Battle of Aror | |||||||
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Part of Umayyad conquest of Sindh | |||||||
Indus river near Aror | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Umayyad Caliphate | Kingdom of Sindh | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Muhammad ibn al-Qasim | Raja Dahir † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
20,000 | 20,000–25,000 [1] [2] 50,000 (modern estimates) | ||||||
The Battle of Aror took place in 711 AD between the Umayyad forces under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim and the army of the Brahmin dynasty of Sindh under Raja Dahir. It was the last military conflict of Raja Dahir, in which the Umayyads defeated his army near the Indus River and resulted in the death of Dahir.
The battle took place on the left bank of the Indus. The names of that place on those occasions were Jiwar, Bet, and Rawer. [3] After besieging Debal, Muhammad ibn Qasim joined with 2,000 cavalry from Persia in addition to the rest of his forces making it 20,000 men, and marched towards Aror. He was opposed by Raja Dahir's forces. According to the Chach Nama, the strength of the forces was 20,000-25,000. According to modern historians such as K. S. Lal, the forces included not less than 50,000 men. [4] [5] [6] [7]
Qasim, seeing the imbalance, took advantage of the ground. He waited for Dahir to attack after getting in a good position. During the battle, a fireball struck Dahir's elephant, and the elephant bore Dahir off the field. [7] Even though Dahir fought, he was killed by an arrow in his neck and his army faced high casualties, resulting in an Umayyad victory. [8] [9]
After the victory, Muhammed ibn Qasim found the body of Raja Dahir and sent it to Al-Hajjaj. He later dispatched his army to besiege the fort of Rewar. [8] Since his son had retreated to Brahmanabad in war, the queen of Raja Dahir, Rani Bai committed jauhar to avoid being captured by the army of Mohammed Qasim. [6]
Year 711 (DCCXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 711 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqafī was an Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh, inaugurating the Umayyad campaigns in India. His military exploits led to the establishment of the Islamic province of Sindh, and the takeover of the region from the Sindhi Brahman dynasty and its ruler, Raja Dahir, who was subsequently decapitated with his head sent to al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in Basra. With the capture of the then-capital of Aror by Arab forces, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim became the first Muslim to have successfully captured Indian land, which marked the beginning of Muslim rule in South Asia.
Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin, usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi, was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usually known by his honorific title Yamin al-Dawla. At the time of his death, his kingdom had been transformed into an extensive military empire, which extended from northwestern Iran proper to the Punjab in the Indian subcontinent, Khwarazm in Transoxiana, and Makran.
Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad ibn Sam, also known as Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori, was a ruler from the Ghurid dynasty based in the Ghor region of what is today central Afghanistan who ruled from 1173 to 1206. Muhammad and his elder brother Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad ruled in a dyarchy until the latter's death in 1203. Ghiyath al-Din, the senior partner, governed the western Ghurid regions from his capital at Firozkoh whereas Muhammad extended Ghurid rule eastwards, laying the foundation of Islamic rule in South Asia, which lasted after him for nearly half a millennium under evolving Muslim dynasties.
The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place between the 13th and the 18th centuries, establishing the Indo-Muslim period. Earlier Muslim conquests in the subcontinent include the invasions which started in the northwestern subcontinent, especially the Umayyad campaigns during the 8th century. Mahmud of Ghazni, Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, preserved an ideological link to the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate and invaded vast parts of Punjab and Gujarat during the 11th century. After the capture of Lahore and the end of the Ghaznavids, the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor laid the foundation of Muslim rule in India in 1192. In 1202, Bakhtiyar Khalji led the Muslim conquest of Bengal, marking the easternmost expansion of Islam at the time.
Raja Dahir was the last Hindu ruler of Sindh. A Brahmin ruler, his kingdom was invaded in 711 CE by the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, led by Muhammad bin Qasim, where Dahir died while defending his kingdom. According to the Chachnama, the Umayyad campaign against Dahir was due to a pirate raid off the coast of the Sindhi coast that resulted in gifts to the Umayyad caliph from the king of Serendib being stolen.
Rohri is a city of Sukkur District, Sindh province, Pakistan. It is located on the east bank of the Indus River, located directly across from Sukkur, the third largest city in Sindh. Rohri town is the administrative headquarters of Rohri Taluka, and tehsil of Sukkur District with which it forms a metropolitan area. Its capture marked the beginning of Muslim rule in South Asia under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim in 711 CE, when it was named Aror.
Debal was a commercial town and an ancient port in Sindh, now a province of Pakistan.
The history of Sindh refers to the history of the modern-day Pakistani province of Sindh, as well as neighboring regions that periodically came under its sway.
The Umayyad Dynasty came to rule the Caliphate in 661 CE, and during the first half of the 8th century CE, a series of battles took place in the Indian subcontinent between armies of the Umayyad Caliphate and Indian kingdoms situated to the east of the Indus river, subsequent to the Arab conquest of Sindh during 711 – 713 CE.
Bukkur, Bakhar or Bhakkar is a historical city and an Island fort situated between Rohri and Sukkur in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Bhakkar is also known as "Old Sukkur".
Aror is the medieval name of the city of Rohri in Sindh, modern Pakistan. Aror once served as the capital of Sindh.
The Battle of Rasil was fought between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Rai kingdom ruled by Raja Rasil in early 644. It was the first encounter of the Rashidun Caliphate in the Indian subcontinent. The exact location of the battle is not known, but historians suggest it was fought on the western bank of the River Indus.
The Habbari were an Arab dynasty that ruled much of Greater Sindh, as a semi-independent emirate from 854 to 1024. Beginning with the rule of 'Umar bin Abdul Aziz al-Habbari in 854 CE, the region became semi-independent from the Abbasid Caliphate in 861, while continuing to nominally pledge allegiance to the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. The Habbari ascension marked the end of a period of direct rule of Sindh by the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, which had begun in 711 CE.
Mansura, referred to as Brahmanabad or Bahmanabad in later centuries, was the historic capital of the caliphal province of Sindh, during the eighth century under the Umayyad Caliphate and then Abbasid Caliphate from the year 750 AD to 1006 AD. The city was founded as a central garrison by the Umayyad Forces in Sindh, the city transformed into a very vibrant metropolis during the Abbasid Era surpassing the wealth of Multan in the north and Debal in the south. Mansura was the first capital established by the Muslims in the Indian subcontinent after Muhammad bin Qasim seized the Brahmanabad territory. Mansura was built on the shores of the Indus River, it was surrounded by fertile farmland, Ibn Hauqal mentioned the wealthy local merchants who wore Baghdad Costume and were of Sindhi-Arab origins, houses were made of clay, baked bricks and plaster.
The Brahmin dynasty, also known as the Chacha dynasty or Silaij dynasty, was a Hindu dynasty that ruled the Sindh region, succeeding the Rai dynasty. Most of the information about its existence comes from the Chach Nama, a historical account of the Chach-Brahmin dynasty.
The Umayyad conquest of Sindh took place in 711 AD and resulted in Sindh being incorporated as a province into the Umayyad Caliphate. The conquest resulted in the overthrow of the last Hindu dynasty of Sindh, the Brahmin dynasty, after the death of Raja Dahir.
Surya Devi, was an Indian Hindu Princess of Sind. She is known for having been the war booty of the Umayyad army commander Muhammad bin Qasim during the Umayyad conquest of Sindh and given along with her sister as slaves to Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. According to the traditional story, she persuaded the Caliph to execute Muhammad bin Qasim, avenging her parents, and then managed to escape the captivity of the harem by having the Caliph execute her and her sister.
The Ghurid campaigns in India were a series of invasions for 31 years (1175–1206) by the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor in the last quarter of the twelfth and early decade of the thirteenth century which lead to the widespread expansion of the Ghurid empire in the Indian subcontinent.
The siege of Debal, also known as the siege of Debul, took place in the autumn of 711 AD, in which the Umayyad forces under Muhammed Ibn al-Qasim besieged Debal, a city under the Brahmin dynasty of Sindh ruled by Raja Dahir. Umayyads defeated the inhabitants of the order on the order of Governor of Iraq Al-Hajjaj and captured it.