[28] Idrísi a.d. 1135 (Elliot, I. 92) has a Romala a middling town on the borders of the desert between Multán and Seistán. Cunningham (Ancient Geog. 252) has a Romaka Bazaar near where the Nára the old Indus enters the Ran of Kachh. [↑]
[29] Cunningham’s Num. Chron. 3rd Ser. VIII. 241. The Mahábhárata Romakas (Wilson’s Works, VII. 176: Cunningham’s Anc. Geog. 187) may have taken their name from one of these salt stretches. Ibn Khurdádbah (a.d. 912) mentions Rumála (Elliot, I. 14, 87, 92, 93) as one of the countries of Sindh. In connection with the town Romala Al Idrísi a.d. 1153 (Elliot, I. 74, 93) has a district three days’ journey from Kalbata. [↑]
[30] Cunningham’s Numismatic Chronicle 3rd Ser. VIII. 236. The date of Kárur is uncertain. Fergusson (Arch. III. 746) puts it at a.d. 544. It was apparently earlier as in an inscription of a.d. 532 Yaśodharmman king of Málwa claims to hold lands which were never held by either Guptas or Húṇas. Cunningham Num. Chron. 3rd Ser. VIII. 236. Compare History Text, 76, 77. [↑]
[31] Jour. As. Soc. Bl. VII. (Plate I.) 298; Burnes’ Bokhára, III. 76; Elliot’s History, I. 405. Diu which is specially mentioned as a Sáharái port was during the seventh and eighth centuries a place of call for China ships. Yule’s Cathay, I. lxxix. [↑]
[32] Phra like the Panjáb Porus of the embassy to Augustus in b.c. 30 (though this Porus may be so called merely because he ruled the lands of Alexander’s Porus) may seem to be the favourite Parthian name Phraates. But no instance of the name Phraates is noted among White Húṇa chiefs and the use of Phra as in Phra Bot or Lord Buddha seems ground for holding that the Phra Thong of the Cambodia legend means Great Lord. [↑]
[33] Epigraphia Indica, I. 67. [↑]
[34] In a.d. 637 raiders attacked Thána from Oman and Broach and Sindh from Bahrein. Reinaud’s Mémoire Sur L’Inde, 170, 176. [↑]
[35] The passage of a Chinese army from Magadha to the Gandhára river about a.d. 650 seems beyond question. The emperor sent an ambassador Ouang-h-wuentse to Śrí Harsha. Before Ouang-h-wuentse arrived Śrí Harsha was dead (died a.d. 642), and his place taken by an usurping minister (Se-na-fu-ti) Alana-chun. The usurper drove off the envoy, who retired to Tibet then under the great Songbtsan. With help from Tibet and from the Rája of Nepál Ouang returned, defeated Alana, and pursued him to the Gandhára river (Khien-to-wei). The passage was forced, the army captured, the king queen and king’s sons were led prisoners to China, and 580 cities surrendered, the magistrates proclaimed the victory in the temple of the ancients and the emperor raised Ouang to the rank of Tch’ao-sau-ta-fore. Journal Asiatique Ser. IV. Tom. X. pages 81–121. The translator thinks the whole war was in the east of India and that the mention of the Gandhára river is a mistake. The correctness of this view is doubtful. It is to be remembered that this was a time of the widest spread of Chinese power. They held Balk and probably Bamian. Yule’s Cathay, I. lxviii. Compare Julien in Jour. As. Soc. Ser. IV. Tom. X. 289–291. [↑]
[36] Regarding these disturbances see Beal’s Life of Hiuen Tsiang, 155; Max Müller’s India, 286. The Arab writers (a.d. 713) notice to what a degraded state Chach had reduced the Jats. In comparing the relative importance of the western and eastern Indian strains in Java it is to be remembered that the western element has been overlaid by a late Bengal and Kalinga layer of fugitives from the Tibetan conquest of Bengal in the eighth century, the Babu with the Gurkha at his heels, and during the ninth and later centuries by bands of Buddhists withdrawing from a land where their religion was no longer honoured. [↑]
[37] In a.d. 116 after the capture of Babylon and Ctesiphon Hadrian sailed down the Tigris and the Persian Gulf, embarked on the waters of the South Sea, made inquiries about India and regretted he was too old to get there. Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, VI. 313. [↑]