Establishment of Muslim Rule in Delhi

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Establishment of Muslim Rule in Delhi and the Ganges Valley

 

But before his death at the hands of Pritiviraj Chouhan, Mahmud Ghori

had once more attacked India and defeated the haughty Jaichandra

Gahadwala at the battle of Chandwar in 1194 and captured Kannauj. The

Rajput princes had refused to unite and had gone down one after

another leaving the field open to the Muslim Aggressor, who now

established himself in the heart of North India by 1194 C.E. Mahmud

Ghori, himself did not settle in India, but he left his slave named

Kutub-ud-din Aibak to rule by proxy. Kutub-ud-Din Aibak, asserted his

independence soon after Mahmud Ghori's death in Afghanistan and

formed his own dynasty - the Slave Dynasty or the Gulam Saltanat. The

word Gulam occurs frequently among Muslims both as a first name and a

family name. This indicates that many of them descended from slaves

captured from the subjugated people.

 

Thus in the period from 715 C.E. to 1194 C.E. we see the gradual

establishment of Muslim rule over all parts of North India, which in

the following 120 years spreads itself over the whole of India with

the campaign of Malik Kafur, the general of Alla-ud-din Khilji in

1324 C.E. overrunning the kingdoms of the Yadavas at Devagiri in

Maharashtra, the Kakatiyas at Warangal in Andhra, the Hoysalas at

Belur-Halebid in Karnataka and the Pandyas at Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

This invasion marked the eclipse of Hindu sovereignty for the next

753 years from 1194 C.E. till 1947 C.E.

 

The Kutub Minar - A symbol in granite of the change of India's political

fortunes

Kutub-ud-Din Aibak built the Kutub Minar as a symbol of his victory. He used the

columns from destroyed Hindu and Jain temples from the Pithoragarh complex to

build the Minar. Pithoragarh was the capital of Prithviraj Chauhan - the last

Hindu ruler of Delhi. The damaged motifs on the pillars surrounding the Kutub

Minar show clear Hindu origins. A testimony to the vandalism of the Muslim

Aggressors. Kutub-ud-Din Aibak, asserted his independence soon after Mahmud

Ghori's death in Afghanistan and formed his own dynasty - the Slave Dynasty or

the Gulam Saltanat. The word Gulam occurs frequently among Muslims both as a

first name and a family name. This indicates that many of them descended from

slaves captured from the subjugated people.