India Before the Mughals

India before the Mughals

Breakdown of the Principal Hindu and Muslim Kingdoms before the Mughals

• In the 14th century, Delhi was one of the finest cities in the world

• The Delhi Sultanate were rich and powerful Muslim rulers

• In 1398, the Mongol leader Timur (Tamerlane) attacked Delhi from the North. Normally a stronghold, Delhi was then weak because of confusion over who was in leadership - two puppet kings weakly held power.

• Timur was renowned for his brutality - and it was this that ruined Delhi - combined with vicious but ingenious techniques to beat the Sultanate's most terrifying weapon - war elephants. Despite his own army's terror of the great, alien beasts, Timur focused his tactics on injuring elephants with giant spiked barbs that were thrown on the ground, and by sending his own camels alight, and then scattering them, terrified, into the ranks of elephants to cause mayhem.

• Timur left such devastation and plague behind him, that it took Delhi 50 years to recover. The power of the Sultans was thus weakened

• In the 15th century, a dynastic family from Afghanistan came to rule the area. These were the Lodis, an Islamic ruling family who built Mosques, tombs and palaces in the Afghan style.

• Like the Lodis in Delhi, other Muslim, Afghan chiefs and powerful families, ruled areas such as Delhi, in the North of India.

• Bengal was the richest province in the North, noted particularly for its rice, silk, saltpetre (needed for gunpowder and firearms) and sugar.

• During his short reign, one of Humayun's most dangerous opponents was extending his power in the Bihar region, and that was the Afghan leader, Sher Khan, (who later called himself Sher Shah). After much treachery and weakness on Humayun's part, Sher Shah gained control of Hindustan in 1540 as far westward as Sirhind, recapturing Delhi along the way. Humayun lost control of the Empire to Sher Shah and his Sur dynasty between 1540 and 1545.

• The desert kingdom of Rajasthan was the bastion of Hindu resistance.

• Rajput means 'son of a king' and is the name given to those Hindus belonging to the warrior grouping. Not everyone who lived in Rajasthan was therefore a Rajput.

• Each Hindu Rajput prince was the leader of a group of families or clans. There was a lot of infighting and rivalry between these clans.

• The Rajputs were renowned for their skill and bravery as warriors.

• A particular Rajput stronghold was Mewar, whose capital, Chitor, was eventually penetrated by Mughal soldiers under Akbar in 1567.

• Bijapur and Golconda / Hyderabad = under Shiite Muslim rule
• Bidar, Ahmednagar and Berar = under Sunni Muslim rule

• In 1347, one Muslim kingdom had broken away from the Delhi Sultanate. The Bahmani kingdom controlled the Deccan (central India). Renowned for its great riches, the Bahmani kingdom was long coveted by the peoples of the North. Before this period, the Deccan territories had been Hindu.

• By the beginning of the 16th century, the Bahmani kingdom was suffering from internal differences and quarrels between its various peoples and religions, and itself splintered into five, separate states.

• The five new kingdoms were the 'jewel' Bijapur (created in 1490), Golconda/Hyderabad (created in 1512), Bidar, Ahmednagar and Berar.

• There was constant friction between these 5 Muslim states.

• The Hindu Empire of Vijayanagar controlled the far south of the subcontinent.

• Vijayanangar was a Hindu fortress capital, said to be an impressive city with half a million inhabitants, comparable to Delhi in the 14th century.

• Vijayanagar was wealthy because it controlled the cotton and spice trade of the South.