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652 - Battle of Rajasthan

By the time the Arabs reached India in the 600s*, they had forged an empire stretching a third of the way around the world, from the North African Maghreb to Persia. The first Caliphate had been founded in 554, less than a century after the death of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. His followers sought to bring the entire Muslim world under one government, ruled by the successors of their Prophet. Of course, much of their conquests weren't Muslim when the Caliphate arrived, but they became so before too long, often through forced conversion. Much of North Africa, West Asia and southern Europe remain Muslim to this day as a result.

In the early 7th Century, the Caliphate's armies had subjugated the Kingdom of Sindh, under the leadership of Muhammad ibn Qasim, aided by the nation's internal strife. They were already working to convert its people to Islam, a process which would continue for many years, until the Caliphate was finally forced out almost a century later.

This conquest brought them to the banks of the Indus River, which was in many ways the boundary between Greater Iran and the Indian continent, although Sindh and other groups on the west bank were also very much Indian peoples. At this point, the Arabs' armies and supplies were stretched thin, and keeping the armies organised and in shape was a logistical nightmare for the bureacracy of the Caliphate.

Nevertheless, the generals, viziers and bureacrats of the Caliphate could not hold their ambitions in check, and after a few years spent in Sindh, to consolidate their new possessions in India, they pressed on into the Punjab, aiming for the arguable centre of Indian civilisation: the Ganges River.

The ruler of Gurjara Pratihara attempted to form an alliance with the governor of Gujarat, to repulse the invaders and keep the continent Hindu, but the two failed to come to an agreement, and were thus unable to join forces. Jayasimha Varman, the governor of Gujarat, has been widely condemned by historians for this action in recent years. In the Battle of Rajasthan, the forces of the Chalukya Dynasty were defeated by the Caliphate's armies, although they fought bitterly. This has been seen by many as the turning point of the Muslim invasion of North India, which would result in its occupation for many decades, although others argue that the conquest was inevitable.

Under the direction of military leaders, the Arab forces set up a base on the eastern side of the Indus River. For the next few years, sporadic forays into the Hindu-held lands surrounding this base of operations kept the natives at bay, and in the late 650s the Caliphate renewed its efforts to subjugate the Indian continent, having brought in reinforcements from across their empire. Iberians, Moors, Berbers, Arabs, Turks, Persians, Pashtuns: all were among the armies which marched on the Hindu kingdoms of the Punjab and Gujarat.


* Note: all dates are in the Shalivahana Era. Add 78 for a rough CE equivalent.
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