The Rashtrakutas and their Times c19.s1.49

c19.s1.49

No evidence is available to determine the exact strength of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa army. Muslim writers simply attest to its high prestige, but they are silent about its numerical strength. Al Masudi informs us that each of the four armies that were maintained in the four directions by the Gurjara-Pratīhāras was seven to nine lakhs in strength. (34) The reports of the strength of the armies of the various states in India that had reached the Muslim traders and travellers were often exaggerated; Sulaiman says (35) that the elephant force of the Pālas was 50,000 strong, but Ibn Khurdadba, a contemporary of his, observes that it was only 5000 strong. (36) Al Masudi no doubt states that the Bengal elephant force was reputed to be 50,000 strong, but adds that the reports in these matters were exaggerated. He refers to the report that there were 15,000 washermen in the camp of the Bengal ruler, in proof of his contention that no strict reliance could be placed on what one heard about these matters. The statement of Al Masudi that each of the four armies of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras was about eight lakhs in strength may be similarly exaggerated. It is, however, quite likely that Al Masudi may have based his statement about the strength of each of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra armies on the report of the strength of only one of them, which may have been strengthened in numbers by the temporary mobilisation of large forces from other fronts or armies. The total fighting force of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras may have been a million or a million and a quarter. The Rāṣṭrakūṭas had more than once crossed swords with them successfully and their forces too could not have been much less in numbers. Their civil administration was largely manned by military officers, and, therefore, it is not in the least unlikely, that they might have so arranged the matters as to raise easily an efficient fighting force of about a million, when critical battles had to be fought at several fronts. The Vijayanagar Empire of later period, with approximately equal resources, had an army of about a million.(37)