The history of India : as told by its own historians. Volume II/I. Tarikhu-l Hind of Biruni
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Sir H. M. Elliot Edited by John Dowson, 1867
Volume II: To the Year A.D. 1260
I. Tarikhu-l Hind of BiruniPage 1- 5
Abu Rihan1 Muhammad bin Ahmad Al Biruni al Khwarizmi, was born2 about A.H. 360, A.D. 970-1. He was an astronomer, geometrician, historian, and logician. He was so
1. Raihan would, be more correct, according to the Kamus. In Biigg' s Firishta (p. 113), the name is strangely perverted into " Anvury Khan."
2. The place of his birth is disputed. His earliest biographer is Shahrazuri, who, in his Tawarikh-i Hukama, written shortly after Biruni's death, says that he was born at Birunn, in Sind, "a beautiful city full of excellent and marvellous things." He has been followed by Haji Khalfa, by Ibn Abn Ussaibiah, and by Abu-l Fida., on the authority of Ibn Sa'id, M. Reinaud also states that he was a Sindian. Yet, where is this city of Birun in Sind ? There is a Nirun, or Nirun Kot, near the site of the present city of Haidarabad, corresponding in position with the Birun indicated by Abil-1 Fida., which probably has had its first letter altered by a transposition of the vowel point. But M. Reinaud (p. 195) is distinct in condemning Capt. McMurdo and other English writers who, following Idrisi, read Nirun for Birun. Abu-l Fida's reading cannot be disputed, for he not only gives, but describes the nature of, the diacritical point, and all that can be said against him is that he never was in India, and that he derived his information from others. (See Vol. I. Appx. p. 396.) In the Kitabu-l Ansab by Sam'ani, a book of very great authority, written a.h. 562, A.D. 1166, Biruni is derived from the Persian, and made to apply to any one born out of Khwarizm. Some authorities distinctly assert that he was born at Birun, a town of Khwarizm, but I know not if the existence of such a town has been established. Birunl in his Indian Geography takes little notice of Sind, and says nothing of his birthplace. [The passage quoted from the "Quarterly Review," {infra p. 3) seems to decide the question, for Biruni is there said to be a native of Khwarizm, and the whole tenor of the article confirms the statement.]
[p.2]: studious that Shamsu-d din Muhammad Shahrazuri, his earliest biographer, tells us "he never had a pen out of his hand, nor his eye ever off a book, and his thoughts were always directed to his studies, with the exception of two days in the year, namely Nauroz [New Year's day at the vernal equinox], and Mihrjan [the autumnal equinox], when he was occupied, according to the command of the Prophet, in procuring the necessaries of life on such a moderate scale as to afford him bare sustenance and clothing."
[As a logician he obtained the sobriquet of "Muhahldk" or "the exact," on account of the rigorous precision of his deductions]. 1
[Abu-l Fazl Baihaki who lived about half a century after Al Biruni, says, " Bu Rihan was beyond comparison, superior to every man of his time in the art of composition, in scholarlike accomplishments, and in knowledge of geometry and philosophy. He had, moreover, a most rigid regard for truth ; " and Rashidu-d din, in referring to the great writer from whom he has borrowed so much, says " The Master Abu Rihan al Biruni excelled all his cotemporaries in the sciences of philosophy, mathematics, and geometry. He entered the service of Mahmud bin Subuktigin, and in the course of his service he spent a long time in Hindustan and learned the language of the country. Several of the provinces of India were visited by him. He was on friendly terms with many of the great and noble of that country, and so acquired an intimate knowledge of their books of philosophy, religion, and belief. The best and most excellent of all their books upon the arts and sciences is one resembling the work of Shaikh Rais Abu 'Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna). It is called Batakal, or in Arabic Batajal ; this book he translated into Arabic. Prom this work also he extracted a great deal which he made use of in his Kanun Mas'udi, a work upon mathematics and geometry, named after the Sultan Mas'ud. All that the sages of India have said about numbers, ages, and eras (tawarikh), has been exactly given by Abu Rihan in his translation of the Batakah"]
- 1. Memoire sur l' Inde, p. 29.
[p.3]: He was indebted to the Sultan of Khwarizm for the opportunity of visiting India, for he was appointed by him to accompany the embassies which he sent to Mahmud of Ghazni. Al Farabi and Abu-l Khair joined one of these embassies, but the famous Avicenna, who was invited to accompany them, refused to go, being, as it is hinted, averse to enter into controversy with Abu Rihan, with whom he differed on many points of science, and whose logical powers he feared to encounter. [On the invitation of Mahmud, Abu Rihan entered into his service, an invitation which Avicenna declined. It was in the suite of Mahmud and of his son Mas'ud that] Abu Rihan travelled into India, and he is reported to have staid forty years there ; but if we may judge from some errors that he has committed in his geographical description of the country, such as placing Thanesar in the Doab, it would appear that he never travelled to the east of Lahore.1 Abu Rihan died in A.H. 430, A.D. 1038-9.
He wrote many works, and is said to have executed several translations from the Greek, and to have epitomised the Almagest of Ptolemy. His works are stated to have exceeded a camel-load, insomuch that it was supposed by devout Muhammadans that he received divine aid in his compositions. Those most spoken of are astronomical tables, a treatise on precious stones, one on Materia Medica, an introduction to astrology, a treatise on chronology, and the famous Kanunu-l Mas'udi, an astronomical and geographical work frequently cited by Abu-l Fida, especially in his tables of Lat. and Long. For this last work he received from the Emperor Mas' ud an elephant-load of silver, which, how-ever, he returned to the Royal Treasury, " a proceeding contrary to human nature," according to the testimony of Shahrazuri.
[An accomplished writer in a late number of the " Quarterly Review," observes : " Abu Rihan a native of the country (of Khwarizm) was the only early Arab writer who investigated the antiquities of the East in a true spirit of historical criticism," and he proceeds to give some examples of his knowledge of ancient
- 1 See note Vol. I. p. 353.
[p.4]: technical chronology which are of the highest importance in establishing the early civilization of the Arian race. According to this reviewer, Abu Rihan says, " the solar calendar of Khwarizm, was the most perfect scheme for measuring time with which he was acquainted, and it was maintained by the astronomers of that country, that both the solar and the lunar zodiacs bad originated with them ; the divisions of the signs in their systems being far more regular than those adopted by the Greeks or Arabs. * * * Another statement of Abu Rihan's asserts that the Khwarizmians dated originally from an epoch anterior by 980 years to the era of the Seleucidse (equal to B.C. 1304), a date which agrees pretty accurately with the period assigned by our best scholars to the invention of the Jyotisha or Indian calendar." 1 This most curious and interesting information, for which we are indebted to the writer in the " Quarterly," raises higher than ever the reputation of Abu Rihan, and must intensify the desire so long felt for a complete translation of his extant works.]
The names of his writings are given in full by Reiske in the Supplement to the Bibl. Or. on the authority of Abu Ussaibiah. The work by which he is best known, and which to the cultivator of Indian history is the most important, of all his works is the Tarikhu-1 Hind in Arabic. A manuscript of this work, or of a portion of it, is in the Imperial Library, Paris {Fonds Ducaurroy, No. 22), and from this MS. M. Reinaud extracted two chapters which he published in the Journal Asiatique, and separately in his "Fragments Arabes et Perxans inedits relatifs a l' Inde anterieurement au xi. siecle de l'ere Chreyieime." [The work, according to M. Reinaud, was written in India in 1031 A.D., and he observes upon it — " Cet ecrit est un tableau de l'etat litteraire et scienti-fique de la presqu'ile, au moment ou les armees musulmanes y penetrerent pour la premiere fois. On y voit successivement apparaitre les principaux travaux litt^raires, philosophiques et astronomiques des Indiens, le tableau de leurs eres, la maniere
1 "Quarterly Review," No. 240, p. 490.
[p.5]: dont lis comptaient les jours, les raois, les annfe et les cycles."1 Sir H. Rawlinson possesses a MS. of a part of Al Biruni's works,]2 and there is a manuscript of some portions thereof mentioned by M. Hsenel as existing in the Library of the Arsenal at Paris. This MS. appears to be the one noticed by D'Herbelot in the article Athar, [and to be the same as that " which was formerly much referred to by M. Quatremere under the title 'Athar el Bakieth.'"3] The Tarikhu-l Hind is not known at all in India, and M. Reinaud states that it is not mentioned in any of the bibliographical works in Arabic which have come under his observation. It will be seen hereafter that Abu-l Fazl Baihaki attributes to him another work, " A History of Khwarizm," which is noticed by M. Fraehn in his catalogue.4
The Tarikhu-l Hind treats of the literature and science of the Indians at the commencement of the eleventh century. It does not bear the name of the author, but we learn from it, that he accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni ; that he resided many years in India, chiefly, in all probability, in the Panjab, studied the Sanskrit language, translated into it some works from the Arabic, and translated from it two treatises into Arabic. This statement is confirmed by Abu-1 Faraj, in his " Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Authors." Biruni says, towards the end of his preface, " I have translated into Arabic two Indian works, one discusses the origin and quality of things which exist, and is entitled Sankhya, the other is known under the title of Patanjali, which treats of the deliverance of the soul from the trammels of the body. These two works contain the chief principles of the Indian Creed."6
Neither the original nor the translation of this work [presumed
1 Mem sur l' Inde, p. 30.]
2. [This fact, and the general character of the article in the " Review," which probably no one else in Europe could have written, afford sufficient indication of the writer, Sir H. Rawlinson.]
3. [" Quarterly Review," No. 240, p. 490, note; Mem sur l' Inde, p. 30.]
4. Indications Bibl. p. 28.
5 [See Note, next page.]
6. Reinaud's Fragments, p. .xiii.
Page 6-10
[p.6]: to be that] of Patanjala has descended to us ; but as M. Reinaud observes, the declaration quoted in the preceding paragraph serves to indicate the author of the Tarikhu-l Hind, which other circumstances would have rendered extremely probable. Rashidu-d din, in his history, quotes as one of the works to which he is indebted for his information, an Arabic version of " the Batakal," made by Al-Biruni.1 Binakiti also mentions this translation of the
1 [The Sanskrit work translated by Abu Rihan has, upon this identification made by Reinaud, been unhesitatingly believed to have been the production of the sage Patanjali, a well-known philosopher and Vedic commentator and grammarian (Muller's Sanskrit Lit. p. 235). The description given of that work by Abu Riban accords very well with the sage's writings ; but the specimens which we have of the work in the published fragments of Al Biruni, and in their reproduction by Rashidu-d din are of a very different character. The latter writer says it was a book upon the arts and sciences, containing all that the sages of India have written about numbers, ages, and eras, and accordingly we find the book cited upon questions of chronology and geography. In the Extract printed by M. Reinaud, the word is given distinctly as " Batanjali," but I have not found it so written in any of the MSS. of the Jami'u-t Tawarikh or of Binakiti. The MS. of the E. I. Library says " the name of the book is .... arabic ? which in Arabic they write ....arabic?. In the passage translated and printed in Vol. I. p. 44, it is written ....arabic ? and in another arabic ? The Lucknow MS. arabic ? and arabic ? The Arabic MS. is equally explicit and says — arabic ?
"The word Batajal is the Arabic form of what in the original is Batakal." (Judging from analogy there is but one letter between the alif and the Jim, for the t is so found written in words about which there can be no doubt, as arabic ? Here we have the remarkable fact that the Arabic form of the name (Batajal or Batanjal) is more like the presumed Sanskrit original (Patanjali) than the word Bitakal or Batankal, which is given as the exact or nearest transcription of that original word. Mr. Morley found the word written Banatakal or Batanakal in two manuscripts of Binakiti (Jour. E. A. S. VI. 26). In the E. As. Soo.'s copy of Bin&kiti it is written arabic ? A Persian note prefixed to the MS. No. 16 of the R. As. Society, and translated by Dr. Duncan Forbes, says, " After Abu Rihan had made thorough proficiency in the sciences of the Indian philosophers, he translated from the Indian language into the Arabic tongue, the book of Patankal, or Patanjal [arabic ?] which is a collection of all the sciences, and one of the most valuable works of the sages of Hind. *** To this work he gave the name of Patanjal, [arabic ?] a copy of which he carried away with him." — (Forbes, Jour. R.A.S. VI. p. 38.) This note would seem to have been drawn from Rashidu-d din's notice of Abu Rihan above quoted— and the spelling of the name of the book is identically the
[p.7]: work, and says that Biruni included the translation in the Kanunu-1 Mas'udi,1 but a close examination of the Kanun does not confirm this, for there is nothing special about India in the work.
The two chapters of his work, edited by M. Reinaud, relate to the eras and geography of India. Like the Chinese travels of Fa-hian and Hwen Tsang, they establish another fixed epoch to which we can refer for the determination of several points relating to the chronology of this country. We learn from them that the Harivansa Purana, which the most accomplished orientalists have hitherto ascribed to a period not anterior to the eleventh century, was already quoted in Biruni's time as a standard authority, and that the epoch of the composition of the five Siddhantas no longer admits of question, and thus the theories of Anquetil du Perron and Bentley are demolished for ever.2
The extract from the Tarihhu-l Hind given below is of great historical interest. The succession of the last princes of Kabul
same as in the MS. of the E. I. Library. It thus appears very questionable whether the sage Patanjali is really the author referred to, but at any rate it is certain that no Sanskrit work bearing his name has yet been discovered which at all corresponds to the hook used by Abu Rihan. If a guess may be ventured on, the final syllable kal is possibly the Sanskrit kala, "time."]
1. M. Reinaud (p. 97) says of this work that "unfortunately it has not come down to us." It appears to have escaped him that nearly the entire first volume exists in the Bodleian Library, collated with the autograph of the author, and dated as far back as A.D. 1083. The contents of that volume are given in Drs. Nicoll's and Pusey's Catalogue. In the notes to that article the learned Doctors have surely taken very unnecessary trouble to write elaborate remarks upon Arin (arabic?) , which can be no other place than Ujain, in Malwa, which by Biladuri (Vol. I. p. 126), and the early Arabic authors was written (arabic?) as being more in conformity with Ptolemy, who calls it by the name of ..... [There is a copy of the Kanunu-l Mas'udi among Sir H. Elliot's MSS.]
2. Compare Reinaud's Fragments, Mem. sur VInde, p. 29-239, and Abou-l Feda, I. xcv. ; Sprenger's Mas'udi, p. 154 ; Casii'i, BiUioth. AraUoo-Hispana, Tom. i. p. 322; D'Herbelot, mU. Or. Tom. i. pp. 45, 407, 496, and Tom. iv. pp. 697, 722. Greg. AbulfaragU Hist. Dynast, p. 229 ; Wiistenfeld, Abulfeda Tah. Geogr. p. 77 ; Biographic Univ. s. v. De Rossi, Dizionario Storico degli Autori Arabi, s. v. Nicoll and Pusey, Bodl. Cod. MSS. Or. Cat. Arab. pp. 263, 360-363, 552 : Fliigel, De Interpretibus, No. 76. "Wiistenfeld, Arabische Aerzte, No. 129 ; As. Res. vi. 537, ix. 195 ; Rampoldi, v. 510, vi. 535; Geiniilde-saal, iv. 160 ; Mod. Vniv.Hist.lUbl .
[p.8]: given there, though not in accordance with the statements of Mirkhond and other Persian historians, yet, being dependent on the contemporary testimony of Biruni, is of course more trust-worthy than that of subsequent compilers, and is moreover confirmed by the Jami'u-t Tawarikh. With respect to this table of succession, the ingenuity of the French editor induced him to surmise that it probably represented a series of Brahman princes who succeeded in subverting a Buddhist dynasty of Turks, and to whom should be attributed certain coins of a peculiar type which numismatists had previously some difficulty in assigning to their true masters. M. A. Longperier has confirmed this opinion by certain arguments, which have been printed as an appendix to M. Reinaud's work, and he has been ably followed by Mr. E. Thomas, B.C.S., who has published a paper in the "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,"1 respecting the proper attribution of this series. The result is that we are able to trace Brahman kings of Kabul to the beginning of the tenth century, about A.D. 920, and thus clear up the mist which enveloped a whole century of the Indian annals previous to Mahmud'a invasion.2
In the same paper Mr. Thomas observes that the word Hamira, so long supposed to be a proper name, and so eagerly sought for among the Hindu kings of India, proves to be an abbreviation of the full title of the Khalif of Baghdad, — Amiru-l Mmuminin, — continued by the Muhammadans in this curtailed form from the Arabic reverses of their own Ghazni money, when they adopted the style of coin found current in the countries they had subdued. "The abbreviation of the full titles of the Khalif into Sri Hamira will be seen," says Mr. Thomas, " to be necessary, as the space occupied by the device did not admit of the introduction of many more Hindi letters of the size it was the custom to employ." But this supposed abbreviation is disproved by examining the gold coins of Muhammad Ghori, on one of
1. Vol. ix. p. 194 ; [see also his Prinsep, I. 331.]
2. See note in Appendix on "The Hindu Kings of Kabul."
[p.9]: which, in the possession of General Cunningham, Sri Hamir is ascribed as the title of the king, not of the Khalif. The legend on one side only (not on two sides) is Sri Hamir Muhammad Sdmi. On the copper coins Sri Hamir is on the reverse, but the purport of the expression is fully shown by the position it occupies on the gold coins. Amir is used by Baihaki as equivalent to Sultan, and that is no doubt the use of it in all these places. The legend of Sri Samant Deo on many of this series of coins, upon which so much stress is laid, as indicative of Samant's power as one of the chief founders of the dynasty, does not seem to have reference to that prince, but to be an honorary title as-sumed by the reigning prince, meaning the "fortunate warrior;" otherwise it certainly would not have been stamped on the coins of Prithi Raj, who lived 250 years later, and was not, like Samant, a Brahman, but a Chauhan Rajput, and proud of his lineage.1
Extract.2
Kabul was formerly governed by princes of the Turkish race. It is said that they were originally from Tibet. The first of them, who was named Barhtigin, dwelt, when he arrived at Kabul, in a cave, in which no one could enter except by crawling on all fours. The cave contained a spring, and he provided him-self therein with food for some days. This cave is now well known by the name of Bakar, and is entered by those persons who wish to obtain the blessing which a visit to it is supposed to confer, and bring out some of the water, not without much difficulty. Groups of peasants used to labour near the entrance of the cave. Such a thing (as remaining in the cave without food)
1 [See Mr. Thomas' reply to this, Prinsep I. 331, and "Jour. R. A. S." xvii. 170; extracts from which will be found in the Appendix to this Volume.
2. [Sir H. Elliot himself prepared this Extract for the press from M. Reinaud's French version, comparing that as he went on with the Arabic text. The Editor has made no alteration in the translation, except the substitution of "Barhtigin" for "Barkatztur," as the name appeared in the first edition. In Sir H. Elliot's draft translation the word is written "Barhatgin," but the copyist or printer read " Barkatzur," as an ignorant person might well do.]
[p.10]:
could not be practised without the connivance of some one. The people who were in league with Barhtigin engaged the peasants to labour without ceasing, relieving each other night and day, by which it happened that the place was constantly surrounded. After some days, Barhtigin came all of a sudden out of the cave,1 and the men who were near the entrance saw him appear as one just born, clothed as a Turk, with a tunic, cap, boots, and armed from head to foot. He was looked upon as a wondrous person, and destined for empire. So he rendered himself master of the kingdom of Kabul, which continued in his family for sixty generations.
The Indians attach little importance to the sequence of events, and neglect to record the dates of the reigns of their kings. When they are embarrassed, they are silent. I will here mention what I have heard some people of the country say. It is true, according to what I have heard, that the succession of these reigns was written on a piece of silk, which was found in the fortress of Nagarkot. I vehemently desired to read this writing, but different circumstances prevented me.
Among the number of these kings was Kanak,2 who founded the Vihar at Peshawar, which bears his name. It is said that the Rai of Kanauj offered to this prince, among other presents, a piece of cloth of excellent texture, and of a new kind, of which Kanak wished to make a dress. But the tailor refused to make up the garment, saying, " I see the figure of a human foot, and notwithstanding all my endeavours, still the foot will come between the shoulders."
1. He seems to have imposed upon the credulous people by the same means which are even now practised in the west of India. Lieut. Boileau in his " Personal Xar- rative of a Tour in Rajwarra" and Capt. Oshorne in his "Court and Camp of Runjeet Sing," gives an account of a man who allowed himself to be interred for a month. The former is circumstantial in his account, and seems to yield faith to the statement of his narrators. It is not improbable that the ancients alluded to this practice when they spoke of Indians who lived without food, and in caves. Aulus Gellius speaks of them as "gentem, apud extrema Indias nullo cibatu resceutem." Noct. Att. ix. 4. See also Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. iii. 45 ; Ctesiaj, Indie. Excerpt, xxiu. ; Grote's Grceee, III. 113.
2 [See Reinaud, Mem sur l' Inde, p. 73 ; Thomas' Prinsep, Index, Kanishka; see Cunningham, "Jour. Ben. As. Soc." Vol. xxiii.]
This bears a relation to the story which I have elsewhere narrated in the legend of Bal.
Kanak understood that the Rai of Kanauj intended to insult him, and to evince the small estimation in which he held him, so Kanak departed quickly with his army towards Kanauj. At this news the Rai of Kanauj was greatly embarrassed, not finding himself in a position to contend with the king of Kabul. He consulted with his minister, who said, " You have roused a man who was peaceably disposed, and an untoward act has been committed. Now cut off my nose and lips, and mutilate me, that I may search out a way of practising some artifice, since there are no means of open resistance."
The Rai did as his minister advised, and allowed him to depart to the frontier. When the army of Kabul met the minister, he made himself known, and was conducted to the presence of Kanak, who demanded of him how he was reduced to that (pitiable) condition. He replied, "I endeavoured to dissuade the Rai from contending with you, and recommended him to make his submission, but, charging me with collusion, he mutilated me. If you march by the road which lies before you, you will find it long. You will more easily arrive at your destination by encountering the difficulties of the desert between him and us, provided you can carry with you a supply of water for a few days." Kanak said, " This is easy." So he took with him water, as recommended, and was guided on his way by the minister, who preceded him when he entered the boundless desert. When some days had elapsed, and the king knew not his way, he enquired of the minister, who replied, " No rebuke can attach to me for seeking to secure the safety of my master, and the destruction of his enemy. The nearest way to escape from the desert is that by which you entered it. Do to me as you wish, but none of you can escape alive from this desert."
At these words Kanak mounted his horse, and urged it towards some low ground, in the midst of which he dug his spear, and water gushed out from it, which sufficed for the present and
[p.12]: future wants of the whole army. Then the minister said to the king, "I did not intend to practice deceit upon powerful angels, hut only upon weak men ; and since things have so turned out, accept my intercession, and pardon my gracious master. Kanak replied, "I now retrace my way, and grant your solicitation. Tour master has already received the punishment due to him."
Upon this the king returned to his country, and the minister to his master the Rai. But on his arrival he found that the Rai had been deprived of the use of his feet and hands on the self-same day that Kanak had planted his spear in the ground.1
The last of these kings was Laktúzamán, and his minister was Kalar, a Brahman. * * * Laktuzaman's thoughts and actions were evil, so that many complaints reached the minister, who loaded him with chains and imprisoned him for his correction. * * * So the minister established himself on the throne, and was succeeded by the Brahman Sámand, whose successor was [[Kamalava]], whose successor was Bhim, whose successor was Jaipal, whose successor was Anand Pal, whose successor was Nardajanpal,2 who ascended the throne A.H. 412. His son, Bhim Pal, succeeded him after the lapse of five years, and under him the sovereignty of India became extinct, and no descendant remained to light a fire on the hearth. These princes, notwithstanding the extent of their dominions, were endowed with excellent qualities, were faithful to their engagements, and gracious towards their inferiors. The letter which Anand Pal wrote to Amir Mahmud, at the time enmity existed between them, is much to be admired. "I have heard that the Turks have invaded your dominions, and have spread over Khurasan : if you desire it, I will join you with 5,000 Cavalry, 10,000, Infantry, and 100 Elephants; but if you prefer it, I will send my son with twice the number. In making this proposal, I
1. The story is told in the Jamiu-l Hikáyát, I. xii. 15, with some variations, [see post, the article on the Jámi'u-l Hikáyát]. anak's name is not mentioned, but the hero is Shah-i Zabulistan, i.e. King of Zabul, Sistan, Ghazni, etc.
2. [Reinaud says the MS. will admit of this name being read Tar-dajanpal, Tar- vajanpal, or Narvajanpal]
[p.13]: do not wish to ingratiate myself with you. Though I have vanquished you, I do not desire that any one else but myself should obtain the ascendancy."1 This prince was a determined enemy of the Musulmans from the time that his son Nardajanpal was taken prisoner, but his son was, on the contrary, well disposed towards them.2
1. This is translated somewhat differently by M. Reinaud, but the version here given seems more in conformity with the original Arabic.
2. [Mr. Thomas has brought forward strong evidence against the accuracy of this passage. He quotes the counterpart passage in the Persian and Arabic versions of the Jámi'u-t Tawárikh which says "And Kank returned to his country and was the last of the Katarman kings." So that the name of Laktúzamn would appear to be nothing more than an incorrect rendering of the designation of the tribe of Katur. — "Jour. R. A. S." is. 177 ; Prinsep, Vol. I. p. 315. It may he added that Reinaud's text gives the name as "Laktuzaman" in the first, but " Lakturzaman " in the second instance.]