* As the public works which have been, and are being, constructed by this pious builder (May he live for ever!), surpass what the pen can describe, out of many Imperial buildings I have contented myself with the description of those given above in acknowledgment of my own limitations. Now I will move my tongue, which is surrounded by wise teeth, and describe some of the victories this world-conquering Alexander has achieved through heavenly assistance, the territories he has conquered and the forts he has reduced. Thus I will bring out of my mind the treasures that lie buried there, and at every victory I will scatter (prose) under the foot of my pen in these pages.

The first victory of the (Imperial) Army over the gluttons of Kadar in the contines of Jāran Manjūr. * This is the account of the victory, which the champions of the triumphant army obtained, for the first time during the reign of this Sanjar-like Sulān (May God protect his standards!) over the soldiers of the accursed Kadar in the land of Jāran Manjūr. When the subtle Tatār, accompanied by an army like an avenging deluge, came as presumptuous as ever from the Jūdī mountains, and crossed the Bīās, Jelum and Sutlej,* the advanc­ing wave of the hellites burnt down all the villages (talwārah*) of the Khokars, so that the flames illuminated the suburbs of the City, and the buildings of Quṣūr were demolished. Such a wailing arose that the sound of it reached the august Emperor of the world.* * The late Ulugẖ Khān, the arm of the state, was sent with the right wing of the army, supported by great generals and troops, to wage a holy war. He was to go to the infidels to show them his strong and closed fist. * The Khān, whose bow was like that of Arsh,* flew as fast as one of his own arrows; and making two marches in one, he reached the borders of Jāran of Manjūr, the field of battle. Only the distance of a bowshot remained between the two armies. On Wednesday, the 22nd Rabī‘ul Akhir, A.H. 697 the great Muslim Khān came into contact with the infidels. He ordered the standard-bearers to bind the victorious standards to their backs; for the sake of their honour, they turned their faces towards the Sutlej, and without the aid of boats, they swam over the river, striking out their hands* like oars impelling a boat. * The Mugẖals seemed very brave before the victorious army had plunged into the river; but when the wave of Muslim troops reached the middle of the stream, they gave way. Unable to bear the fire of the sword, they fled desperately; and though in number like ants and locusts, they were trampled under the feet of the horsemen like an army of ants. The Mugẖals wished to sink into the ground; for the sword was so busy on the bank that blood flowed like surkhāb* on the river. The champions of the army could split a hair of the eyelash without injuring the eye; and in the twinkling of an eye, they had sewn up the stony eyeballs of some Mugẖals as you might sew up the eyes of a hawk, while their arrows pierced the iron hearts of others as a key goes into a lock. When a breast, like a rusty lock, refuses to open, it should be opened in no other way than this. In short, twenty thousand ferocious Mugẖals were sent to sleep on the ground in mourning at their own death by the powerful (Imperial) lions. A very large part of Kadar’s army (tumān) was cut to pieces with blows of axe and spear. Some Mugẖals whose bones had been ground to powder, were sent off to their journey* in that condition. Others had become unconscious through fear, but life still remained in their bodies; their heads were cut off, and so they departed without their heads. Most of the survivors were imprisoned. ‘Lay hold on him, then put a chain on him’.* The iron collar, which loves the Mugẖal necks, enclosed them with the greatest affection and squeezed them hard. ‘This is the punishment of the enemies of Islam,’ cried their chains with a loud voice.

* When the blood-smeared heads of the Tatārs had filled the battle-field with thousands and thousands of wine glasses, the jackals of the forest collected together and held a feast by the river-side. After slaughtering the execrable carcass-eaters of Qaidū,* who are both Turks of the tribe of Qai (vomit) and the eaters of vomit (qai), the victorious army of the Khalīfa (May he reign for ever!) prepared to return. The late Ulugẖ Khān (May God give him pure wine to drink!) first held a pleasure-party to commemorate the great victory and scattered gold and jewels among his comrades of war and peace. Then intoxicated with happiness, he spurred his horse to kiss the ground before the Imperial Court. The prisoners, who looked like the teeth of mad elephants, were put to death. Meanwhile, the Emperor, like Kai-Khusrau,* had seen the image of this victory in the world-compassing mirror of his own mind, and moved his tongue in gratitude at the realization of his wishes. ‘If you are grateful, I would certainly give to you more.’* He then gave himself up to rejoicings. He called the commanders (khāns) of the left and right wings* to a great feast, and bestowed such favours on the citizens and the army, that they were freed from all labour (God protect us from it!). If you asked water in alms from a beggar, he would give you wine.*

This is the account of another victory of the Muslim army over the Mugẖals. * When ‘Alī Beg, Tartāq and Targẖi came with drawn swords from the borders of Turkestān to the river Sind (Indus), and after crossing the Jelum like an arrow, turned their faces in this direction, Targẖi, who had once or twice fled away from the attacks of the victors, already saw his bald head on the spears of the champions of Islām, like a wine cup placed over a ladle. Although he had an iron heart, yet he dare not place it within the reach of the anvil-breaking warriors of God. But he was at last shot by an arrow, which pene­trated his heart and passed to the other side. ‘Alī Beg and Tartāq, who had never been to this country before, mistook the arched swords of Musalmāns for those of mere preachers. They ventured with single heads on their shoulders into a country, where if a man brought a thousand heads, he could not take one of them back. They had fifty thousand trained and ferocious horsemen; the hills trembled at their tread. The confounded inhabitants at the foot of the hills fled away at the fierce attack of these wretches and rushed to the fords of the Ganges. But the lightning of Mugẖal fury penetrated to that region also and smoke arose out of the towns of Hindustān.* People fled from their burning houses, and with their heads and feet on fire, threw themselves into rivers and torrents. At last from these desolated tracts news came to the Imperial Court. The Emperor sent his confidential officer, Malik Naik, Akhūr Beg-iMaisarah, with thirty thousand powerful horsemen, and directed him to slaughter without stint and to shoot such an arrow at the accursed mark as might create a fearful rent in their work (strategy). Across a distance which was longer than the day of the idle, the victorious army passed more quickly than the lives of the busy. On Thursday, 12 Jamādīus anī, A.H. 705 they overtook the doomed enemy. Immediately on seeing the dust of the Muslim army, the grovelling Mugẖals became like particles of sand, revolving above and below. Hard-lived though they were, their souls fled out of them; nor could their iron hearts remain in their places to serve as anchors for their souls. Like a swarm of gnats warring against a hurricane, in proportion to their attempt to move forward, they were taken further back. And the Angel of Death cried out to them: ‘Flight shall not do you any good if you fly from death or slaughter.’* From necessity (rather than choice), they made a feeble attack though their enthusiasm had declined. But the army of the Second Alexander, which you might call an iron wall, was not a thing that would bend. It drove away those doers of the deeds of Gog; and in expectation of Divine assistance—‘and He has sent an army, which you do not see’—the sharp sword began to do its work. Soon fire-coloured faces fell to the ground. One would think that the Muslim swordsmen were throwing balls of fire over running water. In this universal cutting of heads, ‘Alī Beg and Tartāq, the two ‘heads’ of the Mugẖals, saw the sword above them and the time of their fall near. Their faces grew dark from the blazing heat of the all-conquering sword, and they threw themselves under the shade of the Muslim standard. ‘The rays of the sword have struck us with such a fire,’ they said, ‘that we will never be satisfied till we have reached the “Shadow of God”’. The man laid low with misfortunes cannot find happiness anywhere except under the ‘shadow of God’.

* The field of battle, strewn with elephant-bodied Mugẖals, looked like a chess-board. Their faces (castles) had been cut into two with the sword, and their bodies, pounded with the clubs (gurz), looked like bags for holding the chess-men. The dead Mugẖal lay right and left like so many captured pieces. Of the ‘horses’ (knights) which had filled the squares, some had been knocked down with blows and others had been captured. Such knights, as after the manner of pawns, refused to go back, were turned into foot-men (pawns), and since they moved still further, they became farzin (queens), i.e. they were made to place their heads on the ground.* ‘Alī Beg and Tartāq, the two kings of the chess-board, were checkmated by their large-boned enemy, the Malik Akhur Beg, who wished to send them to the Emperor, so that he may either spare their lives or else cast them under the feet of the elephants (bishops). * When Satan’s puppets, i.e. the infidel troops, were brought bound before the Imperial throne, the two adventurers, who had claimed equality (with the Sulān), cast their eyeballs like dice on the carpet of submission, and appealed to the Emperor’s manliness in order to save their lives. Two different orders were given concerning these ‘red and white ones’;* some were to be put to death and others imprisoned. The two captured pieces,* who had hitherto remained in suspense, were brought to their prison and freed from the danger of death. In the course of time one of them died, without any harm having been done to him, and the other remained alone. The Emperor was so successful in the sport that he took their lives in one game after another.*