Numerous more episodes of Aurangzeb’s obsessive cruelty are described in the Islamic text Maasir-i-Alamgiri, including the plundering of Mathura and the destruction of the renowned Keshava Rai temple in January 1670.

He constructed a mosque in place of the temple that marked the spot where Lord Krishna was born, which was a crucial shrine in the Vedic tradition.
According to legend, the ornately jeweled idols were transported to Agra and allegedly placed beneath the Nawab Begum Sahib’s (Jahanara’s) mosque’s stairwell so that Muslims may step on them and crush them. The name of Mathura was changed to Islamabad at that time as a result of the destruction of the fundamental principles of deity worship.

The Devi Patan temple in Gonda and the Sita-Rama temple in Soron were both destroyed in the same year. Under the direction of Aurangzeb, the local ruler of Malwa also dispatched 400 soldiers to obliterate every temple in Ujjain. Additionally, as stated in Muraqat-i-Abul Hasan, soldiers and helpers were sent from Cuttack, Orissa, to Medinipur in Bengal with instructions to demolish every house devoted to a Vedic deity that had been constructed within the previous 12 years. Any such temples were not to be permitted to undergo modifications. These crimes persisted regularly, and numerous other descriptions might be given. Temples have been demolished twice or three times in many of these towns and communities.

It is therefore incredible that the Hindu people would keep constructing new temples despite the Muslims’ repeated attempts to destroy them. They had such deep spiritual revelations that they never wavered in their belief.
When the Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur once sided with the Brahmanas in a dispute posed by them, Aurangzeb became enraged. The guru was allegedly performing miracles that were against Islam, according to reports brought to the emperor.
The Guru was to be brought before Aurangzeb after he obtained an arrest order. Tegh Bahadur designated his son Govind Rai as the next guru before leaving with a few of his friends for Delhi to represent the Brahmanas. However, on July 12, 1675, they were apprehended and brought to Sirhind, where they were imprisoned for around four months before being sent to Delhi on orders from Aurangzeb.

Guru Tegh Bahadur was tortured while being held captive in Sirhind, and on November 5, 1675, he was finally transported to Delhi in an iron cage. The Guru and his five disciples were instructed to perform by the Subedar of Delhi and the royal Kazi.

miracles, convert to Islam or perish. He refused to convert and said he had no superhuman abilities. They were willing to accept death. Bhai Mata das was brutally sawed in half from the head down while being held erect between two logs. In a water-filled kettle, Dayal Das was cooked to death. While Sati das was bound in cotton and burned alive. Guru Tegh Bahadur was subsequently bound and executed on November 11 after being beheaded.

He would recite this advice to his disciples over and over again as he neared death: “Give up your life, but never your faith.”
When such atrocities are ordered on people for no other reason than that they won’t convert to a different faith, we can only picture the level of insanity and most sadistic malice that person must have possessed. However, given the barbaric methods that were imposed on Hindus and other non-Muslim people, this was not unusual.
Guru Tegh Bahadur sacrificed his life in this way to uphold the right to freedom of conscience and worship.

The abolition of all Sikh gurudwaras was thereafter another goal of Aurangzeb’s. Hundreds of Sikh children were murdered in Punjab by Muslim governors, who also forced Sikh women to consume the flesh of their dead children.

Banda, another outstanding Sikh, succeeded Guru Govind as the group’s leader. The Muslim ruler Bhadur Shah took him into custody and transported him to Delhi. Before his son was murdered in his presence, he was forced to consume the flesh of his own murdered children. Later, an elephant’s foot trampled Banda to death, killing him. Any Muslim who brought the head of a deceased Sikh was also paid.

To raise funds for the expansion of Islam and put an end to all “infidel” activities, the jizyah tax was once more levied on all Hindus in 1679. The Hindus arranged a blockade of Aurangzeb’s road to protest this.

On a Friday, they made their way to Delhi’s Jama Masjid mosque. Many persons were crushed to death when Aurangzeb ordered his troops to march the elephants through the crowd.
The Mirat-i-Ahmadi states that Darab Khan was dispatched with a powerful army to punish the Rajputs and demolish the Khandela Vedic temples.
He launched his assault in March 1679, and as a result, many temples in Khandela and Cannula were destroyed.

According to the Maasir-i-Alamgiri, Khan Jahan Bahadur traveled from Jodhpur in May 1679 with many carts filled with gods from the destroyed Hindu temples. Many of them had costly stones attached, which gave Aurangzeb justification for praising him. Aurangzeb ordered that some of these deities be taken to the exterior offices to be thrown away, while others were placed beneath the mosque’s steps to be trampled underfoot. They remained there until all traces of them were gone, and some of their fragments may be still visible today.
The Maasir-i-Alamgiri records that Khan Jahan Bahadur and prince Mohammad Azam were permitted to travel to Udaipur in January 1680.

Along with him, Ruhullah Khan and Yakkattaz Khan demolished several temples, some of which were regarded as the world’s wonders at the time.
When Aurangzeb visited the tank of Udayasagar, he commanded that the three Hindu temples there be demolished. When Hasan Ali Khan got there, he announced that 172 temples in the surrounding districts had also been demolished. Then, in February, Aurangzeb traveled to Chitor, where 63 other temples were purportedly destroyed. Additionally, around the same time, 66 additional temples in Amber, close to Jaipur, were demolished, according to Abu Tarab. Later, Mewar’s important Someshwar temple was also destroyed.

 

Source: Crimes Against India by Stephen Knapp

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