AHC - India and Afghanistan

Make Afghanistan or a large part of Afghanistan a part of India or an Indian empire in present day
the pod is after the birth of Islam
 

longsword14

Banned
Make Afghanistan or a large part of Afghanistan a part of India or an Indian empire in present day
the pod is after the birth of Islam
Given the timescale involved, India would be completely different. What would you consider an Indian Empire?
A good route would be to have a relatively strong kingdom in the north centered somewhere close to Afghanistan conquer it and then expand to the south. Provided it does not fall to pieces, the center of mass should shift southwards, thus giving it a more 'Indian' flavour ( I expect you mean North India?).
 
Make Afghanistan or a large part of Afghanistan a part of India or an Indian empire in present day
the pod is after the birth of Islam

Maybe a surviving Delhi sultanate, with the Afghan Lodi dynasty at the helm. That means they could possibly feel more of a need to integrate Afghanistan into the Sultanate, for military and administration reasons, and with due time more Indian influences could effect the region, in terms of language, architecture, possible immigration from the core of the Indian subcontinent. A possible POD would be Babar dying somewhere along the trip between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
 
Maybe a surviving Delhi sultanate, with the Afghan Lodi dynasty at the helm. That means they could possibly feel more of a need to integrate Afghanistan into the Sultanate, for military and administration reasons, and with due time more Indian influences could effect the region, in terms of language, architecture, possible immigration from the core of the Indian subcontinent. A possible POD would be Babar dying somewhere along the trip between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
could a non Islamic Afghanistan be easier to integrate
 
could a non Islamic Afghanistan be easier to integrate

It would be great fun to see this focused around a Zunist Afghanistan. It seems to have adopted a large number of Hindi ideas, alongside Buddist and Zoroastrianism. Perhaps briefly after the return of Mohammed from Axum there is a Zunist Prince or leader who starts developing his own forces, perhaps he has the unusual foresight to see what is happening in Arabia, and begins to militarise Arachosia, perhaps even creating army of equal zeal that helps push back the Arabs (drawing on the forces of Afghanistan and maybe some Steppe allies?)

As one of the major figures after the Sassanids have been severely weakened, he could use these forces to expand into India - and eventually declaring independence, creating a state based on the Indus and Afghanistan that expands in India.

Now, considering the vast majority of its people, and likely the culture, would be subsumed into India, I would still consider this an Indian Empire - even if it started in Afghanistan.
 
could a non Islamic Afghanistan be easier to integrate

Much, much easier, like RogueTraderEnthusiast states, it's likely that a non-Islamic Afghanistan that keeps cultural contact (by conquest or trade) with the subcontinent will most likely be extremely influenced by it. In fact, if an Afghan invasion of the subcontinent does indeed happen, I could see Afghans being another group of pre-Islamic invaders that are folded into the Indian tapestry and become a part of the Ksatriya Caste. Perhaps even settling Rohilla lands like they do OTL, all though obviously much more integrated into whatever Indian regime they fall into.
 
Some parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan followed a Proto-Indo-Iranian religion well into the 19th century and those tribes were ferocious. If Afghanistan was part of India, I could see a larger Zoaroastrian diaspora in India and maybe not so much chaos in the Spice Road. Of course that could happen if Afghanistan was part of Iran instead.
 
Some parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan followed a Proto-Indo-Iranian religion well into the 19th century and those tribes were ferocious. If Afghanistan was part of India, I could see a larger Zoaroastrian diaspora in India and maybe not so much chaos in the Spice Road. Of course that could happen if Afghanistan was part of Iran instead.
maybe divided in half
 
Some parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan followed a Proto-Indo-Iranian religion well into the 19th century and those tribes were ferocious. If Afghanistan was part of India, I could see a larger Zoaroastrian diaspora in India and maybe not so much chaos in the Spice Road. Of course that could happen if Afghanistan was part of Iran instead.

You are referring to the people of Nuristan in Afghanistan? Their cousins in Pakistan, the Kalash, still follow this ancient religion to this day, assuming Islam doesn't become the main religion of these regions, these people's cultures would be the best estimate of how Afghanistan/Pakistan would look culturally.
 
You are referring to the people of Nuristan in Afghanistan? Their cousins in Pakistan, the Kalash, still follow this ancient religion to this day, assuming Islam doesn't become the main religion of these regions, these people's cultures would be the best estimate of how Afghanistan/Pakistan would look culturally.
maybe their religion gets integrated with Hinduism
 

longsword14

Banned
maybe their religion gets integrated with Hinduism
Hinduism as a historical term is very fudgy. It encompasses so many regions and traditions that given a far enough POD, a lot many aspects could be melted into a Hindu identity.
The current interpretation likely never becomes a reality.
 
We do seem to be leaning towards a Variant-Hindu approach. For variety, we could see a Hephthalite restoration - Perhaps from the Takka - or a victory for them at the Khyber Pass. This could lead to a Buddhist Kingdom emerging in India that takes advantage of the Gupta Empires collapse. It is borderline after Islam, but it could work.
 
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