Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/34

 10 MOHAMMEDAN INVASION The fall of Multan laid the Indus valley at the feet of the conqueror. The tribes came in, " ringing bells and beating drums and dancing," in token of welcome. The Hindu rulers had oppressed them heavily, and the Jats and Meds and other tribes were on the side of the invaders. The work of conquest, as often happened in India, was thus aided by the disunion of the inhabi- tants, and jealousies of race and creed conspired to help the Moslems. To such suppliants Mohammad ibn Kasim gave the liberal terms that the Arabs usually offered to all but inveterate foes. He im- posed the customary poll- tax, took hostages for good conduct, and spared the JAT NOBLES. people's lands and lives. He even left their shrines undesecrated: " The tem- ples," he proclaimed, " shall be inviolate, like the churches of the Christians, the synagogues of the Jews, and the altars of the Magians." There was worldly wisdom in this toleration, for the pilgrims' dues paid to the temples formed an important source of revenue, and the Moslems found it expedient to compound with idol- atry, as a vain thing but lucrative, in the interests of the public treasury. Occasional looting of Hindu fanes took place we read of " a cart-load of four-armed idols "