Note 16 — SHAIKHĀWAT FEDERATION CHAPTER 5

The numerous ruined shrines and mutilated statues in every town and village, still attest the zeal with which the bigot’s orders were obeyed; nor is there an image of any antiquity with an entire set of features (except in spots impervious to his myrmidons), from Lahore to Cape Comorin. Omkarji, whose temple is on a small island of the Nerbudda, alone, it is said, supported his dignity in the indiscriminate attack on the deities of Hind. “If they are gods (said the tyrannical but witty iconoclast), let them evince their power, and by some miracle resist my commands.” Omkarji received the first blow on his head, as if imbued with mortal feeling, for the blood gushed from his nose and mouth, which prevented a repetition of the injury! This sensibility, though without the power of avenging himself, made Omkar’s shrine doubly respected, and it continues to be one of the best frequented and most venerated in these regions. [Numerous accounts of the destruction of Hindu temples by Aurangzeb have been collected by Jadunath Sarkar (History of Aurangzib, iii. 319 ff.). The Omkār temple at Māndhāta in the Nimār District, Central Provinces, is served by a priest of the Bhīlāla caste, half Bhīl, half Rājput, illustrating the mode by which aboriginal deities have been imported into Hinduism (IGI, xvii. 152; Russell, Tribes and Castes Central Provinces, ii. 294).]