Muhammad Kasim gives a written pardon to the residents of Brahminabad.
Muhammad Kasim, then complied with the prayer made by the people in the suburbs of Braminabad, and permanently settled their affairs in the same way and on the same lines, as had been followed in the case of the Jews, Fire-worshippers, Nazarenes and Magians of Irak and Syria. He then sent them back to their homes; and to their headmen he gave the generic name of Rana.1 He then sent for Wazir Siyakar and Mókah Basayeh, and asked them as to how the Jats of the Luhanah tribe had been treated by Chach and Dahar, and how matters now stood in regard to them. Wazir Siyakar replied in the presence of Mókah Basayeh: “In the reign of Rai Chach the Luhanahs, that is, the Lakhahs and the Sammahs were not allowed to use soft clothes of silk or velvet. On the contrary they used to wear a rough black blanket, and put on a rough coarse scarf on their shoulders, and they went about with bare head and feet. If any one of them wore some soft stuff, he was fined, and when they went out of their houses, they used to take a dog with them, in order that they might easily be distinguished from the other tribes. None of their elders or chiefs was allowed to ride a horse. If any guides were required anywhere by any prince, they served as such. In fact it was their business to show the way as guides upto the limits of another tribe. If any headman or Rana was obliged to use a horse, he rode it without any saddle or reins, and with only a blanket on its back. If an accident occurred to any traveller, the Jat tribes were called to help, and it was the duty of their headmen to see that such help was given readily. If any one of them committed theft, his children and the other members of his family were thrown into flames and burnt. They guided caravans on their way both during day time and at night. Among them there is no distinction of high and low; they are all of the wild nature of brutes. They have always been refractory and disobedient to the rulers; and are in the habit of committing highway robberies. In the robberies committed some time ago on the high roads of Debal, they were probably concerned as accomplices. It was also a duty of theirs to supply firewood for the royal kitchen, to collect provisions for the personal use of the king, and to keep watch over his person, as his body guards.”
A tradition.
Hearing this account of the Luhanah Jats, Muhammad Kasim is said to have remarked: “what a villainous set of people these are. They are quite like the wild men, living in some villages of Fars and Mount Payeh, and they should now be treated as such.” Muhammad Kasim, therefore, thought it proper to deal with them exactly in the same way, and following the rule made applicable by the commander of the faithful, Umār, son of Khattab, (may the great God be pleased with him) to the people of Syria, he ordered that if any stranger or a traveller should arrive within their limits, they were bound to entertain him with food as a guest for a day and night, and if he fell sick, for three days.
