"Kanauj was the most important of the religious centres of early medieval India, the brahmanical capital of Madhyadesha, a very large city, consisting of seven fortresses (qilii', qal'ajiit), with a total of 10,000 'idolhouses' (buyut al-asniim, butkhiinahii), 'in which enormous treasure was collected', on the west bank of the Ganges, where 'kings and brahmans' (riiyiin-o-bariihima) from far away came to seek religious liberation and do worship 'in the tradition of their ancestors' (bi-taqlZd-i-asliij).141 'Utbi refers to the Kanauj ruler as 'the chief (muqaddam) of the kings of Hind'. It was, in effect, the capital of the Gurjara Pratiharas from 815 to 1019 AD, when it was sacked by Mahmud. By then the dynasty was already powerless. But Kanauj may well have been the wealthiest of Indian cities still. When the Muslim army approached, most of the inhabitants had taken refuge 'with the gods', i.e. in the temples. The city was taken possession of in one day, and emptied of its treasure. The 'idols' were destroyed; the 'infidels', 'worshipers of the sun and fire' Cubbiid ash-shams wa-l-niir), fleeing, were pursued by the Muslims, and great numbers of them were killed. Kanauj probably never recovered its status as sacred capital of the brahmans. In Biruni's time, Kanauj was still in ruins, and the reigning king had removed himself to the town of Bari, east of the Ganges. Later in the eleventh and twelfth century the city revived under a northern branch of the Rashtrakutas and then the Gahadavalas; it ceased to be of any real importance by 1193 AD, when the last of the Gahadavala kings was defeated."