The Sultán, notwithstanding all I have said about his humility, his justice, his kindness to the poor, and his boundless generosity, was much given to bloodshed. It rarely happened that the corpse of some one who had been killed was not to be seen at the gate of his palace. I have often seen men killed and their bodies left there. One day I went to his palace and my horse shied. I looked before me, and I saw a white heap on the ground, and when I asked what it was, one of my companions said it was the trunk of a man cut into three pieces. This sovereign punished little faults like great ones, and spared neither the learned, the religious, nor the noble. Every day hundreds of individuals were brought chained into his hall of audience; their hands tied to their necks and their feet bound together. Some were killed, and others were tortured, or well beaten. It was his practice to have all persons in prison brought before him every day except Friday. This day was to them a day of respite, and they passed it in cleaning themselves and taking rest. God preserve us from evil!
The Sultán had a brother named Mas'úd Khán, whose mother was a daughter of Sultán 'Aláu-d dín. This Mas'úd was one of the handsomest fellows I have ever seen. The king suspected him of intending to rebel, so he questioned him, and, under fear of the torture, Mas'úd confessed the charge. Indeed, every one who denies charges of this nature, which the Sultán brings against him, is put to the torture, and most people prefer death to being tortured. The Sultán had his brother's head cut off in the palace, and the corpse, according to custom, was left neglected for three days in the same place. The mother of Mas'úd had been stoned two years before in the same place on a charge of debauchery or adultery. * * *
On one occasion the Sultán sent a part of his army, under Malik Yúsuf Bughrá, to fight against the Hindus in the mountains near Dehli. Yúsuf started with nearly all his men, but some of the soldiers stayed behind. He wrote to the Sovereign informing him of the fact, and he directed search to be made throughout the city, and every man who had remained behind to be apprehended. Three hundred of them were taken. The Sultán ordered all of them to be killed, and he was obeyed.
One of the most serious charges against this Sultán is that he forced all the inhabitants of Dehli to leave their homes. His motive for this act was that the people of Dehli wrote letters full of insults and invectives against the Sultán. They sealed them up, and writing upon them these words, “By the head of the king of the world, no one but himself must read this writing,” they threw them at night into the hall of audience. When the Sultán opened them he found that they contained insults and invectives against himself. He decided to ruin Dehli, so he purchased all the houses and inns from the inhabitants, paid them the price, and then ordered them to remove to Daulatábád. At first they were unwilling to obey, but the crier of the monarch proclaimed that no one must be found in Dehli after three days.
The greater part of the inhabitants departed, but some hid themselves in the houses. The Sultán ordered a rigorous search to be made for any that remained. His slaves found two men in the streets: one was paralyzed, the other blind. They were brought before the sovereign, who ordered the paralytic to be shot away from a manjaník, and the blind man to be dragged from Dehli to Daulatábád, a journey of forty days' distance. The poor wretch fell in pieces during the journey, and only one of his legs reached Daulatábád. All the inhabitants of Dehli left; they abandoned their baggage and their merchandize, and the city remained a perfect desert.
A person in whom I felt confidence assured me that the Sultán mounted one evening upon the roof of his palace, and, casting his eyes over the city of Dehli, in which there was neither fire, smoke, nor light, he said, “Now my heart is satisfied, and my feelings are appeased.” Some time after he wrote to the inhabitants of different provinces, commanding them to go to Dehli and repeople it. They ruined their own countries, but they did not populate Dehli, so vast and immense is that city. In fact, it is one of the greatest cities in the universe. When we entered this capital we found it in the state which has been described. It was empty, abandoned, and had but a small population.
Sultán Tughlik had a nephew, son of his sister, named Baháu-d dín Gushtasp, whom he made governor of a province. This man was a brave warrior, a hero; and when his uncle was dead he refused to give his oath to the late Sultán's son and successor. The Sultán sent a force against him; * * * there was a fierce battle, * * * and the Sultán's troops gained the victory. Baháu-d dín fled to one of the Hindu princes, called the Ráí of Kambíla. * * * This prince had territories situated among inaccessible mountains, and was one of the chief princes of the infidels.
When Baháu-d dín made his escape to this prince, he was pursued by the soldiers of the Sultán of India, who surrounded the ráí's territories. The infidel saw his danger, for his stores of grain were exhausted, and his great fear was that the enemy would carry off his person by force; so he said to Baháu-d dín, “Thou seest how we are situated. I am resolved to die with my family, and with all who will imitate me. Go to such and such a prince (naming a Hindu prince), and stay with him; he will defend thee.” He sent some one to conduct him thither. Then he commanded a great fire to be prepared and lighted. Then he burned his furniture, and said to his wives and daughters, “I am going to die, and such of you as prefer it, do the same.” Then it was seen that each one of these women washed herself, rubbed her body with sandal-wood, kissed the ground before the ráí of Kambíla, and threw herself upon the pile. All perished. The wives of his nobles, ministers, and chief men imitated them, and other women also did the same.
The ráí, in his turn, washed, rubbed himself with sandal, and took his arms, but did not put on his breastplate. Those of his men who resolved to die with him followed his example. They sallied forth to meet the troops of the Sultán, and fought till every one of them fell dead. The town was taken, its inhabitants were made prisoners, and eleven sons of the ráí were made prisoners and carried to the Sultán, who made them all Musulmáns. The Sultán made them amírs, and treated them with great honour, as much for their illustrious birth as in admiration of the conduct of their father. Of these brothers, I saw near the Sultán, Nasr, Bakhtiyár, and the keeper of the seals, who carried the ring with which the Sultán's drinking-water was sealed. His name was Abú Muslím, and we were companions and friends.
After the death of the ráí of Kambíla, the troops of the Sultán proceeded towards the country of the infidel with whom Baháu-d dín had taken refuge, and surrounded it. This prince said, “I cannot do as the ráí of Kambíla did.” He seized Baháu-d dín, and gave him up to the army of the Sultán. They bound his legs and tied his arms to his neck, and so conducted him to the Sultán. He ordered the prisoner to be taken to the women, his relations, and these insulted him and spat upon him. Then he ordered him to be skinned alive, and as his skin was torn off, his flesh was cooked with rice. Some was sent to his children and his wife, and the remainder was put into a great dish and given to the elephants to eat, but they would not touch it. The Sultán ordered his skin to be stuffed with straw, and to be placed along with the remains of Bahádur Búra,* and to be exhibited throughout the country. When these arrived in Sind, of which country Kishlú Khán was then governor, he ordered them to be buried. When the Sultán heard this he was offended, and determined to make away with Kishlú Khán, who was the friend of Sultán Tughlik, and had helped him in obtaining the supreme power.