History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s6.26

v3.c33.s6.26

Looking to the opponents of Mahmud, we do not find any men of great capacities as general or organiser. Jaipal no doubt acquitted himself honourably and valiantly in the task before him. But what was there to prevent him from organising a strong army when he became aware of the danger? Indeed what was there to prevent him from the beginning from maintaining a powerful army against all eventualities? It is the first duty of every king or state to maintain a strong army capable of defending the people against internal foes or external enemies. And Jaipal had ample materials at hand in men and money. Indeed Harsha who began with a moderately sized kingdom and who eventually conquered the whole of Northern India maintained an army, only one arm of which consisted of 60000 elephants. And he maintained this vast army without plundering any towns or temples. And yet he had immense riches to bestow in charity on Brahmins and Śramaṇas at his five-yearly alms-giving festivals at Prayāga. The great defect of the Hindu kings opposed to Mahmud both in Kabul and Kanauj was that they appear to have neglected their armies unlike their predecessors Bhima and Bhoja. The soldiers' pay, in the immortal words of Gibbon, was perhaps lavished on the endowment of temples and the decoration of idols; for we read of no large standing armies at both places. The Arab travellers of the tenth century A. D. recorded that India was famous for its armies. That fame was belied by the Indian kingdoms in the eleventh century. The kingdom of Kabul and the Panjab was extensive enough to support a strong army and Jaipal need not have sought the aid of neighbouring kings and collected a confederate force.. Even this confederate force failed because it had not a great general to lead it; a Duke of Wellington to match Napoleon.∗ It is sometimes thought that a confederate army can not fight with the strength of a single army. This is not true, as we actually find that confederate armies won on the plains of France both in the past and in the present century. There must be no doubt one controlling mind and we have stated that the confederate armies of India were under the single leadership of Jaipal or Anandapāla. But they failed because they were no match for Mahmud and they failed for other reasons also which we proceed to notice.