Hist Notes 5 10 240 888 0073 Guptas represent a culmination of the historical values we have been talking about great conquest is seen in the Gupta s and maturation of S Asian culture and politics and religion pd of good unity and rule time of many great religious like the Gita merging of religious belief and idea s relationship b w Gods and human kind Guptas enjoyed an imp phase of expansion in the 1st C then in 5th C they fell on hard times as a consequence of the volkerwanderwagon in S Asia the Gupta s powers were disrupted by the Huna the Huns in the ensueing centuries a couple of major developments occurred in the wake of the collapse of the Guptas India entered into a pd of regionalism where the former unity est by the Guptas broke down in the wake of the Guptas we see the rise of the Rajputs local military commanders who est themselves in local kingdoms throughout India they helped lay foundation of whats to come there was a pd where there was a growing geo division b w the Northern collection of Rajputs and then a Southern focus in the S the Chola Kingdom dynasty came to be the center of successful Indian politics Chola in S benefitted from Indian ocean trade routes and contacts with Africa but more imp than the rise of the S Territories were the developments that took place in the north that would effect the ultimate faith of S Asia would introduce series of new questions and issues that continue to still be worked out today process in began in 7 and early 8th C s this is the arrival of Islam Islam would forever change the complexion of S Asian society and history introducing a new political and religious force and also a great military power in great wave of Islamic expansion and Mohammed s work they also went East they had spread into NW India and would exert a permanent presence in NW India in E Persia in Afghanistan and here they would remain and find access to imp international trade routes over 9th C many raids occurred and at the end of 10th and beg of 11th C an imp transoframtion in the relations of Islam and India took place transformation led by Mahmud of Ghazni ruled 997 1030 and he was a successful conquorer and he laid foundation and had many imp raids in N India which led to ultimate est of control of N India by Muslim leaders he was a very brutal conqueror these raids resembled a jihad holy war function one of his most notorious rates led to the destruction of the great temple complex complex called Shiva he destroyed this temple complex and 50 000 ppl killed in the process and what this indicates is a kind of growing aggressive attitude toward S Asia and kind of first step in the perm est of Islam power and control over a wide swath of Northern India Muslims begun to lay a foundation and territorial claims and est themselves as a strong presence in E Persia and afghansitan which provided a launching pad into borader area of N India and this full fledged incursion into India took place beginning in 1192 in 1192 a foundation was laid for the est of the Delhi Sultanate who was a political entity chief political officer the DS would est itself over vast area over N India Mohammed of Gur began this process of conquest he invaded Inda and seized Delhi in 1192 and in the process he fought many battles with the Rajputs fearsome warriors of independent divisions over the corse of 13th C the Delhi extended its stretch of pol power moving across N Indai and moving under central parts of India under ppl like Razziya 13th C Raz had all virtues of a man but she was a woman she is only female ruler of Delhi she wanted to expand power of new Islamic force in S Asia later in the 13th C Ala ud Din declared himself the 2nd Alexander and moved a large section of power into central India even more and creating a large Islamic presence in India leaders of the Delhi were great conq and rulers they repeatedly faced incursions form the North and faced problem constantly with the Monguls great builders they toppled the Abbasids and in had success in Russia the Monguls but they were also not in S Asia bc the rulers of Delhi prevented them from successfully ruling there the Delhi Sultant faced a bigger challenge than the monguls this is a challenge that continues to plague inda and S Asian society still today bc delhi sultant were Muslim and most of the ppl in India were not muslim we have here a small commadnign muslim unit preciding over a large pop of non Muslims Muslims by definition are monotheistic and Hindus are NOT so here we have a fundamental disagreement here in the Islamic tradition there is a sense of a social structure ppl and one God but in Indian tradition we have a caste system and rigid division of social orders which is not egalitarian like the Muslims In terms of religious ideas and principles these guys do not mix well and this is a potential problem bc the minority Muslims are in charge and among other things the Jizyah was implemented by Muslims tax on all non muslims this will bring in lots of money now there were periods of violence exercised by Delhi Sultan times in which tensions found a way to be smoother over and the diffs kind of put behind so this is a situation where at times there was an ability to efficiently coexist so that the authority was recognized without overly burdening the population this points out the challenge of S Asian history what the Delhi reflects is the challenge which is a great variety of different ppl and the challenge is getting them all to come together the diffs b w muslim minority ruling elite and est Hindu majority at times led to great problems led to the limitations on the native Hindus Buddhists in S Asia faced hostility from Hindus and muslims and biddhist institutions were destroyed but this also stimulated missionary activity by muslims in s Asia there were efforst though to brideg the gap and there were elements in Islam and Hinduism in which each religion respected the practice of the other philosophical monism unity of all existence being idea that brahman is a source of everything is perhaps an idea that might appeal to monotheists like Muslims there were elements that were appealing to both sides Guru Nanak died in end of hist of delhi sultan and first of the Siks is sometimes said to have found a way to bridge the gap b w Muslims and Hindus he developed hymns and poems that forms the Guru Adi Granth which becomes the core of the most imp religious texts of the Sikhism religios his religious poetry is