Invasions from beyond the Hindu Kush

A new era began in India in the early 11th century, when invasions from beyond the Hindu Kush mountains (in the northwest) reshaped India's political map.

The chapter is careful about its claim. India had seen plenty of warfare in earlier periods; that was not new.

What was new was the scale of invasion by people from outside the Indian subcontinent. The book calls it unprecedented: nothing like it had happened before.

Many of these invaders were from Central Asia, Turkic or Afghan. 'Turkic' is a wide word: it means the peoples, languages and cultures of a huge region stretching across Central Asia all the way to Turkey and Siberia. It does not just mean 'from Turkey'.

Why did they come? The book gives three reasons, not one.

First, India's riches. India was known across Asia as a wealthy land, and wealth attracts armies.

Second, the wish for more land: the ordinary desire of rulers to control more territory.

Third, as the book says plainly: often to spread their own versions of their religion, by force if necessary. The three reasons worked together, which is why this period looks different from earlier wars.