Saturday, November 21, 2015

Richard Eaton on the destruction of hindu temples

We will never know the number of temples descrated throuh India's history Some quotes not clear to me:
"While premodern Indians were certainly aware of religious difference, not a single communal riot is known to have occurred for almost all of medieval history. "
See for example tales like this.
"Well before Muslim ruling houses arrived on the scene, kings would attack an enemy king’s royal temple as a necessary part of undermining that king’s sovereign rule.  This much is clear both from normative Sanskrit texts and from the inscriptional record. Later on, Muslim kings intending to establish their own rule in India simply followed this tradition."
But there was destruction of various Jewish and Christian worship places before Islam came to India. May be it was not just indian practice.

No comments: