Account of another victory and the slaughter of the Mugẖal tumāns, who had raised an uproar under the dog, Kapak. * When the fierce* infidel army (God destroy it!) came proudly like autumn into the garden of Hindustān, the southernmost of the fertile countries, towards the end of Diy,* dust arose from the borders of the land of Sind and the inhabitants threw away their property and dispersed like autumnal leaves. But the storm of destruction, being unable to raise any dust in the regions of Kohrām and Sāmāna, turned towards the wilderness of Nāgore, and overpowered the inhabitants of that region. When the stench of these doomed carcass-eaters led by a hound increased, the sweet Nāgori rose, which smells like rubbed sandal-wood, turned fetid. Messengers fast as the wind brought news of this stench to the perfumed palace of the victorious Emperor, whose virtues are fragrant like the navel of a musk-deer. In abhorrence of those men with stinking brains, he ordered the Muslim army to pro­ceed against them; but the news was to be kept a secret, lest in fear of the approaching sandal, the horrid stench should fly back to the fra­grant willows of Khorasan. The Malik of fragrant virtues, ‘Izzud­doulah waddin Kāfūr-i Sulānī (May the Imperial Court be perfumed with his talents!) was appointed to lead the army. The deer-riding lions went so quickly that they made no distinction between the dark­ness of night and the light of dawn till they had reached their stinking prey. And when the turmeric-coloured dust of the holy warriors had bathed the anice-smelling Mugẖals, the latter also became fragrant. * On the banks of the Ab-i ‘Alī* the Mugẖals were over­taken by a weak wave from the swelling stream of Muslim enthusiasm. The accursed Kapak fell into a rushing torrent of swords and began to strike out his hands and feet; the sharp sword was about to cut off his head, when the kind-hearted Mussalmāns rushed in from all sides and took him prisoner, in order to send the water-dog with the other aquatics to the Imperial Court. All the followers of Kapak were either killed or imprisoned; some were shot with arrows and became cold where they stood; the rest had still some water from the stream of life left, but the wind of Divine wrath blew against them and they were put into chains.

Another Mugẖal army, under Iqbāl Mudbir* and Mudābīr Tāī Bū, followed close behind Kapak’s, thirsty for the blood of Mussalmāns, but well filled with the blood of their own tribes. Suddenly a torrent of blood of the slaughtered infidels flowed towards them, but as they were well accustomed to such a flood, they dived to the bottom. The swelling stream of blood, however, reminded them of the sharp sword; for a great slaughter was awaiting them. Though they tried to strike out their feet, they found no space to stand on. Meanwhile the van of the Muslim army advanced like clouds and rain, and fell like a raging storm on these men from Jaihūn. All of them fled from the rain of arrows, and wished like dogs to seek refuge in any gutter. On every side the army advanced like waves of a deluge that goes over mountains and caverns with tumult and noise. * News was brought to the commander of the Muslim troops* that the Mugẖals had two heads, one Iqbāl and the other Tāī Bū. When the right wing of the Imperial army fell upon them, they lost all consciousness of hand and feet, and the two Mugẖal leaders were flying by the same passage across the Sind (Indus). But as they had forgotten their ‘feet’, neither did their ‘feet’ remember their ‘heads’; and it was high time for the Imperial sword to strike off their ‘heads’ and throw them before their ‘hands’ and ‘feet’!* * So by the firmān of the commanders of the army, bold and strong-armed warriors took their swords in hand, spurred their horses across the extensive desert and soon overtook the retreating Mugẖals. In that garden of death heads were struck off and necks were cut open, so that the sword sometimes reached the throat and sometimes the waist. Owing to the sword of the holy warriors, the deluge of blood came up to the nose of the infidels; yet not a drop of blood came out of a Mussalmān’s nose. When the victorious army, which had girded up its loins for holy war in defence of the Faith of the Lord, saw conclusive proof of the text, —‘And surely Allāh will help him who helps His cause’—it enacted the scenes of resurrection on the innumerable bodies of these accursed wretches. You would have thought that the Day of Judgment had arrived, and that the angels of the Lord were collecting the dead bodies of stony-hearted infidels to light the fire of Hell, ‘of which men and stones are the fuel.’ Countless infidels having been sent to Hell in that extensive territory, another great multitude of them was con­signed to the angels of torture to be put in ‘chains and shackles’ and brought to the review. At the head of the chain was the accursed Kapak, a hound from amongst the hounds of Hell. He had been captured among the amīrs of Jar Tāī Bū’s tumān and testified with him to the fact that the people of the north had resorted to flight. All the other (Mugẖals) were either despatched to the pit of Hell or else put in the same chains with those destined for that place. The virtuous Malik* moved back with his troops to the Court of the august Emperor (May his kingdom last for ever!). Time after time he kept on sending fresh news to the Lord’s deputy,* and was in reply favoured with a robe of honour. Finally he reached the Imperial Court, and brought the hellish crew to the muster of the Judgment Day. ‘When the earth is shaken with her (violent) shaking,’ cried the huge elephants as they threw most of these cotton wearers (i.e. Mugẖals) high up in the air; and (the cotton wearers) became like ‘loosened wool.’ * But as even the enormous elephants, who are like strong houses on moving pillars, were not able to destroy all the desolators of this country, order was given that the base of the towers of the Fort (kangar-i-ḥiṣār) was to be constructed from the blood and bones of the remaining (Mugẖals). Immediately in obedience to the Imperial command, Tātārs and Chinese were hung from the Fort as negroes* with heads inverted hang down from a new building. * Owing to the mixture of the Mugẖal bodies with the material of the towers, the confluence of Mars and Saturn was witnessed, and the evil influence of the confluence fell on the lives of these men of Mars. For even after all the towers had been constructed, many of these doomed men were left. Their wretched heads were cut off with shining swords and a bastion, so high that it touched the head of the sky, was formed of them. Mars hung its head (in shame) at the sight. The constellations of the sky have but a single ‘head,’ but here you may see a hundred thousand ‘heads’ in a single constellation (bastion).

Later historians have so confused the account of these generals that I have, for the sake of clearness, reserved their discussion for a separate note.

As to the other authorities, Amīr Khusrau has devoted some lines of his Dawal Rānī to the same campaigns. ‘After this (defeat of ‘Alī Beg and Tartāq) three fierce (Mugẖal) generals, who moved more rapidly than the wind, crossed the territory of Multān and began to ravage the land of the Rāvī. One of them was Tāī Bū, the other was Iqbāl Mudbir and the third was Kapak, wise in war and revenge. Their armies, innumerable as grains of sand (had come) to take revenge for the fate of Tartāq and ‘Alī Beg. According to his custom, the Emperor ordered the Minister of the State, Kāfūr (camphor), to disperse the stench of Tāī Bū, so that no trace of it may remain. The great warrior marched rapidly, and crossing two stages in one night, came upon the Mugẖals like a storm and dispersed their wretched ranks. The blood of the Tātārs rose high up to the breast of the horses in that extensive desert. The infidel dogs fled in panic; the holy warriors pursued them like lions. Iqbāl and Tāī Bū fled from the battle-field toward the rivers. Though they had collected spoils before this, now the preservation of their own heads was all they wished for. The Army of Faith advanced like a river and Kapak was drowned; it pounced like a falcon and carried off Kapak as if he was a partridge. A collar was placed round the neck of the great hound and he was sent to the Emperor of the World.’ In spite of the mixed metaphors, these lines will leave on the reader the impression that Iqbāl, Tāī Bū, and Kapak were three generals taking part in the same campaign, though, of course, each commanded a different army.

Barnī’s account is loose and inaccurate.

‘On another occasion, in another year, the army of Islām came to a battle with the accursed Kank and the Mugẖal troops at Khakar. God granted victory to Muslim arms. The accursed Kank, leader of the Mugẖal army, was brought cap­tive and alive before the Sulṭān’s throne, and there cast under the feet of elephants. On this occasion also, either in the field of battle or else after being brought to Delhī, enormous numbers of Mugẖals were slain. A tower of their heads was raised before the Badāun Gate; people see it till to-day and it reminds them of, ‘Alāuddīn.

‘On another occasion, in another year, three or four Mugẖal amīrs of tumans broke into the Siwāliks suddenly and heedlessly with thirty or forty thousand horse and engaged in plunder and slaughter. ‘Alāuddīn sent the army of Islām against them with orders to seize the road by which the Mugẖals were to return to the river; when the Mugẖals returned thirsty to the water-side, it was to mete out their punishment to them. The Muslim army seized the passages of the Mugẖal retreat and encamped by the river-side. As God had ordained, having laid waste the Siwāliks and travelling a long distance thence, the Mugẖals and their horses reached the river thirsty and in disorder. The Muslim army, which had been waiting for their return for a few days, obtained the desired supremacy over them. The Mugẖals, taken by surprise, begged for water from the Muslim army. They were all taken captive along with their women and children. A great victory had crowned the Muslim arms. Thousands of Mugẖals were sent to the fort of Narāniya with ropes round their necks; their women and children were brought to the Delhī slave-market and sold away like Hindustānī slaves. The Malik Khās-i-Ḥājib was sent to Narāniya from the capital. He went there and put unhesitatingly to the sword all the Mugẖals who had been brought to the fort after the victory. Streams ran with their foul blood.

‘In another year Iqbālmandah came with the Mugẖal army. Sulān ‘Alāuddīn sent the army of Islām from Delhī against them. This year also the Muslim army gained a victory over the Mugẖals. After a feebly fought battle, Iqbālmanda was slain and thousands of Mugẖals were put to the sword. The hazara and sada amīrs, who had been caught alive, were brought to Delhī and cast under the feet of elephants. On the occasion when Iqbālmanda was slain, no Mugẖal escaped alive.’

Two later historians deserve citation.

‘In the year A.H. 705,’ says Ferishta, ‘one of the great amīrs of Dāwa Khān, named Kank, came with a large army to seek revenge for a ‘Alī Beg and Khwāja Taryāl. He had passed the precincts of Multān and reached the Siwāliks, when Ghāzl Malik Tugẖlaq prepared his army for battle and seized the banks of the river Nīlāb, thus cutting off the Mugẖal retreat. The Mugẖals plundered and ravaged; then after a long journey, when the air was hottest, they came back to the banks of the Nīlāb with inflamed livers and parched lips, ignorant of the snare of their enemy. But when they saw the river of life in the enemy’s hands, they naturally despaired of their lives and gave battle to the army of Hindustān. Most of the Mugẖals were slain; Kank was captured alive while those who escaped from the battle-field died of thirst in the forest. Their women and children were taken prisoners. This was a strange event, for out of fifty or sixty thousand Mugẖals not more than three or four thousand were left alive. Ghāzī Malik, who became very famous on account of this victory, sent Kank with a large number of Mugẖal prisoners to the Sulān. ‘Alāuddīn had Kank and his comrades thrown under the elephants’ feet near the Hazār Sutun Palace, and then constructed a tower of Mugẖal heads in the plain before the Badāūn Gate. It is said that traces of it remain till to-day. This year the Mugẖal women and children were sold in Delhī and the rest of Hindustān like Hindi prisoners of war.

‘A long while after this a Mugẖal, named Iqbālmand, came to Hindustān with an immense army and wrought much damage. But Ghāzī Malik Tugẖlaq marched against Iqbālmand and after slaying him sent many live Mugẖals to Delhī to be trodden down by the enormous elephants. Fear and terror now overtook the Mugẖals; the desire of coming to Hindustān was washed off from their breasts; and they created no trouble till the end of Sulān Qubuddīn’s reign. Ghāzī Malik Tugẖlaq was stationed at Depālpūr. Every year he led expeditions to Kābul, Ghaznīn, Qandhār and Garmsīr, plundered and ravaged those regions and levied tribute from their inhabitants. The Mugẖals had not the courage to come and defend their own frontiers against him.’

Nizāmuddīn’s account is based on Barnī.

‘Next time a Mugẖal, named Kabīk, came with a large army and fought a battle with the army of Delhī at Khakūr. Most of the Mugẖals were slain and a tower of their heads was constructed near the Badāūn Gate.

‘After a while a Mugẖal army of thirty thousand horse came to the Siwāliks and began to plunder. When the Sulān heard of it, he sent a large army against them. The army of Delhī seized the banks of the Rāvī, across which the Mugẖals had to return; and when the Mugẖals, loaded with spoils, came to the river-side, the army of Delhī advanced and defeated them. Many Mugẖal officers were cap­tured and imprisoned in the fort of Tarāīnah, which is situated in that neigh­bourhood, while their families and followers were brought to the City and sold as slaves. After this the Malik Khās-i Ḥājib was ordered to go to Tarāīnah to put the prisoners to death.

‘A long time after this Iqbālmandah, a famous Mugẖal, came to India with a large army. An engagement took place between him and the army of Delhī at Daradahindah Amir ‘Alī (?). Iqbālmandah was slain and the other Mugẖāls were brought to Delhī, where they were thrown under the feet of elephants.’

Of the five accounts before us, Nizāmuddīn merely summarizes Barnī and need not be further considered. The only addition he makes is the identification of the river mentioned by Barnī with the Rāvī. Ferishta apparently had only Nizā­muddīn and Dawal Rānī before him, and plays havoc with facts and names. Of the three original authorities Tārīkh-i-Fīrozī, Dawal Rānī and Khazāīnul Futūh the last two are fairly consistent, but it is difficult to reconcile them with the Tārī-Khi Fīrozī. Amīr Khusrau speaks of the three generals as if they had planned a joint push, Kapak leading the advanced contingents while the other two marched behind. Malik Kāfur (not Ghāzī Malik as in Ferishta) was the com­mander of the Delhī army. Barnī speaks of three campaigns in three different, if not successive, years. The first is led by Kapak, the name of the commander of the second is not given, while the third is assigned to Iqbālmandah. I am inclined to agree with Amīr Khusrau, who wrote during ‘Alāuddīn’s reign while Barnī’s paragraphs may not have been written till years after. Military matters did not interest Barnī, his geographical knowledge was meagre and his dates are often incorrect.