History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s6.20

v3.c33.s6.20

The causes of the downfall of nations, peoples, or kingdoms, have always been a subject of deep interest to historians both in ancient and modern times; and historians have formulated different theories in different cases which cannot have universal application. The fall of Greece before Rome, of Rome before the Goths and of Constantinople before the Turks present different aspects and must necessarily be assigned to different causes. Even in India, as said before, the causes of the fall of Sind in 712, of the Punjab in 1009, of Northern India in about 1200, and of Southern India about 1300 A. D., are different and Indian historians have the difficult task of explaining in each case the probable causes of the downfall of each. Yet the general observations of the great historian of the downfall of the Roman Empire have a perennial interest and supply maxims which are of universal application. Although the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire in the West are actually different from the causes which can properly be assigned for the fall of the Panjab, the observations of Gibbon will help us in our present inquiry to a great extent.