The chapter focusses on the Wars of the Nagas sadhu & stories of their bravery, chivalry and unprecedented courage lead by Rajendra Giri Gosain & his disciple Himmat Bahadur Anup Giri Gossain, a naga sadhu who went on to became the leader of Rohilkhand,
Bundelkhand etc. While there are multiple instances when these holy men stood up against the atrocities perpetrated by the Islammic invaders but also against the British East India Company (more famously termed as the Sannyasi Rebellion).
Contrary to the myths in circulation today, far from being uniformly and
constantly opposed to the Muslims, many warrior-sadhus were actually in favour
of Muslim Kings and princes. Thus, for instance, in the mid-eighteenth century the most important of the
Shivaite warrior-sadhus, the Dasnamis under Rajendra Giri & his disciplies Anup Giri & Umrao Giri cemented military alliances with the Mughals of Delhi
and the Nawabs of Awadh, on the one hand, as well as the Jats and the Marathas
on the other.
Under ANUPGIRI, who by 1761CE, had risen to become commander of 12,000 troops,
the Dasnamis actually allied themselves with the British as well. Interestingly, Rajendra Giri went on to be appointed as Faujdar or Commanding
officer by none other than the Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah & after his death,
Umrao Giri was confirmed in that post by Safdarjung, the Mughal Governor the
Nawab of Awadh.
Amongst the sacred points of pilgrimages of Sanatan Dharma one of the most popular
regions centre around the birthplace and playground of Sri Krishna known
as the Vraj Mandal or Mathura Mandal region. This area centred around the south of Delhi, & is
annually visited by thousands of the faithful often
humbly treading the paths between Mathura, Vrindavan and Gokul.
In 1757CE the sacred soil of Gokul was streaming with blood. The invasion
of the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Durrani a regular visitior those days during winters, sent hordes of his soldiers pouring
into the holy places of North & particularly to Mathura Mandal. After a desperate resistance by the Hindu Jats under their prince Jawahar Singh
and the death of 8000 of his solders (they primarily were made up of civilians & peasents who were no match for the highli trained Afghan army) the city of Mathura was ransacked and
brutalised, with genocides committed with untammed savagery. Amidst the wholesale destruction of temples & holy places thousands of women of Mathura, flung themselves into the Yamuna to escape rape & sex slavery. Vrindavan
faced a similar horror.
He had detached one of his senior most commanders named Jahan Khan with the Rohilla Sardar Najib leading a very strong contingent of very well trained & skillful 20,000 horsemen,
telling them, “Move into the boundaries of the accursed Jat, and in every town and district
held by him slay and plunder. The city of Mathura is a holy place of the
Hindus;… let it be put entirely to the edge of the sword. Up to Agra leave not
a single place standing” Vrindavan, seven miles north of Mathura, could not escape, as its wealth was
indicated by its many temples. Here another general massacre was practiced upon
the inoffensive monks of the most pacific order of Sri Vishnu’s devotees. (6
March 1757CE)
As the same Muhammadan diarist records after a visit to Vrindavan, wherever you
gazed you beheld heaps of slain ; you could only pick your way with difficulty,
owing to the quantity of bodies lying about and the amount of blood spilt. At
one place that we reached we saw about 200 dead children lying in a heap. Not
one of the dead bodies had a head . . . The stench and effluvium in the air
were such that it was painful to open your mouth or even to draw breath.”
The prime general of the Afghans Sardar Khan, launched an attack on Gokul.
Here however stirred by the atrocities of the Afghans thousands of ash smeared
warrior monks barred the way. The grim Naga sadhus armed with swords, matchlocks
and cannons had called together their wandering bands to rise in defence of
dharma. In the mid seventeenth century the bands of sadhus and assorted holy men
coalesced into larger groups often numbering more than 10,000 strong – they
provided protection to the temples, the travel routes and even towns and rival
armies. For many centuries the monks and disciples began to take up arms amidst
the upheavals of northern India and during the fall of the Mughal Empire they
emerged as a serious force to reckon with.
One of their notable leaders Rajendra Giri Gossain held such a reputation of
bravery that his band of Nagas would contend with over ten times their numbers
of enemies with utter abandon and fury. Later times saw some of the larger
bands under Himmat Bahadur, Anupgiri Gossain lead vast armies across the northern
Indian plains.The famed Afghan cavalry launched itself against the Nagas to be met with a wild and reckless counter charge by the Nagas. The utter disregard for their
own lives displayed by the Hindu holy men sent the initial Afghan attackers
retreating in confusion and defeat. Reinforced some time later the Afghans
returned to the attack and a bitter struggle ensued. Both parties believed they fought for a higher power but the similarities ended
there.
The Afghans fought for loot, plunder and rape whilst the Naga Sadhus had
already given up their worldly and material attachments and in a long tradition
of warfare fought solely for dharma and faith.
The Afghans fought with the reckless valour for which they were much wonted and
the Nagas fought with a determination that spoke of their contempt of death. The battle cry of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Ya Ali’ rose above the groans and
shrieks of the wounded and dying. The battle raged as dusk fell and the
protagonists continued their fight stepping on the bodies of the slain until
the writer observes grappling in a deathly embrace whilst slipping on the
mounds of gore and blood flowing on the hallowed grounds. Still the Nagas did
not give ground. Enraged the Abdali threw further troops into the battle. His as yet undefeated
soldiers who had marched victoriously from the borders of India to Central Asia
were met with renewed charges and attacks from the Naga Sanyasis. They fought
so desperately that the Afghans began to lose hope of victory and as their
losses rapidly mounted in the failing light their leader Sardar Jahan Khan ans fell back in defeat & humiliation leaving
many thousands of their brethren dead and wounded on the battlefield. The holy
town of Gokul was saved but at an appalling cost in lives.
The Naga Sadhus saved the shrines of their faith and the thousands of refugees
behind them. They exemplified the age old tradition of valour mixed with dharma
– the concept of rising in arms each time they were required. They went on to
fight bitter decade’s long struggles with the British expansion in India to be
so famously celebrated in the late 19th Century novel ANANDA MATH based on the Sanayyassi rebellion of the 18th Century. Their
exploits became the inspiration for the freedom fighters of the 20th Century & the living image of the warrior saints can be found in India even today. Although the history of the Dashnaami Sampraday & their Warrior cult spirals back to the days of Adi Shankaracharya, wherein Sankara had realised the need of arming them for the protection of Sanatan Dharma in the coming ages. Being an embodiement of Sadashiva, Sankara could forsee the future & hence not only did he established the four muth's in four corners to provide direction & foster bhakti in the hearts of men & women, but also empower them in the true sense or atleast his disciplies.
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