The Unforgotten tale of
Bravery
We all know that Arab Invader
Muhammad Bin Qasim conquered Sindh in 712 AD. However, the facts surrounding
this conquest, and the ill fate that followed for the conqueror is known to few
among us.
The invasion on our
country was a war between faiths and Dharma. Muhammad Bin Qasim’s attacked the
peaceful Kingdom ruled by Hindu King Raja Dahir. In previous invasion none of
them was successful but this was first episode when Hindu king lost to the
invader.
Chachnama, a Sindhi book is a biography of Raja Dahir and
sacrifice of his family. After Raja Dahar was killed, two of his daughters were
made captive, whom Muhammad Bin Qasim sent to the capital Damascus. After a few
days, the Caliph of the Muslims called the two young women to his court. The
name of the elder daughter of Raja Dahar was Suryadevi, while the younger one’s
name was Pirmaldevi.
Caliph Waleed Bin Abdul
Malik fell for Suryadevi’s extraordinary beauty. He ordered for her younger
sister to be taken away. The Caliph then began to take liberties with
Suryadevi, pulling her to himself.
It is written that
Suryadevi sprang up and said: “May the king live long: I, a humble slave, am
not fit for your Majesty's bedroom, because Muhammad Bin Qasim kept both of us
sisters with him for three days, and then sent us to the caliphate. Perhaps
your custom is such, but this kind of disgrace should not be permitted by
kings.”
Hearing this, the
Caliph’s blood boiled as heat from anger and desire both compounded within him.
Blinded in the thirst of
Suryadevi’s nearness and jealousy of Bin Qasim who had robbed him of the purity
he would otherwise have had, the Caliph immediately sent for pen, ink and
paper, and with his own hands wrote an order, directing that, “Muhammad (Bin)
Qasim should, wherever he may be, put himself in raw leather and come back to
the chief seat of the caliphate.”
Muhammad Bin Qasim was
captured on Caliph’s orders in the city of Udhapur. He was wrapped in raw
leather and locked him in a trunk before taking him to Damascus.
En route to the capital,
Muhammad Bin Qasim breathed his last. When
the trunk carrying Muhammad Bin Qasim’s corpse wrapped in raw leather reached
the Caliph’s court, the Caliph called upon Dahar’s daughters, asking them to
bear witness to the spectacle of obedience of his men for the Caliph.
One of Dahar’s
daughter’s then spoke in return and said: “The fact is that Muhammad Qasim was
killer of her Family. Although he never
touched us, but we were full of revenge against him. He destroyed their family,
their kingdom and ruined their lives. By playing tactic we took our revenge
from him. The Caliph reacted to this instance by tying both sisters behind
Horses and making them to run until both of them died. But their faces flashed
with the smiles of Victory as they had taken their revenge before dying.
The sacrifice made by
Raja Dahir Family is an unforgotten tale of bravery. Their sacrifice will
always be remembered for centuries inspiring generations.
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