Architecture, which gives us an access to the past and lays down the canvas to paint the future is contained of more than just bricks and stones. Heritage helps define a nation’s identity and is a very valuable resource to learn about a country’s past. But what is the value of a community living in a nation that has not contributed to its past, to its heritage, to its culture, or whose contribution has been systematically erased to promote extremist political propaganda.
The Mubarak Manzil in Agra, a historic monument of the Mughal-era, has been largely destroyed even after directions by the State Archaeological Department for its protection. Built during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Mubarak Manzil held a significant historical value. Important Mughal figures such as Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and Shuja resided in the structure, as per an article by The Observer Post. The original structure was later transformed into a customs house and salt office under British rule and was known as Tara Niwas by the year 1902. Aurangzeb commissioned the construction of Mubarak Manzil post his victory at the battle of Samugarh.
A builder allegedly in collusion with the local authorities carried out the demolition recently. There was no action taken by the authorities even after several complaints had been filed by the locals of the area. More than 70% of the structure has been demolished.
Through a tweet, on X, the Scottish Historian William Dalrymple has heavily criticised the demolition of Mubarak Manzil in Agra. He expressed how India, a culturally rich and vast country is destroying its own appeal as a tourist destination as per reports by Deccan Herald and Times of India.
This recent demolition of the Mubarak Manzil points to a much larger issue, the desperate attempts of charged religious-nationalist politics to disconnect Indian Muslims from India’s past, and thereby denying them a legitimate place in India’s future. In order to have a “Hindu Rashtra (nation), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his supporters whose ideological parent is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), are not only attempting to establish Hindu dominance in the present, but also systematically rewriting the history of India. As per an interview by The Guardian Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University said “By destroying the symbols of a community you destroy the community itself.”
By labelling Muslims as foreign invaders who destroyed a thriving Hindu civilization, all Mughal-era constructions have been designated as sites of desecration and have attracted unwarranted conflicts due to extremist Hindu Propaganda. History and archaeology have become the battlegrounds of the RSS to form and shape a nation of a monolithic Hindu identity.
It is imperative to understand here that the architecture that has been built by Muslim monarchs in India, is our collective South-Asian heritage. The Sultanate or Mughal architecture is not found anywhere in the world but on the Indian subcontinent as per Hindustan Times. However, this rich cultural heritage has been caught in the middle of a conflict where a political party is seeking the supremacy of one identity by systematic erasure of the other by display of violence and destruction.
The deliberate destruction of Muslim past is not limited merely to cultural heritage sites. In 2023, more than 300 Muslim homes were destroyed in the city of Nuh, Haryana. The century-old Azizia Madrasa in Bihar was burned down along with 4500 rare books in its library, by an angry mob chanting “Jai Shree Ram” in the year 2023. As per a report published by The Guardian, more than 230 unique Islamic sites were destroyed in Gujarat alone during the 2002 riots, which is similar to destruction of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas and the destruction of Tibetan Monasteries by the Red Guard. Further, the names of places connected to Islamic past are being changed. For instance, Allahabad was renamed as Prayagraj in the year 2018 as an attempt to detach it from its Muslim origins. The railway station Deen Dayal Upadhyay junction was previously known as Mughal Sarai. Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi was renamed as Arun Jaitley Stadium in the year 2019. In an article by Maktoobmedia, it has been mentioned that certain Hindu nationalists have claimed that Qutub Minar was previously a “Vishnu Pillar”. Even the Taj Mahal has not been spared and there have been demands to rename it as “Tejo Mahalaya” and it be declared as a Shiva Temple.
Another point at issue is how Aurangzeb Alamgir, India’s most targeted and controversial Muslim ruler has been brought back to life by the country’s far right regime and organisations associated with the same majoritarian ideology, as a “savage oppressor”, from whose taint, India needs to be purified. Aurangzeb is central to the quest of rectifying the past of Hindus in India and to right the perceived wrongs. It has been claimed by Richard Eaton, professor at the University of Arizona, who is also known for being an authority on pre-modern India, that the temples destroyed by Aurangzeb were slightly more than a dozen as opposed to the claim that thousands of temples were destroyed by him, and the same was done for political reasons and not entirely religious as per an article of AP News. (Also refer to the original work, Temple Destruction and Muslim States in Medieval India. However, Aurangzeb has been weaponized to promote extremist right wing cultural propaganda.
Hindu nationalists have attempted to erase Aurangzeb’s presence from the public sphere. After protests from BJP leaders, New Delhi’s Aurangzeb Road was renamed in the year 2015. Following that, school textbooks in certain state governments were rewritten to deemphasize Aurangzeb. In May, 2022, the mayor of Northern Agra city went on to describe Aurangzeb as a “terrorist” and said that his traces should be erased from all public places as per AP News. The Mubarak Manzil, which was constructed by Aurangzeb, can be said to have been destroyed as a result of this historical revisionism and active efforts to erase all traces of Aurangzeb from Indian history.
A parallel can be drawn between India and Israel here. India is very closely following the steps taken by Israel to systematically erase the Palestinian culture, legacy and history from the landscape. India seems to be taking inspiration by how more than 530 Palestinian villages have been destroyed in Israel after the Nakba of 1948 as per an article by Aljazeera. The Ben Gurion Airport in Israel has been built on the remains of the ground from where Palestinian communities were forced out of their homes, just as on the debris of the historic Babri Masjid mosque, a new temple of Hindu god Ram has been raised.
India takes more inspiration from Israel by removing chapters of Islamic history from school textbooks much like the way there is no mention of Palestinian or even acknowledgment of their existence as a separate community in Israeli museums.
Gregory Stanton, the President of the Genocide Watch, who had predicted the Rawandan Genocide in 1989, has warned that India is following a similar path as per Aljazeera.
Taking into perspective the current state of communal disparity in India, a question is raised, that by these violent acts of destroying and burning libraries, demolishing mosques and cultural heritage sites, forgetting old city names, what part of our identity as India are we losing and what monolithic nation are we building?
Related:
How India’s Hindu Nationalists Are Weaponizing History Against Muslims
How India’s demolition drive is alienating its Muslim population
Politics of ruin: Why Modi wants to demolish India’s mosques
India’s Mosques Are Under Siege. The Destruction of the Babri Masjid Explains Why