History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s1.6

v3.c33.s1.6

In the first place the reason why Raverty was led to suggest this new theory appears to be that Wamand was read in Nasiri for Wahind where the statement is made that "On the day Mahmud was born, an idol-temple in Wamand in Pershaur on the Indus fell." Raverty supposed that this temple was to the east of the Indus and he made an attempt to read the name Wamand in several ways. It may be noted that in Persian and probably even in Arabic writing, the absence of dots defeats the correct pronunciation of Indian names; as b, p, t, n as also v, and d, and h, ch and j are often not to be distinguished. And Col. Raverty finally fixed upon Bathinda as the proper pronunciation of the name and took hint for this from a Persian history of the Rajas of Jammu written by a Hindu author, wherein was found the statement that Jaipal's capital and place of residence was Bathinda. Now no reference is given to this history, nor is its date mentioned and it is possible that even here Bathinda is a misreading, or miswriting in the Persian copy, of an original Wahind. Nay more, since the Jammu chronicler appears to be a modern writer and not a contemporary of Mahmud, he must have taken this statement from some previous Persian history and himself read Bathinda wrongly for Ohind or Wahind. It is to be wondered how Col. Raverty was misled by this Jammu chronicle and it is still more to be wondered how Sir Vincent Smith was misled by this note of Col. Raverty. We proceed to give in detail the arguments which arise against this view.