n Persian mythology.]

[Footnote 1158: The Aivyaonghen of the Avesta.]

[Footnote 1159: Watters, vol. II. 254, and _Life_, chap. IV.]

[Footnote 1160: Taranatha, tr. Schiefner, p. 128, and Vincent Smith's
remarks in _Early History_, p. 347, note 2.]

[Footnote 1161: See Rajendralala Mitra, _Antiquities of Orissa_, vol.
n. p. 145. He also quotes the Samba Purana. The temple is said to have
been built between 1240 and 1280 but the beauty of its architecture
suggests an earlier date.]

[Footnote 1162: 58. 47.]

[Footnote 1163: See Epig. Ind. 72-73.]

CHAPTER LVIII

MOHAMMEDANISM IN INDIA

Let us now turn to Mohammedanism. This is different from the cases
which we have been considering and we need not trouble ourselves with
any enquiry into opportunities and possibilities. The presence and
strength of the Prophet's religion in India are patent facts and it is
surprising that the result has not been greater.

The chief and most obvious method by which Islam influenced India was
the series of invasions, culminating in the Mughal conquest, which
poured through the mountain passes of the north-west frontier. But
there was also long established communication and to some extent
intermigration between the west coast and Mohammedan countries such as
Arabia and Persia. Compared with the enormous political and social
changes wrought by the land invasions, the results of this maritime
intercourse may seem unworthy of mention. Yet for the interchange of
ideas it was not without importance, the more so as it was
unaccompanied by violence and hostility. Thus the Mappilas or Moplahs
of Malabar appear to be the descendants of Arab immigrants who arrived
by sea about 900 A.D., and the sects known as Khojas and Bohras owe
their conversion to the zeal of Arab and Persian missionaries who
preached in the eleventh century. Apart from Mohammedan conquests
there must have been at this time in Gujarat, Bombay, and on the west
coast generally some knowledge of the teaching of Islam.

In the annals of invasions and conquests several stages can be
distinguished. First we have the Arab conquest of Sind in 712, which
had little effect. In 1021 Mahmud of Ghazni annexed the Panjab. He
conducted three campaigns against other kingdoms of India but, though
he sacked Muttra, Somnath and other religious centres, he did not
attempt to conquer these regions, still less to convert them to Islam.
The period of conquests as distinguished from