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Continuing our Kashmir History Month Series, we examine a painful part of Kashmir’s history: the reign of Sikander Butshikan. Butshikan, whose name literally means idol destroyer, inflicted significant harm to Kashmir’s indigenous Hindu people & culture in all conceivable ways.
Sikander Butshikan was the 6th Sultan of the Shah Mir Dynasty, and he ruled in the 14th century. It was particularly during his reign that Kashmir experienced forced demographic change due to his brutal techniques to forcefully convert the indigenous Kashmiri Hindu population.
Sikander Butshikan was a very profound iconoclast. He destroyed countless Hindu temples & Buddhist shrines in Kashmir, looting them of their wealth. Important temples like the Martanda Sun Temple were destroyed by Butshikan. Mosques were often built on top of these temple sites.
Instigated by a militant Sufi, Hamadani, Butshikan committed heinous crimes on Kashmiri Hindus, including burning their holy books or throwing them in Dal Lake, forced conversions, death for those who didn’t convert, burnings of sacred threads, and a ban against wearing tilaks.
What inspired these atrocities of Butshikan?
Militant Sufis, especially a Persian Sufi migrant to Kashmir named Hamadani, instigated Butshikan to target indigenous Kashmiri Hindus to increase conversions to Islam and to change the religious demography of the Kashmir region.
Militant Sufis, especially a Persian Sufi migrant to Kashmir named Hamadani, instigated Butshikan to target indigenous Kashmiri Hindus to increase conversions to Islam and to change the religious demography of the Kashmir region.
