History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c16.s1.t5.42

c16.s1.t5.42

Unfortunately no Bāṇa or Yuan Chwang has left a detailed record of how Bhoja organised the defence and internal administration of so vast a country in order to prevent any of its component parts flying asunder, but we have some faint echoes coming from the writings of the Arab traveller Sulaiman, who thus alludes in 851 A. D. to the king of Juzr (Gurjara), identified by scholars with the great Pratihāra ruler of Kanauj : “This king maintains numerous forces, and no other Indian prince has so fine a cavalry. He is unfriendly to the Arabs, still he acknowledges that the king of the Arabs is the greatest of kings. Among the princes of India there is no greater foe of the Muhammadan faith than he. His territories form a tongue of land. He has got riches, and his camels and horses are numerous. Exchanges are carried on in his states with silver (and gold) in dust, and there are said to be mines (of these metals) in the country. There is no country in India more safe from robbers."¹ This brief notice is all that we possess about Bhoja’s government, but it suffices to prove that the country was rich in resources and strong in political power. The king stood forth as the champion of indigenous culture, and maintained large armies so as to ensure the safety of the citizens against both external and internal dangers. The last remark is specially noteworthy, and speaks highly of Bhoja’s administration, since we might recall here that even during the palmy days of Harṣa’s rule, the kingdom continued to be infested by brigands and Yuan Chwang was stripped by them more than once.