4 ([return])
[ By the ambassador of the caliph of Bagdad, who employed an Arabian or Chaldaic word that signifies lord and master, (D’Herbelot, p. 825.) It is interpreted by the Byzantine writers of the eleventh century; and the name (Soldanus) is familiarly employed in the Greek and Latin languages, after it had passed from the Gaznevides to the Seljukides, and other emirs of Asia and Egypt. Ducange (Dissertation xvi. sur Joinville, p. 238-240. Gloss. Graec. et Latin.) labors to find the title of Sultan in the ancient kingdom of Persia: but his proofs are mere shadows; a proper name in the Themes of Constantine, (ii. 11,) an anticipation of Zonaras, &c., and a medal of Kai Khosrou, not (as he believes) the Sassanide of the vith, but the Seljukide of Iconium of the xiiith century, (De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 246.)]
5 ([return])
[ Ferishta (apud Dow, Hist. of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 49) mentions the report of a gun in the Indian army. But as I am slow in believing this premature (A.D. 1008) use of artillery, I must desire to scrutinize first the text, and then the authority of Ferishta, who lived in the Mogul court in the last century. * Note: This passage is differently written in the various manuscripts I have seen; and in some the word tope (gun) has been written for nupth, (naphtha, and toofung) (musket) for khudung, (arrow.) But no Persian or Arabic history speaks of gunpowder before the time usually assigned for its invention, (A.D. 1317;) long after which, it was first applied to the purposes of war. Briggs’s Ferishta, vol. i. p. 47, note.—M.]
6 ([return])
[ Kinnouge, or Canouge, (the old Palimbothra) is marked in latitude 27 Degrees 3 Minutes, longitude 80 Degrees 13 Minutes. See D’Anville, (Antiquite de l’Inde, p. 60-62,) corrected by the local knowledge of Major Rennel (in his excellent Memoir on his Map of Hindostan, p. 37-43: ) 300] jewellers, 30,000 shops for the arreca nut, 60,000 bands of musicians, &c. (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274. Dow, vol. i. p. 16,) will allow an ample deduction. * Note: Mr. Wilson (Hindu Drama, vol. iii. p. 12) and Schlegel (Indische Bibliothek, vol. ii. p. 394) concur in identifying Palimbothra with the Patalipara of the Indians; the Patna of the moderns.—M.]
7 ([return])
[ The idolaters of Europe, says Ferishta, (Dow, vol. i. p. 66.) Consult Abulfeda, (p. 272,) and Rennel’s Map of Hindostan.]
711 ([return])
[ Ferishta says, some “crores of gold.” Dow says, in a note at the bottom of the page, “ten millions,” which is the explanation of the word “crore.” Mr. Gibbon says rashly that the sum offered by the Brahmins was ten millions sterling. Note to Mill’s India, vol. ii. p. 222. Col. Briggs’s translation is “a quantity of gold.” The treasure found in the temple, “perhaps in the image,” according to Major Price’s authorities, was twenty millions of dinars of gold, above nine millions sterling; but this was a hundred-fold the ransom offered by the Brahmins. Price, vol. ii. p. 290.—M.]