Note 183 — ARAB REFERENCES.1

Capitals. Thána.Thána (Tána).—That Thána was known to the Arabs in pre-Islám times is shown by one of the first Musalmán expeditions to the coast of India being directed against it. As early as the reign of the second Khalifah Umar Ibnal Khattáb (a.d. 634–643; H. 13–23) mention is made183 of Usmán, Umar’s governor of Umán (the Persian Gulf) and Bahrein, Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. Capitals. Thána. sending a successful expedition against Thána. Al Masúdi (a.d. 943) refers to Thána on the shore of the Lárwi sea or Indian Ocean, as one of the coast towns in which the Lárwi language is spoken.184 Al Bírúni (a.d. 970–1031) gives185 the distance from Mahrat Desh (the Marátha country) to the Konkan “with its capital Tána on the sea-shore” as 100 miles (25 farsakhs) and locates the Lár Desh (south Gujarát) capitals of Báhrûj and Rahanjur (Broach and Ránder) to the east of Thána. He places Thána with Somnáth Konkan and Kambáya in Gujarát and notices that from Thána the Lár country begins. Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century) describes186 Thána as a pretty town upon a great gulf where vessels anchor and from where they set sail. He gives the distance from Sindábur (or Goa) to Thána as four days’ sail. From the neighbourhood of Thána he says the kana or bamboo and the tabáshír or bamboo pith are transported to the east and west.187