Towards the end of the ninth century, Trans-Oxiana, Khorasan and parts of Iran were being ruled by the Samanids who were Iranians by descent.
The Samanids had to battle continually with the Turkish tribesmen
It was during this struggle that a new type of soldiers, the ghazi, was bom.
The Islamized Turkish tribes were to emerge as the greatest defenders and crusaders of Islam. But the love of plunder went side by side with the defence of Islam.
Among the Samanid governors was a Turkish slave, Alaptgin, who, in course of time, established an independent kingdom with capital at Ghazni.
It was in this context that Mahmud ascended the throne (998-1030) at Ghazni.
Mahmud is considered a hero of Islam by medieval Muslim historians because of his stout defence against the Central Asian Turkish tribal invaders. The ghazi spirit, therefore, further increased during his reign.
The proud Iranians had never accepted the Arabic language and culture.
The Samanid state had also encouraged the Persian language and literature.
A high water-mark in the Iranian renaissance was reached with Firdausi’s Shah Namah.
Firdausi was the poet laureate at the court of Mahmud.
He transported the struggle between Iran and Turan to mythical times, and glorified the ancient Iranian heroes.
There was a resurgence of Iranian patriotism, and Persian language and culture now became the language and culture of the Ghaznavid empire, so much so that Mahmud himself claimed descent from the Iranian legendary king,
Mahmud is said to have made 17 raids into India. The initial raids were directed against the Hindushahi rulers who at the time held Peshawar and the Punjab.
The Hindushahi king, Jayapala, had invaded Ghazni in alliance with the son of the former governor of Ghazni under the Samanid ruler. But Jayapala had to suffer defeat.
In 1001, Jayapala was defeated by Mahmud and taken prisoner, but was released. However, he decided to enter a funeral pyre because he thought he had disgraced himself.
His son, Anandapala succeeded him to the throne. A decisive battle between Mahmud and Anandapala was fought in 1008-09 at Waihind (near Peshawar), the Hindushahi capital.
It seems that many princes of north-western India, including the rulers of Kanauj and Rajasthan, took part in the battle. The Muslim ruler of Multan also supported Anandapala.
Although the Indian forces were more numerous, and includes the Khokhars, a bravi war-like tribe living in the Punjab, the cavalry charge of Mahmud's mounted archer carried the day.
The subsequent raids of Mahmud into India were aimed at plundering the rich temple and cities of northern India in order to continue his struggle against his enemies in Centrs Asia.
Mahmud also posed as a great 'butshikan5 or "destroyer of more...
Muizzuddin (Muhammad Ghori) was succeeded (1206) by Qutbuddin Aibak, a Turkish slave who had played an important part in the expansion of the Turkish Sultanat in India after the battle of Tarain. Another slave of Muizzuddin, Yalduz, succeeded at Ghazni.
Iltutmish (1210-36)
In 1210, Aibak died of injuries received in a fall from his horse while playing chaugan (polo). He was succeeded by Iltutmish who was the son-in-law of Aibak.
Iltutmish must be regarded as the real consolidator of the Turkish conquests in north India.
At the time of his accession, Ali Mardan Khan had declared himself the king of Bengal and Bihar, while Qubacha, a fellow slave of Aibak, had declared himself an independent ruler of Multan.
During the early years of his reign, Iltutmish's attention was concentrated on the north-west. A new danger to his position arose with the conquest of Ghazni by Khwarizm Shah.
The Khwarizmi Empire was the most powerful state in Central Asia at this time, and its eastern frontier extended up to the Indus.
In 1220, the Khwarizmi Empire was destroyed by the Mongols who founded one of the strongest Empires in history, which at its height extended from China to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and from the Caspian Sea to the river Jaxartes.
Raziya (1236-39)
During his last years, Iltutmish was worried over the problem of succession.
He considered none of his surviving sons to be worthy of the throne.
After anxious consideration, he finally decided to nominate his daughter, Raziya, to the throne, and induced the nobles and the theologians (ulama) to agree to the nomination. Raziya had to contend against her brothers as well as against powerful Turkish nobles, and could rule only for three years.
It marked the beginning of a struggle for power between the monarchy and the Turkish chiefs, sometimes called "the forty" or the chahalgani.
Iltutmish had shown great deference to these Turkish chiefs. After his death, these chiefs, drunk with power and arrogance, wanted to instal on the throne a puppet whom they could control.
The Turkish nobles accused her of violating feminine modesty, and of being too friendly to an Abyssinian noble, Yaqut Khan. Rebellions broke out at Lahore and Sirhind. She personally led an expedition against Lahore,
On the way to Sirhind, an internal rebellion broke out in which Yaqut Khan was killed, and Raziya imprisoned at Tabarhinda (Bhatinda).
However, Raziya won over her captor, Altunia, and after marrying him made a renewed attempt on Delhi.
Raziya fought valiantly, but was defeated and killed in fight by more...
Although many of the Turkish sultans in India declared themselves "lieutenant of the faithful, i.e., the Abbasid Caliph at Baghdad, and included his name in the Khutba, it did not mean that the Caliph became the legal ruler
The Islamic theory adhered to the idea of the election of the ruler, but accepted, in practice the succession of any son of a successful ruler.
Wazir - The key figure in administration was the wazir
Muhammad Tughlaq paid close attention to the organisation of the revenue departments.
His Wazir khwaja jahan,was widely respected, and was left in charge of the capital when Muhammad Tughlaq went out to deal with rebellions
Diwan-i-arz - The most important department of state, next to the wazir's was the diwan-i-arz or the military department.
It was Balban who first set up a separate ariz's department in India.
He also introduced the branding system (dagh) of the horses so that the soldiers may not bring horses of poor quality to the muster.
Diwan-i-insha - It dealt with state correspondence.
All the correspondence, formal or confidential, between the ruler and the sovereighs of other state, and with his subordinate officials was dealt with by this department.
Firuz Tughlaq had set up a separate department of slaves, many of whom were employed in these royal “orkshop". The officer in charge of all these activities was called wakil- i-dar.
Ibn Battutah calls Delhi the largest city in the eastern part of the Islamic world.
The Muslim Bohra merchants also participated in this trade.
The Turkish state in India was militaristic and aristocratic.
The Turkish nobles tried, at flrst, to monopolize the high office of state, denying a share to the Tajiks, Afghans and other non Turkish immigrants.
The most notable example of this is the Quwwat-ut-Islam mosque near the Qutab minar in Delhi; formerly, it had been a Vishnu temple.
Begumpuri mosque built in the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq, was the main mosque of Jahanpanah, the Sanctuary of the World", his new capital in Delhi.
During prayer, Muslims stand facing Mecca. In India this is to the west. This is called this
Moth ki Masjid was built in the reign of Sikandar Lodi by his minister.
Through the Eyes of Travellers Perception of SocietyAl-Biruni
Al-Biruni was born in 973, in Khwarizm in present day Uzbekistan.
Al-Biruni received the best education available at the time. He was well versed in several languages: Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit.
In 1017, when Sultan Mahmud invaded Khwarizm, he took several scholars and poets back to his capital, Ghazni; Al-Biruni was one of them. He arrived in Ghazni as a hostage.
Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, is simple and lucid.
Al-Biruni adopted a distinctive structure in each chapter, beginning with a question, following this up with a description based on Sanskritic traditions, and concluding with a comparison with other cultures.
Al-Biruni depended almost exclusively on the works of Brahmanas, often citing passages from the Vedas, the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita, the works of Patanjali, the Manusmriti, etc., to provide an understanding of Indian society.
Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by looking for parallels in other societies.
Al-Biruni's has given account of the system of vamas.
Ibn Battuta's
Ibn Battuta's book of travels, called Rihia, written in Arabic, provides extremely rich and interesting details about the social and cultural life in the subcontinent in the fourteenth century.
This Moroccan traveller was born in Tangier into one of the most respectable and educated families known for their expertise in Islamic religious law or shari'a.
Travelling overland through Central Asia, Ibn Battuta reached Sind in 1333.
The Sultan was impressed by his scholarship, and appointed him the qazi or judge of Delhi.
Some of the best examples of Ibn Battuta's strategies of representation are evident in the ways in which he described the coconut and the paan, two kinds of plant produce that were completely unfamiliar to his audience.
Ibn Battuta described Delhi as a vast city, with a great population, the largest in India. Daulatabad (in Maharashtra) was no less, and easily rivalled Delhi in size.
The state evidently took special measures to encourage merchants. Almost all trade routes were well supplied with inns and guest houses. Ibn Battuta was also amazed by the efficiency of the postal system which allowed merchants to not only send information and remit credit across long distances, but also to dispatch goods required at short notice.
Francois Bernier
Francois Bemier, a Frenchman, was a doctor, political philosopher and historian
Bemier was closely associated with the Mughal court, as a physician to Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan, and later as an intellectual and scientist, with Danishmand Khan, an Armenian noble at the Mughal court.
Bemier's book 'Travels in the Mughal Empire9 is marked by detailed observations critical insights and reflection. His account contains discussions trying to place the history of the Mughals within some sort of a universal framework.
The Vijayanagara kingdom was founded by Harihara and Bukka who belonged to a family of five brothers.
According to a legend, they had been the feudatories of the Kakatiyas of Warangal and later became ministers in the kingdom of Kampili in modem Kamataka.
At the instance of their guru, Vidyaranya, they were re-admitted to Hinduism and established their capital at Vijayanagar.
The date of Harihar's coronation is placed at 1336.
The dissolution of the Hoysala kingdom enabled Harihara and Bukka to expand their tiny principality.
By 1346, the whole of the Hoysala kingdom has passed into the hands of the Vijayanagara rulers. In this struggle, Harihara and Bukka were aided by their brothers who, with their relations, took up the administration of the areas conquered by their effort.
The Vijayanagara kingdom was, thus a kind of cooperative commonwealth at first.
To the north, however, Vijayanagara faced a powerful enemy in the shape of the Bahmani kingdom.
The interests of the Vijayanagara rulers and the Bahmani sultans clashed in three separate and distinct areas: in the Tungabhadra doab, in the Krishna-Godavari delta, and in the Marathwada country.
The Tungabhadra doab was the region between the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra.
The struggle for the mastery of the Krishna-Godavari basin which was very fertile and which with its numerous ports controlled the foreign trade of the region was often linked up with the struggle for the Tungabhadra doab.
The greatest success of Harihara II was in wresting Belgaum and Goa in the west from the Bahmani kingdom. He also sent an expedition to north Sri Lanka.
After a period of confusion, Harihara II was succeeded by Deva Raya I (1404-1422).
He was defeated by the Bahmani ruler Firuz Shah and he had to pay ten lakhs of huns and pearls and elephants as an indemnity.
He also agreed to marry his daughter to the sultan, ceding to him in dowry Bankapur in the doab in order to obviate all future dispute.
Deva Raya-I did not neglect the arts of peace. He constructed a dam across the Tungabhadra so that he could bring the canals into the city to relieve the shortage of water.
It irrigated the neighbouring fields also, for we are told that the canals increased his revenues by 3,50,000
He also built a dam on the river Haridra for irrigation purposes.
Afte some confusion, Deva Raya-II (1425-1446), who is considered the greatest ruler of the dynasty, ascended the throne at Vijayanagara.
In order to strengthen his army, he inducted more Muslims in his army.
According to Ferishta, Deva Raya-II felt that the superiority of the Bahmani army was due to their sturdier horses and their large more...
Bengal had been frequently independent of the control of Delhi due to its distance, climate, and the fact that much of its communication depended upon waterways with which the Turkish rulers were unfamiliar.
Due to the preoccupation of Muhammad Tughlaq with rebellions in various quarters, Bengal again broke away from Delhi in 1338.
Four year later, one of the nobles, Ilyas Khan, captured Lakhnauti and Sonargaon and ascended the throne under the title Sultan Shamsuddin Ilyas Khan.
The most famous sultan in the dynasty of Ilyas Shah was Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah (1389-1409). He was known for his love of justice.
The sultans of Bengal adorned their capitals, Pandua and Gaur, with magnificent buildings. These had a style of their own, distinct from the style which had developed in Delhi. The sultans also patronised the Bengali language.
The celebrated poet Maladhar Basu, compiler of Sri Krishna-Vijaya, was patronised by the sultans and was granted the title of Gunaraja Khan.
His son was honoured with the title of Satyaraja Khan.
But the most significant period for the growth of the Bengali language was the rule of Alauddin Hussain (1493-1519). Some of the famous Bengali writers of the time flourished under his rule.
There were two warring kingdoms in north Bengal and Assam at that time.
Kamata (called Kamrup by the writers of the time) was in the west, and the Ahom kingdom was in the east.
The Ahoms, a Mongoloid tribe from north Burma, had succeeded in establishing a powerful kingdom in the thirteenth century.
It had become Hinduized in course of time. The name Assam is derived from them.
The eastern Brahmaputra valley was at this time under Suhungmung who is considered the greatest of the Ahom rulers. He changed his name of Svarga Narayana.
This was an index of the rapid Hinduization of the Ahoms.
He not only repulsed the Muslim attack, but also extended his kingdom in all directions.
The Gajapati rule markes a brilliant phase in Orissa history.
The rulers were great builders and warriors. The Gajapati rulers were mainly instrumental in extending their rule in the south towards Kamataka.
Western India - Gujarat, Malwa and Mewar
On account of the excellence of its handicrafts and its flourishing seaports, as well as the richness of its soil, Gujarat was one of the richest provinces of the Delhi Sultanat.
The real founder of the kingdom of Gujarat was, however. Ah mad Shah-I (1411-43), the grandson of Muzaffar Shah.
He shifted the capital from Patan to the new city of Ahmedabad, the more...
When the Turks came to India, they not only had a well-defined faith in Islam to which they were deeply attached, they also had definite ideas of government, art, architecture, etc.
The interaction of the Turks with the Indians who held strong religious beliefs and had well-developed ideas of art, architecture and literature resulted, in the long run, in the development of a new enriched culture.
The process of assimilation, therefore, had many ups and downs and varied from region to region and from field to field.
Architecture
One of the first requirements of the new rulers was houses to live in, and places of worship. They at first converted temples and other existing building into mosques.
The Arhai Din ka Jhonpra had been a monastery.
The only new construction in Delhi was a facade of three elaborately carved arches in front of the deity room (garbha griha) which was demolished.
The style of decoration used on these arches is very interesting: no human or animal figures were used since it was considered to be un-Islamic to do so.
Instead they used scrolls of flowers and verses of the Quran which were intertwined in a very artistic manner.
Soon, the Turks started constructing their own buildings.
In their buildings, the Turks used the arch and the dome on a wide scale.
Neither the arch nor the dome was a Turkish or Muslim invention.
The Arabs borrowed them from Rome through the Byzantine Empire, developed them and made them their own.
The use of the arch and the dome had a number of advantages. The dome provided a pleasing skyline and as the architects gained more experience and confidence, the dome rose higher.
The arch and the dome dispensed with the need for a large number of pillars to support the roof and enabled the construction of large halls with a clear view. Such places of assembly were useful in mosques as well as in palaces.
However, the arch and the dome needed a strong cement, otherwise the stones could not be held in place. The Turks used fine quality light mortar in their buildings.
Thus, new architectural forms and mortar of a superior kind became widespread in north India, with the arrival of the Turks.
The arch and the dome were known to the Indians earlier, but they were not used on a large.
The Turkish rulers used both the dome and the arch method as well as the slab and beam method in their buildings.
In the sphere to decoration, the Turks eschewed representation of human and animal figures in the buildings.
Alvars - literally, those who are "immersed" in devotion to Vishnu.
Nayanars - literally, leaders who were devotees of Shiva.
Some of the earliest bhakti movements (c. sixth century) were led by the Alvars and Nayanars.
Alvars and Nayanars saints came from all castes including those considered "^untouchable" like the Pulaiyar and the Panars.
They travelled from place to place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of their gods.
During their travels the Alvars and Nayanars identified certain shrines as abodes of their chosen deities. Very often large temples were later built at these sacred places.
These developed as centres of pilgrimage. Singing compositions of these poet-saints became part of temple rituals in these shrines, as did worship of the saints' images.
There were 63 Nayanars, who belonged to different caste backgrounds such as potters, "untouchable" workers, peasants, hunters, soldiers, Brahmanas and chiefs.
The best known among them were Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar and Manikkavasagar.
There are two sets of compilations of their songs -Tevaram and Tiruvacakam.
There were 12 Alvars, who came from equally divergent backgrounds, the best known being Periyalvar, his daughter Andal, Tondaradippodi Alvar and Nammalvar.
Their songs were compiled in the Divya Prabandham.
Women devotees : Andal and Karaikkal Ammaiyar
The compositions of Andal, a woman Alvar, were widely sung.
Andal saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu; her verses express her love for the deity.
Another woman, Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a devotee of Shiva, adopted the path of extreme asceticism in order to attain her goal. Her compositions were preserved within the Nayanar tradition.
By the tenth century the compositions of the 12 Alvars were compiled in an anthology known as the Nalayira Divyaprabandham (“four Thousand Sacred Compositions”).
The poems of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar form the Tevaram, a collection that was compiled and classified in the tenth century on the basis of the music of the songs.
The Virashian Tradition in Karuataka
The twelfth century witnessed the emergence of a new movement in Karnataka, led by a Brahmana named Basavanna (1106-68)
He was initially a Jaina and a minister in the court of a Chalukya king. His followers were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga).
Lingayats continue to be an important community in the region to date. They worship Shiva strung over the left shoulder.
The Lingayats challenged the idea of caste and the "pollution" attributed to certain groups by Brahmanas. They also questioned the theory of rebirth. These won them followers amongst those who were marginalised within the Brahmanical social order.
Our understanding of the Virashaiva tradition is derived from more...
The spread of British power to new areas, new problems, new needs, new experiences and new ideas led in the 19th century to more fundamental changes in the system of administration. But the overall objectives of imperialism were never forgotten.
The British administration in India was based on three pillars: the Civil Service, the Army, and the Police.
Without law and order British merchants and British manufacturers could not hope to sell their goods in every nook and comer of India.
The Civil Services was brought into existence by Lord Cornwallis.
Clive and Warren Hastings made attempts to put an end to their corruption, but were only partially successful.
Cornwallis, who came to India as Governor-General in 1786, was determined to purify the administration, but he realised that the Company's servants would not give honest and efficient service so long as they were not given adequate salaries.
He, therefore, enforced the rules against private trade and acceptance of presents and bribes by officials with strictness.
At the same time, he raised the salaries of the Company's servants.
In 1800, Lord Wellesley established the College of Fort William at Calcutta for the education of young recruits to the Civil Service.
The directors of the Company disapproved of his action and in 1806 replaced it by their own East Indian College at Haileybury in England.
In 1853 the Charter Act decreed that all recruits to the Civil Service were to be selected through a competitive
A special feature of the Indian Civil Service since the days of Cornwallis was the rigid and complete exclusion of Indians from it.
This policy was also applied to other branches of government, such as the army, police, judiciary, engineering.
Cornwallis believed that "Every native of Hindustan is corrupt".
In reality, the exclusion of Indians from higher grades of services was a deliberate policy.
The Indian Civil Service gradually developed into one of the most efficient and powerful civil services in the world.
In course of time it became the chief opponent of all that was progressive and advanced in Indian life and one of the main targets of attacks by the rising Indian national movement.
Army
The second important pillar of the British regime in India was the army.
It was the instrument through which the Indian powers were conquered; it defended the British Empire in India from foreign rivals; it safeguarded British supremacy from the ever-present threat of internal revolt; and it was the chief instrument for extending and defending the British Empire in Asia and Africa.
Its officers were, however, exclusively British, at least since the more...
Western culture and consciousness of defeat by a foreign power gave birth to a new awakening. There was an awareness that a vast country like India had been colonized by a handful of foreigners because of internal weaknesses of Indian social structure and culture.
Thoughtful Indians began to look for the strengths and weaknesses of their society and for way and means of removing the weaknesses. Nearly all 19th century intellectuals shared the conviction that social and religious reform was urgently needed.
The central figure in this awakening was Rammohun Roy, who is rightly regarded as the first great leader of modern India.
Rammohun Roy possessed great love and respect for the traditional philosophic systems of the East; but, at the same time, he believed that modern culture alone would help regenerate Indian society.
In particular he wanted his countrymen to accept the rational and scientific approach and the principle of human dignity and social equality of all men and women.
He also wanted the introduction of modem capitalism and industry in the country.
He was a scholar who knew over a dozen language.
Later he made an intensive study of Western thought and culture.
In 1809 he wrote in Persian his famous work Gifts of Monotheists in which he put forward weighty arguments against belief in many gods and for the worship of a single God.
He settled in Calcutta in 1814 and soon attracted a band of young men with whose cooperation he started the Atmiya Sabha.
In particular he vigorously opposed the worship of idols, the rigidity of caste, and the prevalence of meaningless religious rituals.
He held that the all the principal ancient texts of the Hindus preached monotheism or worship of one God.
He published the Bengali translation of the Vedas and of five of the principle Upanishads to prove his point. He also wrote a series of tracts and pamphlets in defence of monotheism.
While citing ancient authority for his philosophical views, Rammohun Roy relied ultimately on the power of human reason which was in his view the final touchstone of the truth of any doctrine. Eastern or Western,
He believed that the philosophy of Vedanta was based on this principle of reason.
In 1820, he published his Precepts of Jesus in which he tried to separate the moral and philosophic message of the New Testament, which he praised, from its miracle stories. He wanted the high moral message of Christ to be incorporated in Hinduism.
Thus, as far as Rammohun was concerned there was to be no blind reliance on India's own past or blind aping of the West.
He vigorously defended Hindu religion and philosophy from the ignorant attack of the missionaries.
