6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

6TH GLORIOUS EPOCH
179
450. Even now we proudly refer to the noble acts of
Chhatrapati Shivaji and Chimaji Appa, when they honourably
sent back the daughter-in-law of the Muslim Governor of
Kalyan^^ and the wife of the Portuguese governor of Bassein*"
respectively. But is it not strange that, when they did so,
neither Shivaji Maharaj nor Chimaji Appa should ever remem­
ber, the atrocities and the rapes and the molestation,
perpetrated by Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad Ghori,
Alla-ud-din Khilji and others, on thousands of Hindu ladies
and girls like the princesses of Dahir, Kamaldevi,^^ the wife
of Karnaraj of Karnawati and her extremely beautiful
daughter, Devaldevi*^. Did not the plaintive screams and
pitiful lamentations of the millions of molested Hindu women^
which reverberated throughout the length and breadth of the
country, reach the ears of Shivaji Maharaj and Chimaji Appa?
451. The souls of those millions of aggrieved women
might have perhaps said, "Do not forget, 0, your Majesty,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and O ! your Excellency,
Chimaji Appa, the unutterable atrocities and oppression and
outrage committed on us by the Sultans and Muslim noble­
men and thousands of others, big and small. Let those
Sultans and their peers take a fright that in the event of a
Hindu victory our molestation and detestable lot shall be
avenged on the Muslim women. Once they are haunted with
this dreadful apprehension, that the Muslim women, too,
stand in the same predicament in case the Hindus win, the
future Muslim conquerors will never dare to think of such
molestation of Hindu women."
45]-A. But because of the then prevalent perverted
religious ideas about chivalry to women, which ultimately
proved highly detrimental to the Hindu community, neither
Shivaji Maharaj nor Chimaji Appa could do such wrongs to
the Muslim women.
452. It was the suicidal Hindu idea of chivalry to
women which saved the Muslim women (simply because they
were women) from the heavy punishments of committing
indescribable sins and crimes against the Hindu women.