The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c19.1

c19.1

It is perhaps safe to hold that Persians, Afghans and Turks, with a sprinkling of Arabs, formed the upper class of Muslim society in the first century of Muslim rule over north India. Conversion from Indian tribes, not inconsiderable in number, swelled the rank and file, but except in Sind, from where some converts are mentioned in early Arab accounts as having reached positions of honour and distinction in Arabian letters and society¹, they do not seem, by the available evidence, to have been accorded positions of equality. Drawn as they were as yet mostly from the lower classes of the Indian people,—if traditions respecting the early Muslim missionaries are to be believed—, they could hardly hope to be admitted into the aristocracy of the conquerors or to a share of their privileges. The most jealous guardian of this aristocracy was the Turk whose military power enabled him to reserve the leadership for his own race. As he overran the North Indian river valleys, fame and increased resources heightened his superiority-complex; this was reaffirmed by his success in withstanding the Mongol storm when all other people went down. There was substance in Balban's claim that not less than fifteen sovereign princes from Muslim Asia had found asylum in his kingdom. Unquestionably, the Indian Turk had proved himself the leader of the eastern world of Islam.