Book Review [157] : Amritsar - Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle

Amritsar - Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle by Mark Tully and Satish Jacob is a brilliant book on Operation Blue Star. 

Mark Tully was known to almost every news loving Indian specially in 1980s and 1990s. Operation Blue Star left a deep scar on India's soul and created a lot of bad blood between brothers - Sikhs and Hindus. How Mrs Gandhi appeased Bhinderwale and how he became a threat to her in less than a decade.  

The Golden Temple or Hari Mandir was built in the middle of Sarovar by fifth Guru Arjun Dev in 1589. Foundation stone was laid by Mian Mir from Lahore. His successor Guru Hargobind built the other shrine within Temple Complex - The Akal Takht. Ahmad Shah Abdali blew up the Golden Temple and filled the holy pool with the carcass of slaughtered cattle. Akal Takht was also razed to ground. The Temple was rebuilt later and it reached its zenith during Maharaja Ranjit Singh era. After Independence the identity politics nurtured the ground for the communal politics of Bhinderwale. The reign of terror was unleashed in Punjab and many hundred people were killed in that madness. Finally Indian Army stormed the Temple Complex on 5th June 1984 killing the extremists hiding in the Temple Complex. The Akal Takht and Golden Temple suffered damage. Indian Army suffered about 300 casualties. By 7th June the Temple Complex was sanitized. The Sikh soldiers mutinied but they were checked. The madness did not stop at this Operation. Madness caused the killing of Mrs. Gandhi. Finally Rajiv Gandhi was able to reconcile the Sikhs and the festering problem was put to an end. Its a must read book. It talks in detail about the root cause of Punjab Problem, How Mrs Gandhi failed to tackle it and in the end caused Operation Blue Star and lost her life. 

Highly Recommended (9/10).

Book Review [156] : The Last Girl - Nadia Murad

This Diwali the US President Donald Trump did a great favour to entire Human Civilization by vaporizing the most dreaded Terrorist and evil incarnate Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Ask any Yazidi you will understand the gravity of the crimes committed by this evil person. It was a strange coincident that i happened to finish 'The Last Girl' by Nadia Murad on that very day. Nadia Murad is a brave Yazidi girl. She like many thousand Yazidis was subjected to most horrific war crimes including gang-rape and sex slavery. Her family was gunned down and thrown in ditch like many thousand Yazidis in August of 2014. She was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. 'The Last Girl' is not only her story but story of all Yazidis.

Yazidis

Yazidis are 1 million strong endogamous community native of northern Iraq in Ninveh region. Yazidi religion is different from Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Yazidis consider Tauwsi Malek a Peacock Angel that connects them to the God. They also believe in reincarnation theory. Their holy shrines are located in Lalish valley. Their priestly caste is called Shaikhs. They call their holy shrines - Temple. They also believe that all Kurds were originally Yazidis but converted to Islam in last few centuries. Yazidis suffered Pogroms 73 times in their history.

The Last Girl

This is an account of Nadia Murad. She writes in detail how ISIS captured her village Kocho in northern Iraq. How all men and old women were gunned down and how young women were sexually abused and sold in slavery as Sabbiya as per the ISIS version of Islam. Yazidis were not considered people of the Book hence they deserved either conversion or total annihilation. Christians were given safe passage to safer places as they were people of the book. Nadia Murad family was massacred, she was sold in sex slavery. She was brave and she managed to escape with help from God. In this book she writes that its better to die than to live as sex slave. Many times she thought of committing suicide but she did not get that chance. 

The Jauhar of Padmavati echoed in my mind. I often wonder about our country's so called liberals and intellectuals. When Padmavati movie came many of them criticized action of Queen Padmavati in that movie they all said that it was better to go to Alauddin Khilji than committing Jauhar. No one is and no one can become a greater feminist than Nadia Murad and she preferred death over becoming sex slave. 

Its hard to believe that people can commit such horrific crimes in the name of religion. The Sunni Muslim neighbours did not help Yazidis and many turned Yazidis to ISIS. Though one Sunni family helped Nadia Murad but it was too late by then. About 5000 Yazidis were massacred about 10,000 were enslaved and others managed to escape. This was the brutality of ISIS supported by Sunni Muslims in the name of religion.

When Ab Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in an US raid, the prominent liberal newspaper The Washington Post published his obituary as:

I don't have any words to express. Perhaps the people of The Washington Post should have read about Yazidis. Calling Baghdadi an 'austere religious scholar' is like adding insult to the injuries suffered by Yazidis and other victims.

This is a great book and everyone should read it.  

Highly Recommended (10/10).

Book Review [155] : The Darkening Age - Catherine Nixey

In the book 'The Darkening Age' written by Catherine Nixey (born to Christian Monk and Nun parents), the writer talks about complete annihilation of classical Greco-Roman civilization by the Christian order over a period of 200 years. The glorious Greco-Roman civilization is now called a Pagan civilization and almost all contemporary historians celebrated the destruction of classical civilization. Every temple was destroyed, the great Parthenon was destroyed, the great Idols were first mutilated and then burned before great mass of applauding Christians. The great Mathematician Hypatia was murdered brutally in broad day light in Alexandria in 415 AD. In 315 AD Christianity was declared the religion of Empire by Emperor Constantine. By end of 4th century almost all temples and symbols of Pagan religion were destroyed. Millions of books were burned and millions were overwritten. All the early Christian saints including St. Augustine called old Pagan religion as demonic and it deserved complete destruction. The great saints of contemporary Christianity led the zealot followers and publicly destroyed 'Pagan' Temples and libraries. The famous Roman baths were condemned and so were the free spirit of Romans. The Homosexuality was considered sin and was out-rightly banned. 

Idols of Aphrodite, Athena, Zeus, Apollo etc were mutilated and some were even baptized with cross on their heads. 

History is written by conquerors and conquered people have no say in it. We don't know how 'Pagans' and their philosophers fought back. Their stories are not known and possibly lost for ever. In todays era there are hardly any Pagan left. The liberal and tolerant Polytheistic Greco-Roman religion was completely vaporized by the violent intolerance of Monotheism and this Monotheism did not take any prisoner. It was a complete takeover. Though Polytheistic religion lost politically and theologically the cultural mores were hard to die. The Western civilization ( almost completely Christian now) celebrates - the heroism of Pagan Alexander, Julius Caesar etc, - the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Cicero etc - the ancient architecture and art of that period, the Olympics etc. This is the ultimate victory of Pagan Europe. 

The story of encounter of Pagan Europe with Christianity is pretty similar to our own encounter with Arabs and Turks. Perhaps someone will write on this with same audacity and clarity. 

Highly Recommended Book (10/10)

Book Review [154] : A Forgotten Empire - Robert Sewell

A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar) is one of the finest and rare books on medieval South Indian history. This book was written by Robert Sewell and was published in 1900. It is mainly based on the records of contemporary historians/travelers namely:

• Ferishta (died 1611 AD)
• Ibn Battuttah (15th Century)
• Domingo Paes(circa 1520 AD)
• Fernao Nuniz (1535-37 AD)
• Barros (16th Century)
• Couto (16th Century)
• Abdur Razzak (15th Century)
• Duarte Barbossa (1504 AD)
• Gaspar Correa (1540 AD)
• Nicolo Conti (1421 AD)
• Nikitin (1468-74 AD)

Invasions and Destructions

This book is full of many details of brutalities of that period. In 1318 Mubarak Khilji marched to Devagiri and flayed alive its Prince Haripala Deva, setting up the head of unfortunate prince at the gate of his own city. 

In 1334 in order to punish his rebel nephew Gurshtap who found refuge in fortress of Anegudi the cruel Muhammad Bin Tughluq invaded and destroyed Anegudi. The women committed Jauhar,the rebel Gurshtap was given by Anegudi to Dvarsamudra ruler to save the tradition of (Sharnagat).The Dvarsamudra ruler abandoned Gurshtap to Tughluq. Gurshtap was flayed alive by Tughluq. Entire South was ravaged by Khilji, Malik Kafur and Tughluq. Many many towns and temples were destroyed and pillaged and scores of people were killed, converted and enslaved.

The Beginning

In the wake of such destruction the south revolted and an empire was founded in 1336 on the banks of Tungabhadra river on the advice of sage Madhwacharya Vidyaranya. Harihara built a great temple in the memory of this sage and it is still in existence. By 1345 the Hindu rulers of Warangal and Vijayanagar drove back the Tughlugs north of Warangal.The entire south and part of deccan was liberated from the foreign yoke. With the founding of Bahmani Sultanate (in 1347) the south India again started facing the push and warangal was lost to Bahmanis in 1424. The Raichur Doab and Goa were the main issues between the two neighbours. 

The Greatness 

The earlier Vijaynagar Kings fought a defensive battle with Bahmani Sultans and Krishna remained a defacto border between the two. Devaraya II (1412-1442) was the first expansionist ruler of Vijaynagar empire. Devaraya II defeated Bahmani in 1419 and destroyed many towns. Bahmanis took the revenge in 1423. By 1442 Devaraya started employing Muslim archers in his army. Mosque was also erected in the city, this was unprecedented. After Devaraya II the Vijaynagar Empire went into chaos. It was revived by the great Krishnadeva Raya (1509-30). He was undoubtedly the greatest ruler of Vijayanagar. He conquered Raichur in a great battle. By this time Portuguese had entered in the geo politics.The Portuguese and Vijayanagar entered into an alliance. The horse trade was monopolized. Krishnadeva Raya destroyed Bijapur.

After his death Achyuta Deva Raya succeeded him. He was his cousin. In 1543 his nephew Sadashiva Raya became King. He was king only in name and the power was enjoyed by three brothers - Aliya Rama Raya, Tirumala and venkatadri. Aliya Rama Raya and Tirumala were the son-in-laws of Krishnadeva Raya. During this period the fame and prosperity of Vijayanagar became worldwide and it was recorded by various travelers coming from different parts of the world.

The Destruction

Aliya Rama Raya (1543-1565) was a great warrior, master strategist but was very haughty and arrogant. He entered into an alliance with Bijapur Sultans against Ahmadnagar Sultan and utterly destroyed Ahmadnagar. He called Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur his son and even gave refuge to Qutb Shah of Golconda when he was in distress. These Muslim Sultans never liked an infidel power to grow in such importance. Partly driven by haughtiness of Rama Raya and partly blinded by faith these Sultans (Baridis, Golconda, Ahmadnagar and Bijapur) entered into a strategic alliance against Vijayanagar Empire.They started their campaign in Dec 1564 and on 23rd Jan 1565 the most decisive battle was fought between Muslim Federation and Hindu Vijayanagar. Aliya Rama Raya fought a great battle but luck was not with him. He was about 70 years in age. He was beheaded by Nizam Shah who adorned his spear with his ahead and paraded before Vijayanagar forces. This caused a complete rout. Entire Army melted away followed by a great slaughter. Within 3 days the enemy were at the gates of the capital. The complete destruction took 6 months and once mighty capital was broken into pieces by the invading army. All the great temples were destroyed and now only broken monuments remains. 

The head of Aliya Rama Raya used to be colored and oiled and displayed to the Muslims of Ahmadnagar on the yearly celebration of the victory by the descendants of the beheader and this continued atleast till 1829 AD.

The Question

The question remains how such a wealthy and powerful empire like Vijayanagar was defeated in such a decisive fashion. Why the invading army destroyed the capital in such a fashion perhaps no such capital except Carthage was destroyed in such a manner? Why we were not told about this great empire, it was the greatest empire of medieval era?

I don't know the answers, perhaps nobody knows.....

Highly Recommended (10/10)

Book Review [153] : Awakening Bharat Mata - The Political Beliefs Of The Indian Right

After reading 'Aavarana' by S. L. Bhyrappa last month, i stopped at 'Awakening Bharat Mata' by Swapan Dasgupta did not rest without finishing this book. This book is first of its kind, not seen any comprehensive book on the ideology of Indian Right from a benign perspective. Before this book i have only read Left intellectuals polemic on Hindutva and Hindu Right Wing.

This book is a collection of articles/speeches of eminent Indian Intellectuals like Sister Nivedita, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Adwani, Gurumurthy, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Shri Aurobindo, R C Majumdar, Jadunath Sarkar, M G Ranade, R G Bhandarkar etc.

This book raises few important points and i would like to iterate few of those:

1. Why is there no Arab guilt about Black Africa? The Arabs were importing slaves all along. Many such slaves were castrated and employed as eunuchs to guard harems etc etc.

2. The Christian theocratic universe considers Oriental religions as Pagans and according to it religious tenets these religions needed to be converted to Christianity and pagan practices required to be exterminated.

3. The Islamic view point is also not very different. The people who are not mentioned in the Book are Kafirs and are required to be converted to Islam.

4. Native Indian religions accepted all other religions as acceptable paths to the supreme goal of salvation.That's why these religions did not need any organization or Church. Since every other view point found place in Indian philosophy no bloodshed was required. Native Indian religions had and have no response to religions which negated the very concept of Native Indian religions. Its almost an impossible ask to reconcile two different ideologies when one ideology states its goal as complete extermination of other. Europe was 'harmonized' by wiping out all 'Pagan' religions. Arab was 'harmonized' by exterminating all 'Kaafir' practices. India has been a target for over thousand years, it has been truncating for over thousand years.

This book needs to be read. Some will mock this book but mockery will not dilute the important points raised by this book. I end this by copying few lines from this book:

"Emperor Jahangir cut the Akshay Bat tree of Allahabad down to its roots and hammered a red hot iron cauldron on to its stump. He flattered himself that he had killed it. But lo! within a year the tree began to grow again and pushed the heavy obstruction to its growth aside!

Shivaji has shown that the tree of Hinduism is not really dead, that it can rise from beneath the seemingly crushing load of centuries of political bondage, exclusion from administration, and legal repression; it can put forth new leaves and branches; it can again lift its head up to the skies."

Highly Recommended Book (10/10)

Book Review [152] : Aavaran - The Veil

In December 2007 i along with Saugata, Ravi Bhushan and Divya Alok made a trip to Hampi and stayed there for couple of days. The ruins were mesmerizing and were on gigantic scale. I am a keen history student but was never taught about this great Empire. The great Vijayanagar Empire that controlled the entire South Indian for more than 200 years (1336 - 1565) roughly the duration of Mughal Empire had very few para for it in any standard history book.

'Aavarana' written by S. L. Bhyrappa is a great but painful read. It slowly and gradually removes the veil of political correctness that engulfs our nation's academia and exposes the brutal nakedness of our medieval history. I have been to Kashi Vishwanath Temple (i studied in that city for four good years) and visited that great Temple only twice while studying. When i saw the Nandi Statue looking towards the Gyanvapi Mosque i cried and i was broken from inside. I did not get that shock when i visited Krishnajanmbhoomi Temple in Mathura. I have not been to Ayodhya even once. I remember my first trip to Mysore in Dec 2003. When i touched Srirangapatnam i took the soil of the land and kept it in my purse out of the respect for Tip Sultan. My entire family became a huge fan of Tipu Sultan after watching 'The Sword of Tipu Sultan' in early 90s. But as they say 'Truth is stranger than fiction' and it is indeed true most of the times.

Islamic Invasions of Sub-Continent starting from Sindh to the last of Durrani always brought massacres, rapes, slavery, temple destruction and large scale conversion in its wake. It was true in the time of Mohammad Bin Qasim and it was true in time of Ahmad Shah Durrani. The unfortunate part is that it did not stop even when the reign of invaders got firmly established. The brutality continued though with few notable interruption.  No one can defend them and no one should defend them. But yet our intellectuals have made excuses to justify their gory actions. This book is about this ugly politics. Its a must read book. Highly Recommended (10/10)