never invaded the north of India, but confined CHAP. their predatory excursions to Sind.

He also mentions that the Afgháns gave an asylum to the remains of the Arabs who were driven out of Sind in the second century of the Hijra.

Setting aside the fable of their connection with the Prophet, this account does not appear improbable. The Afgháns, or a part of them, may have been early converted, although not conquered until the time of Sultán Mahmúd.

In the accessible parts of their country, especially on the west, they may have been early reduced to submission by the Arabs; but there are parts of the mountains where they can hardly be said to be entirely subdued even to this day.

We know nothing of their early religion, except the presumption, arising from the neighbourhood of Balkh and their connection with Persia, that they were worshippers of fire. Mahometan historians afford no light, owing to their confounding all denominations of infidels.

1.

cursion

The first appearance of the Mahometans in India First in. was in the year of the Hijra 44, at the time of into India, their first expedition to Cábul.

Mohálib, afterwards an eminent commander in Persia and Arabia, was detached, on that occasion, from the invading army, and penetrated to Multán, from whence he brought back many prisoners. It is probable that his object was only to explore the intermediate country, and that his report was not

A.D. 664.

V.

BOOK encouraging: from whatever cause, no further attempt was made on the north of India during the continuance of the Arab rule.

Conquest of Sind by

the Arabs. nature.

The next invasion was of a more permanent It was carried on from the south of Persia into the country at the mouth of the Indus, then subject to a Hindú prince, called Dáhir by the Mussulmans, whose capital was at Alór near Bakkar, and who was in possession of Multán and all Sind, with, perhaps, the adjoining plain of the Indus as far as the mountains at Cálabágh. His territory was portioned out among his relations, probably on the feudal tenure still common with the Rájpúts.*

Arab descents on Sind by sea are mentioned as early as the califate of Omar; but, if they ever took place, they were probably piratical expeditions for the purpose of carrying off the women of the country, whose beauty seems to have been much esteemed in Arabia.t

Several detachments were also sent through the south of Mecrán during the reigns of the early califs, but seem all to have failed from the desert

* Briggs's Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 401, &c. See also Captain M'Murdo, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. I. p. 36. Abulfazl makes Dáhir's dominions include Cashmír; but that country was then in possession of one of its greatest rájas; for whom, like all considerable Hindú princes, his historians claim the conquest of all India. Sind is almost the only part of it with which they pretend to no connection. The native accounts quoted by Captain Pottinger (p. 386.) extend the dominions of Sind to Cábul and Márwár; and those given to Captain Burnes (vol. iii. p. 76.) add Candahár and Canouj.

Pottinger, p. 388.

character of the country; which was that so well СНАР. known under the name of Gedrosia, for the suffer

ings of Alexander's army.

I.

At length, in the reign of the calif Walíd, the Mussulman government was provoked to a more strenuous exertion. An Arab ship having been seized at Díval or Déwal, a sea port connected with Sind, Rája Dáhir was called on for restitution. He declined compliance on the ground that Déwal was not subject to his authority: his excuse was not admitted by the Mussulmans; and they sent a body of 1000 infantry and 300 horse to enforce their demand. This inadequate detachment having perished like its predecessors, Hejáj, the governor of Basra, prepared a regular army of 6000 men at Shíráz, and gave the command of it to his own nephew, Mohammed Cásim, then not more than twenty years of age; and by him it was conducted in safety to the walls of Déwal. Cásim was pro- A. D. 711, vided with catapultas and other engines required A. H. 92. for a siege, and commenced his operations by an attack on a temple contiguous to the town. It was a celebrated pagoda, surrounded by a high inclosure of hewn stone (like those which figure in our early wars in the Carnatic), and was occupied, in addition to the numerous Bramin inhabitants, by a strong garrison of Rájpúts.

While Cásim was considering the difficulties opposed to him, he was informed by some of his prisoners that the safety of the place was believed to depend on the flag which was displayed on

BOOK

V.

the tower of the temple. He directed his engines against that sacred standard, and at last succeeded in bringing it to the ground; which occasioned so much dismay in the garrison as to cause the speedy fall of the place.

Cásim at first contented himself with circumcising all the Bramins; but, incensed at their rejection of this sort of conversion, he ordered all above the age of seventeen to be put to death, and all under it, with the women, to be reduced to slavery. The fall of the temple seems to have led to that of the town, and a rich booty was obtained, of which a fifth (as in all similar cases) was reserved for Hejáj, and the rest equally divided. A son of Dáhir's, who was in Déwal, either as master or as an ally, retreated, on the reduction of that city, to Brámanábád, to which place, according to Ferishta, he was followed by the conqueror, and compelled to surrender on terms. Cásim then advanced on Nérún (now Heiderábád), and thence upon Sehwán, of which he undertook the siege.*

Notwithstanding the natural strength of Sehwán, it was evacuated at the end of seven days, the garrison flying to a fortress called Sálim, which was likewise speedily reduced.

Thus far Cásim's progress had met with little serious opposition. He was now confronted by a powerful army under the command of the rája's eldest son; and his carriage cattle failing about the

* See Captain M'Murdo, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. I. pp. 30. 32.

same time, he was constrained to take post, and to wait for reinforcements, and a renewal of his equipments. He was joined in time by 2000 * horse from Persia, and was enabled to renew his operations, and to advance, though not without several indecisive combats, to the neighbourhood of Alór itself.

Here he found himself opposed to the rája in person, who advanced to defend his capital at the head of an army of 50,000 men; and, being impressed with the dangers of his situation, from the disproportion of his numbers, and the impossibility of retreat in case of failure, he availed himself of the advantage of the ground, and awaited the attack of the Hindús in a strong position which he had chosen. His prudence was seconded by a piece of good fortune. During the heat of the attack which was made on him, a fire-ball struck the rája's elephant, and the terrified animal bore its master off the field, and could not be stopped until it had plunged into the neighbouring river. The disappearance of the chief produced its usual effect on Asiatic armies ; and although Dáhir, already wounded with an arrow, mounted his horse and renewed the battle with unabated courage, he was unable to restore the fortune of the day, and fell fighting gallantly in the midst of the Arabian cavalry.†

*Táríkhi Hind o Sind,

This battle must have taken place on the left bank of the Indus, though there is no particular account of Cásim's crossing that river. He first approached the right or western bank at a

CHAP.

I.