MEDIEVAL INDIA
THE MUSLIM INVASION
I always think of medieval India as beginning with the Muslim invasion, and that of course started in the extreme north. The ancient Hindu and Buddhist culture of Kashmir was destroyed, and Zoroastrians fled from Persia to India (where they became known as Parsis) in order to escape Muslim persecution.
By the 11th century, Islam was established in India. Everywhere, the invading Muslims defeated the Rajputs, the hereditary rulers who claimed descent from the gods. Mohammad Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan, the last Rajput King of Delhi, in 1192. He then left the Indian territories in the charge of his deputy, Qutubudin, who started life as a slave, which is why this dynasty is known as the Slave Dynasty. He was the first Muslim ruler to choose Delhi as his capital. During the Sultanate of Delhi, the time of Qutubudin and his successors, Persian replaced Sanskrit in the north as the language of government and the ancient Hindu culture became concentrated in the south.
CULTURE: RELIGION, ART AND SCIENCE
Before these invasions, India had been an outward-looking society, as we can see by the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism throughout the east. It was only later, under pressure from Islam, that Hindusim turned its back on the rest of the world, Buddhism (an off-shoot of Hinduism) becoming independent and developing its own culture in places as far apart as Tibet, Burma, Sri Lankha, and Japan, while other more Hindu areas such as Indonesia and Malaysia were swamped by Islam.
It must always be remembered, of course, that India is something more than a single country, more like a federation of states linked by a common culture, though even that (the apparent homogeneity) began to break down as the north came under the influence of Islam. This may help us understand why, at the same time, in India itself, especially in the south but in other areas (states) too, there was an enthusiasticc revival of Hinduism, with the building of rich, beautiful temples whose priesthood gradually came to own much of the land, which was then farmed by slaves who had fallen into debt to the temple. In the south, too, important religious literary movements developed, eg the vacanas of the shaivites Basava, Mahadeviyakka, and others, which can be found, beautifully translated in Speaking of Siva. (See also my short story Siva's Woman)
Anyone who appreciates the poems of Mahadeviyakka will probably also enjoy the stunningly titled When God Is A Customer: Telugu Courtesan Songs.
It should be remembered that being a courtesan was (still is!) something one was born to. The Hindu caste system governed Indian society throughout the medieval period (and still does to quite a large extent even in the cities) but then the rules governing statues, occupation, housing and so on were rigid and absolute. The only exceptions were at certain times and in certain places, for instance under Emperor Asoka, who was a Buddhist, and among the Cholas in southern India, where successful bandits are known to have bought their way into the Kshatriya (warrior) caste. Apart from this, though, the only way to change one's caste and better oneself and one's living conditions was by means of reincarnation into a superior caste - which would only happen if one accepted one's lot in this life and did one's duty, whatever that may be (king or whore) without complaint. (One might be a king in this life, a whore in the next, or vice-versa.)
I cannot possibly cover the whole medieval period for a country so vast and varied, all I can do is offer glimpses. Obviously, the status of women interests me. The childhood, marriage and widowhood of an ordinary woman depended to a large extent on her caste and what part of the country she lived in, but, well, let's look at widowhood, because the custom of sati has received a lot of publicity. Sati actually means "true wife" and although condemned by the brahmanic caste, ritual suicide by a widow became increasingly common, especially among the kshatryas (warrior caste) during the medieval period. Horrifyingly, during the process of the cremation, the wife of the dead man climbed into the fire and was literally burnt alive.
But what was the alternative? A widow lost her place in the family and society. She came under the authority of her eldest son. She could no longer wear fine clothes or jewellery, make-up or perfume. She had to live a chaste life, sleeping on the ground, eat only once a day, and that without honey, meat, wine or salt. Her only hope was to be reunited with her husband again in a future life. This was particularly bad when the widow was still hardly more than a child the marriage of old widowers (they of course were allowed to remarry!) to girls of twelve or thirteen was widespread and considered totally acceptable - as indeed it was medieval Europe (in Europe, at least, the girl could later remarry). (Although sati is now against the law, the status of widows in India, especially among the poor and the lower castes has changed very little since medieval times.)
One of the more interesting aspects of medieval Indian culture is that its art reflected the concept of the Platonic ideal: it did not attempt to portray living models but the ideal towards which things of this world aspire. (It has been pointed out to me that the female figures in most medieval temple sculpture bear about as much relation to actual women as does a Barbie doll: does the Barbie doll, I wonder, represent the Platonic ideal of womanhood - or at least girlhood - in the west?) The drama of the time focussed almost entirely on erotic love, as did the dance, and music was considered a feminine pursuit, a form of art to which the particular creativity of women was especially well suited.
Although India had turned inward, away from the sea, Indian science, especially mathematics, geometry and astronomy, flowered in the Middle Ages, and also Indian medicine, under-pinned by an astonishing knowledge of botany, both the classification of species and the study of plant anatomy and physiology. Chemical (mineral) constituents were also used in medicines long before they were anywhere else. Indian medicine (Ayurveda, the science of life) was sufficiently open-minded (at a time when the Church and Islam restricted all research elsewhere) for the dissection of corpses to be permitted, leading to an understanding of anatomy and physiology that included knowledge of the circulation of the blood.
Religion was dominated by the concept of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages, but perhaps even more so in India than elsewhere. Tirtha - pilgrimage centres - ranged from the southern tip of India at Kanyakumari, one of the homes of the original goddess of sorcery and healing, Kirke (Cape Comorin - if you ever go there, be there at sunrise! ) to sites along the sacred Ganga (River Ganges) and many more high in the Himalaya. In the south particularly were great temples with large staffs of priests and cooks (the kitchens provided free food for all) and hundreds of sacred prostitutes. These "hierodules" were girls offered by their parents to appease the goddess, or purchased from poor parents by a rich devotee and offered by him. This still happens, but these days the girl is not allowed to be kept at the temple, so after ritual deflowering by a priest she is sold to the highest bidder. If and when he tires of her, she will most likely end up in an ordinary brothel, but she will always retain her sacred status: she is a priestess, she represents the goddess, and her true home is still, as it always was, the temple.
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