POLICY OF THE MUGHAL EMPERORS, p.145

• Contemporary historian, Khafi Khan, recorded how Aurangzeb’s army [in his due presence] set fire on temples after the victory of Wakinkera [13]: “They then took their wives and children, their jewels, and whatever they could carry, and after setting fire to their temple and other buildings.“

  • Muntakhab-ul Lubab by Khafi Khan, translated in – The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, Vol-7, p.382

• Khafi Khan further records how Aurangzeb sent his army under the leadership of Prince Muhammad to the hill of Ujjain to punish Rana and other Rajputs. After the victory, Aurangzeb’s army destroyed many temples [14]: “They employed themselves in laying waste the country, destroying temples and buildings, cutting down fruit-trees, and making prisoners of the women and children of the infidels who had taken refuge in holes and ruined places.“

  • Muntakhab-ul Lubab by Khafi Khan, translated in – The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, Vol-7, p.300

• “14 April 1692, orders were issued to the provincial governor and the district fojdar to demolish the temples at Rasulpur.”

  • News Letter, 14 April 1692, cited by Sri Ram Sharma in THE RELIGIOUS POLICY OF THE MUGHAL EMPERORS, p.146

• “The Emperor, summoning Muhammad Khalil and Khidniat Rai. the darogha of hatchet-men ordered them to demolish the temple of Pandharpur.”

  • Akhbarat, 49-7, quoted by Sir J. Sarkar in HISTORY OF AURANGZIB, Vol-3, p.286

• “The Emperor ordered the destruction of the Hateshwar temple at Vadnagar, the special guardian of the Nagar Brahmans.”

  • Mirat-I-Ahmadi, cited by Sir J. Sarkar in HISTORY OF AURANGZIB, Vol-3, p.285

• “About this time the emperor, hearings that an attack had been made on the Muhammadan post at Dwdrka, ordered the temple to be levelled to the ground.”

  • GAZETTEER OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, HISTORY OF GUJRAT, VOL-1, PART-1, p.295 [8]

• “On 29 Jan. Hasan Ali Khan reported that 172 other temples in the environs of Udaipur had been demolished.”

  • cited by Sir J. Sarkar in THE HISTORY OF AURANGZIB, Vol-3, p.284

• “In 1661 Aurangzeb in his zeal to uphold, what he considered to be the law of Islam, sent orders to his Viceroy of Bihar, Baud Khan, to conquer Palamau. In the military operations that followed, many temples were destroyed…”
  • [Source: Alamgir-Nama by Muhammad Kazim cited by Sri Ram Sharma [9] and by Balmukund Virottam[10]

• "The Emperor said to Shaikh Nizam that his prayers were not having any effect. What could be the reason for this ? The Shaikh said, 'The reason is that a large number of Hindus are serving as ahlikhidmat (officials and officers) and as musahibs (courtiers) and they are ever (seen) in the Royal presence, and, as a result, the prayers do not have any effect'. The Emperor ordered that it is necessary that the Musalmans be appointed to serve in place of the Hindus."
  • Musalmans to replace Hindu officials as cure for ineffectiveness of prayers. Siyaha Waqai Darbar, Julus (R.Yr.) 10, Muharram 18 / 1st July 1667. also [11]

• “For different reasons, and also out of apprehension, people visit in large numbers (the mazars or shrines) of Shah Madar, Khwaja Muin-ud-din, Salar, Sarur Sultan and Pir Ganun (Pir Pabu?) etc. They go for ziyarat (visit to sacred tombs) and perform tawaf (circumbulation) which are bid‘at. Orders were issued to stop these practices... Also, the Hindus, and quite often the Musalmans also, flock at (the shrines of) Devi for worship and that of Pir Pabu. The Emperor ordered that this should be stopped. It was also ordered that the Hindus must not crowd at these places, and worship of Shitla wherever it is performed, should be held at a distance (from the habitation).”
  • Restriction on the gathering of Hindus at the shrines of Shitla Mata and Pir Pabuji. Muslims too not to gather at these places. Siyaha Waqai Darbar, Julus (R.Yr.) 10, Rabi II, 17 / 26th September 1667. also [12]

• “Darbar Khan was ordered (by Emperor Aurangzeb) to send a parwanah to Ihatmam Khan, Kotwal of Garhvitli (at Ajmer) instructing him that if Devi Chand, the dispossessed Zamindar of Manoharpur, who is in prison, becomes Musalman, so much the better for him. or else he is to be killed."
  ‘… when it was conveyed to Devi Chand, the dismissed Zamindar of Manoharpur, that either he became a Musalman or he would be put to death in compliance with the Emperor’s orders, he requested that if Zamindari of Manoharpur was restored to him, he would become a Musalman. Upon this, Ihatmam Khan replied, “If you desire to live, you have to become a Musalman; (even then) the Zamindari (of Manoharpur) will not be given to you.” He did not agree to it. He was then taken for execution where he agreed to become a Musalman. The Emperor ordered, “Make him a Musalman.”
  • Siyaha Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mu‘alla, Julus 24, Jamadi I, 7 / 16th May 1681., Siyah Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mu'alla of R.Yr. 24, Jamadi I, 12 / 21st May 1681 (Exhibit No.37), (also [13])

• Aurangzeb seemed to have followed a threefold policy with regard to the high Hindu mansabdars. There was a general reduction in the number of Hindus holding high mansabs. Hindus were not appointed to high executive office, nor called upon to discharge responsible military duties. Usually the heads of various hereditary houses were not given the same status as had been held by their predecessors. The petty officials could expect to fare no better. Various orders were passed to break the monopoly of the Hindus in the routine jobs in the revenue department and in the clerical establishment. There is a general order in the Kalimat-i-Ta'yyibat forbidding the employment of the Hindus, Then there is the order preserved in the Maasir-i-'Alamgiri and Muntakhih-id-Luhah forbidding the employment of the Hindus in the revenue department and as personal assistants to various executive heads. An attempt was made to enforce these orders... Thus Aurangzeb deliberately worsened the position of the Hindus in the public services. Higher offices were closed to them ; the Muslims were openly preferred. A wholesale dismissal of the Hindus from the revenue department was attempted without much success.
  • Sharma Sri Ram. 1988. The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ch 7

• People congregate in large numbers at the mazÁrs or shrines of Shah Madar, Khwaja Muinud-din, SalÁr, SarÚr Sultan and Pir PÁbÚ etc. They go in large numbers for ziyÁrat (visit to the sacred tombs) and perform tawÁf (circumbulation) which arebid‘at (innovation, heresy). Orders were issued to stop these practices. ... ‚Also, the Hindus, and quite often the Musalmans crowd at the shrines of Devi and that of PÁbÚjÍ for worship. The Emperor ordered that the Hindus should not crowd at these places, and worship of ShÍtlÁ (mÁtÁ) should not be performed anywhere near the habitation‛.
  • AkhbÁrÁt of 26th September 1667 AkhbÁrÁt, R.Yr. 10, Rabi II, 17 / 26 September 1667. . in Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

Jizya

• In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindus is repugnant to justice; it is equally foreign from good policy, as it must impoverish the country; moreover, it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of Hindostan.
  • Appeal to Aurangzeb by a delegation of Hindus [variously ascribed either to Shivaji or to Rana Raj Singh ] in protest against the imposition of the Jizya. In Smith, The Oxford History of India, 438–39. Quoted from Spencer, Robert (2018). The history of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS.

• According to Mulla Ahmad, "the main object of levying of Jiziyah on them... is their humiliation... God established (the custom of realising) Jiziyah for their dishonour. The object is their humiliation and the (establishment of) prestige and dignity of the Muslims." Sri Ram Sharma reproduces Aurangzeb's order about the imposition and collection of Jiziyah dated 26th July, 1696. It says that "Jiziyah lapses on death and on acceptance of Islam".
  • Sri Ram Sharma, Aurangzeb's order, Mulla Ahmad, quoted in K.S. Lal. Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India (1999)

• On 2nd April, 1679, the jazia or polltax on non-Muslims was revived. The poor people who appealed to the Emperor and blocked a road abjectly crying for its remission, were trampled down by elephants at his order and dispersed.
  • ‘Anecdotes of Aurangzib and Historical Essays’ by Jadunath Sarkar

• “A darvesh brought to the notice of the Emperor that the Musalmans (of the country) felt dejected on account of (the burden of) Zakat and that they should be exempted from paying it. Jumdat-ul Mulk now sought the Emperor’s orders regarding the matter. The Emperor (Aurangzeb) ordered that the Musalmans were to be exempted from paying it, but it should be charged from the Hindus.”
  • Siyaha Akhbart-i-Darbar-i-Mu‘alla, Julus (R.Yr.) 10, Zilqada 2 / 16th April 1667. also [14]

• The death of Rajah Waswant Singh was used by Aurangzeb as an opening to oppress the Hindus still more, since they had no longer any valiant and powerful rajah who could defend them. He re-imposed on the Hindus a poll-tax (Jizya).
  • Manucci, Storia, II, 219 in Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• Here we may see what Emperor Qurangzeb’s order of 26 Wuly 1696, given in Mir’Át-iAhmadi, says about the rates of Jizya for the three classes – poor, middle class and rich: ‚Every year twelve Sirhams should be taken from a poor person, twenty-four Dirhams from a middle class man and forty-eight Dirhams from a rich person. If the Dirham, which is legal tender, is not available, an equivalent of it should be realized in silver, every year, weighing exactly 3 tolas, 1 masha and 6 3/5 gunjas from a poor person, double of it from a middle class man and double that of a middle class man from a rich person. When paid in rupees the equivalent of this weight should be taken‛. As regards the basis of determining the class to which a Jizya payer would be considered to belong by the Jizya collector, it says: ‚There is a lot of difference in the interpretation of the terms, a poor person, a middle class man and a rich person. According to the most reliable interpretation, ‘a poor person is he who possesses two hundred Sirhams or less than that; a middle class man is he who has more than two hundred Dirhams but less than ten thousand and a rich man is he who has more than ten thousand Dirhams in his possession.‛
  • Khan, Ali Muhammad, Mir’Át-i-Ahmadi, Gaekwad Oriental Series.. Mir’Át-i-Ahmadi, 313-14. . quoted from Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• Aurangzeb was opposed to granting remission in the collection of Jizya, and when requested, he would tell his officer, ‚You are free to grant remissions of revenue of all other kinds; but if you remit any man’s Jizya– which I have succeeded with great difficulty in laying on the infidels, it will be an impious act (bid‘at) and will cause the whole system of collecting the poll-tax to fall into disorder‛. When Tiruz Wang, who had been sent in October 1701 to guard the imperial Base camp at Islampuri on the Bhima river, requested the Emperor for remission of Jizya as an incentive to the Hindu traders to come and colonize the grain market so that copious grain might arrive in the nearby Base camp, Aurangzeb brusquely rejected the suggestion saying that it would amount to ‚upsetting the command in the text of the holy Qur’Án concerning Jizya, which is (chastise them till they pay Jizya with the hand) they are humbled by substituting for it the words ‘they deserve to be excused’. This would be he wrote, ‚thousand stages remote from the perfect wisdom of obedience to the august Shari‘at.‛ He wrote that he would not be deceived by such a ‘worthless idea resulting from immature greed.‛ Only in very rare cases, such as one reported by Ishwar Das, he showed some leniency when he permitted remission of Jizya and other cesses at Hyderabad for one year after his conquest when he was told that the people could not pay this tax on account of poverty and if it was levied, the place would be depopulated.
  • Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla). Sarkar, Aurangzeb, III, p.179; Ishwardas, FutÁhÁt, 111b; AhkÁm-i-‘Àlamgiri, tr. Saarkar in Anecdotes of Aurangzeb, pp.127-28.

• In the city of Agra there was a large temple, in which there were numerous idols, adorned and embellished with precious jewels and valuable pearls. It was the custom of the infidels to resort to this temple from far and near several times in each year to worship the idols, and a certain fee to the Government was fixed upon each man, for which he obtained admittance. As there was a large congress of pilgrims, a very considerable amount was realized from them, and paid into the royal treasury. This practice had been observed to the end of the reign of the Emperor Shah Jahan, and in the commencement of Aurangzeb's government; but when the latter was informed of it, he was exceedingly angry and abolished the custom. The greatest nobles of his court represented to him that a large sum was realized and paid into the public treasury, and that if it was abolished, a great reduction in the income of the state would take place. The Emperor observed, 'What you say is right, but I have considered well on the subject, and have reflected on it deeply; but if you wish to augment the revenue, there is a better plan for attaining the object by exacting the jizya. By this means idolatry will be suppressed, the Muhammadan religion and the true faith will be honoured, our proper duty will be performed, the finances of the state will be increased, and the infidels will be disgraced.' 'This was highly approved by all the nobles; and the Emperor ordered all the golden and silver idols to be broken, and the temple destroyed.
  • Kanzul-Mahfuz (Kanzu-l Mahfuz), in: Elliot and Dowson, Vol. VIII, pp. 38 -39.

Places of worship

Aurangzeb and destruction of places of worship and Aurangzeb and destruction of Hindu temples redirects here

• It has been decided according to our canon law that long standing temples should not be demolished but no new temples be allowed to be built. ... Our royal command is that you should direct that in future no person shall, in unlawful ways interfere with or disturb the Brahmans and other Hindu residents in those places.
  • Shortly after coming to the throne, Aurangzeb issued the order on 28 February, 1659, quoted from Sharma, Sri Ram, Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962. ch 8. p 168
  • Different transslation: ‘‘It has been settled according to Canon Law that no long standing temple should be demolished nor any new one allowed to be built’’ (Aurangzib’s Benares farman, J.A.S.B., 1911, 689). in Jadunath Sarkar History of Aurangzib, Vol III.

• To all fojdars, garrison commanders, accountants, district collectors of land revenue and their officials from Katak to Midnapur on the frontiers of Orissa. The imperial bakhshi Asad Khan has sent a letter written according to the instructions of the emperor to say that the emperor, learning from the News Letters of the province of Orissa that at the village of Tilkkuti in Mednipur a temple has been built, has issued his august mandate for its destruction and the destruction of all temples built anywhere in the province. Therefore, you are hereby commanded with extreme urgency that immediately on the receipt of this letter you should destroy the above-mentioned temples. Every temple built during the last ten or twelve years should be demolished without delay, Also do not allow the Hindus and infidels to repair their old temples. Reports of the destruction of temples should be sent to the court under the seal of Qazis and attested by pious Shaikhs.
  • Aurangzeb's order to the governor of Orissa. "it bears no date... it might have been issued in 1669". Maraqa'at-ut-Hasan. quoted from Sharma, Sri Ram, Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962. ch 8. 169
  • Different translation: Orders issued on all faujdars of thanas, mutsaddis, agents of jagirdars, karoris, and amils from Katak to Medinapur on the frontier of Orissa. The Imperial Pay Master (Diwan) Asad Khan has sent a letter written by order of the Emperor, to say, that the Emperor on learning from the news letters of the Suba Orissa that at the village Tilkuti in Medinipur, a temple has been newly built, has issued his august mandate for its destruction, and the destruction of all temples built anywhere in the Province by the worthless infidels. Therefore, you are commanded with extreme urgency that immediately on the receipt of this letter, you should destroy the above mentioned temples. Every butkhÁna built during the last ten or twelve years, whether of brick or clay (be destroyed). Also do not allow the crushed Hindus and despicable infidels to repair their old temples. Reports of the destruction of temples should be sent to the Court under the seal of the Qazis and attested by pious Shaikhs‛. ** MurÁqat-i-Abul Hasan (completed in 1670 A.D.), p.202, cited by J.N. Sarkar, Aurangzeb, III, p.187. Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla) Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• The infidels demolished a mosque that was under construction and wounded the artisans. When the news reached Shah Yasin, he came to Banaras from Mandyawa and collecting the Muslim weavers, demolished the big temple. A Sayyid who was an artisan by profession agreed with one Abdul Rasul to build a mosque at Banaras and accordingly the foundation was laid. Near the place there was a temple and many houses belonging to it were in the occupation of the Rajputs. The infidels decided that the construction of a mosque in the locality was not proper and that it should be razed to the ground. At night the walls of the mosque were found demolished. Next day the wall was rebuilt but it was again destroyed. This happened three or four times. At last the Sayyid hid himself in a corner. With the advent of night the infidels came to achieve their nefarious purpose. When Abdul Rasul gave the alarm, the infidels began to fight and the Sayyid was wounded by Rajputs. In the meantime, the Musalman resident of the neighbourhood arrived at the spot and the infidels took to their heels. The wounded Muslims were taken to Shah Yasin who determined to vindicate the cause of Islam. When he came to the mosque, people collected from the neighbourhood. The civil officers were outwardly inclined to side with the saint, but in reality they were afraid of the royal displeasure on account of the Raja, who was a courtier of the Emperor and had built the temple (near which the mosque was under construction). Shah Yasin, however, took up the sword and started for Jihad. The civil officers sent him a message that such a grave step should not be taken without the Emperor's permission. Shah Yasin, paying no heed, sallied forth till he reached Bazar Chau Khamba through a fusillade of stones' The, doors (of temples) were forced open and the idols thrown down. The weavers and other Musalmans demolished about 500 temples. They desired to destroy the temple of Beni Madho, but as lanes were barricaded, they desisted from going further.
  • Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) Ganj-i-Arshadi, cited in : Sharma, Sri Ram, Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962. p. 144-45

• In a small village in the sarkar of Sirhind, a Sikh temple was demolished and converted into a mosque. An imam was appointed who was subsequently killed.
  • Sirhind (Punjab) Kalimat-i-Tayyibat, cited in : Sharma, Sri Ram, Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962. p. 138

• “For different reasons, and also out of apprehension, people visit in large numbers (the mazars or shrines) of Shah Madar, Khwaja Muin-ud-din, Salar, Sarur Sultan and Pir Ganun (Pir Pabu?) etc. They go for ziyarat (visit to sacred tombs) and perform tawaf (circumbulation) which are bid‘at. Orders were issued to stop these practices...Also, the Hindus, and quite often the Musalmans also, flock at (the shrines of) Devi for worship and that of Pir Pabu. The Emperor ordered that this should be stopped. It was also ordered that the Hindus must not crowd at these places, and worship of Shitla wherever it is performed, should be held at a distance (from the habitation).”
  • Siyaha Waqai Darbar, Julus (R.Yr.) 10, Rabi II, 17 / 26th September 1667.

• May, 1669. “Salih Bahadur, mace-bearer, was sent to pull down the temple of Malarna.”— M.A. 84.
  • Sarkar, Jadunath (1972). History of Aurangzib: Volume III. App. V.

• News came from Malwa that Wazir Khan had sent Gada Beg, a slave, with 400 troopers, to destroy all temples around Ujjain... A Rawat of the place resisted and slew Gada Beg with 121 of his men (1670).
  • Akhbarat, cited in Sarkar, Jadu Nath, History of Aurangzeb,Volume III, Calcutta, 1972 Impression. p. 186-189., quoted in part in Shourie, Arun (2014). Eminent historians: Their technology, their line, their fraud. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India : HarperCollins Publishers.

• Darab Khan who had been sent with a strong force to punish the Rajputs of Khandela and to demolish the great temple of the place... He attacked the place on the 8th March 1679/5th Safar, and slew the three hundred and odd men who made a bold defence, not one of them escaping alive. [16 October 1678] The temples of Khandela and Sanula and all other temples in the neighbourhood were demolished...'On Sunday, the 25th May/24th Rabi. S., Khan Jahan Bahadur came from Jodhpur, after demolishing the temples and bringing with himself some cart-loads of idols, and had audience of the Emperor, who highly praised him and ordered that the idols, which were mostly jewelled, golden, silvery, bronze, copper or stone, should be cast in the yard (jilaukhanah) of the Court and under the steps of the Jam'a mosque, to be trodden on. They remained so for some time and at last their very names were lost' [25 May 1679]...Ruhullah Khan and Ekkataz Khan went to demolish the great temple in front of the Rana's palace, which was one of the rarest buildings of the age and the chief cause of the destruction of life and property of the despised worshippers Twenty machator Rajputs who were sitting in the temple vowed to give up their lives; first one of them came out to fight, killed some and was then himself slain, then came out another and so on, until every one of the twenty perished, after killing a large number of the imperialists including the trusted slave, Ikhlas. The temple was found empty. The hewers broke the images.....
  • Maasir-i-alamgiri, translated into English by Sir Jadu-Nath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1947, pp. 107-120, also quoted in part in Shourie, Arun (2014). Eminent historians: Their technology, their line, their fraud. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India : HarperCollins Publishers.
  • Different translation: “Darab Khan was sent with a strong force to punish the Rajputs of Khandela and demolish the great temple of that place.” (M.A. 171.) “He attacked the place on 8th March 1679, and pulled down the temples of Khandela and Sanula and all other temples in the neighbourhood.”(M.A. 173.) Sarkar, Jadunath (1972). History of Aurangzib: Volume III. App. V.
  • Different translation: 25 May 1679: ‘Khan-i-Jahan Bahadur returned from Jodhpur after demolishing its temples, and bringing with himself several cart-loads of idols. The Emperor ordered that the idols, which were mostly of gold, silver, brass, copper or stone and adorned with jewels, should be cast in the quadrangle of the Court and under the steps of the Jama Mosque for being trodden upon.’ Akhbarat. Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzib, Volume III, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1972 reprint, pp. 185–89., quoted from Shourie, Arun (2014). Eminent historians: Their technology, their line, their fraud. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India : HarperCollins Publishers.
  • Different translation : On the 24th Rabi'u-l akhir, Khan-Jahin Bahadur arrived from Jodhpur, bringing with him several cart- loads of idols, taken from the Hindu temples that had been razed. His Majesty gave him great praise. Most of these idols wer« adorned with precious stones, or made of gold, silver, brass, copper or stone; it was ordered that some of them should be cast away in the out-ofRces, and the remainder placed beneath the steps of the grand mosque, there to be trampled under foot. There they lay a long time, until, at last, not a vestige of them was left. On the 12th Zi-I hijja, 1090 a.h. (6th January, 1680), Prince Muhammad 'Kz&m and Khan-Jahan Bahadur obtained permission to visit Lfdipur. Riihu-llah Khan and Yakkatdz Khan also proceeded thither to effect the destruction of the temples of the idolators. These edifices, situated in the vicinity of the Rand's palace, were among the wonders of the age, and had been erected by the infidels to the ruin of their souls and the loss of their wealth. It was here that some twenty Mdchator Rdjpiits had resolved to die for their faith. One of them slew many of his assailants before receiving his death-blow. Another followed, and another, until all had fallen, many of the faithful also being despatched before the last of these fanatics had gone to hell. The temple was now clear, and the pioneers destroyed the images. On the 2nd of Muharram, 1091 a.h. {24th January, 1680), the King visited the tank of U'disagar, constructed by the Eana. His Majesty ordered all three of the Hindu temples to be levelled with the ground. News was. this day received that Hasan 'AH Khan had emerged from the pass and attacked the Eand on the 29th of Zi-1 hijja. The enemy had fled, leaving behind them their tents and baggage. The enormous quantity of grain captured in this affair had created abundance amongst the troops. On the 7th Muharram Hasan 'Ali Khan made his appearance with twenty camels taken from the Rana, and stated that the temple situated near the palace, and one hundred and twenty-two more in the neighbouring districts, had been destroyed. This chieftain was, for his distinguished services, invested with the title of Bahadur. His Majesty proceeded to Chitor on the 1st of Safar. Temples to the number of sixty-three were here demolished. Abu Turab, who had been commissioned to effect the destruction of the idol-temples of Amber, reported in person on the 24th Rajab, that threescore and six of these edifices had been levelled with the ground. Maair i Alamgiri in Elliot and Dowson Vol VII, p. 187-88.

• The year 1680 AD brought an equally “rich harvest” for Islam. Maasir-i-Alamgiri goes ahead: “On 6th January 1680 A.D. Prince Mohammad Azam and Khan Jahan Bahadur obtained permission to visit Udaipur. Ruhullah Khan and Yakkattaz Khan also proceeded thither to effect the destruction of the temples of the idolators. These edifices situated in the vicinity of the Rana’s palace were among the wonders of the age, and had been erected by the infidels to the ruin of their souls and the loss of their wealth… Pioneers destroyed the images. On 24th January the king visited the tank of Udayasagar. His Majesty ordered all three of the Hindu temples to be levelled with the ground....
  • Goel, Sita Ram (2001). The story of Islamic imperialism in India. ISBN 9788185990231 Ch. 7.

• 'The fall and capture of Bijapur was similarly solemnized though here the destruction of temples was delayed for several years, probably till 1698.
  • Muntikhabul-Lubab, by Hashim Ali Khan (Khafi Khan), Cited by Sri Ram Sharma, Sharma, Sri Ram, Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962., p. 137.

• Hamiduddin Khan Bahadur who had gone to demolish a temple and build a mosque (in its place) in Bijapur, having excellently carried out his orders, came to Court and gained praise and the post of darogha of gusalkhanah, which brought him near the Emperor's person.
  • 1698. Maasir-i-alamgiri, translated into English by Sir Jadu-Nath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1947, pp. 241

• The temple of Wakenkhera in the fort was demolished on 2 March, 1705.'...'The newswriter of Ranthambore reported the destruction of a temple in Parganah Bhagwant Garh. Gaj Singh Gor had repaired the temple and made some additions thereto.'...'Royal orders for the destruction of temples in Malpura Toda were received and the officers were assigned for this work.'
  • Akhbarat, cited in : Sharma, Sri Ram, Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962. p. 136-139

• “Saiyad Faulad Khan has reported that in compliance with the orders, beldars were sent to demolish the Kalka Temple which task they have done. During the course of the demolition, a Brahmin drew out a sword, killed a bystander and then turned back and attacked the Saiyad also, inflicting three wounds. The Saiyid managed to catch hold of the Brahmin.”
  • Siyah Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mu‘alla, Julus 10, Rabi II, 3 / 12 September 1667.

• “The asylum of Shariat (Shariat Panah) Qazi Abul Mukaram has sent this arzi to the sublime Court: a man known to him told him that the Hindus gather in large numbers at Kalka Temple near Barahapule (near Delhi); a large crowd of the Hindus is seen here. Likewise, large crowds are seen at (the mazars) of Khwaja Muinuddin, Shah Madar and Salar Masud Ghazi. This amounts to bid‘at (heresy) and this matter deserves consideration. Whatever orders are required should be issued...Saiyid Faulad Khan was thereupon ordered (by the Emperor) to send one hundred beldars to demolish the Kalka Temple and other structures in its neighbourhood which were in the Faujdari of the Khan himself; these men were to reach there post haste, and finish the work without a halt.”
  • Siyah Waqa’i-Darbar, Regnal Year 10, Rabi I, 23 / 3 September 1667.

• Aurangzeb entrusted Prince Azam with the campaign to subjugate Shambuji….En route, the prince carried out the Emperor’s instructions to ‘raze to the ground such strongholds of infidelity (i.e., temples) as cross your way and to build in their place grandiose houses of God (i.e., mosques) such as would do credit to our mission’. In the course of his sweep to Bijapur, Prince Azam demolished eight ancient temples and desecrated many more by sacrificing calves at the sacred altar. At some places, the small armies of the local Raja’s offered resistance, but they could make no impression on the gigantic Mughal force.... He razed many a magnificent Hindu temples to the ground, built mosques in their place, desecrated images of Hindu gods and goddesses, banned all forms of music, prohibited the use of Hindu modes of salutation, declared astrology and allied sciences to be atheistic in character, discontinued the tilak ceremonial when Hindu Rajas came to the court to pay tributes…
  • Aurangzeb by Muni Lal

• “The asylum of Shariat (Shariat Panah) Qazi Abul Mukaram has sent this arzi to the sublime Court: a man known to him told him that the Hindus gather in large numbers at Kalka Temple near Barahapule (near Delhi); a large crowd of the Hindus is seen here. Likewise, large crowds are seen at (the mazars) of Khwaja Muinuddin, Shah Madar and Salar Masud Ghazi. This amounts to bid‘at (heresy) and this matter deserves consideration. Whatever orders are required should be issued... Saiyid Faulad Khan was thereupon ordered (by the Emperor) to send one hundred beldars to demolish the Kalka Temple and other structures in its neighbourhood which were in the Faujdari of the Khan himself; these men were to reach there post haste, and finish the work without a halt.”
  • Siyah Waqa’i-Darbar, Regnal Year 10, Rabi I, 23 / 3 September 1667.also [15]

• “Saiyad Faulad Khan has reported that in compliance with the orders, beldars were sent to demolish the Kalka Temple which task they have done. During the course of the demolition, a Brahmin drew out a sword, killed a bystander and then turned back and attacked the Saiyad also, inflicting three wounds. The Saiyid managed to catch hold of the Brahmin.”
  • Siyah Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mu‘alla, Julus 10, Rabi II, 3 / 12 September 1667. also [16]

• “Yesterday, Yakka Taz Khan and mimar (architect or mason) Hira brought before the Emperor the tarah (plans or designs) of the Temples built on the bank of Rana’s lake and submitted that at a distance of about five kos, there was another lake also. It was ordered by the Emperor that Hasan Ali Khan, Ruhullah Khan, Yakka Taz Khan, Ibadullah Khan and Tahavvara Khan should go and destroy the Temples.”
  • Siyaha Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mu'alla, Julus 23, Zilqada 29 / 23rd December 1679. (also: [17])

• “Ruhullah Khan and Ekkataz Khan went to demolish the great Temple in front of the Rana’s palace, which was one of the rarest buildings of the age and the chief cause of the destruction of life and property of the despised worshippers. Twenty machator Rajputs were sitting in the Temple vowed to give up their lives; first one of them came out to fight, killed some and was then himself slain, then came out another and so on until every one of the twenty perished, after killing a large number of the imperialists including the trusted slave, Ikhlas. The Temple was found empty. The hewers broke the images.”
  • Demolition of Jagannath Rai (Jagdish Temple), Udaipur, and its brave defence. R.Y. 23rd of Aurangzeb’s reign (26th September 1679 – 14th September 1680). (Maasir-i-‘Alamgiri, p. 186, Tr. J.N. Sarkar) (also: [18])

• “On the 7th Muharram / 29th January 1680, Hasan Ali Khan brought to the Emperor twenty camel-loads of tents and other things captured from the Rana’s palace and reported that one hundred and seventy-two (172) other Temples in the environs of Udaipur had been destroyed. The Khan received the title of Bahadur ‘Alamgirshahi’.
  • (Maasir-i-‘Alamgiri, p. 189, Tr. J.N. Sarkar) (also: [19])

• “The Emperor ordered Asad Khan to send hasbu ‘l-hukm to Amir-ul-Umara, the Subedar of Bengal, to demolish the Temple (but-khana) of Jagannath in Orissa.”
  • Siyaha Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i- Mu‘alla, Julus 24, Jamadi I, 23 / 1st June 1681. (also: [20])

1658 - 1669

• “In Ahmadabad and other parganas of Gujrat in the days before my accession [many] temples were destroyed by my order. They have been repaired and idol worship has been resumed. Carry out the former order.’" Farman dated 20 Nov., 1665. (Mirat, 275.) [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• “It has been decided according to our Canon Law that long standing temples should not be demolished, but no new temple allowed to be built...... Information has reached our...Court that certain persons have harassed the Hindus resident in Benares and its environs and certain Brahmans who have the right of holding charge of the ancient temples there, and that they further desire to remove these Brahmans from their ancient office. There- fore, our roya] command is that you should direct that in future no person shall in unlawful ways interfere with or disturb the Brahmans and other Hindus resident in those places.’"—Aurangzib’s “‘Benares farman’’ addressed to Abul Hasan, dated 28th Feb., 1659, granted through the mediation of Prince Muhammad Sultan. J.A.S.B. 1911, p. 689 [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• ‘The temple of Somnath was demolished early in my reign and idol worship (there) put down. It is not known what the state of things there is at present. If the idolators have again taken to the worship of images at the place, then destroy the temple in such a way that no trace of the building may be left, and also expel them (the worshippers) from the place.’’—Letter of Aurangzib in the last decade of his reign. Inayetullah’s Ahkam, 10a; Mirat 372. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• In the reign of Shãh ‘Ãlamgîr Muhîu’ddin Walmillah, the king of the world, Aurangzeb, who is adorned with justice, the lustre of Islãm shone forth to the glory of God; for ‘Abd-un-Nabi Khãn built this beautiful mosque. This second ‘Holy Temple’ caused the idols to bow down in worship. You will see the true meaning of the text, “Truth came and error vanished.’ Whilst I search for a tãrikh, a voice came from blissful Truth ordering me to say ‘Abd-un-Nabi Khãn is the builder of this beautiful mosque.’ May this Jãma Masjid of majestic structure shine forth for ever like the hearts of the pious! Its roof is high like aspirations of love; its court-yard is wide like the arena of thought.
  • Persian inscription on the Jãmi‘ Masjid in the center of Mathura. Persian. ca. 1660-1661 Reproduced and translated into English by F.S. Growse in his Mathura: A District Memoir, third edition (1883) reprinted from Ahmadabad in 1978, pp. 150-51. The builder of the mosque was ‘Abdu’n-Nabî Khãn, about whom Jadunath Sarkar writes, “Aurangzeb chose him as faujdãr of Mathurã probably because he, being ‘a religious man’ (as the Court history calls him), was expected to enter heartily into the Emperor’s policy of 'rooting out idolatry.’ Soon after joining this post Abdun Nabi built a Jama’ Masjid in the heart of the city of Mathurã (1661-1662) on the ruins of a Hindu temple. Later, in 1669, he forcibly removed the carved stone railing presented by Dara Shukoh to Keshav Rai’s temple. When in 1669, the Jat peasantry rose under the leadership of Gokla, the zamindar of Tilpat, Abdun Nabi marched out to attack them in the village of Bashara, but was shot dead during the encounter (about 10th May).” Jadunath Sarkar, Mãã’sir-i-‘Ãlamgiri, translated into English by Sir Jadu-Nath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1947,, Vol. III, pp. 194-95. Quoted also in Shourie, A., & Goel, S. R. (1993). Hindu temples: What happened to them. Volume II. Chapter 6.

• Mir Jumla made his way into Kuch Bihar by an obscure and neglected highway' In six days the Mughal army reached the capital (19th December) which had been deserted by the Rajah and his people in terror. The name of the town was changed to Alamgirnagar; the Muslim call to prayer, so long forbidden in the city, was chanted from the lofty roof of the palace, and a mosque was built by demolishing the principal temple.
  • 1661. Koch Bihar (Bengal) , Fathiyya-i-Ibriyya cited by Sarkar, Jadu Nath, History of Aurangzeb, quoted in Goel, S.R. Hindu temples What Happened to them [21]

• 19 Dec., 1661. Mir Jumla entered the city of Kuch Bihar, which had been evacuated by its king and people, and “‘appointed Sayyid Md. Sadiq to be chief judge, with directions to destroy all the Hindu temples and to erect mosques in their stead. The general himself with a battle- axe broke the image of Narayan.’’—Stewart's Bengal. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• The Emperor learning that in the temple of Keshav Rai at Mathura there was a stone railing presented by Dara Shukoh, remarked, ‘In the Muslim faith it is a sin even to look at a temple, and this Dara had restored a railing in a temple! This fact is not creditable to the Muhammadans. Remove the railing.” By his order Abdun Nabi Khan (the faujdar of Mathura) removed it." Akhbarat, 9th year, sheet 7, (14 Oct., 1666) [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• 20th Nov. 1665. ‘‘As it has come to His Majesty's knowledge that some inhabitants of the mahals appertaining to the province of Gujrat have [again] built the temples which had been demolished by imperial order before his accession,...therefore His Majesty orders that ..the formerly demolished and recently restored temples should be pulled down.’’—Farman given in Mirat, 273. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• The Rhari‘at PanÁh Qazi Qbdul Muqarram submitted to the sublime Court that a person known to him informed him that the Hindus gather in large numbers at the KÁlkÁ temple near BÁrahpula (near Delhi) and crowds of Hindus are seen here, and likewise crowds are seen at (the mazÁrs of) Khwaja Muin-ud-din, Shah Madar and Salar Masud Ghazi. This amounts to heresy and the matter needs consideration, and whatever order regarding it may be issued. ... the Emperor ordered Ridi Faulad Khan to send one hundred beldÁrs to demolish the KÁlkÁ temple and other neighbouring structures (temples) which are in the faujdari of the Khan himself; these men were ordered to reach there and finish the task without a break‛.
  • SiyÁha WÁqa’i DarbÁr, R. Y.10, Rabi I, 23 / 3rd September 1667 Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• Ridi Taulad Xhan has reported that in compliance with the hasb-ul-hukm (Royal command), beldÁrs sent to demolish the KÁlkÁ temple have accomplished the work. A BrÁhman (zunnÁrdÁr) who was present there drew out sword and killed an onlooker and then turning around inflicted three wounds on the Sidi. The Sidi, however, managed to caught hold of his head‛.
  • SiyÁha AkhbÁrÁt-i-DarbÁr-i-Mu‘alla of 12th September 1667. SiyÁha AkhbÁrÁt DarbÁr, R.Yr. 10, Rabi II, 3 / 12 September 1667. Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• Though the news of the death of Raja Jai Singh (28th August 1667), whose services to Aurangzeb and his kingdom were known to the whole country, caused sorrow to everybody, the ungrateful Aurangzeb rejoiced, and rid of a Rajah whose influence might have been dangerous to his kingdom, declared that very hour an open war against Hinduism. He sent orders at once for the destruction of the fine temple called ‘Yalta’, in the neighourhood of Delhi. He also ordered every viceroy and governor to destroy all the temples within their jurisdiction. Among others was destroyed the great temple of Mathura.
  • Niccolao Manucci, Storia, II, p.143. Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• 9th April, 1669. ‘“The Emperor ordered the governors of all the provinces to demolish the schools and temples of the infidels and strongly put down their teaching and religious practices.”’-—Masir-i-Alamgiri, 81. (De Graaf, when at Hughli in 1670, heard of the order. Orme’s Frag., 250.) [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• May, 1669. ‘‘Salih Bahadur, mace-bearer, was sent to pull down the temple of Malarna.’’--M.A. 84. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• 2nd Sep. ‘‘News came to Court that according to the Emperor's command, his officers had demolished the temple of Vishwanath at Benares.’’—I/bid., 88. [This was ‘“‘the temple of Kirtti Visvesvara, at that time a modern shrine of Akbar’s period.’’—Crooke's N.W.P., 112.) [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• In the name of Allãh, the Beneficent, the Merciful. There is no god except Allãh. Muhammad is His Prophet, verily. In the just reign of ‘Ãlamgîr, the king who is the asylum of Faith (and) whose universal generosity makes the sea and mine shame-stricken, one of his devoted servants, Muhammad Ashraf of god faith, saw a place where there was a temple. Like Khalîl (Prophet Abraham), he broke the temple at the command of God, and arranged for the construction of a very steadfast mosque. Year (AH) one thousand and seventy-eight. (AH 1078 = AD 1667).
  • Inscription on Jãmi‘ Masjid in Akot, Maharashtra. ca 1667. Persian. Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1963, p. 54.

1670s

• God there is none but He and we worship not anyone except Him. (He) built a mosque in place of the temple, and wrote over its door the (Qur’ãnic) verse-‘Verily, We conquered.’ When the exalted mind of the Khedive, the refuge of Religion, supported by Divine Grace, Abu’z-Zafar MuHi-ud-dîn Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahãdur ‘Ãlamgîr, the victorious, was inclined to, and occupied in, destroying the base of infidelity and darkness and to strengthen the foundation of Islamic religion, the humblest servant Mukhtãr Khãn al-Husaini as-Sabzwãrî, the governor of the province of Zafarãbãd, demolished the temple and built a mosque and laid out a garden which by the Grace of the Omniscient God were completed on the 25th of Rabi’-ul-Awwal in the 14th year of the auspicious reign (AH 1082) corresponding with the date contained in this hemistich-By the Grace of God this temple became a mosque…
  • Inscription on mosque in Bidar, Karnataka. Persian. ca. 1670. Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica, 1927-28, p. 33. also quoted in Shourie, A., & Goel, S. R. (1993). Hindu temples: What happened to them. Vol. II.

• January, 1670. “In this month of Ramzan, the religious-minded Emperor ordered the demolition of the temple at Mathura known as the Dehra of Keshav Rai. His officers accomplished it in a short time. A grand mosque was built on its site at a vast expenditure. The temple had been built by Bir Singh Dev Bundela, at a cost of 33 lakhs of Rupees. Praised be the God of the great faith of Islam that in the auspicious reign of this destroyer of infidelity and turbulence, such a marvellous and [seemingly] impossible feat was accomplished. On ceeing this [instance of the ] strength of the [-:mperor's faith and the grandeur of his devotion to God, the Rajahs felt suffocated and they stood in amazement like statues facing the walls. The idols, large and small, set with costly jewels, which had been set up in the temple, were brought to Agra and buried under the steps of the mosque of Jahanara, to be trodden upon continually.’’—/bid., 95-96. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• “He partially destroyed the Sitaramji temple at Soron ; one of his officers slew the priests, broke the image, and defiled the sanctuary at Devi Patan in Gonda.'’—Crooke's N.W.P., 112. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• 7th April, 1670. ‘‘News came from Malwa that Wazir Khan had sent Gada Beg, a slave, with 400 troopers, to destroy all temples around Ujjain...... A Rawat of the place resisted and slew Gada Beg with 121 of his men.” —Akhbarat, (3th year, sheet 17. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• “Order issued on all faujdurs of thanas, civil officers {mutasaddis), agents of jagirdars. kroris, and amlas, from Katak to Medinipur on the frontier of Orissa :—The imperial paymaster Asad Khan has sent a letter written by order of the Emperor, to say, that the Emperor learning from the news-letters of the province of Orissa that at the village of Tilkuti in Medinipur a temple has been [newly] built, has issued his august mandate for its destruction, and the destruction of all temples built anywhere in this province by the worthless infidels. Therefore, you are commanded with extreme urgency that immediately on the receipt of this letter you should destroy the above- mentioned temples. Every idol-house built during the last 10 or 12 years, whether with brick or clay, should be demolished without delay. Also, do not allow the crushed Hindus and despicable infidels to repair their old temples. Reports of the destruction of temples should be sent to the Court under the seal of the qazis and attested by pious Shaikhs.’’"—Muraqat-i-Abul Hasan, (completed in 1670 A.D.) p. 202. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• “‘In every pargana officers have come from the thanas with orders from the Presence for the destruction of idols.'’"—A letter preserved in the Yasho-Madhav temple of Dhamrai in the Dacca district, dated 27 June, 1672, and printed in J. M, Ray's Bengali History of Dacca, i. 389. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• ‘‘Darab Khan was sent with a strong force to punish the Rajputs of Khandela and demolizh the great temple of that place.”’ (M.A. 171.) ‘‘He attacked the place on 8th March, 1679, and pulled down the temples of Khandela and Sanula and all other temples in the neighbourhood.” (M.A. 173.) [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• 25 May 1679. ‘*Khan-i-Jahan Bahadur returned from Jodhpur after demolishing its temples, and bringing with himself several cart-loads of idols. The Emperor ordered that the idols,—which were mostly of gold silver brass copper or stone and adorned with jewels,—should be cast in the quadrangle of the Court and under the steps of the Jama Mosque for being trodden upon.’’—-M.A. 175. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

1680s

• Jan. 1680. ““The grand temple in front of the Maharana’s mansion [at Udaipur]—one of the wonderful buildings of the age, which had cost the infidels much money—-was destroyed and its images broken.”’ (M.A. 186.) “‘On 24 Jan. the Emperor went to view the lake Udaisagar and ordered all the three temples on its banks to be pulled down" (p. 188.) “‘On 29 Jan. Hasan Ali Khan reported that !72 other temples in the environs of Udaipur had been demolished"’ (p. 189.) “‘On 22nd Feb. the Emperor went to look at Chitor, and by his order the 63 temples of the place were destroyed” (p. 189.) [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• 10 Aug. 1680. Abu Turab returned to Court and reported that he had pulled down 66 temples in Amber” (p. 194). 2 Aug. 1680. Temple of Someshwar in western Mewar ordered to be destroyed.—Adab, 287a and 290a. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• The SiyÁha AkhbÁrÁt of Julus 24, Jamadi I, 5 / 14th May 1681 tells the remaining account. It says, ‚Yesterday, Qbu Turab, during the march, informed the Emperor that the gumÁshtÁ of Raja Ram Singh had written to him from Amber that in compliance with the Royal orders, the Emperor’s servants had gone to demolish the temple at Goner. There, a Rajput, Gaj Singh by name, had taken position inside the temple. A fight took place in which Gaj Singh, along with three to five men, was killed while a few of the Imperial servants also lost their lives. (On hearing this) the Emperor said ‚Well done‛.
  • SiyÁha AkhbÁrÁt DarbÁr, R.Yr. 24, Jamadi I, 5 / 14 May 1681. in Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• ..as the AkhbÁrÁt of May 28, 1681 informs, Hasan Ali Khan reported that he had destroyed a temple at ‘Islamabad’ (Mathura) and also colonized a village nearby which he had named Hasanpur. He requested the Emperor to issue a FarmÁn confirming his action. The Emperor acceded to his request.
  • AkhbÁrÁt, R.Yr. 24, Jmadi I, 19 / 28th May 1681. in Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• The Emperor ordered Qsad Xhan that a hasb-ul-hukm be sent to Amir-ul-Umara (Shaista Khan) to demolish the JagannÁtha temple (butkhana baism Jagannath) which is in Orissa‛.
  • In June 1681. The AkhbÁrÁt of Julus 24, Jamadi I, 23/ June 1, 1681 **AkhbÁrÁt, R.Yr. 24, Jamadi I, 23 / 1st June 1681. in Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• The Emperor gave orders to Wawahar Chand, Darogha of the beldars, that (all) the temples which would come in his way (to Burhanpur) be demolished.
  • SiyÁh AkhbÁrÁt of 21 September 1681 SiyÁha AkhbÁrÁt DarbÁr, R.Y.25, Ramzan 18 / 21st September 1681; J.S.A.in Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• In 1682, Aurangzeb once again turned his attention towards Banaras. In September, Nand-Madho (Bindu-Madhava) temple at Varanasi was demolished on his orders as his Court Bulletin (AkhbÁrÁt) of 13thReptember 1682, records. It says: ‚Qs per report of Rafi-ul-Amin, the Diwan of Banaras, the temple of Nand-Madho has been demolished. He requested that orders regarding the construction of a mosque (in its place) be sent. The Emperor ordered that a mosque be built there‛.
  • SiyÁha AkhbÁrÁt DarbÁr, R.Yr. 26, Ramzan 20 / 13th September 1682, J.S.A. the mosque is now known as Panchaganga Mosque. (Sukul, Varanasi, 156-57)in Bhatnagar, V. S. (2020). Emperor Aurangzeb and Destruction of Temples, Conversions and Jizya : (a study largely based on his court bulletins or akhbārāt darbār muʻalla)

• Sep, 1687. On the capture of Golkonda, the Emperor appointed Abdur Rahim Khan as Censor of the city of Haidarabad with orders to put down infidel practices and [heretical] innovations and destroy the temples and build mosques on their sites.
  • —Khafi Khan, ii. 358-359. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.] Khafi Khan in his Muntakhãb-ul-Lubãb.

1690s

• Circa 1690. Instances of Aurangzib’s temple destruction at Ellora, Trimbakeshwar, Narsinghpur (foiled by snakes, scorpions and other poisonous insects), Pandharpur, Jejuri (foiled by the deity!) and Yavat (Bhuleshwar) are given by K. N. Sane in Varshik Itibritta for Shaka 1838, pp. 133-135. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• In the name of God, the most Merciful and Compassionate. Praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds, and blessing and peace be upon Muhammad, the apostle of God, and upon all his descendants and companions. O God, help Islãm and the Muslims by preserving the kingdom of Abu’z-.Zafar Muhîu’d-Dîn Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahãdur ‘Ãlamgîr, the victorious king. Blessed be the ruler of the world, the refuge of the universe; whose name effaces the existence of sin. Since the time of Tîmur who conquered the kingdom of Romans, there has been no ruler just like the present king (Aurangzeb). The bow which he has stretched by his powerful arms, is such that the echo of its twing has reached the (distant) seas. By the sword, which the powerful king has wielded, panic has sprung (even) in the ocean. Although the king of the time is not a prophet, yet there is no doubt in his being a friend of God. He built the mosque and broke the idols (at a time) when 1103 years had passed from the flight (of the Prophet).
  • Inscription in Arabic and Persian on mosque in Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh. ca. 1692. Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica, 1937-38, p. 55. quoted from Shourie, A., & Goel, S. R. (1993). Hindu temples: What happened to them. Vol. II.

• 1693. The Emperor ordered the destruction of the Hateshwar temple at Vadnagar, the special guardian of the Nagar Brahmans.—Mirat, 346. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• 3rd April 1694. ““The Emperor learnt from a secret news-writer of Delhi that in Jaisinghpura Bairagis used to worship idols, and that the Censor on hearing of it had gone there, arrested Sri Krishna Bairagi and taken him with 15 idols away to his house ; then the Rajputs had assembled, flocked to the Censor’s house, wounded three footmen of the Censor and tried to seize the Censor himself ; so that the latter set the Bairagi free and sent the copper idols to the local subahdar.’’—Akhbarat, year 37, sheet 57. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• Middle of 1698: ‘Hamid-ud-din Khan Bahadur who had been deputed to destroy the temple of Bijapur and build a mosque (there), returned to Court after carrying the order out and was praised by the Emperor.’
  • Akhbarat. Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzib, Volume III, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1972 reprint, pp. 185–89., quoted from Shourie, Arun (2014). Eminent historians: Their technology, their line, their fraud. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India : HarperCollins Publishers. — M.A. 396. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.] Mirãt-i-Ahmadî

• “The demolition of a temple is possible at any time, as it cannot walk away from its place.’’—Aurangzib to Zulfiqar Khan and Mughal Khan in K. T. 39a. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

• ‘The houses of this country [Maharashtra] are exceedingly strong and built solely of stone and iron. The hatchet-men of the Government in the course of my marching do not get sufficient strength and power (i.e., time) to destroy and raze the temples of the infidels that meet the eye on the way. You should appoint an orthodox inspector (darogha) who may afterwards destroy them at leisure and dig up their foundations.’-—Aurangzib to Ruhullah Khan in Kalimat-i-Aurangzib,‘p. 34 of Rampur MS. and f. 35a of I. O. L. MS. 3301. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

1700s

• 1 Jan. 1705. ‘“‘The Emperor, summoning Muhammad Khalil and Khidmat Rai, the darogha of hatchet-men..., ordered them to demolish the temple of Pandharpur, and to take the butchers of the camp there and slaughter cows in the temple...It was done.’’—Akhbarat, 49-7. [quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.]

Later Mughals

• …The dust of whose feet is the crown of all. Farrukh Siyar the king, by the fame of whose justice, the creation and the world are in the cradle of repose. The sky of beneficence, Haidar Qulî Khãn during whose reign tyranny has become extinct… By the grace of God he completed it… He laid waste several idol temples, in order to make this strong building firm… (1) “[During] the period of the second ‘Ãlamgîr, king of the faith, Farrukh Siyar, whose sword became the guardian of the realm of Islãm. The hand of his justice struck a blow on the head of Naushîrwãn (i.e., surpassed him in justice), the country and the nation everywhere secured tranquility by his justice. Mîr ‘Ãlam, sincere friend of Haidar Qulî Khãn, a reservoir of water constructed in Sûrat, which became life-giving to the high and the low. Salsabîl (a fountain of Paradise) of the Ka‘ba of heart, this reservoir of the water of life. The inspirer communicated this chronogram and showed eloquence. As its bricks were taken from an idol temple, one rose and said, Mîr ‘Ãlam became the founder of this reservoir by revelation 1130. (2)
  • Two Persian inscriptions in Surat, Gujarat. Gopî Talão. ca. 1718. Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica. 1933-34, p. 41-42. quoted from Shourie, A., & Goel, S. R. (1993). Hindu temples: What happened to them. Vol. II.

• He is Allãh, may He be glorified, the Most Exalted. During the august rule of the emperor, king of the world, Muhammad Shãh, there was a well-established idol-house in Kuhmum which was strengthened and fortified by a small fortress. The Khãn of lofty dignity (and) of high position, the source of generosity and mine of beneficence, the Khan who is the master of (high) position, (namely), Muhammad Sãlih, who prospers in the rectitude of the affairs of Faith, son of Hãjî Muhammad Kãzim was the ruler of Kuhmum. He is one of the select grandees of the city of Tabrîz which place is celebrated for producing great persons. (He) razed to the ground the edifice of the idol-house, and also broke the idols in a manly fashion. (He) constructed on the site a suitable mosque, towering above the buildings of all. The Angel of the Unseen communicated the date of its construction in the words: A mosque pleasant in appearance, well founded, and elegant. The year of the migration of the Prophet, may peace (of God) be upon him, was forty-two, one hundred and one thousand. Year AH 1142.
  • Inscription on mosque. Gachinala Masjid at Cumbum in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh: Persian. ca. 1729-30. Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1959, pp. 65-66. quoted in S.R. Goel: The Tip of An Iceberg (Indian Express, February 19, 1989) and in Shourie, A., & Goel, S. R. (1990). Hindu temples: What happened to them.

See also

• Mir Jumla II
• Aurangzeb