This is an unheard chapter in Indian history which has been thrown under the table for long. This dark chapter deserve a mention here. So does the chapter in which Indians fought back and freed themselves from these tyrannical rulers.
I’ll be entirely quoting what an Arab traveler Ibn Battuta witnessed and has mentioned in his travelogues. (Rhila)
1344 CE — Madurai Sultanate (Tamil Nādu)
Ibn Battuta has married the daughter of Madurai Sultan Ghiyasuddin and hence was in a privileged position to witness all the happenings in the Tamil heartland. While his writings show that he hated the Hindus, he was simply not able to accept the unspeakable atrocities committed against the Hindus of tamilakam by his father-in-law.
Forest Massacre
Quoting directly from the Rhila:
We were passing was one jungle of trees and reeds (in Madurai) such that nobody could penetrate it. The Sultan ordered that everyone in the army, whether high or low, should carry an axe for cutting through it. When the camp was pitched he rode to the forest accompanied by the troops, and they cut down trees from morning till afternoon. Then food was brought, and all the people ate, one party after another. Then they resumed cutting down trees till evening.
Tamil Prisoners impaled alive.
Any (Tamilian) infidel whom they found in the jungle they took prisoner. They made wooden stakes sharpened at both ends and put them on the prisoners’ shoulders to carry. Their (Tamils) wives and children were with them and they brought them to the camp. It is their custom to make round the camp a wooden palisade with four gates, which they call a katkar, They make another katkar round the Sultan’s tent. Outside the peripheral katkar they make platforms about half a man’s height and light fires on them at night. The slaves and sentinels pass the night there.
Tamilakam revolt against the sultans.
The tamils at that time made groups and regularly attacked the sultanate camps to free their Tamil prisoners and at the same time drive out the Turkic Muslim Invaders.
Each of them has a handful of thin reeds and when some of the infidels come to attack the camp at night each one lights the bundle he has in his hand and the night becomes like day from the brightness of the illumination, and the horsemen ride out in pursuit of the infidels (Tamils).
Tamil Prisoners fate
In the morning the infidels taken prisoner the day before were divided into four groups which were taken | to each of the four gates of the katkar. The stakes they had carried the day before were fixed in them and driven through them.
Imagine a sharp long 6 meter weapon being gutted into you for no reason. This is what the Tamils of that era had to endure.
Women and Children publicly Butchered
Their (Tamils) women were killed and tied by the hair to the stakes. The little children were killed in their laps and left there. [Another] camp was pitched, they busied themselves cutting down more jungle, and acted in the same way with those they made prisoners. This was an abomination which I have not known of any other king. That is why God hastened his death.
Even Ibn Battuta who had haughty disregard to Hindus often could not stand this and hence said:
“This was an abomination (shameful conduct)’ which I have not known of any other king. That is why God hastened his death.”
This didn’t stop here.
Battuta talks of another Ghastly massacre of Tamilians by the Muslims.
7year old Tamil Kid and his Parents Beheaded
One day the Qazi was seated on his right and I on his left, and he was eating with us, and I saw an infidel (Tamilian)brought to him with his wife and seven-year-old son. He signed with his hand to the sword bearers that they should cut off the man’s head. Then he said to them: ‘Va zan-i u va pesar-i-u’(Persian), which means ‘and his son and his wife’ and their throats were cut. I looked away from them | and when I arose, I found their (Tamils) heads thrown on the ground.
Tamilian in a pool of Blood
I was in his presence one day when an infidel (Tamil) man had been brought to him. He said something I did not understand and immediately some of his myrmidons drew their knives. I got up at once and he said to me: ‘Where are you going?’ I said: ‘I am going to pray the afternoon prayer.’ He understood and laughed. He ordered his hands and feet to be cut off. When I returned I found him wallowing in his blood.
Added to this horror Ibn Battuta also mentions a Plague in Tamil Nādu which killed a lot of Tamilians:
When I arrived at Madura, there was a contagious disease prevalent there which killed people in a short time. Those who were attacked succumbed in two or three days. If their end was delayed, it was only until the fourth day. On leaving my dwelling, I saw people either sick or dead.
This was the state Tamil Nādu was in. More unspeakable atrocities were meted out against them for a continuous span of 3 decades.
Ray of Hope
Amid all such horrors there was still a ray of Hope. Ibn Battuta mentions vijayanagar kingdom being in a constant state of war to rid entire Southern India of the Muslims. Group of warriors from vijayanagar kingdom attacked Ibn Battuta and his camp completely plundering them while on their way out of Tamil Nādu.
Hoysala Emperor Veera Balla gave up his life in his struggles to rid Tamil Nādu of Muslims and reestablish native rule. This was not the end though.
Rise of Vijayanagar Empire
Soon a new power arose in Karnataka. The Vijayanagar Empire spearheaded by two brothers Harihara and Bukka Raya would go on to acquire territories in tremendous speed. Soon Muslim rule under the Tunga Bhadra belt was wiped out except for of course the Madurai Sultanate.
A group of Tamils take the news of the horrible conditions to the General Kumara Kampana asking him to help them by presenting him the sword of the Pandian King.
Soon Bukka Raya orders his son Kumara Kampana to rid Tamil Nādu from the Yoke of Barbarians and wipe out Muslim rule forever.
Bukka Raya orders Kumara Kampana to wipe out Turkish rule in Tamil Nādu
In a climatic clash that followed the Vijayanagar forces clinched victory and saved Tamil Nādu in a historic moment. This victory is the reason Tamil Nādu has so many temples standing tall until this day.
The main issue we need to note here is a lot of such unfortunate incidents which deserves to get a mention. There are very few sources of the Madurai Sultanate and what Ibn Battuta wrote down was something which was restricted to just a couple of years, and we do not have any historical sources which speak about what happened in the next 3 decades.
13th and 14th century India was a Horrific era. All you need to do is go through the chronicles of Ibn Battuta which clearly mentions the situation pertaining in that period and how the native Hindus were in constant war with the Turkish Muslim Invaders who had destroyed so much.
Interestingly Ibn Battuta himself was captured by Hindu rebels and kept in confinement for a long time. He even mentions role religion especially Islam played at that era. This would break the nonsense of kings only fighting for political gains and not caring about religion.
Indeed, Indians fought back and freed much of their land with constant reversals of course. The story of fightback deserves a separate answer on itself.
Source —
— Ibn Battuta Rhila Volume — 4
