Martand Sun Temple: Difference between revisions

According to [[Jonaraja]] (fl. 1430) as well as Hasan Ali, the temple was destroyed by [[Sikandar Shah Miri]] (1389-1413) in a zeal to Islamise the society under the advice of Sufi preacher Mir Muhammad Hamadani;{{efn|Son of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (1314-1384), a Sufi preacher of the [[Kubrawiya|Kubrawiya order]] who had migrated from Huttalàn (present-day [[Tajikistan]]) in the wake of Timurid invasions to Shibu'd-Din's Kashmir.}}<ref name=":152">{{Cite book |last=Pandit |first=Kashinath |url=https://archive.org/details/AChronicleOfMedievalKashmirKashinathPandit |title=Baharistan-i-shahi: A chronicle of mediaeval Kashmir |publisher=Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd. |year=1991 |location=Kolkata}}</ref><ref name=":62">{{Cite book |last=Slaje |first=Walter |url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/543660 |title=Encountering Buddhism and Islam in Premodern Central and South Asia |date=19 August 2019 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-063168-5 |location= |pages=128–160 |language=en |chapter=Buddhism and Islam in Kashmir as Represented by Rājataraṅgiṇī Authors |doi=10.1515/9783110631685-006 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110631685/10.1515/9783110631685-006.xml |s2cid=204477165}}</ref><ref name=":82">{{Cite journal |last1=Salomon |first1=Richard |last2=Slaje |first2=Walter |date=2016 |title=Review of Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD1148–1459). From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn. Critically Edited by Walter Slaje with an Annotated Translation, Indexes and Maps. [Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis 7], SlajeWalter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26546259 |journal=Indo-Iranian Journal |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=393–401 |doi=10.1163/15728536-05903009 |issn=0019-7246 |jstor=26546259}}</ref><ref name=":1322">{{Cite book |last=Bhan |first=Jawahar Lal |title=Kashmir Sculptures: An Iconographical Study of Brāhmanical Sculptures |publisher=Readworthy Publications |year=2010 |volume=1 |location=Delhi, India |pages=68–69}}</ref> Jonaraja pinned the blame on his chief-counsel Suhabhatta, a Brahman neo-convert who was held to have manifested a reign of intense persecution for the local Hindus whereas Ali particularly affirmed Sikandar's own convictions in these aspects.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Slaje |first=Walter |url=https://www.academia.edu/42710523 |title=Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD 1148‒1459) From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-'Ābidīn |publisher= |year=2014 |isbn=978-3869770888 |series=Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 7 |location=Germany |pages=28–29, 36, 155–173, 185–189, 201–203, 213–215}}</ref><ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Pandit |first=Kashinath |url=https://archive.org/details/AChronicleOfMedievalKashmirKashinathPandit |title=Baharistan-i-shahi: A chronicle of mediaeval Kashmir |publisher=Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd. |year=1991 |location=Kolkata}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Slaje |first=Walter |url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/543660 |title=Encountering Buddhism and Islam in Premodern Central and South Asia |date=19 August 2019 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-063168-5 |location= |pages= 128–160|language=en |chapter=Buddhism and Islam in Kashmir as Represented by Rājataraṅgiṇī Authors |doi=10.1515/9783110631685-006 |s2cid=204477165 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110631685/10.1515/9783110631685-006.xml}}</ref>

Jonaraja was appointed by Sikandar's son, who sought to bring back the Brahminical elite into the royal fold while later Muslim chroniclers had their motives to fit the past into an idealist tale of orthodox Islamic morality. According to [[Chitralekha Zutshi]] and [[Richard G. Salomon (professor of Asian studies)|Richard G. Salomon]], Sikandar's policies were guided by [[realpolitik]]<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=Salomon |first1=Richard |last2=Slaje |first2=Walter |date=2016 |title=Review of Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD1148–1459). From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn. Critically Edited by Walter Slaje with an Annotated Translation, Indexes and Maps. [Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis 7], SlajeWalter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26546259 |journal=Indo-Iranian Journal |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=393–401 |doi=10.1163/15728536-05903009 |jstor=26546259 |issn=0019-7246}}</ref> and, like with the previous Hindu rulers, an attempt to secure political legitimacy by asserting state power over Brahmans and gaining access to wealth controlled by Brahminical institutions.<ref name=":3">{{cite news |last1=Zutshi |first1=Chitralekha |title=This book claims to expose the myths behind Kashmir’s history. It exposes its own biases instead |url=https://scroll.in/article/855050/this-book-claims-to-expose-the-myths-behind-kashmirs-history-it-exposes-its-own-biases-instead |access-date=15 June 2023 |work=Scroll.in |date=24 October 2017}}</ref> J. L. Bhan notes a stone sculpture—a four-armed Brahma, sculpted by son of a Buddhist ''Sanghapati'' and dedicated to Sikandar—to challenge simplistic notions of religious persecution.<ref name=":132">{{Cite book |last=Bhan |first=Jawahar Lal |title=Kashmir Sculptures: An Iconographical Study of Brāhmanical Sculptures |publisher=Readworthy Publications |year=2010 |volume=1 |location=Delhi, India |pages=68–69}}</ref> Slaje disagrees about an absence of religious motivations but notes the aversion of Brahmin chroniclers to be, largely, the result of resistance to the gradual disintegration of Varna-system under Muslim rule and growth of islamic traditions.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Slaje |first=Walter |url=https://www.academia.edu/42709412 |title=Brahma's Curse : Facets of Political and Social Violence in Premodern Kashmir |publisher= |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-86977-199-1 |series=Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 13 |location= |pages=30–40 |chapter=What Does it Mean to Smash an Idol? Iconoclasm in Medieval Kashmir as Reflected by Contemporaneous Sanskrit Sources}}</ref>