"Sahaseen saybaa kanjuray, loee leerRoon leerR-a,
"My shawl is in tatters, my blouse's hundred holes I darn,
I do not oil my hair, it remains dry and in knots,
Save seeing Maru's face, no other ambition do I have,
Hamir! In this state may I return to my native land."
.............Bhitai (sur Marui)
Chachnamo, although it uses pejorative language representing the
mentality of the invading Arabs, is an important historical work.
Among other things, it documents the sacrifice of Sindhi women in
protecting their honor and, by at least our contemporary sensibility,
the barbaric ways of the invaders.
The historians concur in the narration that when Dahir was killed, his
son and Rani Bai [Dahir's sister] went into the fort of Rawar with his
army, relations and nobles and took refuge in it.
Mohd. Kasim disposed his army, and ordered the miners to dig and
undermine the walls....thus the bastions were thrown down. Bai
(Maai), the sister of Dahir, assembled all her women, and said,
"Jaisiya is separated from us, and Mohammad Kasim is come. God forbid
that we should owe our liberty to these outcast cow-eaters! Our honor
would be lost! Our respite is at an end, and there is nowhere any
hope of escape; let us collect wood, cotton and oil, for I think we
should burn ourselves and go to meet our husbands. If any wish to
save herself, she may."
So they went into a house, set it on fire, and burnt themselves. Mohammad bin Kasim took the fort, and stayed there two or
three days. He put six thousand fighting men, who were in the fort to
the sword, and shot some with arrows. The other dependants and
servants were taken prisoners, with their wives and children.
It is said that when the fort was captured, all the treasures,
property and arms, except those which were taken away by Jaisiya, fell
into the hands of the victors, and they were brought before
Mohammad Kasim. When the number of prisoners was calculated, it was
found to amount to thirty thousand persons, amongst whom thirty were
daughters of chiefs, and one of them was Rai Dahir's sister's
daughter, whose name was Jaisiya [another manuscript uses Hasna].
They were sent to Hajaj (Governor in Baghdad). The head of Dahir and the
fifth part of the prisoners were forwarded in charge of K'ab, son of
Maha'rak. When the head of Dahir, the women, and the property all
reached Hajja'j, he prostrated himself before God, offered
thanksgiving and praises, for, he said, he had in reality obtained all
the wealth and treasures and dominions of the world.
Hajjaj then forwarded the head, the umberallas, and wealth, and the
prisoners to Walid, the Khalifa. When the Khalifa of the time had read
the letter, he praised Almighty God. He sold some of the daughters of
the chiefs, and some he granted as rewards. When he saw the daughter
of Rai Dahir's sister, he was much struck by her beauty and charms..
Sindhis fought back, expelling the Arabs in relatively short time. Sindhis were not imperialists. Native Sumras stuck to ruling
Sindh only.
Eliphinstone observes that, "Kasim's conquests were made over by his
successor Temim, in the hands of whose family they remained for
thirty-six years.. when, by some insurrection, of which we do not know
the particulars, they were expelled by the Sumras, and all their
Indian conquests were restored to the Hindus... After the expulsion of
the Arabs in 750 A.D., Sindh from Bhakkar to the sea was ruled by
Sumra Rajputs until the end of the 12th century; .."
But even after Arab dominion is restored at the end of 12th century,
Sindh remained a sancturary for religious dissidents, though this time
it was not Buddhists escaping persecution from the East but.....]
Sir H.M. Elliot (1849) observes, "for its position on the eastern
frontier of the Empire, and the difficulty of access to it over
mountains and barren sands, must have offered a promising asylum to
political refugees, of which we have ample evidence that they readily
availed themselves. Hence Heterodoxy, during the period of the
Khilafat, flourished with unusual vigor in Sindh and Makran; and hence
schismatics such as Kharijis, Zindiks, Khwajas, Shariites, and the
like, as well as Mulahida, or atheists of various denominations,
throve and propagated;..
"The 'Alite refugees have preserved many traces of their resort to
Sind, to which we may refer the unusual proportion of Saiyid families
to this day resident in that country..
"The vague reminiscences, indeed, may be considered to comprise one of
the most enduring monuments to Arab dominion in Sind. They were
almost the only legacy the Arabs left behind them; affording a
peculiar contrast in this respect to the Romans, after they had held
Britain for the same period of three centuries. Notwithstanding that
their possession was partial and unstable, our native [British] soil
teems with their [Roman] buildings, camps, roads, coins, utensils, in
a manner to show completely they were master-spirits of that remote
province [Britain]. But with regard to the Arab dominion in Sind, it
is impossible for the traveller to wander through that land, without
being struck with the absence of all record of their occupation. In
language, architecture, arts, traditions, customs and manners, they
have left little impress upon the country or the people. We trace
them, like the savage Sikhs [sic], only in the ruins of their
predecessors; and while Mahfuza, Baiza, and Mansura have so utterly
vanished, that "etiam periere ruinae," the older sites of Bhambore,
Alor, Multan and Sehwan still survive to proclaim the barbarism and
cruelty of their destroyers.."
Many of us are quite ignorant of the history of Sindh. Ours is an
ancient land. When Sindh was attacked by Mohammad bin Qasim, a young General commanding the Armies of the Arabs and Sindh was, at that time,
Raja Dahir. Many Sindhis (including one of Dahir's son) practiced Budhism and lost their lives, fighting for their faith and homeland.
Sindh - My Motherland My Fatherland
Makhdoom's Quest For The Truth
Makhdoom's Home Page