History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.4

v3.c33.4

India to the Arab writers was always divided into Sind and Hind. Sind already conquered and turned into a Mahomedan kingdom was separate from Hind. The chief part of Hind was the middle land (Madhyadeśa as the Hindus called it), the country round Kanauj, which was not only the centre of Hind, geographically but politically also. “It was the capital and city of residence of the greatest king of India.” We have shown in Vol. I that the Pratihāra imperial family still ruled in Kanauj at the beginning of the eleventh century. Kanauj was the imperial capital of India from the days of Harsha and naturally became the centre of Hindu civilization, learning and art. Nearly four centuries of imperial importance had made Kanauj the centre of attraction for wealth, wisdom and valour. Naturally the geography of India is given by Al-Beruni by taking Kanauj as the centre. Rājaśekhara in his Kāvya-Mīmānsā indeed states that distances should be measured and directions given in reference to Kanauj, a remark borne out by Al-Beruni’s description. Antarvedi or the land between the Ganges and the Jumna was the central land of India and the natural starting point of description with the Āchāryas or ancient writers. But Kanauj was in the middle of Antarvedi and being the capital of the central empire and the place where Rājaśekhara resided, he gives the opinion:-“The territory between the Ganges and the Jumna to the east of Vinaśana and west of Prayāga is Antarvedi and with reference to it the directions should be given according to the Āchāryas. But Yāyāvara thinks that even in Antarvedi they should be given with reference to the city of Mahodaya."*