Kaskar
Kaskar or Kashkar was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia.
Origin of name
Its name appears to originate from Syriac ܟܪܟܐ karḵa meaning "citedal" or "town".[1]Other sources mention connect it to ܟܫܟܪܘܬܐ kaškarūṯá "farming".It was originally built on the Tigris, across the river from the medieval city of Wasit.
History
The city was originally a significant Sasanian city built on the west bank of the Tigris where Greek speaking deportees from north-western Syria where settled by Shapur I in the mid third century A.D.[2]
According to Syriac tradition, Mar Mari is said to have preached and performed miracles and converted many of its inhabitants to Christianity.[3] Kashkar became an important centre of Christianity in lower Mesopotamia and had its own diocese which lay under the jurisdiction of the patriarchal see of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of the Church of the East.[4]
During a flood the Tigris burst its banks leaving Kashkar on its east bank. The medieval city of Wasit was built on the west bank of the new channel by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf drawing off the population of Kashkar, which eventually turned to a ghost town.[5] By the middle of the twelfth century Kashkar ceased to exist as a bishopric see.[6]
In Jat History
Dr Vir Singh[7] writes that By the help of Jat soldiers the Sasanid Empire came to an end at the death of Yazdagird about 651-652 AD. It also paved the ground for launching systematic military campaigns for the conquest of Sindh. The daring and faithful Jats were in great demand there both in military and civil services. Later the Jats did not remain neutral in tribal wars and joined Governor of Sijistan against al-Hajjaj during 700-704 AD. Hajjaj subdued the rebellion and punished the Jats for violating the neutral policy in internal Arab dissensions. The Jats strengthened their position in the course of time in the low-lying areas of Kaskar near Bagdad. In the very heart of Iraq, the Jats became a formidable power as well as a potent source of trouble and challenge to the rulers. Later mighty Abbasid army broke their power in 840 AD. In the course of time, the Jats of West Asia became so thoroughly assimilated and desolved in Arab-Muslim culture that now it is difficult to delineate their history as a distinct Indian tribe. Movement and migrations of the Jats not only indicate the existence of social mobility among them in the distant areas but also show that due to their tribal background they had capacity to settle and earn their livelihood in accordance with the changed environments of those areas.
Dr Girish Chandra Dwivedi[8] writes that Other casual references to the Jats appertain to their obstructing the path of foreigners, a fact in some cases confirmed by the traditional accounts and persisting tradition of the Jats. Kamil-ut- Tawarikh[9] notices the Jats seizing upon the roads of Hajar and plundering the corn of Kaskar. They had "planted posts in all directions towards the desert". At the orders of the reigning khalifa, Ajif bin Isa marched against them (219 A.H. - 834 AD.). He was busy suppressing their chief Muhammad bin Usman for seven months. After killing many of the Jats, Ajifis said to have carried twenty seven thousand of them (including women and children to Baghdad.
Prof. Abdul Ali[10]tells us that when Muhammad Bin Qasim conquered Sind in 711 AD, thousands of Jats were shiploaded by him along with as many buffaloes to Hajjaj Bin Yusuf, who sent them to his caliph Abdul Malik in Syria. Later, they were transported by caliph al-Walid Bin Abdul Malik to Antioch where some Jats had already been rehabilitated. It is also recorded that when al-Walid became the ruler, it was brought to his notice that the path between Antioch and Massisah in Greater Syria was a lion-fested area where lions used to pounce upon humans. On hearing that, the caliph immediately sent there four thousand buffaloes out of the several thousands of them which Muhammad Bin Qasim had earlier shipload to Iraq and Syria. An idea of the large numbers of buffaloes sent from Sind to the Arab lands may be derived from the fact that at Massisah alone they counted about nine thousand. As regards the buffaloes of Antioch, they had been brought there originally by the Jats themselves. In addition to the above, thousands of buffaloes were set free in the jungles of Kaskar Basra.[11]
References
- ↑ Mirecki, BeDuhn; Jason, Paul Allan (2007). Frontiers of faith: the Christian encounter with Manichaeism in the Acts of Archelaus. BRILL. p. 10. ISBN 978-90-04-16180-1.
- ↑ Harrak, Amir (2005). The acts of Mār Mārī the apostle. BRILL. p. 69. ISBN 978-90-04-13050-0.
- ↑ Harrak, Amir (2005). The acts of Mār Mārī the apostle. BRILL. p. 69. ISBN 978-90-04-13050-0.
- ↑ Harrak, Amir (2005). The acts of Mār Mārī the apostle. BRILL. p. 69. ISBN 978-90-04-13050-0.
- ↑ Mirecki, BeDuhn; Jason, Paul Allan (2007). Frontiers of faith: the Christian encounter with Manichaeism in the Acts of Archelaus. BRILL. p. 10. ISBN 978-90-04-16180-1.
- ↑ Harrak, Amir (2005). The acts of Mār Mārī the apostle. BRILL. p. 69. ISBN 978-90-04-13050-0.
- ↑ Dr Vir Singh:The Jats Vol. 2/Introduction,p.xiv
- ↑ The Jats - Their Role in the Mughal Empire/Introduction,pp.9-10
- ↑ Kamil-ut-Tawarikh in Elliot, II, 247-248.
- ↑ The Jats, Vol. 2: Socio-Political and Military Role of Jats in West Asia as Gleaned from Arabic Sources,pp.20
- ↑ Futuh al-Buldan, Op.cit., pp.229-30.
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