Umayyad campaigns in India

Umayyad campaigns in India
Part of Early Muslim conquests and Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent
Sindh and neighbouring kingdoms in 700 AD
Date 712–740 CE Location First: Sindh and Punjab Later: Rajasthan, Gujarat & Kashmir Result Victory of Indian Kingdoms Territorial changes Arab expansion checked and contained to Sindh.
Belligerents
Brahmin dynasty Karkota Dynasty Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty Chalukya dynasty Mori Kingdom Maitraka dynasty Saindhava	Umayyad Caliphate Vilayet Al-Sindh
Commanders and leaders
Raja Dahir † Lalitaditya Muktapida Nagabhata I Bappa Rawal Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin	Muhammad bin Qasim Junayd ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Murri Tamim ibn Zaid al-Utbi Al Hakam ibn Awana †

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,^[1] subsequent to the Arab conquest of Sindh in present-day Pakistan during 711 – 713 CE.

During the Rashidun Caliphate (632 – 661 CE), a few raids were launched in India, but no permanent conquest took place. The second wave of military expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate lasted from 692 to 718 CE. The reign of Al-Walid I (705–715 CE) saw the most dramatic Marwanid Umayyad conquests, in a period of barely ten years, North Africa, Spain, Transoxiana, and Sindh were subdued and colonized by the Arabs.^[2] Sindh, ruled by King Raja Dahir of the Rai dynasty, was captured by the Umayyad general Muhammad bin Qasim,^[3] which became a second-level province of the Caliphate (iqlim) and a suitable base for excursions into India, but, after bin Qasim's departure in 715 CE most of his captured territories were recaptured by Indian kings.^[4]

Yazid II (720 to 724 CE) launched the third Umayyad expansion alongall the warring frontiers, including in India, which resulted in a series of battles between the Arabs and Silluka (725 – 750 CE) of the Pratiharas of Mandavyapura, Nagabhata I of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, Siladitta IV (710-740 CE) of Maitraka dynasty, Vikramaditya II of the Chalukya dynasty, and other small Indian kingdoms between 724 and 750 CE. Junayd ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Murri (723 – 726 CE) recaptured Sindh, conquered Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan, however, Arab forces invading Malwa and achieved victory.^[5]

The fourth Umayyad campaign was launched after Arabs lost control of Sindh and conquered territories of Rajasthan and Gujarat under Tamim ibn Zayd al-Utbi (726 – 731 CE). Al-Hakam ibn Awana, assisted by Amr, son of Muhammad ibn Qasim, pacified Sindh, established garrison cities of Al Mahfuza and Al Mansura, then campaigned in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Lalitadyata Muktapida and Yashovarman of Kannauj checked the Arabs in Punjab, although Al-Hakam conquered Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan, the Arabs were decisively defeated at Navsari in 739 CE by Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin, a general of Vikramaditya II.^[6] Arabs lost their conquests in Rajasthan and Gujarat by 743 CE. These events took place during the reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 691–743 CE), the 10th Umayyad Caliph, which saw a turn in the fortune of the Umayyads which resulted in eventual defeat on all the fronts and a complete halt of Arab expansionism. The hiatus from 740 to 750 CE due to military exhaustion, also saw the advent of the third of a series of civil wars, which resulted in the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate.^[7]

The Arab defeats led to an end of their eastward expansion in India, and later manifested in the overthrow of Arab rulers in Sindh itself and the establishment of indigenous Muslim dynasties (Soomras and Sammas) there.^[8]