How intolerant was Aurangzeb?

At the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor in Varanasi last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi said ldquoWhenever an Aurangzeb comes along a Shivaji riseshellip Invaders like Aurangzeb who put Kashi to the sword have long been relegated to the dark pages of historyrdquo His speech was designed to rekindle the ire of Hindus against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb on whose order a substantial portion of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple was brought down in 1669 A year later he had Mathurarsquos Keshava Deva Temple demolishedThese two instances have been taken from historian Audrey Truschkersquos list of temples the Mughal emperor razed during his reign But Truschke also documents in Aurangzeb The Man and The Myth evidence of Aurangzeb protecting Brahmin priests and gifting land to templesModi will not tell Varanasi that Aurangzeb in 1659 ordered the city officials to desist from interfering in the affairs of local temples In 1680 he ensured protection to a Varanasi ascetic Bhagwant Gosain from harassment In 1687 Aurangzeb gave uninhabited land on a ghat in Varanasi to Ramjivan Gosain to build houses for ldquopious Brahmins and holy faqirsrdquo To the Jangam a Shaivite sect based there he restored land unfairly confiscated from themContrast Aurangzebrsquos concern for Varanasi with Modirsquos indifference to the disruption of the Friday congregational prayer of Muslims in Gurugram which is 30 km from his residence The above examples have been cherry picked from Truschkersquos longer list of instances that demonstrate Aurangzebrsquos regard for Hinduism and its followersModi will not explain to Varanasi the contradictory strands of Aurangzebrsquos religious policy because it would shatter the stereotype of Muslim rulers destroying temples and converting Hindus to Islam The Hindu Right claims that 60000 temples were demolished under the Muslim rule Historian Richard M Eaton puts that figure to just 80 Eaton has been faulted for counting simultaneous destruction of temples in a city as apparently happened in Varanasi during Shah Jahanrsquos reign as oneIn a 2015 interview to me Eaton said the precise number of temples desecrated in Indian history cannot be tallied because the evidence from the past is like a jigsaw puzzle which has 30 to 50 per cent of pieces missing A complete picture of the Muslim rule cannot be had Eaton said adding that his figure of 80 destroyed temples was based on indisputable evidenceNumbers apart Truschke is right when she says ldquoA historically legitimate view of Aurangzeb must explain why he protected temples more often than he demolished themrdquo Historians say Muslim rulers often but not always targetted temples when these became loci of political subversion The Brahmins of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple were accused of facilitating Shivajirsquos escape from Aurangzebrsquos custody The Mathura temple was patronised by Aurangzebrsquos rival Dara ShikohForget the past were not military operations conducted against armed militants holed up in Amritsarrsquos Golden Temple in 1984 The same fate for the same reason befell CharareSharief in Kashmir in 1995 Both religious sites were extensively damaged Even modern states do not tolerate subversionThe portrayal of Aurangzeb as a zealot is contradicted by the presence of highranking Hindu nobles in his administration Historian M Athar Ali calculated that Hindus constituted 225 per cent of all nobles under emperor Akbar At the end of Aurangzebrsquos reign in 1707 the 225 per cent ballooned to 316 per centBy contrast Muslims constitute just 128 per cent of Modirsquos Union Council of Ministers Chandar Bhan Brahman and Raja Raghunath were among Aurangzebrsquos most trustworthy and powerful ministers The only Muslim minister in the Modi government oversees the relatively less important ministry of minority affairsThe iconoclasm of Muslim rulers seems exceptional because the national movement imagined ancient India as the land of ahimsa and innocent of imperial violence Yet we know that ruling dynasties such as the Pratiharas Pallavas Chandellas Rashtrakutas Pandiyans and many others raided temples whisked away deities patronised by their rivals and like Muslim rulers would occasionally demolish templesLikewise school textbooks do not narrate the story that Buddhism disappeared from India because its followers were hounded by Brahmins and their royal patrons Buddhists were tortured including having their tongues plucked out and killed Monasteries were attacked and burnt down Historian DN Jharsquos Against the Grain and archaeologist Giovanni Verardirsquos Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India furnish a long list of monasteries destroyed or turned into Hindu templesVerardi writes that when British surveyor Francis Buchanan reached Bodh Gaya in 1811 he found there just one surviving Buddhist who listed sacred Buddhist spots appropriated by Hindus in that district Given Hindutvarsquos refusal to compromise on the Babri Masjid site in the past the current joint HinduBuddhist control over the Mahabodhi temple complex is emblematic of injustice rather than gracious accommodationSuppressed histories explain why Modi can so easily weaponise the memory of Aurangzeb to harvest votes Yet his electoral triumphs will neither make India into a Vishwa Guru or teacher of the world nor frighten China into retreating from territories India claims as its own It seems Modirsquos solace lies in taking vengeance on rulers who died centuries agoThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper