That is to say Ulugh Khān, by the agreement of the Amīrs and officers of the Court ascended the royal throne in the year 725 ^226. A.H. (1325 A.D.),* and after performing the ceremonial mourning for the space of forty days,* went to the treasure house of the kings of former ages, and gave largesse such as exceeds all bounds of description, and having distributed appointments and offices among the Amīrs, he made Malik Fīroz his uncle's son (who is the same person as Sulān Fīroz) Nāibu-l-Mulk, and advanced the dignity of his near relations in the same manner. Ḥamīd Lawīkī, too, was raised to an exalted position and Malik Sartez obtained the title of ‘Imādu-l-Mulk, Malik Khurram that of ahīru-l-Juyū sh (Inspector of the Forces) Malik Pindār Khiljī was given the title of Qadr Khān, and Malik Izzu-d-Dīn Yahyā that of Ā‘amu-l-Mulk, the district of Satgānw being also confirmed to him.

And in the year 727 A.H. (1326-1327 A.D.) the Sulān having formed the design of proceeding to Deogīr, posted a chain of dhāwa,* that is to say pāiks, or runners, as guards at distances of one kroh along the whole road* from Dihlī to Deogīr, built a palace and a monastery at each stage and appointed* a Shaikh to each. They used to keep in constant readiness food and drink, betel-leaf* and all provisions for hospitality; and in both* (palaces and monasteries) guides were stationed who were ordered to see that travellers suffered no annoyance. The traces of these (rest-houses) remained for many years. He gave Deogīr the name of Daulatābād* and considering it as the centre of his dominions* made it the metropolis, and conveyed Makhdūma-i-Jahān his mother, with all his family and relations, the Amīrs and Maliks, the notables of the city, his servants and dependents, and all his treasure to Daulatābād: all the Saiyyids and Shaikhs and ‘Ulamā* also proceeded thither in the following of Makhdūma-i-Jahān, and the stipends and emoluments of all of them were doubled, but in accordance with the saying “Exile is the gravest of all calamities and banishment is the sorest of all afflictions” this desolation of Dihlī and its desertion was a source of great dis­comfort to the inhabitants, large numbers of the feeble and widows, the helpless and indigent perished by the way, while even those who arrived in safety, could not settle there; and towards the end of the above-mentioned year Malik Bahādur Gurshasp ^227. the Inspector-General of the Forces, raised a rebellion in Dihlī,* and Malik Aiyāz, who held the title of Khwāja-i-Jahān, fought with Bahādur and defeated him. Bahādur was taken prisoner and brought before the Sulān and met his punishment. After that, Malik Bahrām Ība the adopted brother of Sulān Tughlaq raised a rebellion in Multān,* and put to death ‘Alī Khaaī who had been sent from Dihlī to summon him thither. The Sulān, in order to put down this rebellion, left Daulatābād for Dihlī and thence by uninterrupted marches reached Multān. Bahrām having come out* against him fought with him, but was de­feated and eventually put to death, his head was brought to the Sulān who intended to set the blood of the Multānīs flowing like rivers on account of his crime, but when the Shaikhu-l-Islām Qubu-l-‘Ālam Shaikh Ruknu-l-Haqq wau-d-Dīn Quraishī,* may God sanctify his holy resting place, having bared his venerable head presented himself at the Court of the Sulān and made inter­cession, the Sulān pardoned the offences of the people.

Verse.

From the earliest times of Adam till the days of the king.
Great men have shewn mercy* mean men have committed
faults.

And the Sulān having bestowed Multān upon Qiwāmu-l-Mulk Maqbūl retraced his steps, but after some little time* having turned against him despatched Behzād to replace him, but Shāhū Lodi the Afghān* killed Behzād and broke out into open rebellion. The Sulān on his arrival at Dīpālpūr found that Shāhū had fled into the hill country,* so he turned back.

And in the year 729 A.H. (1329 A.D.) Narma Shīrīn the Mughul,* the brother of Qutlugh Khwāja the Mughul King of Khurāsān who had formerly invaded Hindūstān, having entered ^228. the Dihlī territory* with an enormous army, reduced the majority of the forts, and proceeded slaughtering and taking captives from Lāhor and Sāmāna and Indarī to the borders of Badāon; and when the victorious troops of Islām came up with him, he re­treated as they advanced; the Sulān pursued him* as far as the frontier of Kālānor and defeated him, and leaving the destruc­tion of that fort in the hands of Mujīru-d-Dīn Abūrijā returned in the direction of Dihlī. At this time the Sulān formed the opinion that in consequence of the refractory conduct of his sub­jects in the Doāb it was advisable to double the taxes levied on that country; he also instituted numbering their cattle and a house census, and other vexatious and oppressive measures, which were the cause of the complete ruin and desolation of the country,* the weak were utterly destroyed and the strong laid the founda­tions of rebellion. The Sulān gave orders for the remainder of the inhabitants of Dihlī and the adjoining towns to start for Daulatābād, caravan by caravan, the houses were to be purchased from their owners, and the price of them to be paid in cash out of the public treasury, in addition to which large rewards were to be offered. By these means Daulatābād was populated, and Dihlī became so deserted that there was not left even a dog or a cat in the city. The following verse describes its condition:—

Verse.

There where the heart-ravishing one used to toy with her
friends in the garden,
The wolf and the fox had their home, and the rhinoceros
and vulture their abode.

This state of affairs also led to a diminution of the public funds. Among other sources of loss to the treasury was this that the Sulān enacted that the muhar* of copper should become current on an equal footing with the muhar of silver, and any one who shewed reluctance to receive it used to be instantly punished severely. This enactment led to many corrupt practices in the kingdom as a matter of course, and unscrupulous and ^229. contumacious rascals used everywhere in their own houses to set up mints and stamp coins,* and taking them into the cities used to purchase with them silver and horses, weapons and fine things, and thus rose to great wealth and dignity. But inasmuch as copper had no value as a currency in places at a distance and one tanka of gold rose to the value of fifty or sixty copper coins, the Sulān perceived the worthlessness of the copper coinage, and issued an edict to the effect that every one who had in his house a copper tanka should, if he brought them to the public treasury, receive for them golden tankas in equal value.* The people profited greatly by this arrangement, till at last copper became copper and silver silver, and those copper tankas were lying in heaps in Tughlaqābād as late as the time of Sulān Mubārak Shāh according to the author of the Tārīkh-i-Mubārak Shāhī, and had no more value than stones. God knows the truth.

And in the year* 738 A.H. (1337 A.D.) he despatched a force of eighty thousand* cavalry under eminent commanders to cap­ture the mountain of Himāchal* which stands between the coun­try of Chīn and Hindustān, and which they also call Qarāchal* with orders to leave garrisons in each successive place so that the line of communications for transport and supplies might remain open and the road of return might be easy. After the entry of this army into this country, by reason of the peculiar features of that mountain, on which heavy clouds form and rain pours in torrents at the sound of men's voices and their shouts and the neighing of horses, in consequence also of the narrowness of the paths and the scarcity of fodder, the patrols were not able to stand to their posts, and the hill tribes getting the upper hand drove back the army, and falling upon the rear of the force killed many of them with poisoned arrows and stone showers, and sending the most of them to the eternal world enabled them to attain martyr­dom, taking the rest prisoners.* For a long time they wandered helplessly among the mountains, and those who escaped after countless hardships the Sulān visited with condign punishment.* And after this calamity so great an army never gathered round ^230. the Sulān and all that money expended in their pay was thrown away.