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Protest letter to Aurangzeb by a Hindu (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 01:02:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: Rajiv Varma <rvarma@ccaix.jsums.edu>
This is from SCI.
Following is a protest letter written to Aurangazeb by a contemporary
Hindu regarding his bigotry. The writer is said to have been Nil Prabhu
Munshi, a Brahmin adviser of Sivaji Excerpts are from R.A. MS. No.71The
writer , having recited the tolerant conduct of Akbar, Jahangir, and
shahjahan, proceeds:
-------
" Such were the benevolent intentions of your ancestors. Whilst they
pursued these great and generous principles, whoever they directed their
steps, conquest and prosperity went before them; and then reduced many
countries and fortresses to their obedience. During your majesty's reign,
many have been alienated from the empire, and further loss of territory
must necessary follow, since devastation and rapine now universally
prevail without restraint. Your subjects are trampled under foot, and
every province of your empire is impoverished, depopulation spreads, and
difficulties accumulate.....
If Your majesty places any faith in those books by distinction called
divine, you will there be instructed that God is the God of all mankind,
not the god of Muslims alone. The Pagan and the Muslim are equally in His
presence. Distinctions of color are of his ordination. It is he who gives
existence. In your temples, to his name the voice is raised in prayer; in
a house of images, when the bell is shaken, still He is the object of
adoration. To vilify the religion or the customs of other men is to set at
naught the pleasure of the almighty. When we deface a picture we naturally
incur the resentment of the painter; and justly has the poet said, "
Presume not to arraign or scrutinize the various works of power divine."
In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindus is repugnant to justice;
it is equally foreign from good policy, as it must impoverish the country;
moreover , it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of
Hindostan-------"
Indra -1
<indra1@aol.com>
