hi all lots of members are indicating that they feel india would have become an islamic country and the british changed it.
I would like you to see the situation in 1840s 1850s
Emperor Bahadur Shah II presided over a Mughal empire that stretched barely beyond the modern city of Delhi. The Sikh Empire in the Punjab and Kashmir, the Maratha Empire and the British Empire were the most dominating political and military forces in the India of the 19th century. Hundreds of minor kings fragmented the land. The emperor was paid some respect and allowed a pension and authority to collect some taxes, and maintain a token force in Delhi by the British, but he posed no threat to any power in India. Bahadur Shah II himself did not excel in statecraft or possess any imperial ambitions.
As the Indian rebellion of 1857 spread, Indian regiments seized Delhi. Seeking a uniting figure for all Indians, Hindu and Muslim alike, most rebelling Indian kings and the Indian regiments accepted Zafar as their Emperor of India, under whom the smaller Indian kingdoms would unite until the British were defeated.
a sikh empire,a hindu empire and a european power seem to have been the most dominant powers in the mid 1800s. so different from a century back. does that mean hindus and sikhs persecuted under the muslims were actually bouncing back.the british were not the sole reason for hindu revivalism. we should discuss the sikhs and marattas and their revivalism.
They first came into historical prominence under the leadership of Chhatrapati Shivaji in the 17th century. Shivaji Maharaj, born into the Bhonsle clan of marathas, secured an independent state by dint of lifelong struggle and thereby founded an empire, the remnants of which lasted until the independence of India in 1947. The state thus founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji attained its zenith under the tutelage of the Peshwas in the 18th century, extending from the Indus in present-day Pakistan to Orissa in the east and Thanjavur in the south excluding the kingdom of Mysore which remained independent. At its peak, the Maratha Empire established a protectorate over the mughal emperor and commanded the allegiance of the numerous rajput chieftains of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Central India and elsewhere. This vast empire declined gradually after the third battle of Panipat in 1761
British Revivied Hinduism? Good joke...Hinduism or sanathana dharmam needs no one to revive it. It will revive itself, because it was not founded by anyone but an evovlved one. Its foundation is very strong. Even during times when Jainism and Buddhism peaked, Hinduism came back like a pheonix...
I remember venkatesh telling me that Iran was converted into an islamic nation in 30 years, Afghanistan in 100 years and so on and so forth. many of the islamic countries in the world were converted in just a few decades, but even after 8 centuries of islamic rule in India, muslims are still a minority.
Hinduismtha yaarum asachikka mudiyathu sir...thats the god mother of all the religions in the world.
But one point raised by all our members is valdi...why the hell all through the 800-1000 years no one rised voice against foreign invasion. And SPS rightly gave a reply...they were fighting within themselves. So politically, nothing changed in India for the past 1000 years...and continuous even after 1947.Once in a blue moon some party gets full majority and rules most of the states in India...
Apart from viewing Hinduism as a religion, we need to view Hinduism as life style. It was not emerged or it was not started by some one (like Jesus / Mohammed). Rather, the people who live beyond the river Sinthu are called by name Sindhus and leter Hindus.
Buddism, again, is a period in Hinduism. It is considered as a part of Hinduism and Lord Buddha is considered as one of the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
May be some western countries try and add people to their religion, esp Christianism, and that is happening here in India. I don't think it will last long. May be in future, all the converted Christians, shall be merged in the Hinduism sea. (I'm not saying that Christianism will fall or join Hinduism, but talking about the people who are being converted).
What ever God you worship. But when you are worshipping it in India, our people are so generous that they even worship other religion's God too. I still remember in my younger age, for every Bakrid, Muslims will hold some weapons, decorated and bring into our street and my street people (Hindus) will stop it and worship as God.
a plant is wilting in the garden. a gardener gives it a corrected environment to rejuvenate it. then who revives the plant? the gardener certainly has a role.
but I also will not agree the british had a total role in the rejuvenation of hinduism. when you see the history of 1800 the mighty mughal enperor was under the protection of the marattas.
the sikhs and marattas had reduced the muslim kingdoms to smaal city states. you know for thousands of years aliens were coming thro the khyber to to attack india, ranjit singh was the first to take the reverse route and conquered afghanistan.
hindu revivalism had started in a big way eveb before the british established themselves. but to their credit was that they never curtailed hinduism or resorted to government funded conversions. see the portugese french german and other missions around. even them the british did not curtail.