Sikandar Butshikan
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Sikandar Butshikan (Sikander the iconoclast) was the second Sultan of the Sayyid Dynasty of Kashmir 1389-1413 CE. During the Sayyid dynasty Islam was firmly established in Kashmir and his rule has been considered controversial by some due to his rigid policies in Kashmir.
In consonance with the customs in Delhi and elsewhere, Sikandar created the office of Sheikh-ul-Islam and more importantly, decided that the Islamic Law should be valid instead of the traditional law. But, as in other places, that may have been restrictied mainlt to the personal law. He also began the process of social reformation of the society and prohibited the selling of wine, public dancing of women, gambling, etc. One of the most important reformation was the banning of the hindu custom of sati (immolation of a hindu widow on her husband's funeral pyre).[1] He was first ruler who abolished the practice of Sati.
It was during Sikander's reign that a wave of sufi saints and scholars headed by Mir Muhammad Hamadani (1372-1450) arrived in Kashmir in 1393.[2]
"In those days he promoted a Brahmin, named Seeva Dew Bhut, to the office of prime minister, who embracing the Mahomedan faith, became such a persecutor of Hindus that he induced Sikundur to issue orders proscribing the residence of any other than Mahomedans in Kashmeer; and he required that no man should wear the mark on his forehead (Tilak), or any woman be permitted to burn with her husband’s corpse (Sati). Lastly, he insisted on all golden and silver images being broken and melted down, and the metal coined into money. Many of the Brahmins, rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves; some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming Mahomedans. After the emigration of the Brahmins, Sikundur ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down; among which was one dedicated to Maha Dew, in the district of Punjhuzara, which they were unable to destroy, in consequence of its foundation being below the surface of the neighbouring water. But the temple dedicated to Jug Dew was levelled with the ground; (...) but Sikundur (...) did not desist till the building was entirely razed to the ground, and its foundations dug up. In another place in Kashmeer was a temple built by Raja Bulnat, the destruction of which was attended with a remarkable incident. (....) Having broken all the images in Kashmeer, he acquired the title of the Iconoclast, ‘Destroyer of Idols’." [3]
"He [Sikandar] prohibited all types of frugal games. Nobody dared commit acts which were prohibited by the Sharia. The Sultãn was constantly busy in annihilating the infidels and destroyed most of the temples...[4] he strived to destroy the idols and temples of the infidels. He demolished the famous temple of Mahãdeva at Bahrãre. The temple was dug out from its foundations and the hole (that remained) reached the water level. Another temple at Jagdar was also demolished… Rãjã Alamãdat had got a big temple constructed at Sinpur. (...) the temple was destroyed [by Sikandar].[5] Sikander burnt all books the same wise as fire burns hay. All the scintillating works faced destruction in the same manner that lotus flowers face with the onset of frosty winter."[6]
Not to be confused with Sikandar Lodhi, Sultan of Delhi.
[edit] References
- ^ Annemarie Schimmel (in English). Islam in the Indian subcontinent (illustrated ed.). BRILL, 1980. pp. 303. ISBN 9004061177, 9789004061170.
- ^ M.S. Asimov, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson, Ahmad Hasan Dani, Unesco, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Muḣammad Osimī, János Harmatta, Boris Abramovich Litvinovskiĭ (1992). Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Muḣammad Osimī. ed (in English). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. 4. Paris: Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1999. pp. 485. ISBN 8120815955, 9788120815957.
- ^ (Muhammad Qãsim Hindû Shãh Firishta : 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)
- ^ (Haidar Malik Chãdurãh: Tãrîkh-i-Kashmîr; edited and translated into English by Razia Bano, Delhi, 1991, p. 55.)
- ^ (Khwãjah Nizãmu’d-Dîn Ahmad bin Muhammad Muqîm al-Harbî: Tabqãt-i-Akbarî translated by B. De, Calcutta, 1973)
- ^ (Srivara, Zaina Rajtarangini)
