History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c39.3

v3.c39.3

The causes which led to the downfall of Northern India must be, and indeed are, different from those which led to the downfall of the Panjab. In the Panjab there were no Rajput kingdoms. Panjab, as stated before, was always ruled from outside, by Sind, by Kashmir, by Kabul. Northern India was always ruled by Hindu and local kings. Panjab was usually the land of foreign invasions and of foreign rule. Northern India had always defeated and driven out foreign invaders. Alexander did not cross the Sutlej at all. Menander came as far as Ayodhya but was eventually driven out by Pushyamitra. The Śakas came as far as Mathura but were driven away by Vikramāditya. The Kushans and the Huns indeed ruled rather long in the western part of Northern India but they were driven away by Skandagupta of Patna, by Viṣṇuvardhana of Mandsaur and finally by Pratāpavardhana of Thanesar. From 600 A. D. down to 1000 A. D. there were no foreign invasions. Mahmud indeed conquered Rājyapāl and imposed a tribute on Northern India but the Gāhadavālas soon drove out the foreign foe and stopped the tribute, while Rājyapāla had even been killed by the Chandellas and Kachhwahas for submitting to Mahomedan yoke. In short the Aryan kings of Northern India had always held their own against foreign invaders. The Rajput kingly families of the Hindu period were unquestionably most heroic and did not brook submisson. Why did they fall before Shihabuddin Ghori? There could be no lack of armies or of capable generals. Indeed Prithvīrāja was the greatest warrior put forward by the indomitable Chauhans to oppose the Mahomedan onslaught. He had actually defeated four kings successively. He held up the flood of Mahomedan conquest like a strong bund. Strangely enough as soon as the bund gave way, the flood rushed over the whole of Northern India and uprooted all the Rajput kingdoms within the course of twenty five years. Why did the heroic Rajput kingly families, like the Chauhans and the Rathods, the Chandellas and the Paramāras, the Solankhis and the Haihayas succumb and why did Northern India fall so completely as never to rise again?