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Religious fanatics played up the temple-mosque controversy with such persistence and exaggeration that many people have started regarding mo...

Religious fanatics played up the temple-mosque controversy with such persistence and exaggeration that many people have started regarding most Muslims rulers as temple bashers. Nothing could be further from truth. While some incidents of temple demolition took place, there are many examples of Muslim kings contributing to the construction as well as maintenance of temples, including some in famous pilgrimage centres.

According to documents of Mughal days, Akbar enlarged and consolidated all grants to temples and temple-servants in the Mathura region by his farmaans. Jehangir not only continued these grants, but substantially added to them. He added at least two temples to the list of the 35 already supported by Akbar8217;s grant of 1598. In addition, he provided land for families of temple sevaks. Jehangir also visited Vrindavan temple in 1620.

Tipu Sultan is known to have made grants to several temples. According to the journal Young India edited by Mahatma Gandhi, he made lavish gifts of land to Hindu temples. Temples dedicated to Shri Venkataramanna, Shrinivas and Shriranganath and located in the vicinity of Tipu8217;s palaces bear testimony to his toleration.

The nawabs of Oudh gave several grants to the temples of Ayodhya and provided them protection in other ways. The diwan of Nawab Safdarjung built several temples in Ayodhya and arranged for the repair of others. Nawab Safdarjung gave land for the construction of a temple at Hanumangarhi. Asafadullah8217;s diwan gave further help for the construction of the temple.

Documentation is available on several famous temples in Chitrakut, Varanasi, Ujjain, Allahabad and other places to confirm the grants made by Muslim rulers for their support.

In addition to supporting the maintenance of temples, several Muslim rulers also made efforts for the translation of Hindu scriptures in other languages and for supporting the religious learning of Hindu scholars. Akbar started a translations department to get the Ramayana and the Mahabharata translated into Persian.

In the Deccan kingdoms, sixteenth century king Adil Shah established a very good library, to look after which he appointed a Sanskrit scholar Vaman Pandit. His descendent Ibrahim Adil Shah was called the 8216;friend of the poor8217; and 8216;world8217;s teacher8217; due to his policies of benevolence and goodwill. In his songs he pays respects to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning.

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Bahmani Sultan Ala-ud-Din-II was devoted to Narasimha Saraswati, a great Hindu sage. Ibrahim II, the Adilshahi ruler of Bijapur, was also a devotee of Narasimha Saraswati. He built a small shrine near his palace in Bijapur and placed the paduka footwear of the sant here.

In Kashmir, fifteenth century king Zain-ul-Abdin sent messengers to call Hindus who had fled due to the intolerant policies of a predecessor. He was a scholar of Sanskrit as well Persian, and played an important role in translating parts of the Upanishadas into Persian. He publicly participated in Hindu festivals and constructed temples. In Bengal, Pathan kings like Sultan Nazir Shah and Sultan Hussain Shah followed similar policies and arranged for the translation of Mahabharata and Bhagwat Puran into Bengali.

In view of the easy availability of so many examples of the protection and support of Hindu temples, scriptures and saints by Muslim rulers, a question arises: why has this been ignored while the fanatics raise hell over the demolition of temples both real and imaginary in medieval times?