Editing Openai/691ef1a1-976c-800d-bd1d-06358880de2a (section)

==== - Mughal record: Mughal sieges and suppressions routinely involved mass civilian casualties.  Aside from Chittoren.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=After%20capturing%20the%20fort%20on,23), other sieges (e.g. Ranthambore 1569, Gwalior 1528) similarly record slaughter of non-combatants in victory.  Mughal armies also looted and desecrated cultural sites.  Akbar’s conquest of Chittor included deliberate temple destructionen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=After%20capturing%20the%20fort%20on,23); his own Fathnama boasts of destroying idols “all over Hindustan”en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=,and%20have%20destroyed%20temples%20in).  Aurangzeb issued orders to demolish a major Sikh shrine in Sirhind (1675) and convert temples into mosquessikhmissionarysociety.org<ref>{{cite web|title=sikhmissionarysociety.org|url=https://www.sikhmissionarysociety.org/sms/smsarticles/advisorypanel/inderjeet-singh/understanding-the-martyrdom-of-guru-tegh-bahadar-using-17th-and-18th-century-sources/#:~:text=HR%20Gupta%20mentions%20that%20the,10|publisher=sikhmissionarysociety.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>sikhmissionarysociety.org<ref>{{cite web|title=sikhmissionarysociety.org|url=https://www.sikhmissionarysociety.org/sms/smsarticles/advisorypanel/inderjeet-singh/understanding-the-martyrdom-of-guru-tegh-bahadar-using-17th-and-18th-century-sources/#:~:text=Guru%2C%20to%20display%20some%20miracle,15|publisher=sikhmissionarysociety.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>.  Even Akbar (generally seen as tolerant) is noted to have ordered the desecration of temples at Chittoren.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=After%20capturing%20the%20fort%20on,23).  Thus, Mughal military campaigns often entailed cultural destruction as part of warfare. ====
* Maratha record: Maratha armies also looted and sometimes destroyed cultural sites during campaigns, but not as a systematic imperial policy.  As above, the Sringeri temple raid (1791)en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Mysore_War#:~:text=after%20they%20had%20committed%20treason%2C,funds%20to%20help%20restore%20the|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref> is one documented example of temple sacrilege by Marathas.  In Bengal, the Bargi invasions are said to have ruined agriculture and crafts, as artisans and weavers were killedacademia.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=academia.edu|url=https://www.academia.edu/101844893/HISTORICAL_OVERVIEW_OF_BENGAL_AND_SOCIAL_EXCLUSION?uc-sb-sw=12311588#:~:text=would%20put%20the%20man%20to,in%20the%20Bargi%20raids%2C%20including|publisher=academia.edu|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>.  But Maratha rule is also credited in some cases with restoring and patronizing temples (Shivaji famously protected Hindu shrines in Bijapur territory, though those traditions are more legendary).  Importantly, Marathas did not have a policy of converting captured temples into other religious uses, unlike Mughal precedent under Aurangzeb.  The violence they inflicted was primarily on civilian populations (loot, slaughter for tribute) rather than ideological iconoclasm, though both occurred during wartime plunder.