tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post1152470755304351546..comments2024-03-22T00:25:09.523-07:00Comments on Barbarikon: Jab We Met: Encounters between Islam and Hinduism in Early-Medieval PunjabAli Minaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364109441184435016noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-9920832004757845232014-12-08T03:49:30.292-08:002014-12-08T03:49:30.292-08:00Actually the Amirs of Multan coins are almost cert...Actually the Amirs of Multan coins are almost certainly earlier than AD 965. There are a series of coins clearly based on late Amirs of Sind coins which can be attributed to the Ismaili rulers. The bilingual amirs coins predate these and rulers mentioned on both the Amir of Sind and the Amir of Multan coins are mentioned in ninth century Arab geographers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-36536521430543568612014-07-02T08:12:56.590-07:002014-07-02T08:12:56.590-07:00Enjoyed reading this article.Thanks!
I wonder ...Enjoyed reading this article.Thanks! <br /><br />I wonder why it often becomes so difficult for south asian scholars to hold on a scientific temperament without lapsing into an absurd political sizing-up of each other. <br /><br />I hope to read more of your blog posts in the future! Take careAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-87785434157337065692014-03-24T12:19:27.025-07:002014-03-24T12:19:27.025-07:00Reasonable reading of the evidence. Certainly, th...Reasonable reading of the evidence. Certainly, the area had a history of liberal thinking, particularly in the period right before the Arab invasion, and subsequently during periods of internal control. Gul Aghahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11558063461578297972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-80222578914965089672014-02-27T09:03:45.854-08:002014-02-27T09:03:45.854-08:00"Avataras are few and wide between" I me..."Avataras are few and wide between" I meant that for humans.ngc1729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-55389339887242026032014-02-27T08:49:57.527-08:002014-02-27T08:49:57.527-08:00One more Interesting aspect is the word Avatara be...One more Interesting aspect is the word Avatara being ascribed to Mohammad:<br />Avataras are few and wide between, not that a human being cannot be an avatara, but the word is seldom used, Adi-sankara is considered an avatara but not Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Mohammad was an outsider to the Indian-subcontinent, the people of India of the past referred to the people to the west of Indian borders(Pakistan Included) as 'Melchchas' so certainly it is not to be expected that Mohammad was considered as an Avatara. In the past Semitic missionaries tried to introduce their prophets as avataras into Hinduism, this happened even with Christian missionaries. So this mention of Mohammad as Aavatara is to be understood as an attempt to introduce him as thus. If the images of Hindu Gods on the reverse side of the coins are true, I find it illogical to think this is something benign or an act of outreaching to Hindu community there, because Mohammad certainly is not considered as avatara but a complete outsider, therefore juxtaposing his name or that of Allah next to Hindu God imagery if true, only means an attempt at comparing Mohammad to Hindu devatas or Allah to Hindu Devatas against the Hindu mindset.<br /><br />Regards.ngc1729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-83940017243597292542014-02-27T08:16:25.104-08:002014-02-27T08:16:25.104-08:00Thanks for your informative comments. Actually, wh...Thanks for your informative comments. Actually, what you're saying is what I wanted to imply. Instead of going for a literal tranlation of "laa-ilaaha illallah", the makers of the coin chose a translation that was consistent with usual Sanskrit expression. Otherwise, surely, in a language as sophisticated as Sanskrit, it is possible to make an explicit statement of the form "There is no god but X", or "No one should be worshipped but X". However, what was chosen was a statement that the speakers of the language would find familiar. Whether this was done for reaching out or because space was limited (for example) is, of course, speculation. <br /><br />The problem you point out is actually more apparent in translating the term "rasul-ullah", where the use of the word "avatar" may just be a case of finding the nearest Sanskrit alternative. But statements mean what they mean to their readers, so if the word "avatar" had a certain meaning for the Sanskrit-speakers, it would have carried those connotations whether or not the maker of the coin intended them.<br /><br />Given how Islamic orthodoxy operates, however, it is still interesting that the statmnts got past the "censors" so to speak, unless they didn't care as much about the accuracy of a translation they saw as "foreign". One of my purposes was to show that people at that time were not as hung up about these issues as many are today, but it may just be that they didn't care as much. That's two ways of saying the same thing.<br /><br />The same thing is illustrated by the fact that many Muslims in South Asia are extremely paranoid about "disrespecting" any religious text by, e.g., dropping it to the ground or touching it without ritual purification. Yet, for more than a thousand years, virtually all coinage in the Muslim world carried the shahada and even texts from the Qur'an (I'll write about that), and no one cared hat the coins were being dropped, buried, melted, handed over to "kafirs" as payment, etc.Ali Minaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14364109441184435016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-28447730110945890912014-02-27T07:35:10.609-08:002014-02-27T07:35:10.609-08:00Hi,
Translation of the below Samskrutam verse:
av...Hi,<br /><br />Translation of the below Samskrutam verse:<br />avyaktam eka?, muhamada? avatara?, nrpati? mahamudah<br /><br />as:<br /><br />The Invisible is one; Muhammad is His manifestation (avatar); Mahmud is the king. <br /><br />Is a verbatim translation, however is fallacious for the following reason:<br /><br />Even though Hindus consider paramatma to be invisible, they don't refer him as "The invisible is one". There are so many pratyaksha devas (forms representatives of God) that are that Hindus see Paramatma (God) in every form they rarely refer him/her to be "invisible is the one" for that reason. Secondly there is no word for Allah in Samskrutam which forces one to find a meaning something similar in tone, third, when one side of the coin reads as "la-ilaha ill-allah / muhammad rasul-ullah / yamin-ud dawlah / wa amin-ul millah Mahmud"<br />It is to be expected that a similar translation would be made on the reverse side in Samskrutam, and since there is no word for Allah in Samskrutam, the closest one is "invisible one" but the reason is to be understood, this translation is made not because there is an attempt to reach out to Hindus as said in the article, so Samskrutam translation is to understood to mean same thing as what is said in Arabic "There is no god but Allah ...". I feel verbatim translation misses these nuisances which is often the case when western scholars are to be relied upon.<br /><br />Thus your statement that the above Samskrutam translation is "best read as affirmative ...and declaring the unity of all" is far fetched and misleading, because here there is no unity of God that is being preached by a dictum that "There is no God but Allah, the same meaning that corresponds to "la-ilaha ill-allah / muhammad rasul-ullah / yamin-ud dawlah / wa amin-ul millah Mahmud" is meant.<br /><br /><br />I am not sure about the images of the Hindu Gods on the coins, in the link provided(www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=5215), the said image of Sri Rama on the coin is not obvious.<br /><br />Regards<br />ngc1729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-50959584686951981962014-02-27T04:10:40.808-08:002014-02-27T04:10:40.808-08:00Ali is Thapur a credible source worthy of use as a...Ali is Thapur a credible source worthy of use as a reference?Khan Babahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15908845409749282089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-15842138131814484092014-02-26T21:21:33.198-08:002014-02-26T21:21:33.198-08:00Excellent work. The research is well grounded in e...Excellent work. The research is well grounded in empirical facts that lends credibility to ur article. Wud like to read more of udev_Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06860586194468264472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-7466185170529436042014-02-26T14:53:44.386-08:002014-02-26T14:53:44.386-08:00Thank you.Thank you.Ali Minaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14364109441184435016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-29511606126048840162014-02-26T14:53:31.631-08:002014-02-26T14:53:31.631-08:00Yes, we live for that! Very glad you liked the art...Yes, we live for that! Very glad you liked the article!Ali Minaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14364109441184435016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-91155396702401074282014-02-26T14:42:38.583-08:002014-02-26T14:42:38.583-08:00Good article. Good article. Sanjayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03842571712111676763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8135134425417686130.post-61496392018085459462014-02-25T21:43:16.245-08:002014-02-25T21:43:16.245-08:00Great to read this. I wish more people would const...Great to read this. I wish more people would constantly write about what we've done to ourselves. Maybe some young one ill get inspired and try to take us away from this when s/he comes into power. (I can dream, can't I?)Zakintoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16878739501457502905noreply@blogger.com