Mahmud ascended the throne of Gazhni in 997 after the death of Subaktigin.

From the conquering

of khorasan, Ghur in the year 1000 to the invasion in Indias Somnath Temple , his power was
considered as the most formidable one. It is a known fact that Mahmud never once tried to establish
rule in India. His sole intention was to ransack Hindu temples, which he did repeatedly with great
success in Somnath, Ujjain and Dwarka. His motive was to destroy the glories of Hindus and
expose Islam and spread the same. In order to accomplish this he captured the forts and towns of
Khyber, looted the kingdoms and killed people mercilessly. He also had many invasion under his
rule .
He invaded Mathura in 1018 after breaking all the idols and breaking the temples. He destroyed
the existence of Hindus from all the places he could. His invasion of Somnath temple in 1025
clearly epitomized his intentions. This invasion made him the hero of Islam. The effect of
Mahmuds invasion included Punjab under the empire of Ghazni. The major one was that all the
above invasions paved way for the muslims of India. This was one of the biggest setbacks to India
as the existence of temples, idols was wiped away under his reign. His expeditions opened India
to conquest from the north-west. The significance of Mahmuds invasion also paved the way for
the Muslim saints called the Sufis providing the driving power to greater Hindu-Muslim
interaction. The Sufi Saint Mir Mohammad Hamadani waged a crusade against the Hindus to
realize their conversion to Islam. Due to his actions, large numbers of Hindus converted, fled, or
were killed for refusal to convert. But on the other hand Sufism did bring tolerance and also tried
to spread ideas like equality, love and submission to god.

The Mughal Emperors attained great power in India in the 16th and 17th centuries. They controlled
a major chunk of what is now called as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Empire
survived in a diluted form, for another hundred years, until 1858 when there was a British presence
and the Mughal Empire was absorbed into the Raj. They brought in with them many changes which
include centralized government that brought together many small kingdoms, the Persian art and
culture, system of education that took into account pupils needs and culture. The first Mughal
emperor Babur founded the empire which was sophisticated civilization based on religious
toleration. He gave approval to build Hindu temples. This brought in the Hindu culture. The
importance of slavery under his reign diminished and peace was made with the Hindu kingdoms
of Southern India. Baburs grandson Akbar believed that all religions should be tolerated, and that
a ruler's duty was to treat all believers equally, whatever their belief. He brought the culture that a
non-Muslim will not be forced to practice Islamic laws. He also ended taxes that were imposed on
non-Muslims. Jahangir readopted Islam as the state religion and continued the policy of religious
toleration. His court included large numbers of Indian Hindus, Persian Shias and Sufis.
Aurangzeb ruled for nearly 50 years. Aurangzeb was a very observant and religious Muslim who
ended the policy of religious tolerance followed by earlier emperors. The last Mughal Emperor
was deposed by the British in 1858.
When the East India Company came to India in the early 1600s, India was ruled by the
Mughals. The Mughal emperor had shown no concerns providing trading port to the
company. Both Jahangir and Shah Jahan were busy enjoying the glories of Taj Mahal. After
the death of Aurangzeb in in 1707, the empire became fragile and there were prospects for
Martha based in Western India to come in. This was the period when European companies -
French and English for the most part - were starting to flex their arms. The biggest power in
India was thus defeated due to over-expansion and the company had control over Bengal.
Aurangzebs death saw the downfall of the great Mughal empire that had held control over
most of India. This period saw the many Nawabs of the different provinces scrambling to
acquire power. Following their 'Divide and Rule' policy, the British made the individual
Nawabs of India vie against each other even more.