Dr.

Subhash Parihar
Former Associate Professor
Central University of Punjab
Bathinda-151501.
4, Street No. 2,
Green Enclave
KOT KAPURA-151204.
East Punjab, India words: 2140

Surinder Singh, The Making of Medieval Panjab: Politics, Society and Culture c. 1000-c.
1500. Delhi: Manohar, 2020. Pp. 636. Hardbound. Price: Indian Rupees 2495.

As we move back in the past, the shortage of sources for writing history of South Asia
increases. While there is no dearth of sources for British period, Mughal times are not as
fortunate. Still lesser are the sources for the pre-Mughal period, and the least for the ancient
period. The difficulties are more pronounced if we narrow down to the region of Punjab. 1
That is why, from the eleventh century to the fifteenth century, our knowledge of the politics,
society, and culture of Punjab is quite scant. So far, there were only two books on the subject
—Panjab under the Sultans 1000-1526 A.D. by Bakhshish Singh Nijjar, first published in
1968, and History of the Punjab (A.D. 1000-1526), edited by Dr. Fauja Singh, first published
in 1972. Both of these books, written about half a century back, were in the traditional style
whereas during the half century after that many new trends in history writing have emerged.
Moreover, a lot of secondary studies and new interpretations on the subject have appeared
during the period. In such a situation, Dr. Surinder Singh's recently published book The
Making of Medieval Punjab: Politics, Society and Culture c. 1000-c.1500 deserves a warm
welcome as it takes into consideration the new source material also.

For the major part of his career Dr. Surinder Singh has taught at the Punjab University,
Chandigarh. He figures among the few serious scholars of the Punjab who have devoted their
entire lives to teaching and research. After his retirement in 2015, though he is free from his
teaching duty, his research journey continues. Earlier, he has authored two books—History of
Medieval India (1000 AD–1526 AD) (in Punjabi, 1997); and The Political Memoirs of an
Indian Revolutionary (2005)—and edited three books—Popular Literature and Pre-modern
Societies in South Asia (2008); Sufism in Punjab: Mystics, Literature and Shrines (in
collaboration with Ishwar Dayal Gaur, 2009); Crisis in the Western Himalayas: Reports of
J.D. Cunningham 1841-42 (in collaboration with C.L. Datta, 2015). Besides these books, he
has also to his credit about five dozen research papers. The book under review is the outcome
of his life-long study. Eminent historian Professor Harbans Mukhia of Jawaharlal Nehru
University (Delhi) considers it “A marvelous addition to History's bookshelves by an
imaginative historian….The themes he has masterfully explored are out of the ordinary and
he has brought his enormous learning to bear on these. In some significant ways he has
redefined the medieval history of his region.”

1
At present the spellings ‘Punjab’ have come to be universally accepted, the spellings ‘Panjab’ is used in this
review only in quotes, or where used by the authors.
The Punjab covered in this book is not limited to the present states of the name in India and
Pakistan, but extends from the Indus river in the east to the Jamuna river in the west, from the
Himalayan hills in the north to the desert of Rajasthan in the south. The history of this vast
area is at least 5000 years old. But what is usually written or taught about deals only with a
very narrow geographical area and a very short period of time, in which the cultural diversity
of the region is totally absent. Up to the sixteenth century there is hardly any writing about
Punjab. Its post-sixteenth-century history is also portrayed as the conflict between the
established religion of Islam, to which the emperors belonged, and the nascent Sikhism. It is
never considered that Islam had come to Punjab about five centuries earlier, and during this
long period people had learnt to live together. The newcomers had already influenced local
politics, culture, and religions. All this happened not just by the force of sword but was the
result of centuries-long inter-action.

In the first chapter of the book under review, the author delineates the background for the rest
of the study. He describes the major trends in the history of the reign, analyses the primary
sources as well as the latest research work on the subject of Sufism. He has also kept in view
the limitations of the sources.

Dr. Singh presents his material not in a linear chronological sequence, but classifies it in
special chapters. The first chapter—Warfare, Territory and Resistance—deals with the
political aspect because politics is the foundation on which the building of the State is
constructed. From the beginning of the eleventh century, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (971-
1030) invaded India and began to carry away the wealth of the region to his kingdom. The
phenomenon continued during the following quarter century. One of the consequences of
these invasions was that the Punjab to the west of Lahore became a part of the Ghaznavid
Empire two centuries earlier than the rest of Punjab. The region got “drawn into the vortex of
the larger Islamic world.” This Islamic world extended further east with the conquest of
Sultan Muhammad Ghori (1149-1206) in 1192. Of course, these conquerors had to face
resistance by the local rulers and tribes, especially that of the Jats and the Khokhars.

As a State spreads, the ruler cannot rule its vast region single-handedly but he has to share his
power with the leaders who were instrumental in his conquests. The Delhi Sultans also
distributed the conquered territories as iqtas (land-grants) in which the allottees were
authorized to collect revenue. Theoretically, the allottees did not own the lands of the iqtas
but practically every iqtadar, also called muqti, had the tendency to declare independence
from the Sultan. It was no easy task for the Sultan to keep all these centrifugal forces under
control. The clashes between the ruling classes were a recurring phenomenon. The early
sultans made use of brutal force, and severely crushed every opposition.

In the meanwhile, the whirlwind of Mongol invasions devastated the most of the Islamic
world. The invasions starting from 1221, continued throughout the following century.
However, the Delhi Sultanate somehow survived the destruction. (It was in one of the
Mongol invasions, that the Sultan Balban's eldest son, Muhammad, was killed.) Hence, India
became a haven for fleeing Muslim nobles, scholars, Sufis, and many others. These migrants
affected every aspect of Indian life.

In the third chapter—The Establishment of Sufi Orders—the author tells the story of Islamic
spirituality, which developed parallel to the political ups and downs. Shaikh Ali bin Usman
Hujwiri (d. 1072), and a long period after him, Shaikh Farid of the Chishti order (silsila), and
Shaikh Bahaduddin Zakariya of the Suhrawardi order firmly established Sufism, based on
Piri- muridi (spiritual master and his disciple) relationship, on the land of Punjab. The author
analyses the writings of these Sufis. Besides this, with the details of the eventful life of the
Sufi Shaikh Fakhruddin Iraqi (1213-89) of Multan, he throws new light on the Suhrawardi
order.

The rulers all over the world adopt different policies for consolidating their power depending
upon the needs of the time. While India's early sultans depended mainly on the use of force
for this purpose, the Tughlaq sultans reconciled with Sufis and the local aristocrats,
zamindars, to consolidate their power. (A zamindar was not a peasant, but the State
recognized his hereditary right on land, in return for which he was given a share of the
revenue). The zamindars and Sufis also considered it better to join the power for their own
benefit.

The Insha-i Mahru, the letters of the Tughlaq Military Officer Ain ul-Mulk Ainuddin Mahru
provides valuable information about this period when he served as the governor of Multan.
The deserted areas of Multan were re-populated, new canals were excavated. More land was
brought under cultivation and parceled out as iqtas. From these accounts we also learn about
the role of the lower level officials who had direct connection with the peasantry. The travel
account of the Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta (The Rehla) who came to India during the reign
of Muhammad Tughlaq (r. 1325-51), and lived here for several years, also supplies plenty of
information about the Tughlaq period, as detailed in the fourth chapter—New Strategies of
State Formation.

Like other institutions, Religion also does not remain static and changes with changing
circumstances. Sufism, which came to India from the Central Islamic countries, also began to
accept local influences. The Dargah of Shaikh Farid (1175-1265), more commonly called
Baba Farid, at Pakpatan became the major religious center in Punjab. Many descendants of
Shaikh Farid, first moved to Delhi, and then further south. Sufi families began to tie marital
relations with tribal chiefs. But for small periods of estrangement, Suhrawardi Sufis and the
Sultans of Delhi usually supported each other. Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari (1308-84) took the
Suhrawardi order to new heights, but after that it took a downward course. The fifth chapter
—Piety Submits to the State—describes in detail the ups and downs of the order.

The warlord Amir Timur invaded India in 1398 and devastated the area between Multan and
Delhi. There was a large scale population desertion in three parts of Punjab—southwestern
Punjab, the cis-Sutlej region, and the northern hilly region. He chose for his attack the places
that were prosperous and where he could get extra booty and grain for his troops. It is
interesting to note that he did not show any hunger for silver and gold, and did not vandalize
Hindu religious centres at Thanesar, Haridwar, Kangra, and Jawalamukhi. But his attack
dealt a death blow to the already sick Tughlaq sultanate. The iqtadars became independent
and local chiefs revolted.

After the return of Amir Timur, Khizr Khan became the Sultan, inaugurating the Sayyid
dynasty which ruled over a very constricted area. The head of the Khokhar tribe, Jasrath
Khokhar till his death in 1442, occasionally plundered Punjab. Meanwhile, a large number of
Afghan immigrants arrived in the Sirhind area and one of them, Bahlol Lodhi, took over the
rule in 1451. The methods of maintaining power changed. The mainstay of Bahlol’s power
was the Afghan immigrants. During this turbulent period, two Sufi saints—Shaikh Haider in
Malerkotla, and Shaikh Yusuf Qureshi (a descendant of Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya) in
Multan—had the opportunity to increase their power. It is also believed that both of them had
marital relations with the ruling Lodhi family. They also established relations with the
zamindars of the area, and over time their descendants became very powerful. Whereas the
descendants of Shaikh Haidar succeeded in the long run in carving out their independent state
of Malerkotla, Shaikh Yusuf Qureshi did not succeed much. All this account forms the
subject-matter of the sixth chapter—Making and Breaking of Political Structures.
The next chapter—Islamic Spirituality in Southern Panjab—examines the influence of
Islamic spirituality in southeastern Punjab. Shaikh Jamaluddin (1187-1261), a disciple of
Shaikh Farid, settled at Hansi, and Shaikh Sharfuddin Bu Ali Kalandar (1209-1324) at
Panipat. The writings of Shaikh Jamaluddin—Mulhamat (in Arabic), and two volumes of his
Diwan of Persian poetry—and the Persian masnavi of Bu Ali Kalander still survive. This
chapter also contains information about the Sabri branch of Chishtis, which was active from
Panipat, Shahabad and Kaliyar Sharif (Roorkee, Uttarakhand).

As mentioned earlier, the medieval zamindar was not a peasant himself but the State accepted
his inherited right on land, and gave him a percentage of the revenue which he helped in
collecting. In this way he was a very significant link between the State and the tiller. The
eighth chapter—The World of the Zamindars—focuses on his role in medieval times. The
basis of the information on the subject is the Punjabi kissa Heer, composed by Damodar.
Although Damodar is considered a contemporary of Emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) and the
Sufi poet Shah Hussain (1538-1599), the period which is out of the scope of the book, there
was no difference between the role of the zamindar during the pre-Mughal period and the
Mughal period. This literary composition provides a peep into the life-style and social values
of the Sial, Ranjha, Wache, Nahar and Chandar Jat tribes, living near the river Chenab. These
zamindars were more interested in maintaining their local influence and dignity. They took
key decisions in consultation with their tribesmen who then stood with him in thick and thin.
The kissa also draws attention to the weaknesses of these tribes. Their attitude toward love,
marriage, and sex was male-dominated. Also the zamindars of different tribes had animosity
between them.

The comments and notes at the end of each chapter, and the list of sources at the end of the
book (bibliography) are the evidence of the author's extensive and profound study. The
detailed index of the book makes the book more useful to the serious explorers of history.