R S S Constantly Mentions the Raja
Modi said that the manner in which the poor and people from backward classes came to Raja Suhaldev’s support in repelling foreign invaders, in a similar manner the Bhavya Ram Mandir will be constructed at Ayodhya with support from people of the entire country.
Who is Raja Suhaldev?
Very little is known about Raja Suhaldev today. He was an 11th Century ruler from the backward Pasi community of Shravasti, a kingdom which was located in present-day Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. He is said to have ruled the state from 1027 to 1077.
It is generally agreed that Raja Suhaldev had defeated Ghazi Salar Masud in the Battle of Bahraich in 1034 and killed the invader. Earlier, the local Raja of Bahraich had formed a confederation of Hindus to combat Salar Masud, however, the Islamic invader managed to defeat them. Ghazi Salar Masud was the nephew of barbaric invader Mahmud of Ghazni.
Masud had managed to conquer Multan, Delhi, Meerut and marched forward. Along the way, the Islamic invader displayed his fanaticism and is said to have destroyed numerous Hindu Temples and Mutts. His advent was halted by Raja Suhaldev.
After several kings were defeated by him, some other kings from Meerut, Badaun, Kannauj etc decided to ally with him instead of fighting against his mighty army. After conquering these places, Masud had planned to invade Ayodhya, a sacred city for Hindus. But to reach Ayodhya, his army had to cross Bahraich first, a place under Shravasti. But Raja Suhaldev became aware of Masud’s plans, and he prepared a counter-attack. He talked to kings of the neighbouring states, and they together formed a large defence force against the invader.
Although the Suhaldev’s army had to face defeat initially, the king motivated the soldiers to fight back with full force, saying that not a single foe should not return alive. After days of intense battle in 1034, Raja Suhaldev was able to trap Salar Masud, and the Muslim invader was killed in the battle. According to legends, none of the 1.5 lakh soldiers in Masud’s army survived the battle.
Masud was buried in Bahraich, and in 1035 CE, a dargah was built to commemorate him.The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) claims that the site was once an ashram (hermitage) of the Hindu saint Balark Rishi, and was converted to a dargah by Feroze Tughlaq.
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He is mentioned in the 17th century Persian-language historical romance, Mirat-i-Masudi.
Modi and other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party have paid homage to the legendary King in the past as well. In 2016, then BJP President Amit Shah inaugurated a statue to the iconic King in 2016 and launched a book on him. Shah described him as a “Rashtriya Nayak” whose accomplishment ought to serve as an inspiration to the youth of today.
Shah had said, “Brave King Suheldev is not forgotten by the people of this country even after 1,000 years. People who don’t remember their brave ancestors cannot make history. Only those who carry on with their fight can make history.” Prime Minister Modi released a commemorative postage stamp on Raja Suhaldev two years later.
The Indian Railways, has reversed its policy of not naming trains after personalities and started the Suheldev Express between Ghazipur and Delhi.Salar Masud, popularly known as Ghazi Miyan, has a mausoleum in Bahraich which attracts people, during his uroos (death ceremony) celebrations every year.
The poet Amir Khusro alluded to him in a letter he wrote in 1291. In 1341, the Moroccan traveler Ibn Batuta accompanied the Sultan of Delhi, Mohammad bin Tughlaq, to the Bahraich shrine. Tughlaq’s successor Firoz Shah Tughlaq had his head shaved after .Masud’s death turned him into a martyr.His commander subsequently slew Suheldev.These details, spun in manifold ways, have been taken from Mirat-i-Masudi or Mirror of Masud, a Persian hagiography written by Abdur Rahman Chishti in the 1620s. A biography authored six centuries after the subject’s death, obviously, raises several questions about its authenticity.
This point is made sharply by historian Shahid Amin in his work, Conquest and Community: The Afterlife of Warrior Saint Ghazi Miyan.Bahraich’s warrior-saint appeared in his dream. In 1571, the Mughal emperor Akbar made a land grant for the upkeep of the Ghazi Miyan shrine.
In 1950, Hindu Mahasabha, and the Ram Rajya Parishad organised a fair at Chittora village, Bahraich district, to commemorate the memory of Suhaldev (same as Suheldev), writes Badri Narayan in his book Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Mobilisation. The fair was to be inaugurated by a state-level Congress leader at whose house Nehru and Gandhi had stayed on their visits to Bahraich.On the day of inauguration, however, a member of the Bahraich dargah committee complained to the administration that a riot-like situation had been created. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code – prohibiting the gathering of more than five people – was imposed, triggering a riot.Enthused, local Congress leaders inaugurated the fair. A statue of Suhaldev was erected, a temple was subsequently built around it, writes Narayan. In 2001 the Maharaja Suhaldev Sewa Samiti was floated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Three years later, a five-day celebration was inaugurated by Yogi Adityanath, then the BJP MP from Gorakhpur.Suhaldev was also mentioned by Prime Minister Modi in an Independence Day Speech and again, in Ayodhya, he made a reference to the Monarch during his speech at the Ram Mandir Janmabhoomi ceremony. The King who belonged to the Dalit community defeated the Islamic invader and helped protect the Hindu Civilization from further plunder.
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| The grave of Salar Masud in Bahraich |
A novel on Suhaldev has been written by Amish Tripathi,published in June,2020.Legend of Suheldev: King Who Saved India is the eighth book by Amish Tripathi, and the first book from The Immortal Writers’ Centre.
The story begins in 1025 when Mahmud of Ghazni sacks Somnath Temple and breaks the idol of Lord Shiva. The prince of Shravasti, Malladev, dies trying to save the temple. When his brother Suheldev comes to know of this, he feels enraged and promises retaliation.
Together with his father King Mangaldhwaj, Suheldev goes to Kannauj to ask for King Ajitpal's help in countering Mahmud's further attacks. But instead, they are insulted and sent back. On their way back, they notice a Turkish camp and engage in a fight with them. They kill all of them and realize that the Turks can be beaten if taken by surprise. So, Suheldev decides to exile himself and attack the Turks by surprise while pretending to have rebelled against King Mangaldhwaj so that Mahmud doesn't attack Shravasti.
Years pass and by 1029, Suheldev becomes famous as the bandit prince and a thorn in the side of the Turks. During this time, he also loots Qasar Khan, a special envoy of Mahmud and the governor of Kannauj but treats his wife with respect and is kind to his six year old. After looting them, he lets them go. He also visits Bareilly and meets a Turk called Aslan who is a disciple of the Sufi saint Nuruddin Shaikh. Once a maulvi, called Zayan gets into a conflict with Nuruddin calling him a supporter of kafirs and Zayan's nephew attacks Nuruddin. In order to save Nuruddin, Aslan attacks Zayan's nephew, killing him in the process. Due to this Nuruddin casts Aslan away as he hates bloodshed. Suheldev who was watching this befriends Aslan and invites him to join his team to which he agrees. He sometimes goes to spy on Turk soldiers for Suheldev as he himself is a Turk and understands Turkish.
In 1030, the Turks attack Delhi. Delhi's king Mahipal Tomar is killed in the battle and the Turks win. After winning, the Turks kill all the soldiers and men in Delhi, not even sparing babies. Women are sold in slave markets. Everyone who was related to the king is killed so that there can be no claim to the throne except for two people — Jaichand, Mahipal's son-in-law and the ruler of Sirat who wasn't present in Delhi and the king's commander-in-chief Govardhan whose father was the king's fifth cousin. Govardhan is saved because he retreats in time with a band of 30 soldiers.
Govardhan decides to go to Sirat for Jaichand's help but on the way, a woman tells him that Jaichand is a supporter of the Turks and he would hand him over to them and that was the reason why he didn't help Mahipal in the battle. The woman is later revealed to be Suheldev's spy and tells him the whereabouts of Suheldev and Govardhan joins his team.
Suheldev and his team go to villages attacked by the Turks. On one such visit, he goes to a village of leather workers which is destroyed by the Turks and all the people killed except a woman called Toshani who was saved because she was away when the Turks attacked. Toshani used to be a soldier in Kannauj army but deserted it when Kannauj surrendered to Mahmud of Ghazni. Toshani joins Suheldev's team. Suheldev later falls in love with Toshani.
In one of his attack on Turks, Suheldev is gravely injured and could have died, had Aslan not saved him. But it turned out that Aslan was actually Mahmud's nephew Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud in disguise and he only helped and saved Suheldev to kill him at the right place and at the right time so that he may be made into a good example. It also turns out that he went to meet Karim in his spy mission, who was the head of Turkish invasion of India. It is also revealed that Karim was Maqsud's lover.
In the meantime, Mahmud dies of some unknown reason and a civil war breaks out among his sons. As a result, all the Turk armies are called back and so is Maqsud as he was Mahmud's strongest commander in chief. So he tells the news of Mahmud's death to Suheldev saying Turks are not going to attack India for some years as they are into a civil war. He further tells him that he is not required in the mission for sometime as the Turks are gone and he is going to find some new sufi master for himself. Thus, he leaves Suheldev and sets back to Ghazni in order to help Mahmud's rightful heir get the throne. In the mean time, Mangaldhwaj dies of cancer and Suheldev returns to his kingdom and ascends the throne. Before his death, Mangaldhwaj, had created a confedracy of 21 kings to repel any Turkic invasion and Suheldev leads it.
In 1033, the war of succession in Ghazni ended with Mas'ud I of Ghazni as the new sultan who killed his younger brother Muhammad of Ghazni to get the throne. After becoming the emperor, he sends Salar Maqsud to India with a very large army to make it a part of the Ghaznavid Empire.
As he enters northwest India, Suheldev send his guru to Rajendra Chola for help. It is revealed that it was actually Rajendra Chola who ordered for Mahmud's assassination to avenge Somnath temple. Rajendra Chola agrees to help Suheldev.
As Maqsud advances, Ajitpal joins him with the Kannauj army. Maqsud also goes to Suheldev disguised as Aslan and gets all the information about his war strategy. But it's then revealed that Aslan was actually Maqsud's twin brother Salar Masud who supported Indians.
The battle day finally arrives. The Kannauj army refuses to fight for Maqsud and rebels but the army of Manohargarh joins Maqsud with its king Jaichand.
Finally in 1034, a fierce battle is fought at Bahraich in which Suheldev kills Jaichand but Govardhan's hand is fractured, Abdul loses an eye and Toshani is gravely injured. Suheldev is on the verge of losing but the Chola army arrives right in time to save the day. Every single Turk in their army of 60000 is killed and their bodies burned for the Turks didn't fear death but feared cremation as they believed it stops one's entry to heaven. Salar Maqsud is captured and beheaded by Suheldev publicly. His body is burnt and its ashes are sent to Ghazni in an urn. His head is preserved and sent to Ghazni along with his ashes with a message inscribed on his forehead — "Come to India as devotees and our motherland will welcome you. But come as invaders and we will burn every single one of you."
After this incident, Somnath temple is reconstructed and no foreigner dares to look at India for the next 150 years.
The thrust of this entire novel is lack of unity in our society, basically due to caste structure and parochialism, and how the invaders took and still take advantage of this division. But, if there is a kshatriya king who is ready to be a slave to an Islamic invader rather than work with a low caste king, there is also an Indian Muslim whose love for his motherland doesn’t allow him to be lured by the call of violent pan-Islam. He refuses to buy the cruel and barbaric definition of Islam. There are more Muslim characters here who are show preference for the Sufi tradition against the violent strain of Islam.
Responding to the Marxist apologia about loot and destruction by Islamic invaders, the author tells bluntly through the hero, “Why do you think they attack our temples and destroy our idols? Wouldn’t it be more logical and rational for them to treat the idols as hostages and force us to give them money? They don’t do that because they are using our belief and faith to destroy our morale, to destroy our spirit. Because, they think that conquering a demoralised populace is much more easier. We have to pay them back in their own coin.”
© Ramachandran
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