History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.38

v1.c14.38

The whole of this plunder was to be sent to Hajjaj but that religous man wrote "You have already paid 120000 dirhams and over *i. e.*, twice the sum expended on your expedition and you can now build mosques for the faithful." Accordingly Mahomed Kasim laid the foundations of splendid mosques at Multān. He made this city his place of residence as it was a strong place on the frontier. He had 50,000 horsemen with him for its protection. He is said to have conquered the country as far as the boundary of Kashmir as settled by Chacha by the planting of fir trees and he himself planted some more there. He also sent a message to Rai Harichandar of Kanauj, asking him to bend his neck to the yoke of Islam. Rai Harichandar replied "This kingdom has been in our possession for 1600 years and no enemy has ever set foot in our territory. When the strength of both sides is tested on the field of battle then we shall decide,” Mahomed Kasim decided to make war against Kanauj which he said was proud of its men and elephants and asked his followers to be ready. But the fates had decided otherwise. The tide of Mahomedan conquest was to stop here for three hundred years more. Next morning a camelman came post-haste from the Khalifa bearing a letter containing a command to Kasim “to put himself, wherever he might be, in raw leather immediately and come back to the Khalifa.” Mahomed’s stern religious sense of duty to the Khalifa as the spiritual and temporal lord of Islam was so strong that he there and then asked his men to put him into a fresh hide. The box was immediately sent to Baghdad where on its being opened by the Khalifa the corpse of this famous conqueror of Sind was taken out. Thus did the two daughters of Dāhar take revenge upon the man who had killed their father and doomed them to their sad fate. The story is undeniably true, for this end of the famous Arab conqueror of Sind could not have been fabricated. But this event together with the previous history shows clearly one fact viz. that the Arab empire in its early days was singularly strong in consequence of unity, discipline and strong religious conviction.