Indian Muslims are patriots: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh

[The_Showstopper]

I gave a very detailed report to you as to why the narration on Pushyamitra is of dubious quality. Now again you guide me to the same blemished narrative.



Nope they were not. Here is a site debunking this claim.

An “eminent historian” attacks Arun Shourie | IndiaFactsIndiaFacts

Nah, if it did, the reason given for it is invalid as the king was a patron of the Buddhists. Sure some enmity or bad blood could have erupted between them but the very telling of the tale as a carbon copy of the accusation leveled on Ashoka says it is not genuine.

All of your sources are of Koenraad Elst, the "eminent historian" and his writings are rather based on assumptions and "could have happened" kind of stuff than on historical evidences. Now what I posted contains archaeological evidences of this persecution and the below mentioned is one such source...

According to John Marshall (1955, 1975) there is evidence of damage to Buddhist establishments at Takshashila around the time of Sunga. He proposes the Sanchi stupa was destroyed by Pushyamitra Sunga, but later restored by his successor Agnimitra. According to N.N.Ghosh (1945) the Bharhut gateway was not constructed during the time of Pushyamitra Sunga, but was constructed by his successors who had a more tolerant attitude to Buddhism, compared to Pushyamitra Sunga, a 'leader of Brahmanic reaction'. The destruction of Ghositarama monastery at Kaushambi, in 2nd century CE, is attributed to Pushyamitra Sunga. According to P.K.Misra, Although archaeological evidence is meager, it seems likely, that the Deorkothar stupa geographically located between Sanchi and Bharhut, was destroyed as a result of Pushyamitra Sunga's fanaticism. The exposed remains at Deorkothar bear evidence of deliberate destruction datable to his reign. The three-tiered railing is damaged; railing pillars lie broken to smithereens on stone-flooring. Twenty pieces of pillar have been recovered, each fragment itself fractured. The site offers no indication of natural destruction.(2001).

N.N.Ghosh says the Bharhut gateway was constructed by Pushymitra Sunga's successors who had a more tolerant attitude to Buddhism. Sir John Marshall noted that the Sanchi stupa was vandalized during the 2nd century before it was rebuilt later on a larger scale, suggesting the original brick stupa was destroyed by Pushyamitra and then restored by his successor Agnimitra

Source: Pushyamitra Sunga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most sources clearly state that Pushyamitra was far from being a patron rather a fanatic monster....