Jāmi' Masjid, Srīnagar ;
interior
of cloisters.
Cambridge History of India - v3 - Turks and Afghans
Mosque of the Barā Gumbad.
27. Interior of prayer-chamber of the Moth-ki-masjid.
XV. 28. Tomb of Bahā-ul-Haqq at Multān, from East.
29. Tomb of Rukn-i-Alam at Multān, from Suoth-West.
## p. xxx (#34) #############################################
XXX
LIST OF PLATES
:
:
:
XVI. 30. Sectional drawing of the tomb of Rukn-i--Alam at
Multan.
XVII. 31. Inscription on left of mihrab of Zafar Khăn Ghāzi
mosque at Tribani.
32. Ādina Masjid, Pānduah : the prayer-chamber as seen
from the courtyard.
XVIII. 33. Ādina Masjid, Panduah : the mimbar and central
mihrāb.
34. Ādina Masjid Panduah: corridor with royal gallery on
right.
XIX. 35. Sāth Gūmbaz mosque at Bagerhāt, from South-East.
36. The Dākhil Darwāza at Gaur, from the North.
XX. 37. Tantipāra masjid at Gaur : details of terracotta deco-
rations.
38. Gunmant mosque, showing decoration of vaulted arch
at Gaur.
XXI. 39. General view of Chhotă Sonā masjid at Gaur, from
East.
40. Firūz Minār at Gaur.
41. Details of central door of Chhotā Sonă Masjid at Gaur.
XXII. 42. Barā Sonā Masjid at Gaur, from North-East.
43. Arcade in the prayer-chamber of the Barā Sonā
Masjid at Gaur.
XXIII. 44. The Jāmi' Masjid at Cambay.
45. Dholkā : Balol Khān Qāzi's masjid, entrance porch.
XXIV. 46. Ahmadābād : Tin Darwāza. General view from East.
47. The Jāmi: Masjid at Ahmadābād.
XXV. 48. Chāmpāner : Halol gateway (inner) from East. North-
West corner.
49. Champāner : Jāmi Masjid. View from South-East.
50. Champāner : Jāmi Masjid. General view from South-
West.
XXVI. 51. The palace at Sārkhej.
52. Adalaj: stepped well. Interior view from second gallery.
53. Ahmadābād : masjid of Sayyid Usman : tomb of
Sayyid . Usmān in front of view from South-East
(at 'Usmānpūra).
XXVII. 54. Ahmadābād : Shāh ‘Alam's tomb. View from North-
East.
55. Ahmadābād : Băi Harir's masjid at Asarwa View
from East.
56. Ahmadābād : Mosque of Shāh Alam.
XXVIII. 57. Mosque of Rāni Sīpari at Ahmadābād.
XXIX. 58. Siddi Sayyid's mosque at Ahmadābad.
59. Perforated stone window in Siddi Sayyid's mosque at
Ahmadābād.
XXX. 60. The Delhi Gate of Māndū, from within.
XXXI. 61. Interior of the East entrance porch of the Lat Masjid
at Dhār.
62. A corner of the Hindolā Mahall at Mandū.
## p. xxx (#35) #############################################
LIST OF PLATES
XXXÍ
XXXII. 63. Interior of the Hindolā Mahall at Māndū.
64. The Jāmi: Masjid at Māndū, from the North-East.
65. Interior of the JāmiMasjid at Māndū.
XXXIII. 66. The tomb of Hūshang.
67. Interior of mosque of Malik Mughis (Mughis-ud-
Dunyā) (typical of Māndū style).
XXXIV. 68. The ruined College and tomb of Mahmūd, with Tower
of Victory on the left.
69. The Jahāz Mahall at Māndū.
70. The palace of the Bāz Bahādur, with Rūpmati's
pavilion crowning the hill in the distance.
XXXV. 71. The Ukha Mandir at Bayāna.
72. The Ukha Masjid at Bayāna.
XXXVI. 73. The Shams Masjid at Nāgaur (Jodhpur).
74. The Topkhāna mosque at Jālor (Jodhpur).
XXXVII. 75. Kushk Mahall at Fathābād near Chanderi.
76. Jāmi' Masjid at Chanderī.
XXXVIII. 77. Jami' Masjid at Budaun.
78. Bādal Mahall gate at Chanderi.
79. The Lāt at Hissār.
XXXIX. 80. Chaurasi Gumbad at Kālpī, from South East.
81. Atāla mosque at Jaunpur.
82. Atāla mosque at Jaunpur.
XL. 83. Jāmi: Masjid at Jaunpur.
84. Jāmi: Masjid at Jaunpur. Exterior colonnades on
south side.
XLI. 85. The citadel at Daulatābād, with Chānd Minār to the
right.
86. The entrance to the tunnel in the citadel at Daulatābād.
XLII. 87. Rock-hewn moat around the citadel at Daulatābād.
XLIII. 88. The Gumbad gate of Bidar Fort.
89. The Fort at Parenda.
XLIV, 90. The Fath Drawāza, Golconda Fort.
91. Mahakali Gateway of Narnāla.
XLV. 92. Tomb of Bahman Shāh at Gulbarga, from North East.
93. Tomb of Firūz Shāh Bahmani at Gulbarga, from
North-West.
XLVI. 94. The Jāmi Masjid at Gulbarga, from North-East.
95. Arcade in the Jami' Masjid at Gulbarga.
XLVII. 96. Arch over entrance to Banda Nawāz, Gulbarga.
97. Tombs of the later Bahmani kings at Bidar.
XLVIII. 98. The Chānd Minār at Daulatābād.
XLIX. 99. Madrasa of Mahmūd Gāwān at Bidar.
100. Tombs of the Fārūqi kings at Thālner, Form North-
East.
L. 101. Tomb of the mother of Zain-ul-Abidin.
102. Mosque of Madani.
LI. 103.
Jāmi' Masjid, Srīnagar ; interior of cloisters.
104. Mosque of Shāh Hamadān.
## p. xxx (#36) #############################################
LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES
PAGE
: :
. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
i i
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapters VIII, IX and X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapters XIII, XIV
Chapters XV, XVI and XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
641
642
613
644
615
646
617
648
619
650
651
652
. . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . .
653
654
655
. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
656
658
659
CORRIGENDA
>
p. 21, ll. 9, 11, 28, 33, 35, 40, For Ninda reid Ganda.
p. 22, 11, 23, 30, 37, 41. For Nanda read Ganda.
p. 127, 1. 17. Delete pure. Delete notel, and substitute the following :
1 Tughluq was the personal name of Ghiyās-ud-din, but has been applied,
both by Eastern and Western historians, to the dynasty founded by him, as though
it were a patronymic. It is usually transliterated Tughlaq, but I follow Ibn
Batūtah, who is explicit on the point, and who, though not always a safe guide in
the matter of proper names, must have known how the name was pronounced at
Delhi in his time.
p. 238, 1. 12.
After provisions inserl to pursue his advantage.
p. 244, I. 5.
For in read to.
p. 316, I. 35. For 1510 read 1511.
p. 441, Il. 10, 18. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 442, 11. 7, 24. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 443, l. 2. For Salāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 444, 11. 2; 26, 29. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 445, 11. 11, 27. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 448, 11. 10, 24, 30, 36. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 449, 11. 4, 15, 24. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
## p. 1 (#37) ###############################################
CHAPTER I
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND
The rise of Islam is one of the marvels of history. In the
summer of A. D. 622 a prophet, without honour in his own country,
fled from his native city to seek an asylum in the town of Yathrib,
since known as Madinat-un-Nabl 'the Prophet's City,' rather more
than two hundred miles north of Mecca, the town which had cast
him out. Little more than a century later the successors and fol.
lowers of the fugitive were ruling an empire which extended from
the Atlantic to the Indus and from the Caspian to the cataracts of
the Nile, and included Spain and Portugal, some of the most fertile
regions of southern France, the whole of the northern coast of
Africa, Upper and Lower Egypt, their own native Arabia, Syria,
Mesopotamia, Armenia Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Tran-
soxiana. They threatened Christendom almost simultaneously from
the east and the west, besieging Constantinople three times and
advancing into the heart of France, and but for the decisive victory
of Theodosius III before the imperial city in 716 and the curshing
defeat inflicted on them near Tours in 732 by Charles the Hammer,
the whole of Europe would have passed under their sway. The
battle of Poitiers decided whether the Christians' bell or the muez-
zin's cry should sound over Rome, Paris and London, whether the
subtleties of the schoolmen and later, the philosophy of Greece, or
the theology and jurisprudence of the Koran and the Traditions
should be studied at Bologna, Paris, Oxford and Cambridge.
By the beginning of the eighth century of the Christian era the
Arabs had carried their arms as far as the western confines of India
and bore sway in Mekrān, the ancient Gedrosia, that torrid region
extending inland from the northern shore of the Sea of 'Omān.
Immediately to the east of this province lay the kingdom of Sind,
ruled by Dāhir, son of the usurping Brāhman Chāch.
An act of piracy or brigandage, the circumstances of which are
variously related, brought Dāhir into conflict with his formidable
neighbours. The King of Ceylon was sending to Hajjāj, viceroy of
the eastern provinces of the caliphate, the orphan daughters of
Muslim merchants who had died in his dominions, and his vessels
were attacked and plundered by pirates off the coast of Sind.
G. H. 1. III.
1 1
## p. 2 (#38) ###############################################
2
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND (CH.
According to a less probable account, the King of Ceylon had
himself accepted Islam, and was sending tribute to the Commander
of the Faithful. Another author writes that 'Abdul Malik, the fifth
Umayyad, and father of Walīd, the reigning Caliph, had sent agents
to India to purchase female slaves and other commodities, and that
these agents, on reaching Debul, Dāhir's principal seaport, had been
attacked and plundered by brigands.
It is the results rather than the details of the outrage that are
important. Hajjāj sent a letter through Muhammad b. Hārūn,
governor of Mekrān, demanding reparation, but Dāhir replied that
the aggressors were beyond his control, and that he was powerless
to punish them. Hajjāj then obtained from Walīd permission to
send an expedition into Sind and dispatched 'Ubaidullāh against
Debul, but he was defeated and slain and Budail, who followed him,
shared his fate. Hajjāj, deeply affected by these two failures, fitted
out a third expedition, at the head of which he placed his cousin
and son-in-law, 'Imād-ud-Din Muhammad, son of Qāsim', a youth
of seventeen years
of
age.
Muhammad, with 6000 Syrian horse, the flower of the armies
of the Caliphs, a camel corps of equal strength, and a baggage train
of 3000 camels, marched by way of Shīrāz and through Mekrān
towards Sind, crossing the frontier at Armāil, probably not far from
the modern Darbeji. On his way through Mekrān he had been
joined by more troops and the Arabs appeared before Debul, then a
seaport situated about twenty-four miles to the south-west of the
modern town of Tatta, in the autumn of 711. His artillery, which
included a great balista known as 'the Bride,' worked by five hund-
red men, had been sent by sea to meet him. The town was protect-
ed by strong stone fortifications and contained a great idol temple,
from which it took its name. The siege had continued for some
time when a Brāhman deserted from the temple and informed
Muhammad that the garrison consisted of 4000 Rajputs and that
3000 shaven Brāhmans served the temple. It was impossible, he
said, to take the place by storm, for the Brāhmans had prepared a
talisman and placed it at the base of the staff of the great red flag
which flew from the steeple of the temple. Muhammad ordered
Ja'wiyyah, his chief artillerist, to shorten the foot of the Bride,'
thus lowering her trajectory, and to make the flagstaff his mark.
The third stone struck it, shattered its base, and broke the
>
1 Not Qāsim or Muhammad Qāsim, as he is sometimes called by European
historians. This vulgar error, arising from a Persian idiom in which the word 'son'
is understood but not expressed, should be avoided.
## p. 3 (#39) ###############################################
1]
THE FALL OF DEBUL
3
talisman. The garrison, though much disheartened by the destruction
of their palladium, made a sortie, but were repulsed, and the Arabs,
planting their ladders, swarmed over the walls. The Brāhmans and
other inhabitants were invited to accept Islām, and on their refusing
their wives and children were enslaved and all males of the age of
seventeen and upwards were put to the sword. The carnage lasted
for three days and Muhammad laid out a Muslim quarter, built
a mosque, and placed a garrison of 4000 in the town. The legal
fifth of the spoil and seventy-five damsels were sent to Hajjāj, and the
rest of the plunder was divided among the army.
.
Dāhir attempted to make light of the fall of Debul, saying that
it was a place inhabited by mean people and traders, and as Muham-
mad advanced towards Nīrūn, about seventy-five miles to the north-
east and near the modern Haidarābād (Hydrābād), ordered his son
Jai Singh to leave that fort, placing a priest in charge of it, and to
join him in the strong fortress of Bahmanābād. The Arabs, after
seven days' march, arrived before Nīrūn early in 712, and the priest
left in charge of the place surrendered it to Muhammad, who,
placing a Muslim governor there marched to Sehwān, about eighty
miles to the north-west.
This town, populated chiefly by priests and traders, who were
anxious to submit at once to the invaders, was held by Bajhrā, son
of Chandra and cousin of Dāhir, who upbraided the inhabitants for
their pusillanimity and prepared, with the troops at his disposal, to
defend the place, but after a week's siege lost heart, fled by the north
gate of the city, crossed the Kumbh, which then flowed more than
ten miles to the east of Sehwān, and took refuge with the Jāts of
Būdhiya, whose raja was Kāka, son of Kotal, and whose capital was
at Sisam, on the bank of the Kumbh. The inhabitants of Sehwān
then surrendered the town to Muhammad, who granted them their
lives on condition of their remaining loyal and paying the poll-tax
leviable from non-Muslims.
Sir William Muir has observed that the conquest of Sind marks
a new stage in Muhammadan policy. The Islamic law divides
misbelievers into two classes, 'the People of the Book,' that is Chris-
tians and Jews, as the possessors of inspired Scriptures, and idolators.
The first, when conquered, are granted, by the authority of the
Koran, their lives, and may not lawfully be molested in any way,
even in the practice of the rites of their creeds, so long as they
loyally accept the rule of their conquerors and pay the jiz ya or
poll-tax, but a rigid interpretation of the Koran, subsequently
modified by commentators and legislators, allows to idolators only
1-2
## p. 4 (#40) ###############################################
4
[CH.
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND
the choice between Islām and death. By a legal fiction which placed
the scriptures of Zoroaster on a level with the Old and New Testa-
ments as a divine revelation the Magians of Persia had often obtained
the amnesty which was strictly the peculiar privilege of Christians
and Jews, but Hajjāj, a bitter persecutor, knew nothing of the lax
interpretation which tolerated idolatry on payment of tribute, and in
Central Asia idolators, were rooted out. In India Muhammad granted
the amnesty to idolators, and in many cases left their temples standing
and permitted their worship. At Debul he had behaved as an ortho-
dox Muslim, but his subsequent policy was toleration except when he
met with obstinate resistance or his troops suffered serious losses.
Thus we find the zealous Hajjāj remonstrating with the young soldier
for doing the Lord's work negligently and Muhammad consulting
his couisn on the degree of toleration permissible. His campaign in
Sind was not a holy war, waged for the propagation of the faith, but
a mere war of conquest, and it was undoubtedly politic in the leader
of a few thousand Arabs to refrain from a course which might have
roused swarms of idolators against him.
The endeavour to follow in detail the movements of Muhammad
after the fall of Sehwān bristles with difficulties. The unsatisfactory
attempts of historians to reproduce in a script utterly unsuited to
the purpose the place names of India, the corruption of their versions
of those names by copyists who had never heard and could not read
them, and above all the constant changes in the face of the country
due to the repeated shifting of the courses of the great rivers which
traverse it, combine to confound the student. The general course
followed by him may, however, be traced.
From Sehwān he marched to Sisam on the Kumbh, defeated
the Jāts, who attacked his camp by night, and captured their strong-
hold in two days. Bajhrā, Dāhir's cousin, and his principal follow-
ers were slain, but Kāka submitted, and afterwards joined the
Muslims.
In accordance with orders received from Hajjāj, Muhammad
returned towards Nirūn, there to make preparations for the passage
of the Mihrān, the main stream of the Indus, which then flowed
some distance to the east of Nirūn and between it and his objective,
the strong fortress of Bahmanābād, where Dāhir was prepared to
oppose his further advance into the country.
27. Interior of prayer-chamber of the Moth-ki-masjid.
XV. 28. Tomb of Bahā-ul-Haqq at Multān, from East.
29. Tomb of Rukn-i-Alam at Multān, from Suoth-West.
## p. xxx (#34) #############################################
XXX
LIST OF PLATES
:
:
:
XVI. 30. Sectional drawing of the tomb of Rukn-i--Alam at
Multan.
XVII. 31. Inscription on left of mihrab of Zafar Khăn Ghāzi
mosque at Tribani.
32. Ādina Masjid, Pānduah : the prayer-chamber as seen
from the courtyard.
XVIII. 33. Ādina Masjid, Panduah : the mimbar and central
mihrāb.
34. Ādina Masjid Panduah: corridor with royal gallery on
right.
XIX. 35. Sāth Gūmbaz mosque at Bagerhāt, from South-East.
36. The Dākhil Darwāza at Gaur, from the North.
XX. 37. Tantipāra masjid at Gaur : details of terracotta deco-
rations.
38. Gunmant mosque, showing decoration of vaulted arch
at Gaur.
XXI. 39. General view of Chhotă Sonā masjid at Gaur, from
East.
40. Firūz Minār at Gaur.
41. Details of central door of Chhotā Sonă Masjid at Gaur.
XXII. 42. Barā Sonā Masjid at Gaur, from North-East.
43. Arcade in the prayer-chamber of the Barā Sonā
Masjid at Gaur.
XXIII. 44. The Jāmi' Masjid at Cambay.
45. Dholkā : Balol Khān Qāzi's masjid, entrance porch.
XXIV. 46. Ahmadābād : Tin Darwāza. General view from East.
47. The Jāmi: Masjid at Ahmadābād.
XXV. 48. Chāmpāner : Halol gateway (inner) from East. North-
West corner.
49. Champāner : Jāmi Masjid. View from South-East.
50. Champāner : Jāmi Masjid. General view from South-
West.
XXVI. 51. The palace at Sārkhej.
52. Adalaj: stepped well. Interior view from second gallery.
53. Ahmadābād : masjid of Sayyid Usman : tomb of
Sayyid . Usmān in front of view from South-East
(at 'Usmānpūra).
XXVII. 54. Ahmadābād : Shāh ‘Alam's tomb. View from North-
East.
55. Ahmadābād : Băi Harir's masjid at Asarwa View
from East.
56. Ahmadābād : Mosque of Shāh Alam.
XXVIII. 57. Mosque of Rāni Sīpari at Ahmadābād.
XXIX. 58. Siddi Sayyid's mosque at Ahmadābad.
59. Perforated stone window in Siddi Sayyid's mosque at
Ahmadābād.
XXX. 60. The Delhi Gate of Māndū, from within.
XXXI. 61. Interior of the East entrance porch of the Lat Masjid
at Dhār.
62. A corner of the Hindolā Mahall at Mandū.
## p. xxx (#35) #############################################
LIST OF PLATES
XXXÍ
XXXII. 63. Interior of the Hindolā Mahall at Māndū.
64. The Jāmi: Masjid at Māndū, from the North-East.
65. Interior of the JāmiMasjid at Māndū.
XXXIII. 66. The tomb of Hūshang.
67. Interior of mosque of Malik Mughis (Mughis-ud-
Dunyā) (typical of Māndū style).
XXXIV. 68. The ruined College and tomb of Mahmūd, with Tower
of Victory on the left.
69. The Jahāz Mahall at Māndū.
70. The palace of the Bāz Bahādur, with Rūpmati's
pavilion crowning the hill in the distance.
XXXV. 71. The Ukha Mandir at Bayāna.
72. The Ukha Masjid at Bayāna.
XXXVI. 73. The Shams Masjid at Nāgaur (Jodhpur).
74. The Topkhāna mosque at Jālor (Jodhpur).
XXXVII. 75. Kushk Mahall at Fathābād near Chanderi.
76. Jāmi' Masjid at Chanderī.
XXXVIII. 77. Jami' Masjid at Budaun.
78. Bādal Mahall gate at Chanderi.
79. The Lāt at Hissār.
XXXIX. 80. Chaurasi Gumbad at Kālpī, from South East.
81. Atāla mosque at Jaunpur.
82. Atāla mosque at Jaunpur.
XL. 83. Jāmi: Masjid at Jaunpur.
84. Jāmi: Masjid at Jaunpur. Exterior colonnades on
south side.
XLI. 85. The citadel at Daulatābād, with Chānd Minār to the
right.
86. The entrance to the tunnel in the citadel at Daulatābād.
XLII. 87. Rock-hewn moat around the citadel at Daulatābād.
XLIII. 88. The Gumbad gate of Bidar Fort.
89. The Fort at Parenda.
XLIV, 90. The Fath Drawāza, Golconda Fort.
91. Mahakali Gateway of Narnāla.
XLV. 92. Tomb of Bahman Shāh at Gulbarga, from North East.
93. Tomb of Firūz Shāh Bahmani at Gulbarga, from
North-West.
XLVI. 94. The Jāmi Masjid at Gulbarga, from North-East.
95. Arcade in the Jami' Masjid at Gulbarga.
XLVII. 96. Arch over entrance to Banda Nawāz, Gulbarga.
97. Tombs of the later Bahmani kings at Bidar.
XLVIII. 98. The Chānd Minār at Daulatābād.
XLIX. 99. Madrasa of Mahmūd Gāwān at Bidar.
100. Tombs of the Fārūqi kings at Thālner, Form North-
East.
L. 101. Tomb of the mother of Zain-ul-Abidin.
102. Mosque of Madani.
LI. 103.
Jāmi' Masjid, Srīnagar ; interior of cloisters.
104. Mosque of Shāh Hamadān.
## p. xxx (#36) #############################################
LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES
PAGE
: :
. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
i i
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapters VIII, IX and X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapters XIII, XIV
Chapters XV, XVI and XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
641
642
613
644
615
646
617
648
619
650
651
652
. . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . .
653
654
655
. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
656
658
659
CORRIGENDA
>
p. 21, ll. 9, 11, 28, 33, 35, 40, For Ninda reid Ganda.
p. 22, 11, 23, 30, 37, 41. For Nanda read Ganda.
p. 127, 1. 17. Delete pure. Delete notel, and substitute the following :
1 Tughluq was the personal name of Ghiyās-ud-din, but has been applied,
both by Eastern and Western historians, to the dynasty founded by him, as though
it were a patronymic. It is usually transliterated Tughlaq, but I follow Ibn
Batūtah, who is explicit on the point, and who, though not always a safe guide in
the matter of proper names, must have known how the name was pronounced at
Delhi in his time.
p. 238, 1. 12.
After provisions inserl to pursue his advantage.
p. 244, I. 5.
For in read to.
p. 316, I. 35. For 1510 read 1511.
p. 441, Il. 10, 18. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 442, 11. 7, 24. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 443, l. 2. For Salāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 444, 11. 2; 26, 29. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 445, 11. 11, 27. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 448, 11. 10, 24, 30, 36. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
p. 449, 11. 4, 15, 24. For Sadāshivarāya read Rāma Rāya.
## p. 1 (#37) ###############################################
CHAPTER I
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND
The rise of Islam is one of the marvels of history. In the
summer of A. D. 622 a prophet, without honour in his own country,
fled from his native city to seek an asylum in the town of Yathrib,
since known as Madinat-un-Nabl 'the Prophet's City,' rather more
than two hundred miles north of Mecca, the town which had cast
him out. Little more than a century later the successors and fol.
lowers of the fugitive were ruling an empire which extended from
the Atlantic to the Indus and from the Caspian to the cataracts of
the Nile, and included Spain and Portugal, some of the most fertile
regions of southern France, the whole of the northern coast of
Africa, Upper and Lower Egypt, their own native Arabia, Syria,
Mesopotamia, Armenia Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Tran-
soxiana. They threatened Christendom almost simultaneously from
the east and the west, besieging Constantinople three times and
advancing into the heart of France, and but for the decisive victory
of Theodosius III before the imperial city in 716 and the curshing
defeat inflicted on them near Tours in 732 by Charles the Hammer,
the whole of Europe would have passed under their sway. The
battle of Poitiers decided whether the Christians' bell or the muez-
zin's cry should sound over Rome, Paris and London, whether the
subtleties of the schoolmen and later, the philosophy of Greece, or
the theology and jurisprudence of the Koran and the Traditions
should be studied at Bologna, Paris, Oxford and Cambridge.
By the beginning of the eighth century of the Christian era the
Arabs had carried their arms as far as the western confines of India
and bore sway in Mekrān, the ancient Gedrosia, that torrid region
extending inland from the northern shore of the Sea of 'Omān.
Immediately to the east of this province lay the kingdom of Sind,
ruled by Dāhir, son of the usurping Brāhman Chāch.
An act of piracy or brigandage, the circumstances of which are
variously related, brought Dāhir into conflict with his formidable
neighbours. The King of Ceylon was sending to Hajjāj, viceroy of
the eastern provinces of the caliphate, the orphan daughters of
Muslim merchants who had died in his dominions, and his vessels
were attacked and plundered by pirates off the coast of Sind.
G. H. 1. III.
1 1
## p. 2 (#38) ###############################################
2
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND (CH.
According to a less probable account, the King of Ceylon had
himself accepted Islam, and was sending tribute to the Commander
of the Faithful. Another author writes that 'Abdul Malik, the fifth
Umayyad, and father of Walīd, the reigning Caliph, had sent agents
to India to purchase female slaves and other commodities, and that
these agents, on reaching Debul, Dāhir's principal seaport, had been
attacked and plundered by brigands.
It is the results rather than the details of the outrage that are
important. Hajjāj sent a letter through Muhammad b. Hārūn,
governor of Mekrān, demanding reparation, but Dāhir replied that
the aggressors were beyond his control, and that he was powerless
to punish them. Hajjāj then obtained from Walīd permission to
send an expedition into Sind and dispatched 'Ubaidullāh against
Debul, but he was defeated and slain and Budail, who followed him,
shared his fate. Hajjāj, deeply affected by these two failures, fitted
out a third expedition, at the head of which he placed his cousin
and son-in-law, 'Imād-ud-Din Muhammad, son of Qāsim', a youth
of seventeen years
of
age.
Muhammad, with 6000 Syrian horse, the flower of the armies
of the Caliphs, a camel corps of equal strength, and a baggage train
of 3000 camels, marched by way of Shīrāz and through Mekrān
towards Sind, crossing the frontier at Armāil, probably not far from
the modern Darbeji. On his way through Mekrān he had been
joined by more troops and the Arabs appeared before Debul, then a
seaport situated about twenty-four miles to the south-west of the
modern town of Tatta, in the autumn of 711. His artillery, which
included a great balista known as 'the Bride,' worked by five hund-
red men, had been sent by sea to meet him. The town was protect-
ed by strong stone fortifications and contained a great idol temple,
from which it took its name. The siege had continued for some
time when a Brāhman deserted from the temple and informed
Muhammad that the garrison consisted of 4000 Rajputs and that
3000 shaven Brāhmans served the temple. It was impossible, he
said, to take the place by storm, for the Brāhmans had prepared a
talisman and placed it at the base of the staff of the great red flag
which flew from the steeple of the temple. Muhammad ordered
Ja'wiyyah, his chief artillerist, to shorten the foot of the Bride,'
thus lowering her trajectory, and to make the flagstaff his mark.
The third stone struck it, shattered its base, and broke the
>
1 Not Qāsim or Muhammad Qāsim, as he is sometimes called by European
historians. This vulgar error, arising from a Persian idiom in which the word 'son'
is understood but not expressed, should be avoided.
## p. 3 (#39) ###############################################
1]
THE FALL OF DEBUL
3
talisman. The garrison, though much disheartened by the destruction
of their palladium, made a sortie, but were repulsed, and the Arabs,
planting their ladders, swarmed over the walls. The Brāhmans and
other inhabitants were invited to accept Islām, and on their refusing
their wives and children were enslaved and all males of the age of
seventeen and upwards were put to the sword. The carnage lasted
for three days and Muhammad laid out a Muslim quarter, built
a mosque, and placed a garrison of 4000 in the town. The legal
fifth of the spoil and seventy-five damsels were sent to Hajjāj, and the
rest of the plunder was divided among the army.
.
Dāhir attempted to make light of the fall of Debul, saying that
it was a place inhabited by mean people and traders, and as Muham-
mad advanced towards Nīrūn, about seventy-five miles to the north-
east and near the modern Haidarābād (Hydrābād), ordered his son
Jai Singh to leave that fort, placing a priest in charge of it, and to
join him in the strong fortress of Bahmanābād. The Arabs, after
seven days' march, arrived before Nīrūn early in 712, and the priest
left in charge of the place surrendered it to Muhammad, who,
placing a Muslim governor there marched to Sehwān, about eighty
miles to the north-west.
This town, populated chiefly by priests and traders, who were
anxious to submit at once to the invaders, was held by Bajhrā, son
of Chandra and cousin of Dāhir, who upbraided the inhabitants for
their pusillanimity and prepared, with the troops at his disposal, to
defend the place, but after a week's siege lost heart, fled by the north
gate of the city, crossed the Kumbh, which then flowed more than
ten miles to the east of Sehwān, and took refuge with the Jāts of
Būdhiya, whose raja was Kāka, son of Kotal, and whose capital was
at Sisam, on the bank of the Kumbh. The inhabitants of Sehwān
then surrendered the town to Muhammad, who granted them their
lives on condition of their remaining loyal and paying the poll-tax
leviable from non-Muslims.
Sir William Muir has observed that the conquest of Sind marks
a new stage in Muhammadan policy. The Islamic law divides
misbelievers into two classes, 'the People of the Book,' that is Chris-
tians and Jews, as the possessors of inspired Scriptures, and idolators.
The first, when conquered, are granted, by the authority of the
Koran, their lives, and may not lawfully be molested in any way,
even in the practice of the rites of their creeds, so long as they
loyally accept the rule of their conquerors and pay the jiz ya or
poll-tax, but a rigid interpretation of the Koran, subsequently
modified by commentators and legislators, allows to idolators only
1-2
## p. 4 (#40) ###############################################
4
[CH.
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND
the choice between Islām and death. By a legal fiction which placed
the scriptures of Zoroaster on a level with the Old and New Testa-
ments as a divine revelation the Magians of Persia had often obtained
the amnesty which was strictly the peculiar privilege of Christians
and Jews, but Hajjāj, a bitter persecutor, knew nothing of the lax
interpretation which tolerated idolatry on payment of tribute, and in
Central Asia idolators, were rooted out. In India Muhammad granted
the amnesty to idolators, and in many cases left their temples standing
and permitted their worship. At Debul he had behaved as an ortho-
dox Muslim, but his subsequent policy was toleration except when he
met with obstinate resistance or his troops suffered serious losses.
Thus we find the zealous Hajjāj remonstrating with the young soldier
for doing the Lord's work negligently and Muhammad consulting
his couisn on the degree of toleration permissible. His campaign in
Sind was not a holy war, waged for the propagation of the faith, but
a mere war of conquest, and it was undoubtedly politic in the leader
of a few thousand Arabs to refrain from a course which might have
roused swarms of idolators against him.
The endeavour to follow in detail the movements of Muhammad
after the fall of Sehwān bristles with difficulties. The unsatisfactory
attempts of historians to reproduce in a script utterly unsuited to
the purpose the place names of India, the corruption of their versions
of those names by copyists who had never heard and could not read
them, and above all the constant changes in the face of the country
due to the repeated shifting of the courses of the great rivers which
traverse it, combine to confound the student. The general course
followed by him may, however, be traced.
From Sehwān he marched to Sisam on the Kumbh, defeated
the Jāts, who attacked his camp by night, and captured their strong-
hold in two days. Bajhrā, Dāhir's cousin, and his principal follow-
ers were slain, but Kāka submitted, and afterwards joined the
Muslims.
In accordance with orders received from Hajjāj, Muhammad
returned towards Nirūn, there to make preparations for the passage
of the Mihrān, the main stream of the Indus, which then flowed
some distance to the east of Nirūn and between it and his objective,
the strong fortress of Bahmanābād, where Dāhir was prepared to
oppose his further advance into the country.
