Were the people of the Deccan the most powerful people in South Asian History

[Samandri]

Deccan was under Vijayanagar Empire for most of medieval Indian history, it wasn't rule by Muslim dynasties as North India was. Morever, after Vijayanagar Empire was destroyed, with few decades Maratha Empire controlled all of it.



The main reason is remoteness of Central and South India while North India was subjugated to frequent invasions.

Bahmani, bijapur, golkanda sultanates etc doesnt cover deccan region?

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

I had always wished Cholas could have joined hands with other empires (even single handedly if possible) took on the foreign invaders by sending its soldiers when it was at its highest under me and my son's Rajendra's tenure ?

 

[Guynextdoor2]

Sir ji, that is a movie scene.

Inspired by true events

 

[INDIC]

Bahmani, bijapur, golkanda sultanates etc doesnt cover deccan region?

They were there, I am saying their rule in South and central India was of smaller duration compared to North India. BTW The Bahmani, Bijapur and Golkanda were not in deeper South India.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

It's silly to argue like that. Some S.Indian kingdoms were very powerful as were some N.Indian kingdoms. Fighting abilities are not always as cut & dry as you seek to make it out to be. Govinda III of the Rashtrakutas was probably one of India's greatest warriors and he was pretty much the unquestioned emperor with everyone including the Kingdoms of N.India accepting his supremacy. Even true of his father, the illustrous Dhruva Dharavarsha who regularly took on & defeated most Indian kingdoms including from N.India.

(Even more silly to throw athletes into the mix- for the longest time, the best athletes came from Kerala and even now one of India's biggest athlete is Vikas Gowda who pretty much towers over the others. Would it be logical to infer that S.Indians are on average bigger & faster? It wouldn't, neither would your argument)

Vikas Gowda ? When was the last time he won anything in the Olympics ? Most of the Olympic medalists from India have been from the North. Same in Asian Games and CWG games , especially in sports which require strength and athleticism.

Anyway, this is a trivial debate. I agree that both parts of India have produced their own greats in various fields. I was only trying to contradict the posts made by others earlier who claimed that since the Deccan was ruled less by Muslims, they were more powerful. Just doesn't make sense.

 

[Bang Galore]

Vikas Gowda ? When was the last time he won anything in the Olympics ?

The only Indian since Milkha Singh to win a athletics gold at the Commonwealth Games.......

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

The only Indian since Milkha Singh to win a athletics gold at the Commonwealth Games.......

I never though I will ever hear you argue like this , I am talking about Olympics. Where do most of India's sportspersons and Olympic medal winners come from ? Even in Cricket and Hockey ? Wrestlers ? Shooters ? Boxers? Don't be in denial mode.

I don't understand why you choose to ignore the rest of my post. Anyway, I 've made my point clear. No part of India has been more powerful than the other in History.

 

[Bang Galore]

I never though I will ever hear you argue like this , I am talking about Olympics. Where do most of India's sportspersons and Olympic medal winners come from ? Even in Cricket and Hockey ? Wrestlers ? Shooters ? Boxers? Don't be in denial mode.

I'm not in denial mode, just answered a question. Not interested in which athlete did what, how does it matter what Mahesh Bhupathi & Sania Mirza do or what Vijay Amritraj or Ramanathan Krishnan did or what Prakash Padukone did. Or what PT Usha did? They are all Indians. You are the one who went all bonkers on that line though I did see your explanation for your post.

I don't understand why you choose to ignore the rest of my post. Anyway, I 've made my point clear. No part of India has been more powerful than the other in History.

I did not ignore. I agreed with what you said & therefore didn't see a reason to further that line.

 

[protest]

I'm not in denial mode, just answered a question. Not interested in which athlete did what, how does it matter what Mahesh Bhupathi & Sania Mirza do or what Vijay Amritraj or Ramanathan Krishnan did or what Prakash Padukone did. Or what PT Usha did? They are all Indians. You are the one who went all bonkers on that line though I did see your explanation for your post.



I did not ignore. I agreed with what you said & therefore didn't see a reason to further that line.

You forget Karanam Malleswari

 

[Charon 2]

North has always produced the best warriors in India for the longest time. Even today the best athletes and wrestlers come from the North. We were under Muslim rule longer only because of our close proximity to power and resource hungry Afghans and Central Asian Turks. We were always the first line of defence against foreign invaders and for the most part we did well, especially if you look at the lack of success in India of Persians. Greeks, Arabs and Mongols.

Two of the most important and powerful empires in India were also from the North - Mauryas and Guptas.

Without the Turko-Afghan Khilji dynasty of Delhi the Mongols would have overran India.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Without the Turko-Afghan Khilji dynasty of Delhi the Mongols would have overran India.

1. That's an assumption. You can't say that any other empire of India during that period could not have done the same.

2. Most soldiers were Indian. That's the main relevant point for this thread.

 

[Shark2]

By North Western India I think you mean Punjab/Haryana and surrounding areas? thing about Punjab is that it was located in the worst possible place in India. Right next to Punjab is central Asia which had the roughest, toughest and most ruthless warriors. That's probably why Pothoharis like Gakhars, Janjuas etc are strong people. They had to fight with these central asians while they made their way into India. Had Punjab been located in any other part of India and saw peace instead of constant invasions, then it's very likely Punjab would have been a powerhouse. Magadh and Deccan did not see the amount of invasions as North Western India did.

I don't know if you believe in Mahabharat or not, but when that war happened, all the strong armies and warriors were from North western India like Gandhara, Madra, Anga, Kurus and Panchaal wasn't too far away either.

The northwestern part of the Indian Subcontinent was under the rule of many foreign invaders because it didn't have any great Dynasties which were capable to repulse the invasions. The Deccan has to face a lot of invasions since ancient times but
the Deccan had almost every time capable rulers and Empires which were able to defeat the foreign invaders. The Scythian
invaders easily invaded Afghanistan and northwestern India but were defeated for the first time in South Asia by the Satavahana rulers of the Deccan. The Arabs also conquered rather easily Afghanistan and northwestern India but were destroyed by the Chalukya rulers from the Deccan. The Turks and the Mughals barely faced any problems when they conquered Afghanistan and northern India but they struggled in the Deccan and were defeated by the Vijayanagar and Maratha rulers from the Deccan.

 

[Shark2]

The greatest Empires of the Deccan were certainly the Satavahana Dynasty, Rashtrakuta Empire, Western Chalukya Empire, Vijayanagar Empire and Maratha Empire.
The Satavahana Dynasty defeated the Scythian invaders and invaded parts of north India during ancient period.
The Rashtrakuta Empire was the most powerful Empire of South Asia in the 8th and 9th century as its territories covered the major part of modern India at its peak.
The Vijayanagara Empire defeated the Turkic invaders for more than 200 years in the Deccan and became the most powerful Empire of South Asia in the 15th and early 16th century.
The Maratha Empire was the last great Empire of the Deccan which defeated the Mughals and conquered the major part of north India in the 18th century. At its peak it was the most powerful Empire in India.

 

[Echo_419]

While I argued we people in Deccan were a WALL between deep south India and Msulin dominated North India....

Roughly calculating, we in central deccan were under muslim empires just for one or two centuries.... Just between period of Vijaynagar empire and maratha empire

Thank god for that

 

[xyxmt]

The northwestern part of the Indian Subcontinent was under the rule of many foreign invaders because it didn't have any great Dynasties which were capable to repulse the invasions. The Deccan has to face a lot of invasions since ancient times but
the Deccan had almost every time capable rulers and Empires which were able to defeat the foreign invaders. The Scythian
invaders easily invaded Afghanistan and northwestern India but were defeated for the first time in South Asia by the Satavahana rulers of the Deccan. The Arabs also conquered rather easily Afghanistan and northwestern India but were destroyed by the Chalukya rulers from the Deccan. The Turks and the Mughals barely faced any problems when they conquered Afghanistan and northern India but they struggled in the Deccan and were defeated by the Vijayanagar and Maratha rulers from the Deccan.

when invaders come they dont get free pass to highway 444 straight to Deccan, they had to fight the local tribes from Afghanistan to Punjab before going further inland....Afghanistan, Punjab, frontiers (KPK) were the tribal societies and never submitted to dynesties, they would fight the invaders making them weaker, so invader mostly returned half way with whatever they can get their hands on.