What was perpetrated at Mathura is unthinkable in any civilisation. Since it is not possible to reclaim what was destroyed, the shuddhi of the Krishna janmabhoomi is the only alternative
The inordinate and repeated delays in the hearing of the Ayodhya dispute are indeed excessive for anyone’s patience. But if one is helpless for the time being, should not solace be sought in the restoration of a desecrated place of worship of comparable importance?
“The first authentic contemporary record of Mathura that we find in existing literature is dated the year 1017 AD when it was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in his ninth invasion of India. The original source of information about Mahmud’s campaigns is the Turikh Yamini of al-Utbi, who himself was the secretary to the Sultan,” wrote FS Growse of the Bengal Civil Service, who was the Magistrate of Mathura in the 1870s, in his memoirs first published in 1882.
“The Sultan obtained by this victory 185 fine elephants besides other booty.” In Mathura, “he saw a building of exquisite structure, which the inhabitants declared to be the handiwork not of men but of Genius.” In the middle of the city was a temple, larger and finer than the rest, to which neither painting nor description could do justice. The Sultan thus wrote regarding it: “If anyone wished to construct a building equal to it, we would not be able to do so without expending a hundred million dinars and the work would occupy 200 years; even though the most able and experienced workmen were employed.”
Grouse went on to say: “The city was given up to plunder for 20 days. Among the spoils are said to have been five great idols of pure gold with eyes of rubies and adornments of other precious stones, together with a vast number of smaller silver images which, when broken up, formed a load for more than a 100 camels. The total value of the spoils has been estimated at Rs 3 million; while the number of Hindus carried away into captivity exceeded 5,000.” But let no one think that this was the first and last of Mathura’s misery.
Tarikh-i-Daudi of Abdullah (a writer in the reign of Jahangir), spoke of Sultan Sikandar Lodi (1488-1516 AD), one of the most able and accomplished of all the occupants of the Delhi throne: “He was so zealous a Musulman that he destroyed many places of worship of the infidels. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura, that mine of heathenism, and turned their principal temples into saráes (inns) and colleges. Their stone images were given to the butchers to serve them as meat-weights.” The climax of wanton destruction was, however, attained by Aurangzeb who also tried to destroy even the ancient name of the city by changing it to Islamabad.
In February of the same year, during the fast of Ramzan, Aurangzeb had descended in person on Mathura. The temple specially marked out for destruction was the one built during the reign of Jahangir at the cost of Rs 33 lakh by Bir Sinh Deva Bundela of Urcha. Beyond all doubt this was the last of the famous shrines of Kesava Deva. To judge from the language of the author of the Mausir, “Its demolition was regarded as a death blow to Hinduism.” He wrote in the following triumphant strain: “In a short time, with the help of numerous workmen, this seat of error was utterly broken down. Glory be to God that so difficult an undertaking has been successfully accomplished in the present auspicious reign, wherein so many dens of heathenism and idolatry have been destroyed! Seeing the power of Islam and the efficacy of true religion, the proud Rajas felt their breath burning in their throats and became as dumb as picture on a wall. The idols, large and small alike, all adorned with costly jewels, were carried away from the heathen shrine and taken to Agra, where they were buried under the steps of Nawab Kudsia Begam’s mosque, so that people might trample upon them forever.” It was from this event that Mathura was called Islamabad.
Normal reasoning must have been alien to Mahmud of Ghazni; although his forefathers must have been Hindu or Buddhist or pagan (there was no Islam until the 7th century). Do you think that the misfortunes of the Afghan people, especially since the Soviet invasion in December 1978, are the bhagya resulting from the karmas of iconoclasts like Mahmud? He was not the only bloodthirsty invader. There were a series of them from Afghanistan. The last big vandal was Ahmad Shah Abdali of the 18th century. What was perpetrated at Mathura is unthinkable in any context of civilisation.
You will experience it better when you read what a British Christian had to say. As a Hindu, all that the author will say is that no one is more widely adored among us than Shri Krishna. From Jammu in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, from Dwarka in the west to Imphal in the east, there are innumerable Krishna worshippers. Moreover, there is no Hindu who would not be an adorer of this son of Mathura. He gave the Bhagavad Gita to us. Even today, every Hindu swears by it before answering in any court, just as Christians and Muslims swear by the Bible and the Quran respectively.
If there be any one book from which a Hindu wishes to understand his/her faith, it is the Gita. In fact, everyone, at least in India, understands what Shri Krishna means to the Hindu psyche. Just as Shri Rama exemplifies the uncompromising idealist, Krishna personifies the comprehensive realist. When a Hindu has a problem, he wonders what Kesava would have done to solve it with his genius for tactics and strategy. If he wishes to celebrate a festival, he thinks of Giridhar Gopal. If he dreams of frolic, he sees Gopinath. If he looks for love, he cannot but help dream of Radheshyam.
Today, Balkrishna is worshipped in a little room which appears like a servant’s quarter attached to the back of the idgah. Pathos can be experienced by any visitor, whether a devotee or otherwise. The mound of earth behind this quarter and below the idgah in all probability contains remnants of the original mandir.
To go back to Aurangzeb, over two centuries after the desecration, Growse felt that: “Of all the sacred places in India, none enjoys a greater popularity than the capital of Braj, the holy city of Mathura. For nine months in the year, festival follows upon festival in rapid succession and the ghats and temples are daily thronged with new troops of way-worn pilgrims. So great is the sanctity of the spot that its panegyrists do not hesitate to declare that a single day spent at Mathura is more meritorious than a lifetime passed at Benaras. All this celebrity is due to the fact of it being the birthplace of the demi-god Krishna.”
In his chapter titled, ‘The Braj Mandal, the Ban Yatra and the Holy’ Growse puts it: “Not only the city of Mathura, but with it, the whole of the western half of the district has a special interest of its own as the birthplace and abiding home of Vaishnava Hinduism. It is about 42 miles in length with an average breadth of 30 miles and is intersected throughout by the river Jamuna. In the neighbourhood are Gokul and Brindaban, where the divine brothers Krishna and Balaram grazed their herds.” He continues: “Almost every spot is traditionally connected with some event in the life of Krishna or of his mythical mistress Radha.”
To paraphrase William Shakespeare, not all the scents of Arabia would suffice to wash away the sins of Ghazni and Alamgir at Mathura. And since it is not possible to claim back what was destroyed long ago, the return of the idgah and the shuddhi of the Krishna janmabhoomi or the birthplace of Krishna is the only alternative.
(The writer is a well-known columnist and an author
