The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c11.110.1

v1.c11.110.1

The above is a bare outline of the political condition of Sind from the time when it became virtually free from effective control by the Caliphs to the advance of the conquering Turks from the North. I have already noticed how the Arabs in Sind, by placing the Hindu temples in the same category as the places of worship of the Jews, Christians and the Persians, helped to establish new lines of Islamic policy.⁵ I have also tried to indicate the tendency of the Arabs to adopt gradually Indian dress and customs, which, in course of time led to the formation of an Indian Moslem community as distinct from the early Arab conquerors. This tendency was no doubt hastened by the fact that the early Arab settlers in Sind brought no women with them. The result was, as Elliot has already observed that there was ‘ among the descendants of the Scindian colonists, less infusion of the real blood of Arabs than in any other province subjected to their dominion.’¹ Mas‘ūdī noticed that the language of Sind was ‘ different from the rest of India ;’ but it was not Arabic, for Iṣṭakhrī tells us that the speech of the people of Multan and Manṣūrah was Persian and Sindi. As to the administration of the country, the rule of the Arabs appears to have been throughout more or less of a military character. The land was held by Arab garrisons supported by grants of land.