Establishment of Turkish Rule in India

Turkish Rule in India discussed by Harsh

The establishment of Turkish rule in India during the last decade of 12^th century AD, marked the beginning of new phase in Indian history because for many centuries hereafter India was ruled by Turko-Afghan rulers. This establishment came to be known as Delhi Sultanate. They brought new culture and new outlook which were quite different from the traditional Indian socio-cultural system.

The establishment of Turkish rule in India was not the result of any sudden development. The defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan in the second battle of Tarrain in c. 1192 AD, was result of number of factors. These factors were responsible for the defeat of Rajputs and success of Turks were inherent in the politico-administration, socio-cultural economic and religious life. 

Also Read : Early Medieval India – Religious Spheres

Early Medieval Age – Land Grants, Rural Society and Administration of South-Indian States

Political Factors Behind the Defeat of Rajputs

Political fragmentation prevailing in the north-India during the 12^th century was main reason behind the defeat of Rajputs against Turks. The early Medieval age was the age of Feudalism, there was no powerful central authority in North India. A number of small principalities were ruling, because of this political fragmentation Turks didn’t face any serious challenge and emerged victorious against Rajputs.

Enmity prevailing among Indian rulers also contributed significantly to the defeat of Rajputs. For example, Prithviraj and Jai Chand of Kannauj were hostile to each other because Prithviraj married the daughter of Jai Chand against his wish. Weak leadership also contributed in defeat of Rajputs because Prithviraj was an efficient ruler but he was hardly any of the match to leadership qualities of Muhmad Ghori.

Lack of sound strategic consciousness among Indian rulers because they failed to understand the significance of north-west frontier and didn’t pay any attention to the development going in central Asia. The tripartite struggle between Palas, Rashtrakutas and Pratiharas created a hollowness in the north-India and exhausted the fighting power of people because this struggle went for more than 110 years (c. 783 to c. 900 AD).

The Indian rulers were failed to learn from their mistakes of past. The Turkish invasions against India represented a process spanning of across more than 200 years. After the death of Mahmud Ghaznavi in c. 1030 AD, no invasion took place for a long time. The Indian rulers didn’t make any efforts to expels weak successors from the north-western part of India as a result many of parts of modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan were remained under the dominance of Turks which provide base to Muhmad Ghori to invade India.

Military Factors Involved in Success of Turks in India

The weakness of nature, character and composition of Rajput military were among the reasons of defeat of Rajputs. The army of Rajputs was feudal in nature as most of soldiers were maintained by feudal lords. These soldiers were trained differently under the different feudal lord; hence lack of uniformity adversely effected the effectiveness of Rajput forces. On the hand, the military of Turks was cohesive in nature as they were centrally maintained force under the leadership of Sultan himself.

And the Rajput army was loyal to their immediate commander of feudal lord than their king. The Rajput camps were like a moving city because percentage of non-fighting was very high because Rajputs used to carry their servants, families and slaves to battle field. The Rajput military was highly dependent on the elephant forces and Turks had founded number of weaknesses of elephant.

They used to frighten away the elephant by making sound and putting them on fire, and while running elephant crushed their own soldiers. The Rajput failed to adopted new war strategies as they continued to follow the old method of full-fledged frontal attack. They didn’t keep any reserve force. While Turks followed new war strategies by attacking enemies from different sides and keep reserve force to fight enemy while main forces were exhausted.

The weapons used by Turks were of superior qualities like Persian bow known as Navak, which was helpful in shooting target from a longer distance. The Turkish cavalry men used iron strip whereas Rajputs using rope strip which make cavalry unstable when compare to Turkish cavalry. The Turkish cavalry could target enemies when it moving while Rajput cavalry need to stop for targeting enemies accurately. Turkish cavalry used iron horseshoe because of that the horse could move swiftly even in a bad terrain.

Cultural Factors Behind the Success of Turks

The idealistic Rajput culture was also responsible for their defeat. Rajputs believed in righteous or ethical warfare. For them victory by right mean was everything for them but Turks did not differentiate between right or wrong for attaining victory. Though Rajputs followed the principle of dawn to dusk fight. They never attacked the enemy after sunset. Killing of surrendered enemies was considered unethical.

Surrender before the enemy was considered shameful. So, Rajput prefer death than to surrender. Chasing a running enemy was also considered below the prestige. This what happen during the first battle of Tarrain in c. 1191 AD, Muhmad Ghori ran away and came back stronger than before and defeated Prithviraj Chauhan in second battle of Tarrain. They fore warn enemies before attacking and attacking on back also considered below prestige while Turks adopted all these means because they didn’t believe all in these ethical values to attain victory.

Turks were extremely pragmatic. They attacked the enemy when the enemy were least prepared for fight without worrying about time and other factors. Because of the idealistic nature of Rajput policy, they failed to stand against extremely shrewd Turks. The strength of their character was become the biggest weakness of Rajputs. That it why it is often commented that Rajputs were himself responsible for their defeat in the hands of Turks.

Social Factors Involved in the Emergence of Turks in India

The Rajput society was degenerated society because it was inherently divided by the evils like caste system, untouchability, child marriage, sati etc. These evil practices had exhausted the strength and vigor of Rajput society. This division didn’t allow them to fight together and they kept losing to Turks. While the Islamic society was based on the principle of equality because Sultan and an ordinary soldiers could eat food from the same plate while such things were beyond the imagination of Rajput society. And the Turks society was free of such evil practices of Rajputs.

Role of Religion in Success of Turks

Islam provided great motivation to Turkish soldiers. Concepts like Jihad and Ghazi spirit were used by Turkish rulers to motivate their soldiers. Such motivation was not provided by Indian rulers. The promotion of Islam was not the main purpose behind Turkish invasion but it was just used by rulers to keep motivated their soldiers when they away from home.

Economic Factors Involved in Success of Turks

The early Medieval age economy in North-India was agriculture-based economy, secondary and tertiary economic activities were limited or in under-developed condition. As a result of this, the resources with state were limited and the scarcity of resources seriously affected the politico-military strength of Rajput rulers as rulers failed to maintain large army on their own.

This scarcity also impacted the administration as it was difficult to do proper state work with scarcity of resources. Temples were very rich while state was facing scarcity. That why Mahmud Ghaznavi targeted temples when he invaded India and looted their resources. Rajput ruler failed to understand the importance of temple and didn’t focus on the security of the temples.

Thus, many factors were involved in the defeat of Rajputs in the hands of Turks and establishment of Turkish rule in India bring number of changes in politics, administration, society, cultural and religious aspects as well.