History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.50

v1.c14.50

The Arabs conquered Mekran in 640 A. D. and Herat in 650 A. D. and thus came to the frontiers of Kabul. Their first invasion of the country was however in 663 A.D. (43 A. H.) under Abdul Rahman who laid siege to Kabul for one year and eventually took it. As in Sind, the Arabs massacred the warriors, enslaved the women and children and spared the Kabul Shah only on his consenting to be a Mahomedan. The Arabs retired leaving him a king paying tribute. But unlike Sind, Kabul was intractable and the people again asserted their independence. The same Hajjaj Viceroy of Iran who sent Mahomed Kasim to conquer Sind sent one Abeiddulla to again reduce Kabul. The Shah retired into the mountains much like what the Afghans did in later history and cut off the invader by seizing the passes by which he had followed him into mountainous country. He was reduced to submission by starvation and allowed to return on payment of 7 lakhs of dīnāras (697 A. D.). The implacable and energetic Hajjaj sent another expedition under Abdul Rahman and Kabul Shah again retired into the mountains (700 A. D.). This time also the expedition failed because Abdul Rahman himself rebelled against the haughty Hajjaj, a conduct which is certainly strange and inconsistent with the strong discipline of the early Arabs (compare the conduct of Kasim). Abdul Rahman made peace with the Kabul Shah. Indeed he was supported by the latter when he was invested by the force of Hajjaj, and rescued. Hajjaj died in 713 A. D. and Kabul remained unmolested for several years thereafter. Under the Khalifa Haroun-Al-Rashid in 786 an expedition under Abbas invaded Kabul He seized and plundered a great Vihāra outside Kabul called Shah Bihār, a place still known. It appears the king and the people were still Buddhists. But the Shah and the country escaped subjugation by retiring as usual into the mountains. For two centuries more the kingdom of Kabul and the Hindu Shahi dynasty flourished. Ghazni meanwhile fell and was taken possession of by a Samani dynasty of Arab Mahomedan kings and they conquered Kabul also. But the Hindu dynasty was still allowed to rule in subjection to Ghazni for nearly a century more.