IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India History From 8th to 15th Century - Establishment and Consolidation

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History India From 8th to 15th Century

Establishment and Consolidation

Structure

14.0 Objectives
14.1 Introduction
14.2 India from 7th to 12th Century: An Overview
14.3 Initial Conquests up' to Circa 1 190 A.D. . .
14.4 The Ghorian Invasions, 1192-1206
14.5 Why the Turks Succeeded?
14.6 Conflict and Cansolidation 1206-1290
14.7 The Mongol Problem
14.8 Political Consequences of the Turkish Conquest of India /
14.9 Let Us Sum Up U.
14.10 Key Words
14.11 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

14.0' OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit you will know:

the political and socio-economic condition of India during the centuries
preceding the Turkish conquest,
the stages in which Northern India was conquered,
the 'causes' of Turkish success; and
the conflicts, nature, and basis of power of the class that ran the Sultanate.

14.1 INTRODUCTION

In the last Unit, we took an overview of the region called 'Central Asia', its peculiar
environment, and its volatile population of nomad wamors. These nc~mads set out of
their steppe habitat in great numbers and came into contact and collision with the
surrounding civilizations of China, Europe, West Asia and India.
The empires of the Ghamavids and the Seljuqs were built on the ruins of the
Abbasid Caliphate. In the final analysis, both these states were products of the
acculturation of the Turks in the institutions of settled societies. The latter, too, saw
considerable changes iri their own mode of organisation and direction after coming
into contact with the hbngols.
Under the Seljuq umbrella, the Turks had expanded into the Meditarranean and
Byzantine territories. Anatolia (modem Turkey) was conquered and settled by the
'Ottoman Turks'. The Seljuq empire which warded off pressure from incoming tribes
was itself engulfed by political developments drawing upon nomadic movements. The
Khwarizmian empire which undermined the Seljuqs, was swept away by the Mongols.
These cataclysmic and cyclical developments convened the 'Old World' into a vast
melting pot.