Kings.Of the rulers of Gujarát between a.d. 850 and a.d. 1250 the only dynasty which impressed the Arabs was the Balháras of Málkhet or Mányakheta (a.d. 630–972) sixty miles south-east of Sholápúr. From about a.d. 736 to about a.d. 978, at first through a more or less independent local branch and afterwards (a.d. 914) direct the Ráshṭrakúṭas continued overlords of most of Gujarát. The Arabs knew the Ráshṭrakúṭas by their title Vallabha or Beloved in the case of Govind III. (a.d. 803–814), Pṛithivívallabha, Beloved by the Earth, and of his successor the long beloved Amoghavarsha Vallabhaskanda, the Beloved of Śiva. Al Masúdi (a.d. 915–944) said: Bálárái is a name which he who follows takes. So entirely did the Arabs believe in the overlordship of the Ráshṭrakúṭas in Gujarát that Al Idrísi (a.d. 1100, but probably quoting Al Jauhari a.d. 950) describes Nehrwalla as the capital of the Balarás. Until Dr. Bhandárkar discovered its origin in Vallabha, the ease with which meanings could be tortured out of the word and in Gujarát its apparent connection with the Valabhi kings (a.d. 509–770) made the word Balarái a cause of matchless confusion.[196]
The merchant Sulaimán (a.d. 851) ranks the Balhára, the lord of Mánkír, as the fourth of the great rulers of the world. Every prince in India even in his own land paid him homage. He was the owner of many elephants and of great wealth. He refrained from wine and paid his troops and servants regularly. Their favour to Arabs was famous. Abu Zaid (a.d. 913) says that though the Indian kings acknowledge the supremacy of no one, yet the Balháras or Ráshṭrakúṭas by virtue of the title Balhára are kings of kings. Ibni Khurdádbah (a.d. 912) describes the Balháras as the greatest of Indian kings being as the name imports the king of kings. Al Masúdi (a.d. 915) described Balhára as a dynastic name which he who followed took. Though he introduces two other potentates the king of Jurz and the Baûra or Parmár king of Kanauj fighting with each other and with the Balhára he makes the Balhára, the lord of the Mánkír or the great centre, the greatest king
Appendix V.
Arab References, a.d. 851–1350.
Kings. of India[197] to whom the kings of India bow in their prayers and whose emissaries they honour. He notices that the Balhára favours and honours Musalmáns and allows them to have mosques and assembly mosques. When Al Masúdi was in Cambay the town was ruled by Bánia, the deputy of the Balhára. Al Istakhri (a.d. 951) describes the land from Kambáyah to Saimúr (Cheul) as the land of the Balhára of Mánkír. In the Konkan were many Musalmáns over whom the Balhára appointed no one but a Musalmán to rule. Ibni Haukal (a.d. 970) describes the Balhára as holding sway over a land in which are several Indian kings.[198] Al Idrísi (a.d. 1100 but quoting Al Jauhari a.d. 950) agrees with Ibni Khurdádbah that Balhára is a title meaning King of Kings. He says the title is hereditary in this country, where when a king ascends the throne he takes the name of his predecessor and transmits it to his heirs.[199]
Condition.That the Arabs found the Ráshṭrakúṭas kind and liberal rulers there is ample evidence. In their territories property was secure,[200] theft or robbery was unknown, commerce was encouraged, foreigners were treated with consideration and respect. The Arabs especially were honoured not only with a marked and delicate regard, but magistrates from among themselves were appointed to adjudicate their disputes according to the Musalmán law.
The Gurjjaras.The ruler next in importance to the Balhára was the Jurz that is the Gurjjara king. It is remarkable, though natural, that the Arabs should preserve the true name of the rulers of Anhilváḍa which the three tribe or dynastic names Chápa or Chaura (a.d. 720–956), Solaṅki or Cáulukya (a.d. 961–1242), and Vághela (a.d. 1240–1290) should so long have concealed. Sulaimán (a.d. 851) notices that the Jurz king hated Musalmáns while the Balhára king loved Musalmáns. He may not have known what excellent reasons the Gurjjaras had for hating the Arab raiders from sea and from Sindh. Nor would it strike him that the main reason why the Balhára fostered the Moslem was the hope of Arab help in his struggles with the Gurjjaras.
Jurz.According to the merchant Sulaimán[201] (a.d. 851) the kingdom next after the Balhára’s was that of Jurz the Gurjjara king whose territories “consisted of a tongue of land.” The king of Jurz maintained a large force: his cavalry was the best in India. He was unfriendly to the Arabs. His territories were very rich and abounded in horses and camels. In his realms exchanges were carried on in silver and gold dust of which metals mines were said to be worked.
The king of Jurz was at war with the Balháras as well as with the neighbouring kingdom of Táfak or the Panjáb. The details given under Bhínmál page 468 show that Sulaimán’s tongue of land, by which he apparently meant either Káthiáváḍ or Gujarát was an imperfect idea of the extent of Gurjjara rule. At the beginning of the tenth century a.d. 916 Sulaimán’s editor Abu Zaid describes Kanauj as a large country
Appendix V.
Arab References, a.d. 851–1350.
Kings.
Jurz. forming the empire of Jurz,[202] a description which the Gurjjara Vatsarája’s success in Bengal about a century before shows not to be impossible. Ibni Khurdádbah (a.d. 912) ranks the king of Juzr as fourth in importance among Indian kings. According to him “the Tátariya dirhams were in use in the Juzr kingdom.” Al Masúdi (a.d. 943) speaks of the Konkan country of the Balhára as on one side exposed to the attacks of the king of Juzr a monarch rich in men horses and camels. He speaks of the Juzr kingdom bordering on Táfán apparently the Panjáb and Táfán as bounded by Rahma[203] apparently Burma and Sumátra. Ibni Haukal (a.d. 968–976) notices that several kingdoms existed, including the domain of the Śiláháras of the north Konkan within the land of the Balhára between Kambáyah and Saimúr.[204] Al Bírúni (a.d. 970–1031) uses not Juzr, but Gujarát.[205] Beyond that is to the south of Gujarát he places Konkan and Tána. In Al Bírúni’s time Náráyan near Jaipúr, the former capital of Gujarát, had been taken and the inhabitants removed to a town on the frontier.[206] Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century really from tenth century materials) ranks the king of Juzr as the fourth and the king of Sáfán or Táfán as the second in greatness to the Balhára.[207] In another passage in a list of titular sovereigns Al Idrísi enters the names of Sáfir (Táfán) Hazr (Jazr-Juzr) and Dumi (Rahmi).[208] By the side of Juzr was Táfak (doubtfully the Panjáb) a small state producing the whitest and most beautiful women in India; the king having few soldiers; living at peace with his neighbours and like the Balháras highly esteeming the Arabs.[209] Ibni Khurdádbah (a.d. 912) calls Tában the king next in eminence to the Balhára.[210] Al Masúdi (a.d. 943) calls Táfak the ruler of a mountainous country like Kashmír[211] with small forces living on friendly terms with neighbouring sovereigns and well disposed to the Moslims.[212] Al Idrísi (end of eleventh century but materials of the tenth century) notices Sáfán (Táfán) as the principality that ranks next to the Konkan that is to the Ráshṭrakúṭas.
Rahma or Ruhmi.Rahma or Ruhmi, according to the merchant Sulaimán (a.d. 851) borders the land of the Balháras, the Juzr, and Táfán. The king who was not much respected was at war with both the Juzr and the Balhára. He had the most numerous army in India and a following of 50,000 elephants when he took the field. Sulaimán notices a cotton fabric made in Rahma, so delicate that a dress of it could pass through a signet-ring. The medium of exchange was cowries Cypræa moneta shell money. The country produced gold silver and aloes and the whisk of the sámara or yák Bos poëphagus the bushy-tailed ox. Ibni Khurdádbah[213] (a.d. 912) places Rahmi as the sixth kingdom. He apparently identified it with Al Rahmi or north Sumátra as he notes that between it and the other kingdoms communication is kept up by ships. He notices that the ruler had five thousand elephants and that cotton cloth and aloes probably the well-known Kumári
Appendix V.
Arab References, a.d. 851–1350.
Kings.
Rahma or Ruhmi. or Cambodian aloes, were the staple produce. Al Masúdi (a.d. 943) after stating that former accounts of Rahma’s[214] elephants, troops and horses were probably exaggerated, adds that the kingdom of Rahma extends both along the sea and the continent and that it is bounded by an inland state called Káman (probably Kámarup that is Assam). He describes the inhabitants as fair and handsome and notices that both men and women had their ears pierced. This description of the people still more the extension of the country both along the sea and along the continent suggests that Masúdi’s Al Rahmi is a combination of Burma which by dropping the B he has mixed with Al Rahma. Lane identifies Rahmi[215] with Sumátra on the authority of an Account of India and China by two Muhammadan Travellers of the Ninth Century. This identification is supported by Al Masúdi’s[216] mention of Rámi as one of the islands of the Java group, the kingdom of the Indian Mihráj. The absence of reference to Bengal in these accounts agrees with the view that during the ninth century Bengal was under Tibet.
Products.In the middle of the ninth century mines of gold and silver are said to be worked in Gujarát.[217] Abu Zaid (a.d. 916) represents pearls as in great demand. The Tártáriyah, or according to Al Masúdi the Táhiriyah dínárs of Sindh, fluctuating[218] in price from one and a half to three and a fraction of the Baghdád dínárs, were the current coin in the Gujarát ports. Emeralds also were imported from Egypt mounted as seals.[219]
Ibni Khurdádbah[220] (a.d. 912) mentions teakwood and the bamboo as products of Sindán that is the Konkan Sanjan.[221] Al Masúdi (a.d. 943) notes that at the great fair of Multán the people of Sindh and Hind offered Kumar that is Cambodian aloe-wood of the purest quality worth twenty dínárs a man.[222] Among other articles of trade he mentions an inferior emerald exported from Cambay and Saimúr to Makkah,[223] the lance shafts of Broach,[224] the shoes of Cambay,[225] and the white and handsome maidens of Táfán[226] who were in great demand in Arab countries. Ibni Haukal (a.d. 968–976) states that the country comprising Fámhal, Sindán, Saimúr, and Kambáyah produced mangoes cocoanuts lemons and rice in abundance. That honey could be had in great quantities, but no date palms were to be found.[227]
Al Bírúni (a.d. 1031) notices that its import of horses from Mekran and the islands of the Persian Gulf was a leading portion of Cambay trade.[228] According to Al Idrísi (a.d. 1100) the people of Mámhal[229] (Anhilwára) had many horses and camels.[230] One of the peculiarities of
Appendix V.
Arab References, a.d. 851–1350.
Products. the Nahrwála country was that all journeys were made and all merchandise was carried in bullock waggons. Kambáyah was rich in wheat and rice and its mountains yielded the Indian kaná or bamboo. At Subára[231] (Sopára) they fished for pearls and Bára a small island close to Subára produced the cocoanut and the costus. Sindán according to Al Idrísi produced the cocoa palm, the ratan, and the bamboo. Saimúr had many cocoa palms, much henna (Lawsonia inermis), and a number of aromatic plants.[232] The hills of Thána yielded the bamboo and tabáshír[233] or bamboo pith. From Saimúr according to Al Kazwíni (a.d. 1236, but from tenth century materials) came aloes. Rashíd-ud-dín (a.d. 1310) states that in Kambáyah, Somnáth, Kankan, and Tána the vines yield twice a year and such is the strength of the soil that cotton-plants grow like willow or plane trees and yield produce for ten years. He refers to the betel leaf, to which he and other Arab writers and physicians ascribe strange virtues as the produce of the whole country of Malabár. The exports from the Gujarát coasts are said to be sugar (the staple product of Málwa), bádrúd that is bezoar, and haldi that is turmeric.[234]