Everything about Islamic Empires In India totally explained
During the late
Middle Ages, several
Islamic
empires were established in
South Asia.
The rise of Islam in West South Asia
The initial entry of
Islam into
South Asia came during the life time of prophet Muhammad Mustufa[sallalahoalyhe vassalam]. the world's second oldest Masjid to offer Jumma Prayer is in Kerala, India, built in AD 629, while the first being in
Medina (External Link
). In Later years, the
Umayyad caliph in
Damascus sent an expedition to
Balochistan and
Sindh in 711 led by
Muhammad bin Qasim (for whom
Karachi's second port is named). The expedition went as far north as
Multan but wasn't able to retain that region and wasn't successful in expanding Islamic rule to other parts of India. Coastal trade and the presence of a Muslim colony in Sindh, however, permitted significant cultural exchanges and the introduction into the subcontinent of religious teachers. Muslim influence grew with voluntery conversions.
Almost three centuries later, the
Turkics,
Persians and the
Afghans spearheaded the Islamic conquest in India through the traditional invasion routes of the northwest.
Mahmud of Ghazni (979-1030) led a series of raids against
Rajput kingdoms and rich
Hindu temples and established a base in Punjab for future incursions.
Delhi Sultanate
Main article: Delhi Sultanate
During the last quarter of the twelfth century,
Muhammad of Ghor invaded the
Indo-Gangetic plain, conquering in succession
Ghazni,
Multan,
Sindh,
Lahore, and
Delhi.
Qutb-ud-din Aybak, one of his generals proclaimed himself
Sultan of Delhi. In the
13th century,
Shams ud din Iltumish (
1211 -
1236), a former slave-warrior, established a Turkic kingdom in
Delhi, which enabled future sultans to push in every direction; within the next 100 years, the Delhi Sultanate extended its way east to
Bengal and south to the
Deccan, while the sultanate itself experienced repeated threats from the northwest and internal revolts from displeased, independent-minded nobles. The sultanate was in constant flux as five dynasties rose and fell: the
Slave dynasty (1206-90),
Khalji dynasty (1290-1320),
Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1413),
Sayyid dynasty (1414-51), and
Lodi dynasty (1451-1526). The
Khilji dynasty, under
Ala ud din (
1296 -
1316), succeeded in bringing most of South India under its control for a time, although conquered areas broke away quickly. Power in Delhi was often gained by violence -- nineteen of the thirty-five sultans were assassinated -- and was legitimized by reward for tribal loyalty. Factional rivalries and court intrigues were as numerous as they were treacherous; territories controlled by the sultan expanded and shrank depending on his personality and fortunes.
Both the
Qur'an and
sharia (Islamic law) provided the basis for enforcing Islamic administration over the independent
Hindu rulers, but the sultanate made only fitful progress in the beginning, when many campaigns were undertaken for plunder and temporary reduction of fortresses. The effective rule of a sultan depended largely on his ability to control the strategic places that dominated the military highways and trade routes, extract the annual land tax, and maintain personal authority over military and provincial governors. Sultan 'Ala ud-Din made an attempt to reassess, systematize, and unify land revenues and urban taxes and to institute a highly centralized system of administration over his realm, but his efforts were abortive. Although agriculture in
North India improved as a result of new canal construction and irrigation methods, including what came to be known as the
Persian wheel, prolonged political instability and parasitic methods of tax collection brutalized the peasantry. Yet trade and a market economy, encouraged by the free-spending habits of the aristocracy, acquired new impetus both inland and overseas. Experts in metalwork, stonework, and textile manufacture responded to the new patronage with enthusiasm. In this period
Persian language and many Persian cultural aspects became dominant in the centers of power in India.
Southern dynasties
The sultans' failure to hold securely the Deccan and South India resulted in the rise of competing southern dynasties: the
Muslim Bahmani Sultanate (1347-1527) and the
Hindu Vijayanagara Empire (1336-1565).
Zafar Khan, a former provincial governor under the Tughluqs, revolted against his Turkic overlord and proclaimed himself sultan, taking the title Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah in 1347. The Bahmani Sultanate, located in the northern Deccan, lasted for almost two centuries, until it fragmented into five smaller states, known as the
Deccan sultanates (
Bijapur,
Golconda,
Ahmednagar,
Berar, and
Bidar) in 1527. The Bahmani Sultanate adopted the patterns established by the Delhi overlords in tax collection and administration, but its downfall was caused in large measure by the competition and hatred between deccani (domiciled Muslim immigrants and local converts) and paradesi (foreigners or officials in temporary service). The Bahmani Sultanate initiated a process of cultural synthesis visible in
Hyderabad where cultural flowering is still expressed in vigorous schools of deccani architecture and painting.
Founded in 1336, the
Vijayanagara Empire (named for its capital
Vijayanagara (Vijayanagar), "City of Victory," in present-day
Karnataka) expanded rapidly toward
Madurai in the south and Goa in the west and exerted intermittent control over the east coast and the extreme southwest. Vijayanagara rulers closely followed
Chola precedents, especially in collecting agricultural and trade revenues, in giving encouragement to commercial guilds, and in honoring temples with lavish endowments. Added revenue needed for waging war against the Bahmani sultans was raised by introducing a set of taxes on commercial enterprises, professions, and industries. Political rivalry between the Bahmani and the Vijayanagara rulers involved control over the
Krishna-
Tungabhadra river basin, which shifted hands depending on whose military was superior at any given time. The Vijayanagar rulers' capacity for gaining victory over their enemies was contingent on ensuring a constant supply of horses--initially through Arab traders but later through the Portuguese--and maintaining internal roads and communication networks. Merchant
guilds enjoyed a wide sphere of operation and were able to offset the power of landlords and Brahmans in court politics. Commerce and shipping eventually passed largely into the hands of foreigners, and special facilities and tax concessions were provided for them by the ruler. Arabs and Portuguese competed for influence and control of west coast ports, and, in 1510, Goa passed into Portuguese possession.
The city of Vijayanagara itself contained numerous temples with rich ornamentation, especially the gateways, and a cluster of shrines for the deities. Most prominent among the temples was the one dedicated to
Virupaksha, a manifestation of
Shiva, the patron-deity of the Vijayanagar rulers. Temples continued to be the nuclei of diverse cultural and intellectual activities, but these activities were based more on tradition than on contemporary political realities. When the rulers of the five
Deccan sultanates combined their forces and attacked Vijayanagara in 1565, the empire crumbled at the
Battle of Talikot.
Mughal era
The Mughal Empire (
Persian:
مغل بادشاہ) was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled most of the
Indian subcontinent between
1526 and
1857. The empire was founded by the Mongol leader
Babur in 1526, when he defeated
Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the
Delhi Sultans at the
First Battle of Panipat. The word "Mughal" is the Indo-Aryan version of
Mongol.
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