History Quiz: Early Medieval developments in India and Indian culture in South East Asia | 12th Dec, 2020

Al-Beruni: Tarikh-Al-Hind (Indian Philosophy and Religion written in Arabic)

Minhaj us Siraj: Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (1260) (World Islamic History written in Arabic)

Ziauddin Barani: Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi(1357) History of Delhi Sultanate up to Firuz Tughlaq

Amir Khusrau: Mifta Ul Futuh (Victories of Jalal-ud-din Khalji); Khazain Ul Futuh (Victories of Allauddin Khalji – Texts in Persian)

Tughlaq Nama (History of Tughlaq dynasty in Persian)

Shams-i-Siraj Afif: Tarikh i Firuz Shahi (after Barani’s account of Delhi Sultanate in Persian)

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 161.

Sabuktigin initiated the process of southward expansion into the Indian subcontinent. He defeated the Shahi ruler of Afghanistan, Jayapal, and conferred the governorship of the province on Mahmud, his eldest son. When Sabuktagin died in 997, Mahmud was in Khurasan.

Ismail, the younger son of Sabuktagin had been named his successor. But defeating Ismail in a battle, Mahmud, aged twenty-seven, ascended the throne and the Caliph acknowledged his accession by sending him a robe of investiture and by conferring on him the title Yamini-ud-Daulah (‘Right-hand of the Empire’).

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 162.

Ghori attacked the fortress of Tabarhinda (Bhatinda), a strategic point for the Chauhans of Ajmer. The ruler of Ajmer Prithviraj Chauhan marched to Tabarhinda and faced the invader in the First Battle of Tarain (1191).

Prithviraj scored a brilliant victory in this battle but failed to consolidate his position believing this battle to be a frontier fight, and did not expect the Ghurids to make regular attacks. Ghori was wounded and carried away by a horseman to safety. Contrary to the expectations of Prithviraj Chauhan, Muhammad Ghori marched into India in the following year (1192).

Prithviraj underestimated the potential danger of the enemy. In the Second Battle of Tarain, one of the turning points in Indian history, Prithviraj suffered a crushing defeat and was eventually captured. Ghori restored him to his throne in Ajmer. But on charges of treason he was later executed, and Ghori’s trusted general Qutb-ud-din Aibak was appointed as his deputy in India.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 164.

Shams-ud-din Iltutmish (1210-36) of Turkish extraction was a slave of Qutbud-din Aibak. Many of his elite slaves were also of Turkish and Mongol ancestry. They were brought to Delhi by merchants from trade centres like Bukhara, Samarqand and Baghdad. (There were some slaves of other ethnicities as well).

But Iltutmish gave them all Turkish titles. Iltutmish’s reliance on his elite military slaves (Bandagan) and his practice of appointing them for the posts of governors and generals in far-off places did not change despite the migration into North India of experienced military commanders from distinguished lineages fleeing from the Mongols.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 166.

Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq followed a policy of reconciliation with the nobles. But in the fifth year of his reign (1325) Ghiyas-uddin died. Three days later Jauna ascended the throne and took the title Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

Khaljis Dynasty was founded by Jalal-ud-din Khalji (1290-1296). He was succeeded by Ala-ud-din Khalji (1296–1316).

The Lodi Dynasty was established by Bahlol Lodi (1451–1489) whose reign witnessed the conquest of Sharqi Kingdom (Bengal). It was his son Sikander Lodi (1489–1517) who shifted the capital from Delhi to Agra in 1504.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 168-174.

The Arab governor of Iraq, Hajjaj Bin Yusuf, under the pretext of acting against the pirates, sent two military expeditions against Dahar, the ruler of Sind, one by land and the other by sea. Both were defeated and commanders killed.

Hajjaj then sent, with the Caliph’s permission, a full-fledged army, with 6000 strong cavalry and a large camel corps carrying all war requirements under the command of his son-in-law, a 17-year-old Muhammad Bin Qasim.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 161.

Amir Khusrau emerged as a major figure of Persian prose and poetry. Amir Khusrau felt elated to call himself an Indian in his Nu Siphr (‘Nine Skies’). In this work, he praises India’s climate, its languages – notably Sanskrit – its arts, its music, its people, even its animals.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 180.

Persian literature was enriched by the translation of Sanskrit works. Persian dictionaries with appropriate Hindawi words for Persian words were composed, the most important being Farhang-i-Qawas by Fakhr-ud-din Qawwas and Miftah-ul- Fuazala by Muhammad Shadiabadi. Tuti Namah, the Book of Parrots, is a collection of Sanskrit stories translated into Persian by Zia Nakshabi. Mahabharata and Rajatarangini were also translated into Persian.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 180.

Arch, dome, vaults and use of lime cement, the striking Saracenic features, were introduced in India by Arabs. The use of marble, red, grey and yellow sandstones added grandeur to the buildings. In the beginning the Sultans converted the existing buildings to suit their needs.

Qutb-ud-din Aibak’s Quwwat-ul- Islam mosque situated adjacent to Qutb Minar in Delhi and the Adhai din ka Jhopra in Ajmer illustrate these examples.

A Hindu temple built over a Jain temple was modified into Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque.  Adhai din ka Jhopra was earlier a Jain monastery before being converted as a mosque.

With the arrival of artisans from West Asia the arch and dome began to show up with precision and perfection. Gradually local artisans also acquired the skill. The tomb of Balban was adorned with the first true arch and the Alai Darwaza built by Alaud- din Khalji as a gateway to the Quwwatul- Islam Mosque is adorned with the first true dome.

The palace fortress built by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and Muhammad bin Tughlaq in Tughlaqabad, their capital city in Delhi, is remarkable for creating an artificial lake around the fortress by blocking the river Yamuna. The tomb of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq introduced the system of sloping walls bearing the dome on a raised platform. The buildings of Firuz Tughlaq, especially his pleasure resort, Hauz Khas, combined Indian and Saracenic features in alternate storeys, displaying a sense of integration.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 179.

Certain traditions of education were now implanted from the Islamic World. At the base was the maktab, where a schoolmaster taught children to read and write. At a higher level, important texts in various subjects were read by individual pupils with particular scholars who gave instruction (dars) in them.

A more institutionalized form of higher education, the madrasa, became widely established in Central Asia and Iran in the eleventh century, and from there it spread to other Islamic countries. Usually the madrasa had a building, where instruction was given by individual teachers. Often there was a provision of some cells for resident students, a library and a mosque.

Firoz Tugluq built a large madrasa at Delhi whose splendid building still stands. From Barani’s description it would seem that teaching here was mainly confined to “Quran-commentary, the Prophet’s sayings and the Muslim Law (fiqh).” It is said that Sikander Lodi (1489– 1517) appointed teachers in maktabs and madrasas in various cities throughout his dominions, presumably making provision for them through land or cash grants.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 177.