A major shift in the cultural, linguistic & religious areas changes the course of history
Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Muslim rule in India saw a major shift in the cultural, linguistic, and religious makeup of the subcontinent. Persian and Arabic vocabulary began to enter local languages, giving way to modern Punjabi, Bengali, and Gujarati, while creating new languages including Urdu and Deccani, used as official languages under Muslim dynasties, said Prof Emeritus Aslam Syed while responding to a question at a Webinar on Sunday.
The Arabs under Muhammad bin Qasim attacked India in 711-713 A.D. and conquered Sindh and Multan. However, the Arabs could not retain control over this region for long and left administration of these areas in the hands of the natives, said Prof Syed in reply to a question on Discourse of History on Indo-Pak History from Antiquity to Modernity V: Muslim Rule in India here.
The guest speaker Prof. Emeritus Aslam Syed has been serving the Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr Universität, Bochum, Germany. He remained Chairman, Department of History, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and also served the NIHCR as its Director.
The next attempt to capture India, said Prof Syed, was made by the Turks of Ghazni. Under Sabuktigin, Ghaznavid Empire found itself in conflict with the Kabul Hindu Shahi Raja Jayapala in the East. When Sabuktigin died and his son Mahmud ascended the throne in 998, he was engaged in the North with the Qarakhanids when the Hindu Shahi Raja renewed hostilities in East once again.
To a question, Prof Syed replied that in the early 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni launched 17 expeditions into Indian subcontinent. In 1001, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni defeated Raja Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi Dynasty of Gandhara (in modern Afghanistan), in the Battle of Peshawar and marched further West of Peshawar (in modern Pakistan) and, in 1005, made it the center for his forces.
The Webinar, arranged online by the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR), Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, was attended by over 800 participants ranging from students, teachers and researchers to have greater insights into the valuable views of the guest speaker.
Writing in 1030, Al Biruni reported on the devastation caused during the conquest of Gandhara and much of northwest India by Mahmud of Ghazni following his defeat of Jayapala in the Battle of Peshawar at Peshawar in 1001, Prof Syed said.
To a question, Prof Syed informed that the foundation of Muslim rule in India was laid by Shahab-ud-Din Ghori towards the close of the 12th century A.D. Ghori seized the throne of Ghazni in 1173. After consolidating his position, he turned his attention towards the fertile plains of India.
It was the 24th consecutive session on the Discourse of History, a brainchild of the NIHCR Director Dr Sajid Mahmood Awan. This activity inculcates interest to learn more and more about history not only among students, scholars and historians as well as among ordinary people belonging to any field of life to know about nations’ ways of running their States in a journey from antiquity to modernity.
Replying a question, Prof Syed said that Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori was a conqueror from the region of Ghor in modern Afghanistan. Before 1160, the Ghaznavid Empire covered an area running from central Iran East to the Punjab, with capitals at Ghazni on the banks of Ghazni River in present-day Afghanistan, and at Lahore in present-day Pakistan. In 1160, the Ghurids conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznavids, and in 1173 Muhammad Bin Sām was made governor of Ghazni.
In 1186 and 1187, Ghori conquered Lahore in alliance with a local Hindu ruler, ending the Ghaznavid Empire and bringing the last of Ghaznavid territory under his control, and seemed to be the first Muslim ruler seriously interested in expanding his domain in the sub-continent, Prof Syed said in reply to a question.
The NIHCR Director Dr. Awan conducted the Webinar by triggering a dialogue with Dr. Syed for substantiating this discourse. This inclusive activity has been taken up every week for the benefit of students in general and capacity-building of the teachers and researchers in particular, he said.