The Delhi Sultanate

An event of immense and lasting impact in Indian history was the advent of the Muslims in the north-west.
Lured by tales of the fertile plains of the Punjab and the fabulous wealth of Hindu temples, Mahmud of Ghazni first attacked India in 1000 AD.
Other raiders from Central Asia followed him, but these invasions were no more than banditry.
It was only in 1192 that Muslim power arrived in India on a permanent basis.
In that year, Mohammed of Ghori, who had been expanding his power all across the Punjab broke into India and took Ajmer.
The following year his general Qutb-ud-din Aibak took Varanasi and Delhi and after Mohammed Ghori's death in 1206, he became the first of the Sultans of Delhi.
Qutb-ud-din Aibak founded the so called Slave Dynasty in India at Delhi, setting up the nucleus of the Delhi Sultanate, or the rule of Turkish and Afghan sultans, the Khiljis, the Tughlaqs and the Lodis.

Impact of Islam

The impact of Islam on Indian culture has been inestimable.
It permanently influenced the development of all areas of human endeavour - language, dress, cuisine, all the art forms, architecture and urban design, and social customs and values.
Conversely, the languages of the Muslim invaders were modified by contact with local languages, to Urdu, which uses the Arabic script, and the more colloquial Hindustani, which uses the Devnagri script. Both are major Indian languages today.