The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c11.14

v1.c11.14

The history of this region from the 7th century, or even earlier, down to the 16th century, when it was finally incorporated in the empire of Akbar, is extremely obscure. The Hindus have little or no records for the reconstruction of the history of this period, while the Muslim historians are generally exceedingly careless about the infidel inhabitants of the land; yet it is from these writers that we can get some faint idea of the political events of this region. Yuan Chwang, who visited India in the middle of the seventh century A.D., has left us some account of the country. He tells us that the reigning king 'was of the Śūdra (Shu-to-lo) caste,......a sincere man and a believer in Buddhism.'¹ But he does not even mention the name of the reigning sovereign. The only work which supplies us with some details of the princes of Sind from the 7th century down to its conquest by the Arabs in 713 A.D. is the late historical romance, variously known as the *Chach-nāma*, *Ta'rīkh-i Hind-wa Sind* or *Fatḥ-nāma*, a Persian work composed in the time of and dedicated to Nāṣir ud-Dīn Qabācha (613 A.H.=A.D. 1216).² From this work we come to know that the dynasty of the Brahman Chach, to which Dāhir, the contemporary of Muḥammad ibn Qāsim belonged, was preceded by the 'Rāī Dynasty.' Three princes of this line who immediately preceded Dāhir, are mentioned, *viz.*, Rāī Dīwājī, his son Rāī Sihras, and his son Rāī Sāhasī. This list is also found in *Ta'rīkh-i-Mā'ṣūmī*³ but the *Tuḥfat ul-Kirām* (A.H. 1181) mentions two additional names after Rāī Sāhasī, *viz.*, Rāī Sihras II (son of Rāī Sāhasī), and his son Rāī Sāhasī II.⁴ Their capital city was 'ar-Rūr'⁵ (mod. Rohri), while their kingdom extended to Kashmir in the east, to Mukrān on the west to the shores of the ocean on the south, and to Kaikānān in the north. In the *Tuḥfat ul-Kirām*, the boundaries are further extended in the east to Kanauj, in the north to Kandahar, Sistan, the hills of Sulaiman and Kaikānān,¹ and in the south to the confines of the port of Surat.² It also assigns a period of 137 years to the five rulers mentioned above.³ According to all these accounts Rāī Sāhasī⁴ was succeeded by his Brahman minister Chach, who married his widow and established a separate dynasty. Chach, we are told, was a vigorous ruler. The frontiers of his dominions also touched Kashmir, and included Mukrān and Siwistan (*Sijistān?*); he defeated and killed a king named Mahrat (*Mahāratha?*) (a relation of Sāhasī) who is variously described as the chief of Jaipur, Jodhpur or Chitor in 'about the first year of the Hijra' (A.D. 622).¹ Chach ruled for 40 years and was succeeded by his brother Chandar who ruled for 8 years and was in his turn succeeded by Dāhir, his nephew, the son of Chach, who was defeated and killed by Muḥammad ibn Qāsim in 93 A.H. (712 A.D.) after a reign of 33 years, the whole dynasty having lasted 92 years.² It is, however, to be noticed that the total reign period of the rulers is only 81. It is difficult to find out how far this account is historical, for the *Chach-nāma*, on which this account is mainly based, is more fanciful and romantic than historical in its treatment of events. It is generally assumed that when Yuan Chwang visited Sind about the middle of the 7th century A.D., one of the princes of the Rāī dynasty was still ruling at Alor.³ Of course this goes against the chronological arrangements of *Tuḥfat ul-Kirām*, according to which the Rāī dynasty ruled from *circa* 485 to 622. A.D.⁴ But as it is supposed that Yuan Chwang could not have committed so palpable a mistake as to describe a Brahman as a Śūdra, the period of the rule of the Rāī dynasty is extended till the middle of the 7th century A.D.⁵