Was there an Islamic rule over India for a thousand years? Or is that theory just a myth?
- In History & Culture
- 03:14 AM, Aug 01, 2018
- Aneesh Gokhale
There is an oft heard statement that the Islamic rule over India extended for a whole millennia, that is a thousand years. Most recently a politician said it on TV and many stray references can be found alluding to this statement. In a case of ‘if you tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth’, people in general believe the ‘Muslims in India ruled for a thousand years” statement to be true. In this article I shall examine, province wise, how this claim is absolutely false and the history of medieval India is one of continual struggle, and various cycles of victory and defeat rather than just a sad monologue stretching many years.
Extent of “India”:
For the purpose of this article, “India” will be taken as the Indian Subcontinent. We will see at what point, if ever, the entire subcontinent was under Muslim rule. Further on, extent of rule over the boundaries of what is modern day Republic of India will be summarised. These two definitions will be, I believe, sufficient to judge the extent of Muslim rule over “India”. Funnily enough, the secular crowd which merrily recites this statement also wants to argue how “India” did not exist prior to arrival of the British.
The First Muslim invasions and Sindh:
Barring a few feeble attempts by Arab raiders on coastal towns near what is today’s Thane, the first full-fledged Muslim invasion happened under Mohammed Bin Qasim in 712 AD. This was the invasion of Sindh, then ruled by Raja Dahir. Although Dahir lost, by 736 AD this Arab invasion had been checked by a grand alliance of Pratiharas – Chalukyas – Solankis as well as kings in the Punjab. Contrary to what many believe, independent Hindu kings existed in Sindh as late as 783 AD. This first province to come under Muslim sway did stay that way till 1842 making it the only province to make it to thousand years.
Mohammed Ghori and Punjab :
Three hundred years passed before another successful invasion could be mounted to the east of the Indus. In the interim, the only loss was of Afghanistan, where the Kabul based Hindu Shahi dynasty gradually lost influence. Even so, the loss of Peshawar happened as late as 1001 AD, when Jayapal lost to Subuktigin. The rest of what is today’s Punjab could be conquered only in 1022 AD with the defeat of Tirlochanpal Singh. Essentially, the conquest of what is today Punjab in Pakistan took a full three hundred years from the first attack by Mohammed Bin Qasim. It would stay that way till 1758, when the Marathas under Raghunathrao carried their armies beyond Lahore and Attock and also extracted tribute from Multan. This Maratha conquest was further reinforced by the absolute domination of Maharaja Ranjit Singh over the Punjab. So Punjab in total lasted 736 years under Muslim rule.
The Terai plains, Bundelkhand etc. :
While the successor of Mahmud of Ghaznavi – Salar Masud, did make a foray into northern India, he could only reach up to a place called Bahraich. Here, in 1034 AD, a grand alliance of twenty seven Rajput kings led by the famous Raja Suheldev inflicted a crushing defeat on him. It is perhaps one of the most important battles of Indian history which we have never heard about. The result being that north India was not threatened for the next hundred years. The plains of Terai and Bundelkhand region finally fell in 1192 AD with the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan. Large swathes were freed by Maharaja Chhatrasal of Bundela in the seventeenth century. Even if we take the attack by Peshwa Bajirao in 1733 AD as the end of Muslim rule, we still arrive at only 530 years. In reality, Bundelkhand and Terai region was under Muslim rule for perhaps 470 to 480 years.
Malwa and Gujarat :
Moving further south to the Malwa plateau , we find it in the hands of Hindu kings well into the thirteenth century. In the year 1305, Allaudin Khilji managed to annex it. By 1706, Nemaji Shinde had begun launching attacks to the north of the Narmada. In 1738, Malwa was formally granted to Peshwa Bajirao following the battle of Bhopal; so give and take around 400 years.
As for Gujarat, a region abutting Sindh, multiple attacks were repulsed till the invasions by Allaudin Khilji at the close of the thirteenth century. Gujarat was freed of its Mughal rulers by the beginning of the eighteenth century when Maratha armies under Khanderrao Dabhade established their rule over the province. Again, like Malwa an approximation of 400 years.
Awadh and Rohilkhand :
The regions of India today synonymous with Urdu, Persian and Ganga Jamuna tehzeeb also came under Muslim sway at the close of the twelfth century following Jai Chand’s defeat. Maratha control was restored in various places such as Agra, Aligarh, Rohilkhand etc. by the close of the eighteenth century. Thus, this all important region was also at best under Muslim rule for less than 600 years.
Kashmir :
By how modern day politics is playing out in the Kashmir region, one would reckon it has been under Muslim rule for a thousand years! But in the 8th century, Lalitaditya Muktapida had in fact formed part of the grand alliance of kings that had kept Arab invaders at bay. Protected by high hills, Kashmir managed to remain free of Muslim rule right into the fourteenth century. Finally around 1320, following the conversion of a Buddhist prince named Rinchan to Islam, Muslim rule commenced in Kashmir. It would barely last five hundred years, with the conquest of Kashmir by the Sikh empire in the nineteenth century.
So far we have been dealing with the heartland of the Delhi sultanate, and although a high number of years were spent under Muslim rule, nowhere with the exception of Sindh does it approach a thousand years; and we still have half the country to deal with.
Maharashtra :
Like Malwa and Gujarat , it also was under Hindu rule till the invasion of Allaudin Khilji. The Yadav kings of Devgiri were conquered only at the close of the thirteenth century. With Chhatrapati Shivaji’s coronation in 1674, Hindu rule was once again restored. The regions of eastern Maharashtra – i.e. Vidarbha were lost, but by the mid eighteenth century, the Bhosales of Nagpur had restored Maratha rule.
Orissa :
A province that is often ignored in history textbooks except for a passing mention of Ashoka and Kalinga, is the eastern province of Orissa. Perhaps it is because, like the north east, a region where the ‘glorious Delhi Sultanate ‘could not make much headway. Defended ably by the Ganga and Gajapati dynasties, Orissa remained free of Muslim rule right up to the year 1568 AD! Less than two hundred years later, following raids by Raghuji Bhosale, Orissa was annexed to the Maratha empire. This happened in 1751 AD, when Aliverdy Khan, Nawab of Bengal was forced to give up all claims on most of the province.
Bengal :
With north India being ably defended by various rulers, it was not until 1206 AD that Bengal came under Muslim rule. Even then, the Sena dynasty continued for some more time in today’s Bangladesh. With defeat in the Battle of Plassey (1757), Muslim rule in Bengal came to an end.
The North East:
Another region of India finding scant mention in history textbooks is the north eastern part of India. It’s medieval history is especially glorious, wherein between 1206 AD and 1680 AD, various kings spanning different timelines and kingdoms successfully staved off over seventeen invasions! Except for brief four years when Guwahati was held by the Mughals, Assam and the other states of the north east never came under Muslim rule.
South India :
South India, meaning the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh never came under Muslim rule as a whole. Fortunes of invaders were in constant flux and in fact, when the whole of north India was reeling under the Delhi sultanate, the south under the Vijayanagar empire reached the zeniths of glory.
While Allaudin Khilji and Malik Kafur had managed to reach the precincts of Madurai, after having conquered Warangal among other places, their rule was weak. This Mohemmedan rule of south India , which had started around 1310 , was more or less over with Allaudin Khilji’s retreat to Delhi. The outposts established by him were destroyed by the Vijayanagar empire which held sway over much of south India from 1336 to 1565 AD. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh then went to the Deccan sultanates after the Battle of Talikota. About a hundred years later, most of south India had reverted to its original rulers following the collapse of the Mughal and the rise of the Maratha empire at the beginning of the eighteenth century. A region which constantly changed hands and had a glorious interlude of the Vijayanagar empire was perhaps in total under Muslim rule for about 300 years at best. Even the Madurai sultans had been vanquished by Kumara Kampana by 1378 AD.
Coming to Kerala, with its large Muslim population….
The southern state got almost all of its Muslim population from traders and converts to Islam. With the exception of the Ali Rajahs of Kannur and invasions by Tipu Sultan, Kerala remained under Hindu kings. By the way, the Kannur Rajahs, the only Muslim kings in Kerala, were the ones who invited a Tipu Sultan invasion! Considering that Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan are of the late eighteenth century, the total for Kerala comes to less than a hundred and even then, not the entire province.
As for the very tip of the subcontinent, it was a place which Muslim armies never reached.
Thus we can see, that over the entire length and breadth of India, Muslim rule never existed for a thousand years. Only its northern parts came under a long spell after dozens of repeated invasions. By the close of the eighteenth century most of these places had gone to the Marathas or to local Hindu rulers. The North East had anyways been free and to the Northwest , the Sikh empire was rising – to finally encompass the whole of Punjab and today’s Jammu and Kashmir.
References :
1. Imperial Age of Kannauj – KM Munshi
2. Gwalior inscription
3. Conquest and Community – Shahid Amin
4.Advanced Study in History of Medieval India , Vol 1 – Mehta.
5. History of Marathas – Kincaid and Parasnis
6. A history of Mughal North East Frontier Policy – Bhattacharjee.
7. Comprehensive history of Assam – Barpujari
8. Mohammedan Invasions of South India – Iyengar.
9. History of Odisha – Manas Kumar Das
10.History of Civilizations of Central Asia – edited by UNESCO.
Image Credits: By Painters of Babur (Baburnama) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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