Ascended the throne. He was a just and devout king, and used to write each year a Qurán with his own hand and despatch it to the holy city of Mekka. He built no house for himself with the exception of a temple and a school to the honour and glory of God. When the affairs of state devolved upon him, he made peace with the Saljúqs and being free from apprehension, went to Hindustán and conquered many fortresses and districts. From one city* the inhabitants of which were of Khurásánian descent, whom (Afrásiáb) had expelled, and who had become a populous community in Hindustán, he took prisoners a hundred thousand persons,* and sent them to Ghaznín, with other spoils on the same scale. He built a number of towns, among them Khairábád, and Imánábád and others. He has been described by the title of Saiyyidu-s-Saláín, and enjoyed the reputation of being a Wálí.* In his reign in Ghaznín, the Dárú-i-Chashm (eye medicine) and other mixtures and medicaments and dietaries for all 36. diseased folk used to be obtainable from his store-house. His death took place in the year 472 H,* after a reign of thirty years. Qáẓí Baiẓáwí says that his reign extended from the year 450 H. to the year 492 H. Mas‘úd Sa‘d Salmán* flourished in his time and the following verses are taken from an ode which was written in his honour.
Abúl Qásim Malik Maḥmúd Ibrahím ibn Mas‘úd
In whom four things exult, each of them glories in him
Firstly, his expanded canopy, secondly, his flaunting banner,
Thirdly his golden pen, fourthly his brilliant dagger.
This ode he finished completely in the same style, and in another place he says:—
Emperor of the higher world, from the blessings of whose reign
The sword's lofty occupation is the control of things temporal and spiritual.
Mas‘úd (Fortunatus) because from the fortune of the expanse of kingdom's conquest
He has gone beyond that which comes within the scope of the sword.
Oh thou that hast formed the design of travel and girded the loins of conquest,
Right and left of thee the heavens have opened for thee the doors of conquest,
Mas‘úd, the world-conquering, for whom the age of fortune
Has sent forth every moment the heralds of conquest,
Like a lance point thou hast placed thy head in the direction of battle,
Like an arrow thy waist girds up the loins of conquest,
In sooth, a hundred victories thou winnest, and a hundred years hence
In Hindustán in all directions will be seen the traces of thy 37. conquest.
So many are thy conquests, that in the expanse of the world
Every day in every place they tell the tale of thy conquests.
Thy spear and thy arrow and thy sword will be
If my fancy limns a line, the painter of the forms of conquest
When thy sword said I will deal a light blow
Its oath lay not heavy save on the head of conquest.
The Ustád Abul Faraj Rúní* too was eulogist of Sulán Ibrahím, and also the panegyrist of Sulán Mas‘úd, and many odes in their honour are to be found in his Díwán, and Rúín* is the name of a village of the dependencies of Lahore, and in these days it is as one may say in ruins, because not a trace of it remains, and the following qia‘h in praise of Sulán Ibrahím is by the Ustád Abul Faraj.
Hail to the might of thy powerful sword
Precious as the breath of life, and rare as wisdom itself.
Thou hast imprisoned that lifeless one, as one seizes the throat,
Thou hast made orphan this which has no issue like a peerless pearl.
38. And Mas‘úd Sa‘d Salmán with that envious nature which is peculiar to poets, bore a grudge against Ustád, who became the cause of Mas‘úd's imprisonment for ten years, he wrote this rubá‘í (quatrain) in prison.*
For thy prison such a prisoner as Malik Sháh is necessary
So that thy fetter may chafe the foot of monarchs.*
That one who springs from the loins of Sa‘d Salmán
Even were he a serpent would not sting thy realm.
The following verses are also by him:
My heart has become rent in all directions like a comb from regrets
Because I saw a white hair in the tooth of the comb.
There are extant also Díwáns by him in Arabic, Persian and Hindí.