I have often wondered how the mausoleums, tombs and graves of  marauders and plunderers and the mosques built by them after tearing down temples of Hindus, Jains and Buddhists (which were our civilizational pride and original heritage) have come to be regarded as national heritage.    Unfortunately our sham-secular Samaj has turned the word heritage on its head by bestowing unwarranted national pride and high status on alien invaders who ruthlessly killed lakhs of innocents, destroyed thousands of beautiful temples and mercilessly pillaged our glorious heritage. This deliberate travesty of truth has caused me endless consternation. I am therefore compelled to share my thoughts on the subject with this august assembly of Indian historians. 

My heart aches when I see the Archaeological Society of India and INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) proactively trying to present the tombs of  barbaric  invaders who inflicted unspeakable atrocities on the Indian people, including ruthless killings and reckless plunder, as something of which we should feel proud by calling these as our ‘national heritage’.   Sometime in the middle of the year 2008 there was a news item in the mainstream English press bemoaning the dilapidated condition of the tomb of Ghiasuddin Balban.   It was argued that the tomb of this great slave king was an important ‘heritage’ structure which ought to be renovated and protected for the benefit of the posterity. Now who was this Balban who has to be regarded as our pride, our heritage, and who must be presented to the posterity as representative of our glorious tradition?  Was he a benign ruler fit to be glorified as a national icon?    No he was not, never was.  According to Minhaj Siraj, a Muslim historian and contemporary of Balban, the slave king made war on the ruler of Avadh, King Trilokyavarman of  Chandela dynasty, and after defeating the valiant king carried away his wife, sons and dependants as slaves.  Twice Balban had attacked the kingdom of Bhojpur and in the process enslaved a large number of women and children.  Similarly in Katihar he had ordered a massacre of all males above 8 years of age and enslaved the hapless Hindu women. He  also attacked Mewat and Shivalik regions,  ravaged the kingdom of  Ranthambore, and made a proclamation that any soldier of his army who brought alive a captive kaffir would be rewarded with 2 silver tankahs and the one who brought the head of a killed kaffir will be rewarded with one tankah. I do not know how the INTACH and the ASI are hell-bent on erasing these acts of wanton barbarism by  Balban  in an inglorious bid to present his tomb as something of which the Indian people and the posterity should be proud.

Again in the months of November and December, 2008, several articles appeared in a number of  Delhi-based English newspapers bemoaning the fate of  a dilapidated 13^th century monument called Lal Mahal, located in Nizamuddin area, (built by Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah)  which had been encroached upon by some greedy builders.   While no one can condone the guilt of the avaricious builder in encroaching upon a structure and the land over which he had no title, the reams of paper written by scribes in mainstream English newspapers completely ignored the fact that the ruthless Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah was neither a just ruler, nor a noble soul.     He, too, was a barbarian to the boot who took sadistic pleasure in killing and tormenting his innocent subjects.  Therefore, the palace built by Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, a predecessor of Balban, cannot qualify to be called as our national heritage.   The National Capital Region, i.e., Delhi State, has a long list of 173 so-called heritage monuments, protected by Archaeological Survey of India many of which are reminders of our eerie past when invader after invader killed lakhs of innocent Indians and destroyed our heritage.   Many of these are tombs and palaces of barbarians, symbols of our national shame. If we have any sense of national pride then all such monuments need not be preserved   - not at least by the tax payers’ money.  Nor should they be placed on high pedestal and paraded as our national heritage.

Last update : 28-02-2009 11:41

Keywords : RK Ohri, Ram Kumar Ohri, Heritage, tombs, Hindus

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