terials
of which they were composed. The pagoda of Sumnat was situate on the
promontory of Guzarat, in the neighborhood of Diu, one of the last
remaining possessions of the Portuguese. [7] It was endowed with the
revenue of two thousand villages; two thousand Brahmins were consecrated
to the service of the Deity, whom they washed each morning and evening
in water from the distant Ganges: the subordinate ministers consisted of
three hundred musicians, three hundred barbers, and five hundred dancing
girls, conspicuous for their birth or beauty. Three sides of the temple
were protected by the ocean, the narrow isthmus was fortified by a
natural or artificial precipice; and the city and adjacent country
were peopled by a nation of fanatics. They confessed the sins and the
punishment of Kinnoge and Delhi; but if the impious stranger should
presume to approach their holy precincts, he would surely be overwhelmed
by a blast of the divine vengeance. By this challenge, the faith of
Mahmud was animated to a personal trial of the strength of this Indian
deity. Fifty thousand of his worshippers were pierced by the spear of
the Moslems; the walls were scaled; the sanctuary was profaned; and the
conqueror aimed a blow of his iron mace at the head of the idol. The
trembling Brahmins are said to have offered ten millions [711] sterling
for his ransom; and it was urged by the wisest counsellors, that the
destruction of a stone image would not change the hearts of the Gentoos;
and that such a sum might be dedicated to the relief of the true
believers. "Your reasons," replied the sultan, "are specious and strong;
but never in the eyes of posterity shall Mahmud appear as a merchant
of idols." [712] He repeated his blows, and a treasure of pearls and
rubies, concealed in the belly of the statue, explained in some degree
the devout prodigality of the Brahmins. The fragments of the idol were
distributed to Gazna, Mecca, and Medina. Bagdad listened to the edifying
tale; and Mahmud was saluted by the caliph with the title of guardian of
the fortune and faith of Mahomet.

[Footnote 1: I am indebted for his character and history to D'Herbelot,
(Bibliotheque Orientale, Mahmud, p. 533-537,) M. De Guignes, (Histoire
des Huns, tom. iii. p. 155-173,) and our countryman Colonel Alexander
Dow, (vol. i. p. 23-83.) In the two first volumes of his History of
Hindostan, he styles himself the translator of the Persian Ferishta; but
in his florid text, it is