Dear Rajan Thanks for the photograph and the amendment of the script. There is no need to give undue credit (in this case, discredit) to the Portuguese.
The business of Hindus destroying mosques and Muslims destroying temples was well afoot in Goa (Old Goa) during the era of the various Hindu v Muslim regimes which fought over this important port on the West Coast of the subcontinent. Besides the well known Hindu v Muslim bloody conflicts, there were fierce conflicts between the competing "hindu' empires. Even the (later) peaceful Ashoka fought the bloody war at Kalinga. I will research my texts which I read for my article on the Caste System - when I return to home base - but I would like to believe that Madurai was probably to site for the brutal slaying of several thousand Buddhist upon the order of the then Queen of Madurai. There is a striking paucity of Buddhist temples and on the subcontinent considering that Buddhism was the dominant religion ..... It could not be that the Muslims selectively destroyed the Buddhists and let the Hindus prosper (or survive). Considering that the Buddhists were anti-Brahmins, it would not take too much imagination as to what may have happened. And while all this may not have been recorded in Hindu texts, as well as later events are recorded in Western texts, there are, I believe some travelers who have recorded bits and pieces. I believe one such traveler is Hiuen-Tsang. It might also be worth asking: Was Goa never under the Buddhists (as in Ashoka)? Did they never construct places of worship? What happened to them? Did the intolerant Portuguese destroy them too? Pravin Sabnis made an interesting comment some years ago: "They dig up graveyards of history to show how temples were demolished to make way for mosques. If they dig further, they would find hordes of Stupas being demolished to built temples." http://www.colaco.net/3/religion&indianpoliticians.htm Please be advised that Sandeep Heble has since requested that his posts be withdrawn as he longer subscribes to the views expressed in those posts. I will commence the process of re-structuring the website later this year. I am unable to edit the website at the present location because of a goof-up by the hosts who took over from the previous host ..... jc ==== Rajan P. Parrikar <[email protected]> wrote: ...... some ambiguity - "...prior to the Portuguese conquest there was a temple on the hill..." which could lead one to conclude that Albuquerque ordered that it be taken down to build his hermitage. But given Albuquerque's favourable relations with the Hindus, that makes it unlikely. Most likely it may have been the Muslims. At any rate, that an existing Hindu temple was destroyed is not in dispute. I have amended my blog post to clarify the foregoing. http://www.parrikar.com/blog/2010/03/26/chapel-on-the-hill
