Indus, but not the Ganges. Even the name by which the Aryas
denote the land to the south of the Vindhyas, Dakshinapatha
(Deccan), i. e., path to the right, confirms the fact already
established, that the Aryas came from the west. From this it
is beyond a doubt that the Aryas, descending from the heights
of Iran, first occupied the valley of the Indus and the five
tributary streams, which combine and flow into the river from
the north-east, and they spread as far as they found pastures
and arable land, i. e., as far eastward as the desert which
separates the valley of the Indus from the Ganges. The river
which irrigated their land, watered their pastures, and shaped
the course of their lives they called Sindhu (in Pliny,
Sindus), i. e., the river. It is, no doubt, the region of the
Indus, with the Panjab, which is meant in the Avesta by the
land hapta hindu (hendu), i. e., the seven streams. The
inscriptions of Darius call the dwellers on the Indus Idhus.
These names the Greeks render by Indos and Indoi. … Products
of India, and among them such as do not belong to the land of
the Indus, were exported from the land about 1000 B. C., under
names given to them by the Aryas, and therefore the Aryas must
have been settled there for centuries previously. For this
reason, and it is confirmed by facts which will appear further
on, we may assume that the Aryas descended into the valley of
the Indus about the year 2000 B. C., i. e., about the time
when the kingdom of Elam was predominant in the valley of the
Euphrates and Tigris, when Assyria still stood under the
dominion of Babylon, and the kingdom of Memphis was ruled by
the Hyksos. … The oldest evidence of the life of the Aryas,
whose immigration into the region of the Indus and settlement
there we have been able to fix about 2000 B. C., is given in a
collection of prayers and hymns of praise, the Rigveda, i. e.,
'the knowledge of thanksgiving.' It is a selection or
collection of poems and invocations in the possession of the
priestly families, of hymns and prayers arising in these
families, and sung and preserved by them. … We can ascertain
with exactness the region in which the greater number of these
poems grew up. The Indus is especially the object of praise:
the 'seven rivers' are mentioned as the dwelling-place of the
Aryas. This aggregate of seven is made up of the Indus itself
and the five streams which unite and flow into it from the
east—the Vitasta, Asikni, Iravati, Vipaça, Çatadru. The
seventh river is the Sarasvati, which is expressly named 'the
seven-sistered.' The land of the seven rivers is, as has
already been remarked, known to the Iranians. The 'Sapta
sindhava' of the Rigveda are, no doubt, the hapta hendu of the
Avesta, and in the form Harahvaiti, the Arachotus of the Greeks,
we again find the Sarasvati in the east of the table-land of
Iran.
{1703}
As the Yamuna and the Ganges are only mentioned in passing …
and the Vindhya mountains and Narmadas are not mentioned at
all, the conclusion is certain that, at the time when the
songs of the Aryas were composed, the nation was confined to
the land of the Panjab, though they may have already begun to
move eastward beyond the valley of the Sarasvati. We gather
from the songs of the Rigveda that the Aryas on the Indus were
not one civic community. They were governed by a number of
princes (raja). Some of these ruled on the bank of the Indus,
others in the neighbourhood of the Sarasvati. They sometimes
combined; they also fought not against the Dasyus only, but
against each other."
M. Duncker,
History of Antiquity,
book 5, chapters 1-2 (volume 4).
"When the Indian branch of the Aryan family settled down in
the land of the seven rivers. … now the Panjab, about the
15th century B. C., their religion was still nature-worship.
It was still adoration of the forces which were everywhere in
operation around them for production, destruction, and
reproduction. But it was physiolatry developing itself more
distinctly into forms of Theism, Polytheism, Anthropomorphism,
and Pantheism. The phenomena of nature were thought of as
something more than radiant beings, and something more than
powerful forces. … They were addressed as kings, fathers,
guardians, friends, benefactors, guests. They were invoked in
formal hymns and prayers (mantras), in set metres (chandas).
These hymns were composed in an early form of the Sanskrit
language, at different times—perhaps during several
centuries, from the 15th to the 10th B. C.—by men of light
and leading (Rishis) among the Indo-Aryan immigrants, who were
afterwards held in the highest veneration as patriarchal
saints. Eventually the hymns were believed to have been
directly revealed to, rather than composed by, these Rishis,
and were then called divine knowledge (Veda), or the eternal
word heard (sruti), and transmitted by them. These Mantras or
hymns were arranged in three principal collections or
continuous texts (Samhitas). The first and earliest was called
the Hymn-veda (Rig-veda). It was a collection of 1,017 hymns,
arranged for mere reading or reciting. This was the first
bible of the Hindu religion, and the special bible of Vedism.
… Vedism was the earliest form of the religion of the Indian
branch of the great Aryan family. … Brahmanism grew out of
Vedism. It taught the merging of all the forces of Nature in
one universal spiritual Being—the only real Entity—which,
when unmanifested and impersonal, was called Brahma (neuter);
when manifested as a personal creator, was called Brahmā
(masculine); and when manifested in the highest order of men,
was called Brāhmana ('the Brāhmans'). Brahmanism was rather a
philosophy than a religion, and in its fundamental doctrine
was spiritual Pantheism. Hinduism grew out of Brahmanism. It
was Brahmanism, so to speak, run to seed and spread out into a
confused tangle of divine personalities and incarnations. …
Yet Hinduism is distinct from Brahmanism, and chiefly in
this—that it takes little account of the primordial,
impersonal Being Brahma, and wholly neglects its personal
manifestation Brahmā, substituting, in place of both Brahma
and Brahmā., the two popular personal deities Siva and Vishnu.
Be it noted, however, that the employment of the term Hinduism
is wholly arbitrary and confessedly unsatisfactory. Unhappily
there is no other expression sufficiently comprehensive. …
Hinduism is Brahmanism modified by the creeds and
superstitions of Buddhists [see below: B. C. 312—] and
Non-Aryan races of all kinds, including Dravidians, Kolarians,
and perhaps pre-Kolarian aborigines. It has even been modified
by ideas imported from the religions of later conquering
races, such as Islam and Christianity."
M. Williams,
Religious Thought and Life in India,
part 1, chapter 1, and introduction.
ALSO IN:
R. Mitra,
Indo-Aryans.
F. Max Müller,
History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature.
F. Max Müller, editor,
Sacred Books of the East,
volume. 1, and others.
A. Barth,
Religions of India.
Rig-Veda Sanhita,
translated by H. H. Wilson.
See, also,
ARYANS.
INDIA: 6th Century, B. C.
Invasion of Darius.
See PERSIA: B. C.621-493.
INDIA: B. C. 327-312.
Invasion and conquests of Alexander the Great.
Expulsion of the Greeks.
Rise of the empire of Chandragupta.
"The year B. C. 327 marks an important era in the history of
India. More than two centuries are supposed to have elapsed
since the death of Gotama Buddha. The great empire of Magadha
was apparently falling into anarchy, but Brahmanism and
Buddhism were still expounding their respective dogmas on the
banks of the Ganges. At this juncture Alexander of Macedon was
leading an army of Greeks down the Cabul river towards the
river Indus, which at that time formed the western frontier of
the Punjab.
See MACEDONIA: B. C. 330-323.
… The design of Alexander was to conquer all the regions
westward of the Indus, including the territory of Cabul, and
then to cross the Indus in the neighbourhood of Attock, and
march through the Punjab in a south-easterly direction,
crossing all the tributary rivers on his way; and finally to
pass down the valley of the Ganges and Jumna, via Delhi and
Agra, and conquer the great Gangetic empire of Magadha or
Pataliputra between the ancient cities of Prayaga and Gour.
… After crossing the Indus, there were at least three
kingdoms in the Punjab to be subdued one after the other,
namely;—that of Taxiles between the Indus and the Jhelum;
that of Porus the elder between the Jhelum and the Chenab; and
that of Porus the younger between the Chenab and the Ravee.
… When Alexander had fully established his authority in
Cabul he crossed the Indus into the Punjab. Here he halted
some time at the city of Taxila [Taxiles, the king, having
submitted in advance], and then marched to the river Jhelum,
and found that Porus the elder was encamped on the opposite
bank with a large force of cavalry and infantry, together with
chariots and elephants. The decisive battle which followed on
the Jhelum is one of the most remarkable actions in ancient
story. … Porus fought with a valour which excited the
admiration of Alexander, but was at last wounded and compelled
to fly. Ultimately he was induced to tender his submission.
… The victory over Porus established the ascendancy of
Alexander in the Punjab." It "not only decided the question
between himself and Porus, but enabled him to open up a new
communication with Persia, via the river Indus and the Indian
Ocean.
{1704}
He sent out woodmen to cut timber for ship-building in the
northern forests, and to float it down the Jhelum; and he
founded two cities, Bukephalia and Nikæa, one on each side of
the Jhelum. … Whilst the fleet was being constructed,
Alexander continued his march to the Chenab, and crossed that
river into the dominions of Porus the younger," who fled at
his approach, and whose kingdom was made over to the elder
Porus, his uncle. "Alexander next crossed the Ravee, when he
was called back by" a revolt in his rear, which he suppressed.
"But meantime the Macedonians had grown weary of their
campaign in India. … They … resisted every attempt to lead
them beyond the Sutlej; and Alexander, making a virtue of
necessity, at last consulted the oracles and found that they
were unfavourable to an onward movement. … He returned with
his army to the Jhelum, and embarked on board the fleet with a
portion of his troops, whilst the remainder of his army
marched along either bank. In this manner he proceeded almost
due south through the Punjab and Scinde. … At last he
reached the Indian Ocean, and beheld for the first time the
phenomena of the tides; and then landed his army and marched
through Beloochistan towards Susa, whilst Nearchos conducted
the fleet to the Persian Gulf, and finally joined him in the
same city. … Alexander had invaded the Punjab during the
rainy season of B. C. 327, and reached the Indian Ocean about
the middle of B. C. 326. Meantime Philip remained at Taxila as
his lieutenant or deputy, and commanded a garrison of
mercenaries and a body-guard of Macedonians. When Alexander
was marching through Beloochistan, on his way to Susa, the
news reached him that Philip had been murdered by the
mercenaries, but that nearly all the murderers had been slain
by the Macedonian body-guards. Alexander immediately
despatched letters directing the Macedonian Eudemos to carry
on the government in conjunction with Taxiles, until he could
appoint another deputy; and this provisional arrangement seems
to have been continued until the death of Alexander in B. C.
323. The political anarchy which followed this catastrophe can
scarcely be realized. … India was forgotten. Eudemos took
advantage of the death of Alexander to murder Porus; but was
ultimately driven out of the Punjab with all his Macedonians
by an adventurer who was known to the Greeks as Sandrokottos,
and to the Hindus as Chandragupta. This individual is said to
have delivered India from a foreign yoke only to substitute
his own. … By the aid of banditti he captured the city of
Patali-putra, and obtained the throne; and then drove the
Greeks out of India, and established his empire over the whole
of Hindustan and the Punjab."
J. T. Wheeler,
History of India: Hindu, Buddhist and Brahmanical,
chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
Arrian,
Anabasis of Alexander
(translated by Chinnock),
books 4-6.
T. A. Dodge,
Alexander,
chapters 38-43.
INDIA: B. C. 312
Chandragupta and Asoka.
The spread of Buddhism and its Brahmanic absorption.
"The first tolerably trustworthy date in Indian history is the
era of Candra-gupta (=Sandro-kottus) the founder of the Maurya
dynasty, who, after making himself master of Pataliputra
(Palibothra, Patna) and the kingdom of Magadha (Behar),
extended his dominion over all Hindustan, and presented a
determined front towards Alexander's successor Seleukos
Nikator, the date of the commencement of whose reign was about
312 B. C. When the latter contemplated invading India from his
kingdom of Bactria, so effectual was the resistance offered by
Candra-gupta that the Greek thought it politic to form an
alliance with the Hindu king, and sent his own countryman
Megasthenes as an ambassador to reside at his court. To this
circumstance we owe the first authentic account of Indian
manners, customs, and religious usages by an intelligent
observer who was not a native, and this narrative of
Megasthenes, preserved by Strabo, furnishes a basis on which
we may found a fair inference that Brahmanism and Buddhism
existed side by side in India on amicable terms in the fourth
century B. C. There is even ground for believing that King
Candra-gupta himself was in secret a Buddhist, though in
public he paid homage to the gods of the Brahmans; at any
rate, there can be little doubt that his successor Asoka did
for Buddhism what Constantine did for Christianity—gave an
impetus to its progress by adopting it as his own creed.
Buddhism, then, became the state religion, the national faith
of the whole kingdom of Magadha, and therefore of a great
portion of India. This Asoka is by some regarded as identical
with Candra-gupta; at any rate, their characters and much of
their history are similar. He is probably the same as King
Priyadarsi, whose edicts on stone pillars enjoining 'Dharma,'
or the practice of virtue and universal benevolence, are
scattered over India from Katak in the east and Gujarat in the
west to Allahabad, Delhi, and Afghanistan on the north-west.
What then is Buddhism? It is certainly not Brahmanism, yet it
arose out of Brahmanism, and from the first had much in common
with it. Brahmanism and Buddhism are closely interwoven with
each other, yet they are very different from each other.
Brahmanism is a religion which may be described as all
theology, for it makes God everything, and everything God.
Buddhism is no religion at all, and certainly no theology, but
rather a system of duty, morality, and benevolence, without
real deity, prayer or priest. The name Buddha is simply an
epithet meaning the perfectly enlightened one,' or rather one
who, by perfect knowledge of the truth, is liberated from all
existence, and who, before his own attainment of Nirvana, or
'extinction,' reveals to the world the method of obtaining it.
The Buddha with whom we are concerned was only the last of a
series of Buddhas who had appeared in previous cycles of the
universe. He was born at Kapila-vastu, a city and kingdom at
the foot of the mountains of Nepal, his father Suddhodana
being the king of that country, and his mother Maya-devi being
the daughter of King Suprabuddha. Hence he belonged to the
Kshatriya class, and his family name was Sakya, while his name
of Gautama (or Gotama) was taken from that of his tribe. He is
said to have arrived at supreme knowledge under the Bodhi
tree, or 'tree of wisdom' (familiarly called' the Bo tree'),
at Gaya, in Behar (Magadha), about the year 588 B. C., and to
have commenced propagating the new faith at Benares soon
afterwards. … Buddhism was a protest against the tyranny of
Brahmanism and caste. According to the Buddha, all men are
equal.
{1705}
… We have five marked features of Buddhism:
1. disregard of all caste distinctions;
2. abolition of animal sacrifice and of vicarious suffering;
3. great stress laid on the doctrine of transmigration;
4. great importance assigned to self-mortification, austerity,
and abstract meditation, as an aid to the suppression of all
action;
5. concentration of all human desires on the absolute
extinction of all being.
There is still a sixth, which is perhaps the most noteworthy
of all; viz., that the Buddha recognized no supreme deity. The
only god, he affirmed, is what man himself can become. A
Buddhist, therefore, never really prays, he only meditates on
the perfections of the Buddha and the hope of attaining
Nirvana. … Brahmanism and Buddhism [in India] appear to have
blended, or, as it were, melted into each other, after each
had reciprocally parted with something, and each had imparted
something. At any rate it may be questioned whether Buddhism
was ever forcibly expelled from any part of India by direct
persecution, except, perhaps, in a few isolated centres of
Brahmanical fanaticism, such as the neighbourhood of Benares.
Even in Benares the Chinese traveller, Hiouen Thsang, found
Brahmanism and Buddhism flourishing amicably side by side in
the 7th century of our era. In the South of India the Buddha's
doctrines seem to have met with acceptance at an early date,
and Ceylon was probably converted as early as B. C. 240, soon
after the third Buddhist council held under King Asoka. In
other parts of India there was probably a period of
Brahmanical hostility, and perhaps of occasional persecution;
but eventually Buddhism was taken by the hand, and drawn back
into the Brahmanical system by the Brahmans themselves, who
met it half way and ended by boldly adopting the Buddha as an
incarnation of Vishnu. … Only a small section of the
Buddhist community resisted all conciliation, and these are
probably represented by the present sect of Jains [who are
found in large numbers in various parts of India, especially
on the western coast]. Be the actual state of the case as it
may, nothing can be clearer than the fact that Buddhism has
disappeared from India (the island of Ceylon being excepted),
and that it has not done so without having largely contributed
towards the moulding of Brahmanism into the Hinduism of the
present day."
M. Williams,
Hinduism,
chapter 6.
ALSO IN:
M. Williams (now Sir Monier Monier-Williams),
Buddhism.
H. Oldenburg,
Buddha.
P. Bigandet,
Life and Legend of Gaudama.
A. Lillie,
Buddha and the Early Buddhists.
W. W. Rockhill,
The Life of the Buddha.
INDIA: A. D. 977-1290.
Under the Ghaznavide and Mameluke empires.
"Aryan civilisation was … germinating, but it was in
uncongenial soil. Like the descendants of Abraham and Jacob,
the invaders mingled with the heathen and learned their ways.
The older inhabitants were barbarous, multilingual, indolent;
worshippers less of many gods than of many devils. The fusion
that ensued was not happy; though the origin and growth of the
caste system prevented complete union, it facilitated some of
its evils; the character of the Aryan settlers became
disastrously affected; the want of commercial communication by
land and sea tended to perpetuate stagnation. This was the
state of things upon which the rising tide from Central Asia
began to flow with resistless pertinacity after the
Mongolo-Turkish power became established on the Oxus and the
Helmand. It was not to be wondered at if the Arabs made no
wide or lasting Indian conquests in the early ages of the
Musulman era. At a time when they were engaged with the
Christian Empires of the East and the West, when they were
spreading the power of the crescent from the borders of
Khorásán to the Pillars of Hercules, the warriors of Islam had
perhaps but little temptation to undertake further adventure.
Certain it is that beyond the confines of Makran and a part of
Sindh (occupied less than a hundred years after the
Hijra)—the Arab conquests did not spread in India. It was
Nasir-ud-Din Sabuktigin—certainly a Merv captive and
popularly believed a scion of the Sassanian dynasty that once
ruled Persia—by whom the first Muslim invasion of Hindustan
was made in durable fashion. His master, Alptigin, having fled
from the oppression of the Samani dynasty of Bukhara in 962 A.
D., had founded a principality at Ghazni. Sabuktigin acquired
his favour, and was able, soon after his death, to acquire the
succession in 977 A. D. He established his power in the
Punjab; and his armies are said to have penetrated as far as
Benares. On his death, 997 A. D., his son, the celebrated
Sultan Mahmud, succeeded to the Empire extending from Balkh to
Lahore, if not to Hansi [see TURKS: A. D. 999-1183]. During a
reign of over thirty years he invaded Hindustan twelve times,
inflicting terrible carnage on the Hindus, desecrating their
idols, and demoralising their temples. Mathura, Kanauj,
Somnath; to such distant and divergent points did his
enterprises reach. Mahmud died 1030 A. D., and was buried at
Ghazni, where his monument is still to be seen. For about one
hundred years the dynasty continued to rule in the Punjab and
Afghanistan, more and more troubled by the neighbouring tribe
of Ghor, who in 1187 A. D. took Lahore and put an end to the
Ghaznavide dynasty. A prince of the Ghorians—variously known,
but whose name may be taken as Muhammad Bin Sam—was placed in
a sort of almost independent viceroyalty at Ghazni. In 1191 A.
D. he led an army against Sirhind, south of the Sutlaj river.
Rai Pithaura, or Pirthi Rai, a chief of the Chauhans (who had
lately possessed themselves of Dehli), marched against the
invaders and defeated them in a battle where Bin Sam had a
narrow escape from being slain. But the sturdy mountaineers
would not be denied. Next year they returned" and defeated
Pithaura. "The towns of Mirat and Dehli fell upon his defeat;
and their fall was followed a year later by that of Kanauj and
Benares. The Viceroy's brother dying at this juncture, he
repaired to his own country to establish his succession. He
was killed in an expedition, 1206 A. D., and the affairs of
Hindustan devolved upon his favourite Mameluke, Kutb-ud-din
Aibak. … When Muhammad bin Sam had gone away, to rule and
ultimately to perish by violence in his native highlands, his
acquisitions in Hindustan came under the sway of Kutb-ud-din
Aibak, a Mameluke, or Turkish slave, who had for a long time
been his faithful follower. One of the Viceroy's first
undertakings was to level to the ground the palaces and
temples of the Hindus at Dehli, and to build, with the
materials obtained by their destruction, a great Mosque for
the worship of Allah. … From 1192 to 1206, the year of Bin
Sam's death, Kutb-ud-din Aibak ruled as Viceroy.
{1706}
But it is recorded that the next Emperor—feeling the
difficulty, perhaps, of exercising any sort of rule over so
remote a dependency—sent Aibak a patent as 'Sultan,'
accompanied by a canopy of state, a throne and a diadem.
Becoming Sultan of Hindustan, the distinguished and fortunate
Mameluke founded what is known as 'the Slave dynasty.' …
Aibak died at Lahore, in 1210, from an accident at a game now
known as 'polo.' He was contemporaneous with the great Mughul
leader Changiz Khan, by whom, however, he was not molested.
The chief event of his reign is to be found in his successful
campaigns in Behar and Northern Bengal. … The Musulman power
was not universally and firmly established in the Eastern
Provinces till the reign of Balban (circ. 1282). At the death
of Aibak the Empire was divided into four great portions. The
Khiljis represented the power of Islam in Bihar and Bengal;
the North-West Punjab was under a viceroy named Ilduz, a
Turkman slave; the valley of the Indus was ruled by another of
these Mamelukes, named Kabacha; while an attempt was made at
Dehli to proclaim an incompetent lad, son of the deceased, as
Sultan. But the Master of the Horse, a third Mameluke named
Altimsh, was close at hand, and, hurrying up at the invitation
of influential persons there, speedily put down the movement.
… Altimsh, having deposed his feeble brother-in-law, became
Suzerain of the Empire. His satraps were not disposed to
obedience; and bloody wars broke out, into the details of
which we need not enter. It will be sufficient to note that
Ilduz was defeated and slain A. D. 1215. Two years later
Kabacha came up from Sindh, and seems [to] have enlisted some
of the Mughul hordes in his armies. These formidable
barbarians, of whom more anon, were now in force in Khorasan,
under Changiz in person, assisted by two of his sons.
See MONGOLS: A. D. 1153-1227.
They drove before them the Sultan of Khwarizm (now Khiva), and
occupied Afghanistan. The fugitive, whose adventures are among
the most romantic episodes of Eastern history, attempted to
settle himself in the Panjab; but he was driven out by Altimsh
and Kabacha in 1223. Two years later Altimsh moved on the
Khiljis in the Eastern Provinces, occupied Gaur, their
capital; and proceeding from thence made further conquests
south and north at the expense of the Hindus. In 1228 he
turned against Kabacha, the mighty Satrap of Sindh, who was
routed in battle near Bakkhar, where he committed suicide or
was accidentally drowned. In 1232-3 the Sultan reduced Gwalior
(in spite of a stout resistance on the part of the Hindus
under Milak Deo), slaying 700 prisoners at the door of his
tent. In 1234 he took the province of Malwa; where he
demolished the great temples of Bhilsa and Ujain. In the
following year this puissant warrior of the Crescent succumbed
to the common conqueror, dying a natural death at Dehli, after
a glorious reign of twenty-six (lunar) years. … His eldest
son, who had conducted the war against the Khiljis, had died
before him, and the Empire was assumed by a younger son,
Rukn-ud-din Firoz. … [In 1241] Lahore was taken by the
Mughols with terrific carnage. Troubles ensued; Dehli was
besieged by the army that had been raised for its defence
against the Mughols; in May 1242 the city was taken by storm
and the new Sultan was slain. His successor, Ala-uddin I., was
a grandson of Altimsh, incompetent and apathetic as young men
in his position have usually been. The land was partitioned
among Turkish satraps, and overrun by the Mughols, who
penetrated as far as Gaur in Bengal. Another horde, led by
Mangu, grandson of Changiz, and father of the celebrated
Kiblai Khan, ravaged the Western Punjab. The Sultan marched
against them and met with a partial success. This turned into
evil courses the little intellect that he had, a plot was
organised for his destruction. Ala-ud-din was slain, and his
uncle Nasir-ud-din was placed upon the vacant throne in June
1246. Nasir's reign was long, and, so far as his personal
exploits went, would have been uneventful. But the risings of
the Hindus and the incursions of the Mughols kept the Empire
in perpetual turmoil." Nasir was succeeded in 1286-7 by his
grandson, Kai Kobad. "This unfortunate young man was destined
to prove the futility of human wisdom. Educated by his stern
and serious grandfather, his lips had never touched those of a
girl or a goblet. His sudden elevation turned his head. He
gave himself up to debauchery, caused his cousin Khusru to be
murdered, and was himself ultimately killed in his palace at
Kilokhari, while lying sick of the palsy. With his death
(1290) came to an end the Mameluke Empire of Hindustan."
H. G. Keene,
Sketch of the History of Hindustan,
book 1, chapters 1-2.
ALSO IN:
J. T. Wheeler,
History of India,
volume 4, part 1, chapter 2.
A. Dow,
History of Hindustan
(from the Persian of Ferishta),
volume 1.
INDIA: A. D. 1290-1398.
From the Afghans to the Moghuls.
"In 1290 the last Sultan of the Afghan slave dynasty was
assassinated, and a Sultan ascended the throne at Delhi under
the name of Jelal-ud-din. He was an old man of seventy, and
made no mark in history; but he had a nephew, named
Ala-ud-din, who became a man of renown," and who presently
acquired the throne by murdering his uncle. "When Ala-ud-din
was established on the throne at Delhi he sent an army to
conquer Guzerat." This conquest was followed by that of
Rajputana. "Meanwhile the Moghuls [Mongols] were very
troublesome. In the previous reign the uncle of Ala-ud-din had
enlisted 3,000, and settled them near Delhi; but they were
turbulent, refractory, and mixed up with every rebellion.
Ala-ud-din ordered them to be disbanded, and then they tried
to murder him. Ala-ud-din then ordered a general massacre.
Thousands are said to have been put to death, and their wives
and children were sold into slavery. Ala-ud-din was the first
Muhammadan sovereign who conquered Hindu Rajas in the Dekhan
and Peninsula. … Ala-ud-din sent his general Malik Kafur to
invade these southern countries, ransack temples, and carry
off treasure and tribute. The story is a dreary narrative of
raid and rapine. … Ala-ud-din died in 1316. His death was
followed by a Hindu revolt; indeed Hindu influences must have
been at work at Delhi for many years previously. Ala-ud-din
had married a Hindu queen; his son had married her daughter.
Malik Kafur was a Hindu converted to Islam. The leader of the
revolt at Delhi in 1316 was another Hindu convert to Islam.
The proceedings of the latter rebel, however, were of a mixed
character. He was proclaimed Sultan under a Muhammadan name,
and slaughtered every male of the royal house. Meanwhile his
Hindu followers set up idols in the mosques, and seated
themselves on Korans.
{1707}
The rebels held possession of Delhi for five months. At the
end of that time the city was captured by the Turkish governor
of the Punjab, named Tughlak. The conqueror then ascended the
throne of Delhi, and founded the dynasty of Tughlak Sultans.
The Tughlak Sultans would not live at Delhi; they probably
regarded it as a Hindu volcano. They held their court at
Tughlakabad, a strong fortress about an hour's drive from old
Delhi. The transfer of the capital from Delhi to Tughlakabad
is a standpoint in history. It shows that a time had come when
the Turk began to fear the Hindu. The conqueror of Delhi died
in 1325. He was succeeded by a son who has left his mark in
history. Muhammad Tughlak was a Sultan of grand ideas, but
blind to all experiences, and deaf to all counsels. He sent
his armies into the south to restore the Muhammadan supremacy
which had been shaken by the Hindu revolt. Meanwhile the
Moghuls invaded the Punjab, and Muhammad Tughlak bribed them
to go away with gold and jewels. Thus the imperial treasury
was emptied of all the wealth which had been accumulated by
Ala-ud-din. The new Sultan tried to improve his finances, but
only ruined the country by his exactions. … Then followed
rebellions and revolutions. Bengal revolted, and became a
separate kingdom under an independent Sultan. The Rajas of the
Dekhan and Peninsula withheld their tribute. The Muhammadan
army of the Dekhan broke out into mutiny, and set up a Sultan
of their own. Muhammad Tughlak saw that all men turned against
him. He died in 1350, after a reign of twenty-five years. The
history of Delhi fades away after the death of Muhammad
Tughlak. A Sultan reigned from 1350 to 1388, named Firuz Shah.
He is said to have submitted to the dismemberment of the
empire, and done his best to promote the welfare of the
subjects left to him; but it is also said that he destroyed
temples and idols, and burnt a Brahman alive for perverting
Muhammadan women. In 1398-99, ten years after the death of
Firuz Shah, Timur Shah invaded the Punjab and Hindustan [see
TIMOUR]. The horrors of the Tartar invasion are indescribable;
they teach nothing to the world, and the tale of atrocities
may well be dropped into oblivion. It will suffice to say that
Timur came and plundered, and then went away. He left officers
to rule in his name, or to collect tribute in his name. In
1450 they were put aside by Afghans;—turbulent Muhammadan
fanatics whose presence must have been hateful to the Hindus.
At last, in 1525, a descendant of Timur, named the Baber,
invaded India, and conquered the Punjab and Hindustan."
J. T. Wheeler,
Short History of India,
part 2, chapter 1.
ALSO IN:
M. Elphinstone,
History of India: Hindu and Mahometan,
book 6. chapters 2-3.
INDIA: A. D. 1398-1399.
Timour's invasion of the Punjab.
See TIMOUR.