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.