insidemyincredibleindia
Thursday 11 February 2021
Wednesday 10 February 2021
The First defender of Bharat Bhumi
Raja Dahir Sen
THE PROPHET of
Islam had known Sindh and Hind. One of his wives was named Hind, and he used to
say of her: ``May Allah bless this Hind and the country after which she is
named!'' When he learned that Yemen had been occupied by foreigners, his
immediate question was whether it had been occupied by the Sindhis or the
Abyssinians.
Many Indian Jats
used to reside in Arabia. One of them had cured Ayesha, Mohammed's youngest
wife, of an ailment induced through witchcraft practised by her maid-servant.
The Jats used to
part their hair in the middle --- and Mohammed liked it so well that he adopted
that hair style. The Sindhi Jats' thick-soled shoes became famous in Arabia as
`jutti'. Many of us still know it as Joota. In Sindhi it is still called jutti.
Arab traders had
long reported that in Hindustan ``the rivers are pearls, the mountains are
rubies, and the trees are perfume.''
Indeed the Arabs
and the Sindhis --- and other west coast Indians --- knew each other very well.
According to Arab belief, Adam and Eve lived in India and India was heaven,
Janatnishan. They marvelled at the peacocks and the elephants, the camphor and
the sandalwood of India The religion of the Arabs before Islam was very much
like Hinduism, pantheistic. When the Arabs captured Sicily in 53 H, they got
hold of the local gold idols, which they then sold to the king of Sindh.
When Islam exploded
in the face of the world, and spread out in all directions, it was inevitable
that it should hit India too. The tragedy is that India at this time was not in
good shape. Northern India was in disarray after Harsha. And Sindh was ruled by
a controversial dynasty.
Rai Sahasi, the
king of Sindh, was the brother of the king of Chittor- He was childless. His
wife Suhandi fell in love with the Brahmin minister, Chach. When Sahasi died,
Suhandi had all the claimants to the throne liquidated. She then married Chach.
The people were shocked.
But Chach proved a
successful ruler. He annexed Multan and fixed the frontier of Sindh with Kashmir
by planting the deodar of Sindh and the poplar of Kashmir and then letting
their branches intertwine. He had similarly planted palm trees to mark the
frontier with Iran. That was certainly more beautiful than the cement pillars
of modem boundaries.
Chach and Suhandi
had two sons, Dahir and Daharsiah. Chach also had a daughter, Bai, by another
wife. Dahir ruled upper Sindh at Alor and Daharsiah ruled lower Sind at
Brahmanabad, near modern Nawabshah. When Bai came of age, the court astrologer
predicted that she would never go out of the Alor fort and that her husband
would become the ruler of Sindh and Hind. Thereupon the minister, Budhiman (the
wise one) --- but who in this case proved quite buddhiheen (unwise) --- begged
of Dahir to marry his half-sister and save himself and the kingdom. Dahir was
as scandalised by the suggestion as anybody else. But on second thoughts he
agreed to marry Bai symbolically. He did this by presenting her a ring, placing
his sword in her lap and covering her head with his scarf. Because of Dahir
``marrying'' his half-sister, though only symbolically, the word Dahiri came to
mean in Sindhi, ``a silly fool''.
But be it said in
defence of Dahir that marriages between half- brothers and half-sisters and
between cousins were not unknown in ancient royal history. The Pharoahs of
Egypt and the old Shahinshahs of Iran invariably married their half-sisters or
cousin-sisters --- on the ground that anything less than a royal princess would
not be good enough for a real prince; and marriage into other royal families
could lead to rivalries between brothers- in-law. And Bai was only a
half-sister of Dahir.
However, Dahir's
marriage with Bai scandalized the people and divided them. This was the
situation in Sindh during the mortal Arab challenge. The remarkable thing is
that Sindh resisted as well as it did.
When an Arab chief
asked a Sindhi trader about Sindh, the latter told him: ``There is too little
water. The fruit is useless. The thieves steal with impunity. A small army will
get annihilated. A large army will starve to death.'' The Arab saw in this
reply a Sindhi patriotic effort to discourage Arab invasion. However, the Arabs
who had already tasted blood --- and spread from Iran to Morocco --- were not
easily dissuaded. On the basis of modern researches, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad
in his Humanity at Death's Door and Maulana Nadvi in his Indo-Arab Relations,
write that between 638 and 711 A.D., the Arabs launched as many as fifteen
attacks against Sindh by land and by sea. And it was only the last by Mohammed
Bin Qasim in 711 that succeeded.
Chachnama, the most
authentic and almost contemporary account of Arab invasions of Sindh reports
that as early as 638 A.D. Khalifa Umar sent Mughairah to launch a naval attack
against Sindh, but it was repulsed on the Indian side. The Chachnama Iists six
more major attempts by land and/or by sea during the next 80 years, led by
Hakam, Abdullah, Rashid, Munzir, Sinan, and Bazil, but they were all repulsed
and the invading commanders killed.
Khalifa Usman was
so upset by the Arab defeats in Sindh during his term that he forbade any more
attempts on Sindh, on the ground that ``its water is dirty, its soil stony, and
its fruit poisonous.''
It is interesting
how a land of ``musk and pearls'' can suddenly become ``dirty and stony'', when
there is no way to sack it. The Sindh grapes became sour! It reminds one of the
contrasting Muslim view of the Hindus before and after partition. Before
partition, the Hindus were ``dhoti-wearing cowards, drinking daal and munching
papad''. But, after partition, when the Hindus showed that they could hit back
real hard, they became ``terrible fiends''!
However, the itch
for war and the bug for booty had bitten the Arab soul. And so Khalifa Ali also
sent an expedition. But they returned disheartened when Ali died. The next
Khalifa, Muawiyah, had sent a big land army with provisions enough not to need
to light any fire in the camp. But the Sindh army gave them hell and their
commander Abdullah had raised the piteous cry before he fell dead: ``Oh
children of the Prophet's companions, do not turn your faces from the infidels
so that your faith may remain free from any flaw and you may acquire the honour
of freedom''. However, the Arabs had decided to run away and live, if only in
Makran --- rather than fight on and die, just to go to heaven.
The next major
invasion was led by ``Sinan, son of Salmah'', who had been blessed on his birth
by Mohammed himself. Sinan now even saw in a dream, Mohammed bless his
adventure. But neither the blessings on birth nor the benediction from the
other world, availed him when the Sindhis killed him at Budhiya.
Governor Ziyad then
appointed Munzir, son of Harud, son of Bazhar, in A.D. 680 to go and get Sindh.
However, as he got up in the court, his robe was caught in a piece of wood and
torn, Abdullah, the governor of Iraq, took this as a bad omen and wailed:
Munzir will never return from this journey and will die.'' And that was exactly
what happened.
At this stage,
Hajjaj, a notorious pervert and tyrant, was appointed governor of Iraq. And it
was directly his charge to conquer Sindh. An Arab leader Alafi with 500 men had
fled from his terror to Sindh and Dahir had given him asylum. Hajjaj also
claimed that the Sindhi pirates had looted some Arab ships coming from Lanka.
He made these two incidents a new excuse to go to war against Sindh. Khalifa
Walid gave reluctant permission. Hajjaj sent Bazil with a large army, but he
was worsted by Jaisiah, the son of Dahir, and killed. Hajjaj now threatened
``not to leave a single kafir alive up to the frontiers of China''. And on the
basis of his astrologers' predictions, he appointed Mohammed Bin Qasim, his
nephew and son-in-law, as the new invader of Sindh. So, astrologers were heeded
not only by Dahirs but also by Hajjajs!
However, Khalifa
Walid was in no mood for another bloody attempt on Sindh. He wrote to Hajjaj:
``The people (of that country) are cunning and the country itself is very
distant. It will cost us very large sums of money to provide a sufficient number
of men and arms and instruments of war. This affair will be a source of great
anxiety, and so we must put it off; for every time the army goes (on such an
expedition) vast numbers of Muslims are killed. So think no more of such a
design.'' But Hajjaj invoked the ``honour of Islam''and vowed to ``spend the
wealth of the whole of Iraq'' to ``avenge the death of Bazil''.
On an ``auspicious
day'' in A.D. 711 --- fixed by astrologers --- Mohammed Bin Qasim started for
Sindh at the head of the Iraqi, Syrian, and other Arab soldiers of fortune. His
horses and camels were given coats of mail to look like lions and elephants,
respectively!
When the Arab army
besieged Debal (meaning ``Deval'' or ``Devalaya'', `place of god' temple) the
battle raged for ten days even though it was not a major town of Sindh like
Alor, Sehwan Nerunkot (Hyderabad), or Brahmanabad. The fortified temple fell
when a frightened Brahmin crept out and told the Arabs to knock off the tall
flagpole flying the huge red flag, to demoralise the defenders. At this stage,
Jahin Budh, the incharge of Debal, surrendered. Carnage followed. And so did
general collapse.
At a time when the
Arabs were short of both food and fodder, Bhandarkan Samani, the man incharge
of Nerunkot, surrendered that town. The Samanis or Shamans --- the Buddhist
counterparts of Brahmins --- took the line that, as Buddhists, they were men of
peace and not interested in who ruled the country. They would not let Bachehra,
the governor of Sehwan, to continue the defence of the town after one week. At
a time when the Arabs did not know how to cross the Sindhu, one Mokah, the son
of Besayeh, a princeling, made boats and provisions available in return for
crown and estate. The astrologers now began to predict the ``inevitable victory
of the Arabs''. But Dahir still continued to be over-confident. Contrary to the
Arab Alafi's advice, he allowed the Arabs to cross the river to be able to
fight, ``lest it be imagined by them that we are in perplexity and have become
very weak and powerless.''
As the battle raged
between the Sindhis and the Arabs, Ubaid, a lieutenant of Alafi, went over to
the Arabs and told them of Dahir's plans. Even so, the Sindhi army fought so
well that, says the Chachnama, on the eleventh and last day, ``the army of Islam
became irresolute and their lines were broken up in great confusion. It was
generally believed that the Arabs were defeated, and put to flight.''
Mohammed Bin Qasim
was then ``so perplexed that he called out for water''. At this stage traitor
Mokah with his men arrived on the scene and joined the Arab forces.
Simultaneously a cry went up that the princesses in the Sindhi army had been
cornered. This led to confusion. Dahir was heard by the Arabs shouting
something like ``nisi man, nisi man'', (meaning ``here I am, here I am'') -so
as to tell his men not to lose heart. But then a fiery arrow hit Dahir's howdah
and set it on fire. Soon after, another arrow pierced his heart. And then all
was over. It was on the evening of Thursday the 16 June A.D. 712. After fifteen
attempts by nine Khalifas over a period of seventy-four years (638-712 A.D.)
the Arabs had conquered Sindh. It was one of the saddest days in Indian
history.
Dahir's wife Ladi
was captured. In the Arab camp she tried to act as a shock-absorber between the
invaders and the local people. Dahir's ``wife'' Bai committed suttee to escape
the hands of ``these chandals (untouchables) and cow-eaters''. Resistance
continued.
But the Muslim
problem had been created in lndia with the very first conversion to Islam in
Debal. This man was promptly named Maulana Islami and sent, with a Syrian
noble, to deliver a message to Dahir. The Chachnama reports that when the two
entered Dahir's court. the Syrian bowed low to salute, but the new Muslim refused
to bow or to salute. Dahir recognised him and asked him why he was not
observing the court etiquette, and the latter said that with his change of
religion his loyalty now was to ``the king of Islam''. Change of religion had
resulted in change of nationality! The Pakistani mentality had born.
When Dahir's
severed head was presented to Hajjaj, a courtier sang: ``we have conquered
Sindh after enormous trouble.... Betrayed is Dahir by Mohammed Bin Qasim's
masterly strategy. Rejoice, the evil doers are disgraced. Their wealth has been
brought away . . . They are now solitary and brittle as eggs and their women,
fair and fragrant as musk-deer, are now asleep in our harems.''
Why did it all
happen?
The basic point, of
course, is that no country can always be on top of the world . There are cycles
in the fortunes of a people. And Sindh was not exactly in good shape at the
time. The great Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsiang, who visited Sindh in A.D. 641,
exactly seventy years before, did not find things too good. He wrote:
``There are several
hundred Sangh aramas, (resting places) occupied by about 10,000 priests....
There are about thirty Deva temples, in which sectaries of various kinds
congregate. The king is of the Sudra (Sho-tu-lo) caste. He is by nature honest
and sincere, and he reverences the law of Buddha.... By the side of the river
Sindhu along the flat marshy lowlands there are several hundreds of thousands
of families settled. They are of an unfeeling and hasty temper, and are given
to blood- shed only. They give themselves exclusively to tending cattle.... Men
and women, both cut their hair short.''
Although the ruler
at the time was Chach, a Brahmin, Hiuen Tsiang describes him as a Sudra
(Sho-tu-lo) either because he had come to the throne in an irregular manner, or
because he was ruling a rough border area, off the Indian mainstream. Some
scholars interpret Sho-tu-lo not as Sudra but as ``Kshudrak'' an ancient
republic in central Sindh. Still others think that Sho-tu-lo does not mean
Sudra at all, that it stands for 'Shrotriya'' Brahmins. The king was a Brahmin
but there were too many Buddhists, making for social dissonance. The social
tensions showed in hasty temper and bloodshed. Many of the Buddhists were
traders who preferred peace to resistance.
Apart from this
general decline, there were specific reasons.
One reason no doubt
was the controversies surrounding the royal family. Another was the failure of
Dahir to prevent --- and punish --- cowardice and treason in the local camp.
Yet another was the dubious position of many Buddhists, who conveniently
camouflaged their cowardice as desire for peace, even though Dahir had placed
them in important positions. But a much bigger reason was the explosive nature
of Islam which had combined one Allah and one Prophet with the single-minded
devotion to murder and loot and rape. It is no wonder that the Arabs who had
overrun Iran in A.D. 641 in spite of Sindhi help --- and entered even far-away
Spain in A.D. 711, should roll up Sindh in A.D. 712.
The north Indian
kingdom of Kanauj could have helped --- as the Franks did help Spain --- but
after the death of Harsha in A.D. 647, it was too weak to help itself, much
less others. Sindh fought and fell alone.
The official
history of Sindh published in ten volumes in Pakistan makes interesting reading
on the subject. According to Dr. Mumtaz Hussain Pathan, the reasons adduced by
the Arabs for the invasion were all false. He thinks that the story of the loot
of Arab ships by the Sindhi pirates is ``a fabrication''. He adds: ``That the
Arab prisoners were recovered from Debal after the Arab conquest is another
fabrication, not supported by historical evidence and contrary to the facts
recorded in contemporary sources. He thinks the real reasons were two --- loot,
and the necessity of keeping the in-fighting Arabs occupied elsewhere. ``In
order to meet the financial deficiency, al-Hajjaj; ventured on new designs of
lucrative nature, to fill in the coffers of the State. The main purpose of
these attacks may also have been actuated by political reasons, with the sole
intention of diverting the energies of the Arabs to new enterprises, rather
than fighting . among themselves.'' Dr. Pathan has no doubt that it was a case
of aggression, pure and simple. ``The conquest of Sindh was included in the
pre-planned programme of Hajjaj, for which some flimsy grounds were needed.''
Indeed Hajjaj had asked his men to advance to the frontiers of China!
Dr. Khan also
thinks that ``the Alafis who had taken shelter in Sindh as fugitives, too, seem
to have acted as secret agents for the Arab viceroy. Although they posed to be
the enemies of Hajjaj, yet they communicated news of strategic importance to
the Arabs and instigated them to make an attack on Sindh.''
Dr. Khan also
blames the Buddhist Shamanis who betrayed the trust placed in them by Dahir. He
says that while some classes suffered inequality under Dahir's rule, their lot
grew much worse under the Arab rule. Earlier, the common people were forbidden
to wear silks or ride horses. Now the Arabs additionally ordered them not to
cover their heads, and to walk barefoot in Arab presence Also, the Buddhists
were ordered to entertain any Arab --- soldier, trader or adventurer --- for at
least three days. In many cases the Arab guests succeeded in eloping with the
wives and daughters of their hosts.'' The Arabs let hell loose on Sindh Even
those who embraced lslam to save their skin found themselves called mawalis
(clients) and charged jeziya (head tax) like any Hindus. And so most of them
promptly returned to their ancestral faith. The Deval Smriti was enunciated to
facilitate the shuddhikaran (re-conversion) of the forced converts, on
performance of certain purificatory rites. No wonder even for the Sindhi
Muslims today, Dahir Sen is hero, and Mohammed Bin Qasim, a villain.
Within two years of
the Arab invasion, the Arab influence was confined to Debal and the surrounding
coastline. Dahir's son Jaisiah had become a Muslim to survive --- only to
become Hindu again to survive with honour. The Arabs thereupon sent a huge army
twenty-five years later under the leadership of Salim. In the titanic battle
that raged on the Sindh-Rajasthan border, Jaisiah, assisted by his mother Ladi,
and the redoubtable Bappa Rawal of Chittor (A.D. 739-753), and blessed by Hirat
Swami, worsted the Arabs. A treaty of peace was signed only when Salim
surrendered all equipment, gave his daughter Maiya in marriage to Bappa Rawal,
and vowed that the Arabs would never again attack India. It is significant that
in the succeeding centuries the Arabs never again attacked India.
However, more than
heroes, the period of Arab conquest of Sindh had its heroines --- Surya Devi
and Parimal Devi, the daughters of Dahir. Mohammed Bin Qasim had sent them to
Khalifa Walid in Baghdad for his harem. The Khalifa, reports the Chachnama, was
``charmed with their perfect beauty'' and their ``blood-sucking
blandishments''. However, the two princesses said to the Khalifa that Qasim had
already violated their chastity. The Khalifa flew into a rage. He ordered that Mohammed
Bin Qasim be killed and his body brought to him in a bullock's hide. When the
orders were duly executed, the princesses revealed that they had cooked up the
violation story only to avenge ``the ruination of the king of Sindh and Hind
and desolation of the kingdom of our fathers and grandfathers''. The enraged
Khalifa ordered them tortured to death and had their torn bodies thrown into
the river Tigris. The defeat of Sindh had been partly avenged.
In Sindh the very
first thing the Arabs did was to convert the Debal temple into a prison. Soon,
however, all Sindh became an Arab prison. The loot of Sindh enriched the Arab
lands. Twenty thousand Sindhis were sold in slavery, mostly as cooks and
cashiers. Here they specially popularized the Sindhi rice porridge bhatt
(Sanskrit Bhakt, Hindi bhaat, rice). Others captivated the Arab hearts with
their sweet singing, to the accompaniment of the ektara and the cymbals. Many
other Sindhis became trusted accountants in Arab business houses. A Sindhi
accountant became a guarantee of business success. Several Sindhi vaids (native
physicians) became famous in West Asia. One of them, Manik, cured Khalifa Harun
al-Rashid, when the local and Greek physicians had given up hope. On another
occasion Manik revived the Khalifa's dear cousin Ibrahim, after he had been
declared dead by the physicians. Many Hindu arts and sciences began to flow
from Sindh into the Arab lands. Hindu astronomy, medicine, and mathematics
reached Europe through the Arab hands. To this day, the numerals 1,2, 3.... are
known in Arabic as Hindsa. The Panchatantra stories of wisdom were translated
into Arabic as Kalilah wa Dimnah.
Even the Arabic
script came from India --- centuries before the Arab invasion of Sindh.
According to experts, sixteen of the twenty-two basic Arabic characters are
directly traceable to the Brahmi lipi of Ashoka's days. They look very
different only because they came to be written from right to left in the style
of ``Kharoshthi'' (in the manner of ``asses' lips''). Dr. Pathan notes: ``Even
the Arabic script, which is supposed to have been -borrowed from the
Nabataeans, was greatly influenced by the Hindu Nagari script.''
Under the Hindu
influence, the great Syrian poet Abdul Alaal-Maorri became a Hindu and went
vegetarian. Al-Hallaj visited Sindh, cried ``anal-Haqq'' (Aham Brahm Asmi --- I
am the Truth) and was crucified. There even was an Arab-Sindhi romance. Luai
was a descendant of Mohammed. He and his wife Hind had a son, Asim. The family
settled down in Samarra in Sindh. Here Hind repaired the local Hindu temple.
Asim fell in love with Sita, the daughter of the temple priest. But Luai would
not consent to Asim becoming Hindu --- and the priest would not agree to Sita
becoming Muslim. At last Hind took the two to Saniyya (now Sann, the native
village of the prominent Sindh leader G.M. Syed). There they were married while
keeping their respective religions. When Sita died, Asim immolated himself on
her funeral pyre!
But otherwise, the
relations between the Sindhis and the Arabs were none too good. In Sindh, the
Arabs lived in isolated colonies, particularly in Mansurah, the twin-city of
Brahmanabad, while the people went their own way under the local chiefs. The
Sindhis viewed the iniquities of Baghdad with horror. To this day, in the
Sindhi language, ``Baghdad'' means the ``limit of tyranny''. Mahmud Ghazni's
invasion of Sindh put an end to the rump of the Arab governors of Sindh, and
thereby helped the local Rajput dynasty of the Soomras to came up. Today there
is no trace of the 300-year-long Arab adventurc in India. The twin-cities of
Brahmanabad and Mansurah, now known only as Brahmanabad, were so completely
destroyed that according to Richardson, archaeologist, ``even twenty barrels of
gunpowder under each house would not destroy it so completely.''
As for Arab
influence on Sindhi character, Dr. Pathan is quite sarcastic. He writes in the
year of grace, 1978: ``A Sindhi is an embodiment of Arab mentality. Arrogant in
leisure time. he is equally timid and cannot withstand force. Like an Arab, he
takes pleasure in having as many wives as he can and maintains sexual relations
with a number of women called surets (concubines). Like the Ghazwah practice of
the Arabs, women are stolen away.... Woman, therefore, is the root cause of crime
and bloodshed in Sindh''. He adds: ``In psychological traits, a Sindhi is a
brother of an Arab, being vindictive and full of deceit at all times. Like a
true Arab, he is a cunning hypocrite and matchless intriguer.'' Dr. Pathan even
goes so far as to say that ``Quraishi'' --- the family name of Mohammed --- in
Arabic means ``a sea monster'', ``a profiteer''.
Professor Humayun
Kabir had said that while the Government of India supported the Arabs against
the Israelis, the people of India favoured the Israelis against the Arabs. The
reason, he. said, was the Arab invasion of Sindh twelve hundred years ago. He
was quite right. The race memory has neither forgotten nor forgiven the Arab
invasion. Even the Sindhi Muslims share this Indian resentment of the Arab aggression
of long ago. Today they honour ``Dahir Sen of Sindhudesh'' --- and look upon
Mohammed Bin Qasim as an invader.
G.M. Syed, the
``Grand Old Man'' of Sindh, and the moving spirit behind the ``Independent
Sindh'' movement, is ecstatic about the bravery and statesmanship of Dahir.
According to him, Dahir had even offered asylum to Hussain, the grandson of
Mohammed --- married to a Sindhi girl --- who was being persecuted at home. He
was on his way to Sindh when he was intercepted at Karbala in Iraq --- and
killed most cruelly. The Sindhis weep for lmam Hussain --- and they weep for
Raja Dahir Sen.
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Raja Dahir Sen THE PROPHET of Islam had known Sindh and Hind. One of his wives was named Hind, and he used to say of her: ``Ma...