6 months a very long break in a kind of unbroken sequence of 149 book reviews over a period of 10 years. Sorry for this break though i enjoyed this break and was engaged in some serious actions in field.
I read 'Jai Somanth' in first week of July 2017 and its been a painful read. Indians are the rare people who rejoice in their defeats and that perhaps explains the title of the this book by eminent freedom fighter and writer Shri K M Munshi. Before reading this book i had read 'Somnatha - The many voices of history' by Romila Thapar. In this book Ms Thapar debunks the claim that Mahmud Ghazni destroyed the temple of Somnath on grounds of religion and he attributes only economic reasons behind his raid. I completely disagree with Ms Thapar on this. If economic reasons were the only reasons then why the Idol was destroyed and why its pieces were placed below the stairs of Ghazni mosque. What were the reasons behind destruction of Mathura temple, Multan sun temple and many more temples. These facts are well documented by his scholar companion Al Beruni.
'Jai Somnath' is a painful story of the sack and destruction of Somnath Temple by the hoards of Mahmud of Ghazni. The King of Prabhas Pattan Bhimdev fought really bravely but he was outmatched by Mahmud in resources and in numbers. The Indians though fought valiantly were undone by the traitors who helped Mahmud to open a hidden tunnel giving access inside the temple 'fortress'. What followed was gory trail of genocide, destruction of Shiva Idol and temple, enslaving of civilians and loot which he carried on the backs of camels and horses back to Ghazni.
Many Indians helped him in this daring raid. But there were Indians who fought even better than the likes of Leonidas at Thermopylae. A few hundred strong clan of Chauhan Rajput Ghogha Baba fought like titans against the more than 50,000 strong barbaric hoards of Mahmud.
In a way, Justice was done when this temple was restored after Independence. The force of destruction can never decimate the spirit of truth and creation. But the most important point to ponder is that why we allowed these invaders to defile our country time and again. Perhaps V. S. Naipaul was right when he says 'The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it'.
Highly Recommended (9/10)
