Re-establishment of Mughal Empire

While capturing the areas occupying by Rajputs, Sher Shah died in a fort in Rajputana namely Kalinjar Fort, in 1545. After the death of Shershah,  his youngest son ascended the throne and ruled the kingdom till 1554. But when he died, It was found that there were four claimants of the throne.Humayun under such circumstances came back again with a multinational army comprising of Turk, Parsea, Afghan, Turkman, and Uzbeck occuppied the throne of Delhi and re-established Mughal Kingdom again.When Akbar ascended the throne in Delhi,  following the death of hs father Humayun he was only 13 years old.During his reign he eliminated the military threat from the powerful Pastun descendants of SherShah and he defeated the newly self declared Hindu King Hemu in the battle of Panipath II. it took at least two decades to consolidate his power and bring all the parts of northern and central India into his direct realm.He influenced the whole of the Indian subcontinent as he was governing a lrger portion of India.As an Emperor Akbar solidified his rule by pursuing diplomacy with the powerful Hindu Rajputs and by admitting Rajput princes into his harem.

Akbar's reign significantly influenced art and culture in the country. He took a great interest in painting in painting , and had the walls of his palaces adorned with murals.Besides encouraging the development of the Mughal school, he also patronised the Ehropean style of painting. He was also fond of literature , and had several sanskrit works translated into Persian and Persian scriptures translated in sanskrit apart from getting many persian works illustrated by painters from hyis court.During the early years of his rule he had intolerant attitude towards Hindus and the other religions.but he excercised great tolerance after he began marriage alliancees with Rajput princes.   

Impact of Islam and Muslims in India

Islam's impact was the most notable in the expansion of trade. The first contact of Muslims in India , was the Arab attack on a nest of pirates near modern-day Bombay , to safeguard their trade in the Arabian sea Around the same time many Arabs settled at Indian ports, giving rise to small Muslim communities, the growth of Muslim communities was not only due to conversion, but also the fact that many Hindu kings of South India (such as those  from Cholas) hired Muslims as mercineries.

A significant aspect of the Muslim period in world history was the emergence of Islamic Sharia  Courts capable of imposing a common, commercial and legal system that extended Morocco in the west to Mongolia in the North-east   and Indonesia in the souh east. While southern India was already in trade with Arabs/Muslims, northern India found new opportunities . As the Hindu and Budhist kingdoms of Asia were subjugated by Islam, and as Islam spread through Africa - it became a centralizing force that facilitated in the creation of a common legal system that allowed letters of credit issued in say Egypt or Tunisia to be honoured in India or Indonesia  (The Sharia has laws on the transaction of Business with both Muslims and Kaffirs). In order to cement their rule, Muslim rulers initially promoted a system in which there was a revolving door between the clergy, the administrative nobility , and the mercantile classes.
The travels of explorer Muhammad Ibn-Abdullah Ibn-Bututa were eased because of this system. He served as an Imam in Delhi, as a judicial official in the Maldives in the Maldives and as an envoy and trader in the Malabar. There was never a contradiction in any of his positions because each of these roles complemented the other. Islam created a compact under which political power, law and religion became fused in a manner so as to safeguard the interests of the mercantile class. This led world trade to expand to the maximum extent possible in the medieval world. Sher Shah Suri took initiatives in improvement of trade by abolishing all taxes which hindered progress of free trade . He built large networks of roads and constructed Grand Trunk Road which connocted Calcutta to Kabul, of which parts of it are still in use today.             

Socio-Economic condition during the period of Sultanate

After defeating the Hindu Kings the Muslim invaders gradually occuppied the landed property of the then Kings and feudal lords and established their supremacy. But they were unable to change the landed system run during last centuries of the previous owners. The relations between the farmers and the fuedal lords mostly remained unaltered excepting some minor changes.The only thing they could impose, after gaining the landed property and influx of sufficient wealth, a strong military force with which they were able to rule over the country. Actually the landed property earned by them  belonged to the defeated landlord or fuedals of the past Indians.
This ime there were two types of landed systems- Ikta O Khalisa.The officials of the previous kings usuallu collected the taxes for tye Govt. The taxes imposed to the tenants or farmers did not have any appropriate measurement. It was fixed by a thumb rule and the tax were collected from the community not from any individual.The amount collected in this manner were used to maintain the Government officials and the soldiers by cash or kinds. There were some lands owned by the king which were cultivated with the help of slaves. Though that was very limited.Many Govt. owned lands were distributed amongst the officials who served the Govt by doing . This system was called 'Ikta' system. The small lands were called 'Ikta' and the owner of that land was called Iktadar or Oajdar,Some big amount of land also was donated to some who were known as Mukta. Each of this family had to supply soldiers in the army of the Sultan. Giasuddin Balban tried to take back the land from the owner who did not have man to send as a soldiers. This created a disturbance and Balban had to retreat. In this way land of the Iktadar was converted to individual Fuedal property.
There were another type of owner of the land known as Wakf, donated for religious purposes.

The Mughal Empire

Babur : Claiming descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur, Babur combined strength and courage and military ability defeated the last Lodhi Sultan at the first Battle of Panipath, a town north of Delhi. Babur then persuaded his followers of central Asia to stay in India and overcame other contenders for power , mainly the Rajput and Afghans . He succeeded in both the tasks but died shortly after this in 1530. Babur's son Humayun lost control of Delhi soon after taking power , but his son Akbar (1556-1605) re-established Mughal Dynastic rule.    

The Mughals dominated Indian politics from the thirteenth to the nineteenh centuries, lasting until the British took colonial control in 1857.India in the 16th century presented a fragmented picture of rulers, both Muslim and Hindu, who lacked concern for their subjects and failed to create a common body of laws or institutions. Outside developments also played a role in shaping events. The circumnavigation of Africa by the portuguese explorer Vasco da gama in 1492 allowed Europeans to challenge Arab control of the trading routes between Europe and Asia. In central Asia and Afghanistan, shifts in power pushed Babar of Ferghana (in present dayUzbekistan ) southward, first to Kabul and then to India. The dynasty he founded endured for more than 3 centuries.   

Muslim period, Tughlaq dynasty

There was lot of infighting after Alaud-din- Khilji's death and Mubarak Khan the third son of Alaud-din Khilji ascended the throne as Qutb-ud-din Mubarak in the year 1316 AD. The rule of Qutb-ud-din Mubarak was an utter failure. Ultimately he was murdered by Khusru Khan and Khilji Dynasty ended.

The sultanate suffered significantly from the sacking of Delhi in 1398 by Timur, He was a fourteenth century war lord of Turco-Mongol descent.

Muslims of Kerala (contd-1)

Contray to the popular belief, Islam came to South Asia prior to Musalim invasion of India. Islamic influence first came to be felt in the early 7th centurywith the advent of Arab traders.Trade relations between the Arabic and the subcontinent are very ancient. Arab Traders used to visit the Makabar region, which was  a link between them and ports of South-East Asia, to trade even Islam had been established in Arab, according to Historian Elliot and Dowson in their book.the history of India as told by its Historiansthe first ship bearing Muslim travellors was seen was seen in the India coast as early as 630 AD , before the death of Hazrat Muhammad.H.G.Rawlinson in his book, Ancient and Medieval History of India claims the first Arab nmuslims      settled in the Indian coast in the last part of 7th century AD. The same was corroborated by other historians also.

Muslims of Kerala

The earliest entry of Islam to India was through the historic port of Crangannore or Musiris as the Arabs called it ( Kodangallur).
A team of 12 merchants led by Malik ibn Deenar landed in Kerala whose behaviour was the antithesis of earlier Arab merchants. This prompted the King Cheraman Perumal to call them to his durbar and question them. The Arabs said they accepted Islam at the hands of a new prophet called Muhammad who taught them to respect human life and to abjure their bloodthirsty life.
The king, being  impressed by the change in the attitudes of the infamous Arab Traders questioned them about the teaching of the new religion.Their answers so impressed him that he asked for proof that the man was indeed a prophet.
Amongst the proofs attested to by the Arabs was the famous Shaqq-al-Qamar or the splitting of the moon. The king at once sent for his astronomers who vouchsafed seeing the phenomena in the skies of Kerala.

Spread of Islam In India

The rapidity of the spread of Islam (http://www.islam.com/), the relgion of Muhammad and the dramatic suddenness with which the adherents of his creed rose to a position of dominan sovereignity constitute one of the marvels, or it migh be said the miracles of history . No cut and dried explanation that can be offered is felt to account adequately for the astounding facts .But history records not a few other unexplained marvels, we must be content to acknowledge that many thisngs in the Past, as in the past, as in the present, pass man's understanding. Muhammad's fellow citizens at Mecca were so hostile  that in AD 622 He was obliged to quit his birthplace znd take his frefuge at Mecca. But within ten years of His life was sufficient to make substantially the sovereign of Arabia and the accepted prophet of the Arabs.Soon after His death in 632 his successors, the early Khalifs (Caliphs), found themselves in conflict with the mighty Persian and Byzantine empires.Nothing could withstand the furious enthusiasmof the Arabs from the desert, beneath whose attack ancient thrones tottered and fell. Within he brief space of eighty years from the prophet's death his Arab followers had become the masters, not only of Arabia, but of Persia, Syria,, western Turkistan, Sind, Egypt, and southern Spain. They carried their new religion with them, and either imposed it on their opponents at the point  of the sword, or complled them to ransom their lives by heavy payments. The Indian border lands soon attracted the attention of the Khalifs. The Arabs reached the coast of Makram as early as AD 643. the conquest of Sind was affected by Muhammad bin Qasim in AD 712, and thence forward for centuries that country remained under the rule of Arab.From the begining of the eighth century many Arabs and Muslims of other nations must have settled in Sind and and the neighbouring countries, effecting a marked change in the character of the population. But India proper remained substantially unaffected, although Arab Traders occasionally visited the western kingdoms for business purposes and the Arab chiefs of Sind made several raids on Hindu Territory. The Indian Rajas rarely troubled themselves about events taking place to the Hakra River, then the boundary between Sind and Hind. The The annexation of the Punjab to the Gazni kingdom about AD 1020 by Sultan Mahmud necessarily involved extensive settlement of the of Muslim strangers in that province, although the rest of India continued to be free from their presence. 

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From the closing years of the twelfth century, when Muhammad of Ghor began the systematic conquest of the country, a constant stream of Muslim immigrants , continued to flow in ; and during the period of the growth of the Sultanate of Delhi new comers arrived without ceasing.During the decline of the Sultanate from 1340 to 1526 the immigration must have diminished but in the later year it5 received a fresh impetus from the victories of Baur.

Muslim period in Indian History (contd-1)

Throughout the history of the Indian subcontinent from the 7th century to 13th century had been frequently subject to invasion from the North-West by Central nomadic tribes and the Persian Empire. With the fall of the Sassanids and the arrival of the Caliphates, these regions were integrated into Muslim dynasties of Central Asian Heritage ; initially Turkic people and later Mongol and Turco-Mongol people.Unlike earlier conquerors  who assimilated into prevalent social system, Muslim conquerors retained their Islamic Identity and created legal and administrative systems that challenged and destroyed  existing systems of social conduct, culture, religious practices, lifestyle and ethics.
It took several centuries for Islam to spread across India to forcibly convert to Islam through Jizya and Dhimmitude favoring Muslim citizens, and threat of naked forces or by intermarriage conversions, economic integration and through the influence if Sufi preachers.
Though the conversion came from Budhists and the en masse conversions of 'lower' castes for social liberation and as a rejection of the oppressive existent caste structures,  conversion of Islam was directed not only for liberation of downtrodden people but also for global political domination.

Muslim period in Indian History

There were many causes for Muslim conquest but the major reason was the spread of Islam. The Muslim dominated Kabul, the Punjab, and Sind before intruding in India,The wealth in India lured the Muslim rulers. Further the inter-rivalry between the kindoms in India paved the way for their entry in to India.

                    Early Muslim Invasion : The very first Muslim attack on India in Sind in the year 715 AD was by Arabs led by Mohammad Bin Qasim . They displayed Raja Dahir who ruled Sind from the Capital Deval ( near modern Karachi). Arabs even unsuccessfully tried to attack Malwa. After this invasion, which was invited to Sind, for a period of 300 years, Kings like raja Raja Bhoja and other Gurjara Kingsthwarted further Muslim attacks.

The next invasion was by Turk Sabuktagin. He had established himself in Khorasanand extended his kingdom to Kabul and Ghazni. In 986 AD he came into conflict with Raja Jaipal of Bathinda, In 991 AD Raja Jaipal allied with other Hindu King including Rajyapal, the Pathira king of Kannauj and Dhanga, the ruler of the distant Chandela kingdom but they two were defeated.
Mahmud of Gazhni ; The elder son of Sabuktadin, Mahmud of Ghazni assumed the throne in 997AD. He was very conscious of the wealth he could achieve from further conquests into India.He was also areligious fanatic who aimed to spread Islam.Mahmud is said to have invaded India 17 times between 1001-1027 AD. king Jaipal and later his son Anandpal resisted Mahmud but were defeated. Between 1009 A and 1026 AD he invaded Kangra, Thaneshwar, Kanauj, Mathura, Gwalior, Kashmir and Punjab. In 1025 Mahmud invaded Somnath and looted its temple on the coast of Saurashtraor Tathiwar. Enormous treasure of the fotified temple were looted. His last invasion was i about 1022 AD . He died on 1030.

Muhammad Gazni and Muhammad Ghori

 The next Important Muslim leader who had made his influence in Indian historyknown was Muhammad Ghori. He had invaded India 17 times.

Muhammad Ghori invaded Multan in about 1175-76 AD. In 1178 AD. He attempted to conquest Gujarat.He was strongly resisted by Bhimdev II who inflicted a crushing defeat to him. In 1191 AD Muhammad Ghori met Prthviraj Chauhanin the first battle of Tarain. Muhammad Ghori was severely wounded and outnumbered . he was defeated and left the battlefield . in the next year in 1192 AD both the armies met again at Tarain. This time Muhammad Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan. In 1194AD he killed the ruler of Kannauj, Jaichand and also captured Benaras, Gwaliar, Gujarat, and .Ajmeer. he died in 1206 AD.   

                                                                           Slave Dynasty; Muhammad Ghori left Qutub




-ud-din Aibek who was a slave from Turkistan in charge of the Indian affairs. Qutab-ud-din's general Muhammad Khilji successfully plundered and conquered the fort of Biharin 1193 AD. In about 1199-1202 AD, ha had laid the foundation of a new dynasty called the slave dynasty in 1206 AD.Iltutmisis daughter Razia Begum came to power in 1236 ADafter a brief power struggle.   

Dark Age, Indian Ancient Period

The time between the fall of the Kushanas and the rise of the Guptas , a period of anarchy was called as the dark age.
The political scenario of of northern India after the extinction of the Kushanas and the Adhras till the ascendancy of the Imperial Gupta was absolutely anarchic and tumultuous . This period was one of the darkest period in Indian History and the historians have described the term "Dark Age" to this period. The epoch of the dark age, i.e.,the beginning of the fourth century , the existing power Kushanas could not retain the administrative machinery of their Empire properly. As a result incessant local revolts started occuring. The provincial and the local Governors took the advantage of the weakness of the central authority and demanded their Independence. They raised their stanadrd of revolt against the Kushana yoke and established their own independent kingdom. The weakness of the central authority made the situation pregnant enough for internal discord and anarchy and India was wrapped in petty political atoms. The states which unfurled the flag of their independence, after getting detached from the folds of central authorityof the Kushanas, established established their independent statuseither as monarchic states or as republican states . However history of the "dark age" began from the Kushana period whenforces of disintegration crept up during the later Kushanas.
Dr. K. Jamanadas  possessed different opinion and said that the 'Rajput Dark age of India'. The Rajput were mostlt of foreign origin. They were not a race but a group of clans of distinct originThis presumption received support from the familiar legend about the fire pit at Mt. Abu.
 Prof. Mukherjee made a note which was an accepted view. He said that "the fact seemed to be that when a foreign clan or a tribe became Hinduised that ruling families were recognised as Kshatriyas while the rank and file lost their tribal characterand developed into an Indian caste of inferior rank."
Dr. Ambedkar observed that " one view was that they were foreigners, remnants of the Huns who invaded india and established themselves in Rajputana and whom the Brahmins raised to the status of Kshatriyas with object of using using them as means to suppress Budhisms in Central India by a special ceremony before the sacred fire and who were therefore known as Agnikula Kshatriyas.."
Persecution of Budhists was maximum during Rajput period;
The perssecution of Budhists was started by the Brahmins long time back. The authority of Brahmins over the masses was tremendous. Masses following budhists tenents was a great danger to brhmin supremacy. They had tried to sabotage Budhist sangha and Asoka had to drive a  way sixty thousands of fake bhikus. real persecution of Budhists had started at the time Pushyamitra Shunga, who burnt manastries and killed many monks.persecution of Mihirgula was so horrible, that he was declared by Brahminsto be an Avatar of klanki, the tenth Avatarof Bishnu.He built big temples and wiped out Budhists monastries.  

Origin and growth of Feudalism in Early India

This work analyzes the origin and growth of feudalism, and deals with the political, economic, and social aspect of Indian feudalism. Feudalism referred to the division of society and into social estates, privileges for the nobility, closed economy, the dominate position of landed aristocrates- all that hampered the movement of society forward and restricted the development of town and trade.

The Indian form of feudalism has been treated on the basis of history of ancient India . The complexity and variety of life in feudal society has been shown, fundamental concepts offered , and the basic patterns of the development of the socio-economic and political formation of feudalism explained.  







Feudalism