The Battle of Aror (712 CE) was fought between the Arab Umayyad Caliphate and the Indian kingdom of Pala Empire.
Mohammad Bin Qasim (MBQ) (695-715 CE) of Arab Umayyad Caliphate defeated Raja Dahir Sen (663-712 CE) of India in the Battle of Aror (712 CE). Raja Dahir and his brother Dahar-Sena had fought and replused the Arabs multiple times. But as fate would have it, the buddhists of Sindh and the local ‘Med’ tribe, who were alienated by Dahir had joined MBQ. They helped MBQ to cross Sindhu river at Nerun giving MBQ entry to Raja Dahir’s garrison.
Raja Dahir, his brother and his son fought a fierce battle but were defeated because of the treachery of the buddhists and the locals. MBQ then beheaded Raja Dahir and his brother; captured Dahir’s daughters and forcibly carried them off to Badghdad to offer them as sex slaves to the cruel Hajjaj Bin Yusuf (HBJ); then then caliph of Arabia.
Many historians have tried to justify the actions of MBQ citing reasons such as:
- Raja Dahir conducated a pirate raid off the coast of Debal resulting in the gifts to the caliph from king of Serendib (Sri Lanka) being stolen
- Buddhists being persecuted by Raja Dahir because of which they sided with MBQ
- Med tribe conducting raids on the Arabs leading to unrest in the region and Raja Dahir going strict on the Med tribe
- Population of Buddhists (majority) revolting against the Hindu Governor
- the (alleged) oppression of Buddhists by Hindus and the cooperation of Buddhists with MBQ to end this oppression
All of the above come mostly from Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi interpretation of Chachnama. Soviet scholar Gandkovsky also greatly influenced and borrowed information from Qureshi to come to similar conclusions. But there are historical inaccuracies and ambiguities in interpretation as explained by Friedman and Maclean. One can read a lot on this topic but suffice to conclude that:
- The Chachnama or any other book does not provide any evidence of Hindu oppression of Buddhists
- The collaboration extended to MBQ was mainly because of the fear of invaders and the desire to escape the Arabs wrath
- Arabs still destroyed the Buddhist temples, monasteries and desicrated places of worship
- Distinction between Hindus and Buddhists is at times ambiguous in Chachnama so it might very well be that many Hindus also joined MBQ against Raja Dahir
Irrespective, the fall of Raja Dahir Sen opened the flood gates of islamic invasions of India. Imagine what if the outcome of battle of Aror would have been different, how would the rest of the history unfold? This is a thought experiment and my first step into writing of alternate history. My idea is to first present the history as it is and then write an alternate history with alternate outcome. Who knows, in a era of multi-verse, any other world might also be having a similar outcome.
Stay tuned for the alternate history on Raja Dahir Sen, MBQ and the battle of Aror in my future posts.
