Muslim Rule in India

After the conquest of Sind and Multan in 712 A.D. the Ghaznavi invasions of India especially under Mahmud of Ghaznah did not produce any substantial result.

Qutubuddin Aibak ruled from 1206 to 1210. The reign of Qutubuddin Aibak is rightly considered as the date of the beginning of Muslim rule in India.

Aibak’s social status as a slave did not stand in this way in becoming a ruler which must have influenced the reflective sections of the Indian mind which may be seen in later reform movements. A large part of northern India was conquered by him and his successors but southern India was not conquered till the reign of Sultan Alauddin Khilji in 1310 A.D.

By these conquests of Muslims established themselves as the ruling class which represented a new social order and a new religion. Among the Muslim dynasties which ruled India, the Mughals were very powerful militarily because they had enlisted the action support of the brave Rajputs as soldiers and commanders.

Bond of kinship was forged between the Mughals and the Rajputs by marriage. At least under Akbar, (1605 A.D.) almost the whole of India was conquered and united. The effective rule of the Muslims in India continued at least till the battle of Buxar in 1764 A.D.