Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 297.2

297.2

We are told that in those days, also, the inhabitants of the island of Selandeep (Ceylon) were accustomed to send vessels to the coast of Africa, to the Red Sea, and to the Persian Gulf, a practice prevailing from the earliest ages; and that Hindoo pilgrims resorted to Mecca and Egypt for the purpose of paying adoration to the idols, to which they looked with the utmost veneration. It is related, also, that the people trading from Selandeep became converts to the true faith at as early a period as the reign of the first caliphs, and that having thus had intercourse with Mahomedan nations, the King of Selandeep despatched a vessel laden with various rare articles, the produce of his country, to the caliph Wuleed at Bagdad. On this vessel arriving at the entrance of the Persian Gulf it was attacked and captured by orders of the ruler of Deebul, together with seven other boats, in which were some Mahomedan families going on pilgrimage to Kurbula. Some of the captives making their escape carried their complaint to Hijaj, who addressed a letter to Raja Dahir, the son of Sasa, ruler of Sind, and sent it to be forwarded from Mikran by Mahomed Haroon. Raja Dahir replied, that the act of hostility was committed by a powerful state, over which he had no control.