From Indus to Independence- A Trek Through Indian History Vol IV The Onslaught of Islam

This is the fourth volume in the Indian history series From Indus to Independence: A Trek through Indian History. Its title ‘The Onslaught of Islam' is apt, since the book covers the initial period in which the newly founded religion of Islam started to move eastwards. Islam, almost immediately after its inception, had subdued large parts of the western regions of the Middle-East and stemmed the eastward movement of the Byzantine Empire.In ancient and medieval times all invaders of the Indian sub-continent came through the Khyber Pass in the Hindu Kush mountain ranges. The book examines the different invading armies starting with the Persian army of Darius the Great, the invasions of the Kushans and the White Huns, the repeated assaults by Mahmud of Ghazni ‘The Hammer of the Idolaters', and the arrival of Muhammad of Ghur into the Indian sub-continent. While describing the military successes and failures of the Islamic armies the book also analyses the philosophical intermingling of cultural and religious ideas.

This volume brings the narrative of Indian history to the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.

Professor Sanu Kainikara is an ex-fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force and currently a practising Military Strategist residing in Canberra, Australia. He holds a Master of Science degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras, and his PhD in International Politics was awarded by the University of Adelaide in Australia. He is an adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales and the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Regional Security in Canberra.
Dr Kainikara is also a political analyst and a long-term student of Indian history. His political analysis and commentaries, as well as papers on national security and strategy are regularly published in reputed international journals and magazines. He has presented numerous papers, on invitation, in International Conferences around the world. He is currently in the process of researching and writing the history of India in a series of books titled From Indus to Independence: A Trek through Indian History, of which this the fourth volume. (Volume I: Prehistory to the Fall of the Mauryas; Volume II: The Classical Age; Volume III: The Disintegration of Empires) Sanu is the author of 14 other books on national security and strategy, military forces and air power.

Author's Preface, Introduction to Volume IV, The Rajput Clans, Chapter 1 The Origins, Chapter 2 Early Rajput Kingdoms, Chapter 3 The Chahamanas; Three Ancient Hindu Kingdoms Kashmir, Valabhi and Broach, Chapter 4 Kashmir: A Kingdom Apart, Chapter 5 Kashmir under The Utpalas and The Loharas, Chapter 6 The End of Hindu Rule in Kashmir, Chapter 7 Valabhi and Broach; The Khyber Pass—The Gateway to India, Chapter 8 The Persians, Chapter 9 Alexander Of Macedonia , Chapter 10 Greeks, Kushans, Sasanians, and White Huns; The Advent Of Islam, Chapter 11 The Advent of Islam, Chapter 12 Islam in India: An Overview of The Early Days; The Ghaznavids, Chapter 13 The Hammer of Idolaters, Chapter 14 Years of Uncertainty , Chapter 15 Fragile Equilibrium, Chapter 16 Incipient Decline, Chapter 17 The Beginning of The End, Chapter 18 The Whimpering End of The Dynasty, Chapter 19 A Brief Appraisal; A State Of Flux The Ghurids And Genghis Khan, Chapter 20 The Ghurids, Chapter 21 Genghis Khan Marches Through The Khyber Pass, Chapter 22 The Origins of Arab-Muslim Conquests , Chapter 23 The Medieval Indian (Hindu) Military System An Appreciation, Conclusion, Bibliography, Index