Medieval India
(left) A map of India in 1022 CE; (right) Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur, completed in 1010 CE
The Indian early medieval age, 600 CE to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural
diversity.[95] When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647
CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.[96] When
his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[96] When
the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by the Pallavas from farther
south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and the Cholas from still farther south.[96] No ruler
of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core
region.[95] During this time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for the
growing agricultural economy, were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional
ruling classes.[97] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[97]
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[98] They
were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of
all modern languages of the subcontinent.[98] Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they
patronised drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as
well.[99] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another
urbanisation.[99] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian
culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-
day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Java.[100] Indian
merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians
took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and
Hindu texts into their languages.[100]
(left) India in 1398 CE, during the Delhi Sultanate (marked "Afghan empire" in the map); (b) The Qutub
Minar, 73 metres (240 ft) tall, completed by the Sultan of Delhi, Iltutmish
After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising
vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains,
leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[101] The sultanate was
to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive
for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws
and customs.[102][103] By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved
India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries
of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region
into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north.[104][105] The
sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the
indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[106] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the
military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, [107] and was
to influence South Indian society for long afterwards. [106]
Early modern India
Clockwise from upper left: (a) India in 1525 at the onset of Mughal rule; (b) India in 1605 during the rule
of Akbar; (c) A distant view of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort
In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers, [108] fell again to the
superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.[109] The
resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule. Instead, it balanced
and pacified them through new administrative practices [110][111] and diverse and inclusive ruling
elites,[112] leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[113] Eschewing tribal bonds and
Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty,
expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.[112] The Mughal
state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[114] and mandating that taxes be
paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[115] caused peasants and artisans to enter larger
markets.[113] The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a
factor in India's economic expansion,[113] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms,
textiles, and architecture.[116] Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as
the Marathas, the Rajputs, and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal
rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military
experience.[117] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and
political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India. [117] As the empire disintegrated, many
among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.[118]
Clockwise from top left: (a) India under British East India Company rule in 1795; (b) India in 1848; (c) A
two mohur gold coin issued by the Company in 1835 with the bust of William IV, King on the obverse, and
the face value in English and Persian, on the reverse
By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being
increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the English East India
Company, had established coastal outposts.[119][120] The East India Company's control of the seas,
greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly flex its
military muscle and caused it to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were
crucial in allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline the other
European companies.[121][119][122][123] Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent
increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the
1820s.[124] India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead
supplying the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of
India's colonial period.[119] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British
parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the company began
more consciously to enter non-economic arenas like education, social reform, and culture. [125]
