Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.s5.35
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarát c19.s5.35
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- English
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This was specially marked in the Râshtrakûta towns where besides free use of mosques and Jâma mosques Musalmân magistrates or kâzis were appointed to settle disputes among Musalmâns according to their own laws.¹ Toleration was not peculiar to the Balhâras. Al Bîrûni records² that in the ninth century (A.D. 581) when the Hindûs recovered Sindân (Sanjân in Kachh) they spared the assembly mosque where long after the Faithful congregated on Fridays praying for their Khalifah without hindrance. In the Balhâra country so strongly did the people believe in the power of Islâm or which is perhaps more likely so courteous were they that they said that our king enjoys a long life and long reign is solely due to the favour shown by him to the Musalmâns. So far as the merchant Sulaimân saw in the ninth century the chief religion in Gujarât was Buddhism. He notices that the principles of the religion of China were brought from India and that the Chinese ascribe to the Indians the introduction of Buddhas into their country. Of religious beliefs metempsychoses or re-birth and of religious practices widow-burning or sati and self-torture seem to have struck him most.³ As a rule the dead were buried.⁴ Sulaimân represents the people of Gujarât as steady abstemious and sober abstaining from wine as well as from vinegar, 'not' he adds 'from religious motives but from their disdain of it.'⁵ Among their sovereigns the desire of conquest was seldom the cause of war.⁶ Abu Zaid (A.D.
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916) describes the Brâhmans as Hindus devoted to religion and science. Among Brâhmans were poets who lived at kings' courts, astronomers, philosophers, diviners, and drawers of omens from the flight of crows.⁷ He adds: 'So sure are the people that after death they shall return to life upon the earth, that when a person grows old he begs some one of his family to throw him into the fire or to drown him.'⁸ Ibn Abu Zaid's time (A.D. 916) the Hindûs did not seclude their women. Even the wives of the kings used to mix freely with men and attend courts and places of public resort unveiled.⁹ According to Ibni Khurdâdbah (A.D. 912) India has forty-two religious sects 'part of whom believe in God and his Prophet (on whom be peace) and part who deny his mission.'¹⁰ Ibni Khurdâdbah (A.D. 912) describes the Hindûs as divided into seven classes. Of these the first are Thâkarias¹¹ or Thâkurs of high caste from whom kings are chosen and to whom men of the other classes render homage, the second are the Barâhimas¹² who abstain from wine and fermented liquors; the third are the Katariya or Kshatriyas who drink not more than three cups of wine; the fourth are the Sudaria or Shûdras husbandmen by profession; the fifth are the Baisura or Vaish artificers and domestics; the sixth Sandalias or Chandâls menials; and the seventh the 'Lahûd,' whose women adorn themselves and whose men are fond of amusements and games of skill.
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Both among the people and the kings of Gujarât¹³ wine was "unlawful and lawful" that is it was not used though no religious rule forbad its use. According to Al Masúdi (A.D. 943) a general opinion prevailed that India was the earliest home of order and wisdom. The Indians chose as their king the great Bráhmans who ruled them for 366 years. His descendants retain the name of Bráhman and are honoured as the most illustrious caste. They abstain from the flesh of animals.¹ Hindu kings cannot succeed before the age of forty nor do they appear in public except on certain occasions for the conduct of state affairs. Royalty and all the high offices of state² are limited to the descendants of one family. The Hindus strongly disapprove of the use of wine both in themselves and in others not from any religious objection but on account of its intoxicating and reason-clouding qualities.³ Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) quoted by Rashid-ud-din (A.D. 1310) states that the people of Gujarát are idolators and notices the great penance-pilgrimages to Somnáth details of which have already been given.⁴ Al Idrisi (end of the eleventh century) closely follows Ibni Khurdádhah's (A.D. 912) division of the people of India. The chief exception is that he represents the second class, the Bráhmans, as wearing the skins of tigers and going about staff in hand collecting crowds and from morn till eve proclaiming to their hearers the glory and power of God.
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He makes out that the Kastaríya or Kshatriyas are able to drink three ratl (a ratl being one pound troy) of wine and are allowed to marry Bráhman women. The Sabdalíya or Chandal women, he says, are noted for beauty. Of the forty-two sects he enumerates worshippers of trees and adorers of serpents, which they keep in stables and feed as well as they can, deeming it to be a meritorious work. He says that the inhabitants of Kambáya are Buddhists (idolators) and that the Balhára also worships the idol Buddha.⁷ The Indians, says Al-Idrísi⁸ (end of the eleventh century) are naturally inclined to justice and in their actions never depart from it. Their reputation for good faith, honesty, and fidelity to their engagements brings strangers flocking to their country and aids its prosperity. In illustration of the peaceable disposition of the Hindus, he quotes the ancient practice of dahái or conjuring in the name of the king, a rite which is still in vogue in some native states. When a man has a rightful claim he draws a circle on the ground and asks his debtor to step into the circle in the name of the king. The debtor never fails to step in nor does he ever leave the circle without paying his debts. Al Idrisi describes the people of Nahrwára as having so high a respect for oxen that when an ox dies they bury it. "When enfeebled by age or unable to work they provide their oxen with food without exacting any return."⁹