It is to be regretted that there is no hope of recovering the Arabic work; for although the very meagre accounts of this important conquest by Abú-l Fida, Abú-l Faraj, Ibn Kutaiba, and Almakín lead us to expect little information from Arabic authorities; yet it might possibly contain other interesting matter respecting the communication between Arabia and Sind, which the translator did not think worthy of special notice.
An air of truth pervades the whole, and though it reads more like a romance than a history, yet this is occasioned more by the intrinsic interest of the subject, than by any fictions proceeding from the imagination of the author. The two stories which appear the most fictitious, are the accusation of Jaisiya by the sister of Darohar, and the revenge of the two daughters of Dáhir upon Muhammad Kásim. The former is evidently manufactured on the model of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, a story familiar throughout the East; but the latter is novel, and not beyond the bounds of probability, when we consider the blind obedience which at that time was paid to the mandates of the Prophet's successor, of which, at a later period, we have so many instances in the history of the Assassins, all inspired by the same feeling, and executed in the same hope.
The narrative is unambitious, and tropes and figures are rarely indulged in, except in describing the approach of night and morning; [but the construction is often involved, and the language is occasionally ungrammatical. Besides these defects, the events recorded do not always appear to follow in their proper chronological sequence.]
The antiquity of the original Arabic work is manifest, not only from the internal evidence of the narrative, but from some omissions which are remarkable, such as the name of Mansúra, which must have been mentioned had it been in existence at that time. Now Mansúra was built in the beginning of the reign of the Khalif Al Mansúr, who succeeded in 136 A.H. (A.D. 753). It is evident that the work must have been written before that time. Then, again, we have nowhere any mention of Maswáhí, Manjábarí, Annarí, or Al-Baiza, all important towns noticed by Biládurí and Ibn Haukal, and other early writers on Sind, and the work must therefore have been composed before their time. Again, it is plain that the mass of the people were Buddhists, which no author, especially a foreign one, would have described them as being, had he lived after the extinction of that religion in India. We read of Samanís, monks, and a royal white elephant, which are no longer heard of at the later invasion of Mahmúd of Ghazní. Again, some portions of the history are derived from oral testimony received at second, third, or fourth hand, from those who were participators in the transactions recorded, just in the same way as Tabarí, who wrote in the third century of the Hijrí, probably later than our author, traces all his traditions to eye or ear-witnesses.
Elphinstone's estimate of the work is that, “though loaded with tedious speeches, and letters ascribed to the principal actors, it contains a minute and consistent account of the transactions during Muhammad Kásim's invasion, and some of the preceding Hindú reigns. It is full of names of places, and would throw much light on the geography of that period, if examined by any person capable of ascertaining the ancient Sanskrit names, so as to remove the corruptions of the original Arab writer and the translator, besides the innumerable errors of the copyist.” He states that he did not see this work until his narrative of Kásim's military transactions had been completed.
The Chach-náma is the original from which Nizámu-d dín Ahmad, Núru-l Hakk, Firishta, Mír Ma'súm, and others, have drawn their account of the conquest of Sind. They have, however, left much interesting matter unnoticed, and even the later professed translations by Lieutenant Postans, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (No. LXXIV., 1838, and No. CXI., 1841) give merely an abridged account of the transactions, which is moreover unfortunately disfigured by many misprints.
The headings of the sections throughout the work have been translated, in order to show the connection of the whole; those only being omitted which are inappropriate or evidently misplaced: and nearly every passage has been translated which can be useful for the illustration of the geography, religion, and manners of the time. The Chach-náma is common in India. There is a copy in the E. I. Library, and the Bibliothèque Impériale has two.
[The MS. referred to as A. is Sir H. M. Elliot's copy. B. is that belonging to the East India Library, which has been referred to in obscure passages and for doubtful names.]
Commencement of the book upon the history of Rai Dáhir, son of Chach, son of Siláíj, and of his death at the hands of Muhammad Kásim Sakifí.
Chroniclers and historians have related that the city of Alor,
the capital of Hind and Sind, was a large city adorned with
all kinds of palaces and villas, gardens and groves, reservoirs
and streams, parterres and flowers. It was situated on the banks
of the Síhún, which they call Mihrán. This delightful city had
a king, whose name was Síharas, son of Sáhasí Ráí Sháhí.*
He
possessed great wealth and treasures. His justice was diffused
over the earth, and his generosity was renowned in the world. The
boundaries of his dominions extended on the east to Kashmír, on
the west to Makrán, on the south to the shores of the ocean and to
Debal, and on the north to the mountains of Kardán*
and to
Kaikánán.*
He had established four maliks, or governors, in his
territories. The first at Brahmanábád and the forts of Nírún,
Debal, Lohána, Lakha, and Samma, down to the sea (daryá), were
placed in his charge. The second at the town of Siwistán: under
him were placed Búdhpúr,*
Jankán, and the skirts of the hills of
Rújhán to the borders of Makrán.*
The third at the fort of Aska-
Chach, son of Siláíj, goes to the Chamberlain Rám.
The office of Chamberlain is conferred on Chach, son of Siláíj.