Rai dynasty
Dynasty of Sindh (489–632) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rai dynasty (c. 489–632 CE) was a dynasty that ruled the Sindh region. All that is known about the dynasty comes from the Chachnama, a 13th-century Persian work about Sindhi history.
Rai dynasty | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 489–632 | |||||||||
Map of Sindh (Rais), c. 550–600 CE.[1] | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 489–(?) | Rai Diwaji (first) | ||||||||
• (?)–632 | Rai Sahasi II (last) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 489 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 632 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||
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Nothing particular is known about the first three kings—Rai Diwaji, Rai Sahiras I, and Rai Sahasi I. The fourth king, Rai Sahiras II, is said to have ruled over a vast prosperous area, including the seaport of Debal, divided into four provinces; he was killed in an conflict with the Sassanian King of Nimroz and lost territories around Makran.
Rai Sahiras II was succeeded by Rai Sahasi II whose secretary, Chach, a Brahmin, usurped the throne after his death in connivance with Sohan Devi, the King's widow, and established the Brahmin dynasty. Sahasi II's relatives—Rai Mahrit, ruler of Chittor and Bachhera, the governor of Multan province—took on Chach, individually, but in vain.
After the British conquest of Sindh, as the colonial bureaucrats sought to justify their rule by highlighting how the deposed Muslim rulers had long-oppressed the Hindu natives, the Chachnama was accorded with particular importance as it documented the origins of Muslim rule in the subcontinent.[2] The Rai dynasty, being the penultimate non-Muslim polity in the region and forming the backdrop of the rise of Chach in Chachnama, received some attention in contemporary scholarship.[3]
In modern-day historiography, the dynasty has attracted sparse scholarship except from a few numismatists.[4]
Coinage attests to the indirect influence of the Sasanians over Sindh from the reign of Shapur II.[5][lower-alpha 1] The last Sassanian mints discovered from the region are of Peroz I (r. 459–484); they are inscribed with the name of one "Ranaditya Satya", who is assumed to be the eponymous local ruler.[8][lower-alpha 2]
In 484 C.E., as Peroz I suffered an overwhelming defeat in his war with the Hephthalites (484 C.E.), the Sassanians were no more a force to reckon with in their frontier territories and new dynasties arose in many of these places.[7] The Rai dynasty's origin probably laid in this power vacuum.[4][lower-alpha 3]
Sources
Sindh, as a region, had no extant written histories until the late-medieval era and our sole source of knowledge about the dynasty remains Chach Nama, purportedly, a literal Persian translation (c. 13th-century) of an undated Arabic text that is no longer extant.[10][3][11] No epigraphic or archaeological or numismatic evidence, pertaining to the dynasty, exists.[10][11][lower-alpha 4]
Chachnama's narrative about the Rais has since penetrated into the regional historiography in Persian—Tarikh i Sind (17th c.), Tuhfatul karaam (18th c.), etc.—and histories authored by colonial bureaucrats, especially the British Gazetteers.[11] However, some scholars view the Chachnama as an original work—that claimed to be a translation only for political expediency—and doubt the accuracy of the historical narratives contained within the text.[14][lower-alpha 5]
The Rais reigned for a period of 144 years c. 489 – 632 A.D. They allegedly had familial ties with other rulers of South Asia including Kashmir, Kabul, Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc.[18] However, their origins remain unknown.[lower-alpha 6]
Rai Diwaji, Rai Sahiras I, and Rai Sahasi I
Nothing particular is known about the first three kings; their names are mentioned in a single line in the Chachnama, where Wazir Buddhiman (lit. Learned) informs Chach about the territorial expanses and administrative structure of Rais under Rai Sahiras II.[19]
Rai Sahiras II
The Chachnama, in its opening verses, notes Rai Sahiras II to be famed for his justice and generosity; his coffers overflowed with wealth.[3]
The kingdom was divided into four units, each under a governor or a vassal.[20] The southern unit extended from the coasts of the Arabian Sea to Lohana and Samona—including Nerun and Debal port—and had its capital at Brahmanabad.[20] The central unit spanned around Jankan and Rujaban to the Makran frontier; it had Sewistan as its capital.[20] The western unit extended over a vast area—Batia, Chachpur and Dehrpur—of western Sindh; Iskalanda was the capital.[20] The northern unit, adjoining Kashmir, was centred around Multan.[20]
Sahiras II met his death while attempting to ward off an invasion by the Sassanian Governor of Nimroz into Kirman; he was admired for not leaving the battlefield, despite being deserted by his forces. Makran and other unknown territories were lost in the conflict.[21][20][19]
Rai Sahasi II
Under his regime too, the kingdom exhibited socioeconomic prosperity; Chachnama praises Sahasi II as a benevolent ruler who always chose to abide by his counsel.[19] He was married to Sohman Devi.[3] During his regime, Chach, a poor, learned Brahmin, was inducted into the epistolary office and rose through the ranks quickly, eventually becoming his secretary.[22][19]
However, as Chach gained access to the interiors of the palace, Devi—in an unfulfilling relationship with an ageing Sahasi II—began to grow enamoured of him and proposed marriage.[3][23] While Chach did not consent to it, fearing incurring the King's wrath and also swerving further away from the scriptural ideals of a Brahminical life,[lower-alpha 7] he acceded to her request to provide company, and their relationship continued to blossom.[24][19] Sahasi II, ignorant of Chach's ways, allowed him gain unprecedented control in the affairs of the state until his death by natural causes; he did not have any children.[3]
On Sahasi II's death, Devi proposed that Chach usurp the throne.[25] He reluctantly conceded to Devi's plan and the news of Sahasi II's death was withheld from the public; meanwhile, she incited the familial claimants to the throne in a fatal internecine warfare.[26][lower-alpha 8] Then Devi proclaimed that Sahasi II, though recovering, could not hold court and, hence, had appointed Chach as the caretaker ruler for his lifetime.[26][19] The courtiers were lured into supporting the coverup, and Chach ruled as the de facto King for about six months.[26]
However, the news of the King's death somehow made way to Sahasi II's brother—Rai Mahrit, ruler of Chittor—who claimed the throne and mounted a military offensive.[26][19] Chach was ambiguous about the morality of taking on a legitimate successor but was coaxed by Devi.[26] In the faceoff, he secured a freak victory[lower-alpha 9] and went on to organize public feasts to win the approval of the masses.[26][19] Thereafter, Devi had him declared as the heir to the throne, being a man of unsurmountable intellect and bravery, and married him with the approval of the court.[26][19]
Thus, says Manan Ahmed Asif, the Brahman dynasty, as portrayed in Chachnama, was established out of the intrigues of a femme fatale working in conjunction with a willing yet ethical apprentice.[26] Chach would subdue protracted resistance from Bachhera, a relative of Sahasi II and the erstwhile governor / vassal of Multan province, but was never dislodged.[19]
- Two series of Peroz's mints—the first crown and third crown —are observed in Sindh; only in the second does this legend appear, replacing the two attendants of the fire temple.[9]
- For a parallel, see the rise of Nezak Huns in Zabulistan.
- Alexander M. Fishman and Ian Todd speculate a series of gold dinars and silver dammas found in the region — similar to the Ranaditya Satya mints, in deriving from Sassanian coinage but bearing different legends and different crown patterns — to have been minted by the Rais.[4] The legends might be read as Sri Shahi Rasra(…), Sri Jayataka, Sri Harsharuka, and Sri Bharharsha some of which match, albeit roughly, with speculative reconstructions obtainable from the Chachnama — Diwaj > Diwaditya > Devaditya alias Ranaditya (?), Sahiras I > Shahi Rasra(…) (?), Sahsi I > ?, Sahiras II > Sri Harsha (?), and Sahsi II > ?.[4][12] Pankaj Tandon does not find the attribution convincing.[13]
- Manan Ahmed Asif, upon a critical reading of the text, hypothesizes it to be an original work that drew on then-extant histories to imagine a romantic-nationalist past of Sindh with little fidelity to accuracy. In contrast, Irfan Habib and Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila emphasizes on unique features of the text that would have been impossible without a literal translation and rejects Asif's doubts on the veracity of the events described in Chachnama,[15][16] as does André Wink criticizing his intensely source-critical approach.[17]
- Chintaman Vinayak Vaidya held the Rais to be descendants of Mauryas and hence, Shudra, by caste.[11] This descent was proposed based on Rai Mahrit, then ruler of Chittor, claiming to be Sahasi II's brother. Rulers of pre-Sisodia Rajasthan usually claimed descent from Mauryas, and this identification went perfectly with Xuanzang's noting the King of Sin-tu to be a Sudra.
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