1 220 SINDE.
2 yan; and eastward, to the provinces of Marwar, Beckaneer, &c.”
3 Tn the sixth century of the Christian era the country was invaded
4 by the Persians, and to this invasion probably refers the allusion
5 of the enthusiastic chronicler above quoted to the defiance
6 offered by the royal house of Sinde to ‘‘ the greatest monarchs of
7 the world.” The result, however, was disastrous to the reigning
8 prince, though unproductive of any permanent change in the
9 relation of the two countries. The Persians defeated the Rajah
10 in a pitched battle, in which the prince fell. But the object of
11 the invaders appears to have been not so much conquest as
12 plunder, and, having secured as much booty as they had the
13 means of carrying away, they departed. Among the spoils which
14 they bore from Sinde were some thousands of its most beautiful
15 women.
16 At an early period of the Khalifate, the reputed wealth of
17 Sinde seems to have excited the cupidity of the representatives of
18 the prophet, but their attempts, for a time, were unsuccessful.
19 A subsequent invasion was attended by a different result. The
20 Khalifs were in the habit of importing slave-girls from Sinde, and
21 a party of the followers of the Khalif Abool Mulik, in charge of
22 a selection of Hindoo beauties, destined for the harem of their
23 master, were attacked by the Rajah’s troops, some of them killed,
24 and the remainder made prisoners. This occurrence provoked a
25 hostile visit from a Mahometan army. The Rajah was permitted
26 to remain quiet in his capital while the enemy were ravaging his
27 dominions with fire and sword, and when, at last, he left the city
28 with his army, it was but to encounter disaster, defeat, and death.
29 The events of the battle transferred the kingdom to Mahometan
30 rule.*
31 * The victory gained by the Mahometans was followed by a remarkable
32 instance of oriental revenge. Among the captives were two daughters of the
33 Rajah, esteemed, it is said, the most beautiful women in Asia, and who, in
34 conformity with Eastern custom, were reserved to grace the harem of the
35 Khalif. The princesses meditated vengeance on the general, whose success
36 deprived their father of his throne and life, and reduced them to captivity in
37 a foreign land ; and, on their arrival at Bagdad, effected their object, by ac-
38 cusing him of conduct which involved a breach of duty to his master, as well
39 ag an outrage on the feelings of his illustrious prisoners. The Khalif, enraged
40 at the alleged insult, ordered the supposed offender to be sewn up in the raw
41 hide of a cow, and in this manner brought into his presence. The sentence
42 was inflicted, and the unfortunate general, thus ungratefully recompensed for