قبل از اسلام ہندوستان کی سماجی و مذہبی حالت اور اس کے اثرات -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Socio-Religious Condition of India Before the Advent Of Islam

Abstract

India has been a multi-religious and multi-communal country since ancient times. With the progress of history the frontiers of the country expanded with a corresponding increase in its population. The scholars of ancient history put forward diverging views as to who were its original inhabitants. This country has attracted the attention of its neighbors with its geographical characteristics of a peninsula surrounded on three sides by water and the lofty snow clad Himalayas to its north. The important harbors on its coasts played a significant role in maintaining foreign relations. The immigrants to India after the decline of civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were actually designated by the name Aryans who first entered India through the area of Punjab, encountered other pre-existing communities there leading to prolonged conflicts resulting to the dominance of the Aryans finally. The Aryans who were fond of their deities and depicted them as a personalization of the different traits of The Supreme Power. They had already compiled the Rig Veda by the time of their entry in Punjab whereas its other parts were compiled later. They were unaware of idol worship by that time. The Vedas were elucidated and explained after a long time with the emergence of the four castes with the Brahman as the superior one over the others and the owners of all possessions. This division later proved to be detrimental to the progress of the country in the future. Women were considered inferior and denied property rights. Polygamy was rampant and widows were even denied an honorable life .The religions of Buddhism and Jainism evolved in this scenario but however could not appeal to the masses for a long time on account of their extreme approaches paving the way for Hinduism to regain lost ground. It which has been flourishing since then till the present. Islam entered India in that scenario and began to influence the inhabitants of India with its characteristics and teachings gaining followers with the progress of time. This provided a suitable ground for Muslim rulers to establish their rule over India. I will try to like to clarify this point in this article.