What does desecration of religious places meant- understanding through Romila Thapar's book 'Somnath- many voices of history'
Introduction:- Romila thapar’s book ‘Somnath- many voices of history’ helps us to look towards the events of temple desecration from different perspectives instead of a popular narrative propagated by Colonial era historians, government and nationalist school of historians. Her book present before us varied sources composed during or after the lifetime of Mahmud of Ghazni, which broaden our perspectives about a temple and its functions which were wholly different from today’s time. It also presents before us the causes behind raids by different rulers of multiple origins and regions. The review The book helps us to understand the reason behind the raids on temples, importance of a temple as an institution, the kind of ecosystem a temple is or it develops because the roles which temples played during ancient or medieval times were very much different from today’s time. As many historians mentions about the methods of legitimation for an emperor or a dynasty’s rule, religious inst