SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Of all the periods in the history of Muslim rule in India, the first century after the Turkish conquest is perhaps the least well known. It is probably due more to a lack of interest in the period in which a superficial reader does not find anything else than mass slaughter, palace intrigue, factious rule and, at best, an interesting story of the rule of a typical eastern despot, than to a scarcity of materials. On the contrary, in some respects, the period is more important than any of the succeeding centuries of Muslim rule. For the first time the Indian people were faced with a conquering race who firmly maintained their religious and cultural traditions, and unlike others in the past refused to be absorbed by the ever elastic Hinduism, The centuries-old traditions of government and society were for the first time forcibly replaced by foreign impositions, which formed the basis of the governmental and social structure of the succeeding centuries. Alarmed at the attitude of the conquerors in maintaining their racial and cultural identity, the Hindu princes who had half-heartedly opposed the invasion in this fond hope, made, towards the end of the century, great, though sporadic and unsuccessful efforts to dislodge them. It was in the same century that we can trace the first signs of the fusion of the newer elements with the old, that have gone, like many others in the past, to the making of the people and culture of that unhappy but picturesque country. Viewed in this light the XIII century is worth more careful study than has hitherto been devoted to it. The thesis, which covers the period from 1187 to 1290 approximately, is mainly political, though, but for the want of time, the last three chapters could have been further elaborated from the materials which a patient investigation would further reveal.