DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31218#0189
CASTE AND ISLAM
idolatry was annihilated. . . . Fifty thousand men came
under the collar of slavery.’1 Here there is no mention
of conversion, as there certainly would have been had any
occurred. At the same time, the number of modern
Muhammadan castes that are obviously composed of
converts from Flinduism, the number of Hindu castes,
especially Rajputs, that possess Muhammadan branches,
and legends referring such conversions to liigh antiquity,
make it plain that there must have been many changes
of religion. These may have occurred in one of two ways.
Many were no doubt voluntary; as Elphinstone puts it,
‘the terror of the arms of the Mahometans and the
novelty of their doctrines led many to change their
religion’.2 But tliere can be no doubt that the slave
system accounted for the majority of conversions, for natu-
rally Hindus who were sold into slavery after defeat were
compelled, or thought it wise, to accept Islam.
Mixed marriages should have been rare, for they were
as repugnant to Muhammaclan law as to
24. Intermarriage Hindu custom. Nevertheless, there can
be no doubt that intermarriage did occur.
The invading Muslim armies brought but few women with
them, and, on settling in the country, rnust have taken
to themselves wives from the original inhabitants; though
the process, as usual, probably ceased as soon as a sufh-
ciency of women had been bred to supply their needs.
At a later date, mixed marriages undoubtedly became
more common in all ranks of society. For instance, the
marriage of a Gujarat princess to Khizr Khan, son of
Ala-ud-din Khilji, has formed the subject of a Persian
poem by Amir Khusru.3 Another case was that of a
Bhatti Rajput princess who consented to marry Muham-
mad Tughlaq to save her people from his tyranny. But
at all times, and amongst liigh and low alike, such inter-
marriages must have been mainly due to the presence
1 Elliot and Dowson, History of India, Vol. II, p. 231.
2 Elphinstone, History of India, Vol. II, p. 202.
3 She afterwards passed to the seraglio of Khusru Khan, Ala-ud-din’s
successor, who was a renegade Hindu of caste so low that before his
conversion he would not have dared even to have raised his eves to
her.
r75
idolatry was annihilated. . . . Fifty thousand men came
under the collar of slavery.’1 Here there is no mention
of conversion, as there certainly would have been had any
occurred. At the same time, the number of modern
Muhammadan castes that are obviously composed of
converts from Flinduism, the number of Hindu castes,
especially Rajputs, that possess Muhammadan branches,
and legends referring such conversions to liigh antiquity,
make it plain that there must have been many changes
of religion. These may have occurred in one of two ways.
Many were no doubt voluntary; as Elphinstone puts it,
‘the terror of the arms of the Mahometans and the
novelty of their doctrines led many to change their
religion’.2 But tliere can be no doubt that the slave
system accounted for the majority of conversions, for natu-
rally Hindus who were sold into slavery after defeat were
compelled, or thought it wise, to accept Islam.
Mixed marriages should have been rare, for they were
as repugnant to Muhammaclan law as to
24. Intermarriage Hindu custom. Nevertheless, there can
be no doubt that intermarriage did occur.
The invading Muslim armies brought but few women with
them, and, on settling in the country, rnust have taken
to themselves wives from the original inhabitants; though
the process, as usual, probably ceased as soon as a sufh-
ciency of women had been bred to supply their needs.
At a later date, mixed marriages undoubtedly became
more common in all ranks of society. For instance, the
marriage of a Gujarat princess to Khizr Khan, son of
Ala-ud-din Khilji, has formed the subject of a Persian
poem by Amir Khusru.3 Another case was that of a
Bhatti Rajput princess who consented to marry Muham-
mad Tughlaq to save her people from his tyranny. But
at all times, and amongst liigh and low alike, such inter-
marriages must have been mainly due to the presence
1 Elliot and Dowson, History of India, Vol. II, p. 231.
2 Elphinstone, History of India, Vol. II, p. 202.
3 She afterwards passed to the seraglio of Khusru Khan, Ala-ud-din’s
successor, who was a renegade Hindu of caste so low that before his
conversion he would not have dared even to have raised his eves to
her.
r75