chapter 18

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[1234] After giving the distances in days or journeys the Text (page 102 Sachau's Text of Al Bírúni) does not particularise the distances of the places that follow in journeys or farsakhs.

[1235] Elliot's History of India, I. 67.

[1236] Abu Abdallah Muhammad Al Idrísi, a native of Ceuta in Morocco and descended from the royal family of the Idrísis of that country, settled at the court of Roger II. of Sicily, where and at whose desire he wrote his book The Nuzhat-ul-Mushták or The Seeker's Delight. Elliot's History of India, I: 74. Almost all Al Idrísi's special information regarding Sindh and Western India is from Al-Jauhari governor of Khurásán (A.D. 892-999), whose knowledge of Sindh and the Indus valley is unusually complete and accurate. Compare Reinaud's Abulfeda, lxiii.

[1237] Sir Henry Elliot's History of India, I. 77.

[1238] Bombay Gazetteer, II. 69.

[1239] Elliot's History of India, I. 76.

[1240] Elliot's History of India, I. 79.

[1241] Elliot's History of India, I. 79.

[1242] Elliot's History of India, I. 84.

[1243] The details of Kulámmali given by Al Kazwíni (A.D. 1263-1275) seem to show it is Quilon on the Malabár Coast. When a ruler died his successor was always chosen from China.

[1244] Elliot (I. 363-364) on the authority of Al Istakhri thinks that all the names Ámhal, Fámhal, Kámhal, and Mámhal are faulty readings of Anhal (Anhil)wára owing to irregularity in the position or absence of diacritical points.

[1245] This is probably Ránder, a very natural Arab corruption. Instance Al Bírúni's Ranjhur. See page 507 note 11 and page 520.

[1246] Rumála is mentioned at pages 14, 87, 92 and 93 volume I. of Elliot. It is first mentioned (page 14) by Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912) as one of the countries of Sindh. It is next mentioned by Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century according to Elliot, I. 74) as one of the places of the eighth section describing the coast of India, but is mentioned along with Nahrwára, Kandhár, and Kalbata (?). At page 92 (Ditto) the same writer (Idrísi) says that Kalbata and Rumála are on the borders of the desert which separates Multán from Sijistán. Again at page 93 (Ditto) Idrísi gives the distance between Kalbata and Rumála as a distance of three days.

[1247] Elliot's History of India, I. 84.

[1248] Sir H. Elliot's History of India, I. 85.

[1249] Elliot, I. 90-93.

[1250] Elliot's History of India, I. 89.

[1251] Zakariah Ibni Muhammad Al Kazwíni, a native of Kazwín (Kasbin) in Persia, wrote his Ásár-ul-Bilád or "Signs or Monuments of Countries" about A.H. 661 (A.D. 1263) compiling it chiefly from the writings of Al Istakhri (A.D. 951) and Ibni Haukal (A.D. 976). He also frequently quotes Misâr bin Muhalhil, a traveller who (A.D. 942) visited India and China. Sir Henry Elliot's History of India, I. 94.

[1252] Barbier De Meynard's Text of Al Masúdi's Les Prairies D'Or, I. 382.

[1253] Sir Henry Elliot misreads Tamraz for Al Bírúni's Arabic form of Narmaza. He says: It comes from the city of Tamraz and the eastern hills; it has a south-easterly course till it falls into the sea near Báhruch about 60 yojanas to the east of Somnáth. The literal translation of the text of Al Bírúni (see Sachau's Al Bírúni's India, 130) is that given above: It is hard to believe that the accurate Al Bírúni while in one place (see Sachau's Text, 99) giving the name of the Narbada faultlessly, should in another place fall into the error of tracing it from Tirmiz a city of Central Asia. A comparison of Elliot's version with the text sets the difficulty at rest. Compare Sir Henry Elliot's History of India, I. 49 and note 3 ditto and Sachau's Arabic Text of Al Bírúni, 180