Somanatha: The Many Voices of a HistoryIn 1026, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni raided the Hindu temple of Somanatha (Somnath in textbooks of the colonial period). The story of the raid has reverberated in Indian history, but largely during the raj. It was first depicted as a trauma for the Hindu population not in India, but in the House of Commons. The triumphalist accounts of the event in Turko-Persian chronicles became the main source for most eighteenth-century historians. It suited everyone and helped the British to divide and rule a multi-millioned subcontinent. In her new book, Romila Thapar, the doyenne of Indian historians, reconstructs what took place by studying other sources, including local Sanskrit inscriptions, biographies of kings and merchants of the period, court epics and popular narratives that have survived. The result is astounding and undermines the traditional version of what took place. These findings also contest the current Hindu religious nationalism that constantly utilises the conventional version of this history. |
Contents
The Setting | 17 |
The TurkoPersian Narratives | 36 |
Sanskrit Inscriptions from Somanatha 133 | 73 |
Biographies Chronicles and Epics | 101 |
The Perceptions of Yet Others | 140 |
Colonial Interpretations and Nationalist Reactions | 163 |
Constructing Memory Writing Histories | 195 |
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Common terms and phrases
Al-Biruni Arab Asia attack attempt Bhadreshvar Bhava Brihaspati brahmans Brihaspati Buddhist centre century Chaulukya king chronicles claim colonial communities conquest context court culture deity Delhi destroyed destruction earlier epics Epigraphia Indica event Ferishta gates Ghazi Miyan Ghazni Gujarat Haji Hemachandra Hindu and Muslim historians historiography Ibid icon iconoclasm identities idol Indian history Islam Ismaili Jaina Jaina merchants Jaina temples Jaina texts Jainism K.M. Munshi Kaliyuga Kanhadade Kathiawar Khalji Kumarapala later lingam loot Mahmud of Ghazni Mahmud's raid Manat memory mention mosque Munshi Muslim Muslim rule narratives Nur-ud-din op.cit patronage period Persian pilgrimage pilgrims plunder political Prabhasa raid of Mahmud raid on Somanatha raja Rajput reference religion religious nationalism renovation rulers Sanskrit Sanskrit Inscriptions Saurashtra sects Shaiva Shaivism shrine social society Somanatha temple story Sufi Sultan temple at Somanatha Thapar tion trade tradition Tripurantaka Turkish Turko-Persian accounts Turks Veraval wealth western India worship Yavanas
Popular passages
Page 238 - Saint Worship in Indian Islam: The Legend of the Martyr Salar Masud Ghazi', ibid., pp.