Sulaimán

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Sulaimán (851 A.D.) or Sulaiman or Sulaiman Nadwi was an Arab merchant traveler. He has given the account of his travels, who embarked on the Persian Gulf, and made several voyages to India and China. This bears the date 237 A.H. (851 A.D.).[1]He has mentioned about Jat Kings:Balhará, Káshbín etc.

Introduction to Sulaiman

Sir H. M. Elliot[2] writes that The title which Renaudot gave to his book is not quite accurate. He speaks of two travellers, while there was only one who wrote an account of his own travels. The basis of the work and that which bears in the text the title of Book I, is the account written by a merchant named Sulaimán, who embarked on the Persian Gulf, and made several voyages to India and China. This bears the date 237 A.H. (851 A.D.). The second part of the work was written by Abú Zaidu-l Hasan, of Síráf, a connoisseur, who, although he never travelled in India and China, as he himself expressly states, made it his business to modify and complete the work of Sulaimán, by reading, and by questioning travellers to those countries. Mas'údí met this Abú Zaid at Basra, in 303 A.H. (916 A.D.), and acknowledges to have derived information from him, some of which he reproduced in


[p.3]: his "Meadows of Gold,"1 as a comparison of the following extracts will show. On the other hand, Abú Zaid was indebted to Mas'údí for some of his statements. He never mentions him by name, but refers to him as a "trustworthy person." The two works have much in common, but Mas'údí is generally more detailed. Abú Zaid finishes his work with these words:

"Such is the most interesting matter that I have heard, among the many accounts to which maritime adventure has given birth. I have refrained from recording the false stories which sailors tell, and which the narrators themselves do not believe. A faithful account although short, is preferable to all. It is God who guides us in the right way."

On Jats

Ram Swarup Joon[3] writes that The Balhara (Balahara) gotra is found among the Sikh, Muslim and Hindu Jats. In 900 A. D. a King of this gotra was a powerful ruler in the Western Punjab. He has been greatly praised by historian Sulaiman Nadwi, who came to India as a trader. According to him this ruler was one of the four big rulers of world at the time (857 A.D.). He was a friend of the Arabs and his army had a large number of elephants and camels. His country was called Kokan (Kaikan) 'near river Herat. The boundaries of this Kingdom extended from China to the Sea and his neighbors were the Takshak and Gujar kings. Their capital was Mankir.

कुसवान

ठाकुर देशराज[4] ने लिखा है....कुसवान - इन लोगों को सुलेमान ने कशविन के नाम से याद किया है और रंग के गोरे बताए हैं। यह कुशान लोगों के उत्तराधिकारी थे। पीछे यह पंजाब को छोड़कर बीकानेर की ओर बढ़ गए थे।

References


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