CATALOGUE. 



Catalogue of Indian Earthquakes. 



a D. 



893 ? 894. ... India. — Under the year 893, A.D., in the catalogues of 



earthquakes, a very severe shock is stated to have occurred 

 in India. The capital is said to have heen destroyed, and 

 180,000 men to have perished ; preceded hy an eclipse of 

 the sun, &c, &c. And as authorities for this statement, 

 Ahul Faraj and Al Macin are quoted. I have, however, 

 been unable to find any reference to this earthquake in the 

 only edition of Abul Faraj to which I have access, 

 (Pocock's Translation, Oxford, 1663); nor can I see any 

 account of it in Al Macin (Erpenius' Translation, Leyden, 

 1625). But, on referring the question to my friend 

 Mr. Blochmann, he furnished me with the following refer- 

 ences : In the Tdrikliul Khulafd, or History of the 

 Caliphs, it is said: "And during this year (A. H. 280) 

 a letter came from Daibul that there was an eclipse of the 

 moon during the month of Shawwal, and that the next 

 morning the world was in darkness, which continued till 

 about 4 o'clock in the afternoon : and there blew a black 

 wind, which lasted till a third of the night had passed 

 away, and the wind was followed by a great earthquake 

 which caused the whole town to disappear. The number 

 of people which were dug out from the ruins was 150,000' 

 men." Again, in ' AlMmil-fi-l T&rikh by Ibn-ulathir 

 (possibly the largest historical work of the Arabians), it 

 is said: "And in the Shawwal of this year (A. H. 280) 

 there was an eclipse of the moon, and the people of Dabil 

 and the whole world awoke in darkness. And the dark, 

 ness lasted for a long time, and when it was 4 o'clock in 

 the afternoon there blew a black wind, 1 which continued 

 to a third part of the night. And when the third part of 

 the night had come, there was an earthquake, and the 

 town was destroyed, so that only about 100 houses 

 remained, and after this the earth shook five times more 



This may have been a drifting shower of volcanic ashes. 



( 165 ) 



