Fourth Mukaddama.—Return of Fíroz Sháh to Delhí.

When the Sultán resolved upon returning home from Bengal all his followers were much pleased. An order was given for collecting the heads of the slain Bengalís, and a silver tanka was offered for every head. The whole army went busily to work, and brought in the heads of the slain and piled them in heaps, receiving in payment the silver tankas. The heads were counted and amounted to rather more than 180,000, for the battle had raged for a whole day over an extent of seven kos. * * *

The Sultán then turned with his army and marched quickly towards Dehlí. When he reached Pandwah,* the khutba was said in his name, and he changed the name of the place to Fírozábád. The new names which he gave to Ikdála and Pandwah were made permanent and were entered in the Government records as “Ázád-pur, otherwise Ikdála,” and “Fírozábád, otherwise Pandwah.” When the Sultán arrived on the banks of the Kosí the rains came on, and orders were given for the troops to embark in boats (kishtihá-i band-kushá). The whole army thus crossed over. When Shamsu-d dín entered Ikdála, he seized the Governor, who had shut the gates, and had him executed.

As the Sultán was returning, he sent forward to Dehlí a despatch announcing his conquest of Lakhnautí. Khán-i Jahán Makbúl had been left in Dehlí as deputy, and when the news of the victory arrived, great rejoicings were carried on for twenty-one days, * * * and great preparations were made for the reception of the Sultán. * * * When he entered the city, forty-eight elephants, captured at Lakhnautí with their howdahs and housings, marched at the head of the victorious army. * * * In this, the Sultán's first expedition to Lakhnautí, he was engaged eleven months.

Fifth Mukaddama.—Founding of the city of Hisár Fírozah.

After returning victorious from Bengal, Sultán Fíroz passed several successive years riding about Dehlí. The author was told by his father that, in the second year after the Bengal campaign, the Sultán was in the neighbourhood of Hisár Fírozah, and exerted himself actively and liberally in endeavouring to provide for the needs of the country. It was at this time that Hisár Fírozah was founded. * * * In the place now occupied by the city two large and populous villages formerly stood, which were called Great Larás and Little Larás. There were fifty kharaks included in Great Larás, and forty in Little Larás. In this country there is no other village than the kharak.* The neighbourhood of Great Larás greatly pleased Sultán Fíroz, and he thought it would be well to build a city there, for it was very deficient in water, and during the hot season travellers who came from 'Irák and Khurásán had to pay as much as four jítals for a pitcher full. So the Sultán resolved to build a city, being filled with hope that if he built a town for the benefit of Musulmáns, God would provide it with water. He therefore began the work, and persevered in it for several years, assisted by his nobles and great men. Hard stone was brought from the hills of Narsáí, and was used with strong quicklime and burnt bricks. A fort of great extent and height was com­menced. Various officers were appointed to superintend different portions of the work, and busied themselves in their respective duties, so that in course of time the fort was completed. The Sultán gave to the place the name of Hisár Fírozah. When the fort was finished, a ditch was dug round it, and the earth, which was taken from its bed was spread on each side of the ditch, and along the banks of the ditch battlements were built. Inside the fort a large and deep tank was formed, the water of which ran into the ditch and replenished it from year to year. Inside the fort a palace was built, which had no equal in the world, and the various apartments of which were contrived with infinite pains. One of the arrangements of this palace was that any person, having a general acquaintance with the place, after passing through several apartments, would arrive at the centre. This central apartment under the palace was very dark, and the passages were narrow, so that if the attendants did not guide the visitor he would never be able to find his way out. Indeed, it is said that a servant once went into that place, and after he had been missing for some days, the guards went there in search of him and rescued him from the darkness. * * *

The Sultán, perceiving that there was a great scarcity of water, resolved in his munificence to bring a supply thither. He ac­cordingly conducted two streams (júí) into the city from two rivers; one from the river Jumna, the other from the Sutlej.* That from the Jumna was called Rajíwáh, and (the other) Alagh-khání. Both these streams were conducted through the vicinity of Karnál, and, after a length of about eighty kos, discharged their waters by one channel into the town. The author's father was then in the service of the Court, and held the office of Shab-navís . He informed the author that Sultán Fíroz was occupied two years and a half* in building the town. When it was built he laid out many gardens and planted many trees, including all sorts of fruit trees. * * * Previous to this time there had been an autumn harvest, but the spring harvest failed, because wheat would not grow without water. After the canals had been dug, both harvests came to maturity.

Before this time, in the days of the old kings, this country had been entered in the revenue accounts as belonging to the division (shikk) of Hánsí; but now that Hisár Fírozah had been built, the Sultán ordered that from henceforth the division should be called Hisár Fírozah, and that the districts (iktá'át) of Hánsí, Agrowah,* Fath-ábád, and Sarsutí, as far as Salaurah and Khizr-ábád, with some other districts, should all be included in the division of Hisár Fírozah.* * * *

Fíroz Sháh thus established two cities by land and by water— the city of Fath-ábád, of which an account has been given in a former chapter, and the city of Hisár Fírozah, which has just been described. Numerous water-courses were brought into these places, and an extent of from eighty to ninety kos in these districts was brought (under cultivation), in which there were many towns and villages, as the kasbas of Janíd* and Dahá-tarath, and the town of Hánsí and its dependencies. In every town and village great advantage was derived from the supply of water. The king therefore convened a general assembly of judges, lawyers, and doctors, and demanded of them an opinion upon this question: “If a man with great labour and expendi­ture of money conducts water into certain districts, so that the inhabitants thereof realize a large profit, ought he or not to receive any return for his trouble and outlay?” They were unanimously of opinion that the benefactor was entitled to the right of sharb,* that is to say, ten per cent. The Sultán ac­cordingly realized his sharb, and included it in his rent-roll.

Like unto former kings, he brought many waste lands* into cultivation, and subject to the payment of rent; but the pro­ceeds of such lands were devoted to the learned and religious, among whom they were apportioned, and the public treasury was by this means relieved. The king's rental was thus increased from two sources, from the sharb, and secondly from the newly culti­vated lands.* A sum of about two lacs of tankas was in this way added to the king's revenue. No king of Dehlí had ever been in the receipt of such an income as Sultán Fíroz now enjoyed, and the sovereign's financial business had so greatly increased that separate officers were appointed for the control of the private income of the Sultán, and the public revenue of the State was kept distinct.

When the rainy season came on, and the rains were at their height, officers were appointed to examine the banks of all the water-courses, and report how far the inundations extended. The author's father was several times appointed on this duty. The Sultán was greatly pleased when he heard of the spread of the waters. If any village in his estate went to ruin, he dis­missed the officers in disgrace, and so during his reign the country was thriving and prosperous.