The local ruler Dahir hardly offered any resistance to the invaders. Historian Ishwari Prasad says that the lame surrender of the Sind rulers was a fact and contemporary sources mention that the felling of the flag-post of the main temple by the catapults of the Arabs was a bad omen and signaled the withdrawal of divine blessings to the ruler. C.V. Vaidya writes that the Arab victory cannot be attributed to this pulling down of a talisman, but to better weapons of warfare which included skillful deployment of catapults in warfare by the Arabs. This technique was new to the the army of Sind and caused heavy destruction.
After defeating Dahir, Arabs established a colony at Daibul, built a mosque and left 4000 troops to control the conquered city before moving to conquer rest of Sind. Next target, Nirun felt without much resistance and the samani (Buddhists) offered wealth and were spared war. Arabs moved across the Indus river to Siwistan.While the ruler of Bachchra (Vastaraj), a cousin of Dahir was in a mood to offer stiff resistance, Buddhists wrote for peace with the Arabs. The divided Siwistan could not withstand the vigour and might of the Arabs and were defeated. Buddhists (Samanis) were spared and rest were ravaged.
Now the Arabs had to cross Indus to meet the ruler of Sind, Dahir. Crossing the river was tiring for Arab army and horses. At this juncture al-Hajaj sent enforcement of 2000 horses and an advice that enemy is won not only in battlefield but also by bribes and treachery. Qasim got the help of new governor of Bet who also helped in making a bridge of boats over Indus. On the other side Dahir waited with his sons and soldiers to fight the Arabs. During the course of war, Dahir fell from his elephant and was killed by the Arabs. Thus, in CE 712 and a new chapter in the history of India was written.
It should be kept in mind that the policies and strategies of the invaders were always aimed towards victory. Al Hajaj often advised Qasim, not to be liberal whle ‘aman’ (sparing of life) but had advised his generals to grant ‘aman’ if the enemy had not shown any resistance and had agreed to accept Islam or pay Jaziyah (a tax to be paid by non-Muslims to avoid conversion). The new Arab government played safe and gradually consolidated its hold over the newly acquired territories. Influential sections of society were spared as their support was needed to rule.
Arabs killed in thousands and did not spare anyone who came in their way. The survival of Hinduism in Sind and almost total disappearance of Buddhism gives us reasons to believe that the two sections of society were treated differently by the invading Arabs. While the Hindus were generally involved in agriculture and were potential revenue payers and unlike the Buddhists who were mainly traders with long trading relations with Arabs appear not to have resisted the Arabs and escaped the brutality that Hindus suffered. Three reasons have been offered for the disappearance of Buddhists: one, they may have all migrated to non-Arab areas where Buddhists still had political control; second, they may have assimilated themselves with the Hindus as had happened in rest of India; third, they may have voluntarily or forcibly converted to Islam.
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