When Ghaznavid governor of Hindustan territories, Ahmad Niyaltigin (Turk) rebelled, Sultan Masud (reign 1030-1041) sent a Hindu General, Rai Tilak to take care of the problem. Tilak in fact volunteered for this role and was happily accepted for being a native of Hindustan. Tilak’s army was composed of his fellow Hindus who upon entering Lahore, captured Niyaltigin’s Muslim followers and cut off their hands to spread terror which lead to many desertions. Niyaltigin took to flight, who was eventually caught and killed by the Jats who had an agreement with Tilak. Sultan Masud would invite Tilak to the Ghaznavid court along with the head of Niyaltigin. Lastly, besides being Hindu, Tilak was not a high born, but a son of a barber and his rise in Ghaznavid ranks was based purely on merit [1].
The Hindu section of Ghaznavid army was used as a counter balance Turkish commanders who were disposed as they would not sympathize and cause a rebellion. Of the many examples, when Sultan Masud cornered his uncle Yusuf Subuktigin by arresting him in a fortress, the cavalry responsible for the transport was Hindu (or Sawar-i-Hindu).
Besides the army, Hindu vassals also supplemented Ghaznavid forces in times of need. Rais and Rana are two names that appear when in 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah intercepted Ghurid, Alauddin. These are not anomaly as there were Hindus in Ghaznavi service as well both in the army and administration, according to Seljuk Vizier’s Siyasatnama we discover that the Ghaznavid army had Turks, Hindus, Khurasanis, Arabs & Ghurids that were kept separately for better cohesiveness and to benefit from each group’s ethos which individually contributed to diversity. The leader of the contingent was addressed with the title Sipahsalar-i- Hinduan and were utilized in Ghaznavid battles against Ilak Khan in Balkh & against Khanids. [2]
It is pertinent to mention that Hindu slaves had become so cheap after the fall of Punjab based Hindu Shahi dynasty which the Ghaznavids subdued that even sanitation workers were able to afford one in those days. Of course then there is the infamous sacking of Hindu temples. Then again the objective here was never to negate the exploits of Mahmud Ghaznavi in India, but the underlying point here is forced conversions in Punjab to which we find no reference and the service of Hindus in the upper echelon of Ghaznavid state machinery & Muhammad Bin Qasim’s administration only prove that there was no systemic attempt at forcing Islam on non-Muslims. [2]
Another thing to add is that the non-Muslim involvement in state affairs only grew with subsequent rulers, for example at one point the Grand Vizier of Mughal Empire was a Punjabi Hindu by the name Rai Todal Mal during Akbar’s reign, unarguably the peak of Mughals.
If we look at entire Hindustan the overwhelming majority is still non-Muslim, it was the basis of demanding Pakistan as a way to prevent living under a Hindu majority. As mentioned earlier if conversions were forced then surely states like Bihar would be Muslim majority considering that is where all these Muslim rulers based themselves. In Punjab specifically, in 1941 census just over half (53.2%) of Punjab’s population was Muslim, Hindus at 29.1% and Sikhs at just 14.9%. Yet previously in 1881 the census recorded Muslims at 47.6%, Hindus at 43.8% and Sikhs at 8.2%. [3]. And according to this same 1881 census half of Jatt population did not even convert to Islam even after a thousand plus years of the Religion’s presence in Punjab. [4]
