When Sultán Mahmúd had settled the affairs of Sijistán, and the action of his beating pulse had subsided, and the clouds had dispersed, he determined upon invading Bhátia. So he collected armies with trustworthy guides and valiant standard bearers, and crossing the Indus in the neighbourhood* of Múltán, he marched towards the city of Bhátia, the walls of which the wings of the eagle could not surmount, and which was surrounded as by the ocean with a ditch of exceeding depth and breadth. The city was as wealthy as imagination can conceive in property, armies, and military weapons. There were elephants as headstrong as Satan. The ruler at that time was Bijí Ráí,* and the pride which he felt in the state of his preparations, induced him to leave the walls of his fort and come forth to oppose the Musulmáns, in order to frighten them with his warriors and elephants and great prowess.
The Sultán fought against him for three days and nights, and the lightnings of his swords and the meteors of his spears fell on the enemy. On the fourth morning a most furious onslaught was made with swords and arrows, which lasted till noon, when the Sultán ordered a general charge to be made upon the infidels. The friends of God advancing against the masters of lies and idolatry with cries of “God is exceeding great!” broke their ranks, and rubbed their noses upon the ground of disgrace. The Sultán himself, like a stallion, went on dealing hard blows around him on the right hand and on the left, and cut those who were clothed in mail right in twain, making the thirsty infidels drink the cup of death. In this single charge he took several elephants, which Bijí Ráí regarded as the chief support of his centre. At last God granted victory to the standards of Islám, and the infidels retreated behind the walls of their city for protection. The Musulmáns obtained possession of the gates of the city, and employed themselves in filling up the ditch and destroying the scarp and counterscarp, widening the narrow roads, and opening the closed entrances.
When Bijí Ráí saw the desperate state to which he was reduced, he escaped by stealth and on foot into the forest with a few attendants, and sought refuge on the top of some hills. The Sultán despatched a select body of his troops in pursuit of them, and surrounded them as a collar does the neck; and when Bijí Ráí saw that there was no chance of escape, he drew his dagger, struck it into his breast, and went to the fire which God has lighted for infidels and those who deny a resurrection, for those who say no prayers, hold no fasts, and tell no beads.—Amen.
The army of the Sultán kept moving on, and committing slaughter and pillage. One hundred and twenty elephants* fell to the share of the Sultán, besides the usual share of property and arms. He also obtained an accession of territory without any solicitation. He remained at Bhátia till he had cleansed it from pollution, and appointed a person there to teach those who had embraced Islám, and lead them in the right way. He then returned to Ghazna in triumph and glory, and his fortune was in the equator (ascendant); but as his return was during the rains, when the rivers were full and foaming, and as the mountains were lofty, and he had to fight with enemies, he lost the greater part of his baggage in the rivers, and many of his valiant warriors were dispersed. God, nevertheless, preserved his person from those calamities which beset his road, for God is the friend of the virtuous. * * *
Intelligence reached the Sultán of the acts committed by the ruler of Múltán, Abí-l futúh, namely, respecting the impurity of his religion, the seditious designs of his heart, and the evidence of his evil doings, and his endeavours to make proselytes of the inhabitants of his country. The Sultán zealous for the Muhammadan religion, thought it a shame to allow him to retain his government while he practised such wickedness and disobedience, and he beseeched the assistance of a gracious God in bringing him to repentance, and attacking him with that design in view.
He then issued orders for the assembling of armies from among the Musulmáns for the purpose of joining him in this holy expedition,—those on whom God had set his seal and selected for the performance of good deeds, and obtaining either victory or martyrdom. He departed with them towards Múltán in the spring, when the rivers were swollen with the rain, and the Indus and other rivers prevented the passage of the cavalry, and offered difficulties to his companions. The Sultán desired of Andpál,* the chief of Hind, that he would allow him to march through his territory, but Andpál would not consent, and offered opposition, which resulted in his discomfiture. The Sultán, consequently, thought it expedient to attack Ráí Andpál first, notwithstanding his power, in his jungles, to bow down his broad neck, to cut down the trees of his jungles, to destroy every single thing he possessed, and thus to obtain the fruit of two paradises by this double conquest.
So he stretched out upon him the hand of slaughter, imprisonment, pillage, depopulation, and fire, and hunted him from ambush to ambush, into which he was followed by his subjects, like “merchants of Hazramaut, who are never without their sheets.”* The spears were tired of penetrating the rings of the coats of mail, the swords became blunt by the blows on the sides, and the Sultán pursued the Ráí over hill and dale, over the soft and hard ground of his territory, and his followers either became a feast to the rapacious wild beasts of the passes and plains, or fled in distraction to the neighbourhood of Kashmír.
When Abí-l futúh, the ruler of Múltán, heard what had happened to the chief of Hind, notwithstanding all his power and the lofty walls of his fort, and his shining sword, and when he began to measure their relative strength, and considered how Andpál, a much greater potentate than himself, had beeu subdued, he looked upon himself, as compared with the Sultán, as a ravine in comparison with the top of a mountain. He, therefore, determined with all expedition to load all his property on elephants, and carry it off to Sarandíp, and he left Múltán empty for the Sultán to do with it as he chose.
The Sultán marched towards Múltán, beseeching God's aid against those who had introduced their neologies into religion and had disparaged it. The inhabitants of the place were blind in their errors, and desirous of extinguishing the light of God with their breath, so the Sultán invested Múltán, took it by assault, treated the people with severity, and levied from them twenty thousand thousand dirams with which to respite their sins. Then the reports of the Sultán's conquests spread over distant countries, and over the salt sea as far even as Egypt; Sind and her sister (Hind) trembled at his power and vengeance; his celebrity exceeded that of Alexander the Great, and heresy (ilhád), rebellion, and enmity, were suppressed.
When the Sultán heard of Ílak Khán crossing the Jíhún with 50,000 men or more, he went in haste from Tukhíristán to Balkh, and remained there in order to anticipate Ílak Khán, who wished to obtain supplies from that province. The Sultán advanced ready for action with an army composed of Turks, Indians, Khiljís, Afgháns, and Ghaznivides.*
After this victory over Ílak Khán, the Sultán resolved upon going to Hind for the purpose of making a sudden attack upon the person known as Nawása Sháh, one of the rulers of Hind, who had been established as governor over some of the territories in that country conquered by the Sultán, for the purpose of protecting their borders. Satan had got the better of Nawása Sháh, for he was again apostatizing towards the pit of plural worship, had thrown off the slough of Islám, and held conversation with the chiefs of idolatry respecting the casting off the firm rope of religion from his neck. So the Sultán went swifter than the wind in that direction, and made the sword reek with the blood of his enemies. He turned Nawása Sháh out of his government, took possession of all the treasures which he had accumulated, re-assumed the government, and then cut down the harvest of idolatry with the sickle of his sword and spear. After God had granted him this and the previous victory, which were tried witnesses as to his exalted state and proselytism, he returned without difficulty to Ghazna.