Northern India: Gujarat and Malwa

Gujarat (Huchala under Chalukya)

Gujarat’s capital has a four-fold wall and rules over 100 cities.

Its people are white and clean looking. Both men and women wear double rings hanging down from holes in their ears. They wear close fitting clothes with a cotton sarong wrapped around them.

They wear white hoods and red leather shoes.

They are forbidden to eat meat.

There are 4,000 Buddhist temple buildings, in which 20,000 dancing-girls live and sing twice daily while offering food and flowers to the Buddha (i. e., the idols).

When offering flowers they tie them with cotton thread, which thery use 300 catties everyday.

There are over 400 war-elephants and about 100,000 cavalry horses.

When the king goes about he rides an elephant and wears a cap. His followers ride horseback and carry swords.

Their native products are great quantities of:

• indigo
• red kino
• myrobolans
• foreign cotton stuffs of every colour.

Every year, these goods are transported to the Arab countries for sale.

18. Malwa, Punjab

Malwa (Malohua) is next to Gujarat. It has over 60 cities and land routes.

The manner of dressing and the local customs are the same as those of Gujarat.

Its main product is white cotton.

Every year, 2,000 oxen, or more, laden with cotton stuffs are sent over the roads to other countries to barter.