Indian Economy and Its History

Mahmud ascended the throne of Gazhni in 997 after the death of Subaktigin.  From the conquering of khorasan, Ghur in the year 1000 to the invasion in India’s Somnath Temple , his power was considered as the most formidable one. It is a known fact that Mahmud never once tried to establish rule in India. His sole intention was to ransack Hindu temples, which he did repeatedly with great success in Somnath, Ujjain and Dwarka. His motive was to destroy the glories of Hindus and expose Islam and spread the same. In order to accomplish this he captured the forts and towns of Khyber, looted the kingdoms and killed people mercilessly. He also had many invasion under his rule .

He invaded Mathura in 1018 after breaking all the idols and breaking the temples. He destroyed the existence of Hindus from all the places he could. His invasion of Somnath temple in 1025 clearly epitomized his intentions. This invasion made him the hero of Islam. The effect of Mahmud’s invasion included Punjab under the empire of Ghazni. The major one was that all the above invasions paved way for the muslims of India. This was one of the biggest setbacks to India as the existence of temples, idols was wiped away under his reign. His expeditions opened India to conquest from the north-west. The significance of Mahmud’s invasion also paved the way for the Muslim saints called the Sufis providing the driving power to greater Hindu-Muslim interaction. The Sufi Saint Mir Mohammad Hamadani waged a crusade against the Hindus to realize their conversion to Islam. Due to his actions, large numbers of Hindus converted, fled, or were killed for refusal to convert. But on the other hand Sufism did bring tolerance and also tried to spread ideas like equality, love and submission to god.

The Mughal Emperors attained great power in India in the 16th and 17th centuries. They controlled a major chunk of what is now called as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Empire survived in a diluted form, for another hundred years, until 1858 when there was a British presence and the Mughal Empire was absorbed into the Raj. They brought in with them many changes which include centralized government that brought together many small kingdoms, the Persian art and culture, system of education that took into account pupil’s needs and culture. The first Mughal emperor Babur founded the empire which was sophisticated civilization based on religious toleration. He gave approval to build Hindu temples. This brought in the Hindu culture. The importance of slavery under his reign diminished and peace was made with the Hindu kingdoms of Southern India. Babur’s grandson Akbar believed that all religions should be tolerated, and that a ruler's duty was to treat all believers equally, whatever their belief. He brought the culture that a non-Muslim will not be forced to practice Islamic laws. He also ended taxes that were imposed on non-Muslims. Jahangir readopted Islam as the state religion and continued the policy of religious toleration. His court included large numbers of Indian Hindus, Persian Shia’s and Sufis. Aurangzeb ruled for nearly 50 years. Aurangzeb was a very observant and religious Muslim who ended the policy of religious tolerance followed by earlier emperors. The last Mughal Emperor was deposed by the British in 1858.