Religion and Politics in India During the Thirteenth Century

For four decades Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India During the Thirteenth Century has remained one of the most authoritative introductions to the history of this period. When it first appeared in 1961, it was hailed by scholars as a major intervention in the debate on the causes and consequences of the Turkish conquest of North India. The book discusses at length the nature of the early Turkish state in India and the significant stages in the evolution of Islam in the subcontinent. It heralded the shift in Indian historical writing from an exclusively political focus to a more comprehensive social, cultural, and political analysis. Using previously untapped sources, it provides a much wider view of the world of both the rulers and the ruled. It places the early Delhi Sultanate within the context of its Central Asian neighbourhood and the wider Islamic world. This comprehensive analysis provides an unparalleled understanding of the nature of the Delhi Sultanate and, more generally, of the Muslim presence in India. This revised edition of the classic work will interest scholars and students of the history of early medieval India, Islamic studies, and comparative religions.