Aavarana- The Veil

by S L Bhyrappa

  I didn’t know what to do and began to walk forward. I spotted a sadhu sitting on the far end of a step facing the river. He had white, matted hair and the only clothing he wore was a soiled cloth, a little larger than the loincloth. Long years of exposure to the elements had turned his skin charcoal black. His form became clearer in the hot sun that emerges in the middle of the rainy season. At first I thought he was meditating or simply watching the river. I decided to find out and went closer. Perhaps it was the sound of my footfall or my shadow; he turned and looked at me. That took me by surprise and I found myself somehow forced to talk to him, but didn’t know what to say. Perhaps because the events of the last few hours had so fully occupied my mind, I decided that that was a good topic for conversation.

  ‘I’m sure you’ve heard the sounds coming from there.’ I pointed. ‘We are wrecking your Vishwanath temple and you’re sitting here calmly like nothing has happened.’

  He smiled gently, ‘You’ve accomplished your goal. May the Lord do good to you.’

  This threw me off… confused was closer to the truth. Was this destruction my goal? But it was with the intent of witnessing the Vishwanath mandir demolition, to reaffirm my faith in mighty Islam that I had beseeched the good offices of Hamdullah Sahib and the graces of the badshah’s favourite begum to be here. His remark sounded untrue, unjust even. I didn’t intend to demolish…well, at least he was wrong that I personally had something to do with this temple destruction. I thought of clarifying this but then his words weren’t entirely false either. And I found it difficult to form a proper response. I looked at his eyes and suddenly realized that his eyes were focused on me for a long time, as though he was visually prying me open. I figured he must have discovered something and this gave me a strange sense of confidence. I thought I’d found some logical basis to respond.

  ‘It’s not my goal. It’s the goal of the badshah who lords over the whole of Hindustan. The badshah is merely implementing the Will of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe who has despatched the badshah to this earth to rule Hindustan. But I have a question for you.’ I looked at him. ‘This God you call Vishwanath. His name means Lord of the World. What kind of a lord is he who cannot protect a temple built in his own honour? He is therefore a false god. And he is not alone—there are hundreds of thousands of such false gods in Hindustan. Which is why our badshah’s goal is to destroy these false gods and establish the power of the Only True God.’ I spoke excitedly, almost with a fury. ‘And by doing this, the badshah ultimately wants to put an end to ignorance and dark beliefs—the worship of multiple gods is the manifestation of ignorance. The badshah wants to permanently lay down the holy practice of worshipping the Only True God!’

  ‘Sit down,’ the sadhu said pointing to a place beside him. ‘You must not be standing when we’re discussing important matters like this.’ I sat down, relieved to rest my aching legs. I had only been standing since morning. ‘Where are you from? What do your parents do?’ he asked me, like an elderly man asks a young one, in a tone of almost condescension. How could I tell him I was from Devagarh, that my father was King Jagaveer Simha…but who was he to ask me such questions? I thought about it. It was a common custom to ask exactly such questions when you met a new person. And this custom existed even among Muslims. Indeed, it was more prevalent among us. The suffix bin, which followed the first name, was mandatory if your first name was to carry any legitimacy, and the name that followed bin indicated whose son you were. I guessed this was what he was asking me. He broke my thoughts with, ‘I can sense why you’re feeling uncomfortable, so let me tell you who you are. You’re from Rajaputana. You were captured in battle and your manhood was smashed and you were admitted to the service of the zenana. Am I right?’

  I trembled slightly. Sweat drops broke out on my body. Who was he? Surely, he was a siddha, a sage, an enlightened guru who knew the art of telling a stranger’s life story by just looking at his face. I felt like prostrating before him, but I was still quivering and so I sat there trying to still myself. ‘I know your opinion about me is changing fast. You’re now feeling a little afraid of me, a person who you thought just a few moments ago was a wandering beggar–sadhu dressed in rags. I’ll tell you the truth. I don’t know any magic. I have no special powers. I have travelled most of Hindustan and I get my food by begging. I’ve seen most of the holy places—the destroyed pilgrimage spots as well as those that still remain untouched. I’ve observed the differences in body type, height, build, personality and facial features of people belonging to different regions. Your face clearly shows that you’re from Rajputana. I notice that you’re well-fed and healthy but your face is lacklustre and shows the same bizarreness of expression similar to men whose masculinity has been broken. And the colour of your skin tells me that you’ve been protected from the sun for many years, which is how I concluded that you must be serving in a zenana. Is my guess correct?’

  I felt like a patient being subjected to a thorough, naked examination by an expert physician. How could such a patient even summon the courage to criticize or question the analysis of this extraordinary doctor? I was convinced that this man knew the very core of things like law, morals and God. When I spoke, my tone was supremely humble. ‘Maharaj, Islam has only one god but Hindus have thousands. That’s why Muslims are united and that’s also why Hindus are divided among themselves. Isn’t it true that they have lost their kingdoms everywhere, and Islam is triumphant all over Hindustan?’

  ‘Have you heard of Ganesh-worshippers inviting Muslims to kill Vishnu-worshippers? Or Parvati-worshippers doing the same to the devotees of Lakshmi?’

  I couldn’t recall any such episode and shook my head but pressed on, ‘But…but isn’t it true that temple after temple is falling in the face of Allah’s might? Doesn’t this prove that Allah is more powerful?’

  ‘Their conception of God is wrong. And we’re accepting their faulty conception only because we’re losing battle after battle. Your question stands on the same reasoning. We create our gods based on the stage of development we are at in matters of ethics, morals and spirituality. Allah is a jealous god. He casts into everlasting Hell anybody who worships another god. Doesn’t this mean that the man who created such a god was endowed with the same jealous spirit? And what kind of a faith is it that claims itself to be the only truth and allows no accommodation to any other that thinks differently? It is a faith driven by desire, greed, anger, pride, attachment and covetousness. Attaining victory in a war by employing unfair tactics and then attributing such victory as proof of the superiority of their faith…is this spiritually acceptable?’

  I was completely stumped. I hadn’t imagined that it was even possible to think about these things in this fashion. I saw him gazing at me, waiting for me to say something. Some minutes later, he said, ‘We believe that spirituality is the basis of faith. They don’t have the concept of spirituality. We believe that every man must grow, evolve, mature, and purify himself from the inside. It’s a slow, gradual, ceaseless, and lifelong process. Non-violence, truth, non-covetousness, celibacy, non-acceptance, purity, joy, penance, self-study…have you heard of these?’

  ‘Yes. When I was very young. Now, their meanings are hazy.’

  ‘Anybody who hasn’t purified himself first by observing these practices is not qualified to talk about God. Like I said, this is a continuous process and it is by such constant and unswerving practice that one grows spiritually. Every stage of such growth brings a different conception of God to your mind . And so, God simply represents the ethical state or the state of spiritual attainment of the person who has conceived that god. Now you tell me, what’s the level of spiritual evolution of someone who says that the god he has created is a jealous god who commands you to destroy the gods of other people?’

  This flew over my head. I could barely understand his words. I looked at his face blankly. He understood that I hadn’t understood, and said, ‘See, I believed that the essence of all religions is the same, the langu
age in which the rishis, the seers preach it is different. Some talk about it in positive terms while others, in negative terms: some call it “Asampragnata Samadhi” while others call it “Pragna”; some ask us to always adhere to truth while yet others ask us to abstain from untruth. Some preach about the means of achieving happiness, and some tell us how to prevent misery. But they’re all saying the same thing: living a virtuous life. The Vedantins, Yogis, Jains, Buddhists…I saw them as preaching the same thing but using different terminology. Differences were merely in name and form. I toured the whole of Hindustan and sought many learned gurus and scholars and discussed these things with them. Once I met a maulvi sahib. I had heard that he was unwilling to enter into debates with non-Muslims. He believed that his faith was supreme and besides, it was also the Last Commandment that God Himself had sent and so there was no question of granting even a second place to any other faith. When I met him, he narrated an incident about the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). He said that God sent many messages to him through his angel, Gabriel, and that the collection of these messages is called Koran, and that the narrations concerning the words and deeds of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) are called Hadis. These narrations were written down in order for the faithful to model their lives and conduct upon those of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). And so Koran is the Heard Revelations while Hadis are Revelations in action and they complement one another. Which is why the life and deeds of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) are as important as the Koran. The Koran must be understood in the light of the Hadis. Is my understanding correct?’

  ‘As far as I know, yes.’

  ‘Here is the incident that the maulvi sahib told me: the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) was eager to convert all the tribes in Arabia into his fold. One such was a Jewish tribe named Banu Qurayza. They were fiercely attached to their faith and it was impossible to get them to convert like other tribes. And Jews were excellent businessmen. They were shrewd and wealthy and they commanded wide-reaching influence. They were deeply religious and knew the Torah very well and they lived by its tenets. It seems Torah is also called the Old Testament, from which the Christians incorporated lots of teachings into their Holy Book, the Bible. The Koran came many many years after the Bible. And the Jews were well-respected because they were the people of the Oldest Book. It seems the Torah contains a prediction that a prophet will descend to the earth in future. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) thought that his new faith would be accepted throughout Arabia if he succeeded in getting the Jews to proclaim that he was that prophet promised in the Torah. He sent for the leaders of Banu Qurayza. They refused to recognize him as the promised prophet but they didn’t stop at that. They made secret pacts with other tribes who didn’t accept his prophet-hood and began a series of instigations against him. The prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) decided to teach them a lesson. He entered into a secret treaty with two Arab tribes that were on the side of Banu Qurayza and managed to besiege the fort of the Jews. After many days, the Jews gave up their fort and surrendered and begged the mercy of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). What happened next is important in light of your question. The soldiers of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) entered the fort and then came out with seven hundred Jews. The hands of the prisoners were twisted around and bound behind their backs. About 1,200 women and children were rounded up separately and pushed around like cattle. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) addressed the leader of the tribe: ‘You must definitely be punished. I will give you a choice. I’ll select one of your own and make him the judge. He will decide the punishment. His words will be final. Do you accept?’ They thought this was a good idea. One of their own would be lenient towards them. So they agreed. Now, the Jews had their share of infighting. Just some days ago, Sa’ad, a Jew, had waged war against Banu Qurayza, lost badly, was grievously wounded and had somehow managed to escape alive. The wounds inflicted by the arrows were still fresh. A female attendant of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) was deputed to serve him. He sent for Sa’ad, who arrived riding a donkey. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) addressed him, “You must pronounce the punishment these people deserve.” The prisoners loudly begged for mercy. Sa’ad’s pronouncement was clear and final: the men were to be beheaded and their property was to be divided among the victorious. Women and children were to be sold as slaves. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) approved and prayed to Allah to grant Sa’ad a high place in heaven. The women and children were herded to the city. That night, the prisoners were left on the vast field. Then they were offered a choice to convert to Islam and declare that Mohammad (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) was the promised prophet and save their lives. But the prisoners didn’t fear for their lives. They agreed to die than abandon their age-old faith. And so, the seven hundred of them spent the night reciting from the Book, giving each other strength and comfort. Meanwhile, the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) ordered his men to dig deep trenches in the middle of the city. In the morning, the prisoners were brought in batches of five or six and made to stand facing the trench. One man would chop the head off so that it landed in the trench and another would push the headless body. This murderous frenzy continued throughout the day till it was time to light the evening lanterns, and it finally ended in a heap of seven hundred heads and bodies with blood flowing like a stream. The soldiers that participated in the siege divided the women and children among themselves. Rihana, a twenty-two-year-old woman, was the most beautiful. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) selected her and offered to marry her. But she refused to give up her faith and so he kept her as his concubine. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) laid down that one-fifth of the spoils of war should go to him and the rest were to be divided between the soldiers. The women and children who remained after the division was complete were bartered for war horses and weapons. You know that in Islam one-fifth of the spoils of battle go towards the income of the state? This rule originated from this episode in the Prophet’s (Peace Be Upon Him) life. Have you heard this episode?’

  I nodded. I had. From Hamdullah Sahib’s mouth. In a state of respect mixed with fear.

  ‘So what lesson does this episode teach you?’ the sadhu asked.

  This time he gazed at my face more intensely like he was determined to extract some response from me. I blurted, unable to bear his blazing stare, ‘Everything that the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) does is inspired by God, right? Why didn’t the Jews accept the Prophet’s (Peace Be Upon Him) prophet-hood?’ This was a desperate answer and even as I said it, I knew it was not mine. Only my tongue spoke it but the words were Hamdullah Sahib’s…the same words, when he narrated this event to me.

  ‘Every man—saint, sadhu, prophet…whatever the garb—who speaks about his actions being directed by the voice of God is simply evading responsibility for his actions. Remember I told you that we create our gods based on which stage of development we are with respect to ethics, morals and spirituality? A commandment to worship only my god and no other is the highest form of egotism. Worshipping only one god also means that you worship the god I ask you to worship. Isn’t that so? Will they agree to worship the gods of other people and willingly give up theirs? Can they treat with love those people who don’t accept that God exists? Let me tell you, true spirituality doesn’t need God. Someone who doesn’t believe in God can still be spiritual. And to be truly spiritual, a person must cultivate the qualities of compassion, non-violence—in thought, word and deed—and celibacy, because unless you’ve defeated desire, you cannot defeat violence.’

  ‘Maharaj, are you saying that it is wrong to impose your religion on somebody you’ve defeated in war?’

  ‘Have you heard of a scripture called Yagnavalkya Smriti?’

  ‘No, maharaj.’

  ‘A verse from that says: if a king conquers another land, he must ensure that the family and social traditions of the conquered kingdom are preserved intact, as before, and are not tampered with. This is the message of our ancient sages. Have you heard of poet Kalidasa’s epic poem, “Raghuvamsham”?
’

  ‘No, maharaj.’

  ‘The poet describes the king Raghu as being a Dharmavijayi. Hundreds of years ago, a Kashmir scholar named Vallabhadeva classified kings into three categories. The first was Dharmavijayi, a king who, after defeating his enemy, allowed him to rule the territory as before but exerted administrative control over him. The second was Lobhavijayi, a king who, after defeating his enemy, snatched both his territory and treasury but spared the defeated king’s life. A king who after defeating his enemy not only snatched his territory and wealth but put him to death was called an Asuravijayi king…have you heard of Kautilya’s Arthashastra?’

  ‘I have. Scholars in my Respected Father’s court used to quote from it quite frequently. My teacher Shivapada Bhatt told me that he’d give me lessons in Arthashastra after my battle training was complete.’

  ‘I’ll tell you what it says about how defeated kings should be treated. It’s very detailed, so I’ll tell you just some of the important verses. If a king dies in battle, his wife, children, family, relatives and his wealth must not be taken as war spoils. People of all classes of the conquered kingdom must be left untouched and what’s more, must be further strengthened. The dead king’s son must be installed as the successor. This secures the loyalty of not only the son but the successive generations to the victorious king who treated his defeated rival with respect. Another verse describes how a victorious king must conduct himself: he must respect, preserve and himself cultivate the traditions, dress, manners and food habits of the defeated people. He must encourage high culture, learning and scholarship, and give generous land grants to people who have already achieved excellence in various fields. I can go on but the essence is that a triumphant king should respect and preserve the culture and traditions of the lands he has conquered. Our faith has prescribed this as a duty to kings.’