Decline of Buddhism.—The iconoclastic raids of Mahmúd probably gave the coup de grâce to Buddhism. Its golden age may be put at from 250 B.C. to 200 A.D. Brahmanism gradually emerged from retirement and reappeared at royal courts. It was quite ready to admit Buddha to its pantheon, and by so doing it sapped the doctrine he had taught. The Chinese pilgrim, Fahien, in the early part of the fifth century could still describe Buddhism in the Panjáb as "very flourishing," and he found numerous monasteries. The religion seems however to have largely degenerated into a childish veneration of relics.
Conquest of Delhi.—For a century and a quarter after the death of Mahmúd in 1030 A.D. his line maintained its sway over a much diminished empire. In 1155 the Afghán chief of Ghor, Alá ud dín, the "World-burner" (Jahán-soz), levelled Ghazní with the ground. For a little longer the Ghaznevide Turkish kings maintained themselves in Lahore. Between 1175 and 1186 Muhammad Ghorí, who had set up a new dynasty at Ghazní, conquered Multán, Peshawar, Siálkot, and Lahore, and put an end to the line of Mahmúd. The occupation of Sirhind brought into the field Prithví Rája, the Chauhán Rájput king of Delhi. In 1191 he routed Muhammad Ghorí at Naráina near Karnál. But next year the Afghán came back with a huge host, and this time on the same battlefield fortune favoured him. Prithví Rája was taken and killed, and Muhammad's slave, Kutbuddín Aibak, whom he left to represent him in India, soon occupied Delhi. In 1203 Muhammad Ghorí had to flee for his life after a defeat near the Oxus. The Ghakkars seized the chance and occupied Lahore. But the old lion, though wounded, was still formidable. The Ghakkars were beaten, and, it is said, converted. A year or two later they murdered their conqueror in his tent near the Indus.
Turkish and Afgháns Sultáns of Delhi.—He had no son, and his strong viceroy, Kutbuddín Aibak, became in 1206 the first of the 33 Muhammadan kings, who in five successive dynasties ruled from Delhi a kingdom of varying dimensions, till the last of them fell at Pánipat in 1526, and Bábar, the first of the Moghals, became master of their red fort palace. The blood-stained annals of these 320 years can only be lightly touched on. Under vigorous rulers like the Turkí Slave kings, Altamsh (1210-1236) and Balban (1266-1287), a ferocious and masterful boor like Alá ud dín Khaljí (1296-1316), or a ferocious but able man of culture like Muhammad Tughlak (1325-1351), the local governors at Lahore and Multán were content to be servants. In the frequent intervals during which the royal authority was in the hands of sottish wastrels, the chance of independence was no doubt seized.
Mongol Invasions.—In 1221 the Mongol cloud rose on the north-west horizon. The cruelty of these camel-riding Tatars and the terror they inspired may perhaps be measured by the appalling picture given of their bestial appearance. In 1221, Chingiz Khán descended on the Indus at the heels of the King of Khwarizm (Khiva), and drove him into Sindh. Then there was a lull for twenty years, after which the Mongol war hordes ruined and ravaged the Panjáb for two generations. Two great Panjáb governors, Sher Khán under Balban and Tughlak under Alá ud dín Khaljí, maintained a gallant struggle against these savages. In 1297 and 1303 the Mongols came to the gates of Delhi, but the city did not fall, and soon after they ceased to harry Northern India. During these years the misery of the common people must often have been extreme. When foreign raids ceased for a time they were plundered by their own rulers. In the Panjáb the fate of the peasantry must have depended chiefly on the character of the governor for the time being, and of the local feudatories or zamíndárs, who were given the right to collect the State's share of the produce on condition of keeping up bodies of armed men for service when required.
The Invasion of Timúr.—The long reign of Muhammad Tughlak's successor, Firoz Sháh (1351-1388), son of a Hindu Rájput princess of Dipálpur, brought relief to all classes. Besides adopting a moderate fiscal policy, he founded towns like Hissár and Fatehábád, dug canals from the Jamna and the Sutlej, and carried out many other useful works. On his death the realm fell into confusion. In 1398-99 another appalling calamity fell upon it in the invasion of Timúrlang (Tamerlane), Khán of Samarkand. He entered India at the head of 90,000 horsemen, and marched by Multán, Dipálpur, Sirsa, Kaithal, and Pánipat to Delhi. What lust of blood was to the Mongols, religious hatred was to Timúr and his Turks. Ten thousand Hindus were put to the sword at Bhatner and 100,000 prisoners were massacred before the victory at Delhi. For the three days' sack of the royal city Timúr was not personally responsible. Sated with the blood of lakhs of infidels sent "to the fires of Hell" he marched back through Kángra and Jammu to the Indus. Six years later the House of Tughlak received a deadly wound when the Wazír, Ikbál Khan, fell in battle with Khizr Khán, the governor of Multán.
The later Dynasties.—The Saiyyids, who were in power from 1414 to 1451, only ruled a small territory round Delhi. The local governors and the Hindu chiefs made themselves independent. Sikandar Lodí (1488-1518) reduced them to some form of submission, but his successor, Ibrahím, drove them into opposition by pushing authority further than his power justified. An Afghán noble, Daulat Khán, rebelled in the Panjáb. There is always an ear at Kábul listening to the first sounds of discord and weakness between Pesháwar and Delhi. Bábar, a descendant of Timúr, ruled a little kingdom there. In 1519 he advanced as far as Bhera. Five years later his troops burned the Lahore bazár, and sacked Dipálpur. The next winter saw Bábar back again, and this time Delhi was his goal. On the 21st of April, 1526, a great battle at Pánipat again decided the fate of India, and Bábar entered Delhi in triumph.
Akbar and his successors.—He soon bequeathed his Indian kingdom to his son Humáyun, who lost it, but recovered it shortly before his death by defeating Sikandar Sur at Sirhind. In 1556 Akbar succeeded at the age of 13, and in the same year Bahram Khán won for his master a great battle at Pánipat and seated the Moghals firmly on the throne. For the next century and a half, till their power declined after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Kábul and Delhi were under one rule, and the Panjáb was held in a strong grasp. When it was disturbed the cause was rebellions of undutiful sons of the reigning Emperor, struggles between rival heirs on the Emperor's death, or attempts to check the growing power of the Sikh Gurus. The empire was divided into súbahs, and the area described in this book embraced súbahs Lahore and Multán, and parts of súbahs Delhi and Kábul. Kashmír and the trans-Indus tract were included in the last.
The Sultáns of Kashmír.—The Hindu rule in Kashmír had broken down by the middle of the twelfth century. A long line of Musalmán Sultáns followed. Two notable names emerge in the end of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century, Sikandar, the "Idol-breaker," who destroyed most of the Hindu temples and converted his people to Islám, and his wise and tolerant successor, Zain-ul-ábidín. Akbar conquered Kashmír in 1587.
Moghal Royal Progresses to Kashmír.—His successors often moved from Delhi by Lahore, Bhimbar, and the Pír Panjál route to the Happy Valley in order to escape the summer heats. Bernier has given us a graphic account of Aurangzeb's move to the hills in 1665. On that occasion his total following was estimated to amount to 300,000 or 400,000 persons, and the journey from Delhi to Lahore occupied two months. The burden royal progresses on this scale must have imposed on the country is inconceivable. Jahángír died in his beloved Kashmír. He planted the road from Delhi to Lahore with trees, set up as milestones the kos minárs, some of which are still standing, and built fine sarais at various places.
Prosperity of Lahore under Akbar, Jahángír, and Sháhjahán.—The reigns of Akbar and of his son and grandson were the heyday of Lahore. It was the halfway house between Delhi and Kashmír, and between Agra and Kábul. The Moghal Court was often there. Akbar made the city his headquarters from 1584 to 1598. Jahángír was buried and Sháhjahán was born at Lahore. The mausoleum of the former is at Sháhdara, a mile or two from the city. Sháhjahán made the Shálimár garden, and Ali Mardán Khán's Canal, the predecessor of our own Upper Bárí Doáb Canal, was partly designed to water it. Lahore retained its importance under Aurangzeb, till he became enmeshed in the endless Deccan wars, and his successor, Bahádur Shah, died there in 1712.