The arrivals of Islam brought changes to India as great as those caused by the Aryan migrations 2,000 years earlier.

As Muslims mingled with Indians, each civilization absorbed elements from the other.

After the Gupta empire fell in about 550, India again fragmented into many local kingdoms. Rivals princes battled for control of the northern plain. Despite power struggles, Indian culture disappeared.

Although Arabs conquered the Indus valley in 711, they advanced no farther into the subcontinent. Then around 1000, Muslim Turks Afghans pushed into India.

They were fierce warriors with a tradition of conquest. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni pillaged much of the north.

The Muslim rule brought great changes to the Indian government along with Muslim traditions.

In 1398, Tamerlane invaded India. He plundered the northern plains and smashed into Delhi

The sultans are no longer in control of the large empire and northern India fragmented into rival hindu and Muslim states.