As the title suggests, this book gives a birds-eye view of the events which led to the establishment of the Madurai “Sultanate” and its subsequent demise, all within 43 years during the 14th century.

This book is an extension to Sita Ram Goel’s book - “Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders” as it continues from where he left off and tells us about the various raids of Muslim invaders in South India.

We get an overview of the political climate in the south, with the Pandya, Hoysala, Chalukya and Kakatiya dynasties busy trying to conquer each other’s territories and failing to unite for a common cause to defeat the invading armies. This theme, of self-destruction, is repeated across various Hindu kingdoms throughout history, with notable exceptions, like the Vijayanagara empire, which in this case, put an end to the Madurai Sultanate.

The author makes a brief analysis at the end on the failure of the Hindu kingdoms to foresee threats, and also as to why this short period isn’t an empire since it was a long succession of plunder, murder, brutality and fight for survival with no stable governance, nor any artistic or cultural influences.

It was interesting to read about the Hindu kings of this period and their spirited resistance, as it is not something we come across often in our history books. Overall the book serves as a good introduction to this era.

Originally published here.