Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India (Vol. I: 1000-1526 A.D.)

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About the Author J.L. Mehta, a specialist in medieval and modern Indian history, and a prolific writer, with proficiency in Urdu, Persian and Tibetan, besides Hindi, Punjabi and Sanskrit, has published a number of books, articles and monographs.

At present he is Reader in the Postgraduate Department of History, Panjab University Evening College, Chandigarh.

Preface Preface to the Second Revised Edition The second revised edition of the book is being presented to the readers with a sense of fulfilment by the author. The task of its revision was made comparatively easy by the pleasure and satisfaction derived from correspondence with scholars and teachers of the subject and by the challenge of press opinions.

Dr Suryanath U. Kamath pointed out, in the Deccan Herald, that the Bahmanids and the Vijayanagar empire had been given a sketchy treatment in the book. This deficiency has now been made good by the addition of a full-fledged chapter, serial number ten. It explains the circumstances leading to the origin and growth of the Bahmani and Vijayanagar states and the part played by them in the political life of the country in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Section three of the chapter discusses the nature of the Bahmani rule and its impact on the society and culture of the Deccan; the contributions made by the Bahmanids towards the development of education and learning, and art and architecture, have been especially highlighted. Similarly, an attempt has been made, in section four of the chapter, to sketch the life and condition of the people in the Vijayanagar state. Chapter nine of the book has, accordingly, been recast by deleting all references to the Bahmani and Vijayanagar states. It is now redesignated as "Northern India in the Fifteenth Century".

On the suggestions received from many quarters, yet another capter, serial number twelve, entitled "Architectural Monuments of the Sultans", has been added. It attempts to explain the rationale of the building activity of the sultans, analyses the main points of difference between the indigenous and Islamic architecturai traditions, and elaborates the various stages in which synthesis between two took place during the Sultanate Period, leading, ultimately, to the emergence of what has been called the Indo- Islamic Architecture.

Thus the revised edition of the book contains twelve chapters instead of ten. The intensive revision of the text resulted in a number of additions and alterations in matters of factual information and on points of critical analysis and assessment The revision and enlargement of the text necessitated revision of the Index as well, which has now been made much more comprehensive than before; besides indexing historical names and places, it also refers to the contemporary historiographers and their works, used in the body of the text.

Preface Preface to the First Edition The chronological division of history into ancient, medieval and modern periods is a European concept, applicable primarily to the western civilisation; it came into vogue from about the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The writers of European history used the term 'medieval' not merely in a descriptive but also quali tative or connotative manner, it was employed to distinguish a social and cultural situation which was inferior from the ancient or classical' values and characteristics. The medieval period of Indian history does not, however, correspond exactly with the 'middle age of Europe, also dubbed as 'the dark age of the European civilisation' according to one definition, it covered a period between 476 and 1500 A.D. from the breakdown of the Roman empire in the West to the beginning of Renaissance and the Reformation. These dates cannot be taken up as a working hypothesis either for the beginning or conclusion of the medieval Indian period. An attempt made by some historians to classify Indian history into hindu (ancient), muslim (medieval) and British (modern) periods was still more unfortunate, because it employed religion and race as the criteria which had serious repercussions on the subsequent political develop- ments, it sowed the seeds of communal disharmony and led to the 'partition' of the country in 1947. Whatever criterion that may be adopted for reperiodisation of Indian history, one thing is clear; the traditional equations of 'medieval' with 'muslim' and 'the medieval Indian history' with the era of 'muslim rule in India' are not valid, and have rightly been discarded by most of the modern historians of Indian history.

The author takes the eleventh century to be the beginning of early medieval period in the history of India. It lands us into the so-called 'rajput period' of ancient Indian civilisation. The age of imperial Kanauj' was over with the death of Harsha Vardhana (606-47); the efforts made by its ex-feudatories and other princes, including Yasovarman (c 700-70) of Kanauj, the Palas of Bengal, the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan, and the Gurjara-Pratiharas of Malwa to re-unify India under one national government bore no fruit. India, in the beginning of the eleventh century, was parcelled out into over one hundred regional kingdoms and petty principalities whose rulers identified themselves with their dominant ruling clans, tribes or communities, lacked overall national consciousness and freely indulg ed in self-destructive and suicidal warfare with one another. The Indian society, with its decadent political structure, defunct military system, inherent socio-religious defects and economic imbalance which created a gulf between the masses and the socio-political leadership, carried ipso facto the seeds of its own destruction. Toynbee holds that the self-stultified Hindu Civilisation' of the period 'was not assassinated' by the turks; the latter simply gave it a coup d' grace. The period of stress and strain, covering the eleventh and twelfth centuries of the Indian history forms the subject matter of the first four chapters of this study. The opening chapter gives a glimpse of pre-muslim India under the caption, Twilight of Ancient India. Chapter 2 deals with the Indian expeditions of Sabuktagin and Mahmud of Ghazni which shook the political fabric of northern and western India, albeit the Ghaznavid inroads 'did not cut deeper into the flesh' of the contemporary Indian politics and had no more serious effect upon the course of its history than Alexander's invasion in 326-25 B.C. The third chapter draws a pen portrait of northern India when it enjoyed a respite for over a century and a quarter (1030-1175) from foreign invasions. This offered a golden opportunity and more than enough time to the Indian socio-political leadership to rally itself and be prepared to defend its independence by setting its house in order on national considerations. To the misfortune of the country, the rajputs had learnt nothing and forgotten everything of their earlier encounters with the Turks; they exhibited a total lack of imagination in tackling the problem of political unity and national defence. Torn by mutual jealousies, dissensions and self-destructive tendencies, as ever before, the Indian princes failed to take concerted action against the turks led by Muhammad Ghori and, as a consequence, were crumbled to dust in quick succession under the iron heels of the invaders. The story of the 'second holocaust' (1175-1205) has been described in chapter 4. Muhammad Ghori and his Turkish 'slave' generals con- quered northern India in the last quarter of the twelfth century and laid the foundations of the turkish rule in Delhi.

Introduction Indian Historiography-an Islamic Heritage Ancient Indians had no taste for historiography; their scholars cared more for religious, spiritual and philosophical studies. Indian historiography is essentially an Islamic heritage; it were the muslim ulama and chroniclers who showed a keen sense of history' and wrote detailed accounts of the day-to-day happenings and political upheavals. Their primary object in doing so was, of course, the glory, of Islam, they took pride in the military exploits of an amir ul momnin who attempted to transform dar ul harab into dar ul Islam by the conversion of 'infidels' to the faith. Even otherwise, they were men of this world who valued their material possessions and strove hard to multiply their worldly gains; this instinct helped them in keeping track of the events, past and present.

The muslim monarchs employed chroniclers, diarists and cou.t historians who maintained profuse records of their activities, very often in systematic and chronological order, though usually exag gerated. The scholars produced books and poets composed masnavis on the dynastic, regional or general histories of the Islamic world; the writers penned biographical sketches of high and low and recorded historical anecdotes and chronological accounts of events, private or public; they wrote not only for literary fame, reward or edification of their patrons but also to satiate their intellectual hunger and inner urge for writing their observations and experiences. The educated among the rulers and nobility wrote memoirs or maintained personal diaries. Historiography, therefore, flourished in all of its form during the Sultanate period, the age produced a number of profes sional historians, chroniclers and men of letters who bequeathed to posterity a rich treasure of historical literature.

The earlier literary records of the muslim chroniclers are found in Arabic, the language of the Quran and the Arab clite. With the establishment of Islam in Persia, there took place a revival of Persian nationalism within the muslim world; it resulted in the adoption of Persian language and culture by the turkish dynasties, founded mostly by the slave officers of the Persian monarchs. Consequently, along with the establishment of the turkish rule was planted the Persian tradition of historiography in India Most of these literary records are thus found in Persian though some works in Arabic and other languages like Turki have also come down to us. These days we get translations in English and Indian languages of many an important work, the others are rapidly being translated and edited by the scholars.

The chroniclers of early medieval India were mostly turks or afghans of foreign pedigree who were interested primarily in recor ding the military and political exploits of their martial leaders, and the affairs at the courts of the sultans of Delhi or other regional states. They dealt mostly with matters which did not concern the general public; seldom did they pay attention to the socio-economic conditions of the country. The medieval system of education being 'theologically oriented', most of the writers traced the origin of every branch of knowledge to the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad In order to use their material, therefore, it is essential to have 'a clear understanding of the mentality of the men who wrote it. They were not scientific historians; therefore, their works need to be handled with discretion and care. Their accounts have to be checked up and verified on the touchstone of modern research methodology before accepting them as historical facts. Of course, the military and political history is well-preserved in these literary sources. The study of numismatic evidence, monuments and representative specimens of art also helps in reconstructing the history of the times even though such sources are usually of a secondary importance tending to corroborate or confirm the literary evidence.