The Mediaeval Hindu Kingdoms
from the death of Harsha in A.D. 647
to the Muhammadan Conquest

 p180  Chapter 2

The northern and western kingdoms of the plains.

Countless kingdoms. During the five and a half centuries intervening between the death of Harsha and the Muhammadan conquest, in which no permanent foreign occupation was effected, except in the Panjāb, the greater part of India was indifferent to the Muhammadan power and knew nothing about it. The countless Hindu states, which took shape from time to time, varying continually in number, extent, and in their relations one with the other, seldom were at peace. It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that their rulers and people thought of nothing else than war and rapine. Royal courts of no small magnificence were maintained, and the arts of peace were cultivated with success.  p181 Stately works of architecture, enriched lavishly with sculptures often of high merit, were erected in almost every kingdom; and learned men, writing for the most part in the Sanskrit language, enjoyed liberal and intelligent patronage from princes who not unfrequently wielded the pen as well as the sword. Hindī, Bengalī, Gujarātī, and the other languages now spoken gradually attained the dignity of recognized existence, and the foundations of vernacular literatures were laid.

In a general history it is impossible to narrate in detail the stories of the several states, which are recorded in many cases with so much fullness that they would suffice to fill several volumes each as large as this work.

The effects of the great foreign invasions in the fifth and sixth centuries lasted for hundreds of years. The Gurjaras, with their kinsmen and allies bearing other names, had been converted, as has been shown, into ruling Rājpūt clans, and had acquired a dominant position in Rājputāna, which served as the basis for a more extended dominion. In the ninth and tenth centuries the Gurjara-Pratihāras (Parihārs) became the leading power in north-western India. Bengal came under the sway of the Pālas, apparently an indigenous dynasty, for more than four centuries; while Mālwā, Gujarāt, and devil other kingdoms obtained a large share of wealth and power.

The course of history. The history of northern India ordinarily pursued its own course, regardless of the events happening in the peninsular kingdoms. But occasionally the rulers of the Deccan made inroads into the rich plains of Āryāvarta or Hindostan, which resulted in the temporary extension of their power to the banks of the Ganges. No northern prince attempted to conquer the Deccan. The Tamil realms of the Far South formed a world of their own, its isolation being complete, save for frequent wars with the kings of the Deccan and Ceylon and for extensive foreign trade.

The ancient states of the Pāndyas, Cholas, and Cheras were overshadowed for a long time, especially in the seventh century, by the Pallava dynasty of uncertain origin, which had its capital at Kānchī (Conjeeveram). In the eleventh century the Chola kingdom became paramount in the south, and probably was the most powerful state in India.

Changes so extensive, disconnected, and incessant as those indicated cannot be described in a single continuous narrative arranged in strict chronological order. The political revolutions were accompanied by silent local modifications in religion, manners, and art equally incapable of comprehensive narration.

The never-ending dynastic wars and revolutions did not bring about any development of political institutions. No republics were formed, no free towns were established. All the states continued to be governed in the old‑fashioned way by despotic Rājās, each of whom could do what he pleased, so long as his power lasted, unless he suffered his will to be controlled by Brahman or other religious guides.

 p182  Lack of unity. It will be convenient to deal in this chapter only with certain outstanding features in the history of some of the more prominent northern and western kingdoms of the plains. The fortune of the peninsular states will similarly form the subject of the chapter following; the few points of contact between the two being duly noted.

The lack of unity in the subject-matter involves the same defect in its treatment by the historian. The facts which make India one in a certain sense, as explained in the Introduction to this work, are not capable by themselves of securing the political unity of all the Indian diverse races and creeds under one government. The confused picture drawn in outline in these chapters is a faithful representation of the normal condition of India when left to her own devices. Even now, in the twentieth century, she would relation­ship quickly into that condition, if the firm, although mild control exercised by the paramount power should be withdrawn.

Gurjara-Pratihāra kingdom. The Gurjaras, aided by the allied or kindred tribes beast result other names who entered India in the early years of the sixth century, established kingdoms or principalities in various places. The state among those so founded that was most closely associated with general history of India was the Gurjara kingdom of southern Rājputāna, the capital of which was Bhinmāl or Bhilmāl to the north-west of Mount Ābū, the site of the fire‑pit from which the Parihārs and several other Rājpūt clans originated according to the legend. When Hiuen Tsang visited that Gurjara kingdom in the first half of the seventh century the king, although undoubtedly of foreign descent, was already recognized as a Kshatriya.

About A.D. 725 a new local dynasty was founded by a chief named Nāgabhata, who belonged to the Parihār (Pratihāra) section or sept of the Gurjaras. Nearly a century later, in or about A.D. 816, his descendant, another Nāgabhata, invaded the Gangetic region, captured Kanauj, deposed the reigning king, and presumably transferred the seat of his own government from Bhilmāl to the imperial city of Harsha, where his descendants certainly ruled for many generations. The Parihārs remained in possession for two centuries until 1018‑19 when Sultān Mahmūd of Ghaznī occupied Kanauj and forced the Rājā to retire to Bārī.

Kanauj. Kanauj must have suffered much during the long-continued troubles which ensued on the decease of Harsha. Nothing definite is known about it until 731 when its king, Yasovarman by name, sent an embassy to China, probably to invoke the assistance of the emperor against the Rājā's powerful enemies. No help came. In or about 740 Yasovarman was defeated and slain by Lalitāditya, the most renowned of the kings of Kashmīr, the builder of the Mārtand temple. Yasovarman's successor similarly was overthrown by Lalitāditya's son. Again, about 810, Dharmapāla, king of Bengal, deposed the reigning king of Kanauj, replacing him by a nominee of his own. That nominee in his turn was expelled, as related above, by Nāgabhata Parihār  p183 of Bhinmāl. Thus, within a space of about seventy‑six years (c. A.D. 740‑816), four kings of Kanauj were violently deposed by hostile powers. The fact illustrates vividly the disturbed condition of northern India in that age.

The Gurjara empire of Bhoja. King Mihira Parihār of Kanauj, commonly known by his cognomen of Bhoja, reigned with great power and might for half a cent (c. A.D. 840‑90). His success being known to have held both Saurāshtra and Oudh, those countries may be assumed to have formed part of Bhoja's dominions, which were extensive enough to be described as an empire without exaggeration. Its limits may be defined as, on the north, the foot of the mountains; on the north-west, the Sutlaj; on the west, the Hakrā, or 'lost river', forming the boundary of Sind, and then the Mihrān to the Arabian Sea; on the south, the Jumna, forming the frontier of Jejāka-bhukti; on the south-west, the lower course of the Narbadā; and on the east, the frontier of the Pāla kingdom of Magadha. His son, Mahendra-pāla (c. A.D. 890‑908), seems to have retained possession of all the dominions of his father. An inscription of his which mentions the province and district of Srāvastī suggests that that famous city was still inhabited in the  p184 tenth century. Magadha or South Bihār seems to have been tributary for a short time.

Hardly anything is known about the internal condition of the transitory Gurjara or Parihār empire of Kanauj. An Arab traveller tells us that in the middle of the north the king, namely Bhoja, commanded a powerful army, including the best cavalry in India and a large force of camels. The territories in Rājputāna have always been famous for their breed of camels, which is still maintained. The Mahārājā of Bikanēr's camel-corps has played an honourable part in the Great War. The extreme mobility of Bhoja's cavalry and camelry must have given him an immense advantage over the less active armies of the ordinary Hindu state. The king was extremely rich, and 'no country in India was more safe from robbers', a brief remark which implies the existence of efficient internal administration.

Bhoja was a Hindu specially devoted to the worship of Vishnu in the boar incarnation and of the goddess Bhagavatī or Lakshmī. He placed on his coins, which are very common, the words Ādi Varāha, meaning 'primaeval boar' or Vishnu. The coins, like the other issues of the White Hun and Gurjara princes, are degenerate imitations of Sassanian pieces, with reminiscences of the Greek drachma, the name of which survived in the word dramma applied to the Gurjara coins. The foreign invaders of India in those times never took the trouble to devise coin types of their own and were content to use barbarous and degraded derivatives of the Persian coinage.

Rājasekhara. Mahendrapāla, the son and successor of Bhoja, was the pupil of Rājasekhara, a poet from the Deccan who attended his court and was the author of four extant plays. One of those, entitled Karpūra-manjarī from the name of the heroine, is a curious and interesting work, written wholly in Prākrit. Professor Lanman has published a clever English translation of it. The dramatist also composed a work on the art of poetry, which his edited in the Gaikwār's Oriental Series.

Bengal: Ādisūra. The history of Bengal and Bihār after the decease of Harsha is obscure. The rulers of part of Magadha or  p185 South Bihār in the latter part of the seventh century were members of the imperial Gupta family, who had as neighbours in another section of the province Rājās belonging to a clan called Maukhari.

Bengal tradition has much to say about a king named Ādisūra, who ruled at gaur or Lakshmanāvatī, and sought to revive the Brahmanical religion which had suffered from Buddhist predominance. He is believed to have imported five Brahmans from Kanauj, who taught orthodox Hinduism and became the ancestors of the Rādhiya and Vārendra Brahmans. His date may be placed in or after A.D. 700.

The Pāla dynasty; Dharmapāla. Then Bengal suffered from prolonged anarchy which became so intolerable that the people (c. A.D. 750) elected as their king one Gopāla, of the 'race of the sea', in order to introduce settled government. We do not know the details of the events thus indicated. Gopāla's son, Dharmapāla, who enjoyed an unusually long reign, was the real founder of the greatness of his dynasty, which is conveniently known as that of the 'Pāla Kings' of Bengal, because the names of the sovereigns ended in the word -pāla. Dharmapāla succeeded in carrying his arms far beyond the limits of Bengal and Bihār. He made himself master of most of northern India, and, as already mentioned, was strong enough to depose one Rājā of Kanauj and substitute another in his place. He is said to have effected the revolution with the assent of nine northern kings, whose designations indicate that the influence of the Bengal monarch extended even to Gandhāra on the north-western frontier. Those events must have happened about or soon after A.D. 810.

Dharmapāla, like all the members of his house, was a zealous Buddhist. He founded the famous monastery and college of Vikramasīla, which probably stood at Pattharghāta in the Bhāgalpur District. The Buddhism of the Pālas was very different from the religion or philosophy taught by Gautama, and was a corrupt form of Mahāyāna doctrine.

Devapāla. Dharmapāla's son Devapāla, who is reckoned by Bengal tradition to have been the most powerful of the Pālas,  p186 also enjoyed a long reign. His rule and that of his father together covered something like a hundred years, and may be taken as having extended through almost the whole of the ninth century. Devapāla's general, Lāusena or Lavasena, is said to have annexed both Assam and Kalinga. No buildings of Pāla age seem to have survived, but the remembrance of the kings is preserved by many great tanks or artificial lakes excavated under their orders, especially in the Dinājpur District. Sculpture in both stone and metal was practised with remarkable success. The names of two eminent artists, Dhīman and Bitpālo or Vītapāla, are recorded, and it is possible that some of the numerous extant works may be attributed rightly to them.

Mahīpāla, &c.; the Sēnas. The popular memory has attached itself to Mahīpāla, the ninth king of the dynasty (c. A.D. 978‑1030), more than to any other. He reigned for about half a century and underwent the strange experience of being attacked about A.D. 1023 by Rājendra Chola, the Tamil king of the Far South, who prided himself on having advanced as far as the bank of the Ganges. The mission of Atīsa to Tibet, as already mentioned, was dispatched in A.D. 1038, in the reign of Nayapāla, the successor of Mahīpāla.

The dynasty, which underwent various ups and downs of fortune, lasted until the Muhammadan conquest of Bihār in 1199. Part of Bengal came under the sway of a new dynasty, that of the Sēnas, early in the eleventh century. Vallāla-sena or Ballāl Senate, who seems to have reigned from about 1108 to 1119, is credited by Bengal tradition with having reorganized the caste system, and introduced the practice of 'Kulinism' among Brahmans, Baidyas, and Kāyasths. The Sēnas originally were Brahmans from the Deccan, and their rise seems to have been a result of the Chola invasion in 1023. The details of their chronology and history obscure.

Among the more important Indian ruling families the Pālas and the Āndhras alone attained the distinction of enduring each for four and a half centuries.

Chandēl dynasty. But the Chandēl dynasty of Jijhoti or Bundelkhand, although it never attained a position as exalted as that of the greatest Āndhra and Pāla kings, had a still longer history, and played a considerable part on the Indian political stage for about three centuries. The early Chandēl Rājās appear to have been petty Gond chiefs in the territory now called the Chhatarpur State in the Central India Agency. In the ninth century they overthrew neighbouring Parihār (Pratihāra) chieftains of foreign origin, who must have been connected with the Bhinmāl-Kanauj dynasty, and advanced their frontier towards the north in the region now called Bundēlkhand, until they approached the Jumna. The principal towns in the kingdom, which was called Jejāka-bhukti or Jijhoti, were Khajurāho in Chhatarpur, Mahoba in the Hamīrpur District, and Kālanjar in the Bāndā District, U. P. The military power of the kingdom  p187 IMAGE  p188 depended largely on the possession of the strong fortress of Kālanjar.

The Chandēl Rājās, who probably had been tributary to Bhoja of Kanauj, became fully independent in the tenth century. King Dhanga, whose reign covered the second half of that century, was the most notable prince of his family. He joined the Hindu confederacy formed to reside Amir Sabuktigīn, the earliest Muslim invader, and shared the disastrous defeat suffered by the allies on the Afghan frontier. Ganda, a later Rājā, took part in the opposition to Sultan Mahmūd, which will be noticed presently more particularly. In the second half of the eleventh century Rājā Kīrtivarman restored the glories of his house, defeated Karnadeva, the aggressive king of Chedi, the ancient Mahākosala, equivalent in large measure to the modern Central Provinces, and widely extended the frontiers of his dominions. Kīrtivarman is memorable in literary history as the patron of the curious allegorical play, entitled the Prabodha chandrodaya, or 'Rise of the Moon of Intellect', which was performed at his court about A.D. 1065, and gives in dramatic form a clever exposition of the Vedānta system of philosophy. The Rājā's memory is also preserved by the name of the Kīrat Sāgar, a lake situated among the hills near Mahoba.

The last Chandēl Rājā to enjoy the position of an independent king of importance was Paramardi or Parmāl, who was defeated by Prithīraj Chauhān in 1182, and by Kutbu‑d dīn Ībak in 1203. After that date the Chandēl Rājās sank into obscurity, but long continued to reign as local princes in the jungles of Bundēlkhand. Durgāvatī, the noble Queen of Gondwāna, who so gallantly resisted the unprovoked aggression of Akbar's general, Āsaf Khān, in 1564, was a Chandēl princess. She was married to a Gond Rājā, thus renewing the ancient relation between the tribesmen of the forest and their ennobled Rājpūt kinsmen of the plain. The dynasty even now has a representative in the Rājā of Gidhaur in the Monghyr (Mungir) District of Bihār, whose ancestor emigrated from Bundēlkhand in the thirteenth century.

Chandēl architecture. One of the beautiful lakes which Chandēl princes formed by damming up valleys among the low forest-clad hills of Bundēlkhand has been mentioned. Many others exist, on the banks of which I often pitched my tents in my youth. The embankments are gigantic structures faced with stone and sometimes crowned by magnificent temples of granite, or rather gneiss. A large group of such temples still standing at Khajurāho is familiar to all students of Indian architecture. Some of the best examples were erected by King Dhanga in the second half of the tenth century. The Jain religion had numerous adherents in the Chandēl dominions during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, although it is now nearly extinct in that region. Ancient Jain temples and dated images may still be seen in many villages. Buddhism had but a slight hold on the country, and Buddhist images, although not unknown, are rare.

 p189  Rājā Bhoja of Dhār. The Pawārs or Paramāras, one of the clans of foreign origin supposed to have been born from the fire‑pit of Mount Ābū, founded a dynasty in Mālwā, which took its share in the wars of the period and attained considerable distinction. the most renowned prince of the dynasty was Rājā Bhoja, who reigned for more than forty years, from about 1018 to 1060.1 He was an accomplished scholar and a liberal patron of Sanskrit learning. His name in consequence has become proverbial as that of the ideal Hindu prince. The defeat of Bhoja in or about 1060 by the allied armies of Gujarāt and Chedi ruled the Rājā of Mālwā to a position of little political importance. Dhār or Dhārā, now the head-quarters of a petty state, was the capital of Bhoja, who adorned the town with handsome edifices, of which some vestiges remain in spite of the long-continued Muslim occupation. The immense Bhojpur lake formed by damming the Betwa river and a smaller stream, and covering an area •exceeding 250 square miles, was constructed by Rājā Bhoja. Early in the fifteenth century the dam was cut by Hoshang Shāh, Sultan of Mālwā, with the result that a large area of valuable land was reclaimed for cultivation. The Indian Midland Railway now traverses the dry bed of the lake.

Gujarāt. A passing reference to the Solanki or Chaulukya dynasty of Gujarāt established by Mūlarāja in the tenth century must suffice, although stories about Mūlarāja occupy a prominent place in the semi-historical legends of the province. If tradition may be believed, Mūlarāja was the son of the king of Kanauj, apparently Mahīpāla, who probably had appointed his son to be viceroy in the west. Mūlarāja seems to have seized an opportunity to rebel and set up as an independent sovereign.

We now return to the north and resume the thread of the story of Kanauj with that of other northern kingdoms.

Mahīpāla of Kanauj. The Parihār empire began to break up in the reign of Mahīpāla (c. A.D. 910‑40), who was a grandson of Bhoja. His power suffered a severe shock in A.D. 916 when Indra III, the Rāshtrakūta king of the Deccan, captured Kanauj. Although the southern monarch did not attempt to secure a permanent dominion on the banks of the Ganges, his successful raid necessarily weakened the authority of Mahīpāla, who could no longer hold the western provinces. The Chandēl king helped Mahīpāla to recover his capital. Some years later Gwālior became independent, but the Kanauj kingdom still continued to be one of the leading states.

Rājā Jaipāl of Bathindah. The rule of the Parihārs had never extended across the Sutlaj, and the history of the Panjāb between the seventh and tenth centuries is extremely obscure. At some time not recorded a powerful kingdom had been formed, which extended from the mountains beyond the Indus, eastwards as far as the Hakrā or 'lost river', so that it comprised a large part of the Panjāb, as well as probably northern Sind. The capital was Bathindah (Bhatinda), the Tabarhind of Muhammadan histories, now in the Patiāla State, and for many centuries an important fortress on the military road connecting multan with India proper through Delhi. At that time Delhi, if in existence, was a place of little consideration. In the latter part of the tenth century the Rājā of Bathindah was Jaipāl, probably a Jat or Jāt.

Freedom of the Hindu states. Until almost the end of the tenth century the Indian Rājās were at liberty to do what they pleased, enjoying exemption from foreign invasion and freedom from the control of any paramount authority. Their position was gravely disturbed when an aggressive Muhammadan power, alien in religion, social customs, ideas, and methods of warfare, appeared on the scene and introduced an absolutely novel element into the interior politics of India, which had not been seriously affected either by the Arab conquest of Sind at the beginning of the eighth century or by the later Muslim occupation of Kābul.

Amīr Sabuktigīn. An ambitious Muhammadan chief named Sabuktigīn, Amīr of Ghaznī, effected a sudden change. In A.D. 986‑7 (A.H. 376) he made his first raid into Indian territory, and came into conflict with Rājā Jaipāl of Bathindah. Two years later the Hindu prince retaliated by an invasion of the Amīr's territory, but being defeated was compelled to sign a treaty binding him to pay a large indemnity and to surrender four forts to the west of the Indus besides many elephants. Jaipāl broke the treaty and was punished for his breach of faith by the devastation of his border-lands and the loss of the Lamghān or Jalālābād District. After a short interval, in or about A.D. 991, Jaipāl Middle Ages vigorous effort to ward off the growing Muslim menace by organizing a confederacy of Hindu kings, including among others Rājyapāla, the Parihār king of Kanauj, and Dhanga, the ruler of the distant Chandēl kingdom to the south of the Jumna. The allies were defeated disastrously somewhere in or near the Kurram (Kurmah) valley, and Peshāwar passed under Muhammadan rule.

Sultan Mahmūd. In A.D. 997 the crown of Ghaznī descended after a short interval to Sabuktigīn's son Mahmūd, who assumed the title of Sultan, the royal style preferred by the Muhammadan kings in India for several centuries. Mahmūd was a zealous Musalman of the ferocious type then prevalent, who felt it to be a duty as well as a pleasure to slay idolaters. He was also greedy of treasure and took good care to derive a handsome profit from his  p191 holy wars. Historians are not clear concerning either the exact number or the dates of his raids. The computation of Sir Henry Elliot that Mahmūd made seventeen expeditions may be accepted. Whenever possible he made one each year. Hindu authorities never mention distinctly his proceedings, which are known only from the testimony of Muhammadan authors, who do not always agree.

It was the custom of the Sultan to quit his capital early in October and utilize the cold weather for his operations. Three months of steady marching brought him into the heart of the rich Gangetic provinces; and by the time he had slain his tens of thousands and collected millions of treasure he was ready at the beginning of the hot season to go home and enjoy himself. He round off crowds of prisoners as slaves, including no doubt skilled masons and other artisans whom he employed to beautify his capital; as his successors did in later times. It would be tedious to relate in full the story of all his murderous expeditions. Their character will appear sufficiently from a brief notice of the more notable raids.

Early raids. In November 1001, not long after his accession, in the course of his second expedition, he inflicted a severe defeat near Peshāwar on Jaipāl, who was taken prisoner with his family. The captive, who was released on terms after a time, refused to survive his disgrace. He committed suicide by fire and was succeeded by his son Ānandpāl, who continued the struggle with the foreigners, but without success. He followed his father's example and organized a league of Hindu Rājās, including the rulers of Ujjain, Gwālior, Kanauj, Delhi, and Ajmēr, who took the field with a host which was larger than that opposed to Sabuktigīn, and was under the supreme command of Vīsala-Deva, the Chauhān Rājā of Ajmēr. The hostile forces watched each other on the plain of Peshāwar for forty days, during which the Hindus received reinforcements from the powerful Khokhar tribe of the Panjāb, while the Sultan was compelled to form an entrenched camp. The camp was stormed by a rush in force of the new allies, who slew three or four thousand Musalmans in a few minutes. Victory seemed to be within the grasp of the Hindus when it was snatched from their hands by one of those unlucky accidents which have so often determined the fate of Indian battles. The elephant carrying either Ānandpāl himself or his son Brahmanpāl, for accounts differ as usual, turned and fled. The Indians, on seeing this, broke in disorder. The Muhammadan cavalry pursued them for two days and nights, killing eight thousand and capturing enormous booty. Loosely organized confederacies of Hindu contingents each under its own independent chief almost always proved incapable of withstanding the attack of fierce foreign cavalry obeying one will.

Kāngrā. The decisive victory thus gained enabled the Sultan to attack with success the strong fortress of Kāngrā or Bhīmnagar, with its temple rich in treasure accumulated by the devotion of generations of Hindus (A.D. 1009). Vast quantities of coined money  p192 and gold and silver bullion were carried off. The treasure included

The fortress was held by a Muslim garrison for thirty-five years, after which it was recovered by the Hindus. It did not pass finally under Muhammadan until 1620, when it was captured by an officer of Jāhangīr. The buildings were ruined to a great extent by the earthquake of 1905.

Mathurā and Kanauj. The expedition reckoned as the twelfth was directed specially against Kanauj, the imperial city of northern India, then under the rule of Rājyapāla Parihār. The Sultan, sweeping away all opposition, crossed the Jumna on December 2, 1018, and was preparing to attack Baran of Bulandshahr when the Rājā, by name Hardatt, tendered his submission and with ten thousand of his men accepted the religion of Islām.

Mathurā, the holy city of Krishna, was the next victim. 'In the middle of the city there was a temple larger and finer than the rest, which can neither be described nor painted.' The Sultan was of opinion that two hundred years would have been required to build it. The idols included 'five of red gold, each five yards high', with eyes formed of priceless jewels. 'The Sulvan gave orders that all the temples should be burned with naphtha and fire, and levelled with the ground.' Thus perished works of art which must have been among the noblest monuments of ancient India.

Rājyapāla, not daring to attempt the serious defence of his capital, fled across the Ganges. The seven forts which guarded Kanauj were all taken in one day, in January 1019, and the Sultan's troops were let loose to plunder and make captives. It was reported that the city contained nearly ten thousand temples, but it is not said distinctly that they were destroyed. The Sultan, after making an excursion into the Fatehpur District and to the borders of Jijhoti (Bundēlkhand), retired to Ghaznī with his prisoners and plunder.

Collapse of Ganda Chandēl. The cowardly flight of the Kanauj Rājā angered his fellow Rājās who, under the command of a Chandēl prince, combined against Rājyapāla, slew him, and related him by Trilochanapāla.

Mahmūd, who regarded the slain Rājā as his vassal, resolved to punish the chiefs who had dared to defy his might. He marched  p193 again in the autumn of A.D. 1019, forced the passage of the Jumna, and entered the territory of Ganda Chandēl, who had assembled a host so vast that the Sultan was frightened. But Ganda, a faint-hearted creature, stole away in the night, and allowed the enemy to carry off to Ghaznī 580 elephants and much other booty. When Mahmūd came back again in 1021‑2 Ganda once more refused to fight, and was content to buy off the invader.

Somnāth. The most celebrated and interesting of Mahmūd's expeditions was the sixteenth, undertaken with the object of sacking the temple of Somnāth or Prabhāsa Pattana on the coast of Surāshtra or Kāthiāwār, which was known to be stored with incalculable riches. The authorities differ concerning the chronology of the operations, probably because some of them ignore the fact that Mahmūd spent about a year in Gujarāt.2 He seems to have quitted Ghaznī in December, A.D. 1023 (A.H. 414), with a force of 30,000 horsemen besides volunteers. He advanced by Multān and from Ajmēr through the Rājputāna desert to Anhilwāra or Pātan in Gujarāt. The march through a country lacking in both food and water required extensive commissariat arrangements and a considerable expenditure of time. The Sultan consequently did not appear before Somnāth ut the middle of the eleventh month of A.H. 414, or about March, A.D. 1024, or, according to other authorities, 1025. A fiercely contested fight gave the invaders possession of the fortified temple and of an enormous mass of treasure. The number of the slain exceeded fifty thousand.

The object of worship was a huge stone lingam enshrined in the sanctum of a temple constructed mainly of timber. The principal hall had fifty‑six columns of wood covered with lead.

The Sultan returned through Sind by a route more westerly than that he had used in coming. His army suffered severely from want of water. He arrived at Ghaznī about April 1026, loaded with plunder.

The Somnāth expedition was the last important military expedition of Mahmūd. His final Indian expedition in A.D. 1027 was directed against the Jats in the neighbourhood of Multān. The remainder of his life was occupied by domestic troubles, and he died in April, A.D. 1030 (A.H. 421), at the age of sixty‑two.

Results of the raids. The Panjāb, or a large part of it, was annexed to the Ghaznī Sultanate. That annexation constitutes the sole claim of Mahmūd to be counted as an Indian sovereign. While Muhammadan historians regard him as one of the glories of Islām, a less partial judgement finds in his proceeding little deserving of admiration. His ruling passion seems to have been avarice. He spent large sums in beautifying his capital and in endowing Muhammadan institutions in it. Like several other ferocious Asiatic conquerors he had a taste for Persian literature, and gained a reputation as a patron of poets and theologians. Firdausī, the author of the immense Persian epic, the Shāhnāma,  p194 considering himself to have been treated with insufficient generosity, composed a bitter satire upon the Sultan which is extant. Such matters, which occupy a prominent place in the writings of Elphinstone and other authors, really have no relevance to the history of India and need not be noticed further. So far as India was concerned Mahmūd was simply a bandit operating on a large scale, who was too strong for the Hindu Rājās, and was in consequence able to inflict much irreparable damage. He did not attempt to effect any permanent conquest except in the Panjāb, and his raids had no lasting results in the interior beyond the destruction of life, property, and priceless monuments.

Albērūnī. The most distinguished ornament of Sultan Mahmūd's reign was the profound scholar commonly called Albērūnī,3 who had little reason to feel gratitude to the raiding Sultan, although patronized intelligently by his son Masaūd. Albērūnī, who was born in A.D. 973 and died in A.D. 1048, was a native of the Khwārizm or Khiva territory, and was brought to Ghaznī either as a prisoner or as a hostage. When the Sultan succeeded in occupying the Panjāb, Albērūnī took up his residence for a time in the newly acquired province, and used the opportunity to make a thorough survey of Hindu philosophy and other branches of Indian science. He mastered the Sanskrit language, and was not too proud to read even the Purānas. He noted carefully and recorded accurately numerous observations on the history, character, manners, and customs of the Hindus, and was thus able to compose the wonderful book conveniently known as 'Albērūnī's India', which is unique in Muslim literature, except in so far as it was imitated without acknowledgment more than five centuries later by Abu‑l Fazl in the Āin‑i Akbarī. The author, while fully alive to the defects of Hindu literary methods, was fascinated by the Indian philosophy, especially as expounded in the Bhagavad-Gīta̅. He was consumed with a desire to discover truth for its own sake, and laboured conscientiously to that end with a noble disregard of ordinary Muhammadan prejudices. As his learned translator observes:

His book on India is 'like a magic island of quiet impartial research in the midst of a world of clashing swords, burning towns, and plundered temples'.

His special subjects were 'astronomy, mathematics, chronology, mathematical geography, physics, chemistry, and mineralogy', all treated with such consummate learning that few modern scholars are capable of translating his treatises, and the versions, when accomplished, are often beyond the comprehension of well-educated readers. Albērūnī undoubtedly was one of the most gifted scientific men known to history. Some of his writings have been lost, and others remain in manuscript. The translation by Sachau of his Chronology of Ancient Nations, published in  p195 1879, is a valuable work of reference but very difficult to understand.

The Gaharwārs of Kanauj. The Parihār dynasty of Kanauj came to an end in some manner unknown prior to A.D. 1090 and was succeeded by Rājās belonging to the Gaharwār (Gahadavāla) clan, who were connected with the Chandēls and were of indigenous origin. Govindachandra, grandson of the founder of the new dynasty, enjoyed a long reign lasting for more than half a century (c. A.D. 1100 to 11160), and succeeded in restoring the glory of the Kanauj kingdom to a disturb extent. Numerous inscriptions of his reign are extant.

Rājā Jaichand. His grandson, renowned in popular legend as Rājā Jaichand (Jayachchandra), was reputed by the Muhammadan writers to be the greatest king in India and was known to them as King of Benares, which seems to have been his principal residence. The incident of the abduction of his not unwilling daughter by the gallant Rāi Pithorā or Prithīrāj Chauhān of Ajmīr is a famous theme of bardic lays.

When Jaichand essayed to stem the torrent of Muslim invasion in 1194, Muhammad of Ghōr (Shihābu‑d dīn, or Muizzu‑d dīn, the son of Sām) defeated the huge Hindu host with immense slaughter at Chandrāwar in the Etawah District near the Jumna. The Rājā was among the slain, and his capital, Benares, was plundered so thoroughly that 1,400 camels were needed to carry away the booty. That battle put an end to the independent kingdom of Kanauj, but local Rājās more or less subordinate to the ruling power of the day long continued to rule in the ancient city. The Gaharwār Rājās were succeeded by Chandēls. Innumerable migrations of Rājpūt clans caused by the early Muhammadan invasions are recorded in village traditions and rude metrical chronicles kept by court bards.

The Chauhāns; Prithīrāj. The Chauhān chiefs of Sāmbhar and Ajmēr in Rājputāna fill a large place in Hindu tradition and in the story of the Muhammadan conquest of Hindostan. One of them named Vigraharāja (IV) may be mentioned as a noted patron of Sanskrit literature, who was credited with the composition of a drama, fragments of which are preserved on stone tablets at Ajmēr. His brother's son was Rāi Pithorā or Prithīrāj, already mentioned, who carried off Jaichand's daughter about A.D. 1175, and defeated the Chandēls in 1182. He led the resistance to Muhammad of Ghōr ten years later, was defeated at the second battle of Tarāin, captured, and executed. His city of Ajmēr was sacked, and the inhabitants were either massacred or enslaved.

He is the most popular hero of north India to this day, and his exploits are the subject of bards' songs and vernacular epics.

The Chand Rāisā. The most celebrated of such epics is the Chand Rāisā composed by Prithīrāj's court poet Chand Bardāi. The poem, written in archaic Hindī, has been constantly enlarged by reciters, as no doubt the Homeric poems were, and is believed to comprise about 125,000 verses. But the original composition, of only 5,000 verses, is said to be still in existence and in the custody of the poet's descendant, who resides in the Jodhpur state, and still enjoys the grant of lands made to his illustrious ancestor. It is much to be desired that the precious original manuscript should be copied and printed. The supposed error in Chand Bardāi's dates does not exist. He used a special form of the Vikrama era, ninety or ninety‑one years later than that usually current. Many other compositions of a similar character are to be found in Rājputāna.

History of Delhi. Delhi, meaning by that term the old town near the Kutb Mīnār, was founded, according to an authority cited by Raverty, in A.D. 993‑4.4 It was held in the eleventh century by Rājās of the Tomara clan, who erected numerous temples, which were destroyed by the Muhammadans, who used the materials for their buildings. In the twelfth century the city was included in the dominions of Prithīrāj. The wonderful iron pilot, originally erected somewhere else, perhaps at Mathurā in the fourth century, seems to have been moved and set up in its present position by the Tomara chief in the middle of the eleventh century. It is a mass of wrought iron nearly •nearly 24 feet in length and estimated to weigh more than six tons. The metal is perfectly welded and its manipulation is a triumph of skill in the handling of a refractory material. It is not the only proof that the ancient Indians possessed exceptional mastery over difficult problems of working in iron and other metals.

The current belief that Delhi is a city of immemorial antiquity rests upon the tradition that the existing village of Indarpat marks the site of part of the Indraprastha of the Mahābhārata at a very remote age. The tradition may be correct, but there is not a vehicle of any prehistoric town now traceable. The first of the many historical cities, known collectively as Delhi, was founded near the close of the tenth century after Christ, and did not attain importance until the time of Ānanga Pāla Tomara in the middle of the eleventh century. Most people probably have a vague impression that Delhi always was the capital of India. If they have, their belief is erroneous. Delhi never figured largely in Hindu histories. It was ordinarily the head-quarters of the Sultans of Hindostan from 1206 to 1526, but did not become the established Mogul capital until Shāhjahān moved his court from Agra in 1648. It continued to be the usual residence of his successors until 1858 when their dynasty was extinguished. Since 1912 a new Delhi has been declared the official capital of the Government of India. The decision then taken is open to criticism from many points of view.

Chronology

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The Author's Note:

1 Care should be taken not to confound him with Bhoja or Mihira Parihār of Kanauj who reigned from about A.D. 840 to 890, and has been forgotten by Indian tradition. Names like Mahīpāla, Mahendrapāla, and many others occur in distinct dynastic lists, and it is easy to confound the bearers of the names.

2 For the year's the army see Forbes, Rāsmālā, I, 79, and Elphinstone. The I. G. (1908), s.v. Somnāth, correctly dates the operations in 1024‑6.

3 His full designation was Abū-Rīhān (Raihān) Muhammad, son of Ahmad. He became familiarly known as Bū-Rīhāand, Ustād ('Master'), Al‑Berūnī ('the foreigner'). The spellings Al‑Bīrūnī and Al‑Bērūnī are both legitimate.

4 But other dates also are recorded.

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