INDIA IN THE MESOLITHIC AGE

THE AGE OF TRANSITION

The Mesolithic Age that began nearly eight thousand years before Christ is the transitional age between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic Ages and is characterized by tremendous changes in the Earth’s atmosphere. The rise in temperature made the climate hot and dry, affecting all forms of flora and the fauna on the planet, including the humans. The life of the early man in the Indian Subcontinent, as in other parts of the world was deeply affected by the transitional period and its immediate effects are visible in the technology of producing tools and the lifestyle in the settlements. The changes in subsistence pattern as well as the ecology are evident from the rock paintings that have survived from the Mesolithic era.

THE MESOLITHIC TOOLS

An important feature of the Mesolithic tools is that they are remarkably smaller in size when compared to those used during the preceding periods. These tools, referred to as Microliths have lengths in the range of 1 – 8 cm. Some of them have nearly perfect geometric shapes. One of the reasons proposed for the drastic reduction in length of the tools is that the size of the animals that the men hunted during this age was much smaller when compared to those hunted in the Palaeolithic Age. However, many tools of the Palaeolithic age continued to be used in this age after undergoing significant modifications.

The Microliths found in major Mesolithic sites include:-

(1) Blade: Blades in the Mesolithic age were created using technique called fluting wherein pressure is delivered onto the core from the edge of the striking platform. Besides, archaeologists have also uncovered retouched blades which are broad, thick and long. Retouched blades are more efficient and sharper as compared to ordinary ones. Blades may have been used for cutting purposes.

(2) Core: It is cylindrical in shape with marks across its length and a flat striking platform at the distal horizontal end.

(3) Point: A point is a blade-like tool that ends in a triangular form and is effective when used as an arrowhead or a spearhead. It is retouched along one or both slopping borders, with the borders being rectilinear or curvilinear.

(4) Triangle: It usually has one retouched border and a base. Like the point, they may have been used as arrowheads or spearheads or for cutting purposes.

(5) Lunate: This tool resembles a blade with one of its edges prepared by semi-circular retouching. It is either used to obtain a concave cutting edge or two of these could be halved back to back to form an arrow head.

(6) Trapeze: It is a tool similar to blade with one or more borders being retouched. It could have been used as arrow heads.

THE MESOLITHIC SITES

Bagor on River Kothari in the Mewar region of Rajasthan is the largest Mesolithic site in the country. Being located at the juncture of arable and fertile lands and being rich in quartz – an essential raw material for the tool making industry, Bagor was an ideal location for the Mesolithic man whose subsistence pattern relied on his surroundings. This site has been horizontally excavated and three cultural phases have been identified with the earliest belonging to around 5000 BC. Among the sites located in Pachpada basin and the Sojat areas of the desert state, Tilwara is the most prominent. The two cultural stages, one characterized by the exclusive presence of microliths and other by a mixture of microliths and wheel made pottery, excavated here show that the people who inhabited this region advanced from the Mesolithic age into the Neolithic age over the course of time.

In Gujarat, Mesolithic settlements have been uncovered on the banks of Narmada, Tapti, Mahi and Sabarmati. These include Akhaj, Valasana, Hirpur and Langhnaj. Archaeologists working at Langhnaj have identified three distinct cultural levels. Besides microliths like blades, triangles, crescents, scrappers and burins, burials and faunal remains have also been discovered here. The large presence of bones of animals like mongoose, rhinoceros, antelope, wild boar and wild cattle suggest that the area was then was covered by a mixture of savannah type grasslands and forests interspersed by wetlands.

Sarai Nahar Rai, Morhana Pahar and Lekhahia are significant sites in the state of Uttar Pradesh. At Sarai Nahar Rai, the graves are oblong and the burials are a part of the habitation area. In Mahadaha, besides a large number of human burials, microliths made of different types of stones like chert, chalcedony, crystal, quartz and agate have been discovered. In Bhimbhetka, Period II corresponds to the Mesolithic era. Although the figures drawn are smaller, they are more stylish and decorated too. The popular topics include animals, humans and hunting scenes. Adamgarh, located to the south of Bhimbhetka also boasts of Mesolithic settlements.

Microliths have been discovered from Kasushoal, Janyire, Babhalgo and Jalgarh in Konkan and the districts of Dhulia and Pune in the Deccan plateau region. In Orissa they have been found at Kuchai, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh. Birbhanpur in the valley of River Damodar is an excavated Mesolithic site in West Bengal. In addition to this, the Chhota Nagpur plateau and the Shillong plateau also have some sites belonging to this period. In the South, tools and traditions associated with the Mesolithic era have been unearthed in Krishna and Bhima basin, Godavari delta, Eastern Karnataka plateau and Kurnool and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh.

An analysis of the Mesolithic sites in India shows that although the basic pattern of life remained more or less the same, the customs and traditions differed from one settlement to another. This is evident from the human burial and the bones of animals that the people hunted. Also some of these sites are real Mesolithic sites as they show an abundance of microliths whereas others are of a later time and show the influence of the Mesolithic culture. The later sites are called sites of Mesolithic tradition.

SUBSISTENCE PATTERN

The bones of a variety of animals have been discovered in and around the Mesolithic settlements. The earliest of these sites have yielded the remains of cattle, sheep, goat, dog, pig, boar, bison, hippo, fox, jackal, wolf, cheetah, antelope, hare, porcupine, mongoose, lizard, tortoise, fish etc. A close analysis of the Mesolithic sites based on the faunal debris throws light on an important characteristic. While many of the animals found in the early period continued to flourish during the age of Mesolithic tradition, others like hippo, some species of antelope, lizard, porcupine, hare etc are absent. Similarly some of the species like camel, nilgai and rhinoceros are present only in the sites of Mesolithic tradition. This pattern can be explained on the basis of the changes that Earth’s atmosphere went through in this period.

The diet of the people constituted of vegetarian and non vegetarian items. The presence of a large number of animal remains indicates that hunting and fishing were essential activities of the Mesolithic people. Besides, gathering edible roots, tubers, seeds, nuts and fruits supplemented hunting. However not much is known about the vegetarian food items that formed a part of their diet, probably due to the perishable nature of these materials.

The paintings and the carvings found in the rock shelters of this period found in Bhimbhetka and Adamgarh give an insight into the lives of the people who lived year several millennia ago. Hunting, fishing and gathering have been portrayed on the walls of the ancient dwellings. Animals like boar, buffalo, monkey and nilgai have been depicted often in Bhimbhetka. Besides there are a significant number of paintings depicting communal dances, musical instruments, drinking, funerals and burials.

These paintings clearly indicate that the concept of society that emerged in the Palaeolithic period was further strengthened during the Mesolithic period. Traditions and religious beliefs based on the nature and ecology began to take shape. Thus the foundation of a great civilization was laid.

SOURCES

(1) IGNOU Notes on Indian History (Chapter 4)

INDIA IN THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE

WHEN IT ALL BEGAN

Contrary to popular conception, the story of human life in India began thousands of years prior to the emergence of the first cities in the plains of Indus and its tributaries. The earliest traces that man left in this region date back millions of years ago, a period referred to as the Pleistocene period or the Great Ice Age, by the geologists. Like an overwhelming majority of prehistoric human societies around the world, these men lived as hunters/gatherers. As man had not yet discovered the art of farming or animal rearing, they survived by gathering various edible items like roots, fruits, honey and so on that nature had to offer or by killing animals, birds and fish available in the surroundings in which they lived. Much of our understanding about these ancient societies comes from the tools that these people made and used for their existence, the faunal remains of the animals they hunted and ate and the rock paintings that they have left behind. Unfortunately, in India, unlike in Europe, Africa and several parts of Asia, very few human remains have been found in association with these primitive tools. Hence our knowledge about these men is severely curtailed.

THE PHASES OF THE PALAEOLITIC AGE

The Palaeolithic Age - the longest age in the history of human civilization begins with the emergence of the first human societies in the last Ice Age and continues up to the starting of the Mesolithic Age in BC 8000. Considering the long extent of this age, historians have divided this period into three phases, on the basis of the kind of the tools used, the techniques used in giving them shape that give an invaluable insight into the advancement of the people as well as the changes in the climate and the environment. These are as follows:-

(1) The Lower Palaeolithic period with tools like hand axes, cleavers, choppers, chopping and tools 

(2) The Middle Palaeolithic period that is based on flakes

(3) The Upper Palaeolithic period includes burins and scrapers

THE PALAEOLITIC TOOLS

No study of the men in the Palaeolithic Age is worthwhile without acquiring enough information about the tools made and used by them. The details regarding some of the tools used in this period and the possible purposes they may have served are given below:-

(1) Hand axe: With a narrow working end a broader working end, it may have been used for cutting and digging purposes.

(2) Cleaver: This bifacial tool may have been employed for clearing and splitting objects like trunks of trees.

(3) Chopper: It is a massive core tool used for chopping purposes.'

(4) Chopping tool: It is a tool that is similar to the chopper and may have served the same purpose. However, unlike the chopper that is manufactured by unifacial flanking, the chopping tool is made by alternate flanking, thereby making it more efficient than the former.

(5) Flake: This most important tool of the middle Palaeolithic phase is crude shaped and produced by applying force on the stone. There are many Flaking Techniques like Free Flaking Technique, Step Flaking Technique, Block on Block Technique, Bipolar Technique etc.

(6) Side Scraper: Side Scraper is made of a flake or blade with continuous retouch along a border. It might have been used for scraping barks of trees and animal skins.

(7) Burin: It is like flake or blade and the working border is produced by the meeting of two planes. It was used for artistic purposes like engraving on soft stones, bones or walls of rock shelters and cores.

THE PALAEOLITIC SITES

The tools fashioned by the Palaeolithic man have been unearthed at various sites across the length and breadth of the country, indicating that several communities existed simultaneously in different parts of the country. The distribution of the tools tells us not only about the areas in which the hunter/gatherers lived and moved but also about their environment.

The Sohan valley located in the Siwalik region of modern day Pakistan is one of the most famous Palaeolithic sites in the Sub-Continent. From sites like Baliwal and Chauntra, tools like choppers and hand axes have been discovered. At Adial, on the bend of the Sohan River, hundreds of edged pebbled tools were discovered. Though no human remains have been ever found, the bearers of this culture – named as the Sohan culture or the Sohan stone industry were Homo erectus. Besides, several fossilized remains of animals like gazelle, giraffe, rhinoceros, rodents and crocodiles have been unearthed from these sites.

Most of these ancient sites have been found in the vicinity of rivers as water was readily available and also many animals would visit these places to quench their thirst, thereby plenty of opportunities for early men to prey upon them. This explains why the banks of Beas, Banganga, Sirsa and Luni have yielded so many Palaeolithic tools. In Rajasthan, Middle Palaeolithic tools implements have been found in the plains of Wadgaon and Kadamali rivers. These include a variety of scrappers, borers and points. Artefacts of this period were also found in Bhandarpur, near Orsang valley in Gujarat. While the river Bhader in Saurashtra is well known for its Palaeolithic assemblages, the Kutch region has produced many choppers, cleavers and hand axes.

Places in Maharashtra, associated with this Age include Chikri near Nevasa, from where hand axes, choppers, cleavers, scrappers and borers have been reported. The other important sites are Chandoli, Koregaon and Shikarpur. In Eastern India, the Palaeolithic tools found from Singhbhum region mainly includes hand axes and choppers. The distribution of tools in the valleys of Damodar and Suvarnarekha is influenced by topographical features. Also, the Buharbalang valley in Mayurbhang, Orissa has many Early and Middle Palaeolithic tools like hand axes, points, flakes etc. From the Ghatprabha basin in Karnataka, Acheulian hand axes have been found in large numbers. Anagawadi and Bagalkot are two most important sites on the Ghatprabha where both Early and Middle Palaeolithic tools have been found. The rivers Palar, Penniyar and Kaveri in Tamil Nadu are rich in Palaeolithic tools.

However, the most famous Palaeolithic site in the country lies in the Heart of India – Madhya Pradesh. The Bhimbetaka Rock Shelters in the Vindhya ranges in Raisen district of MP, with its thick vegetation, perennial water supply, rich vegetation and natural shelters was an ideal place of the Palaeolithic man. Over the years, archaeologists have found nearly 700 rock sites in the region and a closer study has revealed a continuous sequence of Stone Age cultures, from Upper Palaeolithic to Medieval period. The caves have evolved over time into excellent rock-shelters, ideal sites for aboriginal settlements. Apart from the central place the aboriginal drawings have in human history, the caves themselves offer interesting material for a study of the Earth's history. 

The rock shelters and caves of Bhimbetka have a number of interesting paintings which depict the lives and times of the people who lived in the caves, including scenes of childbirth, communal dancing and drinking, and religious rites and burials, as well as the natural environment around them. Executed mainly in red and white with the occasional use of green and yellow with themes taken from the everyday events of aeons ago, the scenes usually depict hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey collection, decoration of bodies, disguises, masking and household scenes. Animals such as bison, tigers, lions, wild boar, elephants, antelope, dogs, lizards, crocodiles etc. have been abundantly depicted. The superimposition of paintings shows that the same canvas was used by different people at different times. It is a marvel that the paintings have not faded even after thousands of years.

SUBSISTENCE PATTERN

The rock paintings and carvings on the walls of cave shelters give an insight into the subsistence pattern as well as the religious and social life of the early man. The Period I of Bhimbetka belongs to the Upper Palaeolithic Age. They reflect that Palaeolithic people lived in small band (small groups) societies whose subsistence economy was based on exploitation of resources in the form of both animal and plant products. Hunting is reflected as the main subsistence pursuit in the carvings and paintings. These paintings, done primarily in red and dark green colours are predominantly of bison, elephants, tigers, rhinos and boars. It is sometimes possible to distinguish between men and women on the basis of anatomical features.

There is a rich assemblage of animals both of indigenous and foreign origin. Primates, many giraffe-like forms, musk deer, goats, buffaloes, bovids and pigs seem to be of indigenous origin. The camel and the horse had North-American connection. Hippopotamus and elephants migrated to India from Central Africa. The abundant faunal remains seem to indicate that the Palaeolithic man was in hunter/gatherer stage. The people would have made extensive use of faunal and floral resources in their immediate vicinity. Hunting practices were concentrated on large and middle sized mammals especially ungulates. There is no evidence of selective hunting in this period. In some assemblages few species dominate; it is so because of their abundance in the area or because they were easy to hunt.
It seems that the subsistence pattern of hunter-gatherers was geared to a dry season/wet season cycle of exploitation of plant and animal foods. It is likely that the Palaeolithic people subsisted on such animals as ox, bison, antelope, wild boar, a variety of birds, and tortoises and fishes and on honey and plant foods like fruits roots, seeds and leaves.

SOURCES

(1) Wikipedia - Palaeolithic Age (Link)

(2) IGNOU Notes on Indian History (Chapter 3)

India and the First Sultan

Islam made its premiere appearance in the Indian Subcontinent when Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the Umayyad governor of Iraq, sent an army under his son-in-law, Mohammed-bin-Qasim to punish Dhar - the ruler of Sindh, for his failure to deal effectively with the sea pirates who had captured the presents sent by the king of Sri Lanka to Hajjaj. Although Qasim managed to establish the Umayyad rule in Sindh (AD 712) and Multan (AD 713), his pre mature death, the division of Multan and Sindh into two separate Arab kingdoms, the administrative incapacity of the Arabs and the resistance put up by the Indians put a temporary full stop on the further expansion of the Islamic rule in India. As the religion of the Prophet ventured into new territories, the baton of Islam passed from the Arabs to the Persians and then, finally, to the Turks. Once a barbaric race of Central Asia, the Turks, transformed themselves into an extremely cultured people after their contact with Islam but retained their war-like spirit. It was this lethal combination that helped them defend many elements of their new religion from the onslaught of the Mongols, in the later period.

It was in this tribe that the first Sultan of the Islamic world, Mahmud of Ghazni was born on 1st November, 971. Although he had participated in many battles along with his father, King Sabuktigin, the throne, after the latter’s death, went to Mahmud’s younger brother, Ismail. However, destiny played its part and Mahmud deposed his brother and ascended the throne in 998 AD. Legend has it that, an year later, when the Khalifa, Al Qadir Billah recognized him as the ruler of the present day Southern Afghanistan and conferred on him the titles of ‘Yamin-ud-Daulah’ and ‘Amin-ul-Millah’, Mahmud took an oath to invade India, the ‘Land of the Kafirs’ every year. True to his word, in his reign exceeding three decades, Mahmud is said to have invaded India at least on twelve different occasions.  

From 1000 to 1014 AD, his invasions were mostly concentrated in regions that fall in modern day Pakistan, where he humbled the mighty Hindushahi kings and the Shia rulers of Multan. The relatively easy victories and the immense booty that he took to Ghazni by plundering cities like the Hindushahi capitals of Waihind (Peshawar) and Nandana in this part of the Subcontinent, made him expand his horizon and fuelled his desire to lay waste the Gangetic valley which, like today, was doted with temples whose riches, he was well aware of. Beginning with the sacking of Thaneswar (AD 1014), Mahmud is said to have looted Hindu religious centres like Mathura, Vrindavan, Kannauj (AD 1018) and finally, he razed the famed temple of Somanath (AD 1024) to the ground. Infact when Mahmud went to his grave, his empire extended from Kurdistan in the west to Samarkand in the north-east and from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna and was even bigger than that of the Khalifa. Owing to the unprecedented success that he achieved in Central Asia and India, Muslim chronicles regard him as the first Sultan of the Islamic World, a title he deserves more than any of his contemporaries

Mahmud of Ghazni, beyond any doubt, is one of the most controversial figures in history of the Subcontinent, with his character being viewed through the spectrum of region and religion. In Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, Mahmud is celebrated as a hero and a great patron of the arts, architecture, literature, and Persian revivalism as well as a vanguard of Islam and a paragon of virtue and piety who established the standard of Islam upon heathen land. In fact, Pakistan, a state formed for the 'welfare of Indian Muslims', has christened one of its short range ballistic missile, Ghaznavi, in the honor of Mahmud. However, in the Hindu dominated India, Mahmud is depicted as a Muslim villain and barbarian, who looted whatever he could, destroyed whatever he could not, took along with him the wealth of Hindu temples, forced lakhs of people to accept the faith of the Prophet, otherwise killed them, took thousands of beautiful women to Ghazni while countless others were dishonored here, burnt hundreds of villages and beautiful cities and destroyed pieces of arts.

Although there is little doubt that the one of the motives behind Mahmud’s repeated invasions into India was the propagation of Islam, new evidence unearthed from the medieval sources seem to indicate that there was more to Mahmud’s invasion than the spreading of the teachings of the Prophet. The following is a list of potential reasons that may have led the Sultan of Ghazni to invade India:

(1) Establishment of the Glory of Islam: Many modern Muslim historians argue that while Mahmud destroyed and plundered Hindu kingdoms of India, he repeated the same story with the Muslim rulers of Central Asia. Professor Havell believes that Mahmud would have also looted Baghdad the same way he looted Indian cities if he could get wealth there. As such, a sizeable portion of modern day historians believe that Mahmud’s raids were to acquire the wealth of India, so as to finance his ambitions of expansions in Central Asia.

There is considerable evidence from writings of Al Beruni, Soghidan, Uyghur and Manichean texts that after the initial destruction and pillage, Buddhists, Jains and Hindus were granted protected subject status as Dhimmis. By that time, however, most of the centres of Buddhist and Hindu learning were already destroyed. Besides, a large number of Hindus were employed as soldiers in Mahmud’s multi-national army.

However, Utbi, the court historian of Mahmud claims that his master’s invasions were jihads to destroy the idolaters, their religion and temples. Contemporary Muslim sources regard Mahmud as a Ghazi (Slayer of the Infidels) and the destroyer of idols. Thus, while religion might have not been the only reason to invade India, yet it was one of the motives behind Mahmud’s raids into the Subcontinent.

(2) Wealth of India: The Indian Society in the early days of the second millennium AD presents a very sorry state and was a reason, tempting enough for any aggressive foreign ruler to aspire the riches of India. Politically, North India was fragmented into several strong and extensive kingdoms, whose rich resources were often wasted in internal conflicts. The caste system had become rigid and Hadis, Doms, Chandalas, Badhatu etc were forced to live in pathetic conditions on the outskirts of the villages. Social evils like Sati, child marriage and polygamy became the norm of the day whereas window re-marriages were not permitted. Deterioration in morals and religion can be concluded from the fact that the practice of keeping devadasis in temples was prevalent. However, the one thing that India possessed in abundance was wealth. The economy, unlike the society and religion was doing well and the wealth was concentrated in the hands of the rich and adorned the temples of India.

Meanwhile, Mahmud was an ambitious ruler and patronized arts. He aimed to use the spoils he amassed from India to sponsor his Central Asian campaigns and to make his capital, Ghazni, an important centre of Islamic learning in the eleventh century. Al beruni - the scholar of Sanskrit, Turki and Sciences, Firdausi – the author of Shahnameh, Utbi, Farabi, and Ujari etc endowed his court. It was from the money that he got from his Indian campaigns that Mahmud constructed several mosques, tombs, a university, a library and a museum in his capital, which made Ghazni, one of the most beautiful cities of this period and a hub of fine arts and culture.

(3) The Isolation of India and the Ignorance of the Hindus: The attitude of the Hindus of this era is captured by Al Beruni when he says 

“The Hindus believe that there is no country like theirs, no nation like theirs,
no king like theirs, no religion like theirs, and no science like theirs.”

As such the Hindus were completely cut off from the events that unfolded in the rest of the Old World and this led to the development of a false pride in them. The Indians had lost the vigour and intelligence that they were once known for and were not in a position to improve themselves or to absorb new things from the rest of the world. Over the last few centuries, the Indians failed to make much progress in the spheres of combat and strategic planning. The sword continued to remain their chief fighting weapon and the north-west frontier was not sufficiently fortified.

As such the Turkish forces with their superior fighting skills and weaponry, coupled by their fast moving cavalry routed the slow moving Rajputs in more than one occasion. In fact, Rajyapala, - the Prathihara ruler of Kannauj, Vidhyadhar – the Chandela king of Kalinjar and Bhima I – the ruler of Gujarat seem to have fled at the sight of Mahmud’s mighty forces without offering any resistance. After the collapse of the Hindushahis, Mahmud found no real challenge in rest of the Subcontinent and invaded and looted it at his will as the people, from the common man on the streets to the ineffective Rajput kings of the North looked on helplessly and prayed that the man who had tormented them, destroyed their temples and looted their wealth would not come back to haunt them again.

(4) The Aggressive Policy of the Hindushahis: The rivalry between the Hindushahi kings of North Western India and the Ghaznavis dates back to the days of Mahmud’s father, Sabuktigin. When the Hindushahi king Jayapala invaded Ghazni during the reign of the cruel king Pirai, it was Sabuktigin in his capacity as the commander of the Ghazni forces who defeated him. On his ascend to the throne, Sabuktigin repulsed another two invasions by the Hindushahi kings. Thus, it was the kings of India who first took an aggressive stance against the growth of Islam in Afghanistan region. But the strength of the Turks and the military incapacity of the Hindus meant that the latter were beaten back and they ended up giving enough excuses for the Turks to try out their luck in India.

When he came to the throne, Mahmud pursued an aggressive policy against the Hindushahis. The defeat that he inflicted on Jayapala (AD 1001) was so humiliating that he is said to have committed suicide by walking into the funeral pyre, unable to come in terms with magnitude of his loss. His successors, Anandapala and Trilochanapala tried to defeat the Ghaznavis by enlisting the support of various other chiefs but failed on more than one occasion. During one of the battles (AD 1009), the confederacy formed by Anandapala faced an unfortunate defeat as his elephant turned back from the battle in a crucial moment, turning the tide into Mahmud's favour. Thus Mahmud was single handedly responsible of extinguishing the once powerful Hindushahi dynasty and its last ruler is said to have died as petty chieftain.

Also some of Mahmud’s invasions were to quell the revolts that had taken place in his absence or to prevent Rajput states from forming alliances against him. He raided and annexed Multan (AD 1008) after its ruler Abu-i-Fath Daud and Mahmud’s governor, Nawasa Shah rebelled against the Turks when the Sultan was busy fighting the Seljuk-Turks. The primary motive of his invasion of Chandela territories (AD 1019) was to break up the alliance that the Chandelas, the Prathihras and the Hindushahis had formed against him. Mahmud came back to India for the last time (AD 1027) to punish the Jats who had troubled him o his way to Ghazni after sacking the temple of Somnath.

(5) Elephants: Dr A. B. Pandey has opined that the search for the great pachyderms may have been one of the reasons for Mahmud to invade India. In fact, all throughout the medieval period, elephants were used in wars. A herd of well trained elephants was enough to put the enemy army in a state of utter confusion and chaos. Mahmud is said to have released Jayapala (AD 1001), the Hindushahi ruler after he agreed to a humiliating treaty that included a clause by which the Sultan got 25 elephants. He said to have got a further 300 elephants from the Chandela ruler, Vidhyadhar (AD 1020-21) as a tribute in return of the right of governing 15 fortresses. Hence, there is enough historic evidence to support Mahmud wanted Indian elephants so that they could be utilized in wars against his enemies in the west.

India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru once said, “Civilizations, like empires, fall, not so much because of the strength of the enemy outside as through the weakness and decay within.” In fact, the sharp social differences and corruption that plagued contemporary India had made the society hollow and it was in no position to resist its powerful invaders. The arrogance of the Hindus and their inability to make breakthroughs in the fields of combat and weaponry added to the miseries already present in the society. On the contrary, the Turkish armies, inspired by their new religion, were more determined than ever to establish the glory of Islam and routed the Rajput armies by their fast moving cavalry. As such, the wealth of India was like the wealth of a weak person which could tempt any strong man, like Mahmud to possess it.

SOURCES

(1) History of Medieval India 1000 - 1740 AD by L. P. Sharma (3rd Edition)

(2) Wikipedia – Mahmud of Ghazni (Link)