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Jan 15, 2021
Rohini Singh

Colonial Myths and Battered Narratives in Indian History

Surrounded by landless, limitless vast expansions of ocean on three sides and crowned by the sky dwarfing magnificence of the Himalayas in north, is Bharat – the land of Aryas. It is in this land where the first steps of a new born human civilisation was set, where the rain of culture nurtured the dark dead petals into odorants of heavenly flowers. This is the land, the longest continual civilisation of the world, where great men of high deed and gods have walked. But among this tsunami of fame and glory, esteem and honour, standing in the corner are few rare figures of history – wounded by the time, scarred by injustice – these are the figures who have been consistently demeaned and despised for deeds they never did. One of these figures is the powerful Raja of 12th century India – Raja Jaichand – and the other is Rana Sanga – who is often blamed for inviting the barbarian Mughal invader Babur. But the truth, as often, is quite different, rather contrasting. “Jaichand Gaddar Tha”, most have surely heard this line, from mouths of larger-than-life politicians, famed celebrities or even from mere social media personalities, this sentence is almost unanimously repeated with jolts and joy by every person, who fit perfectly into the great class of dim-witted brains. Same people have repeated ‘Jaichand was traitor’ line so often that it almost feels like a humming sound of irritated bird in cages like of dark ignorance. And so it is the job of those standing with light to remove the darkness and open the cage. Maharaj Jaichand – also spelled as Jaychandra – was the grandson of Govindchandra of Kannauj and son of Gāhadvala King Vijaychandra from queen Chandralekha. He was declared the crown prince of the Gāhadvala kingdom in 1168 and ten years later on the 6th Tithi of the bright half of the month of Asadha in the year 1226 Vikram Samvat – which corresponds to the Sunday 21st June 1178 AD – Jaichand became the king. Raja Jaichand ruled over one of the richest territories in India, of the contemporary time, covering the vast expanse of lands making most of the present-day UP to River Son in South-East, and nearly up to Patna and Gaya in the East. His rule was no less than any other king, of high prosperity and filled with pompousness. The same grandeur of his rule is documented profoundly in contemporary records. According to Tāj-ul-Mā’athir, one of such contemporary account, “Jayachandra prided himself on the number of his forces and elephants and had an army countless as the particles of sand.” The same is mentioned in Kāmil-ut-Tawārikh, which, throws light on the military prowess of the Raja, says “The Hindu Prince had 700 elephants and his men were said to amount to a million, there were many nobles in his army.” Firistah’s account also refers to “a numerous army of horses, besides upward of 300 elephants which Jayachund Rye the prince of Kannauj and Banaras led.” One of the primary points these records so clearly illuminate was how considerable was the impression which the last king of the Gahadvala dynasty made on the invaders. Roma Niyagi in her monumental work History of Gahadavalas tells us that there is no evidence of conflict between Raja Jaichandra and Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan (Stories were cooked up later) Now apart from the usual grandeur of kingdoms and revealing words of travelers, Raja Jaichand had been the performer of rare noble feet, that no other king from the history can boast of – building of a great Vaishnav temple in Ayodhya, whose evidence was later found in the debris of ‘Treta Ka Thakur’. As it’s apparent from the discovery of an inscription in the debris of the Treta ka Thakur temple – the same temple which was converted into a mosque by Aurangzeb – in Ayodhya. According to Alois Anton Führer, “Inscription number XLIV is written in 20 incomplete lines on a white sandstone, broken off at either end and split into two parts in the middle. It is dated Samvat 1241 or AD 1184, in the time of Jaychandra of Kannauj, whose praises it records for erecting a Vaishnav temple, from whence this stone was originally bought and appropriated by Aurangzeb in building his masjid known as ‘Treta ka Thakur’. The original slab was discovered in the ruins of this masjid and is now in the Faizabad local museum”. Undoubtedly the biggest blot on Raja Jaichand’s historic character is the myth of him siding with Ghurid Muslim invading forces of Mohammad Ghori against the great Rajput King Prithviraj Chauhan. But tearing in into the cadences and lilts of the long- standing myth leaves the point, crystallised, that there is not a single evidence contemporaneous to Prithviraj, which says Jaichand joined Ghurids forces against Pṛthvīrāja in the Battle of Tarain. On the contrary, early Mohemmadan sources of that time (12th-13th century) mentions Jaichand bravely fighting Ghurids in Battle of Chandawar /Chandawal. Non-Marxist historians from Roma Niyogi to RC Majumdar all have pointed out that the same lack of evidence behind the myth. There was no reason or motive for Raja Jaichand to enter into conflict with Prithviraj – ignoring the historically inaccurate yet grossly misquoted account from the myth book of Prithviraj-Raso. Roma Niyogi in her The History of the Gāhadvala Dynasty notes that “There is no reliable evidence of conflict between these two kings”. Same is echoed by RC Majumdar says in An Advance History of India that “There is no evidence, however, to believe that Jaichand invited Mohammad of Ghūr to invade India.” Eminent Historian RC Majumdar is also of the same view that Patriot Jaichand had no role in inviting Mohd Ghori to India. Moreover, Hammīra-Mahākāvya (composed around 1400 CE) doesn’t even mention the name Jaichand in the entire section dealing with Prithviraj and Mohammad Ghori. Even the Pṛthvīrāja Vijaya never talks of Jayachandra as an enemy of Pṛthvīrāja, leave alone arch enemy. In fact, both the kingdoms of Prithviraj and Jaichand, at no point (geographically) were sharing the borders. When the immediate neighbors i.e. Chalukyas are talked about frequently in Pṛthvīrāja Vijaya. After the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan in 1192 AD – first of his defeat after series of wins against army of Ghori including a win in previous year’s battle – the barbarian invader turned his attention towards the Gahadvala dominion. And a battle was fought in the year 1194 AD, where Raja Jaichand died. Not likely what one would expect of an alliance. He died fighting a “Dharmyuddh”. He followed his Kshatriya Dharma very well. Great slaughter followed the victory of Chandawar. 300 elephants were captured alive, treasury was looted and nearly 1000 temples were destroyed and mosques were raised on their foundations. Hence, after knowing everything about Maharaj Jaichand, one could easily conclude that he was not a traitor. Now to the second part of the mammoth myth is of “Rana Sanga inviting Babur to India”. As much as this myth is popular, it’s is also preposterous. Bayana Fort where Mughal forces were severely routed by Rajputs under Rana Sanga Some basic question which arises after hearing such bold – and unreliable narratives, as we’ll see later – that how and why Rana Sanga was so sure that Babur would return to Kabul after defeating Ibrahim Lodi?, how he could be so confident that Babur would defeat Ibrahim and Ibrahim Lodi would not be able to defeat Babur? Was Rana Sanga so weak that he needed the help of Babur? After basic readings, it is clear that this wasn’t the case. Rana Sanga was a fiercely brave warrior, one of the most powerful rulers of his times, who not only valiantly fought Muslim forces but also battered and defeated the Lodi Army. So powerful was Rana’s assault on Muslims that Lodi era historian wrote ‘Sultan’s armies scattered, like dead leaves caught in a gale, in front of Rajput cavalry charge’. James Tod says that eight thousand horses, seven Rajas of the highest rank, nine Raos, and one hundred and four chieftains bearing the titles of Rawal and Rawat with 500 war elephants followed him into the field. The princes of Marwar and Amber gave him homage and the Raos of Gwalior, Ajmer, Sikri, Raisen, Kalpi, Chanderi, Bundi, Gagraun, Rampura, and Abu served him as tributaries or held him as chief. The Rajput Cavalry charge at Bayana was so fierce that Not a Single Mughal soldier was ready to take up arms against the Rajputs in Khanwa, until Babur made all of them swear on Koran Explaining about the administration and wars of Rana Sanga, James Tod further says that – He made gains in eighteen pitched battles against the Kings of Delhi and Malwa, in two of these he was opposed by Ibrahim Lodi in person at Bakrol and Ghatoli, in latter battle the imperial forces were badly defeated with great slaughter, leaving a prisoner of the blood royal to grace the triumph of Chittor. Such brave king and man like Rana Sanga even in the most unlikeliest of situations would never need an alliance with Babur. So, the question arises is from where does this idea of Rana Sanga inviting Babur originate? It is from a source that is prone to heavy untruthfulness and dishonesty, a chronicle of a dishonest barbarian, the Baburnama. Baburnama is the only source where Babur has written this. And there are more than enough reasons for one to not believe in Baburnama because – 1) Babur has lied many times in Baburnama, he said that he had only 12000 soldiers in Panipat, but according to history professors and researchers, that number must have been much higher. 2) No other Hindu/Muslim contemporary account mentions of the event. 3) Rana Sanga didn’t need any alliance, (as has already been cleared above). 4) Babur has given details of other alliances but not of this one. 5) Hindu record in this matter, the daily bulletin of Rana’s life, written everyday by family priest of Rana is a reliable source and it says that “It was not Sanga who sent an envoy to Kabul to propose an alliance with Babur against their common foe, Ibrahim of Delhi, but the king of Kabul (Babur), who was anxious to have an ally of undoubted ability and strength during the course of his proposed expedition in an unknown country.” Now let’s see how and why Babur entered India – He writes in his autobiography – “as it was always in my heart to possess Hindustan and as these several countries had once been held by the Turks, I pictured them as my own and was resolved to get them into my hands whether peacefully or by force”. The Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, was weak and unpopular, he had alienated his nobles and chiefs. Punjab, a normal fief of Delhi was held by governor Daulat Khan, who was practically independent. So were the governors of Sindh, Multan, Jaunpur and Bengal. The Rajput states had formed themselves into a confederacy under Rana Sanga. At that time India was divided into numerous independent states without any strong central authority to hold them together. Babur was well aware of this state of affairs in India. In 1523, Babur set out for Punjab to find that Ibrahim’s army had already defeated Daulat Khan who had invited him to invade India in the hope of personal gain. Babur in turn defeated the sultan’s army. Then, instead of making Daulat Khan the governor of Punjab, he appointed his own heir to the government of Punjab and gave Daulat Khan a small fief. Then he returned to Kabul in 1524. Next year he came with a bigger army to find Daulat Khan and Alim Khan, who had made an independent bid for power, and defeated them. Babur pardoned Daulat Khan and many Afghan amirs along with their troops joined Babur. Uncle of Ibrahim Lodi, Alam Khan, asked for the help of Babur to dethrone Ibrahim Lodi. Eminent Historian Jadunath sarkar clearly mentions in his work the reasons why Daulat Khan Lodhi invited Babur to India Battle of Panipat took place on 21 April 1526 in which Ibrahim Lodi was defeated and killed. Babur had intentions to stay in India when Afghan chiefs realised it, they proclaimed Sultan Mohammad of Bihar as their king, while some wanted to place the brother of Ibrahim Lodi as their King. But Babur managed to sort out everything, sent a force under Humayun who drove away from the rebel Afghan chiefs across the Ganges. But apart from the danger of Afghans, there was the greater danger, “The Rajputs”. A great coalition of Rajput chiefs had been formed under Raja Sangram Singh (Rana Sanga), of Mewar. He had lost one eye, one arm, and a leg, and his body bore more than 80 wounds received in battle. Hasan Mewati and Muhammad Lodi, these Afghan chiefs also joined this alliance against Babur. Babur declared that the war against the Rajputs was a jihad, an Islamic holy war. Advance force sent by Babur was destroyed by Rana Sanga’s army. Babur renounced wine drinking and inspired his soldiers to take vow on Quran, fortified his camps with gun carriages, made preparations and then the battle took place at Khanua, on 16th March 1527, Rana Sanga was wounded, got unconscious, and was taken away from battlefield by his followers. Rajputs had to suffer defeat due to lack of resources, and lack of advanced equipment. However the defeat didn’t affect Rana Sanga and he took a vow to never enter fort of Chittor without achieving victory over Babur. However Rana Sanga died in January 1528 and couldn’t fulfil his mission, but he never submitted to Babur. He fought with all his strength, and lived a life full of self- respect. Rana Sanga was undoubtedly one of the best warriors of his time. Lack of resources and lack of advanced equipment and weapons led to his defeat. Rana Sanga holds a special place in history of Rajputs. Hence it’s clear that Rana Sanga never invited Babur to attack India. It was Daulat Khan who invited Babur. The Eminent Historian Gopinath Sharma in his monumental work Mewar Ka Itihas lists down the reasons of Lies Spread by Babur in his memoir Baburnama It’s really shameful that instead of respecting these two great warriors, people call them “traitors” without knowing the actual truth. Maharaj Jaychandra erected the Vaishnav temple at Ayodhya, was a great king of his time, and died fighting “Dharmyuddha” with Mlecchas. Rana Sanga/Raja Sangram Singh was a great warrior of his time, never bowed his head down to Muslim invaders, fought with them with all his strength, and yet people blame him that he invited Babur to invade India. These are misconceptions arising due to dishonest historiography by Marxist historians whose sole objective while writing was to somehow shift blame towards Hindus alone and glorify invaders. And till today the many number of people under Marxist spell parrot the same lie. These two mammoth myths created by Marxists and propagated by dishonest history readers severed battered the subject of history and contorted the narrative. Sources: History of Gahadawalas by Roma Niyogi Advanced History of India by RC Majumdar Mewar and Mughal Emperors by GN Sharma Military History of India by Jadunath Sarkar Kshatriya Itihas on Twitter : https://twitter.com/KshatriyaItihas/status/1335956374426013696 Rajputcommunity.in Article : https://www.rajputcommunity.in/t/rajputs-defeat-specialists-1-3-fact-check-on-a-mainstream-fraud/499 All the images are provided by the author.

Jan 14, 2021
LT GEN P R SHANKAR (Retd)

Chinese Virus: Indian Solution

India battled Australia to a draw in the recently concluded Test Match at Sydney. It was one of the best matches, I have seen in my life. I saw two ‘battered and bruised’ Indians take a determined stand. It was all about blood guts and glory. Though they drew the game, they won it for India. Day five pitch, Australia’s outstanding bowling attack, racial abuse, sledging and the captain gets out early. Everyone was looking at an early lunch! BUT. Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant played with controlled aggression. Put Australia on the back foot. Raised hopes of victory. When they fell, two injured guys Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin stepped in. Stood on the burning deck. Did not give up. They achieved a draw come hell or high water. Immense character displayed. The test match reminded me of something else. Everyone, except diehards like me had given up on the Indian Army against the inexorably grinding PLA war machine. Col Santosh Babu and his team at Galwan stood their ground and turned the tide. Everyone has said that India has been ravaged by the Chinese Virus. Once again, the battered Indian stood tall and is on the verge of collaring the Virus. Why am I talking of all this? In 2021, the two most important things we have to contend are the Chinese in nature – the PLA and the Virus. Both need a Sydney kind of approach. Infantry is like injured Vihari and Ashwin. Capable of fighting last man last round despite very limited reach. Never give up. Pujara and Pant showed offensive intent, took the battles to the Aussies and the scene changed. Similarly, when India took control of the Kailash Range it signaled offensive intent to China and the contours of the standoff changed. Prior to that, we did not signal offensive intent despite our tough stand at Doklam. China knew from the Doklam experience, that we will fight only at the LAC and that too hesitatingly. China sensed our limited reach, defensive outlook and took advantage to turn the screws. They went on the offensive, did a land grab, and then went on the defensive. That is why till date we have not been able to decipher China’s aims and objective in this whole game. That is probably their character and they were simply exploiting a window of opportunity. In the larger context, they were on the ascendance till we surprised them with swift mobilization, slap back at Galwan and outmaneuvering at the Kailash Range. Since then, the bluster is gone. Lesson. Attack is the best form of defense. View it from any angle. The Pujara Pant form of controlled aggression will wrest the initiative. After that we can do the Vihari Ashwin act. Hence developing a deeper offensive capability is important. The rebalancing of 1 Corps to the North is part of the controlled aggression. However, its reach must be extended through Air Force, Missiles, Attack Heptrs, UAVS, some airborne capability and battle field transparency to signal offensive intent. A mere Infantry heavy formation with just tube Artillery in support will not do. I am confident that we are in the process of getting into the controlled aggression mode. It will be difficult for China to be adventurous without suffering reverses. Speculation has started. What will China do when the thaw sets in Eastern Ladakh? At present that is too far. Remember, China is now waging a multidomain war for world domination. It has weaponized the ‘Chinese Virus’ and is flexing its Comprehensive National Power through it. In this Viral domain, we have so far been in the Vihari Ashwin mode. Defensive. We were badly affected with the second highest cases in the world. Time to switch into the Pant Pujara mode of controlled aggression. Initially, China had put into effect a full-fledged campaign to divert attention from its mishandling of the pandemic. It let the Virus out intentionally to flatten the field. Then it put out another campaign to prove that its autocratic government is far better than democracies in controlling and recovering from the Virus. It shut out all forms of internal dissent or voices quite ruthlessly to project this falsehood. It hyped up nationalism to convince its masses about Maoist Communism. It has now embarked on a campaign to sell its half-baked vaccines all round the world without details to portray itself as a savior angel. It is also blocking the WHO team from entering Wuhan. China will ensure that the virus trail is cold. The next few months will be dominated by the Chinese effort to dominate the Virus War it has started. However, India should not let China dominate and steal the narrative. How the Virus War goes will have a bearing on the Battle Fields of Eastern Ladakh in future. There is a seminal connect in the Chinese mentality. There is no differentiation between the Virus and Eastern Ladakh. It is all a power game to get to the top. Let us take stock of the situation. Firstly, way back in March 20, Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO said, “India, which led the world in eradicating two silent killers, smallpox and polio, in the past, has a tremendous capacity in eradication of the coronavirus”. He prophetically spoke of ‘eradication’ and not ‘controlling’ it. We need to free the world from the grip of the Chinese Virus. Eradication! Secondly, the number of infection cases have dropped dramatically in India when the opposite is true of everyone else including China (where fresh outbreaks are popping up). Despite the high number of infections, neither the number of deaths nor the case rate have been high. They are amongst the lowest in the world. Fundamentally, the people have not been affected. At no point of time did we get into a situation where our health system was overwhelmed. Thirdly, it is now coming out that our industry and companies were also not that affected as in other countries despite our massive glitches. The economy is on spring back mode. Some more glitches will occur. That is par for the course. Fourthly, most importantly, we have indigenously developed vaccines and have the largest production capacities. A sum total indicates that we not only have the highest capacities but the expertise of running the largest vaccination program in the world. All put together, India has solutions to eradicate the Chinese Virus. Time to get into the Pant Pujara mode. Health is a major domain in which we must contend and better China. In fact, no other country has the wherewithal to do so. The fact that Indian vaccines will take care of Indians is a foregone conclusion. We need to emphasize that the Chinese Virus and China are the international problem and India is the solution. As the PM put it aptly. India will spare no effort to save humanity. The Indian policy to attend to neighbors first is sacrosanct. Also, the policy of responding to everyone without differentiation is even better. On this score I do not have any doubt that. We will accrue economic, diplomatic and political dividend. That is however incidental. This will also be the time to expose Chinese perfidy. Ideally the government should take on this mantle. However, for many reasons it might not be able to do so. Hence it is up to all Indians and our vaunted media to do it. Firstly, if the UK and South African strains of the virus can be called by country names, why not call it as the Chinese or Wuhan Virus? Let us restart doing that. Secondly, though China is acknowledged to have controlled the virus, it is untrue. Leaked documents reveal that from the initial stages, the number of cases were vastly under reported by China. Further all asymptomatic cases were not counted or reported. Beyond that there have been many instances where there have been large outbreaks and vast areas have gone into lockdowns and mass testing. Indicates that the Chinese Virus is alive and well in its womb. The numbers are hugely hidden. Also, in a country of 1.3 billion where the mortality rate is about 7 in a thousand, hiding about a lakh or more deaths due to the Virus (which could have taken place) is nothing great. Overall, the Chinese Virus was controlled partially only. It also shows that the Chinese are very susceptible to the Virus. The Chinese propaganda and theory that their system is better than democratic system is a fallacy. Our democratic recovery might have been chaotically slower. It is however surer. This needs widespread propagation. Thirdly, China has been promising everyone its vaccines as part of its ‘Health Silk Road’. However, so far delivery has been zero. Fourthly, the efficacy of Chinese vaccines is hugely suspect since no data has been made public. New York Times has come out with a poor and concerning report. Four different data has been put out for the efficacy of its vaccines ranging from 50% to 91%. Also, China has been cutting deals with many countries even before Phase 1 and 2 trials are complete and that too without data. Brazil has come out to say the Chinese vaccine it contracted has only 50% efficacy. More than 380 million doses are on order. Countries that have ordered Chinese vaccines will question utility of the vaccines. More importantly if China is using ineffective vaccines there will be internal problems. Image problems galore! Fifthly, there are whistleblower reports from China that their vaccines are very unsafe with many side effects. They also do not have the production capacity to make the vaccines they are promising. There is huge mistrust in the Chinese vaccines. Overall, China remains untrustworthy. I will not put it past them to peddle the virus itself in the garb of vaccines. Who knows? The Chinese greed to grab power is an all-consuming insanity. All these issues should be made fully public through established media. The lack of trust in anything China must be exposed. Any comparison of our capacities, transparency, efficacy and expertise puts us in a far better position than China. This must be rubbed in. Get into the controlled aggression mode. At the end, I will say that what was on display at Sydney was Indian Character – Unyielding as the Indian Armed forces are in Eastern Ladakh and the Indian people are against the Chinese Virus. 2021 is going to be a year of controlled aggression – against the PLA and the Chinese Virus. It will do well for all of us to remember that it is only India which has pushed PLA back and it is only India which will push the Chinese Virus back. Other articles by the author can be accessed @- https://www.gunnersshot.com/ All the images are provided by the author.