And, in the new moon of the year 390, he came to Sistán, in order to take vengeance for this occurrence. But Khalaf took refuge in the citadel of the fortress of Asphabad, a fortress which was the companion of the sign Arcturus and a comrade of the skies; the clouds pitched their tents upon the lap of its basement, and the stars revolved around the edge of its summit; the new moon was like the gilded ball (or finial) upon the top, and the planet Saturn was like the star-shaped orna­ment inserted into the threshold of this castle (Verse)

And Khalaf remained hemmed in within this citadel, without comfort, and bade adieu to the delights of life and to sleep of the eyes, and, through the darkness of these circumstances and the horror of these events, lost all tranquillity and saw no means of arranging the affair, except by lamentation, and the resignation of his kingdom, and humiliation. He therefore offered to the Sultán, by way of a preliminary offering, six thousand dinars of red gold, and, in addition, any suitable pledge, and, at the same time, entreated an accommodation. The Sultán, although he was determined to obtain full possession of Sistán, yet, for the present, in order to secure a better time for the design of conquest which he entertained, resolved to accommodate that affair, and accepted that redemption money from Khalaf, and loosened the reins, and turned his face towards the countries of India, and set forward unto the territory over against Parshawar,* in the midst of the land of Hindustan. And intelligence reached him that Jaibal had collected and equipped an army, and had set forward to meet the standards of Islám. Upon this, the Sultán marched forward, for the protection and support of Islám and religion, with fifteen thousand chosen cavalry, and proceeded onwards with firm intention and sincere confidence. But this vile infidel advanced in opposition to the standards of the Sultán with eight thousand cavalry and thirty thousand infantry, and three hundred elephants. The earth groaned under the pain of their boots. And he was bewitched by the multi­tude of his troops and the strength of his army and forces, so as to forget the victorious power and strength of God (may His majesty be glorified), and the wondrous influence of that verse of the Koran, “As for you with a small troop you have vanquished a large troop by the word of God.” And when the distance between the two armies was but small, the infidel began to delay the com­mencement of the battle and the onset, in order that the rear of the troops, and those men of the army who were coming up behind the others should arrive. The Sultán perceived this stratagem, and hasted forward, and wrested the power of choice from his hand. Upon this, the ranks arranged themselves, and prepared to march forward, and begin the fight. Throughout the atmosphere a veil of pitch proceeding from the hands of the balancing warriors was drawn overhead, and the wishes of the male spears of Islám, in demanding in marriage as wives the lives of all on that field, received a perfect accomplishment, and their earnest intentions in thrusting through the breasts, and in pressing forward the front ranks of those accursed wretches attained reality. Thus at the time of mid-day nearly five thousand carcases of the infi­dels cut in half by the sword lay upon the field of battle, as food for dogs, and as a gift for wolves, and fifty elephants were cut down by the stroke of arrows and of swords. Moreover, they seized Jaibal, with all his family and children and kindred, and a considerable number of his intimate officers, in the snaring rope of violence, and brought them as prisoners before the Sultán. (Verse)

And so many necklaces were taken from the necks of the children, set with precious stones, glittering pearls, and valuable rubies, that the appraisers valued them at two hundred thousand dinars of red gold. In like manner, similar pre­cious stones were found on the necks of the wounded and the slain, so that the army of Islám obtained abundant wealth and unlimited riches from their booty, and from their spoil, and near a hundred thousand children and young people and girls were obtained from that country, and all those provinces of India submitted to the Sultán which are on the side of Khurasán, inclining towards the kingdoms of the west. This victory took place on Thursday, the eighth of the month Muharram, in the year 392, and the news of it proceeded through the most distant horizons. And after the cessation of the blaze of war and the extinguishing of the coals of engagement, the Sultán was of opinion that he might dismiss the cursed one, with the brand of disgrace and the robe of loss and captivity, into the provinces and huts of his country. And he made friendship with him, and took fifty head of elephants from him, and took his son as a hostage for the con­firmation of his promise, and dismissed him to his own country. And when he arrived at the midst of his own territory a letter came to his son, stating that his father had become afflicted with the disease of regret, and that he had clothed himself with the robe of calamity, and that his fortune had become polluted with the spot of inferiority and the distor­tion of shame, and that he would drink the cup of death, and be boiled in the hot water of hell. Now in mid-India it had been a long time established as a rule that if any king fell as a prisoner into the hands of the Muslíms he should no longer hold his kingdom, and that no more allegiance or duty should effectually appertain to him. Jaibal for this reason drew away his skirt from the power of hold­ing the kingdom, and shaved his head, and threw himself into the fire, and went unto the lowest of the pits of hell. And the Sultán for the second time renewed the enjoyment of the racy wine of con­quest and the gladness of sacred warfare, and desired to add a fellow to that victory, and a pledge to that golden deed. He therefore commanded the army to fly forth into the provinces of Hindustan, and took possession of those territories. And with regard to all the soldiers of India in the hills and the castles of those frontiers who stirred up vio­lence, and wickedness, and perverseness, he made them all the food of swords and the subjects of justice; and he claimed the imputation of merit for having entirely purified those places from their filthy ungodliness, and thus with glorious victories, and illustrious conduct, and solid power, and dis­tinguished conquest, he arrived at his capital, making the rosy cheek of Islám brilliant with the rosy blush of victory, and he broke the back of these innovators* and idolators with the sword of vengeance.

In the midst of all these transactions, Khalaf-’bn-Ahmad appointed his son Tahir to be his heir, and entrusted unto him the keys of his treasuries, and gave him up the keys of his provinces, and became a hermit, and betook himself to the service of God, and requested to be allowed the ragged habit, and asked to be released from the kingly office; for he saw that this was the only contriv­ance whereby the cup of the calamity-encircling (anger) of the Sultán might be driven far away from him. But, when these events were passed, he began to repent of what he had done, and felt remorse and shame for having left royalty and declined the throne, and felt unable to endure or to support the public declaration and revelation of his error which had taken place, and of the event which had occurred. He, therefore, contrived another trick, and feigned himself sick, and called his son before him, in order to renew his will, and in order to communicate some explanations, together with his last farewell. And he placed some of his chief officers in ambush, until the time of his arrival; and they came like a dream to the edge of the mountain-path, and bound him fast, and cast him into a dungeon. And one day they took him dead out of that prison, and said that he had killed himself. But Tahir-’bn-Zainab, and the other chiefs and generals who beheld that event, began to be extremely averse in their minds from Khalaf, and in their inmost hearts inclined to hatred to him and his family, and bound around their foreheads the garland of rebellion against him, and seized upon the city which was the seat of his government, and caused the public prayers to be celebrated, and the coin to be struck deco­rated with the titles of the Sultán,* and published a document, recognising his claim. And they sent a declaration of all these events to the Sultán, and implored him to afford them the opportunity of entering into his permanent service. And the Sultán received their entreaty with favour, and he called them all to his presence, and addressed kind words to them. And, in the year 393, all these provinces became enrolled in the royal registry and taxation-books of the Sultán.* And he enter­tained a design of proceeding in the direction of Sistán, in order to cut off the primary source of these disputes.