Arab Invasion – After the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, the sequence of Arab invasions on India started. During the reign of Umar Khalifa in 636 CE, the Arabs invaded a place named Thana in Mumbai to loot the Indian regions, but they didn’t get success. With passage of time, during the reign of Umayyad dynasty, the Arab army occupied Kirmar, Siestan and Makran situated on the other side of Sindh under the leadership of Abdullah.
Khalifa did not allow Abdullah to proceed further ahead and the Arab invasion became limited till here itself.
The Causes of Arab Invasions on India The causes of Arab invasions on India were as following:
1. Islam had orgnaized the Arabians and had infused an immense desire of religious propagation in them. Just like in other countries, the objective of propagating their religion inspired them to invade upon India also.
2. The Khalifa was not only the religious head of the Islam community, but was the political head also. So the spirit of empire extension was also naturally present.
3. The Arabs were well aware of the economic prosperity of India. They wanted to acquire wealth through invasions.
ARABS AND DAHIR SEN: Immediate Cause: In 711 CE, the pirates of Sindh looted an Arabian ship on the local port Debal. At that time, indh was ruled upon by a Brahamin king named Dahir. The boundaries of kingdom of Dahir extended upto Kashmir in the north and upto Kannauj of the Pratiharas in the east. In the west, the region of Makran or Balochistan was included in his frontiers.
As Dahir did not give a reasonable explanation for the incident of the loot of the Arabian ship, Governor Hajjaj of Iraq made it the immediate cause of invasion and sent an army to invade Sindh after taking permission from Khalifa walid. In the two initial campaigns, Hajjaj’s commanders Ubaidullah and Budail had to face defeat and both the commanders were put to death. After this, Hajjaj sent his nephew and son – in – law, seventeen years old Muhammad Bin Qasim.
Conquest of Debal – Qasim reached and preapared to seige the city, but a 120 feet massive temple surrounded with a strong wall came in between. A traitor priest from the temple joined the Arabs and he gave the information that till the red flag tied with a charm continued to wave upon the temple, the city not be conquered. Soon after Muhammad Qasim dropped the flag through Manjanik (harpoons).
The dropping of the flag disheartened the soldiers who were present to protect the city and encouraged the Arab soldiers. After occupying the city, Qasim killed many people and imprisoned young children and women. He got a lot of wealth by looting the temple whose fifth part was sent to Hajjaj and the remaining part was distributed among the army. After this, he marched ahead and occupied Nerun, Sehwan and Sesam also.
Finally on 20th June, 712 CE, a fierce struggle took place between the Indian and Arabian armies in the battle of Rawar. Dahir tore the enemy off and reached the middle part of Arabian army along with his companions. Dahir was seated on an elephant and was bravely confronting the enemy along with his companions. Suddenly an arrow pierced his body and he recieved martyrdom.
After this Rani Bai, wife of Dahir made effort to protect the fort but after becoming unsuccessful in doing so, she committed Jauhar and proteced her dignity. After the victory of Rawar, Qasim got control over Brahmanabad. Here Qasim met Ladi, the second queen of Dahir and two dughters Surya Devi and Parmal Devi. After Brahmananad, Qasim also occupied the capital Alor and Multan.
Victory upon Multan was the last victory of Arabs in India. They got wealth to such massive exent over here that they changed the name of Multan to‘Swarna Nagar’. Decline of Muhammad Bin Qasim According to historian Gauri Shankar Hirachand Ojha, after witnessing the beauty of the princesses of Dahira, the Khalifa proposed to them. They both wanted to avenge the death of their father.
For this reason, they now got a chance and complained to the Khalifa that they were not worth placing their feet on his bed as Qasim had taken away their virginity even before sending them over there. Listening to all this, the Khalifa got angered and he immediately issued a written order to send Muhammad Bin Qasim alive, woven in the skin of an ox to him. The order was immediately implemented.
Qasim died on the way on the third day and he was sent in that state itself to the Khalifa. The Khalifa called both the princesses, opened the skin of the ox in front of them and showed them the dead body of Qasim and further said that he punish those who offeneded God’s Khalifa, in that manner.
As soon as the princesses saw the dead body of Qasim, their faces glowed with happiness as their desire had been fullfilled, but they smiled ligthly and taunted upon Khalifa and said, “O Khalifa ! Qasim did not take away our virginity. He never put an evil eye upon us, but as he had killed our father, brother and citiznes, so in order to avenge all this, we had falsely charged him.”
Listening to these words of the brave girls, the Khalifa gat horrified and got them burnt alive. Effect of Relations with India on the Arabs The only political consequence of the victory of Sindh by the Arabs was that the relations of Sindh with India remained disturbed for a short time and it became a part of Islamic empire, but with cultural viewpoint, India attained victory upon the Arabs.
Indian philosophy, science, mathematics, medical science and astrology influenced the Arabs in a great way. They got many Indian Sanskrit texts translated into Arabic language, among which, Brahmagupta’s Brahmasiddhanta and Kandakhadyaka are the most famous ones.
The Arabian people learned various fundamental principles such as number system, decimal system, medical science and astrological science from the Indians and adopted Indian methods in the field of art and architecture also. Various things associated with Indian philosophy, literature and art were introduced to the European people through the Arabs. In this way, Indian knowledge successfully reached the western countries through the Arabs.
Reasons for the success of the Arabs in India:
There were several reasons for the success of Arabs in context to Sindh –
1. The general section of society was dissastisfied during the reign of Dahir.
2. Dissatisfaction and maladministration was present in most parts of the kingdom. Due to this Dahir could not get public support at the time of Arab invasion.
3. Dahir himself was unpopular among the masses because his father was not the actual head of the kingdom.
4. There was lack of the spirit of mutual co-ordination, brotherhood and cooperation among the contemporary Indian rulers and personal interests were on rise.
5. No kindom had made effort to strengthen its military power keeping in mind the expansion of military power and the risk of foreign invasions.
6. The responsibility of military activities was limited to the Rajputs who had started to fight with one another due to mutual misunderstandings and jealousy.
7. Along with the qualification, bravery and leadership of Muhammad Bin Qasim, the zeal of religious propoagation immense desire of gaining wealth and the military support exended by the Khalifa also contributed significantly towards their success.
