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They would have been harassed at every step by myriads of Hindus, who, though doubtless trembling at the sight of a Muhammadan, would, we may be sure, never have permitted 5000 men to traverse in peace 1000 miles of forest and mountain; for Ramesvaram is fully 500 miles from Vijayanagar.
He broke down many temples of the idolaters, and laid waste their country after which he hastened with all expedition to Beejanuggur." It is a fact that a mosque is declared to have been erected by Malik Kafur on the sea-coast in 1310, but apparently not at Ramesvaram, which lies in the extreme south of India, on the eastern coast opposite the island of Ceylon.
Malik Kafur's expedition is said to have taken place after the conquest by him of the Ballala Rajah of Dvarasamudra in Maisur, when he erected a mosque on the SEA-COAST OF MALABAR, and therefore nowhere near Ramesvaram. He believes, however, that the remains of an old mosque do exist at Ramesvaram, and its date should be settled.
The great temple of Ramesvaram on Adam's Bridge is dedicated not to Râma himself but to the linga which he erected there, and Tulsi Das, the author of the Hindi Râmâyaṇa, while invoking Râma as the Supreme Lord and redeemer of the world, emphatically states that his worship is not antagonistic to that of Śiva.
Hinduism ranges from the lowest superstition to the highest philosophy but the stages are not distributed geographically. Pilgrims go from Badrinath to Ramesvaram: the Vaishnavism of Trichinopoly, Muttra and Bengal does not differ in essentials, the worship of the linga can be seen almost anywhere. And though India has often been receptive, this receptivity has been deliberate and discriminating.
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