Story of Gokla Jat and Shambhu Chhatrapati and how Satnamis, Jats and later Marathas fought to save and reestablish dharma in India

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

On 9th April 1669, Shri Kāshi Vishwanāth Mahādèva was desecrated by Mlenchhas upon Aurangzeb’s order. It was a day of solar eclipse. People had gathered to bathe and offer pūjā to vishvèvara mahādev. That is when suddenly Mughals attacked amd dismantled the temple. The kufrashikan (killer of infidels), butshikan (breaker of idols), ghazi (religious Islamic warrior) that was Aurangzeb was doing what was right thing to do as per his religion. Killing Hindus and desecrating their temples. 

The keshavdèva temple of Mathura (the last iteration built by a Bundela king named Narasimhadeva) too was razed similarly in the Ramzan of 1670. The original vigraha of kèshavadeva is buried beneath the mosque built by Jahan Ara in Agra. He is still lying there somewhere. Hundreds and thousands of such tales. Countless temples broken. Countless vigrahas desecrated. Countless Hindus killed.

Meanwhile Hindus were resisting. In their capacity, they were fighting. 

Today’s thread is to pay them an homage. Especially a Jat from Tilpat named “Gokla”. Abdul Nabikhan was the man under who’s supervision Keshavdev of Mathura was desecrated. He began extracting Jizya from Hindus around Mathura. This Brave Jat leader named Gokla gathered around 22,000 Jats and started attacking and looting Mughal areas near Agra and Mathura.  Gokla killed Nabikhan. The score of Mathura was partially settled.

They looted Sadbad and formally rebelled against Aurangzeb. Mughals brought in Artillery (the bane of Hindus, shows why Bhau was insistent on artillery in 1761, anyways). Hindus didn’t have cavalry and Artillery. The wives and daughters of these Jats first committed Jauhar. Either killed by the hands of their own husbands. They entered burning pyre. 

Jats attacked. But it was difficult fight anyways. Gokla was captured alive. Just like Chhatrapati Shambhu 19 years later, Mughals tortured Gokla to death - chopping an organ a day. Gods know how many such Gokla and Sambhaji were tortured this way. But Jats did manage to kill 5000 mlencchas that day. They attained vīragati and became hutātmās. The Satnamis of Narnaul too rebelled in this manner. They destroyed many mosques in retaliation.

We understand the gravity of Rāmadāsa Svāmī saying - सकल पृथ्वी आंदोळली, धर्म गेला... when those times are mentioned. Hindus have gone through worse than Abrahamic hell-fire for last 1000 years to keep their dharma alive. It is now time to win back all that was lost and repay the debt with appropriate interest. That will be the right tarpaNa for Gokla. For ShambhuChhatrapati. 🙏🙏 

On phālgun amāvasyā of 1689, Sambhaji Maharaj was murdered by Aurangzeb. Here is the report from maāsir e ālamgiri:

“Mushrik, jahannum-nasīb, harabi qāti-up-tariq kāfir’s son was sent to deepest hell along with Kavi Kalash as per rulings of Sharia on 11/03/1689”

He was tortured from 03/03/1689 (phālgun krishNa Saptami) until 11/03/1689 (phālgun amāvasyā). Skin flayed & hanged on walls of fort. Eyes gorged out. Tongue cut. Hands, legs cut. Ears, nose cut. Countless burns, cuts, bruises all over the body. Standard Sharia manual I suppose. 

The charges were “looting Islamic cities, waging war against Islam, Killing Muslims” among few. They finally beheaded him on phālgun amāvasyā. His head was desecrated and tossed around. Next day is guDHi pāDvā. It is Chaitra krishNa pratipadā. It is Hindu New Year. Marathi people raise guDHi (a consecrated kalasha hoisted with saffron flag on roof to welcome new year). Aurangzeb chose to behead Sambhaji Maharaj deliberately on this day. So his head was hoisted on a spear as a mockery of Hindu guDHi (new year) next day.

It was a statement - An abhishikta vaidik Hindu king was killed by Islamic king. It was supposed to be a triumph over infidels. 

So many heroes laid down their lives. 

This thread will be incomplete without mention of devi Ahilyabai Holkar. She funded the (re)construction of many a desecrated Hindu temple. Where she should, she did it at the exact spot. 🙏 In places like Kashi, due to opposition of local Hindus, we lost the chance to correct this mistake in 1744 when Peshwa camped outside Kashi and ordered demolishing of the abomination that now stood on the site of vishwanath.  Local Hindus fearful of massacre by Nadirshah 4 years earlier asked Peshwa not to do so.

Relenting, Peshwa left Kashi and returned to Pune. After Panipat-3, Islamic military power in the Indian subcontinent was finished. Hindus were resurgent again under Madhavrao Peshwa, Mahadaji Shinde and Ahilyabai Holkar. That is when the reconstruction of Hindu temples started in earnest. 

Ahilyabai funded construction of new Mathura and Kashi temples besides the desecrated original.

But the task still incomplete.