By

Lt Gen PG Kamath (Veteran) 

Last month, I visited Hampi for the second time.  My first visit was during the time when I was at school and all that I was interested in was waiting for my snacks and meals.  However, even in that frame of mind, I was struck by architectural wonders like the Stone Chariot, musical pillars, and the Divine statue of Lord Narasimha.   Now going there after a lapse of more than half a century, the experience was completely different; it ought to be; otherwise, one probably would not have grown with the passage of time. 

I spent three days going around Hampi; to be frank, one can spend over 10 days just to visualise the might and prosperity of the Vijayanagar Empire during its heydays.  It was the capital city of Vijayanagar; a Hindu Empire that lasted for over 200 years.  It is one of the largest ‘Open Area Museum’ in the world.  One can spend days among the ruins of Hampi, and still would not be able to do justice to the massive structures that dot across an area of over 16 square miles. As per Wikipedia; in 1500 CE it was the world’s second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing. The layout of the city, its architectural splendour and its enormity would leave a visitor in awe and admiration and would not require any additional testimonials to conclude that it was the richest city in the world of its time.  Hampi Museum has hundreds of statues of deities, kings and queens, and artefacts of the Vijayanagar Empire. The ruins of forts, gateways, palaces, lotus ponds, elephant stables, temples, prisons, lakes and other countless stone carvings and statues enthral the visitor who can experience its original magnificence when the city was at its height of glory and prosperity. 

What I am writing is not a travelogue but to open the eyes of strategists, politicians, bureaucrats and higher judiciary. All of them should visit the site to learn first-hand a very important lesson before they assume their official appointment. The Justices of HC and SC who uphold the rights of every criminal at the cost of the security of a nation should compulsorily visit the site.   The Vijaynagar Empire that ruled the entire Deccan for over two centuries was defeated in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 by a confederate of five sultans of the Southern Sultanate. After the war, the victorious armies looted, ravaged, pillaged, and plundered Hampi for the next six months leaving everything in desolate ruins. The wreckage of the once prosperous city, broken idols of famous temples, decapacitation of statues of deities, and defacing of beautiful architectural wonders bears testimony of a kingdom whose leaders had lost their strategic vision and neglected the defence of their country. The littered boulders of the surrounding stately hills appear to cry aloud; mourning for the once prosperous city that was decimated and vandalised: The hustle and bustle of its markets has been replaced with the haunting silence of the eerie nights broken only by packs howling of jackals which frequent the ruined city in search of rodents and carcasses of animals. 

All because; the empire was not united. The battle was lost under a regent King Rama Raya as the prince was a minor. In the initial part of his rule, he waged several campaigns and consolidated his hold on the entire Deccan.  He had literally won wars against all the Southern Indian Kingdoms and defeated individually the Sultanates of Deccan several times. Even the horses for his cavalry were imported from Oman and the empire boasted to have one of the best cavalries in India. However, the imports stopped and cavalry was reduced to a shadow of its former self. The infantry was poorly equipped with bamboo bows and arrows and short lances; most of them fought in bare torsos. Similar neglect faced the artillery guns.   (Military History of India; Jadunath Sarkar; Life Span Publishers, New Delhi; 2019) At Talikota, the Army was led by Rama Raya aged 80 years and his brothers who were past their sixties. They continued to fight on Elephants as against the swifter Arabian horses of their opponent commanders. During the battles, the tables turned when two Muslim Generals; the Gillani Brothers of the Vijayanagar Empire with all their forces deserted and joined the Confederates of Sultans. Add to that Ram Raya fell from his elephant and was wounded.  He was apprehended and brought before the Sultans who avenged their past humiliations by executing him instantly.  It was not only a defeat in the war but the destruction of the might of an empire that had reverberated its power and pelf in Deccan which no one could challenge. 

What lessons can we draw from the visit to Hampi?  First and foremost; the nation-state is the most important treasure that every citizen, politician, bureaucrat, Judge, and government official needs to preserve. All our individual and fundamental rights which we so strongly defend can only be guaranteed to us if we have our Nation-State intact.  Nothing can be more sacred than that.  If our nation loses a war and foreign powers will dictate us and it would humble and humiliate our 1.4 billion people and debase our civilization. Do we even comprehend what is in store for us if we are not united? We have been a slave nation for nearly two and half centuries under the British and to preserve our Bharat we need to defend it, fight against divisive tendencies, unify our people, root out those who destroy the edifice of our nation for vote bank politics and those who instigate and support communal riots to break the nation for personal gains. 

The worst enemies of our country are our politicians who have no love for the country.  One leader incites people to execute a ‘Do or Die Battle’ to unleash communal riots in the country.  There are CMs who cause communal riots before and after each election, and on the Ram Navami festival. Political parties across the country opposed the Farm Laws; the result is there for you to see; an artificial scarcity has been created by Middlemen by hoarding Tomatoes who are racking profits at the cost of the common man. There might be other reasons as well for the shortage but the role of the Middlemen remains substantial.  There are politicians who go out on foreign jaunts and badmouth their countries in front of foreign audiences. Most politicians are corrupt to the core and they corrupt the people by giving doles.  The Karnataka Dy CM has said that there are no funds for the year for developmental purposes; read; all funds have been exhausted by giving freebies as promised in the elections.  Most opposition leaders for the Patna Conclave in Jun 2023 came in eight chartered planes; please think where has the money come from?  Please let me know how can anyone amass hundreds and thousands of crores of rupees from one’s income. The richest MLA in the country has over 1400 crores; is it not a point to ponder? 

Any measure for the benefit of our country is blindly and unilaterally opposed by the opposition leaders.  CAA was to support the minorities in the countries having direct land borders with our country. It has nothing to do with the Indian Muslims. However, leaders across the spectrum deliberately mislead our Muslim brothers that they all will be segregated and herded into concentration camps and then pushed across the borders. Ridiculous to the core that the country will screen out 200 million Muslim brethren and push them across the borders. Our Indian Muslims are so well integrated within the country that no force on earth can deny them from being Indians. It is the politicians who sow discord and apprehension and spread insecurity among them. It is these politicians who are really enemies of the country. India is not a dustbin for refugees from across the borders to be accommodated; look at France and most European Countries which have lost their civilisational identity due to the influx of refugees. These migrants have no love for the country that has given them refuge. 

UCC is there to uphold gender rights across the country and integrate the entire population and blend the nation into one judicial fabric.  How can anyone oppose it? Why should anyone oppose it? Does it not give our Muslim sisters equality in inheritance and a voice in society? Of course, the Muslim clerics would oppose it; but so be it. Democracy is not meant to please every section of society. We should think of our nation to make it strong and united, socially stable with communal harmony, economically strong, and militarily formidable.  

The next species who squander our country are Bureaucrats; the less said the better. A greedy and corrupt breed that rewards itself with pay, perks, and allowances for mismanaging the country; always sporting a self-righteous attitude claiming that they run the country.  I will give subtle examples. Have you heard in any country or in any organisation across the world that values and rewards incompetency?  You have not; isn’t it? It is the Indian Bureaucracy. In 2006 they instituted a measure to grant higher grades of pay to those who do not make it for the next promotion; ironically named “Non-Functional Upgradation.’  It literally means that they continue to function in lower grades but get paid a higher grade.  Later, when they retire the higher pay would give them a higher pension: Ridiculous! Just imagine; we reward incompetency and give higher pay for being non-functional.  Just read in the newspapers that bureaucrats can retain laptops, tablets, and mobile phones bought out of government funds after four years of use.  Lovely; isn’t it? Just imagine why such a circular is issued. These greedy people want to retain it and with all its contents that would harm the security of the nation. The circular adds a perfunctory sentence that the concerned ministries are responsible to delete official information from the devices.  Is it not laughable that anyone would ever do it?  We know; how the ministries function. Similar circulars have been issued for retired CJI and Supreme Court Judges to get lifetime chauffeurs and domestic help after retirement. Are we being ruled by oligarchy or democracy? It is taxpayers’ money; have we authorised the government to facilitate bureaucrats and justices to milk the country? 

We need to arrest the decay of our national ethos and our indifference to our nation-state. We all have what we have because we have a nation which we can call our own.  We cannot let petty politicians destroy the fabric of our nation.  We have corrupt leaders who provide doles based on religion, caste, and creed to fragment society. I will end by remembering the following three quotes. 

Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand:” How true; a schismatic nation will decay, degenerate, and disintegrate. Beware of selfish politicians, greedy bureaucrats, and self-righteous justices; A Nation is a billion times greater than all of you combined. 

“To every man upon this earth the death cometh soon or late; And how can man die better, than facing fearful odds; For the ashes our fathers, and temples of his Gods.”  Horatius by Macaulay.   We must defend our country, which has been nourished by the ashes of our ancestors and consecrated by our temples. We have no other country to call our own. 

Jananī janmabhūmiśca svargādapi garīyasī; Mother and Motherland are superior to Heaven” Alas! Do we understand it? Hampi is an eye-opener. It opens the possibility of our end if we do not love our country and leave it to packs of wolves to squander it.  Jai Hind!