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Religious violence in India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religious violence in India includes acts of violence by followers of one religious group against followers and institutions of another religious group, often in the form of rioting.[1] Religious violence in India has generally involved Hindus and Muslims.[2]
Despite the secular and religiously tolerant constitution of India, broad religious representation in various aspects of society including the government, the active role played by autonomous bodies such as National Human Rights Commission of India and National Commission for Minorities, and the ground-level work being done by non-governmental organisations, sporadic and sometimes serious acts of religious violence tend to occur as the root causes of religious violence often run deep in history, religious activities, and politics of India.[3][4][5][6]
Along with domestic organizations, international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch publish reports[7] on acts of religious violence in India. Over 2005 to 2009 period, an average of 130 people died every year from communal violence, or about 0.01 deaths per 100,000 population.[citation needed] The state of Maharashtra reported the highest total number of religious violence related fatalities over that five-year period, while Madhya Pradesh experienced the highest fatality rate per year per 100,000 population between 2005 and 2009.[8] Over 2012, a total of 97 people died across India from various riots related to religious violence.[9]
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom classified India as Tier-2 in persecuting religious minorities, the same as that of Iraq and Egypt. In a 2018 report, USCIRF charged Hindu nationalist groups for their campaign to "Saffronize" India through violence, intimidation, and harassment against non-Hindus and Hindu Dalits.[10] Approximately one-third of state governments enforced anti-conversion and/or anti-cow slaughter[11] laws against non-Hindus, and mobs engaged in violence against Muslims or Dalits whose families have been engaged in the dairy, leather, or beef trades for generations, and against Christians for proselytizing. "Cow protection" lynch mobs killed at least 10 victims in 2017.[10][12][13]
Contents
- 1Ancient India
- 2Medieval India
- 3Colonial Era
- 4Modern India
- 5Statistics
- 6International human rights reports
- 7In film and literature
- 8See also
- 9References
- 10External links
Ancient IndiaAncient text Ashokavadana, a part of the Divyavadana, mention a non-Buddhist in Pundravardhana drew a picture showing the Buddha bowing at the feet of Nirgrantha Jnatiputra (identified with Mahavira, 24th tirthankara of Jainism). On complaint from a Buddhist devotee, Ashoka, an emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, issued an order to arrest him, and subsequently, another order to kill all the Ajivikas in Pundravardhana. Around 18,000 followers of the Ajivika sect were executed as a result of this order.[14] Sometime later, another Nirgrantha follower in Pataliputra drew a similar picture. Ashoka burnt him and his entire family alive in their house.[15] He also announced an award of one dinara (silver coin) for the head of a Nirgrantha. According to Ashokavadana, as a result of this order, his own brother, Vitashoka, was mistaken for a heretic and killed by a cowherd. Their ministers advised that "this is an example of the suffering that is being inflicted even on those who are free from desire" and that he "should guarantee the security of all beings". After this, Ashoka stopped giving orders for executions.[14] According to K.T.S. Sarao and Benimadhab Barua, stories of persecutions of rival sects by Ashoka appear to be a clear fabrication arising out of sectarian propaganda.[15][16][17]The Divyavadana (divine stories), an anthology of Buddhist mythical tales on morals and ethics, many using talking birds and animals, was written in about 2nd century AD. In one of the stories, the razing of stupas and viharas is mentioned with Pushyamitra. This has been historically mapped to the reign of King Pushyamitra of the Shunga Empire about 400 years before Divyavadana was written. Archeological remains of stupas have been found in Deorkothar that suggest deliberate destruction, conjectured to be one mentioned in Divyavadana about Pushyamitra.[18] It is unclear when the Deorkothar stupas were destroyed, and by whom. The fictional tales of Divyavadana is considered by scholars[19] as being of doubtful value as a historical record. Moriz Winternitz, for example, stated, "these legends [in the Divyāvadāna] scarcely contain anything of much historical value".[19]
Mediveval India
Historical records of religious violence are extensive for medieval India, in the form of corpus written by Muslim historians. According to Will Durant, Hindus historically experienced persecution during Islamic rule of the Indian subcontinent.[20] There are also numerous recorded instances of temple desecration, by Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist kingdoms, desecrating Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples.[21][22]Historian K. S. Lal in his book Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India claims that between the years 1000 AD and 1500 AD, the population of the Indian subcontinent decreased from 200 to 170 million.[23] He stated that his estimates were tentative and did not claim any finality.[24][25][26] These population estimates, however, have been questioned by Simon Digby[27] and Irfan Habib.[28] Will Durant calls the Muslim conquest of India "probably the bloodiest story in history".[29] During this period, Buddhism declined rapidly while Hinduism faced military-led and Sultanates-sponsored religious violence.[29] Even those Hindus who converted to Islam were not immune from persecution, which was illustrated by the Muslim caste system in India as established by Ziauddin Barani in the Fatawa-i Jahandari.[30] While Alain Danielou writes that, "From the time Muslims started arriving in 632 A.D., the history of India becomes a long monotonous series of murders, massacres, spoliations, destructions."[31]Sociologist G. S. Ghurye writes that religious violence between Hindus and Muslims in medieval India may be presumed to have begun soon after Muslims began settling there.[32] Recurrent clashes appear in the historical record during the Delhi Sultanate. They continued through the Mughal Empire, and then in the British colonial period.[33]
Religious violence was also witnessed during the Portuguese rule of Goa that began in 1560.[34]Hindu, Buddhist and Jain kingdoms (642–1520)
In early medieval India, there were numerous recorded instances of temple desecration by Indian kings against rival Indian kingdoms, involving conflict between devotees of different Hindu deities, as well as between Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.[21][22][35] In 642, the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I looted a Ganesha temple in the Chalukyan capital of Vatapi. Circa 692, Chalukya armies invaded northern India where they looted temples of Ganga and Yamuna. In the 8th century, Bengali troops from the Buddhist Pala Empire desecrated temples of Vishnu Vaikuntha, the state deity of Lalitaditya's kingdom in Kashmir. In the early 9th century, Indian Hindu kings from Kanchipuram and the Pandyan king Srimara Srivallabha looted Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka. In the early 10th century, the Pratihara king Herambapala looted an image from a temple in the Sahi kingdom of Kangra, which in the 10th century was looted by the Pratihara king Yasovarman.[21][22][35]In the early 11th century, the Chola king Rajendra I looted from temples in a number of neighbouring kingdoms, including Durga and Ganesha temples in the Chalukya Kingdom; Bhairava, Bhairavi and Kali temples in the Kalinga kingdom; a Nandi temple in the Eastern Chalukya kingdom; and a Siva temple in Pala Bengal. In the mid-11th century, the Chola king Rajadhiraja plundered a temple in Kalyani. In the late 11th century, the Hindu king Harsha of Kashmir plundered temples as an institutionalised activity. In the late 12th to early 13th centuries, the Paramara dynasty attacked and plundered Jain temples in Gujarat.[21][22][35] In the 1460s, Suryavamshi Gajapati dynasty founder Kapilendra sacked the Saiva and Vaishnava temples in the Cauvery delta in the course of wars of conquest in the Tamil country. Vijaynagara king Krishnadevaraya looted a Bala Krishna temple in Udayagiri in 1514, and he looted a Vittala temple in Pandharpur in 1520. Although different kings looted temples but civilians largely left unharmed.[21][22][35]Under the Arabs (7th–8th century)
The first holy war or ghazwa was carried out in 644 AD against Thane.[citation needed] In the early 8th century, jihad was declared on Sindh by the Arab Caliphate.[38] Also during this time, Muslim armies attacked Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in the northwest parts of the Indian subcontinent (now modern Pakistan and parts of Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab). Muhammad bin Qasim and his army assaulted numerous towns, plundered them for wealth, enslaved Buddhists and Hindus, and destroyed temples and monasteries.[39] In some cases, they built mosques and minarets over the remains of the original temples, such as at Debal and later in towns of Nerun and Sadusan (Sehwan).[40] All those who bore arms were executed and their wives and children enslaved. One-fifth of the booty and slaves were dispatched back as khums tax to Hajjaj ibn Yusuf and the Caliph. Other people however were granted safe conduct or aman and allowed to continue as before. Custodians of temples were also enslaved.As the third fitna, fourth fitna and other civil wars raged in Arab and Persian regions, and Sunni and Shia sects attempted to consolidate their positions, the religious violence in the western and northwest parts of Indian subcontinent against Hindus and Buddhists was limited to sporadic raids and attacks. In the late 8th century, the army of Abu Jafar al Mansur, under command of Amru bin Jamal attacked Hindu kingdoms in Barada and Kashmir, and took many children and women as slaves. The followers of Ali were expelled from Kandabil by Hisham, the governor of Sind.[41] Shia Muslims and sympathizers were expelled by Sunni armies after these raids. Similarly, adherents of Ali expelled Umayyad sympathizers and appointees.However, due to facing defeats at the hands of multiple Indian kings, Arab forces ultimately failed to conquer the subcontinent. The victorious rulers included Nagabhata I of the Gurjara-Pratihara kingdom, Vikramaditya II of the Chalukya empire, Bappa Rawal of Mewar and Lalitaditya Muktapida of Kashmir.[42]Minor dynasties (late 8th through 10th century)
The conflict between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian subcontinent may have begun with the Umayyad Caliphate in Sindh in 711. The state of Hindus during the Islamic expansion in India during the medieval period was characterised by destruction of temples, often illustrated by historians by the repeated destruction of the Hindu Temple at Somnath[43][44] and the anti-Hindu practices of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.[45]About 986 AD, the raids and violence from Muslim army of Sultan Yaminud Daula Mahmud and Amir Sabuktigin reached the Hindu kingdom of Jayapala, extending from Upper Indus River valley to Punjab.[46] After several battles, the Hindu king Jaipal sent a message to Sabuktigin that the war be avoided. His son Mahmud replied with the message that his aim is to "obtain a complete victory suited to his zeal for the honor of Islam and Musulmans". King Jaipal then sent a new message to the Sultan and his Amir, stating "You have seen the impetuosity of the Hindus and their indifference to death. If you insist on war in the hope of obtaining plunder, tribute, elephants and slaves, then you leave us no alternative but to destroy our property, take the eyes out of our elephants, cast our families in fire, and commit mass suicide, so that all that will be left to you to conquer and seize is stones and dirt, dead bodies, and scattered bones."[47] Amir Sabuktigin then promised peace in exchange for a large ransom. King Jaipal, after receiving this peace offer, assumed that peace is likely and ordered his army to withdraw from a confrontation. According to 17th century Persian historian Firishta and the 11th-century historian Al-Utbi states that Jaipala reneged on the treaty and imprisoned Sabuktigin's ambassadors. Sabuktigin marched out and destroyed the homes of Hindus around Lamghan. He then conquered other cities and he killed many Hindus. Al-Utbi describes the number of those who died and were injured in his invasion as "beyond measure". He later claimed his victories in the name of Islam.[47][48]Mahmud of Ghazni (11th century)
Mahmud of Ghazni was a Sultan who invaded the Indian subcontinent from present-day Afghanistan during the early 11th century. His campaigns included plundering and destruction of Hindu temples such as those at Mathura, Dwarka, and others. In 1024 AD, Mahmud attacked and the Hindu devotees, who John Keay presumes defend the temple instead of a standing army, fought him. He destroyed the third Somnath temple, killing over 50,000 around the temple and personally destroying the Shiva lingam after stripping it of its gold.[49][50] He made at least 17 raids into India.[51] The historian Al Utbi narrated the violence during war with Jaipala as,Mohammed Ghori (1173–1206)
Mohammed Ghori raided north India and the Hindu pilgrimage site Varanasi at the end of the 12th century and he continued the destruction of Hindu temples and idols that had begun during the first attack in 1194.[53]Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate, which extended over 320 years (1206–1526 AD), began with raids and invasion by Muhammad of Ghor. They were ruled by sultans and ghazis whose role was fighting against the non-Muslim kingdoms.[54]Qutb-ud-din Aibak (1206–1210)
Historical records compiled by Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the religious violence during Mamluk dynasty ruler Qutb-ud-din Aybak. The first mosque built in Delhi, the "Quwwat al-Islam" was built with demolished parts of 20 Hindu and Jain temples.[55][56][57] This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign.[58]Ghiyas ud din Balban (1266–1287)
The Hindus like the Miwattis had rebelled after the reign of Shams-ud-din Iltutmish. Balban after becoming the Sultan started suppressing them and executed about 100,000 of them according to Firishta. At Kampil and Pattiali in Uttar Pradesh of today, he executed many rebels. At Kateher, located across Ramganga, he ordered a general massacre of the males, including boys of eight years old after a mutiny arose. The army made the Hindus surrender after chasing them in the jungles.[59][60]Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316)
There was religious violence in India during the reign of Alauddin Khalji, of the Khalji dynasty.[62][63] The Khalji dynasty's court historian wrote (abridged),
Somnath Temple in Gujarat witnessed repeated destruction by Muslim armies in medieval India, followed by repeated reconstruction by Hindus.[36] Construction of new Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples, as well as the repairs of desecrated temples was forbidden during Delhi Sultanate.[61]The new Muslims who rebelled in 1311 were crushed with mass executions, where all men and even boys above the age of 8 were seized and killed.[65] Nusrat Khan, a general of Alauddin Khalji, retaliated against mutineers by seizing all women and children of the affected area and placing them in prison. In another act, he had the wives of suspects arrested, dishonored and publicly exposed to humiliation. The children were cut into pieces on the heads of their mothers, on the orders of Nusrat Khan.[66]The campaign of violence, abasement and humiliation was not merely the works of Muslim army, the kazis, muftis and court officials of Alauddin recommended it on religious grounds.[67] Kazi Mughisuddin of Bayánah advised Alauddin to "keep Hindus in subjection, in abasement, as a religious duty, because they are the most inveterate enemies of the Prophet, and because the Prophet has commanded us to slay them, plunder them, and make them captive; saying—convert them to Islam or kill them, enslave them and spoil their wealth and property."[67]The Muslim army led by Malik Kafur, another general of Alauddin Khalji, pursued two violent campaigns into south India, between 1309 and 1311, against three Hindu kingdoms of Deogiri (Maharashtra), Warangal (Telangana) and Madurai (Tamil Nadu). Thousands were slaughtered. Halebid temple was destroyed. The temples, cities and villages were plundered. The loot from south India was so large, that historians of that era state a thousand camels had to be deployed to carry it to Delhi.[68] In the booty from Warangal was the Koh-i-Noor diamond.[69]In 1311, Malik Kafur entered the Srirangam temple, massacred the Brahmin priests of the temple who resisted the invasion for three days, plundered the temple treasury and the storehouse and desecrated and destroyed numerous religious icons.[70][71]Tughlaq Dynasty (1321–1394)
After Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty assumed power and religious violence continued in its reign. In 1323 Ulugh Khan began new invasions of the Hindu kingdoms of South India. At Srirangam, the invading army desecrated the shrine and killed 12,000 unarmed ascetics. The illustrious Vaishnava philosopher Sri Vedanta Desika, hid himself amongst the corpses together with the sole manuscript of the Srutaprakasika, the magnum opus of Sri Sudarsana Suri whose eyes were put out, and also the latter's two sons.[70][72][73][74]Firuz Shah Tughluq was the third ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The "Tarikh-i-Firuz Shah" is a historical record written during his reign that attests to the systematic persecution of Hindus under his rule.[75] Capture and enslavement was widespread; when Sultan Firuz Shah died, slaves in his service were killed en masse and piled up in a heap.[76] Victims of religious violence included Hindu Brahmin priests who refused to convert to Islam:Under his rule, Hindus who were forced to pay the mandatory Jizya tax were recorded as infidels and their communities monitored. Hindus who erected a deity or built a temple and those who practised their religion in public such as near a kund (water tank) were arrested, brought to the palace and executed.[75][78] Firuz Shah Tughlaq wrote in his autobiography,Timur's massacre of Delhi (1398)
The Muslim Turko-Mongol ruler Timur's invasion of Delhi was marked by systematic slaughter and other atrocities on a large scale, inflicted mainly on the Hindu population,[80] which was massacred or enslaved.[81] He also massacred the Indian Muslim population.[82] One hundred thousand prisoners, mainly Hindus as well as many Muslims, were killed before he attacked Delhi.[82] Many more were killed when he reached Delhi.[83][84]Sikandar the Iconoclast (1399–1416)
After Timur left, different Muslim Sultans enforced their power in what used to be Delhi Sultanate. In Kashmir, Sultan Sikandar Shah Miri began expanding, and unleashed religious violence that earned him the name but-shikan or idol-breaker.[86] He earned this sobriquet because of the sheer scale of desecration and destruction of Hindu and Buddhist temples, shrines, ashrams, hermitages and other holy places in what is now known as Kashmir and its neighboring territories. He destroyed vast majority of Hindu and Buddhist temples in his reach in Kashmir region (north and northwest India).[87][88] Encouraged by Islamic theologian, Muhammad Hamadani, Sikandar Butshikan also destroyed ancient Hindu and Buddhist books and banned followers of dharmic religions from prayers, dance, music, consumption of wine and observation of their religious festivals.[89][90] To escape the religious violence during his reign, many Hindus converted to Islam and many left Kashmir. Many were also killed.[89]Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451)
After the massacres of Timur, the people and lands within Delhi Sultanate were left in a state of anarchy, chaos and pestilence.[91] Sayyid dynasty followed, but few historical records on religious violence, or anything else for that matter, have been found. Those found, including Tarikh-i Mubarak-Shahi describe continued religious violence. From 1414–1423, according to the Muslim historian Yahya bin Ahmad, the Islamic commanders "chastised and plundered the infidels" of Ahar, Khur, Kampila, Gwalior, Seori, Chandawar, Etawa, Sirhind, Bail, Katehr and Rahtors.[92] The violence was not one sided. The Hindus retaliated by forming their own armed groups, and attacking forts seized by Muslims. In 1431, Jalandhar for example, was retaken by Hindus and all Muslims inside the fort were placed in prison. Yahya bin Ahmad, the historian remarked on the arrest of Muslims by Hindus, "the unclean ruthless infidels had no respect for the Musulman religion".[93] The cycle of violence between Hindus and Muslims, in numerous parts of India, continued throughout the Sayyid dynasty according to Yahya bin Ahmad.Lodi dynasty (1451–1526)
Religious violence and persecution continued during the reign of the Lodi dynasty ruler, Sikandar Lodi. Delhi Sultanate's reach had shrunk to northern and eastern India. Sikandar made it a custom to destroy Hindu temples, example Mandrael and Utgir.[94] In 1499, a Brahmin of Bengal was arrested at Sambhal because he had attracted a large following among both Muslims and Hindus, with his teachings, "the Mohammedan and Hindu religions were both true, and were but different paths by which God might be approached." Sikandar, with his governor of Bihar Azam Humayun, asked Islamic scholars and sharia experts of their time whether such pluralism and peaceful messages were permissible within the Islamic Sultanate.[95] The scholars advised that it is not, and that the Brahmin should be given the option to either embrace and convert to Islam, or killed. Sikandar accepted the counsel and gave the Brahmin an ultimatum. The Hindu refused to change his view, and was killed.[95]Elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, a historian of Lodi dynasty times, described the state sponsored religious violence as follows,[96]“ He (Lodi) was so zealous of a Musulman that he utterly destroyed diverse places of worship of the infidels. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura, the minefield of heathenism. Their stone images were given to the butchers to use them as meat weights,[97] and all the Hindus in Mathura were strictly prohibited from shaving their heads and beards, and performing ablutions. He stopped the idolatrous rites of the infidels there. Every city thus conformed as he desired to the customs of Islam. – Táríkh-i Dáúdí[98] ” Mughal Empire
- Babur, Humayun, Suri dynasty (1526–1556)
Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan of the Lodi dynasty, in 1526. Babur ruled for 4 years and was succeeded by his son Humayun whose reign was temporarily usurped by Suri dynasty. During their 30-year rule, religious violence continued in India. Records of the violence and trauma, from Sikh-Muslim perspective, include those recorded in Sikh literature of the 16th century.[99] The violence of Babur, the father of Humayun, in the 1520s, was witnessed by Guru Nanak, who commented upon them in four hymns. Historians suggest the early Mughal era period of religious violence contributed to introspection and then transformation from pacifism to militancy for self-defense in Sikhism.[99] According to autobiographical historical record of Emperor Babur, Tuzak-i Babari, Babur's campaign in northwest India targeted Hindu and Sikh pagans as well as apostates (non-Sunni sects of Islam), and immense number of infidels were killed, with Muslim camps building "towers of skulls of the infidels" on hillocks.[100] Baburnama, similarly records massacre of Hindu villages and towns by Babur's Muslim army, in addition to numerous deaths of both Hindu and Muslim soldiers in the battlefields.[101]In 1545, Sher Shah Suri led a campaign of religious violence across western and eastern provinces of the Empire in India. As with theologians and court officials of Delhi Sultanate, his advisors counseled in favor of religious violence. Shaikh Nizam, for example, counseled, "There is nothing equal to a religious war against the infidels. If you be slain you become a martyr, if you live you become a ghazi."[102] Sher Shah's Mughal army then attacked the Hindu fort of Kalinjar, captured it, killing every Hindu infidel inside that fort.[102]- Akbar (1556–1605)
Akbar is known for his religious tolerance. However, in early years of his reign, religious violence included the massacre of Hindus of Garha in 1560 AD, under the command of Mughal Viceroy Asaf Khan.[103][104] Other campaigns targeted Chitor and Rantambhor. Maulana Ahmad, the historian of that era, wrote of the battle at Chitor fort,“ They (Hindus) committed jauhar (...). In the night, the (Muslim) assailants forced their way into the fortress in several places, and fell to slaughtering and plundering. At early dawn the Emperor went in mounted on an elephant, attended by his nobles and chiefs on foot. The order was given for a general massacre of the infidels as a punishment. The number exceeded 8,000 (Abu-l Fazl states there were 40,000 peasants with 8,000 Rajputs forming the garrison). Those who escaped the sword, men and women, were made prisoners and their property came into the hands of the Musulmans.
– Maulana Ahmad, Tarikh-i Alfi[105]” Another historian Nizamuddin Ahmad recorded the violence during the conquest of Nagarkot (modern Himachal Pradesh), as follows,“ The fortress of Bhun, which is an idol temple of Mahámáí, was taken by valor of the (Muslim) assailants. A party of Rajputs, who had resolved to die, fought till they were all cut down. A number of Brahmins, who for many years had served the temple, never gave one thought to flight, and were killed. Nearly 200 black cows belonging to the Hindus, during the struggle, had crowded together for shelter in the temple. Some savage Turks, while the arrows and bullets were falling like rain, killed these cows one by one. They then took off their boots and filled them with the blood, and cast it upon the roof and walls of the temple.
– Nizamuddin Ahmad, Tabakat-i Akbari[105]” - Jahangir (1605–1627)
Nur-ud-din Mohammad Salim (Jahangir) was the fourth Mughal Emperor under whose reign religious violence was targeted at Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. A companion of Jahangir, and Muslim historian, described the religious violence as,[106]“ One day at Ahmedabad, it was reported that many of the infidel and superstitious sect of the Seoras (Jains) of Gujarat has made several very great and splendid temples, and having placed in them their false gods, had managed to secure a large degree of respect for themselves. Emperor Jahangir ordered them to be banished from the country, and their temples to be demolished. Their idol was thrown down on the uppermost step of the mosque, that it might be trodden upon by those who came to say their daily prayers there. By this order of the Emperor, the infidels were exceedingly disgraced, and Islam exalted.
– Intikháb-i Jahangir-Shahi[106]” Jahangir's orders to torture and execute Guru Arjun, in 1606, is considered by scholars[107] to be a turning point in Sikh history, after which Sikhs considered militancy and religious violence against the Mughal Empire as necessary to protect their faith and loved ones. Violence against the Mughal Empire was thereafter viewed by the Sikhs as the only practical form of protest against religious persecution and Islamic orthodoxy.[108][109] The religious violence between Sikhs and Muslims increased thereafter, and ultimately led to the formal inauguration of khalsa (military brotherhood) in 1699 by the tenth Sikh guru, Gobind Singh.[110]- Shah Jahan (1628–1658)
During Shah Jahan's reign, his soldiers attacked seven temples and "violently seized and appropriated them for their own use in Punjab".[citation needed]
