Author: Fauja Singh
Editor(s): Fauja Singh
Publisher: Punjabi University
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 317
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8173807809
Description
This volume relates to the 500 year-long period of the Sultanate of Delhi. It occupies a most important phase in the long and chequered history of the Punjab, because it was during this period that a new civilization entered the country and made a profound impact upon the mode of living and thinking of our people.
The Punjab during the Sultanate period (AD 1000-1526) was like a house with doors and windows partially or fully open and lashed by strong and gusty winds, in consequence of which the various articles within were either mutilated or scattered helter-skelter. Even one violent storm would be sufficient to play havoc with a house in such a condition. In this particular case, however, it was subjected not to one but to a plethora of violent and fierce storms.
This series of violent storms started from the very beginning of the Sultanate period and its pioneers, Alapotigin and Subuktigin, were the Turkish Kings of Ghazni in Afghanistan. Towards the end of the tenth century, both of them initiated border skirmishes with the Hindu rulers of the Punjab and, later on, Mahmud, son of Subuktigin, intensified these raids, culminating in a long chain of serious incursions. Mahmud, during his reign (AD998-1030) invaded India for no less than seventeen times. Several of those invasions were confined to the Punjab.
During the Sultanate period both constructive and destructive forces were at work side by side in the Punjab. Negative forces had begun to appear much earlier than the advent of the Turks, but with their arrival in India, these regressive forces firmly implanted themselves and their strangle-hold became far stronger and wider. In the new political set-up, the position of the Hindus had so greatly deteriorated in numerous ways that it threw them into a psychological mood of the darkest depression.
This state of affairs, however, is only one side of the picture. On the other side, many healthy and constructive trends were in operation. They, in reality, were the outcome of these same destructive forces. The new trends began to appear on the horizon in a gradual manner and the persons who were actually instrumental in giving them a fresh form and a new look did not belong to one particular community or society. Indeed, amongst this small band of reformers there were both Hindus and Muslims. Through the intrepid efforts of these great men, a new and healthy atmosphere came into being through which it became possible for the two mutually conflicting and seemingly antagonistic social orders to appreciate each other with grater sympathy and understanding.
This development became particularly manifest towards the end of the Sultanate period when Guru Nanak, denying himself the luxuries and comforts of a good home life, undertook arduous udasis (long journeys) and in his own novel and dramatic way exhorted people to follow the path of truth and rectitude in their daily conduct of life.
Contents
Foreword
Editor's Note
Introduction
Islam: The Founder, Beliefs and Institutions by Sri Ram Sharma
Punjab on the Eve of Muslim Invasions by Gurbux Singh
Punjab Under Ghaznavid Occupation by Gurbux Singh
Ghori Invasions by Sri Ram Sharma
Precipitate Fall of Hindu India by P Saran
Mamulk Administration by Bakshish Singh Nijjar
Khalji Administration by K A Nizami
Tughlaq Administration by K A Nizami
Timur's Invasion by Sri Ram Sharma
Punjab Under Sayyids and Lodhis by Sri Ram Sharma
People's Struggle against Political Tyranny by Buddha Prakash
Political Theory as practiced in the Punjab by Bhagat Singh
Local Government Institutions by Bhagat Singh
Religious Beliefs and Practices by L M Joshi
Social Conditions by Sant Singh Sekhon
Economic Conditions by Sri Ram Sharma
Language and Literature during the Sultanate Period Part I by Jit Singh Sital
Language and Literature during the Sultanate period Part II by Attar Singh Sittal