6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

118 SIX GLORIOUS EPOCHS OF INDIAN HISTORY
the hands of foreign invaders, if they are not defended and
supported by the nation's mailed fist.
283. In the meanwhile, those Hunnish hordes which had
so far overrun the kingdom of Persia, and in A.D. 484 put
her King, Phiroz, to death, were now free to join the army
of Torman in his work of reducing India to the same miser­
able state^^. With his army so suddenly augmented, Torman
pushed ahead of the Punjab into Malava and captured it
round about 511 A.D.^^, along with its capital Ujjain. When
Torman's son, Mihirgula, who was braver and more atrocious
than the father, succeeded to the Hunnish throne, strangely
enough he became a sincere devotee of the Vedic God, Rudra
and held the cult of Buddha in the greatest spite.
MIHIRGULA, THE DEVOTEE OF THE
VEDIC GOD
284. Strange as it may seem the Huns were speedily
attracted to the worship of the Vedic God Rudra at least
from the time they entered the north-western frontier
province. Of these people Vincent Smith says, "The savage
invader who worshipped his patron deity Shiva, the God of
Destruction, exhibited ferocious hostility against the peaceful
Buddhistic cult and remorselessly overthrew the Stupas and
Monasteries which he plundered of their treasures^*".
THE PATRIOTIC VEDIC HINDUS AND
TREACHEROUS BUDDHISTS
285. In this context the readers are referred to para­
graphs 182 to 209 and 245 to 246 of this book wherein we
have commented on the patriotic spirit of the Vedic Hindus
and the treacherous attitude of the Buddhists. In order to
vouchsafe this comment of ours this incident of Mihirgula
should be most significant.
286. Even when this Hunnish aggressor Mihirgula had
accepted the Vedic cult of God Rudra and brutally
oppressed the Buddhists, who had become inveterate
enemies of the Vedic Hindus, the latter did not accept his