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MEDIEVAL
INDIA
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The
medieval period of Indian history commences
with the advent of the Muslims in the north-west.
Lured by tales of India’s overall plentifulness
and the fabulous wealth of the kings and Hindu
temples, Mahmud of Ghazni,
also known as Ghaznavi (971–1030),
first attacked India in the year 1000. He is
notorious in Indian history for having plundered,
ransacked and razed to the ground, the majestic
temple at Somnath,
named after Soma, the moon god, not once but
seventeen times and carried back the loot to
his homeland Ghazni, in what is now modern Afghanistan.
Other raiders from the central Asian region
followed in his trail, but these forays were
of no great significance. The next momentous
event took place in 1192, when, Muhammad
of Ghor or Mohammed Ghori
(1162-1206) who was a native of Ghor,
located in central Afghanistan and who had been
expanding his powers in the north-western part
of India, rode further inland and captured the
city of Ajmer.
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SomnathTemple, Gujrat
Many invaders originally belonged to Afghanistan
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In
1193, Qutb-ud-din Aibak (1150-1210),
a former slave-turned-general of Ghori, captured
Varanasi and Delhi. After Muhammad Ghori died
heirless in 1206, Aibak vanquished his opponents
and took control of Ghori’s dominions
in India. Since he had been a slave, and also
since the chain of rulers who succeeded him,had
also been slaves for a certain period, the dynasty
came to be known as the Slave Dynasty.
After Qutb-ud-din’s sudden
demise in 1210, Iltutmish,
another slave of Turkish origin, emerged as
Sultan, after having overpowered his opponents.
Iltutmish married Qutb-ud-din's
daughter. Thereafter, all but one of the later
sultans of the dynasty were his descendants,
including his daughter, Razia,
who had a brief stint of four years.
The most outstanding monument pertaining to
this period of history,which has withstood the
ravages of time is the Qutub Minar.
Its construction was started by Qutub-ud-din
Aibak, but after his sudden,untimely
death, the task was taken over and finally completed
by Iltutmish, his successor.
The Slave Dynasty was followed
by those of the Khiljis (1290-1320),
the Tughlaqs (1321-1412),
the Saiyyads, whose rule
failed to make any significant impact, and
the Lodhis (1446-1526), all
of whom were of Turkish-Afghan origin.
Babur (1483-1530) is regarded
as the founder of the Mughal Empire
in India. His dynasty was possibly the most
famous political (royal) family, in medieval
India.
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Qutb-ud-din Aibak
Allauddin Khiliji
Mohammad Bin Tuglaq |
Interestingly,
Babur who belonged to Farghana
(Central Asia), was the scion of two legendary
Asian conquerors/warriors - Taimur Lang (a.k.a
Taimur the lame) the Turk and Chenghis Khan,
the mighty Mongol.
Owing to family feuds and bickering,
Babur came away to India with
his band of followers.He managed to defeat Ibrahim,
the last weakling Lodhi ruler
in 1526 at the First Battle of Panipat
and took control of the entire region. There
was a brief interruption to Mughal rule when
Babur's son Humayun (1508-1556)
was ousted from Delhi, by Sher Shah
Suri (1472-1545), the son of an Afghan
jagirdar of Sasaram, Bihar.(His real name was
Farid and he had been born
in the Punjab).
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Babur |
Having
defeated Humayun in the battles
of Chausa and Kannauj
(both in modern Uttar Pradesh), respectively,
Sher Shah assumed power in Delhi, albeit for
a short while. He was the masterbrain behind
the conceptualization and the construction of
the Grand Trunk Road, providing
a vital link between Bengal in the east to Peshawar
in the west. Besides, he introduced major reforms
in the revenue system, which was gradually imbibed
by the Mughals.
In January 1556, when Humayun
slipped down the steps of his library
(in Delhi) and fell to his death, his son Akbar
was about thirteen years old. At that
point of time, the Mughal empire was confined
to Kabul, Kandahar besides parts of Punjab and
Delhi. After Humayun’s death, Bairam
Khan a trusted lieutenant of Humayun
had been appointed as Akbar's guardian. Hemu
(Hemchandra), the military chief of the Afghan
king Muhammad Adil Shah (based
in Chunar, Uttar Pradesh) was seeking to expel
the Mughals from India.
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Humayun |
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Taking
advantage of Humayun's death,
Hemu marched to Agra and Delhi
in a bid to capture the two cities. To foil
this move, Bairam Khan (escorting
Akbar) marched towards Delhi
from Punjab where they had been stationed. On
November 5, 1556, the two armies met at Panipat.
Inspite of having a smaller army, Akbar
was able to inflict a defeat on Hemu
and slay him in the battlefield.
Akbar (1542-1605)
was the greatest and the most famous of al the
Mughal rulers. He consolidated political power
and extended his empire over practically the
whole of north India and parts of the southern
India. He was the epitome of broadmindedness,
secularism and liberalism.
His son Jahangir (1569-1627),
who succeeded Akbar, was a
pleasure loving man, but possessed a great sense
of aesthetics. To him goes the credit of creating
the world famous gardens – Shalimar
and Nishat, near Srinagar
in Kashmir. His son
Shah Jahan (1592-1666), who
succeeded him, followed in his footsteps. His
greatest claim to fame is the marvellous architectural
masterpieces, created under his stewardship
– the Taj Mahal, besides
the Red Fort and the Jama
Masjid in Delhi. Aurangzeb
(1618- 1707), was the last of the prominent
Mughal rulers. He was poles opposite to his
illustrious forefather Akbar.
A staunch, dogmatic and bigoted Muslim, he was
ruthless, even barbaric in his political ambitions
and attitudes.
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Jahangir |
Aurangzeb
further extended his empire, though he was constantly
plagued by the Rajputs and
particularly the Marathas,
who were the next community to come into political
limelight.The non-Brahmin castes in the region
of Maharashtra organised themselves into a mighty
force under the leadership of the valiant Shivaji
Bhonsle (1630-1680), who was master
strategist and a fearless warrior.
He laid the foundation of a well knit, unified
Maratha empire (which was perpetually expanding
northward) and assumed the title of Chhatrapati
(the sovereign /paramount king).
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Aurangzeb |
His
empire reached its zenith under the tutelage
of the Peshwas (who were
originally the Brahmin prime ministers of
the Maratha rulers) in the 18th century,
extending from the river Indus in present-day
Pakistan to Orissa in the east and Thanjavur
in the south.
The Maratha Empire established a protectorate
over the incumbent Mughal rulers and commanded
the allegiance of numerous Rajput chieftains
of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Central India.
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ChhatrapatiShivaji
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When
Nadir Shah (1688-1747) of Persia
attacked and plundered Delhi in 1739, the declining
Mughals were even further weakened; simultaneously,
the growth and expansion of the Maratha power
too came to an abrupt end. In the Third
Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Marathas
were defeated by Ahmad Shah Abadali
/ Durrani (1725-1775)
whose homeland was again Afghanistan.
Dejected, the Marathas nevertheless
consolidated their control over central India
and the region known as Malwa. In later years,
they were to be obliterated from the political
map of the country by the British imperial power.
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Nadir Shah |
Islam
as a religion deeply permeated into the then
prevailing ideas, faiths, beliefs, lifestyle
and cultural traditions of India. This remains
evident till date in the language, dress, cuisine,
architecture and social customs. Conversely,
the languages of the Muslim invaders were transformed
by contact and extensive interaction with the
local people and Hinduism.The result was the
birth of Urdu – the fusion
of Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Hindi. The fledgeling
language grew and developed in the environs
of Delhi over a period of two hundred years
(1200-1400).
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Kabir |
The
synthesis of Hinduism and Islam is best exemplified
by the development and flourishing, during this
period, of the philosophies of two great seers,
Kabir (1398--1518) and Guru
Nanak Dev Ji. Drawing heavily from
the Hindu Bhakti and the mysticism of Islam’s
Sufi cults, the tolerance of Hinduism and the
ideas of equality in Islam, they merely advocated
simple living, besides a pragmatic approach
to life and things. Kabir, the unschooled saint,
preached that Ram or Rahim, Krishna or Karim,
were merely the different names of the Supreme
Divine Being. Guru Nanak (1469--1539)
founded Sikhism, a religion
which has a fairly strong global presence to
this day. |
Guru Nanak Dev Ji |
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::Ancient
India:: |
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::Medival
India:: |
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::Modern
India:: |
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