Umayyad interest in the the Indus valley occurred because of attacks from Sindh Raja Dahir on ships of Muslims and their imprisonment of Muslim men and women, according to Berzin.

They had earlier unsuccessfully sought to gain control of the route, via the Khyber Pass, from the Turki-Shahis of Gandhara, but by taking Sindh, Gandhara's southern neighbor, they would be able to open a second front against Gandhara; a feat they had, on occasion, attempted before.

According to Wink, Umayyad interest in the region was galvanized by the operation of the Meds and others.

Meds (a tribe of Scythians living in Sindh) had pirated upon Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of the Tigris to the Sri Lankan coast, in their bawarij and now are able to prey on Arab shipping from their bases at Kutch, Debal and Kathiawar.

At the time, Sindh is the wild frontier region of al-Hind, inhabited mostly by semi-nomadic tribes whose activities disturb much of the Western Indian Ocean.

Muslim sources insist that it was these persistent activities along increasingly important Indian trade routes by Debal pirates and others which forced the Arabs to subjugate the area, in order to control the seaports and maritime routes of which Sindh was the nucleus, as well as, the overland passage.

During Hajjaj's governorship, the Mids of Debal in one of their raids had kidnapped Muslim women traveling from Sri Lanka to Arabia, thus providing a causus belli to the rising power of the Umayyad Caliphate that will enable them to gain a foothold in the Makran, Balochistan and Sindh regions.

Also cited as a reason for this campaign is the policy of providing refuge to Sassanids fleeing the Arab advance and to Arab rebels from the Umayyad consolidation of their rule.

All the above reasons have their own importance for a first attack on Sindh, but the immediate cause for the conquest of Sindh is the plunder of the gifts of Ceylon's ruler to Hajjaj and the attack on Arab ships that ware carrying the orphans and widows of Muslim soldiers who had died in Jihad against Africa.

These Arab had later been imprisoned by the Governor Deebal Partaab Raye.

A letter written by an escaped Arab girl from the Arab asks Hajjaj for help.

When Hajjaj asks Dahir forth release of prisoners and compensation, the latter refuses on the ground that he has no control over these.

Hajjaj sends his nephew Muhammad ibn Qasim to fight his way into the Indus Valley in 711.

Through conquest, the Umayyad Caliphate intends to protect its maritime interest, while also cutting off refuge for fleeing rebel chieftains as well as Sindhi military support to the Sassanid rump state; akin to those received at several prior major battles during the their conquest of Persia—such as those at Salasal and Qādisiyyah and the finally at the Battle of Rasil.

An actual push into the region had been out of favor, in accord with an Arab policy since the time of the Rashidun Caliph Umar bin Khattab, who upon receipt of reports of Sindh being an inhospitable and poor land, had stopped further expeditionary ventures into the region.

Hajjaj superintended this campaign from Kufa by maintaining close contact with Muhammad bin Qasim in the form of regular reports and then regularly issuing orders.

The army that departed from Shiraz in 710 CE under Muhammad bin Qasim is six thousand Syrian cavalry and detachments of mawali from Iraq.

The mawali are new non-Arab converts, usually allied with Hajjaj's political opponents and thus frequently forced to participate in the Jihads on the frontier—such as Kabul, Sindh and Transoxania.

At the borders of Sindh, Muhammad bu Qasim is joined by an advance guard and six thousand camel riders and later reinforcements from the governor of Makran transferred directly to Debal by sea along with five catapults ("manjaniks").

The army that eventually captures Sindh will later be swelled by the Jats and Mids as well as other irregulars that had heard of successes in Sindh.

When Muhammad bin Qasim passes through Makran while raising forces, he has to re-subdue the restive Umayyad towns of Fannazbur and Arman Belah (Lasbela).

Debal is the first town assaulted upon the orders of Al-Hajjaj, who exacts a bloody retribution on Debal by giving no quarter to its residents or priests and destroying its great temple.

From Debal, the Arab army then marches north taking towns such as Nerun and Sadusan (Sehwan) peacefully, often incorporating their military components; additionally, one-fifth of the booty, including slaves, is dispatched to Hajjaj and the Caliph.

The conquest of these towns is accomplished easily; however, Raja Dahir's armies being prepared on the other side of the Indus, are yet to be fought.

In preparation to meet them, Muhammad bin Qasim moves back to Nerun to resupply and receive reinforcements sent by Hajjaj.

Camped on the east bank of the Indus, Qasim sends emissaries and bargains with the river Jats and boatmen.

Upon securing the aid of Mokah Basayah, "the King of the island of Bet", Muhammad bin Qasim crosses over the river where he is joined by the forces of the Thakore of Bhatta and the western Jats.

At Ar-rur (Rohri), he is met by Dahir's forces and the eastern Jats in battle.

Dahir dies in the battle, his forces are defeated and a triumphant Muhammad bin Qasim takes control of Sindh.

In the wake of the battle, enemy soldiers are put to death—but not artisans, merchants or farmers—and Dahir and his chiefs, the "daughters of princes" and the usual fifth of the booty and slaves are sent on to Hajjaj.

Soon, the capitals of the other provinces, Brahmanabad, Alor (Aror) and Multan, are captured alongside other in-between towns with only light Muslim casualties.

Usually after a siege of a few weeks or months the Arabs gain a city through the intervention of heads of mercantile houses with whom subsequent treaties and agreements would be settled.

The general populace is encouraged to carry on with their trades and taxes and tributes settled.

With Sindh secured, Qasim sends expeditions to Surashtra, where his generals make peaceful treaty settlements with the Rashtrakuta.

Muhammad bin Qasim writes out letters to "kings of Hind" to surrender and accept Islam, and subsequently ten thousand cavalry are sent to Kannauj asking them to submit and pay tribute before his abrupt recall ends the campaign.

Muhammad ibn-Qasīm defeats Raja Dahir by enlisting the support of various local tribes, such as the Jats and the Meds, and the Buddhist rulers of Nerun, Bajhra, Kaka Kolak and Siwistan, as infantry to his predominantly cavalry army.

Dahir next attempts to prevent Qasim from crossing the Indus river and so moves his forces to its eastern banks in an attempt prevent Qasim from furthering the campaign.

Eventually however, Qasim successfully completes the crossing and defeats an an attempt to repel them at Jitor led by Jaisiah, the son of Dahir.

Qasim now advances onward to give Dahir battle at Raor near modern day Nawabshah, where Dahir dies in battle.

The Chach Nama, a history of the Muslim conquest of South Asia, reports Dahir as having gone into battle seated on elephant and attended by two "maid-servants", one serving him "Paan" and the other supplying him arrows.

The wandering of the so-called Gypsies, or Romani, of North India begins at approximately this time.

The absence of a written history has meant that the origin and early history of the Romani people was long an enigma.

Linguistic evidence indicates the Romanies originated from the Rajasthani people, emigrating from India towards the northwest no earlier than the eleventh century.

Contemporary populations sometimes suggested as sharing a close relationship to the Romani are the Dom people of Central Asia and the Banjara of India.

Genetic evidence connects the Romani people and the Jat people, the descendants of groups that emigrated from India towards Central Asia during the medieval period.

There are serological similarities shared with several populations that linked the two people in a 1992 study.

A limited medical survey of haplotypes frequently found in the Jat Sikhs and Jats of Haryana, and those found in the Romani populations revealed no matches in 2007.

However, in 2009 researchers discovered the "Jat mutation", which causes a type of glaucoma in Romani people.

The cause of the Romani diaspora is unknown.

However, the most probable conclusion is that the Romanies were part of the military in North India.

When there were repeated raids by Mahmud of Ghazni and these soldiers were defeated, they were moved west with their families into the Eastern Roman Empire.

Razia Sultana, ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, had miscounted the consequences that a relationship with one of her advisers, Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut, an enslaved Abyssinian Siddi (Habshi), would have for her reign.

According to some accounts, Razia and Yaqut were lovers, other sources simply identify them as close confidants.

In any case, before long, she had aroused the jealousy of the Turkic nobility by the favoritism she displayed toward Yaqut, who was not a Turk, when she appointed him to be Superintendent of the Stables.

Eventually, a childhood friend named Malik Altunia, the governor of Bhatinda, had joined a rebellion by other provincial governors who refuse to accept Razia's authority.

A battle between Razia and Altunia had ensued, resulting in Yaqut’s death and Razia’s capture.

To escape death, Razia had agreed to marry Altunia.

Meanwhile, Razia's brother, Muizuddin Bahram Shah, had usurped the throne, declaring himself king with the support of forty chiefs.

After Altunia and Razia undertake to recover the sultanate from Bahram through battle, both Razia and her husband are defeated in October 1240).

They flee Delhi and …

…reach Kaithal the next day, where their remaining forces abandon them.

Falling into the hands of Jats, they are robbed and murdered on October 13, 1240.

The seventh Delhi sultan is effectively a puppet for the Chihalgani and does not actually have much power or influence in the government.

Instead, he has gained infamy for his fondness of entertainment and wine.

The chiefs have become sufficiently upset with Ala-ud-din Masud's increasing hunger for more power to replace him in 1246 with Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, who is another son of Iltutmish.

The Jat people under the leader Gokula rebel against their powerful Mughal overlords.

The rebellion is a result of political provocation aggravated by economic discontent, and further aggravated by religious persecution and discrimination.

The whole district is in disorder for a year until the rebellion is suppressed by a strong imperial force under Hasan Ali Khan, the new faujdar of Mathura.

Gokula is put to death by dismemberment.

South Asia (1684 – 1827 CE)

Imperial Fragmentation, Maritime Rivalry, and the Foundations of Colonial Rule

Geography & Environmental Context

South Asia stretched from the Hindu Kush and Pamirs to the Deccan Plateau, and from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. It encompassed the Indus and Ganges river basins, the Himalayan highlands of Nepal and Bhutan, the rice deltas of Bengal and Arakan, the Deccan uplands, and the islands of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Chagos. The subcontinent’s position—linking Central Asia, the Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia—made it both the heart of Asian trade and the prize of rival empires.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The waning Little Ice Age introduced alternating droughts and floods across the monsoon belt. Bengal endured recurrent famine, culminating in the catastrophic 1770 famine. Himalayan glacial advance modulated river flow; Afghan winters intensified; coastal cyclones and tidal surges devastated the Bengal–Arakan littoral. Yet elaborate canal, tank, and embankment systems buffered many agrarian zones, while island ecologies in the Maldives and Lakshadweep adapted to storm and salt through diversified fishing and coconut economies.

Subsistence & Settlement

Agrarian regimes sustained the densest populations on earth:

• Indus–Gangetic plains: Wheat, rice, sugarcane, and pulses underpinned Mughal-era prosperity. Irrigation networks, though decaying, still supported Punjab’s fertile canal colonies.

• Deccan and southern India: Millet, cotton, and pepper dominated; Coromandel weavers supplied global markets.

• Bengal delta: Rice abundance alternated with disaster under East India Company revenue extraction and coerced indigo and opium cultivation.

• Afghan highlands: Wheat, fruit orchards, and transhumant herding structured mountain economies.

• Himalayan kingdoms: Nepal and Bhutan maintained terrace rice and barley cultivation, salt–grain exchange, and yak pastoralism.

• Sri Lanka and the atolls: Cinnamon, pepper, coconuts, and fisheries supported dense littoral societies, while interior Kandy preserved upland rice autonomy.

Technology & Material Culture

• Agrarian infrastructure: Persian wheels, tanks, and Mughal canals persisted; Deccan irrigation tanks and Malabar spice terraces displayed local ingenuity.

• Manufacture: Bengal’s muslins, silk, and indigo; Coromandel chintz and calico; Malabar pepper and Ceylon cinnamon—each integrated local craft into global commerce.

• Maritime architecture: Dutch and British forts lined Cochin, Galle, and Madras; dhows, baghalas, and European East Indiamen crowded Indian Ocean lanes.

• Artistic expression: Mughal miniature and marble architecture endured in Lahore and Delhi; temple sculpture, bhakti music, and Sufi calligraphy proliferated; Newar bronzes, Bhutanese dzongs, and Kandy’s temple murals symbolized sacred power.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Overland gates: The Khyber and Bolan passes funneled invasions and caravans between Kabul and Delhi.

• Riverine and coastal arteries: The Ganges–Brahmaputra delta became a lattice of Company barges and local craft exporting grain, jute, and indigo.

• Maritime routes: VOC ships monopolized Malabar pepper and Ceylon cinnamon; the EIC expanded from Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, tying India to Southeast Asia and the Atlantic.

• Himalayan trade: Nepal and Bhutan moved salt, copper, and wool to Bengal and Tibet.

• Island networks: The Maldives exported cowries and tuna; Chagos and Diego Garcia linked the Mascarenes and India through plantation provisioning.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

South Asia’s pluralism deepened amid political fragmentation:

• Islamic & Persianate culture: The waning Mughal court still radiated refinement in poetry, miniature painting, and mosque architecture; Sufi shrines knit communities through pilgrimage and music.

• Bhakti & Sikh movements: Vernacular devotion flourished; Guru Gobind Singh’s Khalsa (1699) forged Sikh martial identity, later embodied in Ranjit Singh’s kingdom at Lahore.

• Hindu & Buddhist renewals: Temple festivals in the south, Vaishnava bhakti in Bengal, and Buddhist monastic reform in Sri Lanka reaffirmed local sovereignty.

• Himalayan states: Nepalese and Bhutanese monarchs consolidated power through Buddhist rituals and architecture.

• Island Islam: The Maldives and Lakshadweep nurtured coral-stone mosques and dynastic chronicles; enslaved Africans and South Indians in Chagos created creole religious and musical traditions.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Irrigation and water management moderated drought in Punjab and the Deccan.

• Crop diversification: American introductions—maize, tobacco, potatoes—joined traditional grains.

• Island sustainability: Maldivians rotated fishing grounds, protected coconut groves, and stored dried tuna for famine insurance.

• Famine coping: Temple and mosque endowments, grain stores, and pilgrim networks offered relief, though colonial requisition eroded many safeguards.

Political & Military Shocks

• Mughal decline: After Aurangzeb’s death (1707), provincial nawabs of Bengal, Awadh, and Hyderabad asserted autonomy.

• Afghan & Maratha wars: Nadir Shah’s sack of Delhi (1739) and Ahmad Shah Durrani’s raids (1748–1767)devastated the north; the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) broke Maratha expansion and left Punjab contested.

• Sikh consolidation: By 1799, Ranjit Singh unified Punjab, creating a modernized Sikh kingdom.

• European ascendancy:

  • British East India Company victories at Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) secured Bengal; Delhi fell under Company protection (1803).

  • The Anglo-Mysore and Maratha wars dismantled southern powers.

  • Ceylon (1815) passed from the Dutch to Britain after the fall of Kandy.

  • First Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816) and Treaty of Sugauli reduced Nepal’s territory; Bhutan lost its Duars.

  • First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826) brought Arakan and Assam under British rule.

• Dutch decline: The VOC collapsed (1799); its possessions, including the Malabar and Ceylon trade posts, shifted to British hands.

Transition

Between 1684 and 1827 CE, South Asia shifted from a constellation of Mughal-successor and regional states to the nucleus of British imperial power. The Mughal world fractured into Afghan, Sikh, Maratha, and nawabi domains even as the East India Company built an oceanic empire linking Bengal to Bombay, and Ceylon to Singapore.
From Kabul’s mountain passes to the coral atolls of the Maldives, local societies adapted through irrigation, trade, and faith, yet the new imperial infrastructure of forts, ports, and plantations began to bind them into a single economic orbit. By 1827, the subcontinent stood transformed: its sovereignty divided, its resources globalized, and its cultural vitality undiminished amid the first full wave of the modern colonial age.

Upper South Asia (1684–1827 CE)

Mughal Strain, Afghan Ascendancy, and Colonial Entrenchment

Geography & Environmental Context

The subregion includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and northwestern Myanmar (the Arakan/Rakhine littoral and the Chindwin valley). Anchors: the Hindu Kush with the Khyber–Bolan passes; the Indus and Ganges–Yamuna basins; the Brahmaputra–Ganges delta; Himalayan terraces and Tarai(Nepal, Bhutan); and the Arakan littoral–Chindwin uplands linking the Bay of Bengal to Burma’s interior. From Afghan valleys to Bengal’s rice plains, this corridor bridged Central and South Asia to the Indian Ocean and Southeastern Asia.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The later Little Ice Age brought instability. Afghan winters were bitter, straining herders. Erratic monsoons produced Bengal flood years (notably catastrophic Brahmaputra floods in the 1780s) and droughts across the Gangetic and Deccan plains. The Bengal famine (1770)—drought compounded by exploitative Company policies—killed millions. Slight Himalayan glacial advance modulated river flows. Cyclones periodically struck Bengal and the Arakan coast, sweeping away crops and villages.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Indus & Gangetic plains: Wheat, barley, pulses, sugarcane, and rice remained staples; in Punjab, irrigation sustained canal colonies even as Mughal oversight waned.

• Afghanistan: Valley wheat and orchard crops; sheep, goat, and horse herding on steppe margins.

• Bengal delta: Rice thrived in normal years, but famine and coerced indigo/opium regimes under Company dominance undermined food security.

• Nepal & Bhutan: Terrace rice in the Tarai; barley and buckwheat in higher valleys; yak and sheep pastoralism; salt–grain exchange sustained frontiers.

• Arakan/Rakhine & Chindwin valley: Wet-rice expansion under Burmese (and later British) rule; Arakanbecame a rice-exporting frontier; Chindwin uplands supplied timber and forest goods.

Technology & Material Culture

Mughal canals and Persian wheels endured despite declining maintenance. Firearms proliferated—matchlocks, later flintlocks. Bengal muslins and silks remained world-renowned via European factories. Afghan and Sikh smiths produced swords and artillery. Newar artisans in Nepal crafted temples, bronzes, and paubha paintings; Bhutan raised massive dzongs (fortress–monasteries). In Arakan and Chindwin, Buddhist temples, rice mills, and logging systems marked Burmese expansion.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Afghanistan–Punjab corridor: Invasions by Nadir Shah (1739) and Ahmad Shah Durrani (1748–1767)devastated Delhi and Punjab, funnelling loot and captives north.

• Indo-Gangetic trunk roads: Continued to bind Lahore–Delhi–Agra–Patna–Calcutta, though less securely guarded.

• Bengal waterways: Became arteries for Company extraction of grain, jute, and indigo.

• Himalayan passes: Nepal and Bhutan exchanged salt, wool, and copper with Tibet and Bengal.

• Arakan & Chindwin: Incorporated into the Burmese kingdom after 1784; rice and teak flowed to coastal ports. By the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826) these corridors drew Britain into war, culminating in the cession of Arakan and Assam to the Company.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Mughal heartland: Under Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707), Islamic orthodoxy sharpened; mosques like Badshahi(Lahore) embodied grandeur. After his death, court culture fragmented, but Persianate art and literature persisted.

• Bhakti & Sikh traditions: Bhakti poets spread vernacular devotion. The Khalsa founded by Guru Gobind Singh (1699) forged martial Sikh identity through scripture and community institutions.

• Sufi shrines: Continued to anchor towns and villages, bridging Hindu–Muslim devotional life.

• Himalayan kingdoms: Nepal and Bhutan monarchs used festivals and temples to consolidate legitimacy.

• Bengal: Vaishnava devotionalism thrived alongside Muslim pir shrine cults.

• Arakan/Rakhine: Buddhist temples at Mrauk U remained cultural centers even after Burmese conquest (1784), which dispersed Arakanese and Muslim communities.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Canal and tank irrigation buffered droughts in Punjab and the Gangetic plains. Bengal farmers rotated rice with pulses and jute—yet famine laid bare the fragility of agrarian systems under coercive Company revenue. Afghan herders diversified herds and shifted valleys; Nepalese terraces and Bhutanese dzongs stabilized alpine communities. In Arakan, embankments and polders expanded rice; in Chindwin, shifting cultivation adapted to forest clearings and timber demand.

Technology & Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

• Mughal decline: After Aurangzeb, succession wars and fiscal strain eroded authority; provincial nawabs (Awadh, Bengal, Hyderabad) grew autonomous.

• Afghan states: Nadir Shah’s sack of Delhi (1739) shattered Mughal prestige; Ahmad Shah Durrani built the Durrani Empire, raiding Punjab and Delhi.

• Sikh ascendancy: Eighteenth-century misls coalesced, culminating in Ranjit Singh’s kingdom at Lahore (1799–1839).

• Marathas: Pressed into Malwa and Delhi, clashing with Afghans at Panipat (1761)—weakening both.

• British conquest: Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) secured Bengal for the East India Company; by 1803, Delhi was under Company control. Nepal lost the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816), ceding Terai lands (Treaty of Sugauli). Bhutan lost Duars in conflicts with the Company. In 1826, Britain annexed Arakan after defeating Burma in the First Anglo-Burmese War.

Transition

By 1827 CE, Upper South Asia was a mosaic: declining Mughal centers, rising Sikh and Afghan states, and expanding Company rule. Bengal was firmly under the EIC; Delhi a pensioner’s court. Afghanistan balanced Durrani succession and foreign intrigue. Nepal and Bhutan endured as Himalayan monarchies but were treaty-bound to the Company. Arakan and the Chindwin valley had already drawn Britain into Burmese conflicts, setting up the 1826 annexations. The Indo-Gangetic core—once Mughal—was becoming the centerpiece of a new British empire in Asia.