Bawarij

Sindhi: برجا‎) were pirates from India and Sindh,[2] who were named for their distinctive barja warships (which means "large vessels of war" in Arabic)[3] who were active between 251 and 865 AD.

Their frequent piracy and the incident in which they looted two treasure ships coming from Ceylon became the casus belli for the Umayyad conquest of Sindh.

Tabari describes them in an attack upon Basra in 866 CE as having one pilot (istiyam), three fire-throwers (naffatun), a baker, a carpenter and thirty-nine rowers and fighters making up a complement of forty-five.

[7] These ships were unsuited for warlike maneuvers and lacked the sleek prows or ramming capabilities of other contemporary naval units, but were intended to provide for hand-to-hand battles for crew upon boarding.

[8] The bawarij pirates on the ships opened fire on the Turks, forcing them to move their camp from the low-lying area of al-Shammasiyyah to Abū Ja'far's garden near the bridge.