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Holy Wars? Temple desecrations in Medieval India

Author

Listed:
  • Iyer, S.
  • Shrivastava, A.
  • Ticku, R.
Abstract
We construct a unique geocoded dataset on temples, dynasties and battles in medieval India and propose a test to identify the motive for observed temple desecrations in that period. We test two competing historical narratives of temple desecrations. The first focuses on the idea of iconoclasm, i.e. destruction of religious sites and imagery deemed heretical, as embedded in Islamic theology. The second suggests that desecrations were driven by political considerations and hence occurred mainly during military battles. We use a novel instrument of Muslim ruler assassinations to address the potential endogeneity in our battles related variable. The results show that Muslim states did not desecrate temples because they were there, but only during the course of battle, probably to diminish the authority of the rival Hindu state. The battle events are crucial, the probability of temple desecration increases by over 30% when the Hindu-Muslim battle outcome is in favour of a Muslim state. Whether a temple was within the territory of a Muslim state does not impact the likelihood of its desecration. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that political tactics were the main stimulus of temple desecrations by medieval Muslim states.

Suggested Citation

  • Iyer, S. & Shrivastava, A. & Ticku, R., 2017. "Holy Wars? Temple desecrations in Medieval India," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1705, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cam:camdae:1705
    Note: si105
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    File URL: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/research-files/repec/cam/pdf/cwpe1705.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mark Dincecco & James Fenske & Anil Menon & Shivaji Mukherjee, 2022. "Pre-Colonial Warfare and Long-Run Development in India," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(643), pages 981-1010.
    2. Duygu Buyukyazici & Francesco Serti, 2022. "Religiosity and Innovation Attitudes: An Instrumental Variables Analysis," Papers 2206.00509, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2022.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conflict; religion; iconoclasm; politics; assassination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East

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