I have elsewhere remarked that among the native Musalman subjects of the Great Mogul there are but few in positions of command; this is the cause why… - Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

At the first establishment of Islam in India the Christians of the East were very ostentatious (estoient fort superbes) but not very devout, and the Idolaters were effeminate people unable to make much resistance. Thus it was easy for the Musalmans to subject both by force of arms. This they did with so much success that many Christians and Idolaters embraced the Law of Muhammad.

In this country there is another pagoda, well-built and very ancient, and ornamented within and without with many figures, which are representations of girls and women only. Men never go there to worship, and on that account it is called the girls’ pagoda. It has an alter in the middle like the other pagodas, and upon this altar there is an idol of massive gold about 4 feet high, which represents a girl, standing, whom they call Ram-Marion. She has on her right an image of a child, standing, made of massive silver, and nearly 2 feet in height, and it is said that this girl living a holy life, the infant was taken to her by the Brahmans to learn her creed and how to live well; but at the end of three or four years, during which the child had dwelt with the girl, it became so clever and accomplished that all the Rajas and Princes of the county wished for it, and, at last, one of them carried it off one night and it has not since. This idol has on her left, at the base of the altar, another idol representing an old man, whom they say had been the servant of Ram-Marion and the child, and the Brahmans pay great reverence to this idol. They come to it only once a year for worship, and it is necessary for them to arrive on a prescribed day, which is the first day of the moon in November, because the pagoda is only opened at full moon. During the fifteen days which intervene all the pilgrims, both men and women, must fast at times, and bathe three times everyday, without leaving a single hair on their bodies, all being easily removed by the use of a certain earth with which they rub themselves [use of lime and arsenic and depilatories. (Vol. II, pp. 238-39)

Under the cover of the fact that the rulers are Muslims, they persecute these poor idolaters to the utmost and if any of the latter becomes Muslim, it is in order not to work any more.