ankaracharyar
almost coincides with the first onslaught of the western hordes of the
Arabian Prophet upon the strongholds of India.

It was a pure conquest of the sword which gave to Mohammed in India,
as in other lands, a place and a possession. And those early days of
Mohammedan triumph are, in the main, a record of cruel butchery and of
widespread massacre. They fulfilled, to the letter, the command of the
founder of their faith, which says: "When ye encounter the
unbelievers, strike off their heads, until ye have made a great
slaughter among them; and bind them in bonds; and either give them a
free dismission afterwards, or exact a ransom; until the war shall
have laid down its arms. This shall ye do." (Quran (Koran), xlviii. 4,
5.)

The fanaticism and bigotry of that people carried triumph everywhere;
and their triumph meant to every Hindu the acceptance of the sword,
the Quran, or tribute. For some centuries, indeed, the fortunes of
Islam in India wavered, and its undisputed sway was not recognized
until the time of Baber, the distinguished founder of the great Mogul
Empire in the sixteenth century. It is also true that, among the mild
and patient population of this land, the spirit of that militant faith
gradually softened until the era of Akbar the Great--a ruler who was
not only illustrious as a lawgiver, but also was justly celebrated
for his cosmopolitanism and religious toleration. He was succeeded by
another great name, Shah Jehan, a man of wonderful administrative
powers, but one of narrow sympathies and occasionally given to cruel
bigotry. And yet, if he did not possess the graces for a noble
character, he adorned his realm with religious edifices which still
stand unrivalled in their exquisite beauty.

The cruel Aurangzeeb practically closed the Mogul dynasty by his
weakness, bloodthirstiness, and uncompromising bigotry.

It is strange that during the centuries of cruel dominion, of
uncompromising fanaticism, and of religious intolerance, the whole
population of the land was not absorbed into Islam. But the Mogul
Empire passed away. And, while it left a strong impression on the
country as a whole, and affected somewhat the faiths of this land and
left marvellous monuments of architectural beauty, it did not
seriously change the undercurrents of the life of the whole people.

II

_The Present Condition of this Faith in India_

Like all other faiths in this peninsula, Islam is accepted and
prac