Shah Jahan’s court historian Abdul Hamid Lahori recorded in his Padshahnama (Chronicle of the Emperor) the emperor’s swift action in 1633 against Hindus who tried to build new temples to replace the many that Muslims had destroyed: “It had been brought to the notice of His Majesty that during the late reign many idol temples had been begun, but remained unfinished at Benares, the great stronghold of infidelism. The infidels were now desirous of completing them. His Majesty, the defender of the faith, gave orders that at Benares, and throughout all his dominions at every place, all temples that had been begun should be cast down. It was now reported from the province of Allahabad that 76 temples had been destroyed in the district of Benares.”