87-636: Jauhar , sometimes spelled Jowhar or Juhar , was a Hindu Rajput practice of mass self-immolation by women and girls in the Indian subcontinent to avoid capture, enslavement, and rape by invaders when facing certain defeat during a war. Some reports of jauhar mention women committing self-immolation along with their children. This practice was historically observed in the northwest regions of India, with most famous jauhars in recorded history occurring during wars between Hindu Rajput kingdoms in Rajasthan and
174-500: A rakhi . Bahadur Shah sacked the fort for the second time. Rani Karnavati with 13,000 women shut themselves with gunpowder, lit it and thus committed mass suicide. However, the narrative of Karnawati sending Rakhi to Humayun is a fictional story which wrongly became a part of folklore based on an unreliable gossip from the 17th century (200 years after the event). Contemporary Persian and Hindu authorities did not mention this story at all. The armies of Mughal Emperor Akbar besieged
261-515: A Persian language text. According to many scholars, the first jauhar of Chittorgarh occurred during the 1303 siege of the Chittor fort. This jauhar became a subject of legendary Rajasthani poems, with Rani Padmini the main character, wherein she and other Rajput women commit jauhar to avoid being captured by Alauddin Khalji of Delhi Sultanate. The historicity of the first jauhar of Chittor
348-632: A 19-year-old Lithuanian student self-immolated to protest against the Soviet regime in Lithuania , sparking the 1972 unrest in Lithuania ; another 13 people self-immolated in that same year. In 1978, Ukrainian dissident and former political prisoner Oleksa Hirnyk burnt himself near the tomb of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko protesting against the russification of Ukraine under Soviet rule. On 2 March 1989, Liviu Cornel Babeș set himself on fire on
435-488: A battle with his enemy, Sher Shah Suri . During a war with the Ahom kingdom , Mirza Nathan ordered all Mughal women in his camp to be killed if he died. He later ordered them to perform jauhar. Self-immolation Self-immolation is the act of setting oneself on fire. It is mostly done for political or religious reasons, often as a form of protest or in acts of martyrdom . Due to its disturbing and violent nature, it
522-438: A few Hindi words to complete the sense…. It was only Khusrau's genius that could arrange these words in such a way to yield some meaning. Composers after him could not succeed in doing so, and the tarana became as meaningless as the ancient Nirgit. It is believed that Khusrau invented the tarana style during his attempt to reproduce Gopal Naik's exposition in raag Kadambak. Khusrau hid and listened to Gopal Naik for six days, and on
609-405: A form of self-immolation called Jauhar to avoid being raped by invading armies. Self-immolators frequently use accelerants before igniting themselves. This, combined with the self-immolators' refusal to protect themselves, can produce hotter flames and deeper, more extensive burns. Self-immolation has been described as excruciatingly painful. Later the burns become severe, nerves are burnt and
696-401: A poet of Persian." Khusrau's love and admiration for his motherland is transparent through his work. Khusrau was an intelligent child. He started learning and writing poetry at the age of nine. His first divan , Tuhfat us-Sighr (The Gift of Childhood), containing poems composed between the ages of 16 and 18, was compiled in 1271. In 1273, when Khusrau was 20 years old, his grandfather, who
783-510: A prison doctor suggested that people who choose self-immolation as a form of suicide are more likely to be in a "disturbed state of consciousness", such as epilepsy . Regarding self-immolation as a form of political protest, the 14th Dalai Lama said in 2013 and 2015: I think the self-burning itself [is a] practice of non-violence. These people, you see, they [could instead] easily use bomb explosive, [causing more casualties]. But they didn't do that. Only sacrifice their own life. So this also
870-491: A rendition of Khusrau's Aaj Rung Hai , and the film's plot sees the poem employed as a symbol of rebellion. Amir Khusro , a documentary feature covering his life and works directed by Om Prakash Sharma released in 1974. It was produced by the Government of India 's Film's Division . Amir Khusro , an Indian television series based on Khusrau's life and works aired on DD National , the national public broadcaster, in
957-585: A work of prose that contained the teachings of Nizamuddin Auliya. In 1320, Mubarak Shah Khalji was killed by Khusro Khan , who thus ended the Khalji dynasty and briefly became Sultan of Delhi. Within the same year, Khusro Khan was captured and beheaded by Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq , who became Sultan and thus began the Tughlaq dynasty . In 1321, Khusrau began to write a historic masnavi named Tughlaq Nama (Book of
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#17327761927751044-514: Is a "marked coincidence" between acts of self-immolation and times of crisis, especially when secular powers were hostile towards Buddhism . For example, Daoxuan 's (c. 667) Xu Gaoseng Zhuan ( Chinese : 續高僧傳 ; lit. 'Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks') records five monastics who self-immolated on the Zhongnan Mountains in response to the 574–577 persecution of Buddhism by Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (known as
1131-536: Is based on Rajasthani traditional belief as well as Islamic Sufi literature such as Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi . The Hindu women of the Kampili kingdom of northern Karnataka committed jauhar when it fell in 1327 to Delhi Sultanate armies of Muhammad bin Tughluq. The Hindu Rajput king Medini Rai ruled over Chanderi in northern Madhya Pradesh in early 16th century. He tried to help Rana Sanga in
1218-503: Is burnt and the self-immolator is younger than 40 years old, there is a survival chance of 50%. If the self-immolator has over 80% burns, the survival rate drops to 20%. Self-immolation is tolerated by some elements of Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism , and it has been practiced for many centuries, especially in India , for various reasons, including jauhar , political protest, devotion, and renouncement. An example from mythology includes
1305-455: Is connected to Sanskrit jatugr̥ha , meaning a "house plastered with lac and other combustible materials for burning people alive in". It has also been incorrectly interpreted to have been derived from the Persian gōhar , which refers to "gem, worth, virtue". This confusion, as author John Stratton Hawley states, rose from the fact that jivhar and jauhar were written in the same manner with
1392-471: Is considered one of the most extreme methods of protest. The English word immolation originally meant (1534) "killing a sacrificial victim; sacrifice" and came to figuratively mean (1690) "destruction, especially by fire". Its etymology was from Latin immolare "to sprinkle with sacrificial meal ( mola salsa ); to sacrifice" in ancient Roman religion . In the Mewar region of India, women practiced
1479-412: Is now Uzbekistan . When he was a young man, the region was destroyed and ravaged by Genghis Khan 's invasion of Central Asia , and much of the population fled to other lands, India being a favored destination. A group of families, including that of Amir Saif ud-Din, left Kesh and travelled to Balkh (now in northern Afghanistan), which was a relatively safe place; from there, they sent representatives to
1566-839: Is often attributed to him. Khusrau is sometimes referred to as the "voice of India" or "Parrot of India" ( Tuti-e-Hind ). Khusrau is regarded as the "father of qawwali " (a devotional form of singing of the Sufis in the Indian subcontinent), and introduced the ghazal style of song into India, both of which still exist widely in India and Pakistan. Khusrau was an expert in many styles of Persian poetry which were developed in medieval Persia , from Khāqānī's qasidas to Nizami's khamsa . He used 11 metrical schemes with 35 distinct divisions. He wrote in many verse forms including ghazal, masnavi, qata, rubai, do-baiti and tarkib-band. His contribution to
1653-475: Is part of practice of non-violence. Self-immolations are often public and political statements that are often reported by the news media. They can be seen by others as a type of altruistic suicide for a collective cause, and are not intended to inflict physical harm on others or cause material damage. The Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam saw the persecution of the country's majority religion under
1740-653: The Agalassoi tribe of northwest India is mentioned in Book 6 of The Anabasis of Alexander , Arrian 's 2nd-century CE military history of Alexander the Great between 336 and 323 BCE. Arrian mentions Alexander's army conquering and enslaving peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent . During a war that killed many in the Macedonian and Agalossoi armies, some 20,000 men, women and children of an Agalossoi town set fire to
1827-661: The Battle of Khanua against the Muslim armies of Babur , the founder of the Mughal Empire . In January 1528 CE, his fort was overwhelmed by the invading forces of Babur . The women and children of the Chanderi fort committed jauhar , the men dressed up in saffron garments and walked the ritual of saka on 29 January. Rana Sanga died in 1528 CE after the Battle of Khanwa . Shortly afterwards, Mewar and Chittor came under
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#17327761927751914-777: The Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. , in protest against the United States' ongoing support for Israel . He lit himself on fire while shouting "Free Palestine ". It was filmed and livestreamed on Twitch . Bushnell died of his injuries on 26 February. On 11 September 2024, a man named Matt Nelson self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate and the Four Seasons hotel in Boston, Massachusetts in protest of
2001-761: The United States' ongoing support for Israel . He recorded a video urging the United States government to stop sending weapons to Israel. On October 5, 2024, a photojournalist named Samuel Mena Jr attempted to self-immolate in front of the White House in Washington DC at a pro-Palestinian protest. He survived with burn injuries to his arm and was taken to a hospital. Other cases of self-immolation: Amir Khusrau Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau , sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro ,
2088-543: The harem . Men were forced to convert to Islam whereas those who refused were executed. In 1710 CE, Mir Fazlullah, a rebel Mughal amir , invaded Daddanala, a town in the Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh that was the capital of the Dupati Sayapaneni Nayaks . As Sayapaneni Pedda Venkatadri Nayudu, who was in charge, died during the conflict, all the assembled Sayapaneni women set fire to
2175-751: The imposition of the Hindi language , the assassination of Indira Gandhi , and their mistreatment by the Sri Lankan government . As of June 2022, there had been 161 confirmed self-immolations in Tibet and ten others made in solidarity outside of Tibet. The 14th Dalai Lama placed the blame on " cultural genocide " by the Chinese . The Chinese government blamed the Dalai Lama and his supporters for inciting these acts. Several Tibetan scholars criticized
2262-516: The " Second Disaster of Wu "). For many monks and laypeople in Chinese history, self-immolation was a form of Buddhist practice that modeled and expressed a particular path that led towards Buddhahood. Historian Jimmy Yu has stated that self-immolation cannot be interpreted based on Buddhist doctrine and beliefs alone but the practice must be understood in the larger context of the Chinese religious landscape. He examines many primary sources from
2349-677: The 16th and 17th century and demonstrates that bodily practices of self-harm, including self-immolation, were ritually performed not only by Buddhists but also by Daoists and literati officials who either exposed their naked body to the sun in a prolonged period of time as a form of self-sacrifice or burned themselves as a method of procuring rain. During the Great Schism of the Russian Church , entire villages of Old Believers burned themselves to death in an act known as "fire baptism" (self-burners: samosozhigateli ). A 1973 study by
2436-679: The 18th century. The language of the Hindustani verses appears to be relatively modern. He used the term 'Hindavi' (meaning 'of Hind or India' in Persian) for the Hindustani language, and gave shape to it in the Islamic literature. He also wrote a war ballad in Punjabi . In addition, he spoke Arabic and Sanskrit . His poetry is still sung today at Sufi shrines throughout India and Pakistan . The 1978 film Junoon opens with
2523-642: The 1980s. He was portrayed by actor Bhawani Muzamil as a court poet of Alauddin Khalji in the 2018 Indian film Padmaavat by Sanjay Leela Bhansali . One of Khusro's poems on Basant , Sakal bun phool rahi sarson , was quoted in an episode of Saladin Ahmed's The Magnificent Ms. Marvel . Various renditions of this poem have been recorded time and again, including one sung by Rizwan-Muazzam in Season 8 of Coke Studio Pakistan , as well as another rendition by Pakistani singer Meesha Shafi in collaboration with
2610-668: The Akbar army, with "the red color signifying the blood that flowed on that day". Raisen in Madhya Pradesh was repeatedly attacked by the Mughal Army in the early 16th century. In 1528, the first jauhar was led by Rani Chanderi. After the Mughal army left, the kingdom refused to accept orders from Delhi. After a long siege of Raisen fort, that exhausted all supplies within the fort, Rani Durgavati and 700 Raisen women committed
2697-650: The Bradu ski slope at Poiana Brașov as a sign of protest against the communist regime. In India, as many as 1,451 and 1,584 self-immolations were reported in 2000 and 2001, respectively. A particularly high wave of self-immolation was recorded during the Mandal Commission protests of 1990 against the caste-based system of reservation . Tamil Nadu has the highest number of self-immolators in India to date, although not all of them were politically motivated. Tamils in Indian and Sri Lanka have protested against
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2784-569: The Dalai Lama for not speaking more strongly against self-immolations. In 2013, the Dalai Lama questioned the effectiveness of self-immolations but said they are caused by Beijing. The United States called on both sides to moderate their stance. A wave of self-immolation suicides occurred in conjunction with the Arab Spring protests in the Middle East and North Africa , with at least 14 recorded incidents. The 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution
2871-548: The Great in 4500 verses. The fifth masnavi was Hasht-Bihisht , which was based on legends about Bahram V , the fifteenth king of the Sasanian Empire . All these works made Khusrau a leading luminary in the world of poetry. Ala ud-Din Khalji was highly pleased with his work and rewarded him handsomely. When Ala ud-Din's son and future successor Qutb ud-Din Mubarak Shah Khalji was born, Khusrau prepared
2958-701: The Great to Persis and later, after falling ill, self-immolated by entering into a pyre, in front of Alexander and his army. Diodorus Siculus called him Caranus ( Ancient Greek : Κάρανος ). Zarmanochegas was a monk of the Sramana tradition (possibly, but not necessarily a Buddhist) who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo and Dio Cassius , met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch around 22 BC and burnt himself to death in Athens shortly thereafter. The monk Fayu ( Chinese : 法羽 ) (d. 396) carried out
3045-691: The Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate and starting the Khalji dynasty . Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji appreciated poetry and invited many poets to his court. Khusrau was honoured and respected in his court and was given the title "Amir". He was given the job of "Mushaf-dar". Court life made Khusrau focus more on his literary works. Khusrau's ghazals which he composed in quick succession were set to music and were sung by singing girls every night before
3132-659: The Rajput fort of Chittor in September 1567. After his army conquered Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, Hindu women committed jauhar in spring of 1568 CE, and the next morning, thousands of Rajput men walked the saka ritual. The Mughal army killed all the Rajputs who walked out the fort. Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak , who was not an immediate witness, gave a hearsay account of the event as seen by Akbar and his army. Abu'l-Fazl states that
3219-494: The Rajput kingdoms almost certainly supplied the first occasions for jauhar, well before the Muslim invasions with which the practice is popularly associated" and that "the geopolitics of the northwest, whence a succession of invaders entered the subcontinent, made of Rajasthan a continual war zone, and its socially most respected community was therefore not the Brahmins but the kshatriya or Rajput castes, who controlled and defended
3306-502: The Ranthambore fort . When faced with certain defeat, the defending ruler Hammiradeva decided to fight to death with his soldiers, and his minister Jaja supervised the organization of a jauhar . The queens, daughters and other female relatives of Hammira Deva committed jauhar. Hammira Dev’s wife Rani Rang Devi and his daughter Padmala, along with other women, made the decision to commit jauhar in order to protect their honor from
3393-692: The Sultan of Delhi. Khusrau wrote a masnavi on Mubarak Shah Khalji called Nuh Sipihr (Nine Skies), which described the events of Mubarak Shah Khalji's reign. He classified his poetry in nine chapters, each part of which is considered a "sky". In the third chapter he wrote a vivid account of India and its environment, seasons, flora and fauna, cultures, scholars, etc. He wrote another book during Mubarak Shah Khalji's reign by name of Ijaz-e-Khusravi (The Miracles of Khusrau), which consisted of five volumes. In 1317 Khusrau compiled Baqia-Naqia (Remnants of Purity). In 1319 he wrote Afzal ul-Fawaid (Greatest of Blessings),
3480-456: The Sultan of distant Delhi seeking refuge. This was granted, and the group then travelled to Delhi. Sultan Shams ud-Din Iltutmish , ruler of Delhi, was also Turkic like them; indeed, he had grown up in the same region of Central Asia and had undergone somewhat similar circumstances in earlier life. This was the reason the group had turned to him in the first place. Iltutmish not only welcomed
3567-655: The Sultan. Khusrau writes about Jalal ud-Din Firuz: The King of the world Jalal ud-Din, in reward for my infinite pain which I undertook in composing verses, bestowed upon me an unimaginable treasure of wealth. In 1290, Khusrau completed his second masnavi, Miftah ul-Futuh (Key to the Victories), in praise of Jalal ud-Din Firuz's victories. In 1294, Khusrau completed his third divan, Ghurrat ul-Kamaal (The Prime of Perfection), which consisted of poems composed between
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3654-661: The Tughlaqs) about the reign of Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq and that of other Tughlaq rulers. Khusrau died in October 1325, six months after the death of Nizamuddin Auliya. Khusrau's tomb is next to that of his spiritual master in the Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi. Nihayat ul-Kamaal (The Zenith of Perfection) was compiled probably a few weeks before his death. A popular fable which has made its way into scholarship ascribes
3741-717: The administration of Catholic president Ngô Đình Diệm . Several Buddhist monks, including the most famous case of Thích Quảng Đức , immolated themselves in protest. The example set by self-immolators in the mid 20th century sparked similar acts between 1963 and 1971, most of which occurred in Asia and the United States in conjunction with protests opposing the Vietnam War . Researchers counted almost 1000 self-immolations covered by The New York Times and The Times . On November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison , an anti-war activist, doused himself in kerosene and set himself on fire below
3828-462: The ages of 34 and 41. After Jalal ud-Din Firuz, Ala ud-Din Khalji ascended to the throne of Delhi in 1296. Khusrau wrote the Khaza'in ul-Futuh (The Treasures of Victory) recording Ala ud-Din's construction works, wars and administrative services. He then composed a khamsa (quintet) with five masnavis, known as Khamsa-e-Khusrau (Khamsa of Khusrau), completing it in 1298. The khamsa emulated that of
3915-476: The battlefield expecting certain death, which in the regional tradition is called saka . This practice was intended to show that those committing it valued their honor more highly than their lives. Jauhar by Hindu kingdoms has been documented by Muslim historians of the Delhi Sultanate , and the Mughal Empire . Among the most often cited examples of jauhar is the mass suicide committed in 1303 CE by
4002-567: The development of the ghazal was significant. Amīr Khusrau was born in 1253 in Patiyali , Kasganj district , in modern-day Uttar Pradesh , India, in what was then the Delhi Sultanate , the son of Amīr Saif ud-Dīn Mahmūd, a man of Turkic extraction and Bibi Daulat Naz, a native Indian mother. Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud was a Sunni Muslim. He grew up in Kesh , a small town near Samarkand in what
4089-496: The distinguishing characteristics of a qawwali. Khusrau's disciples who specialised in Qawwali singing were later classified as Qawwals (they sang only Muslim devotional songs) and Kalawants (they sang mundane songs in the Qawwali style). The musical flow of some of his poems has made them favorites of musicians even today. Tarana and Trivat are also credited to Khusrau. Musicologist and philosopher Jaidev Singh has said: Tarana
4176-580: The dust of your feet is found is like a relic of paradise for me. In 1310, Khusrau became a disciple of Sufi saint of the Chishti Order , Nizamuddin Auliya . In 1315, Khusrau completed the romantic masnavi Duval Rani - Khizr Khan ( Duval Rani and Khizr Khan), about the marriage of the Vaghela princess Duval Rani to Khizr Khan, one of Ala ud-Din Khalji's sons. After Ala ud-Din Khalji's death in 1316, his son Qutb ud-Din Mubarak Shah Khalji became
4263-426: The earlier poet of Persian epics, Nizami Ganjavi . The first masnavi in the khamsa was Matla ul-Anwar (Rising Place of Lights) consisting of 3310 verses (completed in 15 days) with ethical and Sufi themes. The second masnavi, Khusrau-Shirin , consisted of 4000 verses. The third masnavi, Laila-Majnun , was a romance. The fourth voluminous masnavi was Ayina-i Iskandari , which narrated the heroic deeds of Alexander
4350-678: The earliest recorded Chinese self-immolation. He first informed the "illegitimate" prince Yao Xu ( Chinese : 姚緒 )—brother of Yao Chang who founded the non-Chinese Qiang state Later Qin (384–417)—that he intended to burn himself alive. Yao tried to dissuade Fayu, but he publicly swallowed incense chips, wrapped his body in oiled cloth, and chanted while setting fire to himself. The religious and lay witnesses were described as being "full of grief and admiration". Following Fayu's example, many Buddhist monks and nuns have used self-immolation for political purposes. While some monks did offer their bodies in periods of relative prosperity and peace, there
4437-428: The first recorded Indian personages with a true multicultural or pluralistic identity. Musicians credit Khusrau with the creation of six styles of music: qaul, qalbana, naqsh, gul, tarana and khyal , but there is insufficient evidence for this. Khusrau wrote primarily in Persian . Many Hindustani (or Hindi - Urdu ) verses are attributed to him, since there is no evidence for their composition by Khusrau before
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#17327761927754524-539: The following famous Persian verse to Khusrau: Agar Firdaus bar ru-ye zamin ast, Hamin ast o hamin ast o hamin ast. In English: "If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this." This verse is believed to have been inscribed on several Mughal structures, supposedly in reference to Kashmir , specifically a particular building at the Shalimar Garden in Srinagar, Kashmir (built during
4611-512: The fort of Chittaur (Chittaurgarh, Chittorgarh), in Rajasthan, in 1303 , 1535 , and 1568 CE . Jaisalmer was the scene of two occurrences of jauhar , one in the year 1299 CE, during the reign of the Alauddin Khalji , and another during the reign of the Tughlaq dynasty in 1326. Jauhar and saka were considered heroic acts, and the practice was glorified in the local ballads and folklore of Rajasthan . The mass self-immolation by
4698-441: The hands of the invading army. Shams ud-Din Iltutmish of the Delhi Sultanate attacked Gwalior in 1232, then under control of the Rajputs. The Rajput women committed jauhar instead of submitting to Iltutmish's army. The place where the women committed mass suicide, in the northern end of the Gwalior fort, is known as Jauhar-tal (or Johar kund, Jauhar Tank). In 1301, Alauddin Khalji of Delhi Sultanate besieged and conquered
4785-483: The horoscope of Mubarak Shah Khalji in which certain predictions were made. This horoscope is included in the masnavi Saqiana . In 1300, when Khusrau was 47 years old, his mother and brother died. He wrote these lines in their honour: A double radiance left my star this year Gone are my brother and my mother, My two full moons have set and ceased to shine In one short week through this ill-luck of mine. Khusrau's homage to his mother on her death was: Where ever
4872-501: The houses in the fort and were burnt to death. The five-year-old prince Mallikarjuna Nayudu was saved by a maidservant who had smuggled him out through an orifice in the walls of the fort and was raised by his relatives. Practices like the jauhar however weren't limited to Hindus. Muslim rulers are recorded to have their women killed in order to prevent any degradation of their honour. Jahangir in his memoirs states that his nobleman Khan-i-Jahan ordered his wives to commit jauhar during
4959-400: The invading Islamic army. However, they found no time to arrange a huge sacrificial fire and altar in which to commit jauhar , thus they committed mass suicide by jumping into the reservoir at the fort. In her honor the reservoir has been named " Padmala Talav " The jauhar at Ranthambore was described by Alauddin's courtier Amir Khusrau , which makes it the first jauhar to be described in
5046-403: The land. This history predates the coming of the Muslims by more than a millennium. Commemorative stones unearthed and dated in Rajasthan and Vijayanagara mark the deaths of both sexes. Their dates, which can be reliably determined, match perfectly the times and zones of war." The phenomenon of jauhar has been reported and perceived by Hindus and Muslims differently. In Hindu traditions, jauhar
5133-467: The office of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at the Pentagon, to protest United States involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1968, the practice spread to the Soviet bloc with the self-immolation of Polish accountant and Armia Krajowa veteran Ryszard Siwiec , as well as those of two Czech students, Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc , and of toolmaker Evžen Plocek , in protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia . In 1972, Romas Kalanta ,
5220-433: The opposing Muslim armies. Jauhar was only performed during war, usually when there was no chance of victory. The term jauhar often connotes jauhar -immolation. Jauhar involved Hindu Rajput women committing suicide with their children and valuables in a massive fire, in order to avoid capture and abuse in the face of inescapable military defeat. At the same time or shortly thereafter, the men would ritualistically march to
5307-411: The practice of Sati when the Hindu goddess Parvati's incarnation of the same name (see also Daksayani ) legendarily set herself on fire after her father insulted her in Daksha Yajna for having married Shiva, the ascetic god. Shiva, Parvati and their army of ghosts attacked Daksha's Yajna and destroyed the sacrifice, and Shiva beheaded and killed Daksha. Later, Daksha was revived by Shiva and Daksha Yajna
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#17327761927755394-430: The refugees to his court but also granted high offices and landed estates to some of them. In 1230, Amir Saif ud-Din was granted a fief in the district of Patiyali . Amir Saif ud-Din married Bibi Daulat Naz, the daughter of Rawat Arz, an Indian noble and war minister of Ghiyas ud-Din Balban , the ninth Sultan of Delhi. Amir Saif ud-Din and Bibi Daulatnaz became the parents of four children: three sons (one of whom
5481-405: The regency of his widow, Rani Karnavati . The kingdom was besieged by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat . Rani committed Jauhar with other women on 8 March 1535, while the Rajput army rallied out to meet the besieging Muslim army and committed saka. As Chittorgarh faced an imminent attack from the Sultan of Gujarat, Karnavati sought the assistance of the Mughal emperor Humayun to whom she had once offered
5568-479: The reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir). However, recent scholarship has traced the verse to a time much later than that of Khusrau and to a place quite distant from Kashmir. Historian Rana Safvi inspected all probable buildings in the Kashmir garden and found no such inscription attributed to Khusrau. According to her the verse was composed by Sa'adullah Khan, a leading noble and scholar in the court of Jahangir's successor and son Shah Jahan. Even in popular memory, it
5655-467: The royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He wrote many playful riddles , songs and legends which have become a part of popular culture in South Asia. His riddles are one of the most popular forms of Hindavi poetry today. It is a genre that involves double entendre or wordplay. Innumerable riddles by the poet have been passed through oral tradition over the last seven centuries. Through his literary output, Khusrau represents one of
5742-405: The same letter used to denote v and u . Thus, jivhar has also came to be incorrectly associated with the meaning of jauhar . The practice of jauhar has been claimed as being culturally related to Sati , with both being a form of suicide by women through self-immolation. However, the two are only superficially similar, with the underlying reason for both being significantly different. Sati
5829-428: The second jauhar in 1532 while the men led by Lakshman Tuar committed saka . This refusal to submit to Mughal rule repeated, and in 1543 the third jauhar was led by Rani Ratnavali. Aurangzeb with vast army laid siege to Bundela in Madhya Pradesh in December 1634 CE. The resident women committed jauhar as the fort fell. Those who had not completed the ritual and survived the jauhar in progress were forced into
5916-479: The self-immolator loses sensation at the burnt areas. Some self-immolators can die during the act from inhalation of toxic combustion products, hot air, and flames. The human body has an inflammatory response to burnt skin, which happens after 25% is burnt in adults. This response leads to blood and body fluid loss. If the self-immolator is not taken to a burn centre in less than four hours, they are more likely to die from shock. If no more than 80% of their body area
6003-439: The seventh day, he reproduced Naik's rendition using meaningless words ( mridang bols ) thus creating the tarana style. Khusrau is credited for the invention of the sitar. At the time, there were many versions of the Veena in India. He modified the three stringed Tritantri Veena as a Setar (Persian for 3 stringed), which eventually became known as the sitar . Amir Khusrau was a prolific classical poet associated with
6090-429: The town and immolated themselves when they came to believe that military defeat was imminent. The Malli tribe also performed a similar act, which Pierre Herman Leonard Eggermont considers jauhar . Arrian states that they started burning their houses with themselves in it, though any Indian captured alive in their houses was slaughtered by the Greeks. In 712, Muhammed bin Qasim and his army attacked various kingdoms of
6177-408: The western regions of the Indian subcontinent. He laid siege to the capital of Raja Dahir , then the Hindu king in the area of Sind . After Dahir had been killed, the queen (Ladi) coordinated the defense of the capital for several months. As the food supplies ran out, she and the women of the capital refused to surrender, lit pyres and committed jauhar . The remaining men walked out to their deaths at
6264-572: The women of Chittorgarh fort in Rajasthan, when faced with the invading army of the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The jauhar phenomenon was also observed in other parts of India, such as in the Kampili kingdom of northern Karnataka when it fell in 1327 to Delhi Sultanate armies. There is an annual celebration of heroism called the Jauhar Mela in Chittorgarh where the local people commemorate their ancestors. The word jauhar
6351-481: The women were victims of Rajput men and unwilling participants, and these Rajputs came out walking to die, throwing away their lives. According to David Smith, when Akbar entered the Chittorgarh fort in 1568, it was "nothing but an immense crematorium". According to Lindsey Harlan, the jauhar of 1568 is a part of regional legend and is locally remembered on the Hindu festival of Holi as a day of Chittorgarh massacre by
6438-427: Was Jahangir who first repeated the phrase in praise of Kashmir. Khusrau is credited with fusing the Persian , Arabic , Turkic , and Indian singing traditions in the late 13th century to create qawwali , a form of Sufi devotional song . A well-punctuated chorus emphasising the theme and devotional refrain coupled with a lead singer utilising an ornate style of fast taans and difficult svara combinations are
6525-558: Was Khusrau) and a daughter. Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud died in 1260, when Khusrau was only eight years old. Through his father's influence, he imbibed Islam and Sufism coupled with proficiency in Turkish , Persian, and Arabic languages. He was known by his sobriquet Tuti-i Hind ("Parrot of India"), which according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam "compares the eloquent poet to the sweet-talking parrot, indicates his canonical status as
6612-410: Was a center of knowledge and learning. Caravans of scholars, tradesmen and emissaries transited through Multan from Baghdad , Arabia and Persia on their way to Delhi. Khusrau wrote that: I tied the belt of service on my waist and put on the cap of companionship for another five years. I imparted lustre to the water of Multan from the ocean of my wits and pleasantries. On 9 March 1285, Khan Muhammad
6699-412: Was a heroic act by the women of a community facing certain defeat and abuse by the enemy. For Muslim historians, jauhar was portrayed as an act forced upon women by their culture. Amir Khusrau the poetic scholar described it, states Arvind Sharma – a professor of Comparative Religion, as "no doubt magical but nevertheless they are heroic". Among the most cited cases of jauhar are three occurrences at
6786-489: Was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the period of the Delhi Sultanate . He is an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent . He was a mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi , India. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian , but also in Hindavi . A vocabulary in verse, the Ḳhāliq Bārī , containing Arabic, Persian and Hindavi terms
6873-462: Was completed when Daksha apologized. Certain warrior cultures, such as those of the Charans and Rajputs , also practiced self-immolation. There are several well-known examples from antiquity to modern times. Kalanos , also spelled Calanus ( Ancient Greek : Καλανὸς ) ( c. 398 – 323 BCE), was an ancient Indian gymnosophist , and philosopher from Taxila who accompanied Alexander
6960-649: Was entirely an invention of Khusrau. Tarana is a Persian word meaning a song. Tillana is a corrupt form of this word. True, Khusrau had before him the example of Nirgit songs using śuṣk-akṣaras (meaningless words) and pāṭ-akṣaras (mnemonic syllables of the mridang). Such songs were in vogue at least from the time of Bharat. But generally speaking, the Nirgit used hard consonants. Khusrau introduced two innovations in this form of vocal music. Firstly, he introduced mostly Persian words with soft consonants. Secondly, he so arranged these words that they bore some sense. He also introduced
7047-515: Was killed in battle while fighting Mongols who were invading the Sultanate. Khusrau wrote two elegies in grief of his death. In 1287, Khusrau travelled to Awadh with another of his patrons, Amir Ali Hatim. At the age of eighty, Balban called his second son Bughra Khan back from Bengal, but Bughra Khan refused. After Balban's death in 1287, his grandson Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad , Bughra Khan's son,
7134-674: Was made the Sultan of Delhi at the age of 17. Khusrau remained in Qaiqabad's service for two years, from 1287 to 1288. In 1288, Khusrau finished his first masnavi , Qiran us-Sa'dain (Meeting of the Two Auspicious Stars), which was about Bughra Khan meeting his son Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad after a long enmity. After Qaiqabad suffered a stroke in 1290, nobles appointed his three-year-old son Shams ud-Din Kayumars as Sultan. A Turko-Afghan named Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji then marched on Delhi, killed Qaiqabad and became Sultan, thus ending
7221-510: Was observed only during Hindu-Muslim wars, but not during internecine Hindu-Hindu wars among the Rajputs. John Hawley, however, disagrees with this assertion; he links it to the Greek conquerors who also captured Indian women, arguing that the practice of jauhar might have started with the Greek campaigns in the region. Veena Talwar Oldenburg disagrees as well, saying that "internecine warfare among
7308-664: Was reportedly 113 years old, died. After Khusrau's grandfather's death, Khusrau joined the army of Malik Chajju, a nephew of the reigning Sultan, Ghiyas ud-Din Balban . This brought his poetry to the attention of the Assembly of the Royal Court where he was honoured. Nasir ud-Din Bughra Khan , the second son of Balban, was invited to listen to Khusrau. He was impressed and became Khusrau's patron in 1276. In 1277 Bughra Khan
7395-545: Was sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi . Other cases followed during the 2011 Algerian protests and the 2011 Egyptian revolution . On 1 December 2023, a protester self-immolated in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta while draped in a Palestinian flag in response to the Israel–Hamas war . On 25 February 2024, Aaron Bushnell , an active-duty U.S. Air Force service member, self-immolated outside
7482-460: Was the custom of a widow committing suicide by sitting on her husband's funeral pyre. Jauhar was collective self-immolation by women in order to escape being captured and forced into slavery by invaders when defeat was imminent. Self-immolation was preferred over simple suicide because it would negate the possibility of any defilement of their dead bodies which their husbands, children and/or clansmen might have to watch. Kaushik Roy states that jauhar
7569-457: Was then appointed ruler of Bengal , and Khusrau visited him in 1279 while writing his second divan, Wast ul-Hayat (The Middle of Life). Khusrau then returned to Delhi. Balban's eldest son, Khan Muhammad (who was in Multan ), arrived in Delhi, and when he heard about Khusrau, he invited him to his court. Khusrau then accompanied him to Multan in 1281. Multan at the time was the gateway to India and
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