DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31218#0178
THE CASTE SYSTEM OF NORTHERN INDIA
Under Sultan Mahmud’s successors,1 2 the Seljuks, a
Tartar tribe, broke into Transoxiana and
gradually overran and conquered their
b. Later Ghaz- kung-dom: and by the beginning of the
twelfth century the Ghaznavide dommions
consisted of little more than parts of
Afghanistan and the Indian provinces, whilst the court
was frequently in residence at Lahore. From the ethno-
logical point of view, the change was of the utmost im-
portance, since it must have caused Muslims to take up
their permanent residence in India. It must have been
at this time that, by constant intercourse with the Hindus,
the rudiments of the present Hindustani language were
formed, and the national character of Indian Muslims
was moulded.
The country of Ghor, in the mountains east of Herat,
was inhabited by Afghans3 who had been
8 The House of conquered by the Arabs, and converted
Ghor as early as 830 a.d. From the middle of
the eleventh century it had become a
dependency of Ghazni; but in 1152, in
revenge for a despicable act of treachery, the Iving of
Glior seized and destroyed Ghazni. The earlier Ghori
kings succeeded in reconquering a considerable part of
the former possessions of the Ghaznavide kingdom, thus
reopening the road from Persia and Transoxiana into
India; whilst the fourth of them, Shahab-ud-din,3 between
the years 1176 and his death in 1206, had conquered
practically the whole of northern India from the delta of
the Indus to the delta of the Ganges.
1 There were twelve of these, who reigned 56 years between them. The
dynasty came to an end in 1186.
2 The term is used in a loose sense, ‘an inhabitant of Afghanistan’.
There has been much discussion regarding the ethnology of Ghor. Older
writers say that its people were Afghans of the tribe of Sur. Some
say they were Turks. Later authorities make them Tajiks, or Persian
settlers in Afghanistan of Iranian or Arab descent. See Elphinstone,
History of India, 2nd edition, Vol. I, p. 599; Rose, op. cit., s.v. ‘Tajik.’
The kings themselves were almost certainly Tajiks.
3 Also called Muhammad Ghori, Muhammad-bin-Sam, and Muiz-ud-
din.
164
Under Sultan Mahmud’s successors,1 2 the Seljuks, a
Tartar tribe, broke into Transoxiana and
gradually overran and conquered their
b. Later Ghaz- kung-dom: and by the beginning of the
twelfth century the Ghaznavide dommions
consisted of little more than parts of
Afghanistan and the Indian provinces, whilst the court
was frequently in residence at Lahore. From the ethno-
logical point of view, the change was of the utmost im-
portance, since it must have caused Muslims to take up
their permanent residence in India. It must have been
at this time that, by constant intercourse with the Hindus,
the rudiments of the present Hindustani language were
formed, and the national character of Indian Muslims
was moulded.
The country of Ghor, in the mountains east of Herat,
was inhabited by Afghans3 who had been
8 The House of conquered by the Arabs, and converted
Ghor as early as 830 a.d. From the middle of
the eleventh century it had become a
dependency of Ghazni; but in 1152, in
revenge for a despicable act of treachery, the Iving of
Glior seized and destroyed Ghazni. The earlier Ghori
kings succeeded in reconquering a considerable part of
the former possessions of the Ghaznavide kingdom, thus
reopening the road from Persia and Transoxiana into
India; whilst the fourth of them, Shahab-ud-din,3 between
the years 1176 and his death in 1206, had conquered
practically the whole of northern India from the delta of
the Indus to the delta of the Ganges.
1 There were twelve of these, who reigned 56 years between them. The
dynasty came to an end in 1186.
2 The term is used in a loose sense, ‘an inhabitant of Afghanistan’.
There has been much discussion regarding the ethnology of Ghor. Older
writers say that its people were Afghans of the tribe of Sur. Some
say they were Turks. Later authorities make them Tajiks, or Persian
settlers in Afghanistan of Iranian or Arab descent. See Elphinstone,
History of India, 2nd edition, Vol. I, p. 599; Rose, op. cit., s.v. ‘Tajik.’
The kings themselves were almost certainly Tajiks.
3 Also called Muhammad Ghori, Muhammad-bin-Sam, and Muiz-ud-
din.
164