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The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c11.s2: Social and religious conditions

The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c11.s2

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Social and religious conditions

c11.s2.1

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.”

c11.s2.2

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.

c11.s2.3

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.

Cites (1)