Thiruvarur hosts one of the greatest Saivaite temples of the world. In 1758, this temple came under attack from the French, who too searched the premises for treasures. Infuriated that they could not find any treasure, the soldiers of the Christendom ransacked houses. They imagined that the Brahmins should be very rich but found otherwise. The archakas, meanwhile, had effectively hidden the temple idols in secret chambers and had fled. Later when they returned to find out what had happened to the temple and deities, they were captured by the French army - labelled as spies and “were blown off from the muzzles of the field-pieces”.

To this writer, such contempt comes from the Evangelist hatred for the pagan Hindu culture and spirituality. The apologists for colonialism, both Marxist and evangelical scholars, may argue that the execution was purely a secular affair. But from a Hindutva point of view, it does not matter what the inspiration was for the French army men to kill the unarmed temple archakas. What is important is that they were martyred in the protection of the deity of Thiruvarur, and hence deserve to be remembered by every devotee of Siva. They must be honoured with a traditionally-built memorial stone with the moksha deepa in the temple town of Thiruvarur, which every devotee who visits, should pay obeisance to.

So all these raise the question that do the Hindus, the last standing and highest of the pagan civilisations, have the right to remember their past - and if so, how?

The Hindus need to remember their past - not through the atrocities of the oppressor, but through the sacrifices and sufferings of their forefathers. Every Hindu pilgrimage centre should house a museum that showcases the resistance of Hindus to the invasions. It does not matter who the invaders were and what their motive was. What matters is how Hindus resisted, suffered and made sure our spirituality and culture are handed over to the subsequent generations. Our children need to be told that they are Hindus today because of such sacrifices.

Ultimately, Hindus need to have a museum each in their holiest temple cities, which showcase relentless sacrifices and resistance - from the demolition of temples in Somnath to the resistance of Jamatiyas to conversion in Tripura; from Hindu temples destroyed by Portuguese during Inquisition to the destruction of temples in Tamil Nadu villages, where Hindus have become a minority. Again, the emphasis should be not on who committed the crime - but on who resisted through the ages against the persistent onslaught.

And remember, for the Hindus, atrocities and ethnic cleansing are not just tragic memories from the past, they form the present reality - like what is happening in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and in many villages of India.