Note 43 — INDEX (continued 2)

Briggs’ Ferishta, I. 75. This account of the Dábshilíms reads more like a tradition than an historical record. It is to be noted that the authors both of the Áin-i-Akbari (a.d. 1583) and of the Mirat-i-Ahmadí (a.d. 1762) give Chámuṇḍa as king at the time of Mahmúd’s invasion. Their statements cannot weigh against Ibn Asír’s account. Compare Dr. Bühler’s remarks in Ind. Ant. VI. 184. Of Mahmúd’s return to Ghazni (a.d. 1026) the Tabakát-i-Akbari says: ‘When Mahmúd resolved to return from Somanátha he learned that Parama Dev, one of the greatest Rájás of Hindustán, was preparing to intercept him. The Sultán, not deeming it advisable to contend with this chief, went towards Multán through Sindh. In this journey his men suffered much in some places from scarcity of water in others from want of forage. After enduring great difficulties he arrived at Ghazni in a.d. 1029 (H. 417).’ This Parama Dev would seem to be the Parmára king of Ábu who could well block the Ajmir-Gujarát route. The route taken by Mahmúd must have passed by Mansúra near Bráhmanábád, Bhátia, and Multán. It must have been in the crossing of the great desert that he suffered so severely from scarcity of water and forage. Ferishta (Briggs, I. 75) says that many of Mahmúd’s troops died raging mad from the intolerable heat and thirst. The historian Muhammad Ufi (a.d. 1200) alleges (Elliot, II. 192) that two Hindus disguised as countrymen offered themselves as guides and led the army three days’ march out of the right course, where they were saved only by Mahmúd’s miraculous discovery of a pool of sweet water. [This tale of the self-sacrificing Bráhman or priest and the miraculous find of water has gathered round Mahmúd as the latest of myth centres. It is Herodotus’ (Book III. 154–158) old Zopyrus tale (Rawlinson’s Seventh Monarchy, 318); it is revived in honour of the Great Kushán Kanishka, a.d. 78 (Beruni in Elliot, II. 11), of the Sassanian Firoz a.d. 457–483 (Rawlinson’s Seventh Monarchy, 318), and of a certain king of Zábulistán or Ghazni of uncertain date (Elliot II. 170). Similarly the puzzling Dabshilím tale seems to be peculiar neither to Gujarát nor to Mahmúd of Ghazni. It seems a repetition of the tale of Dabshilím the man of the royal race, who, according to the Panchatantra or Fables of Pilpai, was chosen successor of Porus after Alexander the Great’s Viceroy had been driven out. [Compare Reinaud’s Mémoire Sur l’Inde, 127–128.] The Tabakát-i-Násirí (a.d. 1227) adds (Elliot, II. 475) that the guide devoted his life for the sake of Somanátha and this account is adopted by Ferishta, Briggs’ Translation, I. 78. ↑