After all these questions and answers, the Sultán said to the Kázi, “You have declared my proceedings in these matters to be unlawful. Now see how I act. When troopers do not appear at the muster, I order three years pay to be taken from them.* I place wine-drinkers and wine-sellers in the pits of incarceration. If a man debauches another man's wife, I effectually prevent him from again committing such an offence, and the woman I cause to be killed.* Rebels, good and bad, old hands or novices (tar o khusk), I slay; their wives and children I reduce to beggary and ruin. Extortion I punish with the torture of the pincers and the stick, and I keep the extortioner in prison, in chains and fetters, until every jítal is restored. Political prisoners I confine and chastise. Wilt thou say all this is unlaw­ful?” The Kází rose and went to the entrance of the room, placed his forehead on the ground, and cried with a loud voice, “My liege! whether you send me, your wretched servant, to prison, or whether you order me to be cut in two, all this is unlawful, and finds no support in the sayings of the Prophet, or in the expositions of the learned.”

The Sultán heard all this and said nothing, but put his slippers on and went into his harem. Kází Mughísu-d dín went home. Next day he took a last farewell of all his people, made a propi­tiatory offering, and performed his ablutions. Thus prepared for death he proceeded to the court. The Sultán called him forward, and showed him great kindness. He gave him the robe he was wearing, and presented him with a thousand tankas, saying, “Al­though I have not studied the Science or the Book, I am a Mu-sulmán of a Musulmán stock. To prevent rebellion, in which thousands perish, I issue such orders as I conceive to be for the good of the State, and the benefit of the people. Men are heedless, disrespectful, and disobey my commands; I am then compelled to be severe to bring them into obedience. I do not know whether this is lawful or unlawful; whatever I think to be for the good of the State, or suitable for the emergency, that I decree. * * *

After the Sultán returned from Rantambhor to Dehlí, he dealt very harshly with the people, and mulcted them. Shortly after­wards Ulugh Khán died while on his journey to the city. Malik 'Azzu-d dín Búrkhán became wazír in the New City (shahr-i nau), and the tribute of the New City was assessed by measurement at a certain rate per biswa, as in the environs of the capital. The Sultán then led forth an army and laid siege to Chítor, which he took in a short time, and returned home. New troubles now arose on ac­count of the Mughals in Máwaráu-n nahr. They had learned that the Sultán had gone with his army to lay siege to a distant fort, and made but slow progress with the siege, while Dehlí remained empty. Targhí assembled twelve tumáns of cavalry, with which he marched with all speed to Dehlí, and reached that neighbour­hood very soon. At this time the Sultán was engaged in the siege of Chítor. Malik Fakhru-d dín Júná, dádbak-i hazrat, and Malik Jhaju of Karra, nephew of Nusrat Khán, had been sent with all the officers and forces of Hindustán against Arangal. On their arrival there the rainy season began, and proved such a hin­drance that the army could do nothing, and in the beginning of winter returned, greatly reduced in numbers, to Hindustán.

The Sultán now returned from the conquest of Chítor, where his army had suffered great loss in prosecuting the siege during the rainy season. They had not been in Dehlí a month, no muster of the army had been held, and the losses had not been repaired, when the alarm arose of the approach of the Mughals. The accursed Targhí, with thirty or forty thousand horse,* came on ravaging, and encamped on the banks of the Jumna, preventing all ingress and egress of the city. Affairs were in this extraordinary position; the Sultán had just returned from Chítor, and had had no time to refit and recruit his army after his great losses in the siege; and the army of Hindustán had returned from Arangal to the districts of Hin-dustán dispirited and reduced in numbers. The Mughals had seized the roads, and were so encamped that no reinforce­ments could reach the city from the army of Hindustán. There were no forces in Multán, Sámána, and Deopalpúr sufficient to cope with the Mughals, and join the Sultán at Sírí. The army of Hindustán was pressed to advance; but the enemy was too strong, and they remained in Kol and Baran. All the passages of the Jumna were in the hands of the enemy. The Sultán, with his small army of horse, left the capital and encamped at Sírí, where the superior numbers and strength of the enemy compelled him to entrench his camp. Round the entrenchments he built block houses, and other erections, to prevent the enemy from forcing a way in, and he kept his forces constantly under arms and on the watch to guard against the dreaded attack, and to delay any great engagement. In every division of the army, and in each line of entrenchment, there were five elephants fully armed, supported by a body of infantry. The Mughals came up on every side, seeking opportunity to make a sudden onslaught and overpower the army. Such fear of the Mughals and anxiety as now prevailed in Dehlí had never been known before. If Targhí had remained another month upon the Jumna, the panic would have reached to such a height that a general flight would have taken place, and Dehlí would have been lost. It was difficult to procure water, fodder, and fuel from without, for the convoys of grain were prevented from reaching the city, and the utmost terror prevailed. The enemy's horse approached the suburbs, and quartered themselves in the neighbourhood, where they drank wine, and sold at a low price grain and other articles plundered from the royal stores, so that there was no great scarcity of grain.* Two or three times the advanced guards met and combats ensued, but without advantage to either party. By the mercy of God the Mughal was unable to find any means of forcing the camp, and overpowering the royal army. After two months the prayers of the wretched prevailed, and the accursed Targhí retreated towards his own country.

This escape of the royal army and the preservation of Dehlí seemed, to wise men, one of the wonders of the age. The Mughals had sufficient forces to take it; they arrived at the most opportune time; they made themselves masters of the roads, and hemmed in the royal army and its appurtenances. The Sultán's army had not been replenished, and no reinforcements reached it. But for all this the Mughals did not prevail.*

After this very serious danger, 'Aláu-d dín awoke from his sleep of neglect. He gave up his ideas of campaigning and fort-taking, and built a palace at Sírí. He took up his residence there, and made it his capital, so that it became a flourishing place. He ordered the fort of Dehlí to be repaired, and he also ordered the restoration of the old forts which lay in the track of the Mughals. Additional forts were directed to be raised wher­ever they were required. To these forts he appointed veteran and prudent commandants. Orders were given for the manu­facture of manjaníks and 'arádas (balistas), for the employment of skilful engineers, for a supply of arms of every kind, and for the laying in of stores of grain and fodder. Sámána and Deobalpúr were ordered to be garrisoned with strong selected forces, and to be kept in a state of defence; the fiefs in the track of the Mughals were placed under amírs of experience, and the whole route was secured by the appointment of tried and vigilant generals.