Tuesday, 13 September 2016

WHY GHAZNI MAHUMUD ATTACKED THE SOMNATH TEMPLE ?




Until the rise of the west, India was richest country in the world. Such a country presented an irresistible target for the revenging Mongols and their who settled in present day Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan all within comparatively easy reach of north-west India.

The Northwest was at this time a mish-mash of warring kingdoms more interested in sending scores with their neighbors than in unifying against the Mongols. It is then unsurprising that muhmud ghaznavi’s armies so handily defeated those of the Indian kings.

Born in 971 AD mahmud ghaznavi was the eldest son of subuktagin, the king of ghazni (in present days Afghanistan) when subuktagin attacked king of jaipala of Punjab, muhmud fought for his father in the battlefield.

Though mahmuad was the eldest son of his father it is said that in his last days subuktagin was nit hally with mahmud so when subuktagin died in 99t AD his younger son Ismail became the king of ghazni. Ismail reigned only for a little time very soon mahmud defeated him and became king.

Mahmud began a series of seventeen raids to northwestern India at the end of the 10th century nonetheless    he did not attempt to rule Indian Territory  except for Punjab which was his gateway to India.

His first expedition was directed against for frontier towns in 1000 AD

His second expedition was against jaipala the hindushahi king of Punjab whom he defeated in the first battle of waihind jaipala could not survive the shock of humiliation and he burn himself  to death. He was succeeded by his son andapala in 1002 AD.

In his sixth expedition. Mahmud defeated andapala in the II Battle of waihind (1008) Andapala had Organized a confederacy of  rulers uijain , Gwalior, kalimjar, kannuj,
Delhi and ajmer but the alliance was defeated.

In his other expeditions, Mahmud plundered Nagarkot Thaneshwar, kannauj, mathura and somanth.

After looting the somanth temple, when Mahmud was going back to ghazni the Jats had attacked his army. So to punish the Jats he returned and defeated them in 1026.
The objective of Mahmud’s expeditions was to plunder the riches of temples and places was not interested in expanding his empire to India , However he later annexed Punjab and   made it part of his kingdom, just have easy access.

  1. He portioned (Persian poet known as Homer of the east ) who wrote sahnama
  2. Alberuni ( a brilliant scholar from Central Asia) who wrote Tahqiq-I-Hind.
  3. Utbi (Court Historian ), who wrote Kitab-ud-yamni.

 History of Somnath Temple Gujarat

The Somanth Temple located in the Kathiarwar region of Gujarat is one twelve jyotirings (golden lingas) symbols of the God Shiva. It is Mentioned in the Rig Veda Somath mean “Then protector of the moon God”. It is known as the Shrine Eternal as although the temple has been destroyed six times it has been rebuilt every single time.

The fist temple  of somanth is said to have existed before the beginning of the Christian Era. The Second temple built bu the Maitraka Kings of Vallabhi in Gujarat replaced the first one on the same site around 649 AD in  725 junayad , the Arsb governor of Sind sent his armies to destroy the second temple

The pratihara king Nagabhata II constructed the third in 815 AD a large  structure of red stone sandstone. Mahmud of Ghazni attacked this in 1025 AD and looted it of gems and precious Stones. He then Massacred the worshipers  and  had the temple burnt, it was then that the famous Shiva lingam of the temple was entirely destroyed

The temple and Citadel were sacked and most of its Defenders massacred, Mahmud  personally Hammered the temple’s glided  in to pieces and the stone fragments were carted back to Ghazni, where they were incorporated into the steps of the City’s new Jamiah Masjid.

The fourth was built by the paramara king Bhoj of Malwa and the Solanki king Bhima of Gujarat between 1026AD and 1042AD. The wooden  structures was replaced by kumarpal who built the temple of stone. The temple was razed  in 1297 when the sultanate of Delhi conquered Gujarat and again in 1394 AD. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple again in 1706 Ad.

The present temple is the seventh temple built on the original site. It was complete on December 1, 1995 and then president of India Dr.Shankar Dayal sharma dedicated it in the service the nation. The present  temple was built   by  the Shree Somnath Trust looks after  the entire complex of shree somnath and its environs.


                                  Source : winentrance.com


    

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