Jat Clashes With Muhammad Qasim in The Chachnama
There are extensive accounts of Jat clashes with Qasim in various books by respected Muslim Historians.
| “ | After capturing Debal and Nerun, Muhammad Bin Qasim then proceeded to the fort of Ishbahar. It was in the month of Muharram in the year 93 that he arrived in the vicinity of that fort. He witnessed the fort which was strong and impregnable. The inhabitants of the fort (hisariyan) were making preparations for the battle and made a deep moat (khandiqi zart) round the fort. The jats and the rustics (rustayan) that were living in the western side, called for shelter in the fort (hisar). They carried on war with Muhammad -i Qasim and for one week displayed the mastery (ustadaqi) of the warfare and demonstrated the art of seize and hold (dar-u-gir), | ” |
It is said that 4,000 Jats of Sind joined Mohammad Bin Qasim's army and fought against Raja Dahir. Sindhi Jats henceforth began to be regularly recruited in the Muslim armies.
The line of rulership before Islam runs: Siharus, Raja Sahasi II, Chach, Raja Dahir. The first two were Buddhist Rajputs and the last two Hindu Brahmins. There is a difference of opinion among historians concerning the social dynamic between the Jatts and the Brahmins. Some historians suggest that the relationship was an adversarial one, with Brahmins using their high caste status to try to exploit and oppress the Jatts, Meds and Buddhists, who formed the bulk of the peasantry when ever they got the opportunity. According to a quote by historian U.T Thakkur, "When Chach, the Brahmin chamberlain who usurped the throne of Rajput King Sahasi II went to Brahmanabad, he enjoined upon the Jats and Lohanas not to carry swords, avoid velvet or silken cloth, ride horses without saddles and walk about bare-headed and bare-footed".
However, Thakkur also writes that Hinduism and Buddhism existed side by side, suggesting a more complex dynamic between the endogamous groups.
It was because of this internal dissension that that Muhammad bin Qasim received cooperation from some of the Buddhists as well as some of the Jats and Meds during his campaign in Sind (An advanced history of India by Ramesh Chandra Majumdar; Hemchandra Raychaudhuri; Kalikinkar Datta Delhi: Macmillan India, 1973) In fact he was hailed as deliverer by several sections of local population. The position of the Buddhists in Sind seeking support from outside can be read in the Chach Nama.
| “ | Mohammad Bin Qasim's work was facilitated by the treachery of certain Buddhist priests and renegade chiefs who deserted their sovereign and joined the invader. With the assistance of some of these traitors, Mohammad crossed the vast sheet of water separating his army from that of Dahir and gave battle to the ruler near Raor (712 AD). Dahir was defeated and killed | ” |
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—Historical accounts documented in the Chach Nama according to Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Hemchandra Raychaudhuri, & Kalikinkar Datta |
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. Its is interesting to note here that calling upon allies to wreak vengeance upon a dynasty that had been built upon treachery itself in the first place and that cohorted its own fellow countrymen "not to carry swords, avoid velvet or silken cloth, ride horses without saddles and walk about bare-headed and bare-footed" has been labelled as treachery by the writer of the said Panegyric work though viewed from other angle it can be justified as poetic justice.Sind had a large Buddhist population at this time but the ruler, Dahir, followed Brahminism, and to the Arabs was a Brahmin. It is said that the Buddhists been receiving wrong information from their co-religionists in Afghanistan and Turkistan about the liberal treatment meted out to them by the Arab conquerors of those regions. Thus, bin-Qasim received cooperation from the Buddhist population. The Buddhist ruler of Nerun (Hyderabad) had secret correspondence with Muhammad Bin Qasim. Similarly, Bajhra and Kaka Kolak Bhagu/Bhangu, Buddhist Rajas of Sewastan, allied themselves with Muhammad Bin Qasim.
Taqwin al-Buldan observed that in the ancient period the Jats were also found in Baluchistan in a large number in addition to Sind But he did not agree with those historians, who traced their origin to the Middle East and treated this region as their native place. He fully supports Maulana Sayyed Sulaiman Nadvi, the distinguished disciple of Allama Shibli Nomani and the author of a scholarly work on the Indo Arab relations (Arab wa Hind ke Toalluqat) that during the occupation of Sind and Baluchistan by the Persian Kings (Chosroes), the Jats of this region came to be employed in Persia or Iran in army and state administration. He considered it an established fact that the Jats originally belonged to India but it could not be denied that in course of time a large number of them had settled in other parts of Asia for different purposes.
It is quite evident from the account of the Arab geographers, particularly Ibn Khurdazbeh, that their population was mainly concentrated in Makran, Baluchistan, Multan and Sind and that for about thousand miles from Makran to Mansurah the whole passage was inhabited by them. Moreover, on this long route they rendered great service to the travellers as huffaz al-tariq or road-guards. In the same way, Al Istakhari, the author of an important geographical work Al-Masalik wal-Mamalik, had stated that the whole region from Mansura to Multan was full of the Jats. In view of Quzi Athar Mubarakpuri, it was form these places that many Jats had migrated to Persia and different parts of Arab and settled there long ago.,
Read more about this topic: Jat People In Islamic History