[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Rashtrakutas and their Times](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.altekar-1934) › c19.s1.15 # The Rashtrakutas and their Times c19.s1.15 The Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their Times c19.s1.15 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s1.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.altekar-1934.c19.s1.15) The latter part of this statement is incorrect, but it may have been probably intended to mean that the infantry was mostly recruited from the mountainous tribes inhabiting the Vindhya and Sahya ranges, as was later the case in the Maratha Empire. The cavalry battalions in the army could not have been insignificant, for the Rāṣṭrakūṭas had very often to face the Gurjara Pratihāra armies, which were particularly strong in that arm. Govinda II was a great horseman (9) and the lightning all-India movements of Dhruva, Govinda III and Indra III presuppose a strong cavalry. The Deccan had no good breed of horse, and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas were probably importing their army horses from Arabia, as was later the practice of a number of states. It may be interesting to note that most of the places mentioned in the Nītivākyāmṛta as famous for their breed of horse are trans-Indian and that the first variety mentioned in that work is that of the Tājika i. e. the Arabian horse. At the time of Marco Polo the kingdom of Thana used to import its army horses from Arabia; the traffic in horses was so great in the 13th and 14th centuries that no ship came to India without horses in addition to other cargo.(11) The Vijayanagara rulers also had to rely on Arabia for their army horses. The same, therefore, was almost certainly the case in our period as well. This dependence on Arabia for the supply of the needs of the cavalry may have been one of the main reasons that induced the Rāṣṭrakūṭas to maintain friendly relations with the Muslim traders residing in their dominions. - [Previous: c19.s1.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.altekar-1934.c19.s1.14) - [Next: c19.s1.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.altekar-1934.c19.s1.16) - [Up: c19.s1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.altekar-1934.c19.s1) ## Linked texts (1) - [Nītivākyāmṛta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.nitivakyamrta) — Somadevasūri, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.altekar-1934.c19.s1.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.altekar-1934.c19.s1.15) · Pramāṇa