DEVELOPMENTS IN WEST AND CENTRAL ASIA

• The rise of Islam, its conquest of West Asia and Iran, and its slow expansion into Khurasan (north east of Persia and covering also parts of Central Asia and Afganistan) and Central Asia, particularly the fertile tract called Transoxiana or Mawara-un-Nahar (“transitional zone” between Central Asia and the lands of ancient civilizations in East Asia i.e. between the rivers Oxus and Syr Darya) led to a gradual contraction of India’s cultural and political influence in the area, which was largely Buddhist and effected India’s over-land trade with China and West Asia ,trade from the sea-ports.

• However, the rise of Arab sea traders revived India’s sea trade, both with West Asia and with the countries of south-east Asia and China.
• Indian traders were not displaced from this sea trade, or did not keep themselves away on account the sentiment in some quarters that travel across the salt-seas or beyond the areas where the munj grass grew would lead to the loss of one’s caste. Thus, Indian traders lived in the areas around the Persian Gulf and beyond, and of Indian Vaids and craftsmen being welcomed at the court of the Abbasid Caliph at Baghdad. Arab traders settled down in Malabar. The Rashtrakuta rulers who dominated western India, Malwa and parts of south India upto the 10th century welcomed the Arab traders, and even permitted them to build mosques for worship.
• The Abbasid empire, which reached its zenith in the 9th century, comprised at its height the areas from Constantinople and Egypt to Central Asia and the Arabian peninsula. From the end of the 9th century when the Abbasid empire disintegrated, and a series of aggressive, expansionist states arose. These states were independent in all but name, but they accepted the nominal suzerainty of the Caliph who legitimized their position by granting them a formal letter or manshur. In course of time, the rulers of these states began to be called Sultans. Most of these sultans were Turks. The Turks who were nomads and lived in areas now known as Mongolistan and Sinkiang had, since the 8th century, been infiltrating into the region called Transoxiana.
• The Iranian rulers of the area, and the Abbasid Caliphs, brought in the Turks as mercenaries and slaves, and recruited them as palace guards Turkish immigrants became Islamized and Persianised. They assimilated the Iranian language and culture which was dominant in the region. Even earlier, both Arabic and Persian had been the languages of the ruling classes, and Persian culture and administrative practices had influenced the Abbasids. Turks fought the Turkish tribes which had not converted, and later expanded into India. 
• Dynasties after the fall of the Abbasids:  Samanid dynasty (874-999) ,Ghaznavids (962-1186), Seljukids, Khwarizmi.
• The Khwarizmi empire was destroyed by the Mongol, Chengiz Khan, in the 13th century. These empires fought each other, as also smaller potentates in the region whom they tried to subordinate. 
• In the fierce battle for survival in West and Central Asia, military, efficiency was considered the most valuable asset. This led to the growth of a militarism which spelt immediate danger to India and its outlying areas—Zabulistan and Afghanistan which till, then, had not been converted to Islam.

The aggression of the newly Islamized Turks was added to by a number of factors:

1. Finest horses in the world in the steppes of Central Asia bred by the Turks who were considered hardy warriors and skillful horsemen. These horses were imported into Arabia and India from time immemorial. Horses bred in India could not match the Central Asia horses in swiftness, nor could the Indians match the Turkish horsemen in their skill and speed of maneuver. Developments in West and Central Asia limited the import of these horses into India
2. The mountains around Ghur were rich in metals, particularly iron, and there was a tradition of production of war materials.
3. Growth of the ‘ghazi’ spirit in West Asia at that time. Iranian rule in Transoxiana and its neighbouring areas was being gradually replaced by Turks, including the nomadic Turks who were called Turkmen. Iranian and Turkish Muslim rulers of the area had to face the continuous pressure of the nomadic, non-Muslim Turkmens, such as the Guzz and other tribes. Turkish rulers were making continuous raids into the Turkmen held Central Asian steppes for capturing slaves who were in high demand in the slave-markets of Samarqand and Bokhara. The responsibility of this defensive-offensive warfare devolved in part on the volunteers who were fired by the spirit of defending and spreading Islam. These volunteers were not paid regularly, and made up for their pay by plunder. These were the ‘ghazis’. The ghazi spirit which was first used for fighting against the non-Islamic Turks was later used against the “unbelievers” in India. Amongst the figures most closely associated with this movement, the first was Mahmud Ghazni.
4. Some institutional factors helped in the growth of Turkish military power in Khurasan and Iran like “iqta” system. The iqta was a territorial assignment which gave to the holder the right to collect from the peasants the land revenue and other taxes due to the state. It did not, however, imply the holder interfering with the existing land rights, or granting them any rights over the person, wealth, wives and children of the cultivators. In return, the holder was under the obligation of maintaining a fixed number of troops, and to furnish them to the sultan at his call. This institution suited the Turkish sultans because it implied that the existing rights of the Iranian land holders, called dehkans, would not be interfered with. Nor would the Turkish military leaders develop any hereditary rights in land, but would be completely dependent on the sultan. It was this highly mobile military force, dependent for its sustenance upon the backing and support of the ruler, which became the main instrument for further expansion of Muslim power.

• It was only a question of time before these hardy, highly mobile, centralized predatory forces turned their attention towards rich India. In 963  the commander of the Samanid rulers in Khurasan, marched to Ghazni in south Zabulistan, and set himself up as an independent ruler. The Hindu ruler (Shahi) of Afghanistan, who are called Hindu-Shahis, tried to meet this emerging threat on their border by allying themselves with the former Samanid Governor of Ghazni, with the Bhatti rulers who dominated the area near Multan, as also with the Muslim amir of Multan across the Bolan pass. These rulers were willing to join Jayapal, the Hindu Shahi ruler, because they had been harassed by slave raids into their territories by the rulers of Ghazni. However, Jayapal’s invasion of Ghazni failed, and suffered a decisive defeat.
• The 17th century historian, Ferishta, tells us that Jayapal was assisted in this battle by the Rajput rulers of Delhi, Ajmer, Kalinjar, and Kannauj. However, modern historians are doubtful of the veracity of this statement because it is not mentioned by any contemporary historian. Nor was Delhi an important state at that time. Ajmer had not been founded, and the rulers of Kannauj were in decline. Thus, Ferishta’s account was to exaggerate the scale of the Ghazanavid victory.
• Following the battle, the provinces of Kabul and Jalalabad were annexed to Ghazni. By the end of the 10th century, the outer bastions of India, Zabulistan and Afghanistan, had been lost. An invasion of proper India was, therefore, the next likely step. In preparation for such an invasion the Yamini rulers of Ghazni had improved the road communications from Ghazni to Kabul and Jalalabad.
• Meanwhile, Jayapala had tried to make up for the loss of territory in the west by extending his kingdom towards the east. In 999, Lahore was annexed to the Shahi kingdom which now extended from Peshawar to the river Beas.
• In 999, Mahmud ascended the throne at Ghazni, and vowed to conduct operations in India every year. In 1001 he marched against the Shahis. In a furious battle which was fought near Peshawar, Mahmud’s forces consisted a large corps of ‘ghazis’, and Afghans. Jayapala was defeated and Mahmud advanced to Shahi capital Waihind (Udbhanda or Peshawar).Jayapala felt his defeat to be a great humiliation, and entered the funeral pyre a few years later. He was succeeded by his son, Anandpala.
• Despite this set back, the Shahis were strong enough to pose a serious obstacle to Mahmud’s further advance into India. In a hard fought battle in 1006 near the Indus, Mahmud conquered the upper Indus region. This gave him access to the Punjab.Over-running Nandana in the Salt Ranges (to which the Shahis had shifted their capital from Waihind (Peshawar), after their earlier defeat), captured fort of Bhimnagar or Nagarkot (to be distinguished from Nagarkot in Kangra). For some time, Anandapal was allowed to rule over the Punjab as a feudatory. But in 1015, Mahmud advanced upto Lahore and plundered it. Soon the Ghaznavid empire extended upto the river Jhelum. Multan was also overrun. An attempt to conquer Kashmir in 1015 failed, due largely to inclement weather. (first defeat of Mahmud in India).
• Thus, the period from 990-91 to 1015 was a period of protracted struggle during which Afghanistan, and then Punjab and Multan were lost to the Ghaznavids. The way was now open for Turkish advance into the Gangetic plains.

The Rise of Ghurids and their advance into India:

Rise of Ghurids

• The rise to power of the Ghurids at Ghur, a small isolated area located in the mountain between the Ghaznavid empire and the Seljukids, was an unusual and unexpected development. The area was so remote that till the 11th century, it had remained a pagan enclave surrounded by Muslim principalities. It was converted to Islam in the early part of the 12th century after Mahmud raided it, and left teachers to instruct the Ghurids in the precepts of Islam. Even then it is believed that paganism (a variety of Mahayana Buddhism) persisted in the area till the end of the century.
• The Shansbanis (originally a family of petty chiefs among many in Ghur) played a principal part in firmly planting Islam in the area, and by a policy of ruthlessness made themselves supreme there. By the middle of the 12th century they felt strong enough to intervene in Herat when its Governor rebelled against the Seljukid ruler.
• The Ghaznavids felt threatened and Bahram Shah captured the brother of the Ghurid ruler, Alauddin Husain Shah, and had him poisoned. In retaliation, Alauddin defeated Bahram Shah and captured Ghazni. The city was turned over to plundering and destruction, with some of the finest buildings being razed to the ground. This earned for Alauddin Husain Shah the title of Jahan soz or “world burner”, and marked the final decline of the Ghaznavids and the emergence of Ghur as the strongest power. The Ghurids were no longer content to be tributaries of the Seljukids, but assumed like them the title of al-sultan al-muazzam.
• Like their predecessors, the Ghurids constantly fought with the Seljukids for control of the prosperous areas of Khurasan and Merv. Like Ghaznavids, the Ghurids too were unpopular in Khurasan on account of their financial levies, and found it difficult to maintain their authority there. This, and the perpetual conflict with the Seljukids and the Turkish tribes across the Oxus were factors which impelled the Ghurids towards India.
• In 1163, Ghiyasuddin Muhammad assumed the throne of Ghur. Recalling a Turkish tribal tradition, he appointed his younger brother, Muizzuddin Muhammad, ruler at Ghazna. This enabled Muizzuddin, to engage all his energies for the conquest of India, and Ghiyasuddin to concentrate on Central and West Asian problems.

Political situation in North India

• Meanwhile, in north India, the Chauhans were trying to expand towards Gujarat and also towards Delhi and Mathura. As such, they had to bear the brunt of the plundering raids of Mahmud Ghazni’s successors. The greatest of the Chauhan rulers was, perhaps, Vigraharaj who captured Chittor. It seems that he captured Delhi from the Tomar rulers in 1151, and extended his sway upto the Siwalik, However, the Tomars were allowed to continue to rule as feudatories.
• The reign of Vigrahraj Chauhan is known as the golden era of of Sapadalaksh. He is also known as Bisaldev and Kavi (Poet) Bandhav. He was a patron of poets and scholars, and himself wrote a Sanskrit drama like Harkeli. His Courtier Somdev wrote Lalit Vigrahraj (Play). He also built many magnificent temples, including a Sanskrit College at Ajmer, (where probably Kutub ud din Aibak constructed Dhai din ka Jhopda. ) and the Anasagar lake there.
• The most famous Chauhan ruler was Prithviraj III who ascended the throne at Ajmer at the age of eleven, in 1177. He took the reigns of administration in his hands at the age of 16, and immediately commenced a vigorous policy of expansionism at the cost of smaller states in Rajasthan. The most famous expedition, however, was the one against the Chandelas of Khajuraho and Mahoba. Chandelas constituted the most powerful state in the region, and which had a history of resistance against the Ghaznavids. The fight in which the famous warriors, Alha and Udal, died fighting to save Mahoba has been immortalised in the Hindi epics, Prithviraj-raso and Alha-Khanda. (http://selfstudyhistory.com/)
• Prithviraj gained a significant victory against the Chandelas acquiring considerable booty but no extra territory.
• Between 1182 and 1187, Prithviraj turned his attention towards his ancient rivals, the Chaulukyas of Gujarat. The Gujarat ruler, Bhima II, who had earlier beaten off the Ghurid ruler, Muizzuddin, defeated Prithviraj also.
• This forced Prithviraj to turn his attention towards the Ganga Valley and the Punjab. This led to tussle between him and the Gahadvalas of Kannauj, who had the most extensive kingdom in the area. (Prithviraj’s abduction of Sanyogita, the daughter of the Gahadvalas ruler, Jai Chand, at her svayamvara and Jai Chand’s subsequent defeat in battle).
• By leading expeditions against all his neighbours, Prithviraj had isolated himself politically. This cost him dear when he had to face the Turkish armies of Muizzuddin Muhammad later.

Muizzuddin’s early expeditions against India

• Muizzuddin’s first expedition against India was launched in 1175 when he attacked and captured Multan which was under the Karamatis whose religious ideas formed a half-way house between Islam and Buddhism. The following year Muizzuddin captured Uchch.
• In 1178-79, he marched through Multan and Uchch to Neharwala in Gujarat. However, the Gujarat ruler inflicted a crushing defeat on Muizzuddin near Mt. Abu. The Chaulukyas had requested Prithviraj for help. However, his ministers declined to help, considering both the Gnurids and the Chaulukyas to be enemies of the Chauhans. Since Prithviraj was barely twelve at the time, he can hardly be blamed for the decision.
• After the failure of his Gujarat expedition, Muizzuddin changed his whole plan of operations. Conquering Peshawar from the Ghaznavids in 1179-80, he marched on Lahore in 1181. The Ghaznavid ruler, Khusrau Malik, surrendered. He was allowed to rule at Lahore while Muizzuddin continuously expanded his control over the Punjab, including Sialkot, and also consolidated his control over Sindh upto the coast. Finally, in 1186, Muizzuddin removed the Ghaznavid ruler.
• The stage was now set for the conflict between the Gurids and the Rajput rulers of north India.

The first battle of Tarain ,1191

• After consolidating his position in Sindh and Punjab, in 1191 Muizzuddin attacked and captured the fortress of Tabarhinda which was strategically important for the defence of Delhi. Realising its importance, and without giving the Turks time to consolidate, Prithviraj immediately marched towards Tabarhinda. In the battle, Prithviraj attained a complete victory, Muizzuddin being saved by a Khalji horseman.
• After his victory, Prithviraj did not try to pursue the dispirited Ghurid army, either because he did not want to venture into hostile territory far away from his base, or because he thought that, like the Ghazanavids, the Ghurids, too, would be satisfied to rule over the Punjab. Thus, he treated the siege of Tabarhinda only as a frontier fight and was satisfied with capturing it. After his victory he made little preparations for a future contest with the Ghurid chief. The Prithviraj Raso accuses Prithviraj of neglecting the affairs of the state.

The second battle of Tarain,1192

• 1192 is regarded rightly as one of the turning points in Indian history. Muizzuddin had made careful preparations for the contest, disgracing many amirs who had not stood firm in the field of battle earlier. According to the information of the contemporary chronicler, Minhaj Siraj, the army of Muizzuddin had 120,000 men fully equipped with steel coats and armour. The seventeenth century historian, Ferishta, places Prithviraj’s forces at 3,000 elephants, 300,000 horsemen, and considerable infantry. These figures appear to be grossly exaggerated. However, we may conclude that the forces fielded by Prithviraj were larger.
• Ferishta also states that on an appeal from Prithviraj, all the leading ‘Rais of Hind’ joined his banners. But its not correct as Prithviraj had alienated all his powerful neighbours by his militaristic policies. Nor does Ferishta name any of the prominent Rais. Perhaps, Prithviraj’s forces included many of his feudatories including Govindraj, the ruler of Delhi. This was a source of weakness rather than strength because these feudal levies lacked any central direction or leadership, unlike the armies of Muizzuddin.(http://selfstudyhistory.com/)
• The battle of Tarain was more a war of movement than of position. The lightly armed mounted archers of Muizzuddin kept harassing the slow moving forces of Prithviraj, and attacked from all sides when they had created confusion in his ranks. Prithviraj suffered a complete defeat and fled, but he was pursued and caught near Sarsuti or modern Sirsa in Hissar district. The historian Minhaj Siraj says that he was executed immediately. But according to another contemporary writer, Hasan Nizami, he was taken to Ajmer and allowed to rule. This is supported by numismatic evidence, showing coins of Prithviraj, with the words ‘Sri Muhammad Sam’ on the reverse. He rebelled after sometime, and was executed. His son succeeded him, and continued to rule for sometime as a feudatory.
• Prithviraj is remembered as a great fighter and as a patron of poets and pandits. As a general, he had many victories to his credit. But his conduct on the battle field in the second battle of Tarain is a blot on his generalship as well as statesmanship.

Turkish Expansion into the Upper Ganga Valley

• After the victory at Tarain the entire Chauhan dominion lay at the feet of the Ghurids. However, Muizzuddin adopted a cautious policy. He annexed the whole Siwalik territory, i.e. the area up to Ajmer, and Hissar and Sirsa in modern Haryana. He placed Hissar and Sirsa under his trusted slave, Qutubuddin Aibak. Govindraj, the Tomar chief of Delhi, had died in the battle at Tarain. His son was, however, installed at Delhi as a vassal. Prithviraj was reinstated at Ajmer. Muizzuddin then returned to Ghazni.
• If the Turks were to expand into the upper Ganga valley, Delhi was too strategic to be left in alien hands. Rebellions both at Ajmer and Delhi decided the issue. To quell the rebellions in Ajmer against the son of Prithviraj who had accepted Turkish vassalage, Aibak pressed on to Delhi in 1192, and occupied it. Delhi now became the main base of Turkish operations in India.
• Ajmer was also occupied after defeating Hari Raj, the brother of Prithviraj, who had been leading the Rajput resistance. A Turkish governor was now placed in charge of Ajmer. Govind, the son of Prithviraj, was displaced and forced to move to Ranthambhor.

Battle of Chandawar,1194

• Having consolidated their position in the Delhi region, the Turks were now poised for attack on the Gahadvalas of Kannauj, reputed to be the most powerful kingdom in the country. In 1194, Muizzuddin returned to India. The areas of Meerut, Baran (modern Buland-shahr) and Koil (modern Aligarh) in the upper doab which had been under the control of the Dor Rajputs, had been occupied by the Turks shortly after the battle of Tarain. Although the Dors had offered stiff resistance, and the area had great strategic value, Jai Chand, the Gahadvala ruler, had not come to their help. Earlier, in a false sense of security, he had rejoiced at the defeat of Prithviraj at the hands of Muizzuddin.
• In 1194, Muizzuddin advanced towards Kannauj and Banaras. The battle was fought at Chandawar in the modern Etawah district. Jai Chand suffered a disastrous defeat. The fort of Asni (Fathehpur district) which contained the Gahadavala treasure-house was plundered. Varanasi, which was the early capital of the Gahadavalas, was also plundered, and temples destroyed. Kannauj was finally captured in 1198.
• The battles of Tarain and Chandawar laid the foundations of Turkish rule in the Ganga valley. There was no large scale resistance in the area to Turkish rule. However, it took the Turks another fifty years to consolidate their hold over the area. To protect their southern and western flanks, as also to provide future bases of operations, the Turks tried to conquer the strategic forts between Delhi and Malwa. Thus, in 1195-96, Muizzuddin occupied Bayana fort (In Bharatpur district of Rajasthan). Gwaliyar, which was a most powerful fort, was captured after long siege.
• A little later, Kalinjar, Mahoba and Khajuraho were wrested from the Chandel rulers of Bundelkhand who were the most powerful rulers of the area after the Gahadvalas.
• Efforts at expansion beyond the upper Ganga valley and eastern Rajasthan were made in two directions—Gujarat in the west, and Bihar and Bengal in the east. In the west, Muizzuddin’s slave invaded Anhilwara in Gujarat, the Rai was defeated and Anhilwara occupied, but the Turks could not hold it for long. This showed the limits of Turkish power in India—they were still not strong enough to keep hold of places far away from their base of operations, Delhi.(http://selfstudyhistory.com/)
• The conquest of Bihar and Bengal by Muhammad-bin-Bakhtiyar Khalji was more successful.
• Muizzuddin suffered a sharp reversal in 1204 when he was defeated in west Asia and lost control of Merv and most of Khurasan. Rumours of Muizzuddin’s death led to a rebellion by the Khokhars in the Punjab. Muizzuddin marched to India to suppress it. On his way from the Punjab, Muizzuddin was killed on the banks of the river Indus (1206) by a band of Karamatias which were a fanatical sect which had absorbed many features of Hindu/Buddhist beliefs and which Muizzuddin had persecuted in his life time.

• It has been argued that Mahmud Ghazni was a better general than Muizzuddin because, unlike the latter, he never suffered a military defeat. However, the fact that Muizzuddin could recover and take lessons from his defeats, and change his entire approach showed both a dogged tenacity of purpose and a grim sense of political realism. Thus, after his defeat at Anhilwara in Gujarat, he changed his entire approach towards India, shifting the axis of attack from Rajasthan to the Punjab. The speed and skill with which he recovered from his defeat at the hands of Prithviraj in the first battle of Tarain showed his mettle.
• Both used religion for their essentially secular purposes, when it suited them to do so.
• For both, the wealth gathered from India was important for furthering their Central and West Asian ambitions.
• It was Mahmud who breached the outer defences of India and provided a secure base for future Turkish expansion into India. Thus, Mahmud laid the foundations on which Muizzuddin built. However, both worked in completely different circumstances.
• Both enriched their capitals with fine buildings, and patronised poets and learned men.
• Both were unpopular in Khurasan for their financial rapacity and exactions.
• Muizzuddin had no time to form any new administrative system in India. Perhaps, he made little change in the existing administrative system, leaving his commanders to levy tribute or taxes through the existing channels as best as they could.

Causes of the defeat of the Rajputs: