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twelve)
PREPACE would be a matter of mere speculation. Still considering the form of its language and the nature of the information given in the text regarding the geographical places, I have reasons to believe that Abdala Rahamāna* the author of the present Rāsaka was born in some place situated on the western borders of India before the period of--though not much earlier to-the rise of Sultan Muhammad alias Shihabu-d din Ghori who established the sovereignty of Muslim rule on the throne of Delhi.
From the description given in the Rāsaka, it is clear that at that time the city of Multan in the Punjab was famous as the greatest of the holy places of the Hindus in the furthest pricincts of the north-western India. The temple of Sun god and Suryakunda that were there were famous all over India and it was a prosperous centre of Hindu culture. From this description we also gather that Multan was a flourishing city. We can, therefore conclude that in the times of the author of the Samdesartis ka the ominous shadow of foreign invasion had not yet engulfed the city, and the Hindu cultural atmosphere held there its continuous and unrivalled sway. After Shihabu-d din's invasion that glory of Multan disappeared never to get established again. The mention of Khambhāt (Cambay), moreover, along with Multan in the Punjab and Vijayanagar or Vikramapura (to-day in the Jesulmere State) in the Marusthali is also noteworthy. The husband of the lady from Vijayanagara, who, suffering long separation sends the message to him, had gone to Cambay to earn riches and there being no end to his ambition, he does not leave Cambay for years. The message-carrier also is going on his way to Khambhāt with a written message to some similar enterpriser from Multan who has gone to Cambay with the same purpose. From this we can gather that the poem was composed about a period during which Cambay was a great centre of trade and commerce tempting enough to draw businessmen and enterprisers from far off countries like Sind, the Punjab etc. If we look into the history of Canıbay we see that it was during the reigns of the Cālukyan kings
*
The text of the Sr. gives the naine of the author as Addahamūna, which is rendered by the commentaries as Abdala Rahamăna. So this form of the name is adopted by us, though current Muslim name is probably Abdul, and not Abdala.
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