History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s4.10

v3.c33.s4.10

That there was a kingdom at Thanesar is probable, as Al-Beruni mentions Thanesar in his geographical chapter. (Strange-ly enough he mentions Thanesar once between the Jumna and the Ganges and again in the place where it should properly come; probably the first name has to be corrected). There was also a famous deity at Thanesar and there is one even now. Mahomedan later writers name it Jagsom, a word which can-not be reduced to its Sanskrit equivalent. Here was the ancient kingdom of Pratāpavardhana, father of Harsha the last Bud-dhist emperor of Northern India. Mahmud is said to have undertaken this expedition against Thanesar to take possession of some celebrated elephants which Utbi calls by the name of Silmān, while later writers call them Moslem, as they bent down, in prayer as it were, like Mahomedans, in jenuflexion. Probably all the motives for Mahmud's expeditions were present viz: desire of obtaining plunder, of breaking a famous idol and of subjugating an adjacent kingdom. Utbi describes this expedition as follows (p. 394-5): “Accordingly the Sultan marched towards Thanesar with an army educated in the chamber of the sacred war and passed a desert so dreadful that a bird would not fly over its atmosphere. But providence granted aid and they came to that place. Before them they found a running stream full of water, lofty mountains and ground full of impracticable stones. The enemy retired into the mountains. The Sultan crossed the river by two fords and attacked the enemy and (by evening) scattered them among the rocks. And as for the stamping elephants which constituted their confidence they left them on the spot. The Sultan's elephants went after them and brought them to the Sultan's halting place. The army shed so much blood that the water of the river became undrinkable.”