The English translation of a novel ‘Maharaja Dahir’ authored by Kolkata-based renowned novelist Debasree Chakraborti in Bengali language. The novel has been translated by Rajesh Giri
Rahim Yar Khan
Year 2021
—Sabirbhai, why did you come to Rahim Yar Khan?
— Maharaja Dahirsen will be incomplete if we do not come to Rahim Yar Khan before leaving for Aror.
Sabirbhai stopped the car in front of the Maharaja Dahir Sen dental Clinic in Rahim Yar Khan and said, “Come and meet the Rajasaheb of Rahim Yar Khan.”
—Uff, Sabirbhai, we don’t have that much time at all. Is there any need to do this?
Can you find the tomb of Airavat by yourself? Nobody else in Aror knows anything about these things. Time is short, I know that very well, that’s why I brought you here.
They opened the glass door of the Maharaja Dahir Sen dental Clinic and entered, this time there was no patient inside, a huge painting of Maharaja Dahir was hanging from the wall, below that the name and time of Maharaja Dahir is mentioned. 2nd of July is recorded as the date of his death. There are black sofas on both sides of this room, evidently those are for the patients and party to be awaited, there is another room inside this room, Sabirbhai opened the door and entered that room, Dr. Iqbal followed him and find out a man sitting by, seeing Sabirbhai he stood up and do namashkar with folded hands. Looking at Dr. Iqbal Sabirbhai said, “Meet Dr. Amir Khan, who claims to be the living descendant of Maharaja Dahir.”
Seeing Dr. Amir Khan, Dr. Iqbal become awfully speechless. He didn’t have any detailed idea about Maharaja Dahir before, how much he was getting to know in detail since joining Mission Maharaja Dahir Sen. And without Sabirbhai, he would not have met Dr. Amir Khan. His very name suggests that he has nothing to do with Syria, but is a descendant of some other offspring of Dahirsen. Dr. Iqbal did not have to ask anything. Dr. Amir Khan himself started saying, “I met Sabirbhai through Facebook. He informed me that you are writing a biographical book on Maharaja Dahir, I can’t compose, God has not given me that quality, but I can give you a lot of information about our lineage, hope that information will enrich your book.”
Dr. Iqbal said, “What is the relationship between you and Maharaja Dahir?”
—I am a descendant of Jaisingh, son of Maharaja Dahir.
—Jaisingh was alive?
—yes Of course he was alive, otherwise where did I come from!
—Yes, certainly he is, how much false history we are being taught, the real history is found out from people like you. Please edify us by whatever you know.
—While Maharaja Dahir was engaged in the war of Rawar, Jaisingh was trying his best to preserve the independence of Brahmanabad and its surroundings. Maharaja Chach and his son Dahir had a deep emotional connection with this Brahmanabad, besides Maharaja Dahir ordered his son to ascertain the independence of Hind at all costs. Sindh is the wall of Hind, if Sindh falls, the invaders will inflict a terrible blow on Hind, which will cause ultimate damage to Hind. There shouldn’t come any kind of blow on such an ancient civilization and culture. What the people of Sindh had to endure, the people of Hind should not have to. Jaisingh use to follow his father word by word. Maharaja Dahir once came out hunting a lion and found that his pregnant wife had died and the new born child was alive. Maharaja named his son Jayasingh as it was born through incision. Jaisingh was a very brave warrior. He realized that Muhammad bin Kashem’s army was very strong and had very good weapons, against which the Indus army was very weak. Jaisingh did not come in front of Muhammad bin Kashem’s army and organized the army in secret and started conducting the war. Jaisingh sought help from Drohar, the ruler of Multan, to protect Brahmanabad. Drohar also promised to help him in every way, but amidst of such circumstances Drohar’s sister proposed Jaisingh. But Jaisingh cultivating the situation outside rejected her proposal. The princess of Multan could not accept this insult at all and she accused Jai Singh of rape. This one incident changed everything. Drohar, the king of Multan joined Muhammad bin Kashem. The Arabs attacked both by sea and by land. Then the huge army of Multan also attacked Brahmanabad. Jaisingh alone led the battle bravely with his army but was defeated. Even the common people of Brahmanabad took up arms that day. I heard that Muhammad bin Kashem, agitated with the people of Brahmanabad, set the whole city in fire. That is why today like Deval we see the dire consequences of Brahmanabad.
—Then? What happened to Jaisingh?
—Jaisingh was alive. When he realized that there is no other way but to be captivated, then he fled. Because he would have been killed in captivity and he did not want to let Maharaja Dahir’s lineage end like this. At that time Maharaja Dahir’s brother was ruling Chittor. Jaisingh fled and took refuge to his uncle at Chittor. As far as I know, Jaisingh defeated Mohammad bin Qasim in a battle with the help of Chittor forces and nearby Rajput kings, after which Mohammad bin Qasim died due to the conspiracy of the Surya Devi. Then there was no one else to continue this attack. So maybe Hind was saved by the sacrifice of Sindh country.
Sabirbhai said “this meant that the Arabs were thwarted by the conspiracy of two scions of Dahir and Hind was saved.”
Jaisingh then moved to Kashmir, spent a few years under the auspices of the Maharaja of Kashmir, got married there, and then lived in complete secrecy to protect his lineage. Our family has some rules, our forefathers started living in Rahim Yar Khan and converted to Islam after independence, but still they follow some rules, like using the name Raja before the name of male family members and Rani before the name of female family members, every year observing the death anniversary of Maharaja Dahir on 2nd of July, greeting the guests with folded hands and offering puja to the Kali Maata temple in Aror on this special day of the year. Though we have become Muslims, we have to follow these rules. It has been almost thirteen hundred years we are following these rules and we have kept Jaisingh’s swords and ornaments with great care, they continue to bear the identity of our clan.
— Dr. Amir Khan, do you know where the tomb of Airavat is?
Hearing this question from Dr. Iqbal, Dr. Amir Khan became silent. He said, “Even if I knew, I would not have told you that, because it is one of the rules of our family, let Airavat sleep peacefully, and if he sleeps peacefully, it is good for our family.”
Sabirbhai requested many times, but Dr. Amir Khan did not agree to anything. Then they left for Rohri— Aror’s modern name. When Sabirbhai regretted to Dr. Iqbal that he should not have brought Iqbal to Dr. Amir Khan, Dr. Iqbal says, “you have done a very good job, after coming here I am sure now that Maharaja Dahir’s diary is kept inside the tomb of Airavat. We will have to look for a temple dedicated to Lord Indra after reaching Rohri, my intuition suggests somewhere like that there is a tomb of Airavat. (Continues)
Click here for Part-I , Part-II, Part-III , Part-IV , Part-V , Part-VI , Part-VII, Part-VIII , Part-IX , Part-X, Part-XI, Part-XII, Part-XIII , Part-XIV , Part-XV , Part-XVI, Part-XVII, Part-XVIII , Part-XIX, Part-XX, Part-XXI , Part-XXII, Part-XXIII , Part-XXIV , Part-XXV , Part-XXVI, Part-XXVII, Part-XXVIII, Part-XXIX, Part-XXX , Part-XXXI, Part-XXXII, Part-XXXIII , Part-XXXIV , Part-XXXV , Part-XXXVI , Part-XXXVII , Part-XXXVIII, Part-XXXIX, Part-XL , #Part-XLI , Part-XLII , Part-XLIII , Part-XLIV, Part-XLV
______________________
Debasree Chakraborti is a renowned novel writer of Bengali language. Based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, she has done Master’s in Modern History from the Kolkata University, and authored some thirty books, mostly the novels, with historical perspective and themes. Her most recent novel is ‘Maharaja Dahir’ that covers the history of Sindh from 662, the year of first attack on Sindh by the Arab armies till date.
Rajesh Giri, born in Kolkata, had his early schooling from Kolkata and then from Medinipur—a village in Bengal. He graduated from Calcutta University with Physics and Maths and Master’s from Burdwan University in 2016. Now he is associated with Adhdhyaan educational institution teaching Physics. History enthusiastic Rajesh Giri is particularly interested in the ancient civilization of India and other regions like Egypt, Mesopotamia, and North America. He loves traveling.
