The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c20.92

v1.c20.92

I have already referred to the part played by the Gurjara-Pratīhāra empire in stemming the tide of Arab invasions from Sind.⁵ Fortunately for the Hindu principalities in the interior of India, the Arab power in Sind declined in the 9th century and became moribund simultaneously with the decay of Gurjara-Pratīhāra power.¹ But soon after the middle of the tenth century the Turks appeared before the north-western gates of India, carrying the banner of Islam. The establishment of the Yamīnī dynasty at Ghazni in the last quarter of the 10th century A.D. synchronised with the dismemberment of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra empire. Before the inevitable 'political readjustment' could take place, the hungry Turks had swooped down upon the smiling Indian plains, carrying fire and rapine. The process thus set in motion culminated in the establishment of the Muhammadan Turk as the imperial power in Northern India. It was probably not the first time that India was invaded and conquered by the Turks. But those Turks as well as other foreigners who entered India before this time had become gradually assimilated into its elastic social system. This time however the Turks entered India as the proselytes of Semitic Islam, which refused to compromise its fundamental social and religious tenets. Thus the 10th century of the Christian era, which saw the dismemberment of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra empire and the arrival of the Muhammadan Turk in India, marked an epoch in the history of India. Since then, in spite of efforts at rapprochement on both sides, India has practically remained divided into two mutually repellent units. The problem that confronted Indian administration in the tenth century remains still unsolved after the lapse of more than nine hundred years.