ABSTRACT
The first sign of the historical possibility of such a socio-cultural explosion was the invasion of North India by Ghazni Mohammad around 1000 A.D. Historians regard the date as the starting point of the medieval period in Indian history. During the medieval period, South Indian history was dominated by two opposed and conflicting socio-cultural ideologies and systems. There is sufficient historical evidence to show that in medieval North India, the interaction between these two took the forms of direct confrontation, peaceful co-existence or synthesis. It is well-known that one of the earliest Muslim invaders of India, Ghazni Mohammad, looted and laid waste countless towns and villages before he reached Somanath in Saurastra to destroy that well-known Hindu temple. During the medieval period, whereas north India was riven by the Hindu-Muslim conflict, south India was agitated by an equally sharp conflict between the twice-born and the Sudras.
