Note 12 — ARAB REFERENCES.1

The dissension between Muhammad and his brother Mahán, who in Muhammad’s absence had usurped his authority at Sindán, re-established the power of the Hindus. The Hindus however, adds Al Biláduri, spared the assembly mosque in which for long the Musalmáns used to offer their Friday prayers.12 Ibni Khurdádbah (a.d. 912; H. 300) erroneously enumerates Bárúh and Sindán (Broach and Sindán) as cities of Sindh.13 The king of Juzr he describes as the fourth Indian sovereign. According to Al Masúdi14 (a.d. 915) the country of the Balháras or Ráshṭrakúṭas (a.d. 743–974), which is also called the country of Kumkar (Konkan), is open on one side to the attacks of the king of Juzr (Gujarát) a prince owning many horses and camels and troops who does not think any king on earth equal to him except the king of Bábal (Babylon). He prides himself and holds himself high above all other kings and owns many elephants, but hates Musalmáns. His country is on a tongue of land, and there are gold and silver mines in it, in which trade is carried on. Al Istakhri15 (H. 340; a.d. 951) gives an itinerary in which he shows the distance between Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. Mansúrah and Kámhal16 (Anhilwára) to be eight days’ journey; from Kámhal to Kambáya (Cambay) four days; from Kambáya to the sea about two farasangs that is between seven and eight miles17; from Kambáya to Surabáya18 perhaps Surabára the Surat river mouth which is half a farasang (between 1½ and two miles) from the sea, about four days. He places five days between Surabáya (Surat) and Sindán (St. John near Daman) and a like distance between Sindán and Saimúr (Chewal or Cheul) thirty miles south of Bombay. Ibni Haukal19 (H. 366; a.d. 976) enumerates20 (Fámhal)21 (Anhilwára), Kambáya (Cambay), Surbáráh (Surat), Sindán (Daman), and Saimúr (Cheul) as cities of Al Hind (India), as opposed to As Sindh or the Indus valley. From Kambáya to Saimúr, he writes, is the land of the Balhára, which is in the possession of several kings.22 Ibni Haukal describes the land between Kámhal (Anhilwára) and Kambáya (Cambay), and Bánia three days’ journey from Mansúrah as desert,23 and between Kambáya and Saimúr as thickly covered with villages. Al Bírúni,24 in his famous Indica about a.d. 1030–31 writes: From Kanauj, travelling south-west you come to Ási, a distance of eighteen farsakhs25 that is of seventy two miles; to Sahiva 17 farsakhs or sixty-eight miles; to Chandra 18 farsakhs or seventy-two miles; to Rajauri fifteen farsakhs or sixty miles; and to Nárána (near Jaipur) the former capital of Gujarát, 18 farsakhs or seventy-two miles. Nárána he adds was destroyed and the capital transferred to another town on the frontier. From Nárána at a distance of 60 farsakhs or 240 miles south-west lies Anhilwára, and thence to Somnáth on the sea is fifty farsakhs or 200 miles. From Anhilwára, passing south is Lárdes with its capitals Bihruch (Broach) and Rahánjur26 (Rándir) forty-two farsakhs (168 Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. miles). These he states are on the shore of the sea to the east of Tána (the modern Thána).27 After describing the coast of Makrán till it reaches Debal28 (Karáchi or Thatta) Abu Rihán comes to the coast of Kachh29 and Somnáth, the population of which he calls the Bawárij because, he says, they commit their piratical depredations in boats called Baira.30 He gives the distance31 between Debal (Karáchi or Thatta) and Kachh the country that yields mukl (gum or myrrh)32 and bádrúd (balm) as six farsakhs (24 miles); to Somnáth (from Debal) fourteen (56 miles); to Kambáya thirty (120 miles); to Asáwal the site of Ahmedábád (from Cambay) two days’ journey; to Bahrúj (Broach) (from Debal)33 thirty, to Sindán or St. John (from Debal) fifty; to Subára (Sopára) from Sindán six34; to Tána (from Sopára) five. Rashíd-ud-dín in his translation (a.d. 1310) of Al Bírúni (a.d. 970–1031) states35 that beyond Gujarát are Konkan and Tána. He calls Tánah the chief town of the Konkans and mentions the forest of the Dángs as the habitat of the sharva an animal resembling the buffalo, but larger than a rhinoceros, with a small trunk and two big horns with which it attacks and destroys the elephant. Al Idrísi,36 writing about the end of the eleventh century but with tenth century materials, places37 in the seventh section of the second climate, the Gujarát towns of Mámhal (Anhilwára), Kambáya (Cambay), Subára (apparently Surabára or Surat), Sindán38 (Sanján in Thána), and Saimúr (Chewal or Cheul). He adds, probably quoting from Al Jauhari (a.d. 950), that Nahrwára is governed by a great prince who bears the title of Balhára who owns the whole country from Nahrwára to Saimúr. He ranks the king of Juzr fourth among Indian potentates. The country from Debal to Kambáya (Karáchi to Cambay) he describes39 as “nothing but a marine strand without habitations and almost without water, and impassable for travellers.”40 The situation of Mámhal (Anhilwára) he gives as between Sindh and Hind. He notices the Meds as Mánds41 grazing their flocks to within a short distance of Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. Mámhal (Anhilwára). He speaks of Mámhal, Kambáya, Subára (probably Surabára or Surat), Sindán, and Saimúr as countries of Hind (India) touching upon Sindh.42 He describes Mámhal as a frontier town, numbered by some among the cities of Sindh, and he classifies Aubkin, Mánd, Kulámmali (Quilon),43 and Sindán (Sandhán in Kachh) as maritime islands. Among the numerous towns of India are Mámhal (Anhilwára),44 Kambáya (Cambay), Subára, Asáwal (Ahmedábád), Janáwal (Chunvál), Sindán, Saimúr, Jandur45 (Rándir), Sandur (apparently a repetition of Rándir), and Rumála (perhaps the south Panjáb).46 He speaks of Kalbata, Augasht, Nahrwára (Anhilwára), and Lahawar (Lahori Bandar) as in the desert47 of Kambáya. Of the three Subára (Surabára or Surat), Sindán (the Thána Sanján), and Saimúr (Cheul), he says Saimúr alone belongs to the Balhára, whose kingdom, he adds, is large, well-peopled, commercial, and fertile. Near Subára (apparently Surabára) he locates small islands which he styles Bára where, he adds, cocoanuts and the costus grow.48 East of Sindán, due to a confusion between Sandhán in Kachh and Sanján in Thána, he places another island bearing the same name as the port and under the same government as the mainland, highly cultivated and producing the cocoa palm the bamboo and the cane. Five miles by sea from Kulámmali lies another island called Máli, an elevated plateau, but not hilly, and covered with vegetation. The mention of the pepper vine suggests that Al Idrísi has wandered to the Malabár Coast. In the eighth section of the second clime Al Idrísi places Bárúh (Broach), Sandápúr (apparently Goa), Tána (Thána), Kandárina (Gandhár, north of Broach), Jirbátan a town mentioned by Al Idrísi as the nearest in a voyage from Ceylon to the continent of India on that continent. It is described as a populous town on a river supplying rice and grain to Ceylon,49 Kalkáyan, Luluwa, Kanja, and Samandirún, and in the interior Dulaka (Dholka), Janwál (Chunvál or Viramgám), and Nahrwár (Anhilwára).50 Opposite the sea-port of Bárúh (Broach), Al Idrísi places an island called Mullán, producing large quantities of pepper. Al Idrísi describes the port of Bárúh (Broach) as accessible to ships from China and Sindh. The distance from Bárúh to Saimúr he puts at two days journey, and that between Bárúh and Nahrwára (Anhilwára) at eight days through a flat country travelled over in wheeled carriages drawn by oxen, which he adds furnished the only mode for the conveyance also of merchandise. He locates the towns of Dulaka and Hanawal Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. or Janáwal (Chunwál or Jháláwár) with Asáwal (Ahmedábád) between Bárúh and Nahrwára. He represents all three of these towns to be centres of a considerable trade, and among their products mentions the bamboo and the cocoanut. From Bárúh to Sandábúr (that is, Goa), a commercial town with fine houses and rich bazárs situated on a great gulf where ships cast anchor, the distance along the coast given by Al Idrísi is four days. Al Kazwíni51 writing about the middle of the thirteenth century a.d. 1263–1275, but mainly from information of the tenth century notes Saimúr (Cheul) “a city of Hind near the confines of Sindh” with its handsome people of Turkish extraction worshippers of fire having their own fire-temples. Al Kazwíni (a.d. 1230) dwells at length on the wonders of Somnáth and its temple. He calls it a celebrated city of India situated on the shore of the sea and washed by its waves. Among its wonders is Somnáth, an idol hung in space resting on nothing. In Somnáth he says Hindus assemble by the ten thousand at lunar eclipses, believing that the souls of men meet there after separation from the body and that at the will of the idol they are re-born into other animals. The two centuries since its destruction by the idol-breaker of Ghaznah had restored Somnáth to its ancient prosperity. He concludes his account of Somnáth by telling how Mahmúd ascertained that the chief idol was of iron and its canopy a loadstone and how by removing one of the walls the idol fell to the ground.