AL MAS’U′DI′.
The greatest of the kings of India in our time is the Balhará, sovereign of the city of Mánkir. Many of the kings of India turn their faces toward him in their prayers, and they make supplications to his ambassadors, who come to visit them. The kingdom of Balhará is bordered by many other countries of India. Some kings have their territories in the mountains away from the sea, like the Ráí, King of Kashmír, the King of Táfan and others. There are other kings who possess both land and sea. The capital of the Balhará is eighty Sindí parasangs from the sea, and the parasang is equal to eight miles. His troops and elephants are innumerable, but his troops are mostly infantry, because the seat of his government is among the mountains. One of the neighbouring kings of India who is far from the sea, is the Bauüra, who is lord of the city of Kanauj. This is the title given to all the sovereigns of that kingdom. He has large armies in garrisons on the north and on the south, on the east and on the west, for he is surrounded on all sides by warlike kings.
CHAPTER IX.—Al-Jáhiz supposes the Mihrán in Sind comes from the Nile, alleging as a proof that crocodiles live in it. I cannot understand how he advanced this as a proof, He states it in his book, “Kitábu-l’ Amsár wa ’ajaibu-l buldán” (“On great cities and the wonders of the countries.”) It is an excellent work, but as the author has never made a voyage and but few travels through kingdoms and cities, he did not know that the Mihrán of Sind comes from well-known sources in the highlands of Sind, and from Kashmír, Kandahár, and Táfan; and at length, running into Múltán, it receives the name of Mihrán of gold, just as Multán means boundary of gold. The king of Multán is a Kuraishite, and of the children of Usámah bin Lawi bin Ghálib. The caravans of Khurásán assemble here. The lord who rules over the kingdom of Mansúra is a Kuraishite, who is descended from Habbár bin al-Aswad. The crown of Múltán has been hereditary in the family which rules at present, since ancient times, from the beginning of Islám.
The river Mihrán takes its couse through the country of Mansúra, and falls near Debal into the Indian ocean. In the bays of this sea there are many crocodiles, as in the bay of Sindábúr in the kingdom
