While the Sultán was engaged in these duties news arrived from Kateher* that disturbances had broken out in that district, that the houses of the ryots had been plundered, and that the districts of Badáún and Amroha were also disturbed. The mutiny had grown so much and had acquired such strength that the chiefs of Badáún and Amroha were in great trouble and were unable to keep order. The Sultán immediately returned from Kampil and Pattiálí to Dehli, where great rejoicings were made. His mind was bent upon suppressing the disturbances at Kateher, so he ordered the main body of his army (kalb) to be prepared for service, and he spread the report that he was going to the hills on a hunting excursion. He left the city with his army without the royal tent-equipage, and made all haste to the scene of opera­tions. In two nights and three days he crossed the Ganges at Kateher, and sending forward a force of five thousand archers, he gave them orders to burn down Kateher and destroy it, to slay every man, and to spare none but women and children, not even boys who had reached the age of eight or nine years. He re­mained for some days at Kateher and directed the slaughter. The blood of the rioters ran in streams, heaps of slain were to be seen near every village and jungle, and the stench of the dead reached as far as the Ganges. This severity spread dismay among the rebels and many submitted. The whole district was ravaged, and so much plunder was made that the royal army was enriched, and the people of Badáún even were satisfied. Woodcutters were sent out to cut roads through the jungles, and the army passing along these brought the Hindus to submission. From that time unto the end of the glorious* reign no rebellion made head in Kateher, and the countries of Badáún, Amroha, Sambal, and Kánwarí continued safe from the violence and tur­bulence of the people of Kateher.

The Sultan having thus extirpated the outlaws, returned vic­torious to his capital, where he remained some time. After the suppression of the freebooters, and the construction of roads in every direction, by which all fear of highway robbers was removed, the Sultán resolved upon making a campaign in the Júd moun­tains. He accordingly marched thither with a suitable force, and inflicted chastisement upon the hills of Júd and the vicinity. The country was plundered, and a large number of horses fell into the hands of the soldiers, so that the price of a horse in the army came to be forty tankas. * * *

Two years after the Sultán returned from his Júd expedition he marched to Láhor, and ordered the rebuilding of the fort which the Mughals had destroyed in the reigns of the sons of Shamsu-d dín. The towns and villages of Láhor, which the Mughals had devastated and laid waste, he repeopled, and ap­pointed architects and managers (to superintend their restoration.)

While on this campaign it was again brought to his notice that the old Shamsí military grantees of land were unfit for service, and never went out. * * * On returning to Dehli he ordered the muster-master to make out a list of them, with full particulars, and to present it to the throne for instructions. It then appeared that about two thousand horsemen of the army of Shamsu-d dín had received villages in the Doab by way of pay. * * * Thirty or forty years and even more had passed since the establishment of this body, many of the grantees were old and in­firm, many more had died, and their sons had taken possession of the grants as an inheritance from their fathers, and had caused their names to be recorded in the records of the 'Ariz (Muster-master). Some who had no children sent their slaves as their representa­tives. All these holders of service lands called themselves pro­prietors, and professed to have received the lands in free gift from Sultán Shamsu-d dín. * * * Some of them went leisurely to perform their military duties, but the greater part stayed at home making excuses, the acceptance of which they secured by presents and bribes of all sorts to the deputy muster-master and his officials.

When the list was brought to the Sultán, in the year of his return from Láhor, he divided the grantees into three classes. The first consisted of the old and worn-out, upon whom he set­tled pensions of forty or fifty tankas, and resumed their villages. 2nd. Those who were in the prime of life, or were young, on whom an allowance proportionate to their service was settled: their villages were not to be taken from them, but the surplus revenues were to be collected by the government revenue officers. 3rd. The children and orphans, who held villages, and sent deputies to perform their military service. The grants were to be taken from these orphans and widows, but a suitable allowance was to be made for their food and raiment.

These orders caused great dismay among the old Shamsí grantees, of whom there were many in the city, and a loud outcry arose in every quarter. A number of them assembled and went to the house of Maliku-l umará Fakhru-d dín kotwál, weeping, and complaining that more than fifty years had elapsed since the reign of Shamsu-d dín, and that they had regarded the lands granted to them by that sovereign as having been given in free-gift (in'âm). * * * The kotwál felt for them, * * and, going to the Court, he stood thoughtful and dejected before the Sultán, who, observing his state, inquired what was the matter. The kotwál replied, I have heard that the Muster-master is turning off all the old men, and that the officers of the exchequer are resuming the lands which support them. This has filled me with sorrow and fear, for I am an old man and feeble, and if old men are to be rejected in the Day of Judgment, and are to find no place in heaven, what will become of me? * * * The Sultán was moved with compassion, and sending for the revenue officers, he directed that the villages should be confirmed to the grantees, and that the orders passed respecting them should be treated as inoperative. I, the author, very well remember that many of these grantees lived and rendered service at the Court of Sultán Jalálu-d dín, always invoking blessings on Sultán Balban and Malik Fakhru-d dín.

Four or five years after the accession of the Sultán, Sher Khán, his cousin, a distinguished Khán, who had been a great barrier to the inroads of the Mughals, departed this life. I have heard from reliable sources that the Khán did not come to Dehli, and that the Sultán caused him to be poisoned. A grand tomb was erected to his memory at Bhatnír. He was one of the most distinguished and respected of the Forty Shamsí slaves, all of whom bore the title of Khán. He repaired the forts of Bhatinda and Bhatnír, and held charge of the districts of Sannám, Lahor, Dípálpur, and other territories exposed to the inroads of the Mughals. He maintained several thousand horse, and had many times utterly routed the Mughals. He had caused the khutba to be read in the name of the Sultán Násiru-d dín at Ghazní, and the terror of his name and the greatness of his power de-tered the Mughals from assailing the frontiers of Hindustán. But notwithstanding his services, he felt a strong apprehension that there was an intention to get rid of all the old Shamsí slaves upon some pretext or other, so he kept away from Dehli. He did not even come there when Sultán Balban succeeded, and so the Sultán, although the Khán was his cousin, caused him to be poisoned. After his death the Sultán bestowed Sámána and San-nám on Tamar Khán, who also was one of the Forty Shamsí slaves. The other possessions of the late Khán were given to other noble­men. Sher Khán had coerced and brought under his control the Jats, the Khokhars, the Bhattís, the Mínas, the Mandáhars, and other similar tribes; he had also shown himself able to give a good account of the Mughals. The nobles who succeeded him in his territories were unequal to these duties; the Mughals made head against them, and these frontier countries were exposed to their ravages. What the late Khán had effected in one decade, no one of his successors was able to accomplish.