The Rashtrakutas and their Times c22.9

c22.9

Far more valuable than the mines of copper were the mines of precious stones, that were actively worked with great profit during our period. Cudappah, Bellary, Karnul, and the Krishna valley near Golconda, continued to yield rich harvests in diamonds till a much later time, as we know from Marco Polo, (12) Ibn Batuta (13) and Tavernier (14). At the time of Ibn Batuta Deogiri, which was then till quite recently the capital of the Deccan, was a famous centre of the jewelry trade; (15) during our period Malkhed, the Rāṣṭrakūṭa capital, which was much nearer the diamond fields, must similarly have been the main market for the precious stones unearthed in the mines mentioned above. Tavernier, writing in the 17th century, says that the port of Goa had formerly a large export trade in jewelry; but whether this former period mentioned by him can go back to our age is doubtful.