RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES AND MILITARY FEUDALISMforeigner before the advent of the Europeans. Mahmud’s fanaticism was
not directed exclusively against the Hindus and other infidels; he attacked
Muslim heretics with equal ferocity. Thus he twice waged hostilities
against Multan, whose ruler, Daud, was an Ismaili. During his second
onslaught on Multan he killed many local Muslims because they had not
kept their promise of returning to orthodox Islam.
Whatever one may think of Mahmud, he was certainly one of the few
people who made a lasting impact on Indian history. His great military
successes were, however, not entirely due to his own skill and valour. The
political situation in North India around 1000 was very favourable to a
determined invader. The perpetual triangular contest between the powers
of northern, eastern and central India had weakened all of them. It had
particularly sapped the strength of the Gurjara Pratiharas and no leading
power had arisen in early eleventh-century North India to take their place
in defending the northern plains against Mahmud’s incursions. The
greatest Indian dynasty of that time, the Cholas, were so remote from the
scene of Mahmud’s exploits that they hardly noted them. But there may
have been a deeper reason for the vulnerability of India to Mahmud’s
attacks. Alberuni, who knew and admired India, commented in the first
chapter of his book on the national character of the Indians:
The Hindus believe that there is no nation like theirs, no kings like
theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs. They are by
nature niggardly in communicating that which they know, and
they take the greatest possible care to withhold it from men of
another caste among their own people, still much more, of course,
from any foreigner. Their haughtiness is such that if you tell them
of any science or scholar in Khurasan or Persia, they will think you
both an ignoramus and a liar. If they travelled and mixed with
other nations, they would soon change their mind, for their
ancestors were not as narrow-minded as the present generation is.^1After Mahmud’s death India gained a respite of more than a century before
new invaders once more descended upon the plains from Afghanistan. The
Indian rulers had not taken advantage of this reprieve to mend their fences.
On the contrary, after the fall of the Gurjara Pratiharas many Rajput
kingdoms had arisen in northern India whose rulers were often closely
related to each other due to marital alliances, but who nevertheless—or
perhaps just because of that fact—jealously guarded their respective
prestige. The Rajputs, with their code of honour and their proverbial
valour, were heroic fighters when pitted against their equals in a duel;
however, they were no good at coordinating their efforts or at outwitting
the strategy and tactics of the invaders. The Rajput cavalry consisted of
freemen who would not take orders easily, whereas the cavalry of the