Dahir of Aror

Raja Dahir (663 – 20 June 712) was the last Hindu Maharaja of Sindh from 695 to 712. A Brahmin ruler, his kingdom was invaded in 711 by the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, led by Muhammad bin Qasim, where Dahir died. According to the Chach Nama, the Umayyad campaign against Dahir was due to a pirate raid off the Sindh coast that resulted in gifts to the Umayyad caliph from the king of Serendib being stolen.

Raja Dahir was born in 663 into the Brahman dynasty of Sindh, a family deeply rooted in Hindu traditions and governance. His father, Chach of Aror, who ruled from 631 to 671, was a Brahmin who ascended to the throne after marrying the widowed Queen Suhandi. This event established the Chach dynasty, which would rule Sindh for nearly a century.

He fought three battles successfully, but was killed in the final one after being betrayed by the Buddhists who resented him during the Battle of Aror. He died defending his region at Sindh which took place between his dynasty and the Arabs at the banks of the Indus River, near modern-day Nawabshah at the hands of the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim.