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The History of Hindu India, Part 3/5
History, Documentary
(Tapescript) Namaste. My name is Raj Narayan. In this documentary we will talk about the foreign invasions and rule of India between 1000 and 1847 ce -- from the Arab Muslims to the British rulers.
This was a difficult time for the common people of India who faced religious persecution and economic hardship. However this period also saw the development of great music, devotional literature and Indo-Islamic art and architecture.
This is the great temple of Somnath, which held an important position in this period of Indian history, a time of warfare, conquest and subjugation. Of all the ancient world cultures that the Muslims conquered and ruled during this era, only the Indian culture and Hindu identity survived largely intact and continue to flourish today.
This is a high tribute to the determination and courage and resistance of the people of this great land.
The Foreign Conquests
The first Muslim conquest was of the Sindh region by Arabs from Basra in southern Iraq in 712, not long after Islam was founded. By 870, Arab armies conquered the Hindu kingdoms of southwestern Afghanistan, but were prevented by the kings of northern India from advancing east of Khyber Pass.
The next wave of invasions began in the late 10th century. These attacks were by Central Asian Muslim Turks who were already established in southwestern Afghanistan. Their leader, Mahmud of Ghazni, raided India 17 times between 1001 and 1024.
In each city, his armies looted and destroyed temples and killed or enslaved the inhabitants. The attack on the renowned Shiva temple at Somnath in 1024 was the most horrific, involving the massacre of 50,000 defenders and the plunder of the city's fabulous wealth.
As a result of these invasions and warfare, twenty million indians perished between 1000 and 1100 ce according to modern historians. This was about 10 percent of the population.
In the words of the contemporary Arabic scholar Al- Biruni, "These invasions utterly ruined the prosperity of the country."
Between 1192 and 1194, Muhammad of Ghur, also Turkic, finally defeated the Hindu rulers of the Delhi-Ajmer region and the Ganga river valley. In 1206, his regime established formal Muslim rule, called the Sultanate, in the key city of Delhi.
By 1300, the Sultanate had secured stable control around its main stronghold in the north. Early in the next century, its invasions reached as far south as Thanjavur and Madurai. But these more remote regions were never annexed.
Hindu rule generally continued in Rajasthan and Gujarat and thrived throughout the south during these nine centuries, notably under the Vijayanagara empire founded in 1336 by Hindu princes re-converted from Islam.
In 1504, Babur, a descendant of both the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan and the famous Central Asian Muslim ruler Timur, seized Kabul, Afghanistan, and from there attacked India. He overpowered both the Muslim Sultan of Delhi and the Hindu Rajput confederacy to found the Mogul Empire. His army was the first in India to use matchlock rifles and field cannons, which had deadly effects against his enemies.
Babur's grandson, Akbar, who became emperor in 1556, expanded the Mughal Empire over northern India and part of the Deccan by conquest and by entering into alliances with Hindu kings. Akbar's rule was noted for its religious harmony and the beginning of Indo-Islamic art and architecture.
Unfortunately, Akbar's successors did not inherit his tolerance. His great-grandson Aurangzeb, who annexed most of the south, also resumed the destruction of temples and reimpose the hated jizya, a religious tax, on the Hindus.
A legendary Hindu hero of this era was the courageous Maratha warrior Shivaji. By the time of his birth in 1627, the Marathas had lived under Muslim domination for hundreds of years.
At age 17, Shivaji led his first military campaign. Within 10 years he gained control of enough territory to alarm both his overlord, the Sultan of Bijapur, and Emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi, both of whom sent large armies to subdue him. But Shivaji's smaller, fast-moving and well-armed forces proved invincible.
Unlike earlier Hindu kings, Shivaji made use of modern means of warfare, such as rifles and cannons, and developed a navy to expand his power. He inaugurated independent Maratha rule by performing his coronation in 1674.
By the mid-18th century, the Mughal Empire had declined. The Sikhs, Jats, Rajputs and Marathas as well as the Mughla Imperial provincial governors of Oudh, Bengal and Hyderabad had carved independent states, thereby leaving no strong central government in India.
Since 1498 when the Portuguese arrived in India a number of European powers including the Dutch, British and French established trading posts in India. This also contributed to the disintegration of the Mughal Empire.
The British, in particular, established the East India Company in 1600 to trade goods between Britain, India and other Eastern countries. Like the other Europeans, they came to India as businessman not conquerors.
However, over time, the East India Company fortified key trading post using private armies, meddled in local politics, engaged in unfair trading practices and levied heavy taxes. Through a strategy of divide and conquer, they attained near total control of the Indian subcontinent, a story which I will tell in part 4 of this documentary.
Hindu Religion During Muslim Times
The Arab and Turkic Muslim invaders who swept across the Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia were intent on religious domination, demanding conversion from those they conquered and subjugated.
According to Muslim accounts of the time, thousands of Indian temples were sacked and destroyed including hundreds at sacred pilgrimage destinations such as Somnath, Mathura, Vrindaban and Varanasi.
A religious tax, jizya, was imposed on conquered non-Muslims. This tax and the periodic violence put strong pressure on Hindus to convert.
However, the caste or jati system proved a major obstacle and only a fraction of Hindus converted. Jati formed an integral part of one's identity and place in the Hindu community, one which would be lost upon conversion. Some Hindus of low socioeconomic status were tempted to convert in order to improve their position.
However, in practice, this adoption of the foreign religion did not bring the promised advancement. The convert to Islam, and later Christianity, simply formed new jatis or casts among themselves of similar status.
Meanwhile in South India, in areas beyond Moghul control, Hindu religion thrived, with frequent and spirited temple festivals providing a vital part of each community's social, cultural and religious life.
The art of building majestic temples reached its peak during this period. Many of these remarkable structures are popular places of worship today.
Dynamic saint philosophers of the time inspired devotional lineages which strengthened Hindus and discouraged conversion. Among the most notable Vaishnava saints were Ramanuja and Madhva. Around 1,200, Jayadeva, a popular writer in Orissa and Bengal wrote the famous Gita Govinda.
The Hindus of Maharastra were similarly roused by Jnaneshvara, Namdeva, Tukaram and Samarth Ramdas.
In North India Swami Ramanand inspired the worship of God as Lord Rama, a personal and intimate form of the divine. From his popular teachings two traditions arose.
The first included Nimb and totally does arka, Chaitanya, Surdas, Mirabai and Tulsidas Each encouraged worship of Lord Krishna or Lord Rama and influenced millions of people with spiritual songs in the regional languages.
The second tradition began with Ramananda's disciple Kabir. Born in Varanasi, orphaned at a young age and raised by a low caste Muslim family of weavers, he grew up in Islamic culture, but was drawn as a boy to follow the teachings of the Hindu saint Ramananda. Kabir strove to promote religious harmony by appealing to both Hindus and Muslims, teaching that there is only one God for all religions. Often referring to Rama as his Lord, he wrote hundreds of spiritual poems in Hindi which are sunk to this day by millions.
Another remarkable religion, Sikhism, emerged in India at the start of the 16th century and became a powerful force.
Its founder, Guru Nanak, taught "Realization of truth is higher than all else. Higher still is truthful living." He emphasized the continuous recitation of God's name and declared that meditation is the means to see God, who is omnipresent. Dissent from prevailing beliefs has always been common within Hinduism, sometimes resulting in new sects and from time to time even the development of distinct religions.
Nine Sikh Gurus followed Nanak. The eighth, Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb for defending religious freedom. His son and successor, Gobind Singh, transform the Sikhs into a warrior community called the Khalsa, which means "The pure." Gobind Singh decreed that he was the last Sikh Guru and after his death the Guru Granth Sahib, their holy scripture, would be the guide.
He instituted the five articles of Sikh identity to be worn at all times: Kesh (uncut hair); Kangha (comb); Kirpan (dagger); Kara (iron bracelet) and Kachera or Kachcha (short pants). These have both a religious and a military significance.
From that time forward, the Sikhs have been an influential political and military force in North India. Sihhism developed and is concentrated mostly in the Punjab region. Today Sikhism has 26 million followers all over the world.
Teaching Religion Through Songs
India has always had an extraordinarily diverse musical scene. It ranges from the complex compositions of the classical tradition to the villagers' devotional hymns and simple work songs in their local language.
Bhajana and kirtan are congregational singing of devotional songs.
India's classical Carnatic music is also spiritual and devotional in nature, but much more complex. Songs were originally composed in Sanskrit and later increasingly in the regional languages, such as Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.
Both are based upon the concept of tala, which means a rhythm and raga, which is a system of notes producing a melody. Talas range from the simple and most common 8 beat Adi tala... ...to elaborate rhythms such as the Ata tala composed of 14 beats divided as 5, 5, 2 and 2.
Ragas include notes from the seven note Indian scale (sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dhi, ni) as well as microtones, which are like the sharps and flats of Western music, only more numerous.
Singers improvise upon the basic melody while keeping within the chosen raga. The results are spontaneous, creative and never the same, much like the improvisations in Western jazz. This is one key way that Indian classical music differs from Western classical music, which is usually played exactly as it was composed.
Both the popular village music and the more formal classical compositions are religious and emotional in nature. Song and storytelling where the main ways most people in those days learned and expressed their religion. It helped them endure difficult times.
Beginning in 1000, Muslim armies conquered vast regions of India, causing great suffering and destruction. They sacked temples, monasteries and major educational centers including 1193, the great university at Nalanda.
South India was far from the Muslim capitals of Delhi and Agra and difficult to attack. It escaped the frequent warfare and the foreign dominance that beset North India, suffering only periodic raids, temporary subjugation and payment of monetary tributes.
Wherever Hindus were conquered, they continue to resist, mainly on a social and religious level. Most Hindus did not convert to Islam, despite inducements, violence and religious taxation.
The arrival of European traders especially the British East India Company, radically transformed the political situation over time. By force and skillful politics, the British slowly gained complete control of the Indian subcontinent, a story we shall narrate next time. Until then, Namaste.
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