culture

Between 1000 and 1027 Ghazni ruler Mahmud invaded India with an army at least twelve times. About 15,000 Muslims took Peshawar and killed 5,000 Hindus in battle. Shahi king Jayapala was so ashamed of being defeated three times that he burned himself to death on a funeral pyre. In 1004 Mahmud's forces crossed the Indus River, then attacked and pillaged the wealth of Bhatiya. On the way to attack the heretical Abu-'l-Fath Daud, Mahmud defeated Shahi king Anandapala. Daud was forced to pay 20,000,000 dirhams and was allowed to rule as a Muslim if he paid 20,000 golden dirhams annually. Mahmud's army again met Anandapala's the next year; after 5,000 Muslims lost their lives, 20,000 Hindu soldiers were killed. Mahmud captured an immense treasure of 70,000,000 dirhams, plus gold and silver ingots, jewels, and other precious goods. After Mahmud defeated the king of Narayan and the rebelling Daud, Anandapala made a treaty that lasted until his death, allowing the Muslims passage to attack the sacred city of Thaneswar. In 1013 Mahmud attacked and defeated Anandapala's successor Trilochanapala, annexing the western and central portions of the Shahi kingdom in the Punjab. Next the Muslims plundered the Kashmir valley, though Mahmud was never able to hold it.

Mahmud raised a force of 100,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry to attack Kanauj in the heart of India. Most Hindu chiefs submitted, but in Mahaban nearly 5,000 were killed, causing Kulachand to kill himself. Next the Muslims plundered the sacred city of Mathura, destroying a temple that took two centuries to build and estimated to be worth 100,000,000 red dinars. After conquering more forts and obtaining more booty, Mahmud ordered the inhabitants slain by sword, the city plundered, and the idols destroyed in Kanauj that was said to contain almost 10,000 temples. In 1019 Mahmud returned to Ghazni with immense wealth and 53,000 prisoners to be sold as slaves.

When Mahmud's army returned again to chastise Chandella ruler Vidyadhara for killing the submitting Pratihara king Rajyapala, the resistance of Trilochanapala was overcome, making all of Shahi part of Mahmud's empire. Although he had 45,000 infantry, 36,000 cavalry, and 640 elephants, Vidyadhara fled after a minor defeat. The next year Mahmud and Vidyadhara agreed to a peace. 50,000 Hindus were killed in 1025 defending the Shaivite temple of Somanatha in Kathiawar, as Mahmud captured another 20,000,000 dirhams. In his last campaign Mahmud used a navy of 1400 boats with iron spikes to defeat the Jats with their 4,000 boats in the Indus. Mahmud's soldiers often gave people the choice of accepting Islam or death. These threats and the enslavement of Hindus by Muslims and the Hindus' consequent attitude of considering Muslims impure barbarians (mlechchha) caused a great division between these religious groups.

During this time Mahipala I ruled Bengal for nearly half a century and founded a second Pala empire. In the half century around 1100 Ramapala tried to restore the decreasing realm of the Palas by invading his neighbors until he drowned himself in grief in the Ganges. Buddhists were persecuted in Varendri by the Vangala army. In the 12th century Vijayasena established a powerful kingdom in Bengal; but in spite of the military victories of Lakshmanasena, who began ruling in 1178, lands were lost to the Muslims and others early in the 13th century.

Military campaigns led by the Paramara Bhoja and the Kalachuri Karna against Muslims in the Punjab discouraged Muslim invasions after Punjab governor Ahmad Niyaltigin exacted tribute from the Thakurs and plundered the city of Banaras in 1034. Bhoja and a Hindu confederacy of chiefs conquered Hansi, Thaneswar, Nagarkot, and other territories from the Muslims in 1043. Bhoja also wrote 23 books, patronized writers, and established schools for his subjects. Karna won many battles over various kingdoms in India but gained little material advantage. About 1090 Gahadavala ruler Chandradeva seems to have collaborated with the Muslim governor of the Punjab to seize Kanauj from Rashtrakuta ruler Gopala. In the first half of the 12th century Gahadavala ruler Govindachandra came into conflict with the Palas, Senas, Gangas, Kakatiyas, Chalukyas, Chandellas, Chaulukyas, the Karnatakas of Mithila, and the Muslims.

The Ghuzz Turks made Muhammad Ghuri governor of Ghazni in 1173; he attacked the Gujurat kingdom in 1178, but the Chaulukya king Mularaja II defeated his Turkish army. Chahamana Prithviraja III began ruling that year and four years later defeated and plundered Paramardi's Chandella kingdom. In 1186 Khusrav Malik, the last Yamini ruler of Ghazni, was captured at Lahore by Muhammad Ghuri. The next year the Chahamana king Prithviraja made a treaty with Bhima II of Gujurat. Prithviraja's forces defeated Muhammad Ghuri's army at Tarain and regained Chahamana supremacy over the Punjab. Muhammad Ghuri organized 120,000 men from Ghazni to face 300,000 led by Prithviraja, who was captured and eventually executed as the Muslims demolished the temples of Ajmer in 1192 and built mosques. From there Sultan Muhammad Ghuri marched to Delhi, where he appointed general Qutb-ud-din Aybak governor; then with 50,000 cavalry Muhammad Ghuri defeated the Gahadavala army of Jayachandra before leaving for Ghazni. Prithviraja's brother Hariraja recaptured Delhi and Ajmer; but after losing them again to Aybak, he burned himself to death in 1194.

Next the local Mher tribes and the Chaulukya king of Gujurat, Bhima II, expelled the Turks from Rajputana; but in 1197 Aybak invaded Gujurat with more troops from Ghazni, killing 50,000 and capturing 20,000. In 1202 Aybak besieged Chandella king Paramardi at Kalanjara and forced him to pay tribute. In the east a Muslim named Bakhtyar raided Magadha and used the plunder to raise a larger force that conquered much of Bengal; his army slaughtered Buddhist monks, thinking they were Brahmins. However, the Khalji Bakhtyar met tough resistance in Tibet and had to return to Bengal where he died. The Ghuri dynasty ended soon after Muhammad was murdered at Lahore in 1206. His former slave Aybak assumed power but died in 1210.

Aybak’s son-in-law Iltutmish won the struggle for power by defeating and killing Aybak’s successor. Then in 1216 Iltutmish captured his rival Yildiz, who had been driven by Khwarezm-Shah from Ghazni to the Punjab; the next year he expelled Qabacha from Lahore. In 1221 Mongols led by Genghis Khan pushed Khwarezm-Shah and other refugees across the Indus into the Punjab. Iltutmish invaded Bengal and ended the independence of the Khalji chiefs; but he met with Guhilot resistance in Rajputana before plundering Bhilsa and Ujjain in Malwa. Chahadadeva captured and ruled Narwar with an army of over 200,000 men, defeating Iltutmish's general in 1234, but he was defeated by the Muslim general Balban in 1251. After Qabacha drowned in the Indus, Iltutmish was recognized as the Baghdad Caliph's great sultan in 1229 until he died of disease seven years later.

Factional strife occurred as Iltutmish's daughter Raziyya managed to rule like a man for three years before being killed by sexist hostility; his sons, grandson, and the "Forty" officials, who had been his slaves, struggled for power and pushed back the invading Mongols in 1245. After Iltutmish's son Mahmud became king, the capable Balban gained control. In 1253 the Indian Muslim Raihan replaced Balban for a year until the Turks for racist reasons insisted Balban and his associates be restored. When Mahmud died childless in 1265, Balban became an effective sultan. He said, "All that I can do is to crush the cruelties of the cruel and to see that all persons are equal before the law."12 Mongols invaded again in 1285 and killed Balban's son; two years later the elderly Balban died, and in 1290 the dynasty of Ilbari Turks was replaced by the Khalji Turks with ties to Afghanistan.

Chola king Rajendra I (r. 1012-1044) ruled over most of south India and even invaded Sumatra and the Malay peninsula. His son Rajadhiraja I's reign (1018-1052) overlapped his father's, as he tried to put down rebellions in Pandya and Chera, invading western Chalukya and sacking Kalyana. Cholas were criticized for violating the ethics of Hindu warfare by carrying off cows and "unloosing women's girdles." Rajadhiraja was killed while defeating Chalukya king Someshvara I (r. 1043-1068). In the Deccan the later Chalukyas battled their neighbors; led by Vikramaditya, they fought a series of wars against the powerful Cholas. After battling his brother Vikramaditya, Someshvara II reigned 1068-1076; in confederacy with Chaulukya Karna of Gujurat, he defeated the Paramara Jayasimha and occupied Malava briefly. Becoming Chalukya king, Vikramaditya VI (r. 1076-1126) invaded the Cholas and took Kanchi some time before 1085.

When the Vaishnavites Mahapurna and Kuresha had their eyes put out, probably by Kulottunga I in 1079, the famous philosopher Ramanuja took refuge in the Hoysala country until Kulottunga died. Ramanuja modified Shankara's nondualism in his Bhasya and emphasized the way of devotion (bhakti). He believed the grace of God was necessary for liberation. Although he practiced initiations and rituals, Ramanuja recognized that caste, rank, and religion were irrelevant to realizing union with God. He provided the philosophical reasoning for the popular worship of Vishnu and was thought to be 120 when he died in 1137.

During Chola turmoil Lanka king Vijayabahu (r. 1055-1110) became independent and made peace with Chola king Kulottunga I (r. 1070-1120) in 1088. The Hoysala king Vinayaditya (r. 1047-1101) acknowledged Chalukya supremacy; but after his death, the Hoysalas tried to become independent by fighting the Chalukyas. Kulottunga ordered a land survey in 1086. The Cholas under Kulottunga invaded Kalinga in 1096 to quell a revolt; a second invasion in 1110 was described in the Kalingattupparani of court poet Jayangondar.

After Vikramaditya VI died, Vikrama Chola (r. 1118-1135) regained Chola control over the Vengi kingdom, though the Chalukyas ruled the Deccan until the Kalachuri king Bijjala took Kalyana from Chalukya king Taila III in 1156; the Kalachuris kept control for a quarter century. Gujurat's Chalukya king Kumarapala was converted to Jainism by the learned Hemachandra (1088-1172) and prohibited animal sacrifices, while Jain king Bijjala's minister Basava (1106-1167) promoted the Vira Shaiva sect that emphasized social reform and the emancipation of women. Basava disregarded caste and ritual as shackling and senseless. When an outcaste married an ex-Brahmin bride, Bijjala sentenced them both, and they were dragged to death in the streets of Kalyana. Basava tried to convert the extremists to nonviolence but failed; they assassinated Bijjala, and the Vira Shaivas were persecuted. Basava asked, "Where is religion without loving kindness?" Basava had been taught by Allama Prabhu, who had completely rejected external rituals, converting some from the sacrifice of animals to sacrificing one's bestial self.

In his poem, The Arousing of Kumarapala, which describes how Hemachandra converted King Kumarapala, Somaprabha warned Jains from serving the king as ministers, harming others and extorting their fortunes that one's master may take. In the mid-12th century the island of Lanka suffered a three-way civil war; then King Parakramabahu I used heavy taxation to rebuild Pulatthinagara and Anuradhapura that had been destroyed by the Cholas. In a civil war about 1169 Kulashekhara Pandya defeated and killed Parakrama Pandya, seizing Madura; but Chola king Rajadhiraja II (r. 1163-1179) brought the Pandya civil war to an end.

Hoysala king Ballala II proclaimed his independence in 1193. Chola king Kulottunga III (r. 1178-1216) ravaged the Pandya country about 1205, destroying the coronation hall at Madura; but a few years later he was overpowered by the Pandyas and saved from worse defeat by Hoysala intervention, as Hoysala king Ballala II (r. 1173-1220) had married a Chola princess. In the reign (1220-1234) of Narasimha II the Hoysalas fought the Pandyas for empire, as Chola power decreased. Narasimha's son Someshvara (r. 1234-1263) was defeated and killed in a battle led by Pandya Jatavarman Sundara. Chola king Rajendra III (r. 1246-1279) was a Pandyan feudatory from 1258 to the end of his reign. The Cholas had inflicted much misery on their neighbors, even violating the sanctity of ambassadors. The Pandyas under their king Maravarman Kulashekhara, who ruled more than forty years until 1310, overcame and annexed the territories of the Cholas and the Hoysalas in 1279 and later in his reign gained supremacy over Lanka.

The dualist Madhva (1197-1276) was the third great Vedanta philosopher after Shankara and Ramanuja. Madhva also opened the worship of Vishnu to all castes but may have picked up the idea of damnation in hell from missionary Christians. He taught four steps to liberation: 1) detachment from material comforts, 2) persistent devotion to God, 3) meditation on God as the only independent reality, and 4) earning the grace of God.

Marco Polo on his visit to south India about 1293 noted that climate and ignorant treatment did not allow horses to thrive there. He admired Kakatiya queen Rudramba, who ruled for nearly forty years. He noted the Hindus' strict enforcement of justice against criminals and abstention from wine, but he was surprised they did not consider any form of sexual indulgence a sin. He found certain merchants most truthful but noted many superstitious beliefs. Yet he found that ascetics who ate no meat, drank no wine, had no sex outside of marriage, did not steal, and never killed any creature often lived very long lives. Marco Polo related a legend of brothers whose quarrels were prevented from turning to violence by their mother who would threaten to cut off her breasts if they did not make peace.

Nizam-ud-din Auliya was an influential Sufi of the Chishti order that had been founded a century before. He taught love as the means to realize God. For Auliya universal love was expressed through love and service of humanity. The Sufis found music inflamed love, and they interpreted the Koran broadly in esoteric ways; the intuition of the inner light was more important to them than orthodox dogma. Auliya was the teacher of Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), one of the most prolific poets in the Persian language. Many of Khusrau's poems, however, glorified the bloody the conquests of the Muslim rulers so that "the pure tree of Islam might be planted and flourish" and the evil tree with deep roots would be torn up by force. He wrote,

The whole country, by means of the sword of our holy warriors,
has become like a forest denuded of its thorns by fire.
The land has been saturated with the water of the sword,
and the vapors of infidelity have been dispersed.
The strong men of Hind have been trodden under foot,
and all are ready to pay tribute.
Islam is triumphant; idolatry is subdued.
Had not the law granted exemption from death
by the payment of poll-tax,
the very name of Hind, root and branch,
would have been extinguished.
From Ghazni to the shore of the ocean
you see all under the dominion of Islam.14

In 1290 the Khalji Jalal-ud-din Firuz became sultan in Delhi but refused to sacrifice Muslim lives to take Ranthambhor, though his army defeated and made peace with 150,000 invading Mongols. Genghis Khan's descendant Ulghu and 4,000 others accepted Islam and became known as the "new Muslims." This lenient sultan sent a thousand captured robbers and murderers to Bengal without punishment. His more ambitious nephew 'Ala-ud-din Khalji attacked the kingdom of Devagiri, gaining booty and exacting from Yadava king Ramachandra gold he used to raise an army of 60,000 cavalry and as many infantry; in 1296 he lured his uncle into a trap, had him assassinated, and bribed the nobles to proclaim him sultan. Several political adversaries were blinded and killed. The next year 'Ala-ud-din sent an army headed by his brother Ulugh Khan to conquer Gujurat; according to Wassaf they slaughtered the people and plundered the country. Another 200,000 Mongols invaded in 1299, but they were driven back. Revolts by his nephews and an old officer were ruthlessly crushed. Money was extorted; a spy network made nobles afraid to speak in public; alcohol was prohibited; and gatherings of nobles were restricted. Orders were given that Hindus were not to have anything above subsistence; Islamic law justified this prejudicial treatment.

The Khalji imperialist army subjugated Rajasthan and Ranthambhor. In 1303 at Chitor 30,000 surrendered and were slain by sword. 'Ala-ud-din's conquest of Chitor was later romanticized by his desire to possess the queen there. After a horde of 120,000 Mongol cavalry led by Targhi raided Delhi, 'Ala-ud-din organized a standing army for defense that included 475,000 cavalry. To pay for this he increased taxes to fifty percent of the produce and imposed price controls and rationing in Delhi to control inflation. After a small army was sent to conquer Mandu, invading Mongols were badly defeated as the prisoners were beheaded. Rich Devagiri was defeated and plundered again for withholding tribute and with Ramachandra's cooperation became a base of operations in the Deccan for southern invasions. After besieging and taking Siwana, Jalor, and Warangal, the Khalji army led by the sultan's lieutenant (Malik Naib) Kafur invaded Ma'bar from Devagiri in 1311, returning with immense amounts of gold and other booty although the Pandya princes did not submit. In Delhi because of a suspected plot against his life, 'Ala-ud-din executed 20,000 or more "new Muslim" Mongols who had previously mutinied.

When Ramachandra died and his successor Singhana II asserted independence, Kafur's army defeated and killed the Devagiri king, though not all the Yadava kingdom was subjugated. As the sultan's health declined, Kafur arranged to have ambitious family members killed. When 'Ala-ud-din died in 1316, Kafur became regent for a child of five or six; but his plot to blind 'Ala-ud-din's third son Mubarak led to his own death instead. Mubarak began his reign proclaiming an amnesty, rewarding his loyal soldiers, and making a Gujurat slave Hasan Khusrav Khan prime minister (wazir). After a plot to assassinate him failed, Mubarak began executing prominent relatives, including the able governor of Gujurat, Zafar Khan. The Delhi sultanate became independent of the Baghdad Caliphate as Mubarak declared himself head of the Muslim faith. After campaigning in the south Khusrav returned to Delhi to have the sultan Mubarak assassinated. Khusrav Khan executed hostile nobles and married a wife of Mubarak. However, a revolt led by Dipalpur governor Ghazi Tughluq raised an army that defeated Khusrav's forces; Khusrav was beheaded; and in 1320 the new sultan was called Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq Shah.

Tughluq restored some administration to the Delhi sultanate by appointing honest governors and reducing taxation to one-tenth of the gross produce, while his son and successor conquered the Pandyas in the south and took Madura. Tughluq invaded and annexed Bengal and Tirhut but died when a pavilion collapsed on him. Muhammad bin Tughluq ruled from his father's death in 1325 until 1351. Muhammad had to fight rebellions by his nephew Gurshasp and the king of Kampili. Multiplying taxes in the Doab led to thousands dying in famine; those who tried to leave their homes were punished. Muhammad Tughluq was also criticized for forcing people to move from Delhi to a new capital at Devagiri renamed Daulatabad. He was unable to suppress a rebellion that broke out in Madura of Ma'bar in 1334. A confederacy of 75 Hindu chiefs led by Kapaya Nayaka, Hoysala king Ballala III, and Chalukya Somadeva rose up south of the Krishna and in Andhra and Telingana, defeating Muslim forces that had to abandon Warangal. Vijayanagar became independent in 1336 and would in forty years take over the independent sultanate of Madura that was established at this time. Bengal became independent in 1338.

In Kampili people withheld taxes and surrounded the Muslim governor in his headquarters. The sultan's imperialist army conquered Nagarkot the next year. When they invaded Qarachal in the Himalayan region, the Hindus found refuge in the mountains and attacked the army devastated by disease until there were only three officers left, according to Ibn Battutah, a judge in Delhi at the time. Rebellions in the Jat and Rajput regions were put down though, and the leaders were taken to Delhi to become Muslims. The generous but vindictive Muhammad Tughluq told the historian Barani that the more people opposed him, the greater would be the punishments. Attempting to crush rebellion, Muhammad Tughluq approved when his Malwa governor 'Aziz beheaded eighty centurions for being "foreigners;" but this caused more insurrection in Daulatabad and Gujurat. Foreign amirs about to suffer the same fate revolted and took over most of Maharashtra. While the sultan spent the rest of his life suppressing the Gujurat rebellion led by Taghi, an independent Bahmani kingdom was established in the Deccan in 1347. Muslim historians praised Muhammad Tughluq for his learning and for providing hospitals and housing for widows and orphans. Though he was kind and just to Muslims, he often had Hindus refusing to convert tortured and killed.

The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, hearing that Delhi sultan Muhammad Tughluq gave his guests greater gifts than he received, borrowed money so that he could present more than thirty horses and white slaves. On his way to Delhi in 1334 82 Hindu bandits attacked Battuta’s caravan; they fought them off, killing 13. At Delhi Muhammad's army was crushing a peasant tax rebellion. Battuta was given a stipend of 5,000 silver dinars from the revenue of two and half villages. While the average Hindu family lived on 5 dinars a month and soldiers were paid about 20, Battuta was given 12,000 a year with a 12,000 advance to be a judge even though he had no experience in law and could hardly speak Persian; two Hanafi scholars were appointed to assist him. Battuta noticed that every day hundreds of people came chained and fettered to be executed, tortured, or beaten. He reported that when 300 men stayed behind the army going to fight Hindus in the mountains, they were all taken and killed. In spite his salary Battuta ran his debts up to 55,000, which he got the sultan to pay for him. When a servant was accused of stealing and drinking wine and said he had not drunk wine for eight years, Battuta ordered eighty lashes, the shari'a punishment for imbibing wine.

A Chisti Sufi named Shihab al-Din was tortured and beheaded by the sultan for refusing to appear in court and then for calling him a tyrant. Because Battuta had visited this shaik, four slaves were ordered to guard him. Battuta fasted for several days, praying and reading the Koran; after a penitent five months in a Sufi retreat he requested leave to go on pilgrimage, but a few weeks later the sultan appointed him an ambassador to the Mongol court of China. The gifts he was to take included 200 Hindu slaves. On the Doab plain Hindu insurgents attacked them; the imperial cavalry killed all 4,000 of them while losing 78 men, according to Battuta, who was separated, captured, and barely escaped being killed by brigands. Battuta also luckily escaped the drowning fate of most of the embassy when a Chinese junk sunk off Calicut harbor in 1342. Battuta eventually made his way to the southern Maldive islands, where he was appointed chief judge and plotted for political supremacy by marrying four prominent women. He horrified the natives by ordering the right hand of a thief cut off according to Islamic law, and he could get the women to wear clothes above the waist only in his courtroom. Finally he made it to Ma'bar, where he observed Muslim rulers impaling Hindus in violation of the Koran.

Muhammad Tughluq's cousin Firuz Shah was sultan from 1351 to 1388. He began by remitting oppressive taxes and canceling the bloody punishments of the previous regime. Firuz tried twice and failed to regain the independent sultanate of Bengal. His army massacred men near Orissa, and women were enslaved. Hearing of a famous Hindu temple in Jagannatha, Firuz had it deliberately destroyed. With 90,000 cavalry he set out to avenge the insurrections by the chiefs of Sind. He replaced Gujarat governor NIzam-ul-Mulk for failing to send supplies and guides with Zafar Khan but then chose Damaghani because he promised to send more money. Rebellion of zamindars in Etawa was put down in 1377, and three years later many Hindus were killed and 23,000 were captured and enslaved after Katehr king Kharku murdered the Sayyid Badaun governor and his two brothers.

Firuz wrote a book about royal duties and educated and trained slaves; it was said he had 180,000 slaves for his maintenance and comfort. To improve irrigation Firuz had four major canals constructed and 150 wells dug. Firishta credited him with building 50 dams, 30 reservoirs, 40 mosques, 30 colleges, 20 palaces, 200 towns, 100 hospitals, and 150 bridges. He simplified the legal system and decreased the use of spies. To atone for the sins of Muhammad Tughluq, he sent gifts to the heirs of those who had been killed or mutilated. He provided clerical work for the unemployed and established a free hospital near Delhi. However, Firuz also severely discriminated against Hindus, making even Brahmins pay a poll tax from which Muslims were exempt, and no position of influence was held by a Hindu. He also punished heretic Shiahs and burned their books.

At age eighty Firuz associated prince Muhammad Khan in his rule and had his dominant chief minister Khan Jahan killed; but Muhammad allowed a civil war, and the dying Firuz selected his grandson Ghiyas-ud-din as his successor. He neglected state affairs for debauchery and imprisoned his brother, causing his cousin Abu Bakr to have him killed and take the throne. Meanwhile Muhammad Khan oppressed the people of the Doab. During the prolonged civil war as several fought for power in Delhi, Gujurat governor Farhat-ul-Mulk became independent in 1390. Eventually Mallu Iqbal Khan Lodi killed Muqarrab Khan in his house and marched into Delhi in the name of sultan Mahmud in 1398.

By this time the famous Turk conqueror Timur the Lame had crossed the Indus to war with infidels for a heavenly reward and to plunder their wealth for worldly gain. In his memoirs he noted how the heads of 10,000 infidels were cut off in one hour at Dipalpur. The wives and children were captured to become Muslims or slaves, and their property became spoils for the victors. Arriving near Delhi in December 1398 he was concerned that his 100,000 prisoners might join his enemies during the battle; believing it was in accord with the rules of war, this is what he did:

I directly gave my command for the Tawachis to proclaim throughout the camp that every man who had infidel prisoners was to put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death. 100,000 infidels, impious idolaters, were on that day slain. Maulana Nasiru-d din 'Umar, a counselor and man of learning, who, in all his life, had never killed a sparrow, now, in execution of my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives.15

A few days later Mahmud and Mallu with 50,000 men opposed the invaders, but they were defeated; Mallu fled to Baran and Mahmud to Gujurat. The next day the Turk army entered Delhi. According to Timur nearly 15,000 Turks captured fifty to a hundred prisoners each; the city was plundered of immense wealth and sacked. Then his army marched north, slaughtering, raping, and plundering Hindus. In Siwalik he bragged that he won twenty consecutive victories in a month in spite of often being greatly outnumbered. Timur appointed Khizr Khan governor of Multan, Lahore, and Dipalpur, and in March 1399 crossed back across the Indus.

As Gujurat, Malwa, Jaunpur, and many others were independent, Mallu administered little more than a devastated Delhi. Mahmud returned to Delhi after Mallu died in 1405 and ruled a small kingdom until his death in 1412. Khizr Khan marched on Delhi, defeated Daulat Khan Lodi, and founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414. The capital recovered as he helped the poor resettle. Shortly before his death in 1421 Khizr Khan raided Mewat. He was succeeded by his son Mubarak Shah (r. 1421-1434), who turned back early Mughul incursions. The Delhi kingdom declined during the reigns of Muhammad Shah (1434-1445) and 'Ala-ud-din 'Alam Shah (1445-1451). Most of Gujurat sultan Ahmad's reign (1411-1443) was spent fighting local Hindu kings and the Muslim rulers of Malwa and the Deccan.

Advised by Vidyaranya to follow Hindu dharma, the brothers Harihara and Bukka renounced Islam and founded the kingdom of Vijayanagara in 1336; Harihara I became king, and Bukka's army conquered Hoysala while its king Ballala III was being treacherously killed by the sultan of Madura's forces in 1342. Ten years later the Hindu allies defeated the Madura sultan and put Sambuvaraya back on that throne, though it was not long before Bukka I (r. 1356-1377) took over the Tamil country. When a dispute arose between Vaishnavas and Jains, Bukka took the opportunity to proclaim in Vijayanagara the equal protection of all religions including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The independent Muslim Bahman Shah ruled a kingdom in the Deccan that attacked Warangal in 1350. In 1358, his son Muhammad Shah succeeded him, who fought a defensive war against the allied Hindu states of Vijayanagara and Telingana, forcing them both to make treaties and pay tribute. His son 'Ala-ud-din Mujahid invaded the Vijayanagara kingdom, failed, and ruled the Bahmani kingdom only three years before he was murdered by his cousin Daud in 1378.

Vijayanagara king Harihara II (r. 1377-1404) conquered the western ports of Goa, Chaul, and Dabhol; then he fought to extend his empire to the east coast as well. Vijayanagara king Devaraya I spent most of his reign (1406-1422) fighting Bahmani sultans, the Velamas of Rachakonda, and the Reddis of Kondavidu; he imported horses from Arabia and Persia and was the first Hindu to employ Turkish archers. Devaraya II (r. 1422-1446) also fought a series of wars with the Bahmani kingdom.

Kashmir passed from Hindu rule when Muslim Prime Minister Shahamera married Queen Kota, imprisoned her, and ascended the throne as Shah Mir in 1339. However, Muslim influence was slight in Kashmir until about 1400 when during the reign of Sikander numerous Muslims immigrated there, became friends of the young king, and occupied all the offices. Sikander weakened the Brahmin caste by imposing heavy fines and ordered all the Hindu temples in Kashmir destroyed. His son and successor 'Ali Shah (r. 1413-1420) drove out more Hindus by putting to death all who refused to accept Islam. A dispute with his brother resulted in the latter becoming sultan with the name Zain-ul'Abidin. Under his half-century of rule Kashmir expanded to include Tibet and other places while prospering under his wise government. Local administrators were not allowed to exact money illegally, and the peasants gained needed tax relief. Fining the village headman whenever a robbery occurred reduced theft. Zain-ul'Abidin worked to undo the previous wrongs against Hindus by recalling Brahmins and proclaiming religious tolerance. Temples were built, and stipends were even restored to learned Brahmins; he stopped the poisoning of cows. His court became a center of Hindu and Muslim culture as his fame spread.

The caste system infected the Muslims, as they essentially formed a top caste of Arabs, Turks, Afghans, and Persians over an upper caste of Hindu converts and two occupational castes, one of which was considered "unclean." Women of upper caste Hindus were secluded in purdah as well as the Muslim women, though the poor who worked were not much affected by this. Muslim merchants controlled most of the overseas trade. The radical Muslim mystics called Sufis were not afraid to challenge orthodox doctrine and customs for liberal ideals. The poll tax imposed on Hindus for "permission" to live in their homeland by Muslim rulers and the many restrictions on their behavior severely separated these two religious groups in a way that the tolerant spiritual tradition of India never knew before. Many Muslims considered it lawful to take the lives and possessions of Hindus for even minor infractions. Ibn Battuta observed that half the crops of the "protected" Hindus were taken by the state. He described horrible cruelties perpetrated against Hindus by the sultan of Ma'bar, whose death he believed God hastened, and he noted that communal violence between Muslims and Malabar residents was frequent. For all their forced conversions of others to Islam, the Muslims believed that anyone renouncing Islam or persuading anyone to do so deserved death. Many Hindus treated Muslims as polluted untouchables, as the hatred became mutual.