Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 297
History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (Briggs) 297
- Language
- English
297.1
Invasion of Sind by Mahomed Kasim. — Deebul, called Tutta, taken. — The Arabians proceed up the river Indus. — Sehwan taken. — Mooltan taken. — Mahomed Kasim recalled — account of his singular death. — Subversion of the Mahomedan power in Sind and Mooltan. IT is related in several histories, such as the Kholasut-ool-Hikayat, the Huj-Nama, and the history of Hajy Mahomed Kandahary, that the first establishment of the Mahomedan faith in the country of Sind occurred under the following circumstances: — Hijaj (the son of Yoosoof Shukfy), governor of Bussora at the time when Wuleed, the son of Abdool Mullik, was ruler of the provinces of both Iraks, resolved on invading India. Accordingly, in the year 87, he deputed Mahomed Haroon with a select force into Mikran, who subdued that country, and made converts of many of the inhabitants called Bulochies; and having there established a regular government, the Mahomedan faith may be said to have prevailed in that country from the period alluded to.
297.2
We are told that in those days, also, the inhabitants of the island of Selandeep (Ceylon) were accustomed to send vessels to the coast of Africa, to the Red Sea, and to the Persian Gulf, a practice prevailing from the earliest ages; and that Hindoo pilgrims resorted to Mecca and Egypt for the purpose of paying adoration to the idols, to which they looked with the utmost veneration. It is related, also, that the people trading from Selandeep became converts to the true faith at as early a period as the reign of the first caliphs, and that having thus had intercourse with Mahomedan nations, the King of Selandeep despatched a vessel laden with various rare articles, the produce of his country, to the caliph Wuleed at Bagdad. On this vessel arriving at the entrance of the Persian Gulf it was attacked and captured by orders of the ruler of Deebul, together with seven other boats, in which were some Mahomedan families going on pilgrimage to Kurbula. Some of the captives making their escape carried their complaint to Hijaj, who addressed a letter to Raja Dahir, the son of Sasa, ruler of Sind, and sent it to be forwarded from Mikran by Mahomed Haroon. Raja Dahir replied, that the act of hostility was committed by a powerful state, over which he had no control.
297.3
On the receipt of this letter Hijaj obtained the consent of Wuleed, the son of Abdool Mullik, to invade India, for the purpose of propagating the faith; and at the same time deputed a chief of the name of Budmeen, with three hundred cavalry, to join Haroon in Mikran, who was directed to reinforce the party with one thousand good soldiers more to attack Deebul. Budmeen failed in his expedition, and lost his life in the first action. Hijaj, not deterred by this defeat, resolved to follow up the enterprise by another. In consequence, in the year 93, he deputed his cousin and son-in-law, Imad-ood-Deen Mahomed Kasim, the son of Akil Shukhfy, then only seventeen years of age, with six thousand soldiers, chiefly Assyrians, with the necessary implements for taking forts, to attack Deebul. This army proceeded by the route of Shiraz and Mikran. On reaching the towns of Deboon and Dursila, on the confines of the Sind territory, Mahomed Kasim halted; and having taken the necessary steps for advancing he marched on to Deebul, situated on the banks of the Indus, which town is now called Tutta.
297.4
On reaching this place, he made preparations to besiege it, but the approach was covered by a fortified temple, surrounded by a strong wall, built of hewn stone and mortar, one hundred and twenty feet in height. After some time a bramin, belonging to the temple, being taken, and brought before Kasim, stated, that four thousand Rajpoots defended the place, in which were from two to three thousand bramins, with shorn heads, and that all his efforts would be vain; for the standard of the temple was sacred; and while it remained entire no profane foot dared to step beyond the threshold of the holy edifice. Mahomed Kasim having caused the catapultas to be directed against the magic flag-staff, succeeded, on the third discharge, in striking the standard, and broke it down. In a few days after which the place fell. Mahomed Kasim levelled the temple and its walls with the ground, and circumcised the bramins. The infidels highly resented this treatment, by invectives against him and the true faith. On which Mahomed Kasim caused every bramin, from the age of seventeen and upwards, to be put to death: the young women and children of both sexes were retained in bondage; and the old women being released, were permitted to go whithersoever they chose.
297.5
The booty of the temple amounted to a large sum, one fifth of which was sent to Hijaj, together with seventy-five female slaves. The rest of the plunder was distributed among the soldiery. Mahomed Kasim, having come for the purpose of propagating the faith, proceeded to invest the town of Deebul, from whence Foujy, the son of Dahir, with a party of soldiers, forced his way to the fort of Braminabad; to which place he was pursued by Mahomed Kasim, who having closely invested it for some time, the lives of the besieged were spared, and they were allowed to retain their private property, on condition of surrendering.
297.6
Mahomed Kasim marched thence into Seevustan, to a place called Sehwan, the inhabitants of which country, being bramins, represented to their chief, Kucha Ray, the cousin of Dahir, governor of Sind, that as the spilling of blood was contrary to the tenets of their religion, it appeared to him advisable to submit quietly to the payment of the tribute required by Kasim. Kucha Ray, despising the idea of this compromise, refused compliance, and the Mahomedans proceeded to invest Sehwan. After a week’s siege, a party from the garrison, making their escape by night, fled to the Ray of Sulim, in order to gain reinforcements; but the bramins gave up the place on the following morning, and Mahomed Kasim distributed the property among the troops, reserving one fifth for Hijaj. From hence he marched to the fortress of Sulim, which he also reduced, and divided the spoils according to the practice of those times. At this period, Hully Sa, the eldest son of Raja Dahir, having collected a large force, marched to oppose Mahomed Kasim; and the latter took up a strong position, and entrenched himself. In this situation his resources being contracted, and many of his carriage-cattle dying, the soldiers became discontented, and at length broke into open mutiny;
297.7
Mahomed Kasim, however, encouraging his troops with the hope of aid, wrote to Hijaj Bin Yoosoof, who having heard of his situation before his letters arrived, had already despatched a reinforcement of one thousand horse, with other requisites, to Sind. On receiving this seasonable assistance, Mahomed Kasim again took the field, and attacking the young Ray, several battles ensued, though neither party appears to have obtained any advantage of consequence. Raja Dahir having consulted his astrologers and bramins on the present crisis of his affairs, they declared that it was written in the ancient books, that “at a certain period a prophet would arise from among the people of Arabia, who would succeed in converting many nations to a new persuasion; after which, in the lunar year 86, the Arabian forces would invade the borders of Sind, and in the year 93 they would subdue all those countries.” Raja Dahir having in many instances found the predictions of his astrologers verified placed great reliance on them, but resolved to defend himself with a courage becoming his rank and family. The cup of his life being now filled to the brim, he joined his son’s army, of which he assumed the command in person; and on Wednesday the 10th of Rumzan, in the year 93, with a force consisting of fifty thousand men, composed of Rajpoots, Sindies, and Mooltanies, he marched to attack the Mahomedans. Mahomed Kasim, with barely six thousand troops, mostly Arabian cavalry, waited the onset.
297.8
Raja Dahir at first took up a position near the Mahomedan lines, and endeavoured by skirmishes and manoeuvres to entice the enemy from the strong position which he occupied; but failing in every attempt he resolved to storm it. Part of the Arab cavalry quitting the entrenched camp galloped forth and engaged the Indians singly; a mode of warfare in which the Arabians had the advantage, from the superior management of their horses, and their skill in the use of the sword. At length the action became more general, and Dahir with his relations led on the Indians into the centre of the enemy. On this occasion, one of the Arab firemen threw a naphtha ball on the white elephant of Dahir, which became so alarmed at the terrible effect of the liquid flame, that he ran off to the river, in spite of the efforts of his driver, and plunged into the stream. The temporary absence of the Raja communicated a panic to his army, which instantly followed. Mahomed Kasim pursued the fugitives; but the elephant having come out of the water Raja Dahir again drew up his troops, and made a resolute stand on the banks of the Indus, when receiving an arrow wound he fell. He, however, insisted on being placed upon a horse; and although the wound was very severe, he charged in the most gallant manner into the midst of the Arabian horse, where he died like a hero. On his death, the Hindoo troops fled in confusion towards the fort of Ajdur. The Mahomedans gained a vast quantity of plunder by this victory.
297.9
Mahomed Kasim now proceeded to Ajdur. Hully Sa, the son of Dahir, after leaving a sufficient garrison in that fort, proposed to meet the Mahomedan forces in the field; but his counsellors dissuading him, he retired to the fort of Braminabad. The widow of Raja Dahir resolved to adopt the measure abandoned by her son; and with a truly masculine spirit, placing herself at the head of fifteen thousand Rajpoots, prepared to meet the Mahomedans. Mahomed Kasim, however, giving orders to his troops not to attack, they merely stood on the defensive; and the Rajpoots quietly withdrew with their female chief into the fort of Ajdur, which was now closely invested. The siege being protracted to a great length of time, the garrison were nearly starved out, when they came to the final alternative of performing the Jowhur; a ceremony which requires the Hindoos to sacrifice their women and children on a burning pile; and the men, after bathing, rush on the point of the enemy’s lances sword in hand. This dreadful step being taken, the gates of the fortress were thrown open, and a body of Rajpoots, headed by the widow of Dahir, attacked the Mahomedans in their camp, and all lost their lives.
297.10
The heroes of Assyria having repulsed this attack forced their way into the fort, where they slew six thousand Rajpoots, and took prisoners three thousand more. Among the latter were the two daughters of Raja Dahir. These princesses were sent by Mahomed Kasim to Hijaj, to be received into the seraglio of Wuleed; and after having placed all the towns of Sind under Arab governors, Mahomed Kasim proceeded to reduce Mooltan, which was also subject to the authority of Dahir. On reaching Mooltan, Mahomed Kasim also subdued that province; and himself occupying the city, he erected mosques on the site of the Hindoo temples. When the two daughters of the King of Sind arrived at the court of Hijaj at Bussora, he forwarded them to the seraglio of the Caliph Wuleed at Damascus, where they remained until the year 96, when having sent for them into his presence, he enquired their names. The elder replied that she was called Surpa Devy, and the younger Burreel Devy. The Caliph becoming enamoured of the elder, wished her to submit to his embraces, when she burst into tears, and told him that she was unworthy of him, since she had been disgraced on three successive nights by Mahomed Kasim. The enraged Caliph, whose will was the law, wrote with his own hand an order to Mahomed Kasim, requiring him to clothe himself in a raw hide, and embrace that death which he so richly merited. The faithful Kasim submitted to this unjust decree;
297.11
and caused himself to be sown up in a raw skin, which produced his death. After which his body was sent to the Caliph. Upon the arrival of the corpse, the Caliph, sending for Surpa Devy, said, ‘Behold ‘Mahomed Kasim in his shroud: it is thus I ‘punish the sins of those servants who insult the ‘deputy of the prophet of God.’ Surpa Devy replied, with a smile full of triumph and of sarcasm, ‘Know, oh Caliph, that Mahomed Kasim respected my person as that of his own sister, and "would no more have polluted my bed than that of his mother. He, however, put to death my father, my mother, my brother, and my countrymen, and in his death, indifferent to my own fate, I have gratified that revenge which has so long been consuming me." The Caliph became much disconcerted; and having dismissed the damsel, he lamented over the body of his faithful and innocent servant.
297.12
On the death of Mahomed Kasim, a tribe who trace their origin from the Ansaries established a government in Sind; after which the zemindars, denominated in their country Soomura, usurped the power, and held independent rule over the kingdom of Sind for the space of five hundred years; but neither the names nor the history of these princes are, I believe, at present extant, since I have failed in my endeavour to procure them. In the course of years (although we have no account of the precise period), the dynasty of Soomura subverted the country of another dynasty called Soomuna, whose chief assumed the title of Jam. During the reigns of these dynasties in Sind the Mahomedan kings of India Proper, such as those of Ghizny, Ghoor, and Dehly, invaded Sind, and seizing many of the towns, appointed Mahomedan governors over them. Among these rulers, Nasir-ood-Deen Kubbacha asserted his independence, and caused the public prayers to be read in his name as King of Sind. I shall therefore introduce my reader to him as the first Mahomedan king of Sind of which we have any authentic account. With respect to the first invasions of the Ghizny, Ghoory, and Dehly troops into Sind, accounts of them have been already given in their proper place. I shall record, therefore, this history of Sind from such scanty materials as I have been enabled to collect of the Soomura and Soomuna dynasties, though they be imperfect and unsatisfactory.