The Rashtrakutas and their Times c21.164

c21.164

Ibn Khurdadbā, who writes about the Deccan of our period, states :—"The kings and people of Hind regard fornication as lawful and wine as unlawful. This opinion prevails throughout Hind, but the king of Kumar (i. e. the territory round the Cape Kamorin ) holds both the fornication and the use of wine as unlawful".¹³⁰ This is an astounding statement, since fornication has been unanimously regarded by all the Smriti writers, both old and new, as one of the most heinous crimes. A still more astounding assertion has been made by another Muslim merchant, Al-Idrisi, who states that in the country of Balharā (i. e. Gujarat of the 12th century A.D. ) concubinage is permitted with all women except the married ones, and that a man may have intercourse with his daughter, sister or aunt, provided they are unmarried.¹³¹ Both these statement have to be classed under the category of the travellers' tales.¹³²