Note 245 — ARAB REFERENCES.1

Review.In their intercourse with Western India nothing struck the Arabs more than the toleration shown to their religion both by chief and peoples. Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. Review. This was specially marked in the Ráshṭrakúṭa towns where besides free use of mosques and Jámá mosques Musalmán magistrates or kázis were appointed to settle disputes among Musalmáns according to their own laws.245 Toleration was not peculiar to the Balháras. Al Bírúni records246 that in the ninth century (a.d. 581), when the Hindus recovered Sindán (Sanján in Kachh) they spared the assembly mosque where long after the Faithful congregated on Fridays praying for their Khalífah without hindrance. In the Balhára country so strongly did the people believe in the power of Islám or which is perhaps more likely so courteous were they that they said that our king enjoys a long life and long reign is solely due to the favour shown by him to the Musalmáns. So far as the merchant Sulaimán saw in the ninth century the chief religion in Gujarát was Buddhism. He notices that the principles of the religion of China were brought from India and that the Chinese ascribe to the Indians the introduction of Buddhas into their country. Of religious beliefs metempsychoses or re-birth and of religious practices widow-burning or satti and self-torture seem to have struck him most.247 As a rule the dead were burned.248 Sulaimán represents the people of Gujarát as steady abstemious and sober abstaining from wine as well as from vinegar, ‘not’ he adds ‘from religious motives but from their disdain of it.’ Among their sovereigns the desire of conquest was seldom the cause of war.249 Abu Zaid (a.d. 916) describes the Bráhmans as Hindus devoted to religion and science. Among Bráhmans were poets who lived at kings’ courts, astronomers, philosophers, diviners, and drawers of omens from the flight of crows.250 He adds: So sure are the people that after death they shall return to life upon the earth, that when a person grows old “he begs some one of his family to throw him into the fire or to drown him.”251 In Abu Zaid’s time (a.d. 916) the Hindus did not seclude their women. Even the wives of the kings used to mix freely with men and attend courts and places of public resort unveiled.252 According to Ibni Khurdádbah (a.d. 912) India has forty-two religious sects “part of whom believe in God and his Prophet (on whom be peace) and part who deny his mission.”253 Ibni Khurdádbah (a.d. 912) describes the Hindus as divided into seven classes. Of these the first are Thákarias254 or Thákurs men of high caste from whom kings are chosen and to whom men of the other classes render homage, the second are the Baráhmas255 who abstain from wine and fermented liquors; the third are the Katariya or Kshatrias who drink not more than three cups of wine; the fourth are the Sudaria or Shudras husbandmen by profession; the fifth are the Baisura or Vaish artificers and domestics; the sixth Sandalias or Chandala menials; and the seventh the ‘Lahúd,’ whose women adorn themselves and whose men are fond of amusements and games of skill. Both among the people and the kings of Gujarát256 wine Appendix V. Arab References, a.d. 851–1350. Review. was “unlawful and lawful” that is it was not used though no religious rule forbade its use. According to Al Masúdi (a.d. 943) a general opinion prevailed that India was the earliest home of order and wisdom. The Indians chose as their king the great Bráhma who ruled them for 366 years. His descendants retain the name of Bráhman and are honoured as the most illustrious caste. They abstain from the flesh of animals.257 Hindu kings cannot succeed before the age of forty nor do they appear in public except on certain occasions for the conduct of state affairs. Royalty and all the high offices of state258 are limited to the descendants of one family. The Hindus strongly disapprove of the use of wine both in themselves and in others not from any religious objection but on account of its intoxicating and reason-clouding qualities.259 Al Bírúni (a.d. 970–1031) quoted by Rashíd-ud-dín (a.d. 1310) states that the people of Gujarát are idolators and notices the great penance-pilgrimages to Somnáth details of which have already been given.260 Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century) closely follows Ibni Khurdádbah’s (a.d. 912) division of the people of India. The chief exception is that he represents261 the second class, the Bráhmans, as wearing the skins of tigers and going about staff in hand collecting crowds and from morn till eve proclaiming to their hearers the glory and power of God. He makes out that the Kastariás or Kshatriyas are able to drink three ratl (a ratl being one pound troy) of wine and are allowed to marry Bráhman women. The Sabdaliya or Chandal women, he says, are noted for beauty. Of the forty-two sects he enumerates worshippers of trees and adorers of serpents, which they keep in stables and feed as well as they can, deeming it to be a meritorious work. He says that the inhabitants of Kambáya are Buddhists (idolators)262 and that the Balhára also worships the idol Buddha.263 The Indians, says Al Idrísi264 (end of the eleventh century) are naturally inclined to justice and in their actions never depart from it. Their reputation for good faith, honesty, and fidelity to their engagements brings strangers flocking to their country and aids its prosperity. In illustration of the peaceable disposition of the Hindus, he quotes the ancient practice of duhái or conjuring in the name of the king, a rite which is still in vogue in some native states. When a man has a rightful claim he draws a circle on the ground and asks his debtor to step into the circle in the name of the king. The debtor never fails to step in nor does he ever leave the circle without paying his debts. Al Idrísi describes the people of Nahrwára as having so high a respect for oxen that when an ox dies they bury it. “When enfeebled by age or if unable to work they provide their oxen with food without exacting any return.”265