A Ready Reckoner of Aurangzeb’s Industrial Scale Temple Destructions

This article was originally posted on the Dharma Dispatch Substack.

THIS EPISODE FEATURES a ready reckoner of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s prolific temple destructions across India. Copious evidence for this is available directly from Aurangzeb’s Farmans (royal orders) and Akhbarat (news reports), William Crooke’s Handbooks, De Graaf’s chronicles, Charles Stewart’s accounts and Jadunath Sarkar’s five extraordinary volumes on Aurangzeb.

We give a list of more than thirty Hindu temples that Aurangzeb destroyed in a vast geography that includes Agra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Karnataka. That’s almost seventy percent of undivided India’s landmass.

Aurangzeb’s reign is undoubtedly the worst of bad news as far as the Hindu civilisational memory is concerned. In fact, the attitude towards Aurangzeb shown by some powerful sections of the contemporary Muslim community in India offers some of the most telling evidences for this fact. Some representatives of the Muslim clergy today, especially on TV debates, are quite candid in their assertion that the Gyanvapi “mosque” is a settled facti.e., Hindus have no claim over the original Kashi Visvavantha Temple.

THE LIST OF DESTROYED HINDU TEMPLES featured in this podcast is just the tip of the iceberg. The mere sight of a Hindu temple aroused extreme hatred within Aurangzeb.

But it was also a gift and an inspiration for posterity. Therefore it is unsurprising that that a whole gamut of future fanatics like Shah Waliullah, Syed Ahmed Khan, Allama Iqbal and Zia-ul-Haq… all of them regarded Aurangzeb as a role model and lamented the loss of his guidance for properly putting the infidel Hindus in their place. But in this historical backdrop, it is clear that the final chapter of this story of temple destructions has still not been written.

This podcast episode provides valuable lessons from this slice of Aurangzeb’s long and brutal career of persecuting Hindus. These are lessons that must not be forgotten.

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FAQs

What is this podcast episode about?

The episode presents a ready reckoner of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s temple destructions across India. It focuses on the historical record and the episode’s stated lessons for Hindu civilisational memory.

What sources does the episode cite for Aurangzeb's temple destructions?

The post says the evidence is drawn from Aurangzeb’s Farmans and Akhbarat, William Crooke’s Handbooks, De Graaf’s chronicles, Charles Stewart’s accounts, and Jadunath Sarkar’s volumes on Aurangzeb.

How many Hindu temples does the episode say Aurangzeb destroyed?

The post says the podcast gives a list of more than thirty Hindu temples destroyed by Aurangzeb. It also states that this list is only the tip of the iceberg.

Which regions are mentioned in relation to the temple destructions?

The post names Agra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Karnataka. It describes this geography as covering almost seventy percent of undivided India’s landmass.

Why does the post connect Aurangzeb's reign with Hindu civilisational memory?

The post argues that Aurangzeb’s reign had a severe impact on Hindu civilisational memory because of widespread temple destructions and religious persecution. It says these historical lessons should not be forgotten.