Agguka I and the Arab fleet off Saurashtra

01The two sides of the story

A Saindhava copper-plate grant records that Agguka I inflicted a severe defeat on the fleets of the Tajikas, as Indian records called the Arabs, and calls him Samudradhipati, master of the sea. Muslim historians tell of the same expedition differently: the fleet took the town of Barada, but disease broke out, many men died, and the survivors were wrecked on the Persian coast on the way back. Both accounts agree that the expedition ended in ruin.

02The Saindhava coast guard

The Saindhavas ruled from Bhutambilika, modern Ghumli, at the foot of the Barda hills, from about 735 to 920. An earlier fleet sent by the Arab governor of Sindh, around 756 to 758, had also been driven off this coast. After 776 no further Arab sea attack on Saurashtra is recorded for a long time. Barada itself is placed either at Bardia near Porbandar or at Bhutambilika.