Talk:Mathura

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Quotes about Mathura

 * Who is that person who will not agree to worship the land of Mathura? Mathura can deliver all the desires and ambitions of the fruitive workers and of the salvationists, who desire to become one with the Supreme Brahman. Certainly Mathura will deliver the desires of the devotees, who simply aspire to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord."
 * Padma Purana

Quotes about Ahmed Shah Durrani in Mathura

 * The Hindu Bethlehem now lay utterly prostrate before the invaders. Early at dawn on 1st March the AfghAn cavalry burst into the unwalled and unsuspecting city of MathurA, and neither by their master's orders nor from the severe handling they received in yesterday's fight, were they in a mood to show mercy.  For four hours there was an indiscriminate massacre and rape of the unresisting Hindu population - all of them non-combatants and many of them priests' 'Idols were broken and kicked about like polo-balls by the Islamic heroes.' [Husain Shahi, 39.] Houses were demolished in search of plunder and then wantonly set on fire.  Glutted with the blood of three thousand men, SardAr JahAn Khan laid a contribution of one lakh on what remained of the population and marched away from the smoking ruins the same night. 'After the tiger came the jackal.  'When after the massacre Ahmad ShAh's troops marched onward from MathurA, Najib and his army remained there for three days, plundered much money and buried treasure, and carried off many beautiful females as captives.' [Nur, 15 b.] The blue waves of the JamunA gave eternal repose to such of her daughters as could flee to her outstretched arms; some other happy women found a nearer escape from dishonour by death in their household wells.  But for those of their sisters who survived there was no escape from a fate worse than death.  A Muslim eyewitness thus describes the scene in the ruined city a fortnight later.  'Everywhere in the lanes and bazaars lay the headless trunks of the slain and the whole city was burning.  Many buildings had been knocked down.  The water of the JamunA flowing past was of a yellowish color, as if polluted by blood.  The man [a Muslim jeweller of the city, robbed of his all and fasting for several days] said that for seven days following the general slaughter the water had turned yellow.  At the edge of the stream I saw a number of huts of vairAgis and sannyAsis [i.e., Hindu ascetic], in each of which lay a severed head with the head of a dead cow applied to its mouth and tied to it with a rope round its neck.' 'Issuing from the ruins of MathurA, JahAn Khan roamed the country round, and plundering everywhere as directed.  VrindAvan, seven miles north of MathurA could not escape, as its wealth was indicated by its many temples.  Here another general massacre was practised upon the inoffensive monks of the most pacific order of Vishnu's worshippers (c. 6th March).  As the same Muhammadan diarist records after a visit to VrindAvan: 'Wherever you gazed you beheld heaps of the slain; you could only pick your way with difficulty, owing to the quantity of bodies lying about and the amount of blood spilt.  At one place that we reached we saw about two hundred dead children lying in a heap.  Not one of the dead bodies had a head'  The stench and effluvium in the air were such that it was painful to open your mouth or even to draw breath.'... 'Moving a fortnight behind his vanguard, the AbdAli king himself came upon the scene.  He had stormed Ballabhgarh on 3rd March and halted there for two days.  On 15th March he arrived near MathurA, and wisely avoiding that reeking human shambles crossed over to the eastern bank of the Jamuna and encamped at MahAvan, six miles south-east of the city....'
 * Jadunath Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal Empire, Volume II, Fourth Edition, New Delhi, 1991, p.70-71

Quotes about Mahmud of Ghazni in Mathura

 * From that place the Sultãn proceeded to a certain city, which was accounted holy by the people of the country. In that city the men of Ghaznîn saw so many strange and wonderful things, that to tell them or to write a description of them is not easy' In short, the Sultãn Mahmûd having possessed himself of the booty, burned their idol temples and proceeded towards Kanauj.
 * Mahmud of Ghazni.   Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV : Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Volumes, Allahabad Reprint, 1964. p. 178-80


 * 'From that place [Mahãwan] the Sultãn advanced to Mathurah, which is a large city containing many temples' and the Sultãn completely destroyed the city and burnt the temples' There was one golden idol which was broken up under the orders of the Sultãn''...
 * Mahmud of Ghazni. The Tabqãt-i-Akbarî translated by B. De, Calcutta, 1973, Vol. I, p. 11-16


 * 'From thence he went to Mathra which is a place of worship of the infidels and the birthplace of Kishan, the son of Basudev, whom the Hindûs Worship as a divinity - where there are idol temples without number, and took it without any contest and razed it to the ground. Great wealth and booty fell into the hands of the Muslims, among the rest they broke up by the orders of the Sultãn, a golden idol''
 * Mahmud of Ghazni. Muntakhãbut-Tawãrikh, translated into English by George S.A. Ranking, Patna Reprint 1973, Vol. I, p. 17-28


 * 'Mahmood having reached Tahnesur before the Hindoos had time to take measures for its defence, the city was plundered, the idols broken, and the idol Jugsom was sent to Ghizny to be trodden under foot''...'Mahmood having refreshed his troops, and understanding that at some distance stood the rich city of Mutra, consecrated to Krishn-Vasdew, whom the Hindoos venerate as an emanation of God, directed his march thither and entering it with little opposition from the troops of the Raja of Delhy, to whom it belonged, gave it up to plunder. He broke down or burned all the idols, and amassed a vast quantity of gold and silver, of which the idols were mostly composed. He would have destroyed the temples also, but he found the labour would have been excessive; while some say that he was averted from his purpose by their admirable beauty. He certainly extravagantly extolled the magnificence of the buildings and city in a letter to the governor of Ghizny, in which the following passage occurs: 'There are here a thousand edifices as firm as the faith of the faithful; most of them of marble, besides innumerable temples; nor is it likely that this city has attained its present condition but at the expense of many millions of deenars, nor could such another be constructed under a period of two centuries.'...'The King tarried in Mutra 20 days; in which time the city suffered greatly from fire, beside the damage it sustained by being pillaged. At length he continued his march along the course of a stream on whose banks were seven strong fortifications, all of which fell in succession: there were also discovered some very ancient temples, which, according to the Hindoos, had existed for 4000 years. Having sacked these temples and forts, the troops were led against the fort of Munj'....'The King, in the year AH 410 (AD 1019), caused an account of his exploits to be written and sent to the Caliph, who ordered it to be read to the people of Bagdad, making a great festival upon the occasion, expressive of his joy at the propagation of the faith.'
 * Mahmud of Ghazni. Tãrîkh-i-Firishta, translated by John Briggs under the title History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, first published in 1829, New Delhi Reprint 1981, Vol. I, pp. 27-37.

Quotes about Sikandar Lodi in Mathura

 * He got the temples of the infidels destroyed. No trace of infidelity was left at the place in Mathurã where the infidels used to take bath. He got caravanserais constructed so that people could stay there, and also the shops of various professionals such as the butchers, bãwarchîs, nãnbãîs and sweetmeatsellers. If a Hindu went there for bathing even by mistake, he was made to lose his limbs and punished severely. No Hindu could get shaved at that place. No barber would go near a Hindu, whatever be the payment offered.
 * Sikandar Lodi. Wãqiãt-i-Mushtãqî, by Shykh Rizqullãh Mushtãqî, in: Uttara Taimûra Kãlîna Bhãrata, Persian texts translated into Hindi by S.A.A. Rizvi, 2 Volumes, Aligarh, 1958-59. Vol I. p. 102 ff, and In Goel, S.R. Hindu Temples - What happened to them


 * 'He was a stout partisan of Islãm and made great endeavours on this score. He got all temples of the infidels demolished, and did not allow even a trace of them to remain. In Mathurã, where the infidels used to get together for bathing, he got constructed caravanserais, markets, mosques and madrasas, and appointed there officers with instructions that they should allow no one to bathe; if any Hindû desired to get his beard or head shaved in the city of Mathurã, no barber was prepared to cut his hair.
 * Sikandar Lodi. Tabqãt-i-Akharî, Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Uttara Taimûr Kãlîna Bhãrata, Aligarb, 1958. Vol. I, In Goel, S.R. Hindu Temples - What happened to them


 * He was so zealous a Musalmãn that he utterly destroyed divers places of worship of the infidels, and left not a vestige remaining of them. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathurã, the mine of heathenism, and turned other principal Hindu places of worship into caravansarais and colleges. Their stone images were given to the butchers to serve them as meat-weight, and all the Hindus in Mathurã were strictly prohibited from shaving their heads and beards, and performing their ablutions''...
 * Sikandar Lodi. Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Volumes, Allahabad Reprint, 1964. Eliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, pp. 439-467


 * 'The Islamic sentiment (in him) was so strong that he demolished all temples in his kingdom and left no trace of them. He constructed sarãis, bazãrs, madrasas and mosques in Mathurã which is a holy place of the Hindûs and where they go for bathing. He appointed government officials in order to see that no Hindû could bathe in Mathrã. No barber was permitted to shave the head of any Hindû with his razor. That is how he completely curtailed the public celebration of infidel customs''...
 * Sikandar Lodi. Tãrîkh-i-Khãn Jahãn Lodî, Translated from the Urdu version by Muhammad Bashîr Husain, second edition, Lahore, 1986, pp. 172-179. In Goel S.R. Hindu Temples What Happened to them. Tãrîkh-i-Khãn Jahãnî wa Makhzan-i-Afghãnî of Khwãjah Niamatallãh Harwî, translated into Urdu by Muhammad Bashîr Husain, second edition, Lahore, 1986.