مسالك الابصار في ممالك الامصار 2.31

2.31

they are brought to India from all the neighbouring lands of the Turks, and Arab horses are led there from Bahrain, Yemen and Iraq, although in the interior of India there are Arab horses of noble pedigree, for which very high prices are paid, but they are few. When horses stay there long they weaken. As for mules and donkeys, riding them is considered disgraceful among them; no jurist or man of learning thinks it proper to ride a mule, and riding a donkey is for them a great humiliation and a great shame; rather, everyone rides horses. As for baggage, that of the elite is carried on horses and that of the common people on oxen, on which pack-saddles are placed and the loads carried; they are fast-moving and long-striding.