The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c3.4

v3.c3.4

Chapter I of this volume is introductory, and treats of the conquest of Sind by the Arabs in the eighth century. The Arabs never extended their authority or their influence beyond Sind and Multān, and their rule in those countries was a mere episode in the history of India. Chapter II treats of the Yamīnī or Ghaznavid dynasty. Mahmūd was a raider rather than a conqueror, but he and his successors were Indian rulers by virtue of their annexation and occupation of the Punjāb, the last of their great possessions which remained to them. Chapter III treats of the first actual Muslim conquerors of Northern India, Mu'izz-ud-dīn Muhammad b. Sām of Ghūr, his lieutenants, and his successors, the earlier Slave Kings of Delhi; and Chapter IV of the rule of Ghiyās-ud-dīn Balban and his worthless son. Chapter V treats of the Khaljī dynasty and the first Muslim conquest of the Deccan; Chapter VI of the first two Sultans of the Tughluq dynasty, and the second conquest and revolt of the Deccan; Chapter VII of the later Sultans of the Tughluq dynasty and the invasion of India by Tīmūr; Chapter VIII of the Sayyids; and Chapter IX of the Lodī dynasty. Then follows a series of chapters dealing with independent Muslim Kingdoms, all of which, with the exception of Kashmīr and Khāndesh, rose on the ruins of the great empire of Muhammad b. Tughluq; Chapter X with Jaunpur; Chapter XI with Bengal; Chapter XII with Kashmīr; Chapter XIII, which has been written by Professor Sir E. Denison Ross, with Gujarāt and Khāndesh; Chapter XIV with Mālwa; Chapters XV and XVI with the Bahmanī Kingdom of the Deccan; and Chapter XVII with the five independent Muslim Kingdoms of the Deccan. Chapter XVIII treats of Hindu states in Southern India, and Chapter XX with those in Northern India; and Chapter XIX treats of the states of Sind and Multān during their independent existence. Chapter XXI, which has been written by Mr G. E. Harvey of the Indian Civil Service, deals with the history of Burma between the years 1287 and 1531; and Chapter XXII, by Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe, with the history of Ceylon from 1215 to 1527. Chapter XXIII, written by Sir John Marshall, C.I.E., Director General of Archaeology in India, who has also supplied the illustrations to this volume, deals with the monuments of Muhammadan rule in India between the years 1200 and 1526.