Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.s2.t1.16

c19.s2.t1.16

The trade in horses⁴ from the Persian isles and coast and from Katif, Lahsa, Bahrein, and Hurmuz was so great that during the reign of Atábak Abu Bakr⁵ (A.D. 1154-1189) 10,000 horses worth 2,20,000 dinárs (Rs. 1,10,00,000) were imported into Cambay and the ports of Malabár. These enormous sums were not paid out of the government treasuries but from the endowments of Hindu temples and from taxes on the courtezans attached to them.⁶ The same author mentions the conquest of Gujarát and the plunder of Kambáyat by Malik Muiz-ud-din (called by Farishtah Alf and by Barni U'lugh meaning the great Khán.) The Tárikh-i Firúz Sháhi states that Nasrat Khán and not U'lugh Khán took and plundered Cambay and notices that in Cambay Nasrat Khán purchased Káfúr Hazár Dinári (the thousand Dinár Káfur), the future favourite minister and famous general of Alá-ud-din. About fifty years later the hot-headed Muhammad bin Tughlak (A.D. 1325-1351) was in Cambay quelling an insurrection and collecting the arrears of Cambay revenue.⁷