THE MOSLEM CONQUEST OF INDIA Chapter 6, Volume 1 of The Story of Civilization

The Mohammedan Conquest of India is

probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a

discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that

civilization is a precarious thing, whose

delicate complex of order and liberty, culture

and peace may at any time be overthrown by

barbarians invading from without or

multiplying within. The Hindus had allowed

their strength to be wasted in internal

division and war; they had adopted religions

like Buddhism and Jainism, which unnerved

them for the tasks of life; they had failed to

organize their forces for the protection of

their frontiers and their capitals, their wealth

and their freedom, from the hordes of

Scythians, Huns, Afghans and Turks

hovering about India's boundaries and

waiting for national weakness to let them in.

For four hundred years (600-1000 A.D.) India