Turkish Invasion

Indian history has been one of the most diverse phenomenons ever witnessed. The India of today has been shaped by various events throughout history. People don’t realise but even the smallest of historical events have a very deep impact in the future outcome of people’s lives, country’s stature and much more. Every common man in India knows and talks about the Mughal rule in India, how it shaped our country be it for good or worse. But today I wanna talk about an empire preceding the Mughals, the Turks.

The Turks entered India under the leadership of Mahmud Ghazni. Mahmud was an established warrior and a recognised ruler. He decided to invade India 999 AD. Mahmud was already a proud and prosperous ruler. Unlike the Mongols, he had change the ideologies of the turks. They didn’t just boast their muscular strength anymore but embraced Islam that brought prosperity in their country. Opposed to his advisors, Mahmud took an oath to invade India. The Turk prodigy has two reason to conquer the Golden Bird (Sonhchirya). He was is desperate need of wealth. He had a large empire but not enough recourses to preserve it. India was one of the richest regions of the world and Mahmud wanted his hands on it before anyone else could. Mahmud also wanted to spread Islam throughout the world as a superior religion. Hence he decided to overrun India. India was always a divided country back then. The south had no prominent kingdom. The Gupta period almost over. The Rajputs fighting with themselves. Hence, it served a great opportunity for Ghazni who invaded India 17 times.

If you think about it, these events may be very big for a History enthusiast, but we never talk about all this. The Turkish invasion eventually paved the way for Babur to invade the country and mark the beginning of the Mughal dynasty. All these events form a connection with each other. Who knows, we would have had am alternate history of these events didn’t take place. Hence, it maybe true that everything happens for a reason. Maybe all events are connected. All these things may seem smaller compared to others, they carry equal weight on our history books. That’s what I wanted to tell the word today.

- Shubham Mohta

By Saanika Shah