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ANALYSING SOME PORTRAYALS from MEDIEVAL INDIA Faces Of ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ________ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (11), NOVEMBER (2016), pp. 51-61 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in MANY FACES OF THE ENEMY: ANALYSING SOME PORTRAYALS FROM MEDIEVAL INDIA ANOOP SINGH RESEARCH SCHOLAR, PANJAB UNIVERSITY CHANDIGARH. ABSTRACT: Different societies had different perceptions of enemy. In the present study depicts many faces of the enemy: analysing some portrayals from medieval India. KEY WORDS: enemy, Medieval, India. Reference Heraclitus, The Cosmic Fragments, Ed., G.S. Kirk, Cambridge University Press, New York, (Reprint), 1975, fr. 53. Cicero, On Duties, Ed., M.T. Griffin and E.M. Atkins, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, (Reprint), 2003, I. 37. Carl Schmitt, The concept of the Political: Expanded Edition, English Translation, George Schwab, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, (Reprint), 2007, p.28. cf. Ibid., p.33. Carl Schmitt furthers that argument when he explains, “The friend, enemy and combat concepts receive their real meaning precisely because they refer to the real possibility of physical killing. War follows from enmity. War is the existential negation of the enemy. cf. W.R. Jones, „The Image of Barbarian in Medieval Europe,‟ in Comparative Studies in Society and History, Cambridge University Press, Vol. XIII, No. IV, Oct., 1971, p.376. W.R. Jones states, “Long before the ancient Greeks invented the word „barbarian‟ to describe the Scythians and other peoples who differed from them in not subscribing to the ideals of Greek culture, other civilised men had expressed similar sentiments towards alien people with whom they came into contact. This was the point that the old Akkadian author was trying to make when he spoke of the neighboring (sic) tribes as people „whom knew not grain‟ and „who had never known a city‟.” Bruce Lincoln, „War and Warriors: An Overview,‟ in Encyclopedia of Religion, Ed., Lindsay Jones, Thomson Gale, New York, 2005, p.9681. Eric Carlton, War and Ideology,Rutledge, London, 1990, pp.34-44, 54-55, 57-81, 95-117, 143-153. For Egyptians enemies were the non-people and they did not hide their disgust for stranger ruling house of Shepherd Kings (Hyksos) which was soon driven out and forgotten and treated Hittites, Anatolians, Syrians and Libyans the same way. For Sparta enemy were those who opposed the oligarchy while Athens perceived enemies of democracy as its own enemies. Carthaginians viewed their economic rivals as enemies whereas for Romans uncouth barbarians were enemies. For early Israelites enemy were ritual outlaws who ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ________ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (11), NOVEMBER (2016), pp. 51-61 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in represented chaos instead of order. For crusaders unbelievers were enemies while for Mongols enemies were effete degenerates. A.L. Basham, Wonder that was India, Picador, London, 2004, pp.30-31, 33. cf. T. Burrow, „The Early Aryans,‟ in Cultural History of India, Ed., A.L. Basham, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999, p.20. T. Burrow explains, “A series of related tribes, settled mainly in Punjab and adjacent regions, speaking a common language, sharing a common religion, and designating themselves by the name arya-, are represented as being in a state of permanent conflict with a hostile group of people known variously as Dasa or Dasyus.” Brajaudulal Chattopadhyaya, Representing the Other? Sanskrit Sources and the Muslims (Eighth to Fourteenth Century), Manohar, New Delhi, 1998, pp.30-31, 40-41. cf. Romila Thapar, „The Image of Barbarian in Early India,‟ in Cultural Pasts, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011, p.254. Turks were described as Turuska but often general terms like Mlechcha or Saka were used for them. Turks represented a sort of historical continuity of Sakas and Yavanas to Indian minds. Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, Studying Early India: Archaeology, Texts, and Historical Issues, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2003, pp.195-209. Dashratha Sharma, Early Chauhan Dynasties, Books Treasure, Jodhpur, (Reprint), 2002, pp.19-20, 40, 68. Pushpa Prasad, Sanskrit Inscriptions of Delhi Sultanate, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1990, pp.93-94. cf. Ibid., pp. 44-45, 162-163. Damaged Etwah Fort inscription of 1191 mentioned the terms Turk and Ghori religion but its context is not clear. Chunar fort inscription of 1333 described that Sairaja, a former minister of Swamiraja of Chunar changed his loyalty and became minister of the lord of the hostile Yavanas, Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Under the command of Shihabuddin Yavana army entered the fort by surprise or stratagem. Swamiraja attempted twice to recapture the fort but was forced to retreat by a Turuska warrior named Sata Do before eventually recapturing it. Ibid., pp. 102, 104. Sivadas Gadan, Achaladasa Kheechi ri Vachanica, Ed., Sambhusingh Manohar, Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur, 1991, pp.156, 200, 218, 263. Vithu Suja, Chhand Rao Jaitsi ro, Ed., Mulchand „Pranesh,‟ Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Sodh Pratishthan, Bikaner, 1991, p.15. Bassam Tibi, „War and Peace in Islam,‟ in The Ethics of War and Peace: Religious and Secular Perspectives, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1996, p.135. cf. John Kelsay, „Arguments Concerning Resistance in Contemporary Islam,‟ in The Ethics of War: Shared Problems in Different Traditions, Ed., Richard Sorabji and David Rodin, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2006, p.64. John Kelsay cites an order by Prophet Muhammad, “Fight in the name of God and in the path of God. Combat those who refuse to acknowledge God. Do not cheat or commit treachery. Neither should you mutilate anyone or kill children. Whenever you meet your enemies, invite them to adopt Islam. If they do so accept it, and let them alone. You should then invite them to move from their territory to a place of ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ________ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (11), NOVEMBER (2016), pp. 51-61 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in security…If they refuse the invitation to Islam, then call upon them to pay tribute. If they do, accept it and leave them alone…” cf. John Kelsay, „Islamic Tradition and the Justice of War,‟ in The Ethics of War in Asian Civilizations: A Comparative Perspective, Ed., Torkel Brekke, Routledge, London, 2006, pp.87-88. Minhajus Siraj Jurjani, Tabqat-i-Nasiri, Low Price Publications, New Delhi, (Reprint), 2010, pp.619-620. Mohammad Habib, Khazainul Futuh, in Politics and Society during the Early Medieval Period: Collected Works of Professor Mohammad Habib, Ed., K.A. Nizami, People‟s Publishing Housing, New Delhi, 1981, Vol. II, p.182. Ibid., p.205. Ibid, p.189, cf. Abul Fazl, Akbarnama, English Translation, H. Beveridge, Low Price Publications, New Delhi, (Reprint), 2011, Vl. III, p.475. Abul Fazl defended Akbar‟s order of putting 40,000 peasants to death with an absurd argument claiming that they support the garrison unlike during Alauddin Khalji‟s time when they remained detatched. C.L. Crouch, War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East: Military Violence in Light of Cosmology and History, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2009, p.22. Compare it with the military violence which was presented as necessity by Assyrians who characterized warfare as an act of piety in the sense that they themselves represented order and through defeating their enemies they rescued them from the ever-present chaos. Abdul Qadir Badauni, Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, English Translation, John Briggs, Low Price Publication, Delhi, (Reprint), Vol. II, p.237. Stephen Peter Rosen, Societies and Military: Indian and its Armies, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1996, p.152. Khafi Khan, Muntkhab-ul-Lubab, Ed, Maulvi Kabiruddin Ahmad Sahib, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta, 1874, Vol. II, pp.271- 273. Ragnhild Fiebig von-Hase, Ursula Lehmkuhl, Enemy Images in American History, Ed., Berghahn Books, Providence, 1997, pp.2-3. Nayachandra, Hammir Mahakavya, Hindi Translation Nathulal Trivedi “Madhukar Sastri,” Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur, 1997, pp.36, 105, 159, 171. cf. Arthur Berriedale Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, Harvard University Press, London, 1925, p.129. In ancient India also Dasas or Dasyus were termed as enemy and a specific image of them was shared by Aryans among themselves. Vithu Suja, op. cit., p.39. Dirk H.A. Kolff, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of Military Labour Market in Hindustan, 1450-1850, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990, pp.7-8. Rana Sanga who was among the most sung Rajput heroes, Silhadi and Humayun were all looted by the peasantry after they received setbacks in battles. ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ________ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (11), NOVEMBER (2016), pp. 51-61 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in Padmanabha, Kanhadade Prabandha, English Translation, V.S. Bhatnagar, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1991, pp.5-6, 13, 19, 24-25, 49, 52-53, 92, 99-100. Padmanabha used the term Mlechcha as metaphor of otherness for creating the image of invader as enemy with the expectation of inhuman, aggressive and hostile intent, exact opposite of the hero of his account. Francis Fukuyama, „Women and the Evolution of World Politics,‟ in Foreign Affairs, Council of Foreign Relations, Vol. 77, No. 5, Sep.-Oct. 1998, pp.27-28. Joshua S. Goldstein, War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice- Versa, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001, p.252. Padmanabha, op. cit., pp.43-44, 93-95. cf. Amir Khusrau, op. cit., pp.191-192. Amir Khusrau summed up this gendered otherness when he wrote that defender were brave and haughty and did not fly or turned their backs though their heads were cut into pieces. Sivadas Gadan, op. cit., pp.254, 229, 256. Annonymous, Fatahnama-i-Sind al Maruf be Chachnamah, Persian Translation, Ali ibn Abu Bakar al Kufi, Majlis Makhtutat Farsi-i-Hyderabad Deccan, Hyderabad, 1939, pp.135- 136. On the other hand Bai, queen-sister of Raja Dahir made a choice to parish by flames because she had to redeem herself by choosing a heroic death and for that purpose found violent „other‟ in Muhammad bin Qasim and his forces.
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