by Daud Shawni
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The Temple of Hanuman
To crush an uprising among the Hindus, the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, marched his army across the plains of southern India. His devotion to the letter of Islam was famous and he had no patience either for rebellion or for the paganism and idolatry he saw among the inhabitants of his empire. During his reign, Aurangzeb razed many Hindu temples and, using the same stones, built mosques in their place. Though he hesitated to put Hindus to the sword and did not often force conversion to Islam, he considered his empire a Muslim one and exerted himself to convert his subjects to the faith to which he and his fathers had sworn allegiance. But secretly in his heart he wondered at the proliferation of faiths among men and how so many millions could deny God and continue to crawl in dust before their worthless idols. He said, "Has the truth not come? Has falsehood not vanished away?"
As Aurangzeb marched with his army through the land, he came upon a temple to Hanuman, the monkey. According to the Ramayana, Hanuman served Lord Rama. Rama had been a king of Ayodhya many centuries before. The people believed Rama was an incarnation of God and that Hanuman, his servant, was a deva of great power.
When he came upon the stone temple, Aurangzeb ordered his soldiers to destroy it. The emperor found it offensive. He said, "Men should not worship a monkey, or make obeisance to idols, for there is no god but God." As he spoke these words, and as his soldiers approached the temple, a young and beautiful Brahmin boy, dressed in saffron-colored robes, came out to greet them. He asked to speak to the emperor, but Aurangzeb's soldiers worried that this was a ruse and that the boy planned some harm upon their master. So they tied the boy's hands and bound his arms and legs in bark and brought him to Aurangzeb's carriage where the Emperor reclined beneath the shade of the many branches of a golden rosewood tree.
Aurangzeb said, "What do you want, boy?"
The child said, "I am a friend, my Lord, and your subject. I am a supplicant. I've come to petition you to spare the temple. I make my home here and have nowhere else to go. Your great army has come and the ground trembles at their approach. Like devas they are arrayed in splendid armor; their arms as thick as the trunks of elephants, their weapons shining and glorious, like rays of the sun shimmering upon a restless sea. Their shadow clouds the world and their shouts terrify rakshasas and devas alike. What will become of those who would oppose this army or their glorious lord, the emperor of this world? Confronted by these men, your subjects are helpless and entreat your protection from them.
"O king of nations, as the black hair on your head and your face is tinged with white, so is your irresistible strength colored with wisdom. O conqueror of the world, you are a splendid jewel befitting both crown and throne. Your father named you properly. You are the greatest of your line. You are the noblest son of noble fathers. You are the strength of God on Earth, and I am terrified before you. I can offer nothing more than friendship and obedience. My poor home is worth less than the least jewel upon your breast; this ancient temple, less than a single stone set upon a ring on your smallest finger. You are the maintainer of what is proper and the keeper of dharma, and lord of the entire world. Allow me to pay homage to your sovereignty and to laud and glorify your name in my temple if you will but spare it."
Aurangzeb said, "You speak sweetly. Your voice is the nightingale. Your words are honey and heavenly wine. Your beauty is soothing collyrium. But I am Muslim. What have I to do with dharma?"
The boy said, "My Lord, you are the hand of dharma, you are a god among the gods. What you say is law. Be wise as your fathers were wise, for your strength outstrips their own; let your mercy therefore outstrip your strength. This is dharma. Do what must be done and act according to righteousness and godliness. This is dharma. Spare this poor boy's home upon the hill. This is dharma, O king, O master of the world and conqueror of the nations. I am a supplicant and a servant and make obeisance to you as Hanuman made obeisance to Sri Rama."
Aurangzeb said, "I won't spare this temple or leave one stone standing upon another. I will keep its foundation and you will build a mosque here, a place proper for the worship of God. This temple to a monkey is an offense to God. Idolatry is not permitted in my empire or among my subjects."
The boy said, "Noble king, I'm not a worshipper of idols nor are those who come to this temple. It is holy and consecrated to God. So too would your mosque be holy, even as you built it with the stones pulled down from temples before it. Yet just as your sons are your flesh and blood, honor this temple as you would have your sons honor their father. Build a mosque nearby, for everywhere there are stones not yet used to build a house in which to worship God."
Aurangzeb said, "This wretched and ruined shrine is not holy, nor was it ever. This temple is offensive. Islam is not the child of Hinduism nor should Muslims honor Hindu temples, for there is no relation between them. Idolatry is an offense. The worship of other deities is an offense. There are no devas; there is no god but God."
The youth said, "What makes your mosque holy and this shrine unholy? Our ancient texts commemorate the Land of the Seven Rivers and acknowledge the holiness of those rivers. What made these seven rivers holy? They were not intrinsically so, for what river is virtuous, or faithful, or loving? Recall the mighty Sarasvati, called by ancient priests and sages the best of all rivers, the best mother, the holiest goddess.
The Sarasvati flows; she is our sure defense, our iron fortress.
Like a chariot she hurtles forward; who could resist her?
"The river fed a million mouths, and drowned those careless in her current. Yet she went dry and nothing remains of her, except a few broken-hearted remnants and mentions in the Vedas. But can you claim that this extinct river never fed those millions or drowned those forgotten children? It was holy; this is true. But consider what made it so?
"Nothing is holy except that Vishnu accepts it, invests it with holiness. God is not for the river; the river is for God and commemoration of Him. If you circumambulate the ashram, remember the One for Whom the ashram exists. What dharma is preserved by a stroll around lifeless stone, except that God commands it?
"Muhammad prayed toward Jerusalem, but God commanded him to turn toward the Kaba. Jerusalem was not commemorated, nor the Kaba. These are but places. Yet you accuse of idolatry those who turn toward the image of Vishnu, or Brahma, or Shiva. Yes, some are in error by worshipping the images themselves. But not all are in error, for others turn to the three names of the One to worship God, just as you turn toward the qiblah, not worshipping the qiblah, but the One who established the direction of prayer."
Aurangzeb said, "But the Holy Prophet destroyed idols! They were thrown down and cast into cleansing fire. Their presence made the Kaba unclean. Follow Muhammad's practice and throw these idols down and help us wreck this shrine and accept a sweet reward. I will make you a prince; I will reward you on Earth and God will reward you in Paradise."
The youth said, "I need no reward. Muhammad did not destroy every idol. Still an image of Mary the mother of Jesus he left intact. Though Christians were in error for their use of icons, Muhammad did not arise among Christians. He was born among Arabs who did not use idols to commemorate God, but to venerate the idols themselves. They worshipped fragments of senseless stone and rotting wood, seeing nothing above this, nothing beyond this. Yet I will allow that this idolatry is a danger and I will not resist your destruction of idols in this shrine, if you find idols within. But spare the shrine itself."
Aurangzeb said, "I see no difference in your worship from their error. Don't think I'm ignorant or unfamiliar with your fairy tales and fantasies of devas and rakshasas. I know the story of Rama and the monkeys that served him. No Muslim could accept these absurdities as true."
The boy said, "Don't reject those wise creatures who served Rama nor deny those devas and rakshasas. Just as Rama knew them and contended with them, so too did Solomon know the language of the animals and keep a bird as his closest friend. These Hindu devas, are they s
o different from angels and djinn and servants close to His throne? Those Hindu rakshasas, are they so different from those djinn and demons enslaved by Solomon, builders of the Temple?"
