[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931) › v2.c31.182 # The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c31.182 The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c31.182 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c31.182](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c31.182) According to all accounts Maḥmūd gained much treasure,² by plundering the temple. According to the \*Zainul-Akhbār\* the treasure was found \*under\* (\*zīr\*) the idols. Probably it was buried in the raised platform (\*vedī\*) on which the images were set up. The romantic story first found in the \*Ta'rīkh-i-Alfī\* and later repeated by Firishta, in which Maḥmūd is said to have refused the offer of gold by the Brāhmans to spare the idol of Somnath, and breaking open with a single blow of his mace 'the belly of Sūmnāt which was hollow' was rewarded by the discovery of ''diamonds, rubies, and pearls, of much greater value than the amount which the Brāhmans had offered,'' has been rightly rejected as impossible.³ It seems very likely that the idol of Somnath was a 'solid unsculptured \*liṅga\*,' and not a statue. This is supported by the fact that Abu Sa'īd 'Abd ul-Ḥayy b. aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd al-Gardīzī our earliest authority on the invasion described the god as a stone (سنگ).⁴ Ibn Athīr also distinctly says that the idol 'had no appearance of being sculptured.'⁵ It is significant that we have no trace of this dramatic story in any authority till about 600 years after Maḥmūd. - [Previous: v2.c31.181](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c31.181) - [Next: v2.c31.183](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c31.183) - [Up: v2.c31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c31) ## Linked texts (1) - [Tārīkh-i Firishta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta) — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c31.182](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.ray-1931.v2.c31.182) · Pramāṇa