Surya Devi (died 715), was an Indian Hindu Princess of Sindh. She is known for having been the war booty of the Umayyad army commander

Muhammad bin Qasim Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqafī (; –) was an Arabs, Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh (and Punjab, part of ancient Sindh), inaugurating the Umayyad campaigns in India. His m ...

during the

Umayyad conquest of Sindh The Umayyad conquest of Sindh took place in 711 AD and resulted in Sindh being incorporated as a province into the Umayyad Caliphate. The conquest resulted in the overthrow of the last Hindu dynasty of Sindh, the Brahmin dynasty, after the death ...

and given along with her sister as slaves to Caliph

Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (, 24 September 717) was the seventh Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad caliph, ruling from 715 until his death. He was the son of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705) and Wallada bint al-Abbas. He began his ...

. According to the traditional story, she persuaded the Caliph to execute Muhammad bin Qasim, avenging her parents, and then managed to escape the captivity of the harem by having the Caliph execute her and her sister.

Life

She was the eldest daughter of Dahir of Aror, the Maharaja of Sind. In 711 CE the kingdom was invaded by the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

led by

. Her father was killed at the

Battle of Aror The Battle of Aror took place in 711 AD between the Umayyad forces under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim and the army of the Brahmin dynasty of Sindh under Raja Dahir. At the Battle of Aror (Rohri) Muhammad ibn al-Qasim was met by Dahir's forces in battle. ...

which took place between his dynasty and the Arabs at the banks of the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...

, near modern-day

Nawabshah Nawabshah is a headquarter of Nawabshah Tehsil in Shaheed Benazirabad District of Sindh province, Pakistan. This city is situated in the middle of Sindh province. It is the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 27th most populous city in P ...

at the hands of the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

general

. One of the king's widows, Queen Rani Bai, resisted the invading forces at the fortress of Rawar. When she realised she was unable to win, she committed suicide by the

jauhar Jauhar, sometimes spelled Jowhar or Juhar, was a Hindu Rajput practice of mass self-immolation by women and girls in the Indian subcontinent to avoid capture, sex slavery, enslavement, and rape when facing certain defeat during a war. Some repo ...

rite. When the city of Brahmanabad fell, the dead king's second Queen, Rani Ladi, was captured with Dahir's two daughters, the princesses Surya Devi and Parimal Devi. The victorious conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim took the dowager queen Rani Ladi for himself, while the two princesses, being unmarried young virgins, were reserved for the Caliph's personal use, and sent on as presents to the Caliph

for his

harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

in the capital of Damascus. The ''

Chach Nama ''Chach Nama'' (; ; "Story of the Chach"), also known as the ''Fateh nama Sindh'' (; "Story of the Conquest of Sindh"), and as ''Tareekh al-Hind wa a's-Sind'' (; "History of Hind and Sind"), is a historical source for the history of Sindh. The ...

'' narrates a version in which Surya Devi played a role in the death of Muhammad bin Qasim. The account relates that when the Caliph wished to rape Surya Devi, she told him that she was no longer a virgin, since Muhammad bin Qasim had raped her and her sister before sending them on. As a response, the Caliph ordered that Muhammad was wrapped and stitched in oxen hides, and sent to Syria, which resulted in his death en route from suffocation. This narrative attributes their motive for this subterfuge to securing vengeance for their father's death. When the Caliph showed the corpse of Muhammad ibn Qasim to Surya Devi to illustrate the fate of anyone dishonoring or disobeying the Caliph, she reportedly answered that she had lied about Muhammad Bin Qasim, since she did not wish for her or her sister to become a slave in the

Umayyad harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic servants, and other unmarried female re ...

of the Caliph, and wished to have vengeance on her father's murderer. Upon discovering this subterfuge, the Caliph is recorded to have been filled with remorse and ordered the sisters buried alive in a wall.''The Chachnamah, An Ancient History of Sind, Giving the Hindu period down to the Arab Conquest''. (1900). Translated from the Persian by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Karachi: Commissioners Press.Keay, pg. 185

References

{{Reflist, 2 715 deaths 8th-century Indian people 8th-century women Slaves in the Umayyad Caliphate Slave concubines Mythological rape victims 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Women from the Umayyad Caliphate