884 Note on Somndth. [Oct. 



of the tides was considered to be proof of this. From the most distant 

 parts of India pilgrims used to come to worship at this shrine: 

 10,000 villages were assigned for its support, and there were so many- 

 jewels belonging to it, as no king had ever one-tenth part of in his 

 treasury. Two thousand Brahmins served the idol, and a golden 

 chain of 200 muns supported a bell-plate, which being struck at 

 stated times called the people to worship ; 300 shavers, 500 dancing- 

 girls, and 300 musicians were on the idol's establishment, and received 

 support from the endowment and from the gifts of pilgrims. The Ganges 

 is a river to the east of Dehlee near Kanouj, which the Hindus be- 

 lieve to flow from heaven, and into which they throw the ashes of the 

 burned dead, conceiving that by so doing the sins of their lives are 

 washed away. Brahmins, drowning themselves in this stream, believe 

 that they secure eternal beatitude. Distant as the river is from 

 Somndth, still there were pilgrims employed in continually bringing its 

 water thither, so that the idol might be regularly washed with it. 



" In Hejira 416 Mahmud Ghaznavi invaded India and destroyed 

 all the idols ; whereupon the Hindus said, that the idol Somndth had 

 in its anger caused their destruction, otherwise the destroyer would 

 have perished. Mahmud hearing of this, resolved to proceed against 

 Somndth itself, thinking that, when that most sacred image should be 

 destroyed, the Hindus would more readily turn to Islam. 



"On the 10th Shaban 416, (12th Oct. 1025,) the king moved 

 with 30,000 mounted warriors, lightly equipped, to Multan, where he 

 arrived in the middle of Ramzan, (Nov. 1025.) There, finding that 

 between him and Somndth lay a wide desert, without water or forage, he 

 assigned to each trooper two camels, and besides loaded 20,000 camels 

 with supplies and water. Having thus passed the desert, he came upon 

 a country full of strong forts, (Ajmeer,) the holders of which mostly 

 submitted ; whereupon the king ordered the men to be put to death, 

 and the women and children to be made captives, and he destroyed 

 all the idols. Thence advancing, he came to Bhuwara (in Ferishta 

 Nihurwala), which was deserted by its chief and garrison, and Mah- 

 mud establishing a depot there, continued his march, destroying all the 

 idols and temples as before, till he came to the neighbourhood of 

 Somndth, in the month of Zeekdad, (January, 1026.) There he found 

 a strong fort on the sea side, so situated that the waves washed to the 

 top of the battlements. The Hindus crowded the ramparts, expecting to 

 see the Moosulman army destroyed by the idol god for its presumption. 

 The next day the army approached the walls, and commenced the 

 assault with such vigour, as the Hindus had never before seen. The 



