Arab Expansion and Gujarat front

During reign of Siladitya II of Maitraka Kingdom, Arabs raided a port near Kathiawad . Arabs under the command of Ismail landed at the p ort in 677AD. They met with a disastrous defeat at the place and gained no access to the Saurashtra coast. This was one of the earliest Arab raids on Gujrat.

During the caliphate of Hasham, around 735 AD, forces under Junaid burst into India and sacked many places including Jaisalmer, Broach and many areas in Northern Gujrat. The Gurjara king of Nandipuri, Jayabhata IV, documented, in an inscription dated to 736 AD, that he went to the aid of the king of Vallabhi and inflicted a crushing defeat on a Tājika (Arab) army. The Arabs then overran the kingdom of Jayabhata himself and proceeded on to Navsari in southern Gujarat.

As per Navasari plates of Pulakesin, Arabs moved south after reducing Gujarat. At this stage, Hindus came together to face this common foe. At Navasari, the confederate army reinforced by Chalukya troops defeated Arabs. The Arab expansion in India came to a screeching halt.  Pulakesin subsequently received the titles "Solid Pillar of Deccan" (Dakshināpatha-sādhāra) and the "Repeller of the Unrepellable" (Anivartaka-nivartayitr). This was the “battle of Tour “ moment for India.

In 760AD, an Arab fleet under Amru-bin-Jamal landed in the vicinity of Porbandar. The brunt of this attack was borne by the Saindhava feudatory Aggukka.  Aggukka with his flotilla became victorious.

Saurashtra was again invaded by Arabs in 776AD with much better preparation. This naval jihad was ordered by caliph Al-mahdi and  was led by Abdul malik. They had many victories initially but sickness broke out among their troops and they had to cancel this campaign. No further attempt was made by caliph Al-Mahdi upon India.

Naikidevi: The Queen who Defeated Muhammad Ghori

Very few people know that Muhammad Ghori first invaded India 13 years before first battle of Tarain.

In 1178 AD, Ghori entered India from west and continued his march through the sandy desert towards Gujarat. Acting against the dictates of geography and historical precedence, the idea behind this expedition was to outflank the Ghaznavids in the Panjab and to open up an alternative route into Hindustan, through the rich territories of the Caulukyas.

At that time, Gujrat was ruled by Naikidevi. She was the widow of Chalukya king Ajayapala. After her husband’s death, she served as queen reagent as her son Mularaja II was just a child.

The Muslim army was exhausted and famished by the time the battle ensued at village of Kayadra (near to Mount Abu, about forty miles to the north-east of Anhilwara). Hindus drove their elephant phalanx onto the battlefield in such a manner that all the horses of the army of Ghori were scattered.

This defeat induced the Ghurids not to persist with the southern route into Hindustan via the Gomal Pass. Gujarat as a whole remained exempted from any further serious Muslim attack for more than a century.

Hindu (Prthiviriija Vijaya), Jain (Prabandha Chintamani) and Muslim (Minhaj-i-Siraj) scholars chronicled this victory of Naikidevi over Ghori.

Caste and Distortion

The recent conviction of Dera chief brought focus on one contentious issue- legitimization of the caste system across religions. Dera primarily draws most of its members from lower castes and the lower strata of society.  Some issues around caste are not given attention in India for last 70 years, hence the perpetuation of this social system despite constitutional guarantees of equal status.

Ambedkar proposed that one could not destroy caste unless one destroyed Hinduism. Caste exists among the Muslims (ashraf-Muslims of foreign lineage and ajlaf-local converts), Christians, Sikhs etc; although doctrinal Islam or Christianity does not approve such social classification. It will be good to discuss what sustains caste divisions among such communities in the absence of religious sanctions?

Role of British in solidifying many of the caste fault lines also needs to be examined. British divided Hindu population into Hindus, Animists and Dalits in the beginning of 20^th century. The idea was to create dissension and weaken rising Hindu nationalism during that period. The bias against higher castes was fueled due to their participation in 1857 war of Independence.

Initially Muslims tried to convert high caste people including Brahmins/Rajputs, which resulted in failure. This was mostly the case with business community. At last, lower caste people were targeted. They used the Sufi movement for this purpose.

Similarly Roman church accommodated caste divisions to propagate its faith. Pope Gregory XV published a bull sanctioning caste regulations in Christian churches in India. Converted Brahmins in Goa were even allowed to wear sacred thread and other caste markings.

The Real Stalin

On the third day of 20^th party congress, Anastas Mikoyan denounced Stalin on several counts. A week later, in a closed door session, Nikita Khrushchev shocked the Soviet Union (and the world) by denouncing Stalin in a special address to Communist party comrades. The speech shook the Soviet Union to the core, but even more so its communist allies, notably in central Europe.

While Stalin’s crimes against his communist associates were deplored, his greater crimes against Russian people were applauded in the name of “Socialist construction”, although it was reaffirmed in Lelin’s name for a change.

Highlights of that speech-

-It condemned cult of individual and its consequences as it is foreign to the spirit of Marxism-Leninism

-About abuse of power- “The negative characteristics of Stalin, which, in Lelin’s time, were only incipient, transformed themselves during the last years into a grave abuse of power by Stalin, which caused untold harm to our party”

…practiced brutal violence not only towards everything which opposed him, but also towards that which seemed, to his capricious and despotic character, contrary to his concepts…..

.....He (Stalin) abandoned the method of ideological struggle for that of administrative violence, mass repression and terror….. mass arrests and deportations of many  thousands of people, executions without trial and without normal investigation created conditions of insecurity, fear and even desperation...........

Why India Is Not A Great Power (Yet)

Bharat Karnad is one self-proclaimed conservative foreign relation/defense intellectual in India. He is a doctrinaire realist and has little patience for left of center international relation experts. His latest book "Why India Is Not A Great Power (Yet)" tries to answer the following question: Why is our country not counted as among the major powers of the world?

He defines a major power as having following attributes-

-Maximize strategic location (let’s say India’s strategic location is like an Aircraft carrier going into Indian ocean, it can be used to control access or choke shipping channels like Strait of Malacca

-Distant defense: A major power would try to contain its rival as far as possible from its borders/shore

-Arms dependency: A major power would be able to produce most of its arms; it would not be major importer like India

-Software of hard power: A major power will have clear vision for future, corresponding policies, capacity to implement strategies, in short a Monroe document

-Ability to transform or change with time: To some extent , Indian Navy has managed to keep pace with changes in doctrine and technology.

India has many attributes of a major power like strategic location, landmass, population etc. Still it hardly achieved any of the above-mentioned attributes, remained an inconsequential power so far.

Ghaznavi of Hizbul

Top Hizbul mujahideen commander Yasin Itoo alias Gaznavi was killed in the Shopian encounter recently. He was Hizbul mujahideen's operations commander in the region. He joined Hizbul mujahideen in 1996, surrendered in 2007 and released on parole in 2014. He joined Hizbul again and was named the commander by United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahuddin four days after the killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016.

It will be interesting to mention Major Gaurav Arya in this context. He had a premonition of this. In his open letter to the deceased Burhan Wani last year, he wrote-

“Burhan Wani’s successor has a code name – Mehmood Ghaznavi. They could have named him Changez Khan and he would still have a remarkably short shelf life. A 7.62 mm full metal jacket round does not respect fancy historical names. The 7.9 g (122 gr) projectile flies at 2,350 feet per second and destroys whatever it comes into contact with. Mehmood Ghaznavi, the moment you were declared successor, you were a dead man. They have started hunting you. They will kill you. Soon.”

Hizbul has already named Mohammad Bin Qasim as its new operational chief. In case this new commander does not survive to see 2018, next in line could be Shihab ad-Din Ghori!!!