The Islamic Empires of India: The History of the Muslim Dynasties that Ruled India Before the British

India has been the location of many different empires throughout its long history. The Indus Valley Civilization was home to one of the world’s first civilizations more than 5,000 years ago, which was followed by the Aryan-Vedic culture and then a host of other kingdoms that flourished across the Sub-Continent. India has also been the birthplace of many religions. The Vedic religion of the Aryans evolved into the Hindu religion, and Buddhism and Jainism were also born in India. By the Middle Ages, India was home to many different religions and ethnic groups, with dozens of languages being spoken, making India less of a single, unified country and more of a land of many countries. Despite India’s tradition of cultural and political pluralism, several rulers attempted to place the entire Sub-Continent under the rule of one dynasty or government with a dominant religion. Most of these would-be rulers were far from successful, although a few came close, setting the template for later conquerors.

Ashoka (ruled c. 268-232 BCE) was the first Indian ruler who nearly unified the Sub-Continent under his rule, conquering all but the southern tip of India and subjecting the land to his strict version of Buddhism. Later kings and warlords were far less successful in their attempts to place all, or even most of India under their rule, until an unlikely band of Turkish Muslim slaves rode into the region in the late 12th century. The religion of Islam had entered India centuries earlier through merchants and missionaries, but, in the 10th century, warrior bands of Muslims began establishing themselves permanently in what is today Pakistan. From their permanent strongholds, these Muslim warriors of Turkish descent raided northern India, eventually capturing the city of Delhi, establishing what would become the Delhi Sultanate. From 1206 to 1526, the Delhi Sultanate controlled all of northern India and, during its apogee of power, nearly all of the Sub-Continent, making it one of the most impressive empires not only in India’s long history, but also in the history of Islam.

The Delhi Sultanate was comprised of five dynasties that expanded their borders, and Islam, at sword point, but also through diplomacy and trade. The Delhi Sultanate became known as a state that welcomed the expertise of foreigners, no matter their religion, and promoted the welfare of its citizens through a host of social programs. Eventually, the Delhi Sultanate grafted ideas and inspiration from India’s pre-Islamic past with those of Islam to create a state that was quite unique and powerful.

The Mughals, a group with Turkish and Mongolian roots, used gunpowder weapons to sweep into northern India, topple the existing Islamic dynasty in Delhi, and eventually subject most of India to their rule. The term “gunpowder empire” was originally coined by Russian scholar V. V. Bartold and popularized by American historians William McNeil and Marshall Hodgson in the mid-20th century to describe the Islamic Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires, which they claimed came to power through gunpowder. Although that core thesis has been challenged by historians in recent years, who argue that gunpowder weapons were a feature or result of the rise of these empires, not the cause for them, the term is still used (Streusand 2011, 3).

In the process, the Mughals developed a state that was unique in many ways, adopting elements of Islamic culture and meshing them with native Indian culture and even Western European culture. When the British conquered India in the mid-19th century, they had the benefit of inheriting the Mughal system, which, despite many problems, proved to be a suitable template for rule over a land as vast and diverse as India.