The history of India is divided into three periods. The period from prehistoric times to the arrival of the Sultans is called the Ancient Age, from the arrival of the Sultans to the Battle of Plassey, the Middle Ages and the period after the Battle of Plassey is called the Modern Age. Some called the ancient era as the Hindu era and the Middle Ages era as the Muslim era. Today we will learn something about medieval India in this lesson.
The Islamists' relations with India began with the arrival of the Turks and Afghans. It was during this period that Islam emerged in the Arab countries of the Middle East. In that time, the expansion of Islam began to increase in the east and west of Arabia. Thus, the prestige of pro-Islamic Muslims gradually increased from the Mediterranean to China. Arab merchants as well as Islamic clerics also set foot on India's western border. These include the Islamic campaigns in the Indus region in the eighth century. After this expedition, the Arabs did not occupy any part of India for about three hundred years. However, the situation changed after the establishment of the Ghazni kingdom in Afghanistan. Around 962 AD, a Turkish slave officer named Alptgin founded his kingdom in Ghazni, Afghanistan.
Sultan Mamud ascended the throne of Ghazni around 998 AD. After sitting on the throne, Sultan Mamud invaded India after hearing of its abundant wealth. He invaded India a total of seventeen times between approximately 1000 AD and 1027 AD. On the other hand, when the Turks established the kingdom of Ghazni in Afghanistan, some of their officers established a kingdom called Ghor in the territory between Ghazni and Herat. After the death of Sultan Mamud, Ghiyasuddin, the ruler of the Ghor kingdom, captured Ghazni and appointed his brother Shahabuddin as Sultan of Ghazni. Shahabuddin is known in history as Muhammad Ghori.
Northwest India was already weakened by repeated invasions by Sultan Mamud. Muhammad Ghori took the opportunity to conquer the Punjab around 1189 AD, paving the way for his invasion of India. Muhammad Ghori was defeated by the Chauhan Rajput king Prithviraj at the First Battle of Tarain in 1191 AD. The following year, however, he defeated Prithviraj at the Second Battle of Tarain and invaded northwestern India. Like Sultan Mamud, Muhammad Ghori intended to establish a Turkish empire in this country instead of focusing only on taking wealth from India. For that purpose, Muhammad Ghori, with the help of his general Qutbuddin, conquered several kingdoms in northern India and invaded India. Muhammad Ghori expanded his empire and ruled Delhi and Ajmer himself.
The list of Sultans and Mughal dynasties clearly shows that the Sultanate rule in Delhi began with the reign of the Das dynasty in 1206 AD and ended with the fall of the Lodi dynasty in 1526 AD.
We have already learned that the Muslims expanded their dominance in northern India and gradually conquered other parts of India. We can learn about how the Muslim rulers expanded their kingdoms in India and the policies they followed to rule India through some sources. Let's find out what these resources are—
Resources :
Sources of information about the rule of the medieval Sultans and Mughals include the writings of various authors, notes of foreign travellers, coins and monuments. The writings of Ziauddin Barani, Amir Khatru, Babur, Abul Fazl, Gulbadan Begum, etc., give us a clear picture of the Middle Ages. In addition, the notes of foreign tourists such as Ibn Battuta of Morocco, Abdur Razzaq of Persia, Marque Polo and Nicholas of Europe provide details about the social, economic and political situation of the sultans who ruled India at the time of their arrival.
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| Picture 1 |
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| Fig. 2, Source: ebay, 2011 |
In addition to these resources, another notable resource is the various mosques and monuments built during the reign of the Turkish-Sultans and Mughal emperors. Look at the picture in Figure 2 This is a picture of a mosque built in the Middle Ages. The mosque was built under the patronage of Emperor Shah Jahan. Such mosques and monuments testify to the passion for architecture of the Sultans and Emperors of the time. The Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb, Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Jame Masjid, Buland Darwaza, Panch Mahal are some of the notable monuments of the Middle Ages.
Geographical Background :
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| Fig. 3 |
Turkish-Afghan: We have already learned that after ancient times, India was gradually ruled by Turkish-Afghan Sultans and Mughals in the Middle Ages. In India, the Turkish rulers established a vast empire from present-day Bihar to the Punjab. Qutub-ud-din Aibak, the founder of the Das dynasty, extended his empire from Ghazni in the northwest to Bengal. He established his headquarters in Lahore. Sultan Iltutmish, the next Sultan of Aibak, also extended his empire from Multan, Indus, Ajmer, Gwalior to Kanauj and Varanasi. Another Sultan of the Sultanate, Alauddin Khiliji, tried to create a unified India with the intention of becoming Alexander II. He conquered Gujarat, Malava, Rajasthan and the South and became the owner of a vast empire. The map in Figure 3 shows the extent of the Turkish-Afghan empire.
Mughal :
Like the Turks and Afghans, the Mughal emperors established a vast empire in India. The Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, gained vast territory in India during the reign of Akbar and Aurangzeb. Babur extended his empire from Kabul-Kandahar to the Hindu Kush Mountains to Bihar, the whole of northern India. Like Babur, Akbar conquered a vast territory of India, including the Indus, Baluchistan, Kabul and Kashmir. Similarly, during the reign of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire extended from Bijapur Golkunda to distant Karnataka. Thus, the kingdom established by the Turko-Afghans in northwestern India expanded to the whole of northern, southern, eastern and western India during the Mughal period. Thus, several prominent sultans of the five Turkish-Afghan dynasties and 15 Mughal emperors ruled India for more than 650 years. During their reign, a new era began in the socio-economic, literary, cultural, arts and paintings of India.
Questions based on this topic
a ) How many parts is the history of India divided into ? What are these parts?
Answer: The history of India is divided into three periods. They are the Ancient Ages , the Middle Ages and the Modern Ages. Some call the ancient era the Hindu era and the Middle Ages the Muslim era.
b) Why did Sultan Mamud invade India again and again?
Answer: He repeatedly invaded India in the greed for its abundant wealth and glory.
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