Why Mahmud of Ghazni attacked Somnath?

[JOHN_ab]

No webmaster,

he is just reminding u of Isreal..

 

[third eye]

Hey ,

Y'll why don't u live like good neighbours like US and Canada.
Imagine US and Canada start fighting with each other over piece of land..
will they..never.

live like good neighnbours

Thanx for ur advice.

US & Canada were not born of the same country torn apart like the brits did to Ind / Pak.

 

[Cheeta]

There are many answers to your points.
1--- The Hindu pandits are monks of own religion, if the name is not upto the mark I beg your pardon and rename that again. There is the concept of God in Hinduism also with the name of Param Ishvar and Bhagvan which is the same God Almighty with the name of Allah and Khuda. The difference of religion is in the lesser gods like Vishnu, Durga, Lakshmi and Ram. We credit them also as heroes and heroines but not God.
2--- We have some differences of division and relation with neighbours and fight each other then you give the example of America that has killed almost two million Iraqi civilians other than the warriors. Similar activity is carried on in both Iraq and Afghanistan by the forcibly declining of U.N to the aims of United States. If you have no enmity with your neighbour then you have the free hand to kill people far away nations.
Do you have the account of many deserted American soldiers who had been nominated to Afghanistan and Iraq fled to Canada considering the mission unjustified. Do you know that.

 

[must7]

^^ A link would do good to the interesting angle of that news!

The Era of internet has only come now and many books are not online available including important biographies.

& at the same time we all know how much neutral Indian history has been. Including the changes which BJP govt. had brought during their time of power.

Here ... you can observe how differences are existing inbetween the Hindu's over coverage of Indian history !

http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/Ideology-clashing-with-history,3922

Ideology clashing with history
UNESCO

Romila Thapar 15 December 08 - SPECIAL 60th - Early in the decade, a woman raised her voice against Hindu fundamentalism asserting Aryan superiority. And she was heard. Her name: Romila Thapar. The famous Indian historian explains here how spurious identities founded on pseudo-historical arguments affect human rights. Interview.

Shiraz Sidhva: You have strongly opposed the attempt to use history in support of an ideology of religious nationalism by the right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in power from 1998 to 2004. There was an attempt at the time to rewrite Indian textbooks. How does the rewriting of history to endorse recent political ideology affect human rights?

Romila Thapar : Let me clarify here that my fight was against the BJP- led government and the Hindutva view of Indian history, and not against other governments in India. The Hindutva lobby that insisted on the changes in Indian textbooks endorses a Hindu right-wing ultra-nationalism – often described as Hindu fundamentalism – and is trying to propagate a revisionist history in classrooms and political discourse. The parent organization in India, known as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has a distinctly religious fundamentalist political agenda. The RSS and its political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gained power defeating moderate secular Indians by exploiting Hindu nationalist sentiments. The RSS has been involved in several high-profile incidents of religiously motivated violence over the last twenty years.

The controversy on my work involved some textbooks I had written for middle schools, where I had talked about the lives of Aryans as we knew it from the Vedic texts. I had mentioned, for instance, that the early Indians ate beef – the references in the Vedas are clear, and there is archaeological evidence for this. The Hindu right wing extolled the Aryans as the great model society for ancient India, and were opposed to any criticism of them. When they objected to this and other statements of mine, I provided evidence from the texts as proof. But they insisted that children should not be told that beef was eaten in early times. My reaction was that it was historically more correct to explain to school children why in early times beef was eaten, and why later a prohibition was introduced.

Though the attack on me was vicious, I was not the only historian attacked. There were about six of us, who had authored the earlier textbooks, and others who spoke up against the changes in school curriculum and textbooks by the (then) government, made without consulting educational bodies that would normally have been consulted. The government then described us as being anti-Hindu, and therefore anti-Indian, and therefore anti-patriotic, and therefore, traitors.

The deletion of passages from our books and the ban on any discussion of the deleted passages raised a number of issues of various kinds pertaining to the rights of individuals and the ethics of government institutions.

There was also a virulent protest by some Indians living in the United States when the US Library of Congress appointed you as the first Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South in 2004. What became of these protests and were textbooks revised when the Congress government replaced the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi?

The Library of Congress rejected without any hesitation the demand from the Hindutva lobby, particularly Indians living in the United States, to reverse my appointment, therefore the demand was slowly silenced. The abuse online and through e-mails continued unabated.

When the Congress reclaimed power in 2004, it decided to do away with all the previous textbooks, written by us as far back as the 1960s and 70s, as well as those produced by the BJP government just prior to its fall. A new set of books was commissioned, which are now in use. They are different from the ones we wrote and reflect some of the new interests in history as a discipline, and do not push a Hindutva hard line.

The worrying thing is, what will happen if the Bharatiya Janata Party returns to power in the next election, which will be held within 12 months? Will they change the textbooks again? I worry for the school children who have to be examined in the subject and depend on textbooks.

Once we accept one religious group’s agenda and beliefs to be taught in the public schools, it opens the door for every other group to do the same thing. As educators, we have to make a distinction between history on the one hand, which involves questioning existing knowledge about the past where necessary, and faith on the other hand, where even myths are acceptable. The two have to be kept separate. The first is the domain of the historian and the second that of the priest.

On a wider international level, many human rights atrocities in recent years have sought to draw legitimacy from history, using the pretext of setting right the wrongs of the past. How can this be avoided?

Political parties today draw heavily on ideology and also on history, because a lot of the current politics is determined by imagined identities – either imagined racial identities, or imagined religious identities, or whatever the identities may be, there is a construction of identities. They are projected back into the past, but in effect really arise out of concerns of the present. And these imagined identities that go into the making of political ideologies are very likely to grapple with history. The grappling also takes the form of creating the notion of what is believed to be a national culture, THE national culture. This is never questioned, because if you question it, you become a traitor to the nation. And it is usually a single, carefully selected strand from the broader culture which is drawn out and exaggerated, and this facilitates the potential exclusion of some citizens on the basis of either religion or race or language or whatever identity is conveniently within reach. This is very harmful to issues of human rights, because it gives priority to certain groups and their cultures over others.

But isn’t it a dangerous notion, for those in power to believe they can set right the wrongs of the past?

This is a commonly made claim. We have an example, in the Indian case, where a Hindu political faction led by BJP leaders destroyed the (16th century) Babri Masjid at Ayodhya (in Northern India) in 1992, and claimed that they were avenging Mahmud of Ghazni’s attack on Somnath (a Hindu temple) and thereby setting right this wrong of the past.

First of all, did it have to take a thousand years before this act (of Ghazni) was avenged if indeed the idea was to avenge it? More important, how did it set right the wrongs of the past? What was the result of the destruction of the Babri Masjid? It made not the slightest difference to our reading of the past. What it did was that it resulted in a massacre of Muslims in (the Western Indian state of) Gujarat, and since then, a continued series of bomb explosions in the major cities of the country. So what is argued as setting right the wrongs of the past cannot be set right in this fashion. And in any case, it’s a rather silly argument, because the past is that which has happened. It cannot be changed, and therefore, it’s much more important to set right the wrongs of the present, rather than harping on what might have been the wrongs of the past.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, the Human Rights Tribune will publish in the month of December a special series of articles linked to the founding text.

Shiraz Sidhva, Indian journalist, The UNESCO Courier, number 9/2008

 

[donrahul]

I see that you have responded with an article, completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. Let me commit the same sin here and point out the greatest irony which is that you had to quote

"Shiraz Sidhva, Indian journalist, The UNESCO Courier, number 9/2008"

An Indian journalist is good enough for this. But not good enough for Mumbai carnage

 

[must7]

I see that you have responded with an article, completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. Let me commit the same sin here and point out the greatest irony which is that you had to quote

"Shiraz Sidhva, Indian journalist, The UNESCO Courier, number 9/2008"

An Indian journalist is good enough for this. But not good enough for Mumbai carnage

I love the way Indians or rather specifically Hindus twist & turn events. I have posted the above link only to show the vast differences which exist over coverage of history of India of Hinduism itself.

So just imagine the vast differences which exists of coverage of Muslims events in India.

I am not saying if the Lady Shiraz Sidhva is right or wrong, it is the difference which I am pointing out.

It is the same difference which we have pointed out including myself over the coverge of Mumbai blast in the following thread .. & if you need to talk about the Mumbai blast .. that it is here you should be writing & not in this thread my Dear :-

http://www.defence.pk/forums/war-terror/18783-who-killed-hemant-karkare-indian-headache.html

 

[donrahul]

I asked for a single solitary source and you had to turn this into something else!!! and givin me homilies on where to post! Uhh.. Regarding homilies, add this one too.. that a link is required when posting a news in forums !

 

[must7]

I asked for a single solitary source and you had to turn this into something else!!! and givin me homilies on where to post! Uhh.. Regarding homilies, add this one too.. that a link is required when posting a news in forums !

More twist ! Which section of my posting from other website is lacking a link ? Please elaborate.

 

[donrahul]

read post 49! and this is bloody exasperating.. I am outta this.. Let Mahmud Ghazni be the saviour of the hindu's as you would like to think so. To each his own!

 

[must7]

read post 49! and this is bloody exasperating.. I am outta this.. Let Mahmud Ghazni be the saviour of the hindu's as you would like to think so. To each his own!

Stay around .. we have just started the fun ... We are all ears .. here & at the other link which I have provided for your reply on Mumbai attack discripency !

I think you missed out on the link as I have posted it .. & here below is again the link :-

http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/I...h-history,3922

 

[ahmeddsid]

Temples/Churches or Mosques are Not to be Demolished, and should be respected. Remember u are bound to get what you give. Muslim rulers have razed temples, maybe this was why history repeated and mosques are being destroyed worldwide, the latest being the mosque destroyed in the air strike in Palestine. Islam teaches Tolerance not Revenge. Allah Loves those who dont transgress the Boundaries set, it is clearly mentioned in the Quran. Read it sometimes!

 

[must7]

Temples/Churches or Mosques are Not to be Demolished, and should be respected. Remember u are bound to get what you give. Muslim rulers have razed temples, maybe this was why history repeated and mosques are being destroyed worldwide, the latest being the mosque destroyed in the air strike in Palestine. Islam teaches Tolerance not Revenge. Allah Loves those who dont transgress the Boundaries set, it is clearly mentioned in the Quran. Read it sometimes!

Well we do know that we are facing the Crusade against our beliefs .. but than we are building many more than the ones which get destroyed by the enemies.

However, what we have seen is that in the past due to our good deeds & just rulers like Ghaznavi, Ghauris, Mughals .. many converted to Islam, no wonder we have such a large population of the world which is Muslim.

In the end we did quite well for a religion which has started spreading just 1,400+ years back !

 

[ahmeddsid]

Well we do know that we are facing the Crusade against our beliefs .. but than we are building many more than the ones which get destroyed by the enemies.

However, what we have seen is that in the past due to our good deeds & just rulers like Ghaznavi, Ghauris, Mughals .. many converted to Islam, no wonder we have such a large population of the world which is Muslim.

In the end we did quite well for a religion which has started spreading just 1,400+ years back !

Yes Islam has spread far and wide and many are still converting by choice and not just because we are offering them food or cash. Thats a Proud achievement.

My family were Brahmins and we converted some 150 years back. In my state the Hindu rulers were very supportive of Islam and even One ruler Left his Kingdom and set out to Arabia to accept Islam but he died on the way back in Oman. There is a shrine for him in Oman I guess. He was from my state Kerala. Not only that the Oldest mosque in India, was built in My state, By a Hindu Ruler for the Muslims! Isnt that awesome? I wish we all could Live like that again, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, all for Peace. No Terrorism, No Wars! What a Life it would be! Insha Allah, will come true one day!

Its not building mosques that matter I feel, its Building FAITH that matters. Islam is on a decline I feel, and all Because of Self Proclaimed Jihadis!!! May God Save us All.

 

[must7]

He was from my state Kerala. Not only that the Oldest mosque in India, was built in My state, By a Hindu Ruler for the Muslims! Isnt that awesome? I wish we all could Live like that again, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, all for Peace. No Terrorism, No Wars! What a Life it would be! Insha Allah, will come true one day!

Its not building mosques that matter I feel, its Building FAITH that matters. Islam is on a decline I feel, and all Because of Self Proclaimed Jihadis!!! May God Save us All.

Ahmed : Sugam !!

Yes on my last visit to Salalah I missed out on visiting his shrine. I know about this guy, I was given the understanding that he was the first Muslim in the Malabar states. All the Muslim Malyali's would like to pay their homeage this person in Salalah.

Regarding your last para .. Yes I agree 100% with you, but the problem is that they were used by the West to take out the mighty USSR. For other's it is another problem, but just imagine for us Pakistani we have a much bigger problem them you, we have to live with these with Jehadi's and it is not easy!

 

[rubyjackass]

I wonder why I missed this thread.
Read this too... A report on Pakistan's told history.
Pages 14, 18, 19, 27, 35, 36, 37, 38, 50, 69, 75, 76, 77, 78, 81-88, 89-93, 97-101, 135 first para
from
http://www.sdpi.org/whats_new/report...&TextBooks.pdf

Why Mahmud of Ghazni attacked Somnath?​

THE RAJPUT ERA ENDS

The end of the Rajput era created the beginning of the Muslim era in India. Dr. Smith says that this became so prominent that the centuries from the death of Harsha to the Mohammedan conquest of Hindustan, extending in round numbers from the middle of the seventh century to the close of the twelfth century, was the Rajput era . This is 500 years of Hindu rule. This is one of the few periods of history when Hindus ruled India.

On the eve of the Arab invasion of Sind (712 A.D: Quaid-e-Azam said that this is the day the Pakistan movement began in India), Chandrapida, the grandson of Durlabhavardhan was the ruler of the Korkot (Kashmir ) kingdom The most powerful king was Muktipida Lalitadya, brother and successor of Chandrapida. He was a great conqueror, and is said to have conquered Punjab, Dardistan and Kabul.

​

Mahmud of Ghazni made two attempts between 1015-1021 to conquer Kashmir, but was unsuccessful. Mahmud of Ghazni attacked temples in the subcontinent because the temples were the seats of political power. The Brahaman priests kept all knowledge to themselves. They kept all knowledge away from the population, locked up in temples (including the knowledge to build the temple). To destroy the political and military power of the city, the temple had to be destroyed. Since the high priest controlled the populations, they had to be defeated. The temples also contained all knowledge of the area. Mohammed Ghauri was the founder of the Muslim empire in India (1173 A.D). The slave dynasty lasted from 1206-1290. The Khilji dynasty lasted from 1290-1320. The Tughlaq dynasty lasted from (1320-1412). In 1304 Ibin-e-Batuta visited visited China through Kashmir. The Syed and Lodhi dynasty lasted from 1413-1526. During the reign of the sultans of Delhi the Khokars had established themselves between Lahore and Ghazni on the Southern border of Kashmir.

I have some observations and questions...
Somnath is in Gujarath.
By either Sanskrit, Telugu and I guess Bengali also.
The names chandrapida means 'lunar haunt'. Chandra is 'lunar'. 'Pida' is a negative word. Samewith muktipida. means '
Durlabhavardhan certainly means 'useless gift'. Why would a king have that name? So I doubt this version.
And the name dardistan, what does it mean? dard means pain?