Quote:
Originally Posted by T_igger_cs_30
[b]
many are mentioned in this paper, however I did find fascinating that one of the primary "heroes" was a "Turkic" (non Afghan) (not the only one) Sultan Mahmud Ghaznawi, reputedly ran about 17 campaigns against India, he became very wealthy from raiding wealthy Hindu temples, more importantly it is reported that his Mullahs converted many Hindus to Islam.
(I would be curious to know an approximate of the population this effected if anyone has it to hand, untill I can research it).
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For modern Afghans, being Moslem is a fundamental pre-requisite for being truly "Afghan"; but before the rule of the foreign Ghaznawis (which began with Mahmud's father Sebuktigin)
all "Afghans" were Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jewish or Snake-Worshippers. Hence it is no surprise at all that Ghaznawis, though Turkics, are the first heroes of the Afghans.
Mahmud of Ghaznawis, though a menace to modern-day India and Pakistan as a raider and plunderer, was the biggest to threat the ancestors of Afghans themselves. Under his rule, the largely Buddhist (and slightly smaller Hindu) population was forcibly converted and reduced to second-class status to the Turkic elites. The Hindus atleast had the option of fleeing to India, the Buddhists who tried to seek refuge in North mostly died in the mountains.
In Islamic literature "Hindu" means anything "Indian/Indic": The Buddhists had a large and thriving presence in Afghanistan under the Greco-Bactrian, Kushan and later Hindu kingdoms. Their monastries and stupas were the biggest victims of the plunderers. The plundering and conversion was so comprehensive that there are no one to mourn their destruction and suffering. In India the Gaznawis were more like raiders, picking off soft, big and rich targets like Hindu temples.
It is very difficult to separate facts from boasting in Islamic chronicles (given their
colorful narration), obviously little of their victims' narratives survived either. But I think it would be safe to say that during Mahmud of Ghaznawi's raids around 80,000-100,000 would be the maximum slave-converts captured in the Indian sub-continent. (Slaves slow-down the largely cavalry-based raiding forces; plus some have the annoying habit of rebelling at the most inconvenient times). The massive-scale conversion began with establishment of the Delhi Sultanate about a century later on a more permanent basis in India - the results of which can be seen in the 340 million odd Moslems in Indian Sub-Continent.