The Arabs in Sind
We have seen in a previous chapter how the Arabs, roused to energy and enthusiasm by a new creed, effected the conquest of Sind and carried on operations in some of the neighbouring provinces.
With the decline of the Caliphs or Khalifahs of Baghdad, supreme leaders and rulers of the greater part of the Islamic world, the Muslim governor of Sind became virtually independent. In A.D. 871 the Khalifah practically handed over the province to the famous Saffarid leader, Ya’qub-ibn-l,ais. On the latter’s death, the Muslim territories in Sind were divided between two independent chiefs, those of Mansurah (near Bahmanabad) and Multan. Neither of these ever attained to great power, and both had to live in constant dread of their Indian neighbours, particularly the Imperial Pratiharas of Kanauj.
The Arab conquest of Sind did not immediately produce any far-reaching political effect, and it has been described by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole as “an episode in the history of India and of Islam, a triumph without results”. But it is significant from the cultural point of view. Besides helping the exchange of ideas, it facilitated the dissemination of the seeds of Indian culture in foreign lands. The Arabs acquired from the Hindus some new knowledge in Indian Religion, Philosophy, Medicine, Mathematics, Astronomy and Folklore, and carried it not only to their own land but also to Europe. We know definitely from Mas-udi and Ibn Hauqal that Arab settlers lived side by side with their Hindu fellow-citizens for many years on terms of amity and peace, and Amir Khusrav mentions that the Arab astronomer Abu Ma’shar came to Benares and studied astronomy there for ten years.
The Ghaznavids: Sultan Mahmud
From the political point of view, the conquest of the Punjab by the Sultans of Ghazni was of far greater importance than the establishment of Arab principalities in the lower Indus valley.
Sultan Mahmud, who carried to fruition the policy of his father, Sabuktigin, was undoubtedly one of the greatest military leaders the world has ever seen. His cool courage, prudence,resourcefulness and other qualities make him one of the most interesting personalities in Asiatic history. In addition to his victorious expeditions in India he had to his credit two memorable campaigns against hostile Turks in the course of which he routed the hosts of Ilak Khan and the Seljuqs. Great as a warrior, the Sultan was no less eminent as a patron of arts and letter.
But in spite of all this, to the historian of India he appears mainly as an insatiable invader. He was neither a missionary for the propagation of religion in this country nor an architect of empire. The main object of his eastern expeditions seems to have been the acquisition of the “wealth of Ind” and the destruction of the morale of its custodians. The annexation of the Punjab was a measure of necessity rather than of choice. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to assume that his invasions had no permanent political results in India. He drained the wealth of the country and despoiled it of its military resources to an appalling extent. The Ghaznavid occupation of the Punjab served as the key to unlock the gates of the Indian interior. Big cracks were made in the great fabric of Indian polity. Neither the Arabs nor the Ghaznavid Turks succeeded in adding India to the growing empire of Islam, but they paved the way for that final struggle which overwhelmed the Gangetic kingdoms some two hundred years later.
Muhammad of Ghur
The empire of Ghazni began to fall to pieces under the later successors of Sultan Mahmud, who were too feeble to maintain their position at Ghazni and in North-West India in the face of the rising power of the princes of Ghur, a small obscure principality in the mountainous region of Afghanistan to the southeast of Herat. The petty chiefs of Ghur, of eastern Persian extraction, were originally feudatories of Ghazni, but, taking advantage of the weakness of their suzerains, they steadily rose to power and entered into a contest with them for supremacy. In the course of this contest, Qutb-ud-din Muhammad of Ghur, and his brother Saif-ud-din, were cruelly executed by Bahrain Shah of Ghazni. `AIa-ud-din Husain, a brother of the victims, took a terrible revenge on Ghazni by sacking the city and giving it to the flames for seven days and nights. This action earned for Ala-ud-din the title of Jahansuz, “the world-burner”. Bahram’s son and feeble successor, Khusrav Shah, was driven from Ghazni by a horde of the Ghuzz tribe of Turkmans and fled to the Punjab, then the sole remnant of the wide dominions of his ancestors. Ghazni remained in possession of the Ghuzz Turkmans for about ten years, after which it was occupied by the princes of Ghur. Saif-ud-din Muhammad, son and successor of the “world-burner”, was killed in fighting against the Ghuzz Turkmans; but his cousin and successor, Ghiyas-ud-din Muhammad, drove the Ghuzz Turkmans from Ghazni in 1173 and appointed his younger brother, Shihab-ud-din, also known as Mu’iz-ud-din Muhammad bin Sam or popularly called Muhammad of Ghur, governor of that province. Very cordial relations existed between the two brothers, and Muhammad of Ghur began his Indian campaigns while still a lieutenant of his brother,
The first Indian expedition of Muhammad of Ghur (A.D. 1175), directed against his co-religionists, the Ismailan heretics of Multan was attended with success, and he soon captured the strong fortress of Uch by a stratagem. But his invasion of Gujarat in A.D. 1178 proved a failure; the raja of Gujarat inflicted a terrible defeat on him. Nevertheless, he occupied Peshawar in the following year and established a fortress at Sialkot in A.D. 1181. By allying himself with Vijaya Dev, the raja of Jammu, against Khusrav Malik, son and successor of Khusrav Shah and the last representative of the dynasty of Sabuktigin and Sultan Mahmud, then in possession of Lahore only, he captured the Ghaznavid ruler and took him prisoner to Ghazni. Thus disappeared the rule of the Ghaznavids in the Punjab. Its occupation by Muhammad of Ghur opened the way for his further conquest of India, which, however, made inevitable a conflict with the Rajputs, particularly with his neighbor, Prithviraj, the powerful Chauhan king of Ajmer and Delhi.
