Medieval India: Retracting the Past

By Umesh Ashok Kadam (Author), Ritika Joshi Dolly Purohit (Author), Aditya Sharma (Author), Anwit Shahi (Author)

on Mar 26, 2024

As a civilization, India has represented an extraordinary picture of tolerance, inclusivity, assimilation and hospitality over the several thousands of years that it has been in existence. Peoples from near and far have found refuge in this land. However, it must also be taken into account that this state of tranquil felicity that this ancient civilization represented, has also, on many an occasion, undergone violent ruptures. Towards the turn of the Medieval period in Indian history, we begin to witness violent invasions by politico-military adventurers of foreign extraction which dealt a heavy blow to Ancient India's assimilative ethos. Given the magnitude of their impact, the ravages wrought by the Turko-Afghan and European invaders, imbued with ideals of racial and religious superiority. The dubious distinction between the 'religious' and the 'secular' spheres of human life and activity which the logos of modernity and modern subjects draw did not apply as neatly to the Medieval mind and conditions as is done today. Over the decades, an attempt has been made, overlooking this fact of human history the world over, to surreptitiously erase from the picture the religious element within the invasions and conquests that took place in Medieval India. One ought to question such sanitised portrayal of Medieval Indian history, which obscures from the picture the use and abuse of religion to meet particular ends, and the destruction of India's material and non- material culture that it left in its wake.