TheMuslim period in the Indian subcontinent orIndo-Muslim period[1] is conventionally said to have started in 640 with theconquest of Makran by theRashidun Caliphate and was continued in 712–714, after theconquest of Sindh andMultan by theUmayyad Caliphate under the military command ofMuhammad ibn al-Qasim.[2] It began in theIndian subcontinent in the course of agradual conquest. The perfunctory rule by theGhaznavids inPunjab was followed byGhurids, andSultan Muhammad of Ghor (r. 1173–1206) is generally credited with laying the foundation of Muslim rule in Northern India. Muslim rule in the Indian subcontinent also led to major developments in architecture, including the introduction of Persian-influenced designs, arches, domes, and decorative calligraphy. These styles shaped many of the region’s most iconic structures and contributed to the formation of Indo-Islamic architecture.[3]
Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.png) Muslim India at its greatest territorial extent,c. 1700 | |||||||||
| Status | Under various Islamic states, including:
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| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Islam Din-i Ilahi(1582–c. 1605) | ||||||||
| Notable rulers | |||||||||
• 1173–1206 | Muhammad of Ghor | ||||||||
• 1211–1236 | Iltutmish | ||||||||
• 1296–1316 | Alauddin Khalji | ||||||||
• 1325–1351 | Muhammad bin Tughluq | ||||||||
• 1526–1530 | Babur | ||||||||
• 1540–1545 | Sher Shah Suri | ||||||||
• 1556–1605 | Akbar | ||||||||
• 1658–1707 | Aurangzeb | ||||||||
| Establishment | |||||||||
| 640 | |||||||||
| 712–740 | |||||||||
| 973–1027 | |||||||||
| 1175–1206 | |||||||||
| 1 February–13 June 1290 | |||||||||
| 21 April 1526 | |||||||||
| 8 September 1681–3 March 1707 | |||||||||
| 8 June–21 September 1857 | |||||||||
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From the late 12th century onwards, Muslim empires dominated the subcontinent, most notably theDelhi Sultanate andMughal Empire.[4] Various other Muslim kingdoms ruled most ofSouth Asia from the mid-14th to late 18th centuries, including theBahmani,Bengal,Gujarat,Malwa,Kashmir,Multan,Mysore,Carnatic andDeccan Sultanates.[5][6] Though the Muslim dynasties in India were diverse in origin, they were linked together by thePersianate culture and Islam.
The height of Islamic rule was marked during the reign ofMughal EmperorAurangzeb (r. 1658–1707), during which theFatawa Alamgiri was compiled, which briefly served as the legal system of Mughal Empire.[7] Additional Islamic policies were re-introduced inSouth India by Mysore's de facto kingTipu Sultan.[8]
Sharia was used as the primary basis for the legal system in the Delhi Sultanate, most notably during the rule ofFiruz Shah Tughlaq andAlauddin Khilji, who repelled theMongol invasions of India. On the other hand, rulers such asAkbar adopted a secular legal system and enforced religious neutrality.[9] Muslim rule in India saw a major shift in the cultural, linguistic, and religious makeup of the subcontinent.[10]Persian andArabic vocabulary began to enter local languages, giving way to modern Punjabi, Bengali, and Gujarati, while creating new languages includingHindustani and its dialect,Deccani, used as official languages under Muslim dynasties.[11] This period also saw the birth ofHindustani music,Qawwali.[12][13] Religions such asSikhism andDin-e-Ilahi were born out of a fusion of Hindu and Muslim religious traditions as well.[14]
In the 18th century the Islamic influence in India begin to decline following thedecline of the Mughal Empire, resulting in former Mughal territory conquered rival powers such as theMaratha Empire. However, Islamic rule would still remain under regionalNawabs andSultans.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, large parts of India were colonized by theEast India Company, eventually establishing theBritish Raj in 1857. Regional Islamic rule would remain underprincely states, such asHyderabad State,Junagadh State, and other minorprincely states until the mid of the 20th century.
Today,Bangladesh,Maldives andPakistan are the Muslim majority nations in the Indian subcontinent whileIndia has the largestMuslim minority population in the world numbering over 204 million.
Local kings who converted toIslam existed in places such as theWestern Coastal Plains as early as the 7th century. Islamic rule in India prior to the advent of theMamluk dynasty (Delhi) included those ofArab Caliphate,Ghaznavids andGhurids.
The Delhi Sultanate was the first of the two major Islamic empires which was based in mainland India between 1206 and 1526. It emerged after the disintegration of theGhurid empire in 1206. During the last quarter of the 12th century,Muhammad of Ghor invaded theIndo-Gangetic plain, conquering in successionGhazni,Multan,Lahore, andDelhi.Qutb-ud-din Aybak, one of his generals proclaimed himselfSultan of Delhi. InBengal andBihar, the reign of generalMuhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji was established.Shamsuddīn Iltutmish (1211–1236), established the Delhi Sultanate on a firm basis, which enabled future sultans to push in every direction. Within the next 100 years, the Delhi Sultanate extended its way east toBengal and south to theDeccan. The sultanate was in constant flux as five dynasties rose and fell: theMamluk dynasty (1206–90),[15]Khalji dynasty (1290–1320),Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1413),Sayyid dynasty (1414–51),[16] andLodi dynasty (1451–1526).[17] Power in Delhi was often gained by violence—nineteen of the thirty-five sultans were assassinated—and was legitimized by reward for tribal loyalty. Factional rivalries and court intrigues were as numerous as they were treacherous; territories controlled by the sultan expanded and shrank depending on his personality and fortunes.
The Delhi sultanate peaked underMuhammad bin Tughlaq in 1335. However, it came under gradual decline afterwards, with kingdoms like theBengal Sultanate,Madurai Sultanate,Khandesh Sultanate andBahmani Sultanate all asserting independence. Timur's invasion in 1398 only accelerated the process, and theGujarat Sultanate andJaunpur Sultanate broke away. Some of these kingdoms, such as Jaunpur, were again brought back under the Delhi Sultanate's control, although the rest remained independent from central rule until the conquests of theMughal Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Both theQur'an andsharia (Islamic law) provided the basis for enforcing Islamic administration over the independentHindu rulers. According toAngus Maddison, between the years 1000 and 1500, India'sGDP, of which the sultanates represented a significant part, grew by nearly 80%, to $60.5 billion; however, this growth was lower than India’s GDP growth during the prior 1,000 years.[18] Additionally, Maddison estimates that India’s population grew by nearly 50% during the same period.[19] The Delhi Sultanate period coincided with a greater use of mechanical technology in the Indian subcontinent. While India previously already had sophisticated agriculture, food crops, textiles, medicine, minerals, and metals, it was not as sophisticated as theIslamic world orChina in terms of mechanical technology.[20] Sultan 'Ala ud-Din made an attempt to reassess, systematize, and unify land revenues and urban taxes and to institute a highly centralized system of administration over his realm, but his efforts were abortive. Although agriculture inNorth India improved as a result of new canal construction and irrigation methods, including what came to be known as thePersian wheel, prolonged political instability and parasitic methods of tax collection brutalized the peasantry. Yet trade and a market economy, encouraged by the free-spending habits of the aristocracy, acquired new impetus both in India and overseas. Experts in metalwork, stonework and textile manufacture responded to the new patronage with enthusiasm. In this periodPersian language and many Persian cultural aspects became dominant in the centers of power, as the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate had been thoroughly Persianized since the era of the Ghaznavids.[21]
TheMughal empire was the second & last major Islamic empire to assert dominance over most of theIndian subcontinent between 1526 and 1857. The empire was founded by the Turco-Mongol leaderBabur in 1526, when he defeatedIbrahim Lodi, the last ruler of theDelhi Sultanate at theFirst Battle of Panipat.Babur,Humayun,Akbar,Jahangir,Shah Jahan, andAurangzeb are known as the six greatMughal Emperors. Apart from the brief interruption of 16 Years by the AfghanSur Empire between 1540 and 1556, the Mughals continued to rule in one form or other till 1857.
India was producing 24.5% of the world's manufacturing output up until 1750.[22] Mughal economy has been described as a form ofproto-industrialization, like that of 18th-century Western Europe prior to theIndustrial Revolution.
After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the empire declined and reduced subsequently to the region in and around Old Delhi by 1757 to 1760. The decline of the Mughals in the 18th century provided opportunity for theNawabs of Oudh and Bengal as well asNizam of Hyderabad to become independent. The empire was formally dissolved by theBritish Raj after theIndian Rebellion of 1857.
Sultan Alauddin Khalji (r.1296–1316) carried out extensive conquests in the western India. He invaded the kingdoms ofGujarat (raided in 1299 and annexed in 1304),Jaisalmer (1299),Ranthambore (1301),Chittor (1303),Malwa (1305),Siwana (1308), andJalore (1311). These victories ended severalRajput and other Hindu dynasties, including theParamaras, theVaghelas, theChahamanas of Ranastambhapura andJalore, the Rawal branch of theGuhilas, and possibly theYajvapalas; and permanently establishing Muslim rule in the regions of central and western India. After his death, independent Islamic kingdoms emerged there.
TheGujarat Sultanate was founded bySultan Zafar Khan Muzaffar, whose ancestors wereTāṅks from southernPunjab.[23] Earlier, he was the governor of Gujarat appointed by the Tughlaq Sultans of Delhi. However, in the aftermath of the destruction of Delhi by Emir Timur, he declared independence in 1407. The next sultan, his grandsonAhmad Shah I moved the capital toAhmedabad in 1411. His successorMuhammad Shah II subdued most Rajput chieftains. The prosperity of the sultanate reached its zenith during the rule ofMahmud Begada. He also subdued most Gujarati Rajput chieftains and built a navy off the coast ofDiu. In 1509, thePortuguese empire wrested Diu from the Sultanate in thebattle of Diu (1509). TheMoghul emperorHumayun attacked Gujarat in 1535 and briefly occupied it, during whichBombay, Bassein & Damaon would become a Portuguese colony, thereafterBahadur Shah was killed by the Portuguese while making a deal in 1537. The end of the sultanate came in 1573, whenAkbar annexed Sultanate of Guzerat into his empire. The kingdom was primarily based in the present-day state ofGujarat, India.
TheMalwa Sultanate was another Muslim kingdom in theMalwa region, covering the present dayIndian states ofMadhya Pradesh and south-easternRajasthan from 1392 to 1562. It was founded byDilawar Khan, who followingTimur's invasion and the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate, in 1401/2, made Malwa an independent realm.[24] In 1561, the Sultanate was conquered by theMughal empire from its last ruler,Baz Bahadur.
Sindh was ruled by a series of Muslim dynasties includingHabbaris,Soomras,Sammas,Arghuns andTarkhans, after the disintegration of Arab caliphate. Following decline of Mughal empire,Kalhora andTalpur Nawabs ruled Sindh.Kingdom of Mewat was also a prominent Muslim Rajput kingdom inRajasthan.Gonds of Deogarh was also a Gond/tribal Islamic kingdom located inNagpur,Maharashtra.
In 1339, the Bengal region became independent from theDelhi Sultanate and consisted of numerous Islamic city-states. TheBengal Sultanate was formed in 1352 afterShamsuddin Ilyas Shah, ruler ofSatgaon, defeatedAlauddin Ali Shah of Lakhnauti andIkhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah ofSonargaon; ultimately unifying Bengal into one single independent Sultanate. At its greatest extent, the Bengal Sultanate's realm and protectorates stretched fromJaunpur in the west,Tripura andArakan in the east,Kamrup andKamata in the north andPuri in the south.
Although aSunni Muslim monarchy ruled byTurco-Persians,Bengalis,Habshis andPashtuns, they still employed many non-Muslims in the administration and promoted a form of religious pluralism.[25][26] It was known as one of the major trading nations of the medieval world, attracting immigrants and traders from different parts of the world.[27] Bengali ships and merchants traded across the region, including in Malacca, China, Africa, Europe and the Maldives through maritime links and overland trade routes. Contemporary European and Chinese visitors described Bengal as the "richest country to trade with" due to the abundance of goods in Bengal. In 1500, the royal capital ofGaur was the fifth-most populous city in the world with 200,000 residents.[28][29]
Persian was used as a diplomatic and commercial language. Arabic was the liturgical language of the clergy, and theBengali language became a court language.[30] The patronage of the sultans raised Bengali from the language of the masses.[31] SultanGhiyathuddin Azam Shah sponsored the construction ofmadrasas inMakkah andMadinah.[32] The schools became known as theGhiyasia Banjalia Madrasas.Taqi al-Din al-Fasi, a contemporary Arab scholar, was a teacher at the madrasa in Makkah. The madrasa in Madinah was built at a place called Husn al-Atiq near theProphet's Mosque.[33] Several other Bengali Sultans also sponsored madrasas in theHejaz.[34]
TheKarrani dynasty was the last ruling dynasty of the sultanate. The Mughals became determined to bring an end to the independent kingdom. Mughal rule formally began with theBattle of Rajmahal in 1576, when the last SultanDaud Khan Karrani was defeated by the forces of EmperorAkbar, and the establishment of theBengal Subah. The eastern deltaicBhati region remained outside of Mughal control until being absorbed in the early 17th century. The delta was controlled by a confederation of aristocrats of the Sultanate, who became known as theBaro-Bhuiyans. The Mughal government eventually suppressed the remnants of the Sultanate and brought all of Bengal under full Mughal control.
TheJaunpur Sultanate was founded in 1394 by Khwajah-i-Jahan Malik Sarwar, a eunuch slave and formerwazir of SultanNasiruddin Muhammad Shah IV Tughluq, amidst the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate'sTughlaq dynasty. It was centred inJaunpur, and the Sultanate extended authority overAwadh and a large part of theGanges-YamunaDoab between 1394 and 1479. It reached its greatest height under the rule of Sultan Ibrahim Shah, who also vastly contributed to the development of Islamic education in the Sultanate. In 1479, Sultan Hussain Khan was defeated by the forces ofBahlul Lodi, Sultan of theLodi dynasty of theDelhi Sultanate, which abruptly brought an end to independent Jaunpur and its reabsorption into the Delhi Sultanate.
Nawab was a title given by the Mughals to the governors of different provinces. During disintegration of the empire in the 18th century, many Nawabs became de facto independent.
In the early 18th-century, theNawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad were thede facto independent ruler of the three regions ofBengal,Bihar, andOrissa which constitute the modern-day sovereign country ofBangladesh and theIndian states ofWest Bengal,Bihar andOrissa.[35][36] The Nawabs of Bengal oversaw a period ofproto-industrialization. The region was a major production center for cotton muslin cloth, silk cloth, shipbuilding, gunpowder, saltpetre, and metalworks. The British company eventually challenged the authority of the Nawabs. In the aftermath of thesiege of Calcutta in 1756, in which the Nawab's forces overran the main British base, the East India Company dispatched a fleet led byRobert Clive who defeated the last independent NawabSiraj-ud-Daulah at theBattle of Plassey in 1757.Mir Jafar was installed as the puppet Nawab. His successorMir Qasim attempted in vain to dislodge the British. The defeat of Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal, NawabShuja-ud-Daula ofOudh, and Mughal EmperorShah Alam II at theBattle of Buxar in 1764 paved the way for British expansion across India.
Nawab of Awadh ruled major parts of present-dayUttar Pradesh. The Nawabs of Awadh, along with many otherNawabs, were regarded as members of the nobility of the greater Mughal Empire. They joinedAhmad Shah Durrani during theThird Battle of Panipat (1761) and restoredShah Alam II (r. 1760–1788 and 1788–1806) to the imperial throne. The Nawab of Awadh also fought theBattle of Buxar (1764) preserving the interests of the Moghul.Oudh State eventually declared itself independent from the rule of the "Great Moghul" in 1818.[37]
Oudh joined other Indian states in an upheaval against British rule in 1858 during one of the last series of actions in theIndian rebellion of 1857. In the course of this uprising detachments of the British Indian Army from theBombay Presidency overcame the disunited collection of Indian states in a single rapid campaign. Determined rebels continued to wage sporadic guerrilla clashes until the spring of 1859. This rebellion is also historically known as theOudh campaign.[38]
In northern India, the Multan-basedLangah Sultanate and theKashmir Sultanate were established during the 14th century. Nobles in the court of the Delhi Sultanate founded other Islamic dynasties elsewhere in India includingKhandesh Sultanate. TheKingdom of Rohilkhand was also a major power in northern India in the 18th century.
Till the early 14th century, south India was ruled by Hindu dynasties. During the reign ofSultan Alauddin Khalji (r.1296–1316), his slave-general Malik Kafur led multiple campaigns to the south of theVindhyas, obtaining a considerable amount of wealth fromDevagiri (1308),Warangal (1310) andDwarasamudra (1311). These victories forced theYadava kingRamachandra, theKakatiya kingPrataparudra, and theHoysala kingBallala III to become Alauddin'stributaries. In 1321,Muhammad bin Tughluq was sent by his father to theDeccan Plateau to fight a military campaign against theKakatiya dynasty. In 1323, the future sultan successfullylaid siege upon the Kakatiya capital inWarangal. This victory over KingPrataparudra ended theKakatiya dynasty. Although the control of Delhi sultanate was weakened after 1335 in the south, its successor Muslim states continued to rule Deccan plateau for next several centuries.
The Muhammad bin Tughlaq's failure to hold securely the Deccan and South India resulted in the rise of competing for Southern dynasties: theMuslimBahmani Sultanate (1347–1518) and theHinduVijayanagara Empire (1336–1646).Zafar Khan, a former provincial governor under the Tughluqs, revolted against Delhi Sultans and proclaimed himself sultan, taking the titleAla-ud-Din Bahman Shah in 1347. It was the first Muslim empire located in theDeccan region.[39][40] Bahmani empire was known for its perpetual wars with its rivalVijayanagara, which would outlast the Sultanate.[41] The Bahmani Sultans were patrons of thePersian language,culture andliterature, and some members of the dynasty became well-versed in that language and composed its literature in that language. The Bahmani Sultanate adopted the patterns established by the Delhi overlords in tax collection and administration, but its downfall was caused in large measure by the competition and hatred between Deccani (domiciled Muslim immigrants and local converts) and paradesi (foreigners or officials in temporary service). The Bahmani Sultanate initiated a process of cultural synthesis visible inHyderabad where cultural flowering is still expressed in vigorous schools of Deccani architecture and painting. The later rulers are buried in an elaborate tomb complex, known as theBahmani Tombs.[42] The exterior of one of the tombs is decorated with coloured tiles. Arabic, Persian and Urdu inscriptions are inscribed inside the tombs.[42][43]
The Bahmani Sultanate lasted for almost two centuries, until it fragmented into five smaller states, known as theDeccan sultanates (Bijapur,Golconda,Ahmednagar,Berar, andBidar) in 1527. Although the five sultanates were all ruled by Muslims, their founders were of diverse, and often originally non-Muslim origins: the Ahmadnagar Sultanate was of Hindu-Brahmin origins; the Berar sultanate by aKannadiga Hindu convert; the Bidar Sultanate was founded by a Georgian slave; the Bijapur Sultanate was founded by aGeorgian slave purchased byMahmud Gawan and the Golconda Sultanate was ofTurkmen origin.
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The rulers of the Deccan sultanates made a number of cultural contributions in the fields of literature, art, architecture, and music. An important contribution was the development of theDakhani language, which, having started development under theBahamani rulers, developed into an independent spoken and literary language during this period by continuously borrowing from Arabic-Persian, Marathi, Kannada, and Telugu. Dakhani later became known as Dakhani Urdu to distinguish it from North IndianUrdu. Deccani miniature painting—which flourished in the courts of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golconda—is another major cultural contribution of the Deccan sultanates.[44]
When the rulers of the fiveDeccan sultanates combined their forces and attacked theVijayanagara empire in 1565, the empire crumbled at theBattle of Talikot.
Nizam, a shortened version of Nizam-ul-Mulk, meaningAdministrator of the Realm, was the title of the native sovereigns ofHyderabad state,India, since 1719, belonging to theAsaf Jahi dynasty. The dynasty was founded byMir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi, aviceroy of theDeccan under theMughal emperors from 1713 to 1721 who intermittently ruled under the title "Asaf Jah" in 1924. AfterAurangzeb's death in 1707, the Mughal Empire crumbled, and the viceroy in Hyderabad, the young Asaf Jah, declared..himself independent.
The dynasty ruled for 7 generations, with the last Nizam –Mir Osman Ali Khan showing an enormous contributions on the field of education,construction of major public buildings across the kingdom, setting up ofNizam's Guaranteed State Railway(NSGR),donations to Universities, temples[45] and donating 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) of land from his personal estate to Vinobha Bhave'sBhoodan movement.[46]
Hyder Ali andTipu Sultan held power and were de facto rulers of theproto-industrialisedMysore Sultanate during the latter part of the 18th century. They made alliances withFrance and fought theAnglo-Mysore Wars predominantly against the British.
TheCarnatic Sultanate was a kingdom inSouth India between about 1690 and 1855, and was under the legal purview of theNizam of Hyderabad, until their demise.[47][48] The Nawabs of Carnatic eventually ceded tax rights to the British in 1801 followingCarnatic wars, and the kingdom was abolished.
Other southern states include theArakkal Kingdom (of modern-day Kerala) who were a subordinate of their masters theKolathiris and the short-livedMadurai Sultanate which was centered in and around Madurai and existed for barely 40 years.
The career of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain belonging to the Khokar clan...
Similarly, Zaffar Khan Muzaffar, the first independent ruler of Gujarat, was not a foreign Muslim but a Khatri convert, of a low subdivision called the Tank, originally from southern Punjab.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Country Studies.Federal Research Division. –India,Pakistan
