| Dahir of Aror | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maharajah ofSindh | |||||
| Maharaja of Sindh | |||||
| Reign | 695–712 CE | ||||
| Predecessor | Chandar | ||||
| Successor | Kingdom abolished (annexed by theUmayyad Caliphate) | ||||
| Regent | Dahir | ||||
| Born | 663 CE Aror,Chacha dynasty | ||||
| Died | 712 CE (aged 49) Sindhu River, Chacha dynasty | ||||
| Spouses | •Ladee •Rani Bai | ||||
| Issue |
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| Dynasty | Brahmin dynasty of Sindh | ||||
| Father | Chach | ||||
| Mother | Rani Suhanadi (former wife of Rai Sahasi) | ||||
| Religion | Hinduism | ||||
Raja Dahir (663 – 712 CE) was the lastHindu[1] ruler ofSindh (in present-day Pakistan).[2] ABrahmin ruler,[3] his kingdom was invaded in 711 CE by the ArabUmayyad Caliphate, led byMuhammad bin Qasim, where Dahir died while defending his kingdom. According to theChachnama, the Umayyad campaign against Dahir was due to a pirate raid off the coast of the Sindhi coast that resulted in gifts to the Umayyad caliph from the king ofSerendib (Old name of Sri Lanka) being stolen.[4][5]
Raja Dahir was born in 663 CE into theBrahman dynasty of Sindh, a family deeply rooted in Hindu traditions and governance. His father, Chach of Aror, who ruled from 631 to 671 CE, was a Brahmin who ascended to the throne after marrying the widowed Queen Suhandi. This event established the Chach dynasty, which would rule Sindh for nearly a century.[6]
He fought 3 battles successfully but was killed in the final one after being betrayed by the Buddhists who resented him during theBattle of Aror.[7] He died defending his region at Sindh which took place between his dynasty and the Arabs at the banks of theIndus River, near modern-dayNawabshah at the hands of theArab generalMuhammad bin Qasim.[8]
TheChach Nama is the oldest chronicle of theArab conquest of Sindh. It was translated intoPersian by an Arab named Muhammad Ali bin Hamid bin Abu Bakr Kufi in 1216[9] from an earlier Arabic text believed to have been written by theThaqafi family (relatives ofMukhtar al-Thaqafi).
Throughout his reign, Maharaja Dahir had to face invasions from the Umayyad Caliphate which had grown quite powerful by that time.
According to Chachnama and the Arab historianBiladhuri, Dahir defeated the Arabs twice in pitched battles during the twin battles of Debal in which the invading Arab commandersUbaidullah and Budail or Bazil were killed by Sindhis under Dahir's son Jaisiah.[10][11]
Jaisiah later appointed his own chief orThakur who governed on his behalf. According toChachnamah, when the news of Bazil's death was relayed toHajjaj, he became very sad and full of rage.
This led to the fateful expedition byMuhammad bin Qasim. Before theBattle of Aror, Maharaja Dahir is said to have given this speech as perChachnama[11]
"I am going to meet the Arabs in open battle, and fight them as best as I can. If I crush them, my kingdom will then be put on a firm footing. But if I am killed honourably, the event will be recorded in the books of Arabia and India and will be talked about by great men. It will be heard by other kings in the world, and it will be said that Raja Dahir of Sindh sacrificed his precious life for the sake of his country, in fighting with the enemy."[12]
The primary reason cited in theChach Nama for the expedition by the governor ofBasra,Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, against Raja Dahir, was a pirate raid off the coast ofDebal resulting in gifts to the caliph from the king ofSerendib (modernSri Lanka) being stolen.[4]Meds (a tribe ofScythians living in Sindh) also known asBawarij had pirated upon Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of theTigris to the Sri Lankan coast, and now they were able to prey on Arab shipping from their bases atKutch,Debal andKathiawar.
Hajaj's next campaign was launched under the aegis ofMuhammad bin Qasim. In 711, bin Qasim attacked atDebal and, on orders of Al-Hajjaj, freed the earlier captives and prisoners from the previous (failed) campaign. Other than this instance, the policy was generally one of enlisting and co-opting support from defectors and defeated lords and forces. From Debal, bin Qasim moved on toNerun for supplies; the city's Buddhist governor had acknowledged it as a tributary of theCaliphate after the first campaign and capitulated to the second. Qasim's armies then capturedSiwistan and received allegiance from several tribal chiefs and secured the surrounding regions. His combined forces captured the fort at Sisam and secured the region west of theIndus River.
By enlisting the support of local tribes such as theMeds and also the support of theBuddhist rulers ofNerun, Bajhra, Kaka Kolak andSiwistan asinfantry to his predominantly-mounted army, Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Dahir and captured his eastern territories which were added into theUmayyad Caliphate.[13]
Sometime before the final battle, Dahir's vizier approached him and suggested that Dahir should take refuge with one of the friendly kings ofIndia. "You should say to them, 'I am a wall between you and the Arab army. If I fall, nothing will stop your destruction at their hands.'" If that wasn't acceptable to Dahir, said the vizier, then he should at least send away his family to some safe point inIndia. Dahir refused to do either. "I cannot send away my family to security while the families of my thakurs and nobles remain here."[13]
Dahir then tried to prevent Qasim from crossing the Indus River, moving his forces to its eastern banks. Eventually, however, Qasim crossed the river and defeated his forces at Jitor led by Jaisiah (Dahir's son). Qasim fought Dahir at Aror (near modernNawabshah) in 711, eventually killing him. After Dahir was killed in the Battle of Aror on the banks of the River Indus, his head was cut off from his body and sent to Hajjaj bin Yousuf.
Playing along the same ideological lines of trying to build a historical narrative on how Muslims fought against the cruel Hindus, it talks of how Muhammad Bin Qasim, the general of Umayyad Caliphate who fought against the last Sindhi Brahmin king called Raja Dahir.
When Muhammad-bin-Qāsim plundered the place Arora in 712 and defeated Rājā Dāhar, who belonged to the Arorā dynasty, theArorā people left Sind and settled in the Punjāb cities, situated on the banks of the rivers Sind, Jhelum, Cenāb and Rāvī.
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