Main article: Decline of Buddhism in India
Ancient India has no history of large scale religious violence.[7] However, King Pusyamitra of Sunga Empire is linked in legend with the persecution of Buddhists. There is some doubt as to whether he did or did not persecute Buddhists actively.[8]
It has been suggested that the Buddhist Stupa in Sanchi was vandalized by Hindu king Pusyamitra Sunga.[9]
The Divyavadana ascribes to him the razing of stupas and viharas built by Ashoka.[10] This account has however been described as “exaggerated”.[10] Archaeological evidence is scarce and uncertain.[11] However to many scholars, Sunga kings were seen as more amenable to Buddhism and as having contributed to the building of the stupa at Bharhut.[12]
With the possible exception of reign of King Pusyamitra, Buddhism and Hinduism seem to have co-existed peacefully with almost all Buddhist temples, including the ones at Ajanta Caves, being built under the rule and patronage of Hindu kings;[13] along with Jainism and other religions and there were no anti-religious bloodshed.
Medieval India
Main articles: Persecution of Hindus and Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent
Muhammad bin Qasim
Photograph of the Surya Temple, The most impressive and grandest ruins in Kashmir, at Marttand-Hardy Cole’s Archaeological Survey of India Report ‘Illustrations of Ancient Buildings in Kashmir.’ (1869)
The Essay on Chaos In India Muslims And Hindu
India is the center of a very serious problem in the world today. It's a very diverse place with people from many different religious backgrounds, who speak many different languages and come from many different regions. They are also separated economically. Two of the country's religious sects, Muslims and Hindus, have been in conflict for hundreds of years. Their feelings of mistrust and hatred ...
Muhammad bin Qasim, during his conquest of Sindh (in present day Pakistan), assaulted the town of Debal and destroyed its great temple .[14] He then built a mosque over the remains of the original temple at Debal and later in towns of Nerun and Sadusan (Sehwan)[14][15] After each battle all fighting men were executed and their wives and children enslaved. One fifth of the booty and slaves were dispatched back to Hajjaj and the Caliph.[14] Chach Nama also records instances of conversion of stupas to mosques such as at Nerun.
After the conquest, Muhammad bin Qasim adopted a controversial policy, asking for acceptance of Islamic Sharia law, in return for non-interference in their religious practice,.[16] No further mass conversions were attempted and the destruction of temples such as the Sun Temple at Multan was forbidden.[14]
Mahmud of Ghazni
Somanatha Temple Prabhas Patan, Gujarat, from the Archaeological Survey of India, taken by D.H. Sykes in c.1869
Mahmud of Ghazni was a Sultan who invaded the Indian subcontinent from present-day Afghanistan during the early 11th century. His campaigns across the gangetic plains are often cited for their iconoclastic plundering and destruction of Hindu temples such as those at Mathura, Dwarka, and others. In 1024 AD, Mahmud of Ghazni attacked and destroyed the third Somnath temple killing over 50,000 and personally destroying the Shiva lingam after stripping it of its gold.[17]
Qutb-ud-din Aibak
Historical records compiled by Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the iconoclasm of Qutb-ud-din Aybak. The first mosque built in Delhi, the “Quwwat al-Islam” was built after the demolition of the Hindu temple built previously by Prithvi Raj and certain parts of the temple were left outside the mosque proper.[18] This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign.[19]
Iltutmish
Another ruler of the sultanate, Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, conquered and subjugated the Hindu pilgrimage site Varanasi in the 11th century and he continued the destruction of Hindu temples and idols that had begun during the first attack in 1194.[20]
Firuz Shah Tughlaq
Firuz Shah Tughluq was the third ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The “Tarikh-i-Firuz Shah” is a historical record written during his reign that attests to the systematic persecution of Hindus under his rule.[21] In particular, it records atrocities committed against Hindu Brahmin priests who refused to convert to Islam:
The Term Paper on Hindu Time Line
... Ghazni plunders Somanath Siva temple, destroying the Linga and killing 50,000 Hindu defenders. He later builds a mosque on the remaining walls. ... The monument was a central icon of Hindu resentment toward Muslim destruction of 60,000 temples. 1993: Fourth Global Forum of Spiritual ... Tehuacan, Mexico, are cultivating corn. -3000: Saiva Agamas are recorded in the time of the earliest Tamil Sangam. (A ...
“ An order was accordingly given
