India is an extremely tolerant and resilient country. Even after centuries of foreign invasion, our civilization has not ceased to exist. Even after foreign forces have tried to forcibly convert Indians to other religions, we have still remained a country where the majority of the people are Hindus. But most surprisingly, despite foreign forces sent to convert Indians to other religions, Indians have always accepted the converts with open arms as their own brothers. India has always had the good sense to not attack its own people when they faltered under foreign pressure, and so even today it remains to be the most secular country in the world. However, it is important that we do not forget what our nation underwent over the last thousand years. Moreover, remembering the wrongs would help us redress the grievances of the past.
One of the most barbaric characters from our history has to be Taimur. History has a bias to paint a rosy picture of him saying he valued artisans and scholars, and the city of Samarkand is a living example. However, Taimur’s own track record defeats the purpose of such historians. To be blunt, he was a barbarian and his actions deserve condemnation even today. To quote William Shakespeare’s crafty lines from the play Julius Caesar:
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
(spoken by Mark Antony)
But lucky Taimur, that has not been the case with him!
Taimur had looted every foot of the world in which he had put his foot on, and so historians would like him to be remembered as a great conquerer. He had had millions of people killed, not just during battles but even on other occasions to prevent a local revolt, and so historians would like him to be remembered as a great ruler. He had women and kids raped, but the historians would like the world to remember nothing of the sort. He had people kill their own slaves in order to prevent a backlash, and so historians would like him to be remembered as a great strategist. He had artisans and craftsmen from his latest expansion deported to the city of Samarkand, against their will, and so historians would like him to be ‘lovingly’ remembered as a great patron of the arts. He always won wars by attacking his neighbors when they were already occupied in an internal conflict, and so historians would like him to be remembered as a great military commander. He massacred the land in the name of religion, and so historians would like him to be remembered as the flag bearer of his religion!
As an Indian, Taimur disgusts me. He was the devil’s incarnate. He was nothing more than a barbarian, a sexist, a rapist, a cunning plunderer, and a religious hypocrite. What he really was can only be described as ‘religiously intolerant of humanity’. After all, it takes tremendous hatred for anyone to have pyramids built out of the skulls of those butchered.
The world abhors people who have a great capacity to commit crimes. It is normal behavior when people refuse to name their children after historic criminals of such high stature. It is only good sense to just leave them behind in history. That is why the sensible and compassionate world does not name its child Adolf, whether in Germany or anywhere else. But it is only in tolerant India that you would find a child named Taimur. Does it not reflect his prominent parents’ complete disregard towards the country’s sentiments? Does the act not exude arrogance under the shroud of ‘freedom of expression’? Or is it simply going by the statement ‘ignorance is bliss’, in which case they are undoubtedly not well-read people.
