India

The past two and a half centuries of India’s history has seen, first, the expansion of the Delhi Sultanate throughout India, immediately followed by its rapid disintegration. This process was greatly helped by the sack of the capital, Delhi by the forces of the central Asian conqueror, Timur, invading from Iran. By this date the sultanate is merely one amongst many small states in northern India.

The rise and decline of the Delhi sultanate has left a legacy of princes ruling in many parts of the sub-continent, along with older Rajput regimes, who have come to an accommodation with their neighbours. Although much of India is ruled by those of Mesopotamian beliefs, the mass of the population largely remains true to its ancestral Hinduism. For the most part the rulers do not attempt to impose their own religion of their subjects, and indeed most employ Hindus as senior officials in their governments. In art and architecture, elements are fusing together into a new style which has given rise to such wonders as the Taj Mahal.

In the south, two powerful states have been established in the wake of the Delhi sultanate’s retreat from its conquests there. One is the Bahami sultanate, a powerful Muslim state, and the second is the kingdom of Vijayanagra. This is a Hindu state, whose rulers see themselves as the champions of the old religion against an alien Islam. These two states are at almost constant war with one another.