Sindh betrayal

Reference: McLean thesis here.

Difference in early collaboration

“There are clear discrepancies between the Buddhists and the Hindus of Sind both in their immediate response to the Arab invasion .and in the long term effect which the occupation had on them. That is, Buddhists tended to collaborate to a significantly greater extent and at an earlier date than did Hindus and, more’ importantly, Buddhism disappeared completely as a viable religious system during the Arab period while Hinduism has continued to survive, in varying conditions of prosperity, until the present day. … Where the primary sources refer to religious affiliation, Buddhist communities (as opposed to individuals) are always (there is no exception) mentioned’ in terms of collaboration. Conversely, Hindu communities rarely collaborated until after the conquest of Brahmanabad, arid^bven then only sparingly. … The crucial point is not that some Hindus collaborated, but that there is not one example in the sources of an individual Buddhist (with the* possible exception of Bhandawir) or a group of Buddhists who did not collaborate with the Arabs. Furthermore, Buddhists generally collaborated - early on in the campaign before the major conquest of Sind had been achieved and even before the conquest of towns in which they.- were resident and which were held by strong garrisons. The Nlruni Buddhists had actually sent envoys to al-Hajjaj requesting a separate peace before the forces of Muhammad b. al-Qasim had even been dispatched to Sind.”
“It is not quite accurate to conclude, as does Friedmann, that Buddhist collaboration was simply opportunistic, guided by “the desire to be on the winning side.” The great majority of cases of Buddhist collaboration (e.g., Nirun, Bet, Sakrah’, Siwistan, Budhiyah) took place before there , was any indication that the Arab side would be “the winning side” : the Arabs had only conquered portions of the Indus Delta, DaJhir and his large army were still intact, and the major and most productive part of Sind remained to be taken. Buddhists went out of their way to aid the Arabs in conditions of considerable personal jeopardy. Indeed, the Siwistani Buddhists not only went over to the Arabs- before their town had been “conquered, but they were later put in some peril when the loyalist forces of ChandRam Halah retook the town."^ 2 The Buddhists op^ted again for the Arabs, closing the gates of the city against Chand Ram during the ensuing battle.”
“Even 0 after Dahir’ s death, however, the Hindus of Upper Bind (where there were few if any Buddhists) did no£ submit easily. Indeed, the fighting at Multan, the last city to be taken by the Arabs, may well have been the most severe and protracted of the entire campaign .”
“After a week the army of Mohmed bin Qasim moved towards Nirun Kot. The Buddhist governor entered into a secret pact with advacing Arab army, but for pretence sake held on for five days. After five days he publicly apologised to Mohmed bin Qasim and welcomed Arab army. He even wrote a letter to the governor of Sehwan urging him to surrender to Arab army pleading that being followers of Buddhist religion the bloodshed is against their creed and the principle of non violence should be adhered to.” [Sindhology]
“There also was a Samaní, who was chief of the rest of the inhabitants. In the fort the nephew of Dáhir was governor; his name was Bajhrá, the son of Chandar. All the Samanís assembled and sent a message to Bajhrá, saying, we are násik devotees. Our religion is one of peace and quiet, and fighting and slaying is prohibited, as well as all kinds of shedding of blood. You are secure in a lofty place, while we are open to the invasions of the enemy, and liable to be slain and plundered as your subjects. We know that Muhammad Kásim holds a farmán from Hajjáj, to grant protection to every one who demands it. We trust, therefore, that you will consider it fit and reasonable that we make terms with him, for the Arabs are faithful, and keep their agreements. " [chachnAma, PIT]

Disappearence of buddhism

“Excluding the region of Multan (which after the Arab period was no longer part Of Sind) , probably around half of the population of Sind-Mukran wa$ Hindu at the time of the Arab conquest. In 1911, exactly twelve hundred years after Muhammad b. al-Qasim had conquered t)ie city of Daybul (93/711) about ’a quarter of the population of the British province of Sind was still Hindu, ’ranging from a low of 10.1 percent in the Upper Sind Frontier District to a, high of 44.8 percent in Thar-Parkar District. During this long span of Muslim settlement,’ Hinduism had lost only: half of its adherents. Moreover,- later Muslim authors visiting’ or writing of Sind frequently refer to’ the Hindus of the region. While he was unable to find a single Buddhist informant”! Biruni refers repeatedly to the Hindus qf Sind. Not only did Hinduism survive as a religion during the Arab period, but it contained enough vitality to attract Muslims as well.’ -Maqdisi encountered a Mu si ini. ‘who had converted to Hinduism in Sind and had only returned to Islam when he left Sind for Nishapur. While Maqdisi gives only the one incident,’ he does indicate that the Hindu temples of Sind Were a major source of temptation ( fi’tnah ) to the Muslim community ofthe region. This strongly suggests that Hinduism was alive - indeed, flourishing- -in Sind as late as the last half of the fourth/tenth century.”
“These three possibilities are not mutually exclusive,: it could be that some Buddhists emigrated, some were absorbed into Hinduism, and some were converted to Islam. Indeed, all three processes are observable to different degrees.”
“A number of Buddhist monks from Sind definitely emigrated from Sind to other parts of Buddhist South Asia. There are occa- sional references in the source material to Sindi Buddhists living in Bengal and Bihar during the reign of the Palas, a dynasty which actively patronized Buddhism. .. However/ the Sindis of Taranatha’s report did not find a safe refuge in eastern India since their aggressive attempts to convert the local Mahayanists to their own Theravada perspective resulted in the execution of many of them . There were aiso Buddhist monks from Sind in regions of Gujarat ruled by the Rastrakuta dynasty. Two inscriptions of the Gurjara Rastrakuta kings Dantivarman 1 1 and Dhruva II, dated Saka 789/A.D. 857 and Saka 806/A.D. 884, record the grant of a number of villages near Surat for the maintenance of Sammitiya monks from’ Sind. While some Buddhist monks from Sind emigrated to India during the Arab occupation, it is extremely unlikely that any large-scale diaspora of Buddhists other than monks occurred. Buddhists probably formed the simple majority of the population of Lower Sind.”
“the Buddhists of Sind belonged to the Sammitiya school of the Theravada. They were not Mahayanists or Tantrayanists either at the time of the conquest or subsequently. The Sindi monks agitating in Bihar were Thera - vadins like the Sinhalese, and the Sindi Buddhist community sup- ported in Gujarat by the Rastrakutas was Sammitiya. Moreover, all the available- evidence points towards an energetic abhorrence of otitis type of Hinduized Buddhism on the part of Sindi Buddhists. The Sindi monks who were proselytizing for the Theravada in Bihar actually burnt the Tāntric scriptures in the Vajrasana monastery and destroyed the silver image of Hevajra. Thus, if, Sindi Buddhism was becoming assimilated to Hinduism, it could not have been through the adoption of Mahayana or Tantric tenets and practices. Nor should the existence of the populist Sammitiya in Sind be taken as evidence in itself for the Hinduization of Sindi Buddhism (e.g., as evidenced by the idea of pugg ala ) , necessarily leading to its absorption in Hinduism. The Sammitiya was still in existence in other parts of India, at the time thehistorian Taranatha was writing in the sixteenth century A.D. J It was only in Sind that the Sammitiya had disappeared by the tenth century A.D. "
“While there is no direct evidence of Buddhists becoming Hindu in Sind, jxeme, perhaps even a large number, probably did. It can be suggested, on theoretical grounds which will become apparent later, that if Buddhists were absorbed into Hinduism, it was primarily at the rural level where the pressures of accomodation would have been greater than at the urban level which was surely Islamic in i|ts orientation. "
“The major evidence for this propostion is demographic. In terms’^ of relative numbers of religious adherents, Sind was divided into two general areas at the time of the Arab conquest-: Buddhists were represented prii^rily in Lower Sind while Upper Sind was almost entirely Hindu. There are some indications that during the Arab period the people of Lower Sind were converted to Islam and Islamized at a more rapid rate and to a greater degree than those of Upper Sind. For one thing, all later Muslim Sind- related local nisbahs refer to Lower Sind or Turan (i.e., al-MansCiri, al-Daybuli, al-Qusdari); not one nisbah for Upper Sind, not even al-Multanx, occurs during the entire Arab period. … Three of these Companions are even said to have died and been buried in Nirun. While un- doubtedly fabricated (and hence of no use as evidence for the condition of Islam in pre-conquest Sind), it is important for what it reveals concerning Buddhism and Islam in Sind in the century following the conquest. It would seem to indicate that the,, previously Buddhist inhabitants of Nirun had converted and Islamxzed.to the extent that there was a perceived need to establish their precedence in Islamic Sind as the initial indigenous converts of the region.”

Money motivation

“At Aror, the mercantile and artisanal classes who are said to have ‘ renounced allegiance to the Brahmins ( pas mardan-i tu.j.iar va- s unna c va-mu h tarifah paygham dadand kih az bay c at-i barahimah mura.ia c at namudim ) were probably Buddhist since, after they opened the city to the Arabs, they retired to the temple at the local Buddhist monastery ( but-khanah-yi naw-bahar ) to worship. 22 -^ At Sawandi, in the Brahmanabad region, “the people of that region were all Buddhist ido^L -worshippers and merchants.” … The mercantile interests and perspectives of the Buddhist inhabitants of the Indus Delta city of Nirun (where collaboration is later perceived as conversion) are evidenced by the fact that after their prior am an had been confirmed, they opened the gates of their city and immediately “bought and sold ( kharld va-firukht ) with the soldiers.” 7 Certain Buddhists from this city later aided the Arabs in purchasing supplies: Bhandarkan Samani while at Nirun and Muqdanyah Samani at a somewhat later date. The Nirunis were not the only Sindi Buddhists using their financial knowledge for the benefit of the Arabs. When the Thaqafite army was experiencing severe scarcities, another .Buddhist, Mokah b. Basaya, intervened and imported the necessary supplies, working in cooperation with the major merchants of the Indus Delta.”
“Further verification of the mercantile orientation of the Buddhist community of Sind can be found through an analysis of the location and contents of the Buddhist structures in Sind. It has long been recognized that the Buddhist monasteries of Central Asia and China were located along trade routes and pro- vided capital loans and facilities for merchants, particularly those involved in inter-regional commerce. … Buddhism, unlike Hinduism, tended in Sind to be vitally associated with the mercantile sec- tor of the economy, Inter- regional trade . "
“The incorporation of Sind into the Arab empire, a rapidly expanding trade empire, held out certain advantages to a mercan- tile people involved in inter- regional commerces the reopening of the overland trade route through Central Asia to China, the regularization of the disrupted maritime commerce (both Indie and Chinese) passing through Sind, and the access to the vital . markets of the Middle East. … That is, the urban, mercantile Buddhists may have hoped that the Arab conquest would reopen inter- regional trade routes, both maritime and overland, and hence benefit their class and, indirectly, their religion. They would have had good reason to perceive that their mercantile interests would be better served under an Arab trade empire (perhaps one allied with Tibet) than under an isolationist Brahmin dynasty with little interest in a regularized inter- regional commerce. … Buddhist expectations of the revival of inter- regional trade and the mercantile sector of the economy were certainly fulfilled during the Arab period.”

Sidelining of Buddhist merchants

“The Buddhist connections along this trade-route in Central Asia had given the Buddhist merchants of Sind an advantage through their access to commercial facilities and intelligence. Their competitive edge in the trade to and from this region would have declined progressively as Central Asia — in particular, the entrepot of ‘Balkh — was absorbed politically by the Arabs and gradually became Muslim. "
“Moreover, a major advantage of the transit route from Central Asia westwards via Sind had been the cost-efficierit circumvention of a hostile and monopolistic Iran. With Iran integrated economically and politically into the. Muslim empire, a detour by way of the Indus Valley would no longej/be as necessary or desirable.”
“More seriously, the transfer role of Sindi Buddhists was minimalized as the Arabs gainecT’their own trade expertise in eastern commerce and^travelled directly from the Middle East to trade with India, Southeast Asia, and China. Hence, while the Chinese tr’ade by way of Sind was restored, this trade was now almost entirely maritime and not overland and in the hands of Muslim not Buddhist merchants.”
“The only apparent route where Buddhists still retained an apparent advantage was with the Rastrakuta domains in India. It is significant in this respec.t that the sole Buddhist monas- tery in Sind where Arab coins have been found (undated and now lost) i£ at Mirpur Khas, located on the trade route to Rastrakuta ruled Gujarat. And, as noted, there was a community of Bud- dhist monks from Sind residing in Gujarat in the third/ninth century. ? However, even in this case, Buddhist monks in Sind would have been unable to monopolize Rastrakuta products exported via Sind through the Buddhist ‘connection. There were large com- munities of .Arab Muslim merchants actually residing in the impor- tant ports of the Rastrakutas (i.e., Sandan, Saymur, Kanbayah, Subarah ).”
“An important part of the pre-Muslim Buddhist commercial network had been the credit and transfer facilities provided by the monasteries. It is clear that, for’ the most part, the trade which revived under the Arabs bypassed the Buddhist monasteries of Sipd, As previously mentioned, while pre-Islamic coins are relatively plentiful in Sindi Buddhist structures, Arab coins have been found only in the ruins of the monastery at Mirpur Khas. … Moreover, the Arabs superseded the Buddhist monopoly on inter- regional facilities by building caravansaries of their own along/ the ma jon.__inter- regional trade routes.”
“In addition, internal Buddhist industrial production at monasteries within Sind was supplanted by newly built Arab industrial sectors.”
“Finally, Muslims displaced Buddhists as the dominant urban, mercantile class in Sind. The Arabs in Sind, as elsewhere during this period, \ere relatively urban in orientation. They settled in existing cities, expanding them (e.g., Daybul), and built new cities like Mansurah and Bayda’ , which served as garrisons and administrative and trade centres. -^ 2 ^ In some\ cases, the new Arab cities completely replaced. the old–as Mansurah did Brahmanabad-^ 0 –or brought others into a state of decline.”
“According to a ruling attributed to the caliph c Umar b. al-Khattab (13-23/634-44) , a non- Muslim merchant who was subject of a Muslim state (i.e., a dhimmi) had to pay double the customs duty of a Muslim (5 per- cent rather than 2.5 percent) on goods with a value of over two .hundred dirhams. If consistently applied, this dis- criminatory customs regulation would have diminished the .. ability of the Buddhist merchants of Sind to compete equally with Muslims in large-scale (i.e., over two hundred dirhams) inter- regional commerce. "
“The textualist perspectives of the Buddhist Sammitiya resurfaced in post-conquest Sind through the predominant adoption of the ashab al- h adith (“proponents of tradition”) interpretation of Islam.”
“The loss of a fiscal base was initially a result of new Arab trade patterns which, as noted, bypassed the credit and transport facilities of the monasteries. However, the deteriorating ‘of, the monastic system must have accelerated as the urban, mercantile Buddhists converted to Islam since large and continuous capital infusions were required to build and maintain its structures and institutions. ’ If the monas- teries were no longer able to^generate sufficient working capi- ’ tal through their own credit and transport facilities, they would have had ’to rely increasingly on the laity for their sup- port,. The defection to Islam of the urban, mercantile Buddhists would limit the laic , ’ capital resources available to the monas- teries from the “laity to the rural ,™non-me re an tile Buddhists. … Since’ the monastic system was Crucial to Buddhism (it is difficult to conceive of Buddhism without the sanghd ) , it is clear that the loss .of a financially viable monastic system would fur- ther exacerbate the already precarious situation of Buddhism in Sind. In its reliance on a capital intensive monastic institu-ti’on, Buddhism was thus in many ways more vulnerable to socio- ’ economic pressures than that form of Hinduism based on a widely diffused caste of Brahmin ritual specialists.”

Hindu persistence

“As long as a the taxes were forthcoming, the Arabs had little inclination interfere at the rural level. As a result, rura^L, non-mercantile -Hindtis were less likely to undergo the process of. relative depri- vation’since, with the exception .of the primary governing class, ’ Arab rule ‘did not substantially alter their position for the worse. Furthermore, unlike’ the capital intensive -an4-hi-ghly centralized Buddhist monastic system, normative institutional Hinduism in Sind was linked to a diffuse network of Brahmin - ritual specialists capitalized on a rural basis.”
“Hinduism also proved flexible in developing specific legal procedures in response to the situation posed by the .Arab occupation of Sind. This is particularly evident in the Devala- smrti, a sparse legal text concerning the various procedures of Suddhi (” repurification” ) which w ( as written .in Sind sometime be- - tween A.D. 800 and 1000.”
“the Arabs were perceived in Sind as out-castes with a polluting agency harmful to those they encountered and for which due penance was prescribed. … Arab Muslim settlement in Sind as a question requiring caste clarification and boundary maintenance was aided by existing caste principles which considered the region of Sind itself to be a half ‘impure location due to the fact that it was the usual route into India of .invading peoples and, as a result, a large number of’ mlecchas and candalas had made the region their home.”
“Biruni (d. alter 44-2/ 1050), while noting the minority position (probably that of Devala in Sind) that Hindu converts to Islam could be readmitted to their caste and religion, tells us that his usual Brahmin in- formants categorically rejected this possibility, a position Biruni regards as normative in Hinduism.”