The Unsung Brahmin Hero who Defied Firuz Shah Tughlaq

FIRUZ SHAH TUGHLAQ inherited a splintered empire from his more infamous cousin, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq and presided over its extinction. Few Sultans of the Delhi Sultanate had so many attempts made on their life by those in their close circles. His bodily infirmities showed themselves in the weak character of his military, which kept losing winnable wars. The later part of his regime was notable for intra-Sunni civil wars — a situation that he had personally created. 

Firuz Shah Tughlaq was a bigoted Sunni Sufi Muslim. Throughout his tenure, he tried to compensate for his physical deformities by unleashing a regime of bigotry.  

From a young age, he had imbibed the most fanatical elements in the Islamic scripture and enforced them with singleminded heartlessness that has few parallels.

If his persecution of Shias was on an industrial scale, his oppression of Hindus was of epic magnitude. Firuz Shah destroyed hundreds of temples and converted and impoverished Hindus using the dreaded Jizya and gloated with unconcealed glee in his memoirs of how he “converted a large number of infidels to Sunni Islam by enticing them with exemption from Jizya and lavishing them with expensive presents upon conversion,” and how he “enforced perfect Sharia in his dominions.” 

Small wonder that almost all Islamic chroniclers shower exaggerated praise upon Firuz Shah’s religious piety. Here’s a handy formula to remember while reading Islamic history: the more pious a Sultan, the greater his fanaticism. Of these, the little-known chronicler Shams-i Siraj Afif leads the pack with his eulogy of Firuz Shah’s bigotry in his Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi. 

It is a compact biographical work running into 150 pages packed with minute details of Firuz Shah’s regime of violent sectarianism. Siraj writes as an eyewitness; he records events and incidents that more well-known chroniclers like Barani omit. John Dowson, of the Elliott & Dowson duo, correctly assesses the value of Siraj’s work: 

In Siraj’s eyes, Firuz Shah Tughlaq is the ideal Muslim monarch because he “excelled all his predecessors” in outlawing all practices considered un-Islamic — music, art, painting and even business transactions that violated “pure” Islamic tenets. The less said about his brutal repression of the heretical customs of the Sayyids (Shias) and Kafirs (Hindus), the better. 

Two chapters of Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi are unapologetic panegyrics to Firuz Shah Tughlaq’s Hindu oppression: 

1. Where the Sultan excelled all his predecessors 

2. Suppression of unlawful practices

While these chapters are a study in Firuz Shah’s unvarnished bigotry, they also unwittingly reveal the blighted plight of the Hindu society cursed to live under his rule. 

They reveal something else as well: the unyielding spirit of heroism and courage shown by ordinary Hindus who resisted and fought Firuz Shah’s tyranny in innovative ways, which sound unbelievable today.   

ONE SUCH HINDU was an aged Brahmana in Delhi who dared Firuz Shah’s fanaticism in his face. We unfortunately don’t know this devout hero’s name. Siraj simply calls him Zunaar Daar — one who wears the Sacred Thread. 

This gutsy old Brahmana had a large wooden tablet painted throughout with Hindu Devis and Devatas, which Siraj describes as “paintings of demons and other objects.” He performed Puja to it on specific days each week in his house. His saintly character attracted both Hindus and Muslims in droves to his home. This Puja soon became akin to a public festival. More importantly, Firuz Shah’s Sharia police never got a whiff of it for years. 

Finally, the Brahmana’s luck ran out. 

For a straightforward reason. 

Let’s read it in Siraj’s words: “this Brahman had perverted Muhammadan women, and had led them to become infidels.” 

The moment he heard this dreadful news, Firuz Shah Tughlaq’s perfected fanaticism reached a feverish pitch. His officers seized the old Brahmana together with his Kaffir tablet and presented him before the Sultan who was now in Firozabad. 

Firuz Shah then summoned the learned members of the Ulema — Faqihs, Hakims and Qazis — and sought their counsel. Their verdict was unanimous. In Siraj’s words, “the provisions of the Sharia were clear: the Brahman must either become a Musulman or be burned. The true faith [Islam] was declared to the Brahman, and the right course pointed out to him.” 

The Brahmana was unfazed. He refused the offer to live as a Musulman. Death was more honourable than a life of Mlecchahood. 

An inflamed Firuz Shah Tughlaq signed the execution warrant on the spot. Accordingly, a large pile of wood was mounted at the entrance of his Durbar. Then the old Brahmana was bound hand to foot and laid on the pile. Next, his Kaffir wooden tablet was placed on his body.

After this, at Firuz Shah’s signal, the pyre was lit. Shams-i Siraj mentions what happened next. 

The old Brahmana’s ascent to immortality was thus marked by his unflinching fealty to Dharma. Such was the mettle of our ancestors who literally burnt themselves, sacrificing their lives so we could remain Hindus. 

 But Siraj heaps insult upon injury at this naked display of casual fanaticism when he exults: 

And yet, to our eternal shame — especially after ceding Pakistan — we continue to honour this monster by spending precious taxpayer money to protect Firoz Shah Kotla as a monument. What should’ve ideally been a Hindu holocaust site endures as a memorial. 

Even the sacred memory of the old Brahmana hero has been permanently erased.