Composite culture in medieval Haryana

Pages: 1044-1046
Mahender Singh (Department of History, Dayanand College, Hisar, Haryana)

The periodisation of history generated the understanding that the medieval age was the rule of the ‘Muslims’ without having the consent and the support of the ‘Hindus’. Thus, essentially it was an empire based on force where the formation of the society on divisive lines was a natural outcome of it. To buttress this fact the caste system of the Hindus and the concept of Untouchability are put forth which proves the argument that the society did not allow free interaction and intermingling between the members. Further more, the adjectives used for the foreigners like ‘Malechha’, ‘Chandala’ etc. too rally around the same argument. The colonization of India by the Britishers saw the writing of history with a purpose. The establishment of the empire had much to do in the manner history of the subcontinent was written and presented. The knowledge had to sub serve the master and present the natives in a manner where the theory of ‘white man’s burden’ could be justified. The biggest casualty of such kind of historiography was the medieval past. It was perceived as the “development of two monolithic communities in medieval India whose sole preoccupation seems to have been to fight each other.” This idea was first developed by James Mill which gave rise to the periodisation of Indian history as that of the ‘Hindu’, ‘Mu1im’ and ‘British’ periods. Islam came into India through traders and Sufi saints as early as 8th century A.D. The Delhi sultanate was established in the twelfth century but people were aware of the principles of Islam and it played a major role in establishing the empire. Mohammad Habib viewed this transition as changeover of public opinion and termed it as ‘Urban Revolution”.