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A. K. CHATTERJEE
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The above verse shows that Ravişeņa heard about the Muslims or knew them personally. The first Muslim invasion of India took place as early as 637 A.D., and between that date and the date of the composition of Padma Purāņa, i.e. 675 A. D., quite a few Arab raids have been recorded by Muslim chroniclers. So it is not surprising that a West Indian writer should refer to them in a work written in 675 A.D. The expression-ekavarņāṁ prajām sarvām pāpāḥ kartum samudyatāḥ shows that Ravişeņa had the Muslims in mind when he wrote that verse.51 There is another verse in the same chapter (No. 72) of the Padma Purāņa which throws more light on the Arab invaders of those days. The verse runs
nirdayāḥ pašumärsādā mūdhāḥ prāņi-vadh-odyatāḥ!
ārabhya janmanaḥ pāpāḥ sahas-ārambha-kāriņaḥ// The verse expresses the character of early Muslim invaders who had no sympathy or respect for non-Muslims. Wherever they went, they carried destruction with them. Non-Muslims were forcibly converted or murdered, their temples were either razed to the ground or converted into mosques, and their women were raped and dishonoured. Ravişeņa further describes them as wearing a red head-dress (rakta-vastra-sirastrāņāḥ6 2 which is actually the colour of the fez worn by the Muslims.
Besides referring to the Muslims, Jinasena II also gives some other information of historical nature. As early as 1886, B.A. Pathak in the Indian Antiquaryb 8 had drawn the attention of scholars to the duration of Gupta rule as recorded by the author of the Harivassa. According to the edition of P.L. Jain published in 1962, the Gupta rule lasted for 221 years (Guptānāṁ ca sata-dvayam=ekavimśaś = ca varşāņi kālavidbhir= udāhstam). 54 But in the manuscript seen by Pathak, instead
51 For further details, see 27.52ff. 52 27.67. 53 Vol. XV, pp. 141-43. 54 60.491.
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