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The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c11: 5. India on the Eve of Mahmud of Ghazni's Invasion

The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c11

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5. India on the Eve of Mahmud of Ghazni's Invasion

Political condition

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There was one notable difference in the political condition of our country at the time of the Arab invasion of Sindh and that on the eve of the Ghaznavide penetration into Hindustan. At the opening of the eighth century there was no foreign colony, much less a foreign power, in the land except a handful of Arab merchants on our western coast whose primary avocation was trade. On the other hand, in the tenth century there were two foreign kingdoms on our soil, namely, Multan and Mansura or Sindh. Besides, a considerable portion of the population in these two kingdoms had been converted to Islam. There were also Arab colonies in southern India, particularly in Malabar, where the Hindu rulers had foolishly permitted the foreigners to proselytize the native population. As was natural for these new converts to a religion, they preferred the foreign ways of life and had sympathy with their fellow Muslims from Ghazni and Central Asia. Subuktigin and Mahmud of Ghazni, as also Muhammad of Ghur, about 150 years later, were lucky to enjoy some kind of moral support from a section of the Indian people.

The Arab kingdoms of Multan and Sindh

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The history of the Arab kingdoms need not be related. Suffice it to say that they comprised the whole of modern Multan and Sindh and threw off the Caliph's yoke in 871 A.D. and, since that date, enjoyed complete independence. In view, however, of their peculiar position in a foreign country they nominally professed allegiance to the Caliph for diplomatic reasons. There were dynastic changes in this kingdom from time to time. At the beginning of our period, Multan was ruled by the Karmathians and its ruler was Fateh Daud. He seems to have been a man of some ability. Sindh proper was still ruled over by the Arabs. The neighbouring Hindu kingdoms, despite their political and religious experience at the hands of the Arabs, had left them unmolested. Everywhere the Arabs and, curiously enough, the new Hindu converts to Islam, were shown consideration and allowed to follow their religion and to make new converts. They constituted a power to be reckoned with.

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There was indigenous rule in the rest of the country. Notable among the kingdoms may be enumerated the following.

The Hindushahi kingdom

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The first important Hindu kingdom extended from the river Chenab to the Hindukush mountains and included Kabul. Its royal house had resisted, single-handed, the Arab encroachment successfully for 200 years. It was, however, compelled to abandon a part of Afghanistan, including Kabul, and to shift its capital to Udbhandapur or Waihand. The king about the end of the tenth century was the famous Jaipala who was a brave soldier and an able ruler. The situation of his kingdom obliged him to bear the first Turkish onslaughts from Ghazni.

Kashmir

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The next notable kingdom was that of Kashmir. Its ruling family, the house of Utpala, came into conflict with the Hindushahi kingdom and the empire of Kanauj. The famous Kashmiri king, Sankaravarman, extended the boundaries of Kashmir in several directions. He died fighting with the people of Urasa, the modern Hazara district. His death was followed by a great confusion. The Brahmans of the Valley, therefore, raised a member of their own fraternity, named Yasaskara, to the throne. His line came to an end within a brief period and was followed by that of Parvagupta. Parvagupta’s son and successor was Kshemagupta. During his time his queen, Dida, was the virtual ruler. This powerful lady ultimately seized the throne and crowned herself queen. She ruled over Kashmir till 1003 A.D. when the throne passed to Sangrama Raja, who became the founder of the Lohara dynasty. Thus, when Mahmud of Ghazni was hammering the gates of India, the reins of Kashmir were in the hands of a woman and the condition of the kingdom was far from satisfactory.

Kanauj

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The imperial city of Kanauj had passed into the hands of a new dynasty, known as the Pratihara dynasty, in or about 836 A.D.

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The Pratiharas traced their descent from Lakshmana, the brother of Shri Rama Chandra, the hero of the Ramayana. But scholars believe that they descended from the Gurjara race. It is said that a certain Gurjara chief served the Rashtrakuta ruler as a *pratihara* (door-keeper) at a sacrifice at Ujjain about the middle of the eighth century A.D. Probably the term *pratihara* was for the first time used in the above connection. A notable ruler of the Pratihara dynasty was Vatsaraja, who won the title of *Samrat* or emperor. He was succeeded by Nagabhatta II who, too, was a notable fighter. He defeated Dharmapala, the king of Bangal; but he suffered defeat at the hands of the Rashtrakutas. The Pratiharas continued to exercise sway over Kanauj and Madhyadesha and to fight, sometimes successfully and at others unsuccessfully, with their neighbours in the north and the south. The Pratihara king, Mahipala, was badly defeated by Indra III, the Rashtrakuta king of the Dakhin. He lost his capital, Kanauj. He was, however, restored by a Chandela king. The Pratihara power was, nevertheless, weakened and the rulers of the dynasty maintained a precarious hold over the upper Ganga valley and parts of Rajasthan and Malwa. Their former feudatories, the Chandelas of Bundelkhand, the Chalukyas of Gujarat and the Paramaras of Malwa, became independent. The last king of this dynasty was Rajyapala. He was a feeble monarch and his capital, Kanauj, was invaded by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018 A.D. The Pratiharas, in their early days, had successfully fought the Arabs and defended the country against them; but they had grown effete and, in the early years of the eleventh century A.D., they succumbed before the might of the Turks from Ghazni.

The Palas of Bangal

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Devapala of the Pala dynasty died after thirty-nine years of reign, some time between 833 and 878 A.D. His successors were weak and the kingdom of Bangal rapidly declined under them. The degenerate later Pala kings came into conflict with the Pratiharas of Kanauj and brought sufferings on Bangal. Mahipala I, who ruled Bangal in the first quarter of the eleventh century, was a contemporary of Mahmud of Ghazni. He succeeded in restoring, at least partially, the fortunes of his family; but a part of Bangal had already fallen into the hands of the powerful vassals who only vaguely recognized the overlordship of the Pala kings. While Mahmud of Ghazni was wasting north-western India with fire and sword, Bangal was threatened by the power of Tamil ruler, Rajendra Chola. In this warfare Bangal had the worst of it. It, however, remained immune from the Ghaznavide invasion owing to its distance.

Minor kingdoms

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Besides the above there were several other small ruling houses in northern India, notable among them being the Chalukyas of Gujarat, the Chandelas of Bundelkhand and the Paramaras of Malwa. They had once been the feudatories to Kanauj, but had declared their independence during the weak rule of the later Pratiharas of the Imperial city.

The Dakhin kingdoms

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The progress of the people in southern India was marred by constant warfare among the ruling families. The early Chalukyas in the Dakhin had fallen in the struggle for supremacy, in 753 A.D., at the hands of the Rashtrakutas. The latter, who were at constant warfare with their neighbours, had given place to the later Chalukyas in 973 A.D. Similarly, the great Pallava dynasty had fallen towards the end of the ninth century. The principal kingdoms in the south during our period were the later Chalukya kingdom of Kalyani and the Chola kingdom of Tanjore. The founder of the later Chalukya dynasty was Taila II who claimed descent from the early Chalukyas of Vatapi. He made Kalyani, now in the Hyderabad State, his capital. His successors were involved in a struggle with the Cholas of Tanjore. The Cholas were the descendants of Aditya Chola and had risen to importance under Ramaraja. His son, Rajendra Chola, was a great warrior and conqueror. He made extensive conquests in southern and northern India and was considered one of the greatest rulers in the country. While the Cholas and the Chalukyas were involved in a bitter conflict in the south, mighty empires in Hindustan were crumbling before the might of Mahmud of Ghazni.

Social and religious conditions

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For nearly three centuries after the advent of the Arabs our country enjoyed immunity from foreign invasions. This long freedom from foreign interference produced a feeling in the minds of our people and rulers that India could never be threatened by a foreign power. Eternal vigilance, which is said to be the price of freedom, not only slackened but almost reached the vanishing point. Our rulers neglected their armies. They failed to fortify our northwestern frontier and to make an effective arrangement for the defence of the hilly passes through which foreign armies could enter the country. Side by side with this, our people failed to keep in touch with the new military tactics and with the newly invented systems of warfare. Secondly, for the selfsame reason, the people lost almost completely the sense of patriotism and national ardour, which develops under the stimulus of danger from abroad. That was not an age of territorial patriotism; but whatever patriotism there was, disappeared owing to a false sense of security. Thirdly, a kind of narrowmindedness became the characteristic of our people from the eighth to the eleventh centuries of the Christian era. They believed that they were a chosen people and all other people were unfit to be associated with them. The famous scholar Al Beruni, who came to our country in the trains of Sultan Mahmud Ghazni and studied Sanskrit language and Hindu religion and thought, had to note with surprise that “the Hindus believed that there is no country like theirs, no nation like theirs, no king like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs.” He adds that the ancestors of the Hindus “were not so narrowminded as the present (eleventh century) generation.” He was also struck by the fact that the Hindus did “not desire that a thing which has once been polluted should be purified and thus recovered.”

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During this period our country was practically isolated from the rest of the world. Owing to this fact our people ceased to come into touch with foreign lands and, therefore, became ignorant of the happenings, political, military and cultural, in the outside world. Want of contact with dissimilar people and cultures bred stagnation and made our civilisation decadent. In fact, a slow but sure decadence began to manifest itself in every aspect of our life during the period. The Sanskrit literature of these centuries is much inferior in virility and taste to that of the fifth and the sixth centuries. Our architecture and painting and fine arts were similarly adversely influenced; our society, too, became static, caste rules became more rigid. Widowhood began to be rigorously imposed, remarriage of widows among higher classes almost completely stopped and food and drink taboos came into existence. The ‘untouchables’ were compelled to reside outside the towns.

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In the domain of religion also, which must always be the fountain-head of right conduct and morality, perceptible degeneration crept in. The great Shankaracharya, who had organised Hinduism and given it a common philosophical background, had failed to purge it of great evils that had crept into it. *Vamamarga Dharma* had become popular at this period, specially in Kashmir and Bangal. The followers of this creed indulged in wine, flesh, fish and women, and they believed in the motto of ‘eat, drink and be merry’. The vicious ideas of this school had permeated some of our educational institutions, patricularly in the University of Vikramasila in Bihar. An incident that took place at the above named university shows how deep the moral canker had gone into our life in that age. A student priest was found with a bottle of wine and, on being interrogated by the university authorities, he revealed that it had been given to him by a nun. When the authorities decided to take disciplinary action against him, the members of the university split up into two parties and the result was trouble. When such an incident could take place at a highest seat of learning, the condition of the upper and middle class people, who lived in sloth and luxury, can well be imagined. Our great *mathas*, which were originally great seats of learning and piety, became centres of luxury and idleness. Many of the monks became licentious. The order of the *sannyasis* lost its significance, but the common people continued showing them reverence. Another evil which can be traced in its exaggerated form to this period was the *devadasi* system. Every important temple had a number of unmarried girls dedicated to the service of the deity. This bred corruption and temple prostitution became common. Tantrik literature which was obscene in the extreme, developed rapidly in this era. It produced an adverse effect on our morals. It was not considered derogatory by the greatest of our scholars of this period to write obscene books. A minister to one of the kings in Kashmir wrote a book named *Kuttini Matam* or ‘Opinions of a Go-Between’. Another great Sanskrit scholar, Kshemendra, published *Samaya Matraka* or ‘the Autobiography of a Prostitute’. In this book “the heroine describes her adventures in every sphere of society, as a courtesan, as the mistress of a noble, as a street walker, as a go-between, as a false nun, as a corrupter of the youth and as a frequenter of religious places.” All this led to moral degeneration among the upper and the middle class people. Probably the common folk were free from the debasing effect of current literature and *Vamamarga* religion.

Economic condition

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Economically the country was rich. Its great mineral and agricultural wealth had continued accumulating for generations, individuals had piled up riches and our temples were their storehouses; but there was great disparity of wealth. The topmost people, that is, the members of the ruling families and their nobles and courtiers rolled in wealth and luxury. The merchant princes were millionaires and spent thousands of rupees in charity. Ordinary village folk were rather poor, though not in want. They were thrifty. They had a few belongings. Nevertheless, the general life was economically prosperous owing to the accumulated wealth, peace and commerce. It was this fabulous wealth that tempted Mahmud of Ghazni to invade our country. Our rulers did not know how to ensure the great wealth of India by organising a wise system of defence. The political structure was also weak. The institutions, of course, were the same as in the time of Harsha; but there was a marked deterioration in the spirit in which they worked. The bureaucracy was corrupt and people, in general, enervated by a variety of debasing influences.

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This was the condition of India at the time when Mahmud of Ghazni invaded her. Though outwardly strong, she was unprepared for defending her religion and liberty.

Cites (2)