Temple Desecration & Historical Myths: What the Records Actually Say | Prof. Richard Eaton

What happens when a civilisation’s past is rewritten to serve the politics of the present?

In this episode of the Nous Podcast, we’re joined by acclaimed historian Richard M. Eaton, whose scholarship has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of Islam’s presence in South Asia and the nature of medieval Indian history.

Drawing from decades of research, Eaton challenges the reductive narratives that frame the spread of Islam as a story of conquest, forced conversion, or imperial imposition. Instead, he offers a deeply textured account of how Islam was woven into the fabric of South Asian society through agrarian change, Sufi networks, vernacular cultures, and the fluid identities of frontier zones like Bengal and the Deccan.

We explore:

Why the term “conversion” fails to capture the lived realities of religious change
The Persianate cosmopolis and how it shaped India beyond religious binaries
How Mughal rulers like Akbar and Aurangzeb governed not as religious ideologues, but as complex political actors within a plural society
The historical record on temple desecration, what does it really say and how it’s being manipulated today

In an age where India’s Muslim past is increasingly vilified, erased, or cast as foreign by rising Hindu nationalist discourse, Eaton's work becomes urgently relevant. His analysis reveals not only how the past is misunderstood, but also reminds us:
“If historians do not write clear, evidence-based history in language accessible to ordinary people, the vacuum will be filled by demagogues and myth makers.”

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#SouthAsianHistory #HistoricalMyths #PersianateCulture #Mughals #DelhiSultanate #IslaminIndia #India #Iran #Temple #mosque

00:00 – Teaser
02:31 – Introduction of Guest
03:22 – Personal Journey to South Asian History
06:49 – Peace Corps, Iran & India
11:37 – Why Choose History Over Philosophy?
13:47 – Storytelling vs Problem-Solving in History
26:57 – How Islam Spread in Bengal
33:36 - Challenging Dominant theories of expansion of Islam
53:07 – Sufis as Social Actors, Not Just Mystics
58:28 – Beyond the Rhetoric of Invaders
01:02:27 – What Was the Persianate Age?
01:14:43 – How Persian Became Tied to Muslim Identity
01:22:20 – Hindutva & the Weaponisation of Muslim Rule
01:30:32 - Temple Desecration: History vs Hindutva Claims
01:48:20 - Temple Patronage & Muslim Rulers
01:50:07 - Akbar, Aurangzeb & the Politics of Mughal Rule
01:59:03 - Aurangzeb: Beyond Good vs Demonisation
02:07:12 - History as Weapon: The Historian’s Responsibility