The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c10.s3.6

c10.s3.6

There were Muslim kings in the Kashmir Valley from the middle of the fourteenth century. However, it was during the reign of Sikandar Butshikan (1394-1417) that the wind of Muslim proselytization blew the hardest. His bigotry prompted him to destroy all the most famous temples in Kashmir and offer the Kashmiris the usual choice between Islam and death. It is said that the fierce intolerance of Sikandar had left in Kashmir no more than eleven families of Brahmans.⁷⁵ His contemporary, the Raja of Jammu, had been converted to Islam by Timur, by hopes, fears and threats.⁷⁶ The kingdom of Gujarat was founded by Wajih-ul-Mulk, a converted Rajput in 1396. One of its famous rulers, Ahmad Shah (1411-1442) was responsible for many conversions. In 1414 he introduced the *Jiziyah*, and collected it with such strictness, that it brought a number of converts to Islam.⁷⁷ Mahmud Begharas exertions (1458-1511) in the field of proselytization were more impressive.⁷⁸ In Malwa there were large number of Muslims since the days of Khalji and Tughlaq sultans.⁷⁹ These numbers went on growing during the rule of the independent Muslim rulers of Malwa, the Ghauris and Khaljis (1401-1562). The pattern of growth of Muslim population in Malwa was similar to that in the other regions but their harems were notoriously large, filled as they were with Hindu inmates.⁸⁰