68 INTRODUCTION. the rigour to which prisoners were subjected are described on p. 463. The country in the early years of Mahomedan conquest was so full of unrest that the people were frightened if they saw any armed men near their village (pp. 253-256). Descriptions of the twelve sub-lords, popularly known as the Bārabhuyās and the functions they had to discharge will be found on pp. 412 and 414. The descriptions referred to above, at least the greater part of them, belong to the Hindu period of Indian History. But as they were written by the poets who lived in the 15th and 16th centuries, the earlier traditions were undoubtedly changed to a considerable extent by the environment and circumstances of the subsequent period in which the poets lived. But the proud mention of the Emperor of Gaur as “Pancha Gaureshwara” or the ‘head of the kings of Āryyāvarta,’ on page 388 and in many other places in Bengali Literature, referred to in my work Vanga Vāsā-O-Sāhitya,” certainly indicates the suzerain power once held by the Bengali monarchs, though in the passages where this title occurs in Bengali Literature, it seems to have been reduced to a mere form of traditional courtesy. This title reminds us of that of “Bretwalda” of the Saxon Heptarchy in early English history. We frequently find mention of roy—an army consisting of 900,000 soldiers—belonging to the Emperor of Gaur. (pp.91, 380, 412, 432, 481). Though we cannot attach any historical value to this figure with regard to the cases mentioned by the bards, it is certain that the tradition of this numerical strength of the Emperor of Gaur's army was not altogether imaginery. All the poets emphasise this particular number whenever they have occasion to speak of the army of the Emperor of Gaur. It is not therefore unlikely that this number once actually represented the numerical strength of the army of the Emperors of Gaur, when they were real “Pancha Gaureshwaras.” On p. 383 there is a description of a war-horse named Andir-pâthar and on p. 1489 a horse with signs indicating bad luck is described. Dogs are now considered unclean by the Hindus but on p. 61 and elsewhere we find that trained dogs were kept in the palaces of the Hindu kings of the 11th century. The Darmamangal-poems give us a fairly accurate picture of the Hindu soldier. He is ever ready to sacrifice his life in the service of his king. He is not an abstract moralist, but will seldom tell a lie or deviate from the righteous course, because his notion is that if he goes astray morally, his sin will bring some danger on his king. A deep-seated loyalty inspires all his actions. The death of the Dom soldier Kālu for the fulfilment of a vow that
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