Thread by @ExplicitOpinion

My thread on "Glorifying invaders versus respecting your ancestors."

#1 History is one of the most important aspects of human life. It makes us realize the very basis of our social existence.

#2 Almost all our activities, pertaining to routine chores and lifestyle profoundly reflect our history. What we are today, is because what it was before. Perhaps, the place where I am sitting and writing this article might have a long turbulent history, where under ruthless

#3 Mughal regime, Hindus might have been subjugated to extreme torture. A ruler who might have solemnly pledged to carry mass expulsion or genocide of Hindus and wreaked havoc on the temples to eradicate Idolatry.....

#4 Yet, the place might have been named after him.

Nevertheless, history remains the best means to retrospect. It teaches you a lesson. Let’s talk in the context of India. With hindsight, one could analyze the flaws, weaknesses and faulty decisions that.......

#5 that made us vulnerable to the external attacks. The vicious assaults and offensives that tarnished the well-polished Indian culture. How a country once known as “The Golden Bird” was left to extreme poverty, starvation, and epidemics.

#6 How the religious fundamentalism led to the breaking up of an arm of India. One could contemplate that how the British East India Company came purely as a trading firm and gradually colonized the entire Indian subcontinent.

#7 How an erroneous decision of Emperor Jahangir 2 license them, turned into the biggest nightmare and plunged India’s fate into darkness for centuries.

#8 One could also ponder how the generosity and kindness of Hindus, led to predators taking undue advantage, since the time of Mahmud Ghaznavi.

#9 The Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur along with the screaming of endless Hindus beheaded during Aurangzeb’s regime, whose sound perhaps, still resonates within sacred Gurdwara Sis Ganj.

#10 Interestingly Sikkhism evolved in India, as an outrage against Islamic atrocities, which is a testimony to the fact that the deterioration had started much before the British arrived in India.

#11 The title of my thread is a question which kept striking my mind, since my childhood. As usual like any average student, the tedious task of reading bulky history textbook was something which I would prefer to avoid.

#12 In general, it glorified Mughal Emperors for their good governance and tolerance towards other faiths. In-depth paragraphs portraying them as intrinsically secular.

#13 Emphasizing on the mighty monuments they built, hiding the barbaric history associated with it. Amid all this, it was an aberration that unlike my other classmates, I could sense that something seriously appears to be wrong with the history being taught to us.

#14 Yet, I remained in a blissful ignorance. What I never knew was that this little curiosity would eventually develop an unrelenting apatite within me to decipher the version of history, which has been intentionally concealed from us since our childhood.

#15 Soon, I realized that there is much more to the Indian history than the just the Mughal Era. There has been much glorious past to which unfortunately many of us are alien.

#16 There have been magnificent pieces of art-work and architecture erected by our indigenous dynasties, which in some cases are formidably massive, while some are aesthetically appealing or even both. There is much more than Aurangzeb, Akhbar, Shah Jahan or Lal Quila,.....

#17 Just to give an example, not many of you might know that Chittaurgarh Fort in Rajasthan is the largest fort in India. It represents the valor and bravery of Maharana Pratap Singh and the great Rajputana Empire.

#18 It also reveals that we Indians were the greatest architects, ahead of our times. While Chittaurgarh Fort along with Jailsalmer and Mehrangarh fort give a neck to neck challenge to other Mughal era forts, Meenakhsi Amman Temple, Ramanathaswamy Temple,.....

#19 Ranganathaswamy Temple, Sarangapani temple, Padmanabhaswamy Temple etc, situated in South Indian testify that Indians also mastered the art of aesthetics. But quick enough we are to just answer Taj Mahal, when asked about the famous Indian monuments.

#20 All throughout Indian history, the social taboos are kept synonymous to Hinduism. Long extensive paragraphs on Sati and Caste system to brainwash that Hindus were the proponents of social discrimination. Although, the manner of exhibiting and depicting those beliefs and...

#21 prevalent at that time is utterly wrong. Yet, if one would believe it to be true. Wouldn’t it be doing injustice to the history to turn a blind eye on a similar phase, where the condition of the women declined miserably?

#22 It wouldn’t be a hyperbole to say that Sharia itself marked the commencement of the most horrific time for the Indian Muslim women, which compelled them to live in abominable conditions for centuries.

#23 Polygamy, Halala Nikaah, Nikah E Mutah were all institutionalized practices during the Islamic rule, which even today remain the bone of contention. Not to mention how women were devoid of education, who earlier would attend Gurukuls since Vedic times.

#24 How Burkha/ Purda was an intentional suppression of Indian culture, which once was open to an extent where women could take bath in open bonds during the time of Lord Krishna.

#25 When talking about the caste system, it becomes essential to mention that this social discrimination wasn’t confined to just Hinduism as made us to believe. Among Muslims, Sayyads and Shaiks were the Upper caste Muslims....

#26 Believed to be the descendants of Islamic nobility, they would get the utmost respect from the rest of the Muslims. Below them were the Mughals and Pathans who were no less in social status and were the decedents of the ruling class.

#27 Apart from other covert Muslims, Hajjam, Dhobi, Qasai etc were considered as lower caste Muslims. The Bhangi convert Muslims were the ones who were considered lowest among all and had to face discrimination quite often.

#28 The purpose of my writing this thread to draw light on the fact that if the Indian colonial history is said to have the most adverse impact on India, then why isn’t the cultural, social and religious damage inflicted during Mughal era equated the same?

#28 Why isn’t the demolition of Hindu temples shown as a dreadful aspect of Indian history? Quite conveniently the notorious incidents have always remained excluded from the history textbook, to ensure that Mughals are not shown in bad light.

#29 The infamous looting of Somnath Temple and demolition of its idols as many as seven times is an incident which must be emboldened as a deplorable consequence of Islamic Invasion. Also, the ideals and principles which made Prithviraj Chouhan pardon Mohammad Ghor, who in turn.+

#30 reciprocated it through backstabbing. In nutshell, narrating the history the way it is.
The title “Glorifying invaders versus respecting your ancestor” is apt for the current scenario given some anti-national forces running a stealth agenda to make today’s youth reluctant+

#31 to their roots. An agenda to divide Hindus both regionally and linguistically. Interestingly, it would also develop a sense of pride among many, acknowledging the secular nature of Hindus, +

#32 to absorb the diversity, despite differences and infinite atrocities committed on us in the past.