A number of historic events of importance have been kept aside from text books and historic studies in India. We cannot estimate if such moves were intentional conspiracies or a phenomenon of chance, but the impact of filtering history is definitely not good. Wiping out certain parts where Indians themselves were on the victorious side of a war makes way for number of suspicions. Here we came across such an instance that has been kept marginalised from mainstream history, though it was an evidently an important event that India witnessed. Here is all you need to know about the *‘Bahraich’* War.
‘Bahraich’ War took place during the month of July, way back in 1033. This war ended in a freezing defeat for the Muslim invaders who invaded India through the hands of Rajput kings. The defeat faced by the invaders was so harsh that it took them more than 150 years to raise an eye on India again.
It so happened in 1026, that Mahmud of Ghazni invaded the Gujrati region of India, and returned after he demolished the famous Somanatha temple. This act of his was witnessed by his 11 year old apprentice and nephew, Saiyyad Salar Masud. Demolition and robbery of the Somanatha temple incited ideas in the head of Saiyyad Salar Masud, who rightfully assumed that India would be a grand treasure – for one temple of Gujrat itself housed a great amount of materials that they looted.
This, combined with greed to convert India into a Muslim nation compelled Saiyyad Salar Masud to invade India soon after Ghazni’s death in 1030. Though this ambitious ruler was merely a 19 year old teenager, he led a massive army of 10,000 armed men. His relentless invasion sure had a notable impact on Indian rulers, most of who failed to counter or stop him. Saiyyad Salar Masud not only progressed along by looting the lands he invaded, but also converting the native rulers to Islam.
At the same time, Raja Sukhadev, or who is popularly known as Suhaldev; ruled a state named ‘Shravasthi’. 17 Rajput kings served under his emperorship, and this man was also a fierce warrior known to have led an army larger than that of Saiyyad Salar Masud. His army consisted of not just armed men, but war horses, elephants and wagons as well.
Unaware of this, Saiyyad Salar Masud continued his victory parade and reached Sathrik (now in UP), where he set up camp and called the place his capital. He assumed that no king in India was strong enough to outdo his army, and it would be an easy task to convert Hindu rulers to Islam – for they lacked unity amongst one another. With same assumptions in mind, Saiyyad Salar Masud sent his messenger to Bahraich (a part of UP, now situated in Lucknow), to ask for the ruler to surrender. However, his messenger was thrown out of Bahraich by the ruling Rajput King of the place. The pre-conception that Hindu rulers lacked unity was falsified by the united Rajput rulers of Shravasthi, who served under Raja Suhaldev.
When the messenger and Saiyyad Salar Masud attacked the ruler of Sathrik with an army of 10,000, he was ridiculously outnumbered by the united army of Shravasthi – which consisted of a whopping 1,20,000 soldiers! The valorous Rajputs mercilessly erased off every trait of existence of Saiyyad Salar Masud and what was considered to be his great army. The anger that aroused owing to Saiyyad Salar Masud’s misdeeds such as burning down Hindu temples and forceful conversions was brought out by the Rajputs on the war field in Bahraich. Saiyyad Salar Masud was brought down by Raja Suhaldev himself. Rajputs were hailed for the glorious victory for years to come; but sadly not in our history textbooks anymore.
Strange indeed, that an event that clearly demonstrates the victory of truth of evil has been sidelined by our historians. We are made to study the history of leaders such as Hitler and Mussoloni, but how many of us know the name of Raja Suhaldev? It’s probably high time we shift our focus towards what’s actually important for us to know.
