History - - Posted on September, 19 at 6:26 am
CE 1000-1025 saw the Muslim ruler Mahmud. He was the ruler of Gazni, a small province in Afghanistan. A Turk warrior named Alptigin, of whom Mahmud was a descendent had established Gazni province. Mahmud launched seventeen consecutive, extremely brutal attacks across the Afghan frontier into India, with frequent victories over the disunited Indians. By 1025 CE, Mahmud had beleaguered several important Indian cities in the northwest and annexed the Punjab to his empire. The objective of his attacks was to gather loot to cover the expenses for the expansion of his kingdom.
By the eleventh century, Islam had become a major force in India. The Muslim ruler continued his campaigns of conquest in the country over the next three decades, subjugating all of the Indo-Gangetic plain west of Benares (Varanasi) and is considered the real founder of Muslim power in India by most historians. Culture also underwent a sea change, and a new theme in folk art (especially in Rajasthani bards’ tales) became the chivalry and heroic resistance of Hindus to the first Muslim invasions.
Indians were relieved when Mahmud died in 1030 CE. Though he is remembered as a destructive invader, he has some constructive work to his account as well. He constructed a beautiful Masjid and a library. He encouraged Firdausi, the writer of the Farsi epic Shahanama and sent Alberuni to India to encourage cultural exchange.
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