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THE AGE OF CONFLICT ( 1000-2000)
This period is regarded as the climax in temple building activity in north India.
The style of temple construction which came up into prominence was called the nagara.
Though found almost all over India, the main centres of constructions in this style were in north India and the Deccan.
Its main characteristic feature was the tall curved spiral roof over the garbhagriha or the deity room.
The main room was generally a square.
The anteroom ( mandapa ) was added to the garbhagriha and sometimes the temple was enclosed by high walls which had lofty gates.
The most representative temples of this type are the group of temples at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh and Bhubaneshwara in Orissa.
The Parsvanatha temple, the Visvanatha temple and the Kandarya Mahdadeo temple at Khajuraho illustrate this style in its richest form.
Most of these temples were built by the Chandellas.
In Orissa, the most magnificent examples of temple architecture of the time are the Lingaraja temple and the Sun temple of Konark . The Jagannatha at Puri also belongs to this period.
Vastupala, the Chalukyan minsiter, was the builder of the Jain temple at Mt. Abu.
Muslim traders were welcomed in the country since they helped in strengthening and augmenting India’s trade with the Central and West Asian countries.
During this period, Muslim religious preachers called the Sufis came to Punjab. They reached the gospel of love, faith and dedication to the one God.
The Sufis directed their preaching’s mainly towards the Muslim settlers but they influenced some Hindus also. Thus, a process of interaction between Islam and Hindu religion and society was started.
The Ghurid empire was based in Afghanistan. The first battle of Tarain was fought between Ghurids and Prithivraj in 1191. The Ghurids were defeated.
- The second battle of Tarain was fought in 1192 and is regarded as one of the turning points in Indian history. Prithviraj was defeated by Ghurid forces. However, Prithiviraj was allowed to rule over Ajmer for some time.
- The Khokhars were a warlike tribe in western Punjab.
- The defeat of the leading states of north India wihin a short space of about 15 years by the Turkish armies was not because Turks had any superior weapons as compared to Indians.
- For example, Turkish bows could shoot arrows to a longer distance, but the Indian arrows were more accurate and deadly as they were dipped in poison.
- The Indian swords were best in the world.
- The Indians also had advantage of elephants.
- Perhaps the Turks better horses than those imported into India.
Further, caste did not prevent non-Rajputs, or the kuvarna ( lower castes) from taking part in the battles.
However, the weakness of Indian were social and organizational. Feudalism had weakened the administrative structure and military organisation of the Indian states. The rulers had to depend more on chiefs who rarely acted in coordination and quickly dispersed to their areas after battle.
- One the other hand, the tribal structure of the Turks and the growth of the iqta and khalisa systems , enabled the Turks to maintain large standing armies which could be kept in the field for a long time.
- The iqta system implied that a Turkish chief was allotted a piece of land as iqta from which he could collect the land revenue and taxes due to the state. In return , he had to maintain a body of troops for the service of the ruler. The grant was not hereditary and was held at the pleasure of the sultan who could transfer him to any place.
- The sultan drew revenues directly from pieces of land which were called This enabled him to maintain a large standing army.
- The term ghazi denotes a new type of soldier that developed among the Turks. He was a religious missionary as well as an armyman.
- Initially, Turks were not muslims , they worshipped the forces of nature and were considered heathens in the eyes of Muslims
