Arab writers of the 9th and 10th century hardly mention the region for anything other than its perceived backwardness, but they considered the king of Al-Hind (India and Southeast Asia) as one of the four great kings in the world. The ruler of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty is described as the greatest king of Al-Hind, but even the lesser kings of Al-Hind including the kings of Java, Pagan Burma, and the Khmer kings of Cambodia are invariably depicted by the Arabs as extremely powerful and as being equipped with vast armies of men, horses, and often tens of thousands of elephants. They were also known to have been in possession of vast treasures of gold and silver. The Khmer rulers established relations with the Chola dynasty of South India.