“When 'Alí Beg, Turták, aud Turghí came with drawn swords from the borders of Turkistán to the river Sind, and, after crossing the Jelam, turned their faces in this direction, Turghí, who already saw his head on the spears of the champions of Islám, who, although he had an iron heart, durst not place it in the power of the anvil-breaking warriors of God, was at last slain by an arrow, which penetrated his heart and passed through on the other side.
“But Turták and 'Alí Beg, as they had never yet come to
this country, regarded the swords of the Musulmáns as if they
were those of mere preachers, and rushed on impetuously with
about fifty thousand horsemen. From the mere dread of that
army the hills trembled, and the inhabitants of the foot of the
hills were confounded—all fled away before the fierce attack of
those wretches, and rushed to the fords of the Ganges. The
lightning of Mughal fury penetrated even to those parts, and
smoke arose from the burning towns of Hindustán, and the
people, flying from their flaming houses, threw themselves into
the rivers and torrents. At last from those desolated tracts
news reached the court of the protector of the world, and a
confidential officer, Malik Ákhir Beg, Mubashara, was directed,
at the head of a powerful body of thirty thousand horse, to use
his best endeavours to attack the accursed enemy, and throw a
mighty obstacle in their way.” He obtained victory over them
on the twelfth of Jumáda-s sání A.H. 705. “In short, immediately
on discerning the dust of the army of Islám, the grovelling
Mughals became like particles of sand revolving above and
below;” and they fled precipitately “like a swarm of gnats
before a hurricane.” “The enemy made one or two weak attacks,
but the army of the second Alexander, which you might well
call an iron wall, did not even bend before the foe, but drove
before them those doers of the deeds of Gog.” “Their fire-
“He who has been burnt by the heat of misfortune,
Let him seek no rest save under the shadow of God.”
“The field of battle became like a chess-board, with the pieces manufactured from the bones of the elephant-bodied Mughals, and their faces (rukh) were divided in two by the sword. The slaughtered hoggish Mughals were lying right and left, like so many captured pieces, and were then thrust into the bag which holds the chessmen. The horses which filled the squares were some of them wounded and some taken; those who, like the pawns, never retreated, dismounted, and, advancing on foot, made themselves generals (queens). 'Alí Beg and Turták, who were the two kings of the chessboard, were falling before the fierce opposition which was shown by the gaunt bones of Malik Ákhir Beg, who checkmated them both, and determined to send them immediately to his majesty, that he might order either their lives to be spared, or that they should be píl-mated, or trodden to death by elephants.”
“Dust arose from the borders of the land of Sind, and the inhabitants fled and threw away their property like leaves dispersed by the wind in autumn; but as that blast of destruction had no power to raise the dust as far as Kuhrám and Sámána, it turned its face towards the deserts of Nágor, and began to sweep away the dwellers of that country.” The king despatched Malik Káfúr against them, with orders to advance rapidly without attracting observation. “The kind-hearted Musulmáns, running up from the right and left, took Kapak prisoner,” sent him to the sublime court, and made all his followers prisoners.
“Another army, namely, that of Ikbál Mudbir and Mudábir Táí Balwí, followed close behind Kapak's, thirsty for the blood of the Musulmáns, but well filled with the blood of their own tribes. Suddenly a torrent of blood of the slaughtered infidels flowed towards them,” and they had no place to stand on. “Meanwhile, the van of the army of Islám advanced like clouds and rain against them, and fell like a raging storm on those Jíhúnians.” Both these leaders were compelled to fly across the river of Sind. Ikbál was taken prisoner, with many of his followers, and those who escaped fled towards the north, and “countless infidels were despatched to hell.” A farmán was issued by Sultán 'Aláu-d dín that the surviving prisoners should be massacred, and beaten up into mortar for the fort.
‘They hung down from the Tátárí and Chíní fortress,
As Abyssinians with heads inverted hang from a new building;’
And a bastion was formed from an hundred thousand of their heads.”
The Sultán despatched Ulugh Khán to Ma'bar and Gujarát for the destruction of the idol-temple of Somnát, on the 20th of Jumáda-l awwal, 698 H. (1300 A.D.) He destroyed all the idols and temples of Somnát, “but sent one idol, the biggest of all the idols, to the court of his Godlike Majesty, and in that ancient stronghold of idolatry the summons to prayers was pronounced so loud, that they heard it in Misr and Madáin.”* He conquered also the city of Nahrwála and the city of Khambáíh,* and other cities on that sea-shore.
The king himself went to conduct the siege of Rantambhor. “The Saturnian Hindús, who pretend to relation with that planet, had for purposes of defence collected fire in each bastion. Every day the fire of those infernals fell on the light of the Musulmáns, and as there were no means of extinguishing it they filled bags with earth and prepared entrenchments. You might have said that the sewing up of the bags containing the sand looked as if the king of the earth was preparing to invest the fortress with an earthen robe of honour. When the bank of the entrenchment had reached the height of the western bastion of the fortress, the Royal Westerns,* shot large earthen balls against that infidel fort, so that the hearts of the Hindus began to quail.” “Some newly converted Musulmáns among the ill-starred Mughals had turned their faces from the sun of Islám, and joined those Saturnians;” but they discharged their arrows ineffectually against the party they had deserted. “The victorious army remained encamped under that fort from the month of Rajab to Zí-l ka'da.” Every day they collected at the foot of their outwork or entrenchment,* and made vigorous attacks, rushing like salamanders through the fire which surrounded them. “The stones which were shot from the catapults and balistas, within and without the fort, encountered each other half, way, and emitted lightning. They fell upon the fort like hailstones, and when the garrison ate them, they became cold and dead.” “No provisions remained in the fort, and famine prevailed to such an extent, that a grain of rice was purchased for two grains of gold.” One night the Ráí lit a fire at the top of the hill, and threw his women and family into the flames, and rushing on the enemy with a few devoted adherents, they sacrificed their lives in despair. “On the fortunate date of the 3rd of Zí-l ka'da A.H. 700 (July, 1301 A.D.), this strong fort was taken by the slaughter of the stinking Ráí.” Jháín was also captured, “an iron fort, an ancient abode of idolatry, and a new city of the people of the faith arose.” The temple of Báhir Deo, and the temples of other gods, were all razed to the ground.