Completed B.Com from DAVV, Indore
Cleared CS, CWA (CMA) and CA Final (Group I)


Abhyudaya Kelkar

The Arab invasion of Sindh, which brought Islamic Civilization to India and the rise of Rajputs were two factors which changed the course of Indian history and dominated the events of one millennium. These thousand years between the eighth to the eighteenth century gave the culture and polity of India a new dimension. 

Our course on Medieval India is specifically designed to explain the events in India during the Medieval Period vis-a-vis the then known world.

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English

Medieval India - The First Three Centuries

General Awareness

Indian History

Crash Course

Medieval History

History

UPSC CSE

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The Arab invasion of Sindh, which brought Islamic Civilization to India and the rise of Rajputs were two factors which changed the course of Indian history and dominated the events of one millennium. These thousand years between the eighth to eighteenth century gave the culture and polity of India a new dimension. 
Our course on Medieval India is specifically designed to explain the events in India during the Medieval Period vis-a-vis the then known world.
 This Course has been divided into 7 parts.
This first part has been sub-divided into 12 Lessons.

Overview: The First Three Centuries of the Medieval Period

The period between 700 to 711 was the transitional period between the Ancient and Medieval periods. Although it bears all the features of the Ancient Period, we include it in the Medieval Period, to make calculation easier and for easy understanding. This whole period was dominated the new religion, Islam.
Before it was introduced on a mentionable scale, i.e. in 711, there was this transitional decade. In this lesson, we will just talk about the condition of India just before the Arab Invasion of 711-12.

Period between 700 to 711 AD.

The Umayyads made some excuses to invade Sindh. The basic motive was to capture as much land or accumulate as much wealth as possible from India, which was ‘wealthy’ as per the Arab chronicles of that time.
They conquered Sindh and Multan and made further inroads under Muhammad bin Qasim and Junaid. They got a base at Sindh to make invasions deeper into India. They raided as far as MP, southern Gujarat, HP.
We will talk about these Arab raids of 700s.

Arab Invasion of Sindh

There were certain noteworthy effects of this invasion. Hinduism owes this invasion for its meaning and definition. Apart from this, religion as a state policy was a new concept for India. 
The political consequences were much more evident and gave rise to new powerful empires. We will talk about all these aftermaths in this lesson. The Rashtrakutas of the Deccan, the Pratiharas of northern and central India and the Palas of the eastern India were three great Indian power that emerged after this wave of invasions. These will be discussed in the forthcoming lessons.

Aftermaths of the Arab Invasion of Sindh

Rashtrakutas overthrew their overlords, the Badami Chalukyas, to master the Deccan. They remained the only power in the Deccan for the next two and a half centuries.
Meanwhile, they made extensive campaigns in every direction and remained virtually undefeated in the battlefield. Such was the might of these Imperial Rashtrakutas. Within two centuries of their glory, they made numerous contributions in many fields, like architecture, sculpture, literature, etc.
In this first part we will talk about the great Rashtrakuta Emperors.

The Rashtrakutas - Part 1

In this part, the later Rashtrakuta Emperors and the reasons of their decline will be explained.  Also, their contributions in various fields like art and architecture, religion, language and literature, etc. were numerous.
Ellora, Kannada, Digambar Jain religious literature were few of these, along with some Pattadakal temples, among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
These all facts have been described in this lesson.

The Rashtrakutas - Part 2

The north and central India was divided into numerous Rajput principalities scattered throughout this region.  There were Suryavanshis and Chandravanshi, and a new clan Agnikula or Agnivanshis, born out of a yajna, according to the legends. These Agnivanshis included Chauhans, Solankis, Parmars and Pratihars. Out of these four, the Pratiharas went on to create a loose confederation of almost all Rajput states and create the ‘Gurjara – Pratihara Empire’.
They held Kannauj for nearly three centuries, at least for two centuries of their imperial period. They had to face the Rashtrakutas from the south and the Palas from the east, and later, the Ghaznavids from the north, for having Kannauj in their hands. Why Kannauj was so important, we have already talked about that so many times already. 
Now we will discuss the Imperial Pratiharas and their contributions.

The Pratiharas

Finally, the third pillar of this era, the Palas. The Palas had a rather obscure origin. The first king Gopala was an ‘elected’ one. His successors turned his possessions into an ‘empire’.  This Pala Empire held the eastern India for almost three centuries. Bihar, Bengal and Odisha regions were under their influence throughout this period.
The development of the Proto-Bangla Language and the most notable feature, the revival of Mahayana Buddhism, were the two greatest contributions of the Imperial Palas. Nalanda and many other universities flourished under their patronage. In fact, the region became the ‘capital’ of Mahayanism spread across the Orient. 
Let us talk about the Pala emperors and their achievements.

The Palas

The three great powers – Rashtrakutas of the Deccan , Pratiharas of the north-central India and the Palas of Bengal, clashed with each other and fought numerous internecine wars, in order to capture the fertile Gangetic plains, or for the control of Kannauj, which was the symbol of wealth and power during this period.
These clashes continued for almost two and a half centuries and finally resulted in their exhaustion and destruction by the ‘Mlechchhas’ and the invading foreigners, the Turks.
Through maps, I have explained this ‘Tripartite Struggle’.

The Tripartite Struggle

Islam was spread over almost a third of the then known world. Politically, the Abbasid Caliphate controlled an area equivalent to almost four times the size of today’s India. Forget area, it extended from Morocco in north-western Africa to Sindh and then into Central Asia.
There was difficult peace yet enormous development in various disciplines like science, mathematics, geography, philosophy, literature, art, and virtually every field known at that time. And this started happening from the Abbasid capital, Baghdad, the location of the ‘House of Wisdom’. This five centuries of ‘the Golden Age of Islam’ was a revolution in itself. Let us understand it.

The Golden Age of Islam

There were significant developments in the various religions, sects and cults thriving in the subcontinent harmoniously. This Medieval Period introduced two more new religions – Islam and Zoroastrianism. Although Zoroastrianism could never become a mass religion, Islam did manage to attract masses by various means discussed in this lesson.
As a result there was a competition between the indigenous sects and cults and the new religions. This brought many changes to these indigenous cults too, now clubbed as ‘Hinduism’.
We will talk about all these matters in this lesson.

Religion During the Three Centries

The Indo-Aryans, the Indo-Greeks, the Shakas, the Kushanas, the Hunas (Hephthalites), the Ghaznavids, the Ghurids, the Timurids, all had one thing in common – they all came from Central Asia. This region remains poorly studied and taught in our syllabus. Unless we understand the developments in those regions, we cannot establish a correlation between the conditions in the central Asia and their invasions in India. It is necessary to study the Indian history in global perspective too. That’s why this lesson. 
In this lesson we will discuss the political developments taking place in central Asia and the origin of Ghaznavids, their campaigns in central Asia before turning their attention towards India.

The Developments in Central Asia

The  Ghaznavids before Mahmud have been discussed in Lesson-10. Now we will learn about the political conditions of India before the Ghaznavid invasions, starting from 1000 AD.
This will be the conclusion of our Part-I of the course on Medieval India as well.
India had many pretty states spread across the length and breadth of the sub-continent. However, there were some exceptionally powerful kingdoms and empires that could have defeated Ghazni. But since there was no ‘patriotism’, no concept of a united India, none of these great powers made attempt to stall these invasions.
Let us learn more about these states.

India on the eve of Ghaznavid Invasion

MBA | 7+ Years of teaching Experience | Appeared in MPPSC Mains | Teaching- History, Polity & MPGS at top offline institute of MP.

Hari Singh Rajput

This course is a Discussion about Foreign invasions for UPSC CSE

(Hindi) Foreign Invasions for UPSC CSE

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Anuj Garg

This course will cover the important topics under the Medieval History of India. The course will be beneficial for UPSC CSE aspirants.

Most Important Topics Under Medieval History: UPSC CSE

 History lecturer, Faced UPSC & State PSC interviews.

Sunil Singh

The course discusses Medieval History through mcqs. It covers various topics like Sufi Bhakti movement, Sultanate , Mughal period- art and culture, economy , polity etc.it will help to understand the concept and facts of Medieval period.

(Hindi) Target UPSC-2019, Medieval History MCQs

In this course, the educator discusses the Arab Invasions, Turk invasion, Mehmood and Gauri Attack, Saltnat Period, Mughal and Maratha Periods. The course will be beneficial for UPSC CSE Aspirants.

(Hindi) Medieval Indian History for UPSC CSE

Pawan Jha

In this course, the educator is discussing the rise of Maratha. We would also discuss in detail about Shivaji and his achievements.

(Hindi) UPSC CSE: Shivaji and Maratha

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Arti Chhawari

The course covers the History of Medieval India by Satish Chandra and Medieval history from Tamil Nadu board book in one go.
This course provides a detailed study of these standard books recommended for UPSC aspirants.
The course will help to study the whole medieval history from the first three empires in north i.e.,Palas, Prathiharas and Rastrakutas to Mughal Empire through lots stories and creative slides.

Lessons

13 lessons • 2h 15m

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Overview: The First Three Centuries of the Medieval Period

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Period between 700 to 711 AD.

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Arab Invasion of Sindh

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Aftermaths of the Arab Invasion of Sindh

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The Rashtrakutas - Part 1

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The Rashtrakutas - Part 2

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The Pratiharas

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The Palas

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The Tripartite Struggle

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The Golden Age of Islam

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