Having described the dagger thrusts in many victories over the Mugẖals, I now come to the conquest of the Hindūs of Gujrāt:—35a As the sword of the Emperor of land and sea had been plentifully smeared with the blood of the infidel Mugẖals, he wished to wash off this clotted impurity in the immense ocean. Consequently, on Wednesday, the 20th Jamadīul Awwal, 699 A.H., a fortunate day, he issued a firmān to the ‘Arīẓ-i Wāla35b to send an army, like clouds and rain, to the coast of Gujrāt to destroy the temple of Somnāth. Like an angel directing the clouds, the late Ulugẖ Khān (May God make him drink out of the fountain of His forgiveness!) was appointed to lead the victorious army. Resolved to conquer, the clouds moved towards the sea; and as the foundations of the temple were water-deep, they wished to bring its summit to the water also. When the Imperial army reached the City of that land,35c the sword of the righteous monarch completely conquered the province, which, adorned like a bride, had escaped so many emperors of the past. Much blood was shed. A general invitation was issued to all the beasts and birds of the forest to a continuous feast of meat and drink. In the marriage banquet, at which the Hindūs were sacrificed, animals of all kinds ate them to their satisfaction. Then the Khān-i ‘Aẓam35d moved his army towards the sea.35e Round the temple of Somnāth, which is the centre of Hindū worship, he drew a circle with his troops, and planted his Khaṭāī spear so high towards the centre that its sharp point almost pierced the sky. The banner of Islām was elevated to the equator, while every arch emerging from the two semi-circles, into which the army was divided, without fail passed its arrow through the black dot of infidelity. So the temple of Somnāth was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca; and as the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, you may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath. The idols, who had fixed their abode midway to the House of Abraham (Mecca), and there waylaid stragglers,36a were broken to pieces in pursuance of Abraham’s tradition.36b But one idol, the greatest of them all, was sent by the maliks to the Imperial Court, so that the breaking of their helpless god may be demonstrated to the idol-worshipping Hindūs. It seemed as if the tongue of the Imperial sword explained the meaning of the text: ‘So he (Abraham) broke them (the idols) into pieces except the chief of them, that haply they may return to it.’36c Such a pagan country, the Mecca of the infidels, now became the Medīna of Islam. The followers of Abraham now acted as guides in place of the Brahman leaders. The robust-hearted true believers rigorously broke all idols and temples wherever they found them. Owing to the war, ‘takbīr,’ and ‘shahādat’ was heard on every side; even the idols by their breaking affirmed the existence of God. In this ancient land of infidelity the call to prayers rose so high that it was heard in Bagẖdād and Madāīn (Ctesiphon) while the ‘Alāī proclamation (Khuṭba) resounded in the dome of Abraham and over the water of Zamzam.36d As to the city of Nahrwāla and the city of Kambāyat (Cambay), which the sea raises its head to swallow up, as well as the other cities situated on the coast—though the sea beats against them with force, yet the wave of the Muslim army did not turn to the sea to wash off the contamination of infidelity from the land, but cleansed the ground by a deluge of infidel blood; for if blood is not clean, and cannot cleanse, yet the sword is a purifier; and the sword having overcome the infidels, their blood became pure also. My object in this simile is not real blood, but (only to show) that the sword of Islām purified the land as the sun purifies the earth.36e
In a single campaign Rantambhor was conquered, and by the decree of Providence the land of infidelity became the land of Islām. 38a When the celestial canopy of the Shadow of God cast its shade over the hill of Rantambhor and the conqueror of the world emitted his heat like the sun over the unlucky inhabitants of that place, the days of their life began to decline. The towering fort, which talked with the stars through its lofty pinnacles, was surrounded by the troops. The Saturnian Hindūs, who are related to that planet, had for purposes of defence collected fire in all the ten towers, thus turning the towers of earth (burj-i khākī39a) into towers of fire. Every day the fire of those people of Hell extended its heated tongue to the light of Islām. But as the Mussalmāns, men of pure elements, had no means of extinguishing it, they took care of their own water (morale) without trying to overcome the fire. Sand-bags were sewn and with them a pāshīb was constructed. From the sowing of sand-bags it seemed that the Emperor of the world was investing the sand even with a robe of honour in reward for its capturing the fort. What then was to be the reward of men? May the country prosper under such an Emperor till water and earth, fire and air continue to exist! 39b When the pāshīb rose high enough to touch the western tower of the fort, the Imperial Westerners (magẖrabīs) appeared like the trunk of an elephant on its summit and shot large earthen balls. A mountain moved against the infidel fort, and the hearts of the Hindūs began to fail them.
39c Some ‘New Muslims’ from among the ill-starred Mugẖals had turned their faces from the sun of Islām and joined the Saturnians.39d All these men of Mars had collected together in the tower of fire (burj-i atshin); but though they had lighted a fire in all the three towers, and gathered like particles in the ‘heaven full of stars’, yet was Mercury (tir or arrow) caught in the sign of Saggittarius (qaus), and wandering towards the fire, was totally consumed. From39e Rajab to Ẓil Q’ad the victorious army remained encamped at the foot of the fort. From the towers above, the fire rose high enough to evaporate the water-laden canopy of the clouds, but the fortunate Mussalmāns gathered together every day at the extremity of the pāsheb and carried forward the Imperial banner. With the impetuosity of Bahrām the brave warriors penetrated like salamanders through a fire that scared away the lion of the sky (the sun). To the sound of pipes, the pāīko (footmen) from above made their arrows dance over the fire so that even birds could not fly over the ethereal sphere; the royal falcons were, therefore, unable to reach the dome of fire which extended to the sky. 40a Again, the ‘irādas inside the fort, being the brides of the Hindūs, had borne them female offsprings of stone and were openly throwing them out by the end of Sha’bān. The Imperial gẖazbāns took account of their misdeeds and stoned them. For inevitably the mischievous is stoned. The stones of the besieging magẖrabis went up in the air and struck the clouds with such force that lightning was emitted from them. Heavy stones fell like hail on the heads of the besieged; they ate them and became cold. Yes! Their provisions being finished, they ate stones. Famine prevailed to such an extent within the fort, that they would have purchased a grain of rice for two grains of gold but could not get it. The fire of hunger had roasted their hearts within their earthen bosoms—and they wished to open their bosoms and eat up their roasted hearts. Man can bear all afflictions except that of a starving stomach.
40b When the celestial sun had ascended the steps of honour and sat in the sign of Aries to hold the festival of the New Year’s Day (naurūz), tankas of gold were showered on the earth like falling leaves, and it became finer than a garden. After the naurūz, the Sun of Justice (the Sulṭān) shone full on the Rantambhor hill and every day its heat and light increased,40c till finally the lofty fort, which drew its water-supply from the azure sky, became a desert from lack of vegetation and water. The world seemed smaller to the Rāī (of Rantambhor) than the prison within a rose-bud. So in his desperation one night he lighted a high fire, which rose like a mountain-tulip on the hill, and threw into it the rosy-coloured young maidens, who had grown up in his arms. After he had personally despatched to hell these deserving inmates of paradise, he came to the head of the pāshīb with one or two other unbelievers, bent on sacrificing his life with honour. Though the morning breeze had begun to blow, the narcissus-eyes of the watchmen had not yet closed in sleep. The melody of the bulbul accompanied the Rāī as he advanced. The rose raised a cry. The watchmen drew their swords of lily, sprang up from their places like the morning breeze and put the Rāī to flight, as the winter-wind annihilates the blooming cypress. Thus on the fortunate date, Tuesday, the 3rd Ẓil Qa’d, 700 A.H. such an impregnable fort was taken through an exercise of the strong will. 41a The title of the ‘Place of Islām’ was sent from heaven for this house of infidelity. The inhabited parts of Jhābun, that old land of paganism, became the ‘New City’ of the true believers. The great Imperial banner stood over the iron fort like a key in a lock; for it was the key for the conquest of southern lands. First the temple of Bāhir Deo, the support of which he had invoked, was destroyed. Then the houses of infidelity were overthrown by the strong arm of the holy warriors. Many strongly built temples, which the trumpet of the Day of Judgment could not have shaken, went to sleep on the ground as the morning breeze of Islām blew upon them. The stones of the infidel fort had grown deaf from hearing the Hindū conches; but now they re-echoed the (Muslim) call for prayer. Where formerly the loud pealing of the Brahman’s kettles had torn the ears of the Hindūs, now the sound of the Prophet’s Khuṭba filled true believing ears with a melodious joy. Henceforward whichever side the Imperial armies march, I know their arrow will hit the mark; wherever the Imperial ‘Khuṭba’ is read, its fame will resound to the sky.41b
This is an account of the conquest of the Fort of Māndū and of the whole of Mālwa:—42a When the lancers of the victorious army had put antimony into the eyes of the more dimsighted Rāīs with their spears, many powerful Zamīndārs, gifted with greater keenness of vision, threw aside their boldness and impudence from fear of the stone-piercing arrows of the Turks. They came to the Imperial Court with open eyes and turned its threshold into antimony by rubbing their black pupils upon it; at the same time they saved their bones from becoming antimony-boxes for the dust.43a The Emperor regarded every one of them with an affectionate glance, and threw on them a ray of his favour, which their eyes had never expected to behold. Finally, no impudent infidel remained in the provinces of Hind; some had gone to sleep on the scarlet-coloured bed of (Imperial) punishment; others had opened their eyes and bowed in obedience before the Court.
But on the southern frontier, Rāī Mahlik Deo of Mālwa and Kūkā Pardhān had a permanent army of thirty or forty thousand chosen horsemen. The darkness of their (minds) and the dust raised by their legions had put the antimony of pride in their eyes. ‘When Fate decrees, the sight is blinded’. A curtain had fallen before their eyes and they forsook the path of loyalty. Consequently, a body of select troops was sent by the Emperor against them and fell on those blind wanderers all of a sudden. Victory itself preceded them and had her eyes fixed upon the road to see when the triumphant army would arrive. When the army of Islām came upon the rebels, their eyes were closed and their necks were cut open with the blows of the sword. Streams of blood sank into the ground. So far as the human eye could see, the ground was muddy with blood. The Hindūs tried to fly away from the blood-eating earth, yet with eyes full of tears many of them sank in the mire. At this moment Kūkā came blindly forward, but his horse remained stuck in the mud ‘like black earth in the mire’. In the twinkling of an eye he was pierced by innumerable arrows, and looked like a bee-hive with a thousand compartments, all full of bees. Then his soul fled to the streams of the under-world, while his unfortunate head was sent to the Imperial Court, so that it may attain to a real sublimity by being placed under the feet of the royal horses below the Palace Gate.
When Mālwa, an extensive territory of which even clearsighted geographers are unable to discover the limits, was conquered, it was necessary to entrust it to an experienced and clever governor (mutaṣarrif), who would not only keep a firm hand over the newly conquered land, but also through courageous judgment and great efforts reduce the fort of Māndū, an edifice so high that the human eye was unable to see its summit. The Emperor surveyed with a critical eye the confidential and trusty servants of the state to see which of them most deserved being entrusted with such a post. When his inspired mind had come to a conclusion, he mentioned to the Ḥājib-i-Khāṣ with his brow: ‘Tell ‘Aīnul Mulk44a (the Eye of the State) that I have seen foresight in him. I am giving him the title of ‘Aīnul Mulk and elevating him to a very high office. I entrust him with the province of Mālwa, where the darkness of infidelity has been illuminated with the light of Islām. He is to use his foresight with skill, without permitting his eyelid to cover his pupils in sleep at the command of night. A handful of thorns still remain in that land, and he is not to consider his eyes safe from being pricked by those ignoble people. He has to conquer the fort of Māndū by closing up the streams and making breaches in the walls; and when, by the kindness of the “Opener of the Gates”, the place has been conquered, he has to wash away, with the sharpness of his sword, the contamination of infidelity, which sticks to that pagan land as evil intentions stick to the eyes of the rebellious. The cowardly Mahlik Deo has withdrawn to his fort as the eye of a blind man sinks into its socket. Bring him out by such means as you can in order to overawe the other Hindūs. And if, even for a short time, he remains safe in his fort from the arrows of the Mussalmāns, you are to expect nothing but anger from me. There is reproof for him if he is unable to flow streams of blood on the mountains.’ The ‘Ḥājib-Khāṣ’ came and in his official way told ‘Aīnul Mulk exactly what the Imperial order was. ‘Aīnul Mulk stood up as the eyelashes stand upon the eyelids, rubbed his forehead on the ground and accepted the royal firmān with the pupils of his eyes.
‘Aīnul Mulk started on the mission with his troops and opened wide his joyous eyes to accomplish the task entrusted to him by the Emperor. He cleared the territory (Mālwa) of the remaining evil doers as the eye is cured of its inflammation, till finally his sword refused to do any further work and went into the ‘eye’ of its scabbard. The dark-faced Rāī, like a grain of chāksū,45a had sought shelter between two stones; but he only made it clear that he would be pealed and ground for the sake of ‘Aīnul Mulk (the Eye of the State). From dimness of sight, the Rāī sent the ‘light of his eyes’45b in front, thus making him a shield for his own eyes. At the same time he placed round his son an enormous multitude which only contributed to his fall, as overgrown eyelashes injure the eyes. All at once a body of ‘Aīnul Mulk’s troops fell upon them, like the dust storm that overpowers the eyes of men. In an instant the boldest of them were rolling in blood and dust, while the Rāī’s son slept the sleep of death. But ‘Aīnul Mulk’s clear judgment was not content with this success and he wished to lure the Rāī himself out of his cave. He was planning this when a spy (dīdbān) came back from the fort and undertook to guide them. The man led them by a way he had discovered, illuminating the path with the lamp of his eyes. In the course of the night ‘Aīnul Mulk’s army reached the summit and fell on Mahlik Deo with the impetuosity of a shooting-star before even his household gods were aware of it. Then eye-piercing arrows began to pour on them like innumerable drops of rain, while the flashes of the sword dazzled their eyes. The meteoric arrows kindled a fire in the bodies of these demons (deos)46a brought up in the shade. Rāī Mahlik Deo (the fierce demon) was burnt from head to foot in his battle with the shooting-stars and fled to the stream of Sār, where he was slain. This event occurred on Thursday, the 5th of Jamādiul Awwal, 705 A.H. The gate of the fort of Māndū was opened before them like the eye of fortune. Where, formerly, through secret magic and tricks that deceived the sight,46b the gabrs had drawn a veil over the people’s eyes with the dark sayings of infidelity, now true believers, under the ‘brows’ of the arches, bowed in thankfulness to the ground. The eyes of the angels were illuminated with the light of congregational prayers and Friday sermons. The four walls of the fort resounded at all the five prayers to the sound of the ‘Opening Verses’: ‘(All) Praise is due to Allāh, the Lord of the Worlds’. Malik ‘Aīnul Mulk wrote down all this with the black of his pupil and sent it through his ḥājib to the Emperor to be placed before his august eyes. The wise king under the shadow of his canopy is like the ‘Idea of Man’; for the ‘Eye of God’ is over him.46c When this good news was brought to the Emperor, he bowed down in thankfulness and assigned the territory of Māndū also to ‘Aīnul Mulk. May God perfect the Empire of the Sulṭān and guard his perfection with the Perfect Eye.46d
This is the account of the conquest of Chitor, which towers like the sky on the earth:—On Monday, the 8th Jamādius Ṯānī, 702 A.H. the Conqueror of the World, resolved on the conquest of Chitor, ordered his high-sounding drums to be beaten. The crescent-banner was moved forward from Delhī and the Imperial canopy was raised up to the smoky clouds; the sound of the drum reached the bowl of the sky and conveyed to it the good news of the Emperor’s determination. Finally, the confines of Chitor were reached. The Imperial pavilion of which the clouds may be considered the lining, was pitched up in that territory between two rivers.47a The enthusiasm of the army shook the two seashores like an earthquake, while the dust raised by the feet of the troops rendered the two deep rivers fordable. The two wings of the army were ordered to pitch their tents one after the other on the two sides of the fort. It seemed that water-laden clouds had alighted at the foot of the hill. For two months the flood of the swords went up to the ‘waist’ of the hill but could not rise any higher. Wonderful was the fort, which even hailstones were unable to strike! For if the flood itself rushes from the summit, it will take a full day to reach the foot of the hill.
Nevertheless, the celestial fort, which raised its head above the clouds, would have bowed to the ground at the strokes of the magẖrabī stones. But Jesus from the Bāitul Ma‘mūr (Mecca) sent the good news of the building of Moḥammad’s Faith; consequently, the stones of the building remained intact and kept their secret to themselves.48a On a hill, named Chatar-wāri, the Emperor raised his white canopy every day like the sun, and as is the custom of rulers, attended to the administration of the army. He ordered the eastern wrestlers (pahlwāns) to draw the westerners (magẖribīs). Other warriors began to place heavy stones in the ‘arm’ (palla) of the magẖrabi—for, except the arm of the magẖrabī, nothing else could measure their strength. Every warrior, as he raised the stone with his strength, made his hand a pillar for the hill that had no pillars. The army of Solomon dealt strokes, like those of David, on the fort that reminded them of Seba. On Monday, 11 Muḥarram, A.H. 703, the Solomon of the age, seated on his aerial throne, went into the fort, to which birds were unable to fly. The servant (Amīr Khusrau), who is the bird of this Solomon, was also with him. They cried, ‘Hudhud! Hudhud!’ repeatedly. But I would not return; for I feared Sulṭān’s wrath in case he inquired, ‘How is it I see not Hudhud, or is he one of the absentees?’ And what would be my excuse for my absence if he asked, ‘Bring to me a clear plea’? If the Emperor says in his anger, ‘I will chastise him,’ how can the poor bird have strength enough to bear it?48b It was the rainy season when the white cloud of the ruler of land and sea appeared on the summit of this high hill. The Rāī, struck with the lightning of the Emperor’s wrath and burnt from hand to foot, sprang out of the stone-gate as fire springs out of stone; he threw himself into the water and flew towards the Imperial pavilion, thus protecting himself from the lightning of the sword. Wherever there is a brazen vessel, the Hindūs say, there lightning falls; and the Rāī’s face had turned as yellow as brass through fear. Surely he would not have been safe from the lightning of the arrow and the sword, if he had not come to the door of the royal pavilion.
49a On the day the yellow-faced Rāī sought refuge in the red canopy from fear of the green swords, the great Emperor (May his prosperity continue!) was still crimson with rage. But when he saw the vegetarian Rāī trembling with fear, like the trampled and withered grass under the Imperial tent,—though the Rāī was a rebel, yet the breeze of royal mercy did not allow any hot wind to blow upon him. All the storm of the Emperor’s wrath vented itself against the other rebels. He ordered that wherever a green Hindū was found, he was to be cut down like dry grass. Owing to this stern order, thirty thousand Hindūs were slain in one day. It seemed that the meadows of Khiẓrābād had grown men instead of grass. After the wind of Imperial wrath had uprooted all the muqaddams,49b he rid the land of its two colours, and helped the raīyats, the cultivators of the land, among whom no thorn raises its head, to grow. The roots and branches of this azure edifice were assigned to the grand tree of the grand Empire, Khiẓr Khān and given the name of ‘Khiẓrābād’. The red canopy was placed over Khiẓr Khān’s head, like the red heaven over the blue sky. He wore a robe of honour ornamented with jewels, as the sky is inlaid with stars. Two banners, black and green, were raised so high above his threshold that the Saturn and the Sun were struck with melancholy and bile. Further, his court was adorned by a baton (dūrbāsh) of two colours, each of which seemed a tongue from the solar lamp. Thus by scattering rubies and diamonds and roses, the Emperor made the existence of his son prosperous and honourable. Then freed from the affairs of Khiẓr Khān and Khiẓrābād, he took hold of his successful bridle and brought his stirrups from the green meadows (of Khiẓrābād) to Sīrī. 49c After the 10th of Muḥarram, the banner of the successor of the Prophet (May it rise higher and higher!), having wonderfully predominated over the head of the Hindūs, was ordered to be moved to the City of Islām, Delhī. He (the Emperor) made the killing of all Hindūs, who were out of the pale of Islām, such an obligation on his infidel-smiting sword (Ẓulfiqār) that should Muslim schismatics (rāfiẓīs) in these days even nominally demand their rights, the pure Sunnis would swear in the name this rightful Caliph of God.50a
In the second conquest of Deogīr, its Rāī was captured and then set free. 51a Rāī Rām Deo was a wild horse that had once before come within the halters of the Imperial officers and had been trained with the horse-breaker’s whip, which disciplines a demon (deo). But then the Imperial horsemen had, with the greatest kindness, left him the desired meadows of his ancient Demon-land (Deo-lākh),51b and like a well-fed horse he had forgotten the neck-breaking bridle and became headstrong and refractory. The Emperor of the celestial throne sent the Malik Nāīb Bār-bek51c (May God strengthen the whip of his authority!) to capture the runaway. With him were sent thirty thousand horse-breakers, scourge in hand, to train the haughty horses of the rebel army. They easily accomplished a march of three hundred farsangs without drawing their bridles and fell on that army of horses who had turned away from their head-stalls. On Saturday, the 19th of Ramaẓan, 706 A.H. the (Imperial) horsemen were ordered to lead their horses to the charge and to moisten their swords, which were cold as lilies, with blood from necks of the gabrs. The rebel army fled and its scattered ranks were torn by further differences. The Rāi’s son ran away on his horse. Most of the Hindū soldiers, sewn together by shots of arrows and spears, fled to the regions of the under-world. The troops that survived were cut into two parts by the dividing sword. One half of them in excessive fear turned away their horses from the battle-field and fled with the Rāī’s son, for their souls were flying away from their bodies as an unruly horse flies off from the rider’s hands. The rest capitulated and gave up their horses to the Qandkash of the prisoners. The Muslim horsemen being victorious, the Malik-i Sahkash52a ordered that such booty as was fit for the troopers should be given back to them, while things only suitable for the Sublime Court —fleet-footed horses that flew over the plain, hill-like elephants (whose feet) wore away the rocks, treasures which surpassed all imagination —were reviewed, recorded and then entrusted to the officers of (the royal) horse and elephant stables and the treasury.
52b As the Emperor had ordered the ‘tongue’ of the sword to take as much care as possible of the Rāī and his relatives in the battle-field, the great Commander restricted his efforts to catching the refractory Rām Deo and most of his men alive. But as their heads had wavered from loyalty, first the yoke of Imperial authority, which is supreme over all its rivals, was placed on their criminal necks. Yes, he put (the yoke) so tightly that their jugular veins nearly snapped asunder. But the New Messiah, i.e., the rightly guided Sulṭān, knew in his forgiving heart that fear of his punishing sword had taken out all life from their bodies; so he blew his spirit into them and brought them to life again. When all these people had regained their life by the blowing of the Sulṭān’s ‘breath’ (favour) upon them, the Malik Naib brought them to the Baitul Ma‘mūr of Jesus (Delhī), that they may see the life-giving holy spirit with their own eyes. And the holy spirit gave them the good news of an eternal existence. 52c As none but benevolent images are formed in the mirror of the Second Alexander, therefore in spite of the signs of rebellion he had seen in Rām Deo, he took the Rāī under the ramparts of his protection and forgiveness and considered the inverted images, which appeared in the latter’s rusty iron heart, the refraction of a worthless looking-glass. And he raised the Rāī to such a high dignity, that owing to the strength of his good fortune, his face was never for a single moment away from the mirror on the knees (of the Second Alexander). The Rāī was indeed fortunate when the Hindī sword of the Emperor became a breast-plate for the protection of his honour. An order (sharf-nāma) of Alexander also made this clear. When avenging fate ceased to hate the rebellion of the Hindū, the sword of the Alexander turned into a mirror before his eyes. For full six months the fortunate Rāī remained in the rays of Imperial favour, as the crescent bends its back in the service of the Sun; day by day his honour and dignity increased, till in the course of time he attained to the orbit of his prosperity like the full moon. The Sun of the Empire honoured him with a blue canopy, and arrayed in all pomp, he moved to his own permanent constellation. May God protect the Sulṭān, for he sustains his subjects, like the moon, with his benevolent rays.53a
Account of the conquest of Siwāna, which became Khairābād, by the Imperial sword (May it be preserved for ever!). 53b When the lions of the august threshold had subdued all surrounding animals with their powerful strokes, so that for five hundred farsangs from the royal garden no tiger was left, which the lions of the Imperial army need trouble their claws about, the Imperial horseman became tired of the inactivity and wished to let his swift-footed horses wander at will for a few days in the hunting-field. On Wednesday, the 11th Muḥarram, 710 A.H. the standards of the army were moved (out of Delhī) for the campaign; and they shook as the heart of a wild beast beats when there is a sheep in the forest. 53c It is the custom of the world-conqueror not to return from any of his flights without reducing the fort and overpowering its possessor. He raised his wings to fly from Imperial Delhī to Siwāna, a distance of one hundred farsangs, and besieged that fort which was an asylum of wild robbers. Upon the hill he saw a fort so high that the eagle could not reach its summit in ten flights. In it sat a gabr, named Satal Deo, like the Sīmurgh53d on the Caucasus. Several thousand other gabrs sat on the top of the hill, like so many mountain-vultures, ready to have themselves torn. Like stone-eating birds they opened their mouths and waited till the magẖrabī-stones began to fly to them from every side. Then some of them fell down like sparrows and their gizzards were broken into atoms, while others fluttered their wings and feet and gave up the ghost. The men of the army threw up their hats to catch these household birds and cut them to pieces. How long could the game continue?54a Towards the east the Sun of the Earth54b (May God elevate him to the constellation of the Lion!) sat on a throne with lion’s feet and with tiger’s eyes engraved over it. He ordered the swordsmen of the right wing to attack the southern side of the fort, while the lions of the left wing attacked it from the north. The manjanīqs on the west were entrusted to Malik Kamāluddīn Gurg (the wolf); for he excelled in killing lions as much as the wolf excels in killing sheep. The magẖrabīs under the command of the ‘wolf’ made a cave in the hill with every shot. Finally, the head of the pāshīb reached the summit of the hill. By the order of the Emperor, the heroes of the army marched over the elephantine pāshīb and fell on the animals within the fort. But as the besieged were brave and haughty, they did not fly though their heads were cut into pieces. Those who attempted to fly were chased and caught. Some were sent to sleep like hares with strokes of the hunter’s spear; others were ground down to flour under the magẖrabī stones. The brave warriors of the (Imperial) army redoubled their shots at their enemies of māsh54c to grind down the latter between two stones for their bread at dinner; others they minced into meat and gave a feast to animals of all kinds. On that day of battle, from the appearance of the false dawn to the last flicker of light the infidels were slain and streams of blood were made to flow. 54d Some Hindū birds, with many deceptions, fled away from the battle with their leader; before the Mussalmāns could catch them, they sprang up from their nests and tried to fly to Jālore. But the swift-footed servants of the Emperor got news of this and laid an ambush for them. Some they prevented from proceeding further; others they slew, till the wild, black crow of darkness assumed a white colour, i.e. the night had been succeeded by the morning. On the morning on Tuesday, the 23rd Rabīul Awwal, the dead body of Satal Deo was brought before the lions of the Imperial threshold. People were struck with wonder at the grandeur of the Gurg (wolf) and the terrific strength of his arrow-shot.
The campaign against the wild animals being over, the intrepid Emperor ordered his lion-hearted slave, Kamāluddīn Gurg, to hunt the beasts of the forest, and was confident that if the clouds rained sharp arrows instead of drops of water, the ‘wolf’ would not raise up his shield over his head, for he had known many such showers. The just protector of his subjects entrusted the cattle to the ‘wolf’, in order that he may guard the young she-goats from the thorns of the territory. In a single hunting excursion such a famous victory befell the Emperor. He moved his standard towards the ‘Platform of the Lions’ 55a (chautra-i shīrān) and the crescent banner was brought to the ‘Constellation of the Lion (Delhī)’.55b
Now I will describe the conquest of Tilang in such a way, that the feet of imagination will become lame in following my pen! 56a After conquering many regions of the south, the brilliant judgment of the Sulṭān of East and West came to the conclusion that the swarms of Arangal must be trampled under the crescent horse-shoe of the army. On 25th Jamādiul Awwal, 709 A.H. the Nausherwān of the age ordered his Buzurchmehr,56b accompanied by the red canopy of the ‘Shadow of God’ and an army like the stars and planets of the sky, to lead his lucky horses to the south. The ruby canopy of the Sun of Sulṭāns, like a cloud that becomes red as the sun shines upon it, began to move towards the sea of Ma‘bar. And as it commenced its flight at the Emperor’s order, you would think it was a cloud, which Mecca-going winds were carrying towards the sea. Following this sky tied with ropes, the stars and planets of the army moved on, stage after stage; after nine days the fortunate star of the state (i.e. the wazīr of the Empire) arrived at a propitious moment at Mas‘ūdpūr. At this place, which is named after the son of the Emperor Mas‘ūd, the foot of the standard remained stationary for two days. On Monday, the 6th Jamādīus Ṯānī, the crescent standard of the Empire, with the maliks and other ‘stars’, began to move rapidly forward. It was the first part of the month. Every night the moon enlarged its flame and raised it higher to help the night marches of the army. And though the sun, the ‘Mecca’ of the Hindūs, looked fiercely at the Mussalmāns, the feet of the army threw dust into its eye. Yes, the eye that looks fiercely at such an army deserves no other antimony but black dust. 57a The path before them was extremely uneven; there were innumerable clefts in it, such that if the wind passed through them, it would fall as water falls into a well, or if (flames of) fire ran over them, they would bow down their heads to the earth. Owing to the rapidity of the streams, the ground at the foot of the hills had broken into many fissures. Every mound had a hundred thousand pointed thorns stuck to its head; the very idea of cutting such rocks and thorns made the hair of a pair of scissors stand upon its body like thorns. Through such a forest the obedient army passed, file after file, as if that perfect wilderness were the ‘straight path’. After six days of marching, the army crossed five rivers—Jūn, Chambal, Kunwārī, Binās, Bhojī57b—at the fords and came to Sulṭānpūr, known as Irijpūr. Here the army remained for four days. 57c On the 19th Jamādīus Sānī, the Malik of the brilliant fortune57d mounted his horse, and the ‘stars’ of the Empire began to move. The rider was above, the horse was below; it looked as if ‘stars’ were riding on the backs of the planets. 57e From farsang to farsang every stone on the way had its ‘head’ broken by the hoofs of the horses though nothing came out of its ‘skull’. The movement of cloven-footed baggage bearers despoiled the earth of its bloom. The swift pāīks (footmen) rent the hills with their iron feet; indeed, as these pedestrians hurried over the ground with firmness and impetuosity, on one side the stones pierced into the soles of their feet, while on the other, their feet removed the skin from the skulls of the stones.
58a After thirteen days, on the first of Rajab, the army arrived at Khanda. In such a wilderness the month of God58b came forward to welcome the Muslim army, and showed great kindness to the pious men, who had travelled under the hot sun for three months. Here a muster of the holy warriors was held for fourteen days. The angels sent their blessings. The prayer for victory came to the ‘ears’ of Rajab, and it hurried forward with the joyful news of future victories like those of the past.
On this auspicious occasion all the maliks, officers and leading men of the army gathered together before the red canopy, and kept their days alive by hearing prayers for the Jesus-like Emperor; moreover by keeping the ‘fast of Mary’ (rūza-i-Maryam), they collected provisions for their future life. There can be no doubt that an extremely pious assembly had gathered round the sky-shadowing canopy; even the saints (aūtād) were present. They held fast to the ‘strong cord’, and no (differences) had any place amongst them. The august month of Rajab heard with solemnity and joy the prayers for the Emperor and for victory. 58c Next morning, after the ‘fast of Mary’, the army again advanced like a raging deluge. Through rivers and torrents it passed. Every day it came to a new land; in every land it came across a new river in which the quadrupeds rolled like five-footed animals. Though all the rivers were crossed, yet the Narbada looked like a remnant of the primeval deluge. As the miraculous power of the Emperor-Sulṭān was with the officers of the kingdom, the deep rivers became dry as the dust of the army approached them, and the Mussalmāns crossed them with ease. Eight days after crossing the Narbada, the army reached Nīlkanth. When these wide rivers make a way for the Imperial army to cross, there would be nothing wonderful if it also forded through the Nile of Egypt and the Tigres of Baghdad.
58d As Nīlkanth was on the border of Deogīr, and the territories of the Rāī Rāyān, Ram Deo, had now been reached, the wazīr, acting according to the Emperor’s orders, protected the country from being plundered by the troops, who were as innumerable as ants and locusts. No one dared touch the door or the wall of a building or take anything from the barns or fields of the peasant. The stores of the ants did not become the food of the locusts.59a The drums, which sounded to march, were detained here for two days in order to make inquiries about the stages in advance. On Wednesday, the 26th Rajab, the movement of the army again shook the bowels of the earth, and the ground began to rise up and go down like the belly of a Khafkhāna-blower. Trampling the earth under their feet and splitting stones with force, the army defiled through such a dangerous path. In sixteen days the difficult road to Tilang was traversed. The ground was overlaid with hard rocks, which the Hindūs had often (vainly) attempted to cross; yet these heavy rocks flew away like dust at the feet of the quadrupeds of the Muslim army. The eye of the sky gazed in wonder; for the road went up and down like the subtle wit of a clever cheat and was at the same time as long as a miser’s greed. And in attempting to describe its hills and caverns, the intelligence of the panegyrist would bow its head in wonder. 59b The path was narrower than a guitar string and darker than a beauty’s locks. At times it was like a hole in a reed: when the wind attempted to pass through it, it came out reverberating. The river-banks were so steep that it would have been difficult for a duck, or even an eagle, to cross them. Pretending that they knew the way, nimble-bodied men attempted to ascend the heights on either side; but their feet slipped all of a sudden; their attempts to catch hold of the steep sides were ineffectual; and rubbing their hands together, they fell down with innumerable wounds. The neighing horses, that danced in the air, would fall down in a moment owing to one false step. Yes! Many a dancing horse flew swift as the wind; but once its foot slipped down the hillside, it tumbled and fell. 59c Furthermore, as the dark-faced cloud brought forth its unfinished pearls to worry the people of the army, the wind struck it hard on the neck, and all its water was shed. Whenever the forked lightning laughed at the slipping feet of the army, the thunder roared so loudly at the latter that it immediately disappeared. You would have thought that the cloud was envious of the ocean-like palm of the Emperor’s hand, but being powerless to do anything at the Imperial Court, sought consolation by attacking the army. The lightning, on the other hand, had been struck with fire by the Imperial sword; but unable to display its impudence in the Emperor’s presence had gone thither to reveal its burning heart. 60a Though the holy warriors met many obstacles in this journey, yet they had girded their loins sincerely for the sake of Allāh alone, and had their eyes on that final reward, the hope of which sustains the human heart. Consequently, they did not regard their sufferings as serious. In a thousand ways the assistance of Heaven, too, was with them. Good fortune accompanied young and old over hills and valleys, rocks and thorns, desert and forest, even as victory accompanies the Muslim standard.
60b After passing with determination and rapidity through those hills and plains, they arrived at a Doāb within the borders of Basīrāgarh.60c It was enclosed by the two rivers, Yashar and Būjī.60d A diamond mine was said to exist there. But as the power of Imperial sword, through the strength of which all the treasures of the rāīs have come into the hands of Muslim soldiers, had given strength to the officers of the state, they did not care to take handfuls of earth from the pits; for it is easier for powerful swordsmen to seize jewels with the sword than to dig them out of the earth with the spade. 60e About this time the Malik, with the impetuosity of a dragon, left the difficulties of the winding path, and with some dare-devil horsemen, marched against the fort of Sarbar, which belonged to the kingdom of Tilang. The saddles were still stinging like scorpions on the backs of the horses, when he ordered the warriors to make a circle round the fort. The archers shot their arrows from outside. ‘Strike!’ ‘Strike!’ cried the Hindūs from within. The rāwats of the Rāī were so bitten by the poisoned arrows, that they wished to take refuge in the holes of ants for protection, and like thousand-footed animals crept into every corner. The arrows had made snake-holes in the bodies of many and their lives were in danger. The movement of crocodile-like warriors shook the earth to the back of the Fish.60f 60gWhen the swift arrows, with fiery flames at the end of their wood-pieces, began to fly forward to burn the houses of the infidels, their faces grew dark at the approach of this wall of fire. In the excess of their folly, they drew the fire on to themselves; i.e. all of them with their wives and children threw themselves into fire and went to hell. For fire is the reward of the enemies of Allāh! The exterior of the fort became bright owing to this illumination of the pit of hell. The bodies of the victors were like flints in armours of steel; they cast away their armours and jumped up from the rocks as a spark flies out of flint. At this moment the breeze of victory suddenly blew fast, and the flames inside the fort rose higher still. The impetuous soldiers of the Muslim army drew their swords like so many tongues of fire, climbed up the fort, and falling on the half-burnt mass, put to death with their Hind-steel those whom fire had spared. Matters having come to this, the remaining muqaddams of the fort also wished to sacrifice themselves in the same element. At this instant, the ‘Arz-i Mumālik, Sirājuddīn, saw that it was time to light the lamp of victory. Anānīr, the brother of the muqaddam of the fort, had hidden himself in the cultivated fields of that land. The ‘Arz-i Mumālik ordered him to be captured and given a severe chastisement. At first, allured with soft words, he was kept for being beheaded and burnt; but, next, this low-burning lamp of the Hindūs (i.e. Anānīr) was given a tongue (to ask) for his life, so that before morning the flame of insurrection might subside.61a As the smoke of destruction rose from this fort to the sky, some refugees from the burning edifice, with their eyes full of water, fled to Rāī (Laddar Deo), and like moist wood, with weepings and wailings, gave vent to the inner sorrow of their hearts. The Rāī, who possessed elephants and troops, was also overcome by fear but he did not think it advisable to advertise it. So he bewailed his fate for a while and thus soothed his inner sadness. But when the fire of misfortunes is lit, tears from the eyes burn in it like oil.
61b On Saturday, the 10th of Sha’bān, they marched from here determined to plant the tree of virtue in the land of Tilang and to uproot with the greatest force the tree of vice, that had fixed its roots there. On the 16th Sha’bān the true believers arrived at the village of Kūnarbal. While the pious standard was being planted, the Malik Nāīb, commander of the army of heaven, ordered a thousand swift horsemen—and they were such that the crow of victory did not build its nest except on their bows!—to go forward and capture a few infidels, though the daggers of the latter may be as numerous as the leaves of a willow, in order to make inquiries from them about the condition of the country. When this force reached the gardens of Arangal, the iron of their horse-shoes turned green from walking over the grass. Two famous officers with forty mounted horsemen went forward and reached the summit of the Anamkanda Hill, from where they could see all the suburbs and gardens of Arangal.62a On looking carefully from the hill, four swift Hindū horsemen came into sight. The Musalamāns drew their bows and ran after them. They succeeded in knocking down one of the four with a four-feathered arrow and sent him to the Commander-in-Chief. The latter took it as a good omen. ‘Thus with my sword’, he said, ‘will I peel away the skin from the heads of such Hindūs as rebels’.
62b When the army reached Arangal, the red canopy rubbed its head with the clouds. At midday the Malik Nāīb, accompanied by a few men, went to reconnoitre the fort (of Arangal). He saw a fort, the like of which is not to be found on the face of the earth. 62c Its wall, though of mud, was so hard that a spear of steel could make no impression upon it; if a magẖrabī-stone were to strike it, it would rebound like a nut thrown by a child. Its earthen towers were stronger than Taurus, and the Orion only came up to its waist. Nevertheless, the standards of infidelity trembled on the top of all the towers in expectation of their downfall, while the ‘irādas of Hindūs wept from fear of being broken. The warlike rawats, with all their heavy stones, had thrown themselves into the sling of destruction; some of them were collecting stones for the munjaniqs; others, who had no stones, were busy in throwing bricks and javelins. That day the victorious Malik carefully selected the ground for the army-camp and returned. Next morning he intended to carry the battle forward, and in good news, to throw stones at the heads of the Hindūs. 63a When morning dawned and the sun rose, the sky-towering standard of the eastern Empire was raised up and brought to Anamkonda. Once more the great Malik went round the fort to re-examine the ground for the army-camp. The tents were to be pitched side by side, as the Aquarius lies in the neighbourhood of the Pisces.
63b It was the 15th of Sha’bān, when in the middle of the month of the Prophet, the ruby canopy was fixed so high that it over-topped the Ramaẓān crescent. On that night Khwāja Nasīrul Mulk Sirajuddoulah (May God illuminate the nights of his life!) personally arranged the troops with a lighted lamp. Every division was sent to its appointed place, in order to surround the fort and to protect the besiegers from the shots of the besieged and from whatever compounds of air and fire the latter might bring forth to set fire to the external wall of bronze. 63c When the august canopy had been fixed a mil from the gate of Arangal, the tents around the fort were pitched together so closely that the ‘head’ of a needle could not go between them. Inside the fort the Hindūs slept at ease, like reclining yard-measures; outside the watchmen of the Imperial army were wide awake. Every tumān was assigned one thousand two hundred yards of land; the total circumference of the fort, as enclosed by the tents, was twelve thousand five-hundred and forty-six yards.63d The land of infidelity was made to look like a cloth market owing to the innumerable tents.
63e The victorious army drew into ranks like the teeth of a saw and the heart of the Hindūs was cut into two. Every soldier was ordered to erect a Kāth-garh (wooden defence) behind his tent. Immediately all hatchets became busy and every soldier was transformed into Ishāq, the wood-cutter. Trees that had never been molested by the stones of those who wished to eat their fruits, were now felled with iron axes in spite of their groans; and the Hindūs, who worship trees, were unable to come to the rescue of their gods in their need. Every accursed tree in that land of infidelity was cut down to its roots. Clever carpenters sharpened their instruments on the tree-trunks and soon cut them into proper shape with their axes. Finally, a wooden fence was built round the army. It was so strong, that if fire had rained from the sky, the wooden fort would have been as safe from fire as Noah’s ark was from water.
64a When the Hindū-faced evening had made a night-attack on the sun and sleep had closed the portals of the eyes and besieged the fort of the pupil,64b the watchmen, with their shields on their backs and their drawn swords in their hands, drew into a double row to keep guard over the Imperial camp and with the strokes of their eyelashes drove sleep out of their eyes. Near midnight, when the meteors had begun to shoot towards the besieged demons and the moon had brought forth its full shield, a thousand swift Hindū horsemen from the troops of Bānik Deo, the muqaddam of that country, made a night-attack on the Muslim army with demonish cries and the Hindī sword. God forbid that such an army should fear such an attack! 64c As a matter of fact, the crocodiles of the besieging army who had themselves been waiting in an ambush for this armoured fish caught the latter with their Hindī swords like fish in a net. From fear of the enemy’s maces and clubs, the Hindūs drew their heads into their armours like tortoises. The heads of the rāwats rolled like crocodile-eggs on the fish-backed earth. In an instant many of these aquatic creatures had been drowned in a deluge of their own blood and lay like slaughtered fish. Those wounded by spears and arrows cried as frogs cry when caught by snakes. Others who tried to run away received wounds on their backs, which like cancer-sores opened a door for the entry of death. 64d Finally, most of the Hindūs were either killed, overpowered or driven away. Some of them cut off their horse-belts in order to fly more quickly, but the anvil-piercing holy warriors came out of their iron lines and pursued them, determined to strike the Hindī sword at infidel hearts. Every Hindū found in the neighbourhood was either slain with the Hindī sword and the Tatār-arrow or sent as a prisoner to the army.
Now some of the prisoners happened to declare that in the town of Dahdūm, six farsangs from Tilang, three elephants, such as could tear up the back of a hill with their iron teeth, had been secretly hidden. Immediately, at the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial army, three thousand brave horsemen, led by Qarā Beg Maisarah, galloped away in that direction. But when they reached the said fort, the elephants had been carried further still and inevitably a further distance had to be traversed. Thanks to the unlimited good fortune of the Emperor, all the three elephants fell into the hands of his officers. The elephants, on their part, were busily pulling their chains in their anxiety to reach the Imperial Court. When they were brought to the army camp, the war-like Malik considered the acquisition of these three iron forts a great achievement and kept them, along with the other elephants, for the Imperial stables. Indeed, he had seen all this in the mirror of his sword and without the help of any conjurer or fortune-teller.
65a As the Commander-in-Chief of the army, who was also the Imperial Chamberlain, was very fond of polo (chaugān), he ordered his enthusiastic men to go on playing the game against the muqaddams of Laddar Deo, day after day. He motioned to them with his brow, that wheresoever they came across a desperate rāwat, they were to take his head for a ‘ball’ and bring it to their camp. Having received this wide permission, the sportive horsemen considered it a great fun to separate the heads from the bodies of a very large number. Every horseman in the army whipped his animal and in several matches brought away the ‘balls’ of those desperate Hindū warriors; for you might consider their blood-smeared heads as coloured balls brought to the presence of the chaugān-loving Malik. Further, the Malik ordered stone-balls for the maghrabis to be collected all round the fort; so that with the strokes of the balls the fort may be won and reduced to dust in another match. 65b As the external munjaniqs drew their strength from the virtuous tree of faith, they did great damage to the infidel edifice, but the inner ‘irādas, being constructed from the tree of infidelity, naturally yielded before the impetuosity of Muslim stones. The stones of the Mussalmāns all flew high, owing to the power of ‘the strong cable,’ and hit the mark, while the balls of the Hindūs were shot feebly as from a Brahman’s thread, and consequently went wrong.
66a When the sābāts and gargajes were completed and rose so high that the garrison of the fort was placed suddenly on a lower elevation, the fort ditch began to talk of its great depth to the Muslim army. Though the latter looked sternly at it and took measure of its depth, it would not allow the army to cross; and opening wide its two lips, spoke of the security of the fort. Ultimately, the Mussalmāns threw mud into its mouth, and filled it in so completely that its two lips were joined together. Of this there could be no doubt. Further, one wing of the fort-wall, for about the length of a hundred hands, was broken so thoroughly by the stroke of large stones, that it could not rise high enough to embrace the Hindūs below the arm-pits. On the other side, also, the havoc wrought by the maghrabi stones had created new doors in the gate-wall. All these doors of victory which Divine assistance had opened for the Imperial officers Yes every crack in the enemy’s wall is a door of victory for the friend. 66b When owing to the continuous piling up of the earth, a mound had risen from the bottom of the ditch to the waist of the fort, and the mud wall of the fort had become a heap of dust from the strokes of the stone-balls, they desired to construct a pāshib so wide that files of hundred men abreast may ascend over it to the fort. But the construction of the pāshib would have taken a few days; and Victory, in her haste, was dancing on the sword’s point. The rightly guided Wazir called the Malīks to a council of discussion, and their correct judgment was to the effect, ‘that before the construction of the pāshib, a hand-to-hand struggle should be attempted, and as Victory is on our side, may be she will come running.’
66c The night of Tuesday, the 11th Ramaẓān, was so bright that its shining moon imparted it the brilliance of Lailatul Qadr.66d The tarāwth prayers asked for heavenly help with a loud voice. The blessing of the fasting day had collected the rewards of the victors, and Fortune used the lock of the night as her ladder for descending from heaven to earth. The Pleiades had lifted their hand in prayer that key of victory may fall into them! 66e The exalted Wazir ordered high ladders and all other requisites to be constructed in every division (khail) in the course of the night, whenever the drum beat to action, everyone was to come out of his entrenchment and carry the ladders to the fort, so that the work of victory might be exalted step by step. When in the morning the sun in Gemini had clothed the sky with a waist-band of light, the holy warriors ran towards water and took off their socks in order to put on their armour. 67a After performing their ablution—and every drop of ablution-water is a sharp arrow for Satan’s heart, for ablution is a Mussalmān’s armour!—they were ready for prayer and turned their faces towards God. The Sah-kash also bowed in the obligatory prayer, and raised his hands to ask Heaven for victory and success. He begged the ‘King of Khaibar’67b to plead before God, from whom all good originates, for the reduction of the fort, and instantly the keys of victory fell into his hands from the Unseen Gate. Some waiting was, however, still necessary, for everything has its appointed time.
67c When the golden shield of the sun had risen a spear high, the Malik Nāīb ordered his men to begin the attack and the blood of the ‘gabrs’ was shed in the worthless fort even as the Censor of morals throws away carnation-coloured wine. The beat of the leathern drum—‘and the thunder declares His glory with His praise’— resounded through the vault of the sky. The trumpets of the holy warriors raised their voices on every side. ‘Here! I am for you,’ cried Victory as she came running. Bold men with scaling ropes began to jump up to the fort-wall like lions in the forest. The arrows fell thick like showers of the rainy season and pierced the breast of the Hindūs even as rain drops get into the mothers-of-pearl. Powerful diggers, with the greatest noise, sat down to open a way into the fort. One half of the earthen fort flew up like dust to the sky; the other half threw itself down to seek protection from the ground. The excellent bow of the Turks rubbed its sides with the sky and claimed to be the bow of Rustam, while their arrows, all flying together, looked like the cloud of Bahman. Others had applied their spades to the fort-wall; you would have thought they were ‘arguing away’ the foundations of the edifice with their eloquent tongues. Some had thrust their sword-points into the solidified earth as if determined to carve fine figures out of it. The wooden ladders raised their feet to the highest elevation from the greatest depth for the sake of Islām; and the earthen fort threw the Hindūs down from its height in order to degrade infidelity. The magẖribīs outside exchanged shots with the ‘irādas inside the fort; it seemed as if young men and veiled brides were throwing loving stones at each other; for either side exercised the greatest attraction, and with unclosing eyes marked the thousand tricks of the other. If one ball was discharged from outside, it fell as two balls within; but if two balls were discharged from within, no misfortune befell the proclaimers of the one God. Praise be to God for his exaltation of the Muslim faith! There can be no doubt that stones are worshipped by the gabrs; but, as they were unable to give their worshippers any assistance, the gabrs threw them up to the sky and then down to the earth. And it was proper that the stones should be struck against the ground. Next some footmen of the Muslim army climbed with their hand-nails over the earthen fort; and having found the moon in the Taurus, they permanently purchased the land and buildings of that territory with the Alāī coin.68a Though the fort had been so excellently constructed, that there was nothing on its walls that one could catch hold of or lay one’s finger on, yet the besiegers clung to it with the edges of their nails; and even as a wise man overcomes a fool, they boldly climbed to the summit of the fort. And God enabled them to bring one wing of the fort into their strong and powerful hands. That night they established themselves there in force, and broke the legs of those who wanted to dislodge them.
On Sunday, the 13th Ramaẓān—Sunday, being a day dedicated to the Sun—the sun had so illuminated the night, that it merged insensibly into the day, thus giving the holy warriors a greater time for action. As the moon withdrew its shield beyond the western horizon, the men of the army drew their swords and attacked the fort from the east. The drummers awakened the sleeping war-drum which leapt up from its sleep at their beats; and it seemed that the four elements of the sphere would dissolve into chaos at its noise. The war cries of the warriors, the sounds of ‘Huzza! Huz!’ and ‘Khuzza! Khuz!’ resounded through the world.69a The assistance sent from the smoky sky for the Muslim army descended through the ethereal sphere; and bringing fire with it from there, fell on the gabr’s places of refuge. And in its liberality with human life, the fire turned these stingy people into enormous heaps of ashes. When the tongues of fire had descended low, the standard of the Sulṭanate rose on the fort. All praises are for Allah who raised it so high!
69b By Wednesday, a day dedicated to Mercury (Archer), the Emperor’s fierce troops had as easily entered the mud fort as a warrior’s arrow breaks through and upsets a bubble. The inner fort, which resembled the (Arabian) Khaibar, was invested. No Hindū was allowed to cross the line of the besiegers just as dogs had not been allowed to come out of Khaibar (by the Mussalmāns); if a Hindū had attempted to do so, his heart would have been cut open by the arrow that could pierce through seven plates of steel. When the Alexandrian lines had surrounded the inner fort by a wall of iron, they saw a building, the stones of which rose up to the sky; and even the sky had raised its mirror higher (lest it might break from contact) with the rocky towers. Its stones were joined so carefully together that the head of a needle could not get in between them; its walls were so smooth that a fly attempting to sit on them would have slipped down. Its stones and plaster had been welded so excellently together that the tongue of the spade was unable to separate them. In addition to this, there was such a wonderful charm in its walls and buildings that no maghrabī had the heart to do them any wrong. You might say that the fort was a stiff spear, which the ant could not climb, or else that it was a flute, in which the wind lost itself as in a wooden pipe. Its towers stood upright in the air and ascended to the moon; its foundations sank deep in the earth, down to the Fish. The watchman on its towers bathed his head with the clouds; the digger at its foundations washed his feet with water.
69c When the multitudinous army came to the lip of the ditch, they found its mouth full of water; if anyone talked to it about crossing to the other side, it tried to drag him down to the bottom. The swordsmen of the army, however, would not float any boat on the ditch but determined to swim through it together. They practised on the face of the water every rule of mensuration they knew, and, in a moment, crossed the ditch, file after file, more easily than a boat would have done. They determined to sum up all their resolution and to bore holes into the stomach (of the fort) as in a reed. With the passion of Farhād, they wished to knock down the edifice so completely that it may not be propped up by a thousand columns and to pull down its towers with such force that the ‘heads’ of the towers would come down while their ‘feet’ went up. In short, they resolved to seize the fort so effectively from the Hindūs that even its dust might not be left in the latter’s hands. Yes, Yes, Even the dust is reluctant to remain with the infidel. 70a Rāī Laddar Deo sat inside the fort like a snake over buried treasure and called his people around him. His elephants pulled their chains in pride of the gold they bore; but the Rāī was thinking of his war with the golden scorpions and watery pearls trickled down his inner eye at the thought (of losing his enormous treasures). He wished to look into the future, but his eyes refused to obey him. He had been brave and courageous in the siege; yet whenever he reflected on the situation in which he was placed, his stout heart began to palpitate; and if he wished to remove the heaviness of his heart by saying farewell to all his treasures, his heart struck against his breast, and told him that it could not, at least, separate itself from so much gold as remains sticking to a black touchstone. 70b He had fastened his hopes on being able to place before the invaders an obstacle, which would cause them to stumble and retrace their steps. But the Emperor’s prestige overawed him; all his courage melted away and he was left a broken man. In his helplessness, he first collected in heaps the treasure he had buried under stones more heavy than can be dragged from the hills, in order to provide for his ransom. Next he constructed a golden image of himself, and in acknowledgment of having become a tribute-payer, he placed a golden chain round its neck and sent it through ambassadors, whose honest word was more unchanging than the purest gold, to the Commander of the Imperial army.
‘The opposition of the rice-made Hindū,’ ran the Rāī’s petition, ‘to the iron bodies of the Mussalmāns is like a silver-faced beauty challenging Rustam to battle. This being the case the servant, Laddar Deo, has been forced to lay aside his own bronze body in a corner. Fear of the Emperor’s Hindī sword has turned me pale, or, rather, my body of stone has become golden in the rays of the Imperial sun. Consequently, I have constructed an exact image of myself, which is being sent to promise tribute and obedience at the review. I hope the Imperial officers will intercede for me at the Court, and inform the Emperor that fear of him has rendered the broken body of this servant even more lifeless than this golden statue, and that I will only feel signs of life in myself on the day when the wind of Imperial favour blows over my dead body.
‘If the good-will of the officers of the world-protecting Court is to be won by treasure and valuables, I have as much gold with me as will suffice to gild all the mountains of Hind. All this immense gold belongs to the Emperor and I will not turn my face to it again. But if the world-adorning Imperial will, as a favour to the weak, gives back a few gold coins to this unfortunate Hindū, it will exalt him (Laddar Deo) to a dignity superior to that of all other Rāīs. For the desire of gold is found in every heart. It is only the mirror (heart) of the Second Alexander that can turn its back towards this metal, for his sword has absorbed the gold of the whole world. Concerning his sword only can the proverb, that “magnet draws iron and iron draws gold”, be true. And if the Emperor really wants the gold possessed by a poor man like me, so much the better! For what principality is more fortunate than the one which draws the Emperor’s heart towards itself. I will keep none of this gold-dust for myself, for my heart has been broken by the fear of Emperor’s infidel slaying sword. And every one knows, that when an earthen vessel breaks, you cannot repair it with gold-dust. 71a If precious stones, gems and pearls71b are demanded, I have a stock of them such as the eyes of the mountains have not seen and the ears of the fish have not heard of. All these will be scattered on the path of the Imperial officers. For if I do not scatter rubies on the road, over which the Emperor’s army comes advancing through hill and plain, my blood will be soon shed there.
72a ‘Of horses, too, I have twenty thousand, being of the mountain and foreign (baḥrī) breed.72b The foreign horse flies like wind on the surface of water, without even its feet becoming wet. And when the mountain-horse steps on a hill, the hill trembles like a Hindī sword.72c All these horses will be handed over, along with the slaves, to the royal stables. Nevertheless, in the extremity of shame, “the bride of self-possession” is slipping away from my hands, and I feel like using my shame as a horse and flying away upon it. For it is improper for me to display my potsherds and amber in the company of the noble. 72d There are also a hundred elephants, who will go to the Imperial Court with the greatest pleasure. They are the mad elephants of Ma‘bar, not the vegetarian elephants of Bengal. Most of them are new born and young, and are growing their teeth. They have heard of the elephant-slaying warriors of the Imperial army and, their ears have been opened; they draw a deed on the ground with their trunks to the effect that henceforth they will never turn their faces towards the Ka‘ba of Islām except in worship. They are coming with their feet like pillars and their heads like the dome of the gate of obedience—so that, if the Imperial officers choose to be angry at them, the elephants will submit to it with the “skirts” of their ears; and if order for the punishment of rebels is given, the elephants will execute it with their teeth. God has given them a forehead peculiarly fitted to render obedience at the Imperial Court. They are now scattering dust over their heads before the Hindū’s door, but in the Emperor’s presence their foreheads will have the vermilion colour of good fortune.
72e ‘In short, the servant, Laddar Deo, places all the treasures, elephants and horses he possesses in one scale of the balance and his life in the other. The servants of the Emperor can choose whichever they like. It is certain that life and property have the same weight as honour. If my wealth is taken and my life is left to me, I will be broken by the heavy anxiety of earning a livelihood; if my life is taken, the scale holding my wealth will sink to the ground. In either case the balance will be upset. This being the case, I consider myself a broken stirrup; it is for the just Emperor to set the balance right. If means of livelihood are left to me, I will collect all my “leaves” and hand them over to the Emperor’s officers at his command. If the forgiving Emperor (May the measure of his good deeds be heavy!) allows me to retain such wealth as is proportioned to my weightless life, after all I hold the stout heart of a Rāī and not the balance of a grocer. I will take the brave iron spear, which befits my hand, and measure myself against other Rāīs. I will seize treasures from them, and send to the Emperor such tribute as is fixed on me. And if there is the slightest deficit in the tribute, I will send my own life as a makeweight .’73a
73bWhen the messengers of the Rāī came before the red canopy, the honoured harbinger of victory and triumph, they rubbed their yellow faces on the earth till the ground itself acquired their colour; next they drew out their tongues in eloquent Hindī, more sharp than the Hindī sword, and delivered the message of the Rāī. The idol-breaking Malik comprehended the gilding of the Hindūs and paid no regard to their glozing speech. He would not even look at the golden statue, which he wished to throw back at their faces. But he communicated to the army the command of the Second Alexander, which is more firm than seven walls of steel and the garden of Shaddād.73c The Imperial officers swore by the head of Khiẓr Khān, the emerald in the ring of the kingdom, that they would accept the gold and raise the siege. As the mountain-rending troops were unable to violate the oath, and the coin of forgiveness had also been repeatedly issued from the Imperial Court, the decision arrived at was to the effect that they would subject the Rāī to a tribute, but as a charitable offering for the life of the forgiving Emperor, they would spare his life in exchange for the golden statue. They would take away and deliver at the Court all animals, vegetables and minerals which the Rāī’s territory contained; and if there was the slightest deficit in handing over the treasures agreed upon, they would render the Rāī as lifeless as the golden image and reduce the fort to a heap of ashes like a goldsmith’s forge. On this condition, the fort-conquering Malik stretched forth his right hand, placed his sword in its scabbard, and struck his open hand, by way of admonition, so forcibly on the backs of the ambassadors that they bent under the blow. Though the agreement was permanent and not provisional, yet the poor ambassadors trembled like quicksilver; and thus trembling and impatient, they hurried back to the fort. Their influence fell on the Rāī and he too began to shake like a gold-leaf. The ambassadors ornamented their speech, but the Rāī could not regain his stability, and wished to turn into mercury and run away. With some difficulty they ran this quicksilver into a vessel, and through soft speech put a little wax on its mouth.74a Next they busied themselves with alchemy in order to pay the gold they had promised.
74b The Rāī’s council spent the night in collecting their precious stones and valuables in order to present them next morning to the Imperial officers. When next day the sun showed its face through the enamelled fort, the ambassadors proved their promises to be as truthful as the dawn. With their elephants, treasures and horses, they arrived before the red canopy which is the roof of the eastern sun. The Malik summoned the leaders of the army and took his seat at the high place to which he had been appointed by the Emperor; the other great officers took their seats according to their positions, while the nobles and commons collected round like stars. Then the ambassadors were called. They placed their heads on the ground before the canopy of the ‘Shadow of God’ and presented their elephants to the assembly.75a The ‘Maliks’ sat while the elephants passed; you would have thought the planets had become stationary while the constellations had begun to move.
75b The elephants were such as neither the brush of the artist can portray nor the pen of the panegyrist describe. Every one of them was a throne fit for a king, and an ivory factory inside. It moved without props and yet stood on four columns. Its back was adorned by a jewelled litter; it sometimes carried a litter and sometimes a load. Its banner (trunk) rose from its back like a spear into the air, while its feet cast their shields (foot-prints) on the ground. It wore a dress of living velvet. Its furious onslaught could uproot a tree. Its tusks came out of either side, and in spite of their strength, had been plaited over with gold. Contented to live on rice, in its anger it could, nevertheless, drink up a whole pond. It threw forward its trunk like a rope, while its eyes remained behind as if in ambush. It would sit down respectfully when its driver wished to climb to its back. Entrusting the guardianship of its eyes to its ears, it had surrounded its two lamps (eyes) with soft cartilage and fed them with a gentle breeze by the movement of its ears. Its teeth were set firmly inside; its tusks rose like ivory pillars surrounded by gold. A tall building on four columns, it raised its head into the air, while its nose came to the ground; there was a crescent on its forehead, and its tail rested on its buttocks. It looked like a hill with a long sash for a nose, or else like a camel with a crocodile stuck to its front. It carried its wine-glass in its head, and liquor was distilled from its ears. Without any particular sorrow, it scattered dust over its head; without any weakness, its body felt heavy. It looked like a cloud arisen out of the sea-shore, wearing vermilion tulips on its forehead and green leaves in its ears. Every one of them had these qualities, and yet each was better than the other—for each was like the mountain and yet like the wind; soft to walk and firm to stand; Hindū-slayer and yet infidel property; baggage-carrier as well as warrior; it carried a load on its back and its face looked towards the Court, for if strong-necked, it was also obedient; the ebony-coloured manufacturer of ivory, it carried its head high and at the same time kissed the ground; a meet seat for the king, and a servant of the Court, its body was heavy and its paces were gentle; it could break the enemy-lines, and yet fight in ordered ranks. And when they move together in a row, there is an earthquake of Fad! Fad! and Saf! Saf!
76a After the elephants had passed, the treasures they carried on their backs were displayed. The boxes were full of valuables and gems, the excellence of which drove the onlookers mad. Every emerald (zabarjad) sparkled in the light of the sun, or, rather, the sun reflected back the light of the emerald. The rubies (yāqūt) dazzled the eye of the sun and if a ray from them had fallen on a lamp of fire, the lamp would have burst into flames. The ‘Cat’s eye’ (‘ainul hirrat) was such that a lion after seeing it would have looked with contempt at the sun; and the ‘Cock’s eye’ (‘ainud dīk) were so brilliant that the ‘Cat’s eye’ was afraid to look at it. The lustre of the rubies (la‘l) illuminated the darkness of the night and the mine, as you might light one lamp from another. The emeralds had a fineness of water that could eclipse the lawn of paradise. The diamonds (ilmās) would have penetrated into an iron heart like an arrow of steel, and yet owing to their delicate nature, would have been shattered by the stroke of a hammer. The other stones were such that the sun blushed to look at them. As for the pearls, you would not find the like of them, even if you kept diving into the sea through all eternity. The gold was like the full moon of the twelfth night; it seemed that in order to ripen it, that alchemist the sun, had lighted its fire, and the morning had blown its breath, for years.
76b When the horses were brought, the prestige of all that the ambassadors had previously displayed flew away like the wind. Lest the struggle should be further prolonged, every horse in the Rāī’s palace and stables had been brought; even the wind of them was not left in his hands. The sight of these fleet-footed animals captivated every heart—the heart of the Mussalmān was broken, and the soul of the Hindu flew away from his breast; for the horses were such as their eyes had never seen.
76c When the Rāī had sent through his clever ambassadors all that he had received by way of inheritance from his ancestors, the ‘Arīz-i Mumālik went to examine the jewels. He divided them into ‘genus’ and ‘species’, ‘class’ after ‘class’, and had everything written down. He then stood up and turned to the ambassadors. It was clear to his perfect judgment that the wealth and property of the Rāī had been wholly confiscated, and that no jewel had been kept away from its proper place. Yet as a diplomatic formality, he propounded ‘propositions’ before the wise ambassadors, and ultimately unfolded to them the ‘major’ and the ‘minor premises’. In an address, full of a variety of meaning, he put it to them: ‘You are acquainted with every “species” (of this treasure). If on investigation a single item is found missing, though your life is “indivisible”, yet will I destroy it; and with the stroke of the sword, I will divide your parts (limbs) into indivisible “atoms”. Take care and state the true premises! Tell me, as all the gems of the Rāī are excellent, has he sent the best of them hither? How has he classified “talking” and “neighing animals” (men and horses) and what portion of them has he retained?’77a
‘By the God, who has created man, the finest of “substances”’!77b swore the philosophic ambassadors, ‘Each of these jewels is of a “kind” of which no man can calculate the value. And among them is a jewel, unparalleled in the whole world, though according to perfect philosophers such a substance cannot exist.77c Before this time we had been advising the Rāī to send a part of the jewels, that had never been cut or divided,78a to the Imperial Court. “This jewel (treasure) is unique according to the opinion of all men,” and he would reply, “Let him who wishes to cut and divide (share) it, attempt the task. It is impossible for such a jewel (treasure) to be divided; he who talks of doing so is in a great error”. Thus was he accustomed to speak, but then the sword of the Imperial officers began its lecture; the Rāī understood that its stroke would divide up those singular “substances,” and has sent all his jewels to the Imperial muster. There is no stone left in the Rāī’s treasury that can be considered “precious”; nor is there any neighing creature in his stables that can be designated a “horse”. As for the elephant, it is a famous “body” and a large animal; if man is superior to it in dignity, he is also smaller in size. If there had been another “species” of the same “genus,” the Rāī, with the sense he possesses, would have sent it to the muster along with other “varieties” and “kinds”. The affair is as we have represented. For the rest, your exalted judgment is higher, and even wiser.’
(The Malik) saw from the propositions of their speech, that their logic was clear of all confusion. He applied to them such ‘terms’78b as had never been applied to them in ancient times, and that, too, in a way never to be forgotten. But if any of their premises had been wrong, the conclusion would have been drawn with the sword.
When the singular Sah-kash had fixed on the Hindū a tribute that surpassed all computation, the latter made a straight figure and put ten ciphers beside it,78c and below it he wrote promising to send untold wealth to the treasury of the Emperor (May God preserve him to the Day of Reckoning!). When the account of the jazia had been settled, the ‘Ariẓ-i Ḥāsib79a ordered the Amīrs and the Kātib-i Moḥāsib79b to take the roll of those who were present in, or absent from, the army. On the 16th Shawwāl, the Sah-kash, having achieved his object, turned his horse towards the meadows of the Capital, and guided it in such a way that its feet went on making half-ciphers79c on the ground. This figure indicated that in comparison to the spoils he was searching for, the untold treasures he had obtained were less than even half-a-cipher. And since a cipher means absolute non-entity, you can well see how much less than non-entity half-a-cipher is.79d The month of Ẓil Ḥijjah was spent in crossing the extensive forest. On 11th Muḥarram, A.H. 710 the Imperial officers reached Delhī, the deputy of the sacred Mecca. ‘And whoever enters it shall be secure.’ On Tuesday, the 24th Muḥarram, a black pavilion was erected on the Chautra-i Nāṣirī, like the Ka’ba on the navel of the earth. The kings and princes of Arabia and Persia took up their places around it. The Maliks, who had been sent on the expedition from the Capital, came before the Emperor, and after moistening the ground with the sweat of their brows, presented the spoils. Elephants of the size of Marwa, Safā, Tūr and Bū Qabīs,79e horses that raised a dust (cloud) out of the sea like western winds, and treasures under which a thousand camels would have groaned, were all displayed. The day looked like a second ‘Īd for the people, when the pilgrims, after wandering through many valleys, had at last reached the sacred precincts of the Imperial Court, and their wishes, compared to which the ambitions of Ḥajjāj Yūsuf79f were slavish longings, had been realized. The spectators went round and round the Court; everyone present was allowed, without any hindrance, to see the display and obtain the reward of his pilgrimage. But the reward, that could not have been obtained by the labour of a life-time, was that the Emperor’s eyes should suddenly fall on one with favour.
This is an account of the conquest of Ma‘bar; it is a river full of pearls.80a— The blade of the Khalīfa’s sword, which is the flame of the lamp of Islām, had now illuminated all the darkness of Hindustān with the light of its guidance. On one side, it had formed a wall of iron before the Magog-like Tātārs, so that those wretches were compelled to draw their feet into the skirt of the Ghaznī mountains, and even their advance-arrows were unable to cross the territory of Sindh. On the other side, so much dust had been raised from the temple of Somnāth that it dried up the bottom of the sea. On the right hand as well as on the left, the army had conquered all land from sea to sea; even the good news of the conquest of the two seas80b (Baḥrain) was brought; and the arrows of the state flew so far that even the territory of Kaish80c was in danger of being captured by the Imperial officers. There were many capitals of the Hindū deos (demons), where Satanism had prospered from the earliest times, and where, far from the pale of Islām, the Devil in the course of ages had hatched his eggs and had made his worship compulsory on the followers of the idols; but now with a sincere motive, the Emperor removed these symbols of infidelity, first from Deogīr and then from all other demon-lands, so that the light of the Sharī‘at may reach their neighbourhood to dispel the contamination of false beliefs from those places through the muaẓẓin’s call and the establishment of prayers. God be praised for all this!
But the sea of Ma‘bar is so far from Delhī that a man travelling with expedition can only reach it after a journey of twelve months. The arrows of preceding Sulṭāns had never reached that distant land, but the exalted ambition of the World-Conqueror induced him to test the marksmanship of his archers, and the Muslim faith was published in that far-off region. The general, Malik Nāīb Bārbek ‘Izzud-daulah (May God increase his dignity and grandeur!) was, for the honour of Islām, despatched on the expedition with the august canopy and the victorious troops. He was ordered through his victorious drums to bring to the ears of the idols—‘and they have ears with which they do not hear’—the warning, ‘that He may make it (Islām) overcome the religions, all of them.’81a And when the ‘water’ of the sword flows on the coast, the sea of infidelity will be drowned in the ‘Shar‘īat.’81b The obedient officer, after accepting the command, represented: ‘The enclosure of the Imperial Court has been dignified by the enormous elephants of Arangal. If the “Sulṭānus Salāṭīn” wishes to make the “balance of the state” heavier by mountain-like elephants, there are over five hundred of them on the coast of Ma’bar. As soon as the Imperial army marches in that direction, the Hindū troops will scatter like leaves of grass; and though these vermilion-coloured hills81c may be removed to another spot, it is quite possible for the Emperor’s men to overtake them. If the expedition is entrusted to me, I will pick up all these hillocks from the land of Ma’bar and bring them in the palm of my hand as “weights” for the carpet of the State. I have been reflecting on the design ever since my return from Arangal. But the exalted judgment of the great Khalīfa (May God increase the weight of his good deeds!) is superior to my opinions; for he sends me to break the bodies of the large idols rather than to capture the large bodies of the elephants. There can be no doubt that the scale of the Emperor’s good deeds will be so heavy after this virtuous act that the elephants will be mere make-weights in the balance. So taking the Emperor’s order as a “strong rope” to support my weak faith, I have determined to embark on the expedition. God helping, I will conquer the country on the sea-coast before I allow the army to open its baggage.’ With this faith he left the Court; and trusting in the Emperor’s fortune, he brought the good news of the conquest of treasures to the army.
The march of the army to Dhūr Samandar and Ma’bar, like a river hat flows towards another river.81d — On Tuesday, 26th Jamādīul Akhir, 710 A.H. a fortunate moment, at about mid-day the red canopy started for the expedition. To protect the men from the heat of the sun, the august canopy of the ‘Shadow of God’ collected so many clouds under itself that the sun’s rays were unable to pierce through them. First, it moved towards the bank of the Jamnā, like a cloud going to the sea, and halted at Tankal,81e which it made quite red with its ruby velvet. There the clerks of the ‘Dīwān-i ‘Ariẓ-i Mumālik began to run their pens along the extensive river-bank to take the muster of the army, while the Arīẓ-i wāla collected his men like drops of rain under the towering canopy. For full fourteen days, i.e., half-a-month, the crescent standard of the Malikus Sharq stopped at the place and a list of all the stars and planets was prepared. Then on the morning of the 9th Rajab, the drums began to beat for the march, and the exultation of the Muslim army raised the dust up to the eyes of the stars.
82a Owing to the multitude of horsemen, the earth looked like the pages of the Shāh Nāma. You would have thought that the sky had rained Bahmans, or that a swarm of Suhrābs and Bihzans was moving from one territory to another. A hundred thousand Rustams appeared on every side with their bows; some of them were so red-haired that you could not have painted them even with the blood of Sīāwash. There were Gurgīns who, with the impetuosity of Ardshir, could have pounded a tiger with a piece of bone, and lions like Barzīn, who could have made a headstall for Rakhsh with the skin of Godurz.82b
82cFor twenty-one days the men of the army made long marches, and took short routes, till they arrived at Katīhun. From there in seventeen more days they reached Ghurgāūn. In these seventeen days the Ghats were crossed. Great heights and depths were seen, in contemplating which human understanding was helpless—like an ant in a basin or a hen in the sea. On the summits of the mountains the horses appeared small like needle-points of rust on the blade of a sword; deep in the valleys the largest camels looked like revolving particles of dust. Kai Khusrau would have been lost with all his troops in the depths of the clefts and the vultures of Kai Kāūs82d would have perished in attempting to fly above the mountains. You could have found the egg of a Sīmurgẖ82e on every mountain-top in that wilderness. Through Divine assistance, the army passed safely even over such a road, trampling the heights and depths under its feet. For when a man, for the sake of his faith, carries his head on the palm of his hands before the enemy’s sword, the blade of steel is frightened and hides itself under the ground. 83a Three great rivers were crossed, and the army learnt good lessons in crossing them. Two of the rivers equalled one another, but neither equalled the Narbada. A hundred thanks to God, that the army was able to cross the rivers, even as a bird flies through the rain or the sky traverses the ocean. After the rivers, mountains and valleys had been crossed, a present of twenty-three elephants, huge as Elburz, arrived from the Rāī of Tilang. They could act as a pāshīb for opening the way to a besieged fort, or send a hill flying into the air, or drag down a cloud from the hill-tops with their trunks. Like standards83b fixed on mounds, they were sent as presents to the Sulṭān, if he would accept them. 83c The victorious army took twenty days before it could move these huge hills in that ‘field of resurrection’—‘you see the mountains, you think them to be solid, and they shall pass away like the passing away of the cloud.’ A roll was taken of those present in, and absent from, the army; and when the muster was finished, in accordance with the Emperor’s orders, the standards were carried forward, so that by their growth and multiplication they might bring about the ‘day of resurrection’ in Ma’bar. The inhabitants of that region were given the call of ‘the day on which the trumpet shall be blown, so you shall come forth in hosts’—of ‘the day on which a man shall fly from his brother, and his mother and his father, and his spouse and his sons.’ The order—‘lay hold on him, then put a chain on him’—was executed on rebellious necks, and the attack at which mountains pass away was delivered on the elephants of that country. The defeated Hindūs were despatched with the sword to their brothers in the flames, so that fire, the undeserving object of their worship, may be their proper punishment ‘when hell is kindled up.’
83d When on the seventh day, which was Friday, the sky bathed its blue wings in the rays of the sun and cast the carpet of light over its shoulders, and the world was clothed in its white radiance like a Mussalmān putting on a clean dress on Friday, the army began to move with the swiftness of a hurricane from Ghurgāūn. Wherever the accursed tree that produced no religion was found, it was torn up by the roots; the conquered people looked like uprooted trees falling in the strong current of the Jaihūn, or like straws tossed up and down and carried forward in a whirlwind. On reaching the Tāvī,84a they saw a river only slightly smaller than the sea. The army crossed it quicker than the hurricane it resembled, and afterwards employed itself in cutting down the jungles and destroying the gardens. Owing to the excessive dust raised by the army, the other rivers in the land were filled with mud like the intestines of earth-eating animals.
84b Owing to the tramping of the horses, the hills became consumptive and wished to bury themselves in the womb of the earth, while the dry-tempered desert became tuberculous and was covered with cracks. On Thursday, the 13th of Ramaẓān, the royal canopy cast its shadow on the capital of Deogīr, which, at the command of Heaven, had been protected by the angels; and here the army determined to collect shooting-stars84c and four-feathered arrows for overthrowing Bilal Deo and other deos (demons). The Rāī Rāyān, Rām Deo, had heard safety to Satan proclaimed by the dreadful Mussalmān cymbals, and submitting to the Imperial Court, considered himself safe under the protection promised to him. 84d With a true intuition, this Rāī of noble origin became the embodiment of correct judgment in rendering honour and obedience to the orders of the Imperial Court, in providing material of war for the army, and in advising the conquest of Bīr and Dhūr Samandar. In order to please the servants of the Emperor, this model of his generation, i.e., the Rāī Rāyān, wrote a letter of homage with the pen of sincerity and adorned the city of Deogīr with the gems of paradise. He ordered all things needed by the army to be placed in the market; if the (Muslim) Rustams required the feathers of Sīmurgẖ for their arrows, all possible efforts were made to obtain them, so that every horseman of the army of Irān and Tūrān84e might slay a huge demon of Dhūr Samandar even as Rustam had killed the deos of Mazindrān.84f At the order of the noble Rāī, who was a tree planted by the Imperial Court, the markets of the city were decorated like the garden of Aram, and the men of the army rode up to them on their horses. They saw a city more beautiful than the Paradise of Shaddād; every market was like a garden differently planned; the money-changers sat with bags of small and large coins, and red and white tankas lay before them like roses and many-petalled flowers; the cloth-merchants had every variety of cloth from bahār-i Hind to the bāward-i Khorāsān, the like of which you cannot find among the flowers of the gardens, piled up in their shops like tulips over the mountain-top or basils in the orchard. Fruits better than pomegranates and rarer than nagẖz lay in heaps.
85a The material provided for the army—hard and soft goods of wool and leather, brass and iron—was beyond all computation. Everyone gave good money and bought things at a just price. The Turk did not oppress the Hindū and the will of the Hindū was not opposed to the will of the Turk. As these sun-worshippers had become worshippers of the Imperial sword, they considered the purchasers a great good fortune for themselves and brought to the army all that their community could provide. The Rāī Rāyān had already informed a Hindū, named Dalvī, who lay on the frontiers of Bīr and Dhūr Samandar,85b that the Imperial army would be at his place in a few days; so, with his mouth open like a bucket, Dalvī sat waiting for the army and even wished to draw the whole of Dhūr Samandar into a single bucket for the sake of the Mussalmāns. 85c The army, which had already heard the message, ‘Surely we have given to you a clear victory’, stopped for three days at the aforesaid fort to put its battalions (hazāras) into order. When the advance guard had started,85d they packed up their baggage for the holy war and the armies of heaven and earth were with them. On Tuesday, the 17th Ramaẓān, the Imperial archers and swordsmen began to move rapidly and were accompanied by the august canopy.85e From the Aimanābād of Deogīr to the Kharabābād85f of Paras Deo Dalvi, the army made five marches and crossed three large rivers. One of them, Sini,86a had such a wide breast that the broad sea looked like a heart pulsating in its left side; its breadth exceeded thirty long reeds (nai). Of the other, Godāvarī, you might say that, in its extensive playing ground, it had carried the ball successfully against all other rivals.86b The third was Bihnūr with a breast as wide as the Sīnī’s.86c The army also crossed several other rivers, some roaring, others softly melodious. After five days, it reached the stage of Bandrī in the territory of Paras Deo Dalvī.86d Now Dalvī, a bucket drawn out by the Imperial officers, hoped to get water out of Bīr Dhūr and Bīr Pandya86e and desired that with the strong arm of the victorious army, the two Bīrs (wells) together with the seas that encircle them, may be drawn into (his) single cup.86f 86gHe had dried up in the general scarcity of water, but now seeing his star in the ascendant and his constellation stable, he came forward to receive the Muslim army and undertook to guide it. When the day of Jupiter had been illuminated with the heart of the moon, the Malikus Sharq sent forward swift-footed scouts in quick succession to find out the condition of the country and made diligent inquiries on all sides. Finally, it was discovered that the two Rāīs of Ma’bar had formerly but a single will (rāī) and were as united as the two furqadain.86h But the younger brother, Sundar Pandya, had from political ambition coloured his hands in the blood of his father according to the law, ‘seize what you find’. Thereupon, the elder brother, Rāī Bīr Pandya, collecting many thousand Saturnine Hindūs and leaving his two cities empty, had hastened to flay his younger brother alive. Meanwhile Bilāl Deo, the Rāī of Dhūr Samandar, hearing that the cities were without their Mahā-rāīs, had marched forward to plunder the merchants of the two cities at one swoop. At this moment, however, he heard a sky-rending thunder of the Muslim drums behind his back.—‘And most surely our host alone shall be the victorious one’. Finding himself in this critical situation—‘They put their fingers into their ears because of the thunder-peal, from fear of death’—Bilāl Deo, like an upturned and unlucky Saturn, marched down to his own low constellation.
87a The Malik gathered all this information with the greatest care. Then on Sunday, the 23rd Ramaẓān, after consultation with the great maliks on whom rested the responsibility of the campaign, he selected a tuman (i.e., 10,000 men) from the officers and men of the army and started in haste. There were archers with him who could split a grain of poppy into a thousand fragments for the pleasure of the spectator, and swordsmen who could cut a hill into two like a nut.87b For twelve successive days men, horses and cattle87c went up hill and down dale; the depths were such that the sky fell into fits on seeing them, and the attempt to gaze at the heights took away the onlooker’s breath. The carpet of thorns growing out of the rocks would have pierced into a rhinoceros, yet in their haste the men marched over it as over a cushion of silk. In the darkness of the night, they waded through wide rivers, which looked like waving silk, and through rushing torrents, which could have overturned a mountain; and they passed, like a ship sailing through a storm, across streams into which Noah’s deluge had subsided without rising up again, sometimes carried on the crest of a wave, at other times enclosed in a hollow. Through Divine assistance, most of the soldiers crossed the land, though at the bottom of the valleys you could drink water from the centre of the earth and at the summit you could wash your hands with the clouds; many difficulties were met with, but they were all surmounted. 87d On Thursday, the 5th Shawwāl, in that equatorial region where the disk of the sun heats the earth like a furnace, the fort-reducing Imperial army enclosed Dhūr Samandar88a as in an oven. They saw a fort so magnificent, that after viewing it one began to despise the sky. It was not (so to say) Dhūr Samandar, but a sea, called Bīr (well), which was surrounded by a larger sea. You would have thought the fort was a building encircling the sun, which had been ruined by repeated rounds of the full goblet. You saw a fort surrounded by water and its name was Bīr; there is water in other wells (bīr), but here there was a well within water.
88b The inhabitants of the fort had an old, traditional faith. Their hands and feet began to tremble from fear of the (Imperial) army, and the thought of the enemy’s arrows filled their bodies with ‘thorns’88c like the ‘bones’ of a fish. All these terror-stricken fish fell into lines, and getting into their armours, tied their shields to their backs and began moving up and down. Had you seen their restlessness in the fort, you would have said it was like the revolutions of fish in water. Rāī Bilāl Deo became as pale as a drowning man and his heart began to palpitate like the dew-lap of a frog. Within the Bīr (well) many meetings were held as to the reply to be given to the Imperial army. 88d If the fire-worshipping Rāī wished to refrain from displaying his wind and smoke, the handful of straws around him blew their breaths and tried to incite him. ‘Ages will be required,’ said they, ‘before the pillar of fire-worshipping tribes can be raised in Dhūr Samandar again. There is no doubt that our origin is from fire and from Dhūr Samandar (salamandar). Since the Turkish army, like a river of fire, has reached the thatch-houses of our villages, it will also have strength enough to reduce the stones of our fort into lime. None the less, our fort is called Dhūr Samandar (sea); water is, and always has been, within reach. If the “tongues” of the Turkish swords begin their work and we find it impossible to extinguish them—well, we have to be cremated, sooner or later, and it is better not to die without water (honour).’ The Rāī flared up at this advice and displayed his inner fire. ‘Before this time,’ he said, ‘my fire-worshipping ancestors, the lamp of whose soul burned bright, have declared that the Hindū cannot stand against the Turk, nor fire against water. This being the case, we have no alternative but to turn away our faces from the fiery arrows of the Turks. Nor must water be thrown at them; for water may turn into oil and make us feel its flame in our life-time. Therefore, I lay all idea of opposition aside. I will go kneeling before them, like water over the earth. May be the fire of the Turks will be somewhat appeased!’ This considerably cooled the advocates of further struggle; they gave up all thought of resistance and consented to open the doors of Bīr (well), so that the torches of warfare may be extinguished.89a
89bWhen, in the morning, the sāqī had brought her red wine-glass out of the transparent goblet of the sky, the commander of the army went round the fort, before which (the troops) of Ma’bar had been twice defeated. He thought that the flasks by the side of the ditch89c were like a wine-table laid out. The ferocious lions and tigers (of the army) were organized, party by party, while he posted himself along with other Maliks before the gate of the fort. Noise and tumult arose from the blood-drinking lines and the thunder of the drums resounded on all sides. The mystic-minded sword of the Mussalmāns shed so much rebel blood that the deluge rushed to the ditch and meted out to it the punishment its sins deserved. The heat of the flaming arrows turned the blood of the Hindūs into water and brought it out as perspiration. The Council of the Maliks wished to batter down the fort, which stood like a demon’s hat, with their magẖrabi-stones, or else to order the lancers of the army to upturn it like an empty glass with the point of their lances; so that, surrounded by blood, the rebels may fly out of the boiling well (bīr) even as a fly flies out of a flagon. But they refrained from manifesting their power for a time in order that the negotiations may proceed. The choice of becoming Mussalmāns or ẓimmīs (tribute-payers) was placed before the besieged; if they accepted either, well and good; if not, in obedience to Divine commands, the fort was to be broken into potsherds with magẖrabi-stones, and the blood of its inmates spilled like wine poured out of a goblet.
90a Bilāl Deo now found that the call to prayer would resound in his temple and the voice of the muazzin rise high where he, a demon, had assumed the name of Bilāl,90b while the religion of Islam was extended by propaganda and the sword. When the night of Friday, after throwing the dark mantle of evening over its shoulders, had emerged out of its stony pulpit, this Bilāl, whose essence it was to be a demon, despatched Gaisū Mal after the night prayer to find out the strength and circumstances of the Muslim army. When Gaisū Mal reached the Muslim camp, he was stupefied, just as Satan is stupefied when he hears the Qurān read. Rows of horsemen surrounded the fort and kept a strict watch; next morning they would commence the struggle and enter the houses of the demons in full force to establish the Khuṭba and prayer where the idols had been worshipped. 90c When, through the locks of the night, Gaisū Mal90d saw the enormous army spread out like the hair on a man’s head, the hair on his body stood up like the teeth of a comb in fear. He turned back like a curly lock, and rising and falling, hastened to the fort. When he reached the woolly Rāī and told him what he had seen, the Rāī came near to losing his reason and began to dishevel his hair in mourning at his own loss.
90e Next, the Rāī taught all the charms and magic he knew to Bālak Deo Nāyak, who was equal in Satanism to a hundred-thousand (lakh) demons,90f and sent him to the camp of the Imperial army. This household shadow came to offer submission before the royal canopy, and bringing to his lips the message he carried in his heart, petitioned for Bilāl Deo’s life and livelihood: ‘This servant, Bilāl Deo, submits to the Emperor like Laddar Deo and Ram Deo, and whatever the Solomon of the time commands, I am ready to obey. If you desire horses like demons, elephants like giants and other valuables, they are present. If all this noise and tumult is for the destruction of the four walls of this fort, they are, as they stand, no obstacle to your advance. The fort is the fort of the Sulṭān; take it. The servant, Bilāl Deo, has thrown a few stones from the top of his fort; but God forbid that the stones of a demon should do any harm to men! And what can be better for me than to keep my stones to myself, and remain out of harm’s way like the Hindūs of Deogīr? A Hindū on being cremated turns into a demon; but as yet the flame of the Hindī sword of the Turks has not reached me, and it would be unwise for me to become a demon before my time. Behold! The spirits of so many Hindū demons are revolving in the dust round the Imperial camp. They have thrown their lives to the wind by disobeying the demon governing Solomon, and, consequently, they are grovelling in the dust after death. The servant, Bilāl Deo, is a descendant of great Deos; but before the Asaf-like wazīr, who is the deputy of Solomon’s court, he casts aside his Satanism and places his living body under the protection of the lines of angels that stretch towards his right and left, and, like an evil spirit in the month of Ramaẓān, places his neck in the chain of captivity.’
91a The exalted minister heard the submissive message of the Rāī. His penetrating judgment discovered the reason of Bilāl Deo’s humility, but in obedience to the commands of the Muslim Caliph, he replied: ‘The order of the Caliph concerning Bilāl Deo and all other Rāīs is this: First I am to place before them the two negatives of the oath of affirmation.91b May be, their hearts will be illuminated! But if Destiny has drawn a curtain before their eyes and they fail to see the light, I am to offer them the alternative of having the yoke of tribute (zimma) put on their necks. If they reject this also and refuse to pay tribute, then I will not place any burden on their necks but will simply relieve their necks of the burden of their heads. Now (tell me) which of these three conditions pleases Rāī Bilāl Deo most, so that I may consult the heads of the army and give you a reply suited to your judgment as well as mine? Weigh your reply carefully, even as I weigh you.’ 92a The Rāī’s messengers nearly collapsed at the fearful ultimatum. ‘We are Hindū arrows’, they said with their broken spirits, ‘and Hindūs are not good marksmen. May be your message, which is straight as an arrow, will become somewhat crooked (if we convey it). Some straightforward men should be sent along with us; for a messenger despatched by your stout arm is sure to pierce into the Rāī’s heart so effectively as to realize all your wishes.’
The Malik welcomed the idea. He ordered some Hindū Parmār ḥājibs—who, like Turkish arrows, were strong snakes with wings of demons—to go along with the two or three ambassadors of the Rāī. Thanks to the powerful arm that had despatched them, the (Imperial) messengers flew to the fort in the twinkling of an eye and began to attack the Rāī with their tongues. The Rāī jumped up from his place like a mad man on hearing their Venus-rending voices. He wished to talk boldly, but found himself tongue-tied, and it took some time before he was able to speak. When his fear had somewhat abated, and his spirit, which had flown away, returned to its abode, he stood up like an arrow with folded hands. ‘All property, animate and inanimate,’ he said, ‘which Fate has placed in the hands of this servant, Bilāl, is at the service of the Imperial court. Bilāl is also one of the tribute-payers. Next morning, before the shooting-stars and their lantern, the moon, have withdrawn, I will present all I have to the Muslim army. For myself I will keep nothing except my Hindū faith and the sacred thread (zunnār), which I wear round my body. If a uniform yearly tribute is fixed on me, I will gird up my loins like an arrow and meet the wishes of the Imperial officers. By the God who has given such strength to the arrows of the holy warriors, that they pierce the stony hearts of the gabrs, I will not repudiate this agreement.’ 92b When the Imperial messengers had consoled the Rāī, who looked like a broken bow, and were sure that his weaknesses could not be repaired, they retraced their steps and came to the exalted Malik. The Rāī’s presents, which were suitable for the bow-string, were given over to the archers of the army; and the Malik, having assured himself that the Rāī was sincere in the promise he had made, removed the knot of anger from his brow and placed his bow comfortably on its rack.
On the morning of Friday, the 6th Shawwāl, when the sky had clothed its feet in light, the messengers of the Rāī, men bad in shooting arrows, but truthful in speech, such as Bālak Deo Naik, Māīn Deo, Jīt Mal and some others, came out of the fort with folded hands. They brought their presents and bowed before the Imperial canopy, like a bow when an arrow is shot from it; next, like an arrow springing from the bow-string, they began their alluring speech. ‘The Rāī’, they said, ‘whose truthfulness is straighter than a bow-string, assures you that in the attempt to save himself, he has become more bent than a Hindī bow. Finding that the Turks shoot their arrows on whichever side they see a large corner, he enrols himself among the Imperial tributaries before they put a rope round his neck and bring him within their power. He will submit to such Imperial orders as are issued, and will not defend his fort with bows and arrows.’
93a No one can describe the elephants so well as I (Khusrau), for only a cloud can cast its shadow over a mountain. Everyone of them was valiant in slaying the brave, gigantic in stature, yet like man in intelligence. The iron goad above its head looked like the inverted crescent over a cloud… Hard-headed but obedient, it bore on its back the prestige of the court. From a wide throat it emitted a soft sound. Its hands were without fingers and its feet beat like drums on either side. Its shanks were upright and strong like the trunks of trees and bore the enormous weight of its body. It could tear open the sides of a wolf as wide as laughing lips, or send infidels to sleep in red velvet under the weight of its feet. At one throw it could send a thief flying to the other world. The male elephant could win their ‘heads’ from the Hindūs with Chaugān-stick of its trunk; the female could colour the nails of her hands and feet with Mughal blood as if it was ḥinā93b and at the same time carve out their eyes with her nails. The soles of its feet shook the unmoving earth, and at the same time dragged the chain behind. The Sah-kash considered the acquisition of the elephants a very good omen—that is, he thought them magnets for drawing the iron hills of Ma‘bar towards themselves. Officers were appointed to look after them and expenses were allotted for their food and upkeep.
94a On the day of Mars, when the wine-coloured dawn had disappeared and the heat of the sun was falling vertically on the earth, the Rāī sent all his dust-raising horses to the Imperial stables. They came before the august canopy, rows after rows, like the winds that strike against the clouds; and the canopy, which has the hills for its pegs—if you saw it, you would think it to be the throne of Solomon floating in air— threw its shade over them. The horses seemed to leap into the field of vision out of the realm of imagination. The marine horses could swim through the sea as if it was a cup of water. Their eyes were like crows, with black linings, and they looked at Shabdīz94b with contempt. There were dark horses with white faces, like the moon rising up in the horizon of the night; white horses with black hoofs, like an eclipse overshadowing the sun; horses with black patches which reminded one of clouds scattered by the winds; and bay horses with red marks like the air full of roses. Their essence was from the wind, and rain could do them no harm; their bodies were of fire and you could not make their effigies out of wax. They wore shoes of iron and could, nevertheless, dance in the air. Their limbs were like reeds, and they could not, therefore, be drowned in water. Their breasts were wide like the foreheads of the munificent, while their ear-holes were small like the eyes of the stingy.94c Like true mystics, they could step on air and walk over the surface of water. Barley was permitted to them, but not whips.
94d When the day of the sun94e had dawned on the eastern horizon, the sun-worshipping Bilāl Deo saw the rays of the Muslim sword over his head. He bowed down, ran out of his constellation (fort), and throwing himself before the canopy of the ‘Shadow of God’ like a trembling and lifeless phantom, buried his head in the soil of submission. Having thus acquired the light of good fortune, he retired to his own constellation at a sign from the Hajib-i Mālikul Hujjab in order to bring out his gems, valuables and buried treasures. All that night he was engaged in digging up the treasures which he had hidden like the sun in the bosom of the night. When (next morning) the Hindū-faced night threw the sun out of the earth, the Rāī brought all the sparkling gems, which he had hitherto kept underground, in his skirt before the august canopy and entrusted them to the officers of the Public Treasury. In this city, the four towns of which are four months’ journey (from Delhī), the troops remained for twelve days till the main force joined them. Then the elephants of Dhūr Samandar were sent to the Imperial capital like eastern winds that go to the Ka’ba.
The march of the army to Ma’bar, accompanied by fortune and guided by success.—95a On Wednesday, the 18th Shawwāl, the high-sounding army drums were mounted on camel-backs for the expedition to Ma’bar and led up and down across valleys and rivers. The ground was extremely uneven; but the men jumped like lions across hollows which made the camels weep, and cantered like camels over snake-holes and rat-holes where a bakhtī95b would have sunk down to the neck. The sharp thorns drove their points into the feet of the camels as if they were horses to be shod; the pointed stones tore the horses’ hoofs with the deceptivity of a camel; the litters were torn by the rapidity of the march and then sewn up again by the thorns. Yet the obedient army patiently bore all the labours of the campaign. If a heavy mountain had been laid on its back every day, it would have carried the mountain without hesitation or protest. Every night they slept on ground more uneven than a camel’s back.
95c Five days after the above date, the army reached the frontier of Ma’bar. Between the territories of Dhūr Samandar and Ma’bar, a mountain was seen that rubbed its head against the clouds; on the hills in front of it, there grew thorny trees, which, spear in hand, protected the garrisons that had taken refuge among them. Two passes leading from two valleys had been opened for the fort-reducing army; one pass was Tarmalī95d and the other was Tabar. But in a moment the mountain-rending army created a hundred passes on every side with the shots of its arrows; and they passed through the hill as rapidly as their arrows had passed through the rocks. At night they reached a river and encamped by its bank in the wilderness.96a The dust of the desert flew with the wind of Islām, and attacked the Ma’barī troops, who were more numerous than sand-grains; their ranks were broken like ‘scattered motes,’96b or like particles of dust carried about by the wind.
Account of the conquest of Ma’bar and the capture of elephants, horses and jewels.96c The kindness of the Creator has bestowed sharpness on the curved swords of the Muslim army, and they were now resharpened by Him. When the army reached this land of infidelity, it created its own arch with the strength of its arm and compelled infidel heads to stand up and fall down before it.96d The contamination of infidelity, which the sea could not have washed off from this land, was washed away by the ‘drops’ of the sword. The rebels of that territory had never seen Muslim horsemen even in their dreams. The cowardly96e Hindūs had designated their city Mardī (manliness); but manliness existed there not in reality, but only in name. The men of the city saw disconcerting dreams and remained lost in the Devil’s game. Finally, the Maliks reached the fort and carried their banners through the city with beating drums. There was bloodshed beyond all reckoning. The Imperial army bathed in its own perspiration and washed the land with rebel blood.
96f On Thursday, the 5th Zil Qa’d, the Muslim troops, numerous as sand-grains, started from the river Kanaurī towards Bīrdhūl. They were thirsty for Ma’bar and for the ocean; and in case the Bīr fled towards the sea, they had determined to pursue him thither like thirsty men in quest of water. When the enthusiastic army approached Bīrdhūl, the beats of their drums resounded in the Bīr (well); and though Bīr on his part also raised a hue and cry, yet it was a weak voice coming out of a well. The Hindū community kept their Bīr (well) covered, so that no one could look into him. ‘An event is going to happen’, they told Bīr, ‘your head will be taken off and you will be left with your mouth open’. Bīr wished to sink into the earth like a well, but on further reflection, he felt afraid that they (the Mussalmāns) might throw a rope down his throat and take out all his water. He was in this perplexity when the army approached nearer and his fort began to shake. Bīr lost all self-control and desired to fly towards the sea; but first through sad and melancholy sighs he sent it a message. ‘I have sailed over thee so often. But now I, who am Bīr (well), suffer from a great scarcity of water owing to the enormous Turkish army. Give me a refuge in thine islands.’ When these melancholy sighs reached the sea, it instantly put on its armour and swelled up and roared its reply: ‘O Bīr, do not come this side, for in this fall of kingdoms, I will be only overthrowing myself along with you. I am not a dry pond, in which you can dig a well (bīr).97a My title is “the sea” and God has given me the privilege of surrounding the seven climes. May be, a wave from the army of the king of land and sea—“and He it is who has made the sea subservient that you may eat fresh flesh from it”—will come fishing this side, and I shall be able to pay my respects to it: I am not devoid of shame and honour, and it is for such a contingency that I have preserved the valuables in my treasury. Very often people have sailed over me upon a handful of wood and straw; but now I will change my water into dust at the feet of the Imperial troops. You may consider me one of the meanest of Imperial servants. If I have a treasure of pearls, it is a present for the Maliks. If there are islands of earth in me, they are to be used for the letters of the Imperial Dīwān.97b As for the ships which sail on the surface of the water, they cannot be concealed. The finest ships, arrayed like young damsels, are waiting for the Emperor’s orders; he can choose whichever he likes. Henceforth the solution of all difficulties concerning this region is in the hands of the King of kings. The property of the servant is the property of his master.’
When this reply came to Bīr’s ears, he also roared out from his empty heart, and in his excessive thirst and dryness, he felt like drinking up the whole ocean. For he was like an empty well, whose eyes have sunk to the bottom and whose interior is entirely devoid of moisture. The officers of Bīr also lost their self-confidence; and as these aquatic animals were beset with a great scarcity of water, they inevitably resolved to make Bīr (well) fly by way of land.
98a When the great Brahmans saw that the Rāī Rāyān was weaker than a leaf, they represented to him in coloured language that betels should be offered to the rāwats to induce them to sacrifice their lives. On a hint from the Rāī, betels were presented to Hindū horsemen and pāīks to induce them to shoot forth new leaves. They took the betels and their mouths were filled with blood in mourning at their own death. You would have said that the pale-faced and green-coloured Hindūs were like the betel-leaf, which is green above and yellow beneath.98b For no blood was left in their arteries, and Death had opened its jaws to colour its teeth with their blood. They were not eating betel but drinking blood; for every time they put it in their mouths, the leaf changed its colour under their black teeth, wept tears of blood and caused their lips to open in laughter. Along with them, the Bīr also ate betel and drank blood.98c When the holy warriors reached the precincts of the city, their sword cast its rays on Bīrdhūl and made it clear to Bīr that the time of his decline was near. No water remained in him. From this time till sunset, the yellow-faced Rāī, along with other pale faces, kept falling into fits (safra); and their disease affected the sun, for it also grew pale and sank down in a fit. The Rāī saw that the day of his prosperity had changed into night and the world grew dark before his eyes. Along with his perplexed companions— ‘you may think them as one body and their hearts are disunited’— he retired towards the city, from where he took a quantity of cash and valuables, which brought some consolation to his palpitating heart, and also a number of men and horses. Thus equipped for the flight, he moved towards the city of Kandūr. But as the danger from the Imperial army was extremely great, he was unable to establish himself firmly even there and fled to the forest of elephants and tigers.
99a A body of Mussalmāns had allied themselves to the broken crupper of the Hindūs and had violated the law: ‘Do not make the infidels your friends as against the Mussalmāns’.99b But now they saw the Rāī break his own stirrup and the Day of Reckoning covered them like a saddle-cloth. The world appeared to them contracted like the bow of a saddle; the wave of blood rose above the saddle and they had no place to dry their feet. So they turned away their bridles from their infidel allies, sought safety in submission to the Mussalmāns, and tried to strengthen themselves by hanging to the saddle-straps of the State. ‘Then surely the party of Allāh are they that shall be triumphant.’ Though every one of them was the very worst of rebels and apostates, yet they were honoured by the Malik and liberated from their chains.99c Their oath of affirmation testified to their claim of being Mussalmāns, and out of regard for this, the Muslim Malik ordered the V-shaped yoke to be removed from their necks. The forgiveness of the forgiving Emperor was extended to them; they were asked concerning the circumstances of the infidels and brought (to light) all they knew about those fire-worshippers. Led by these Mussalmāns, the Imperial troops resolved to chase the cowardly Bīr and all other cowards.
99d But at this moment a black-faced cloud advanced from the direction of the Ma’bari troops, and owing to its friendliness with the sea, strove hard for the Ma’baries. To the Mussalmāns also it gave some formal help. In fact it was very deceptive; sometimes it rained severely, at other times gently; on the one hand, it gave water to the stream of Shari’at, and on the other, it assisted those aquatic animals. At this double dealing the lightning laughed. But as Fate had ordained that the shower of Muslim arrows was not to reach the gabrs, the rain became more severe as the Mussalmāns strove to advance. You would have thought Destiny had drawn a curtain before the victorious army in order to protect the flying troops. For when the Imperialists advance like a deluge, Fate alone can save the drowning . So the army returned to Bīrdhūl. They found that Bīr (well) had fled and the drum (dhul) was empty. The infidel cloud, like a Hindū in sable clothes, drew its Hindī rainbow to the full length and sent down its rain-drops like sharp arrow-points. They passed through the armour and the breast-plate; and though the bronze bodies of the holy warriors remained unaffected, they were, nevertheless, hindered from discharging their arrows. The water rendered the bows ineffective and made the Hindī swords rusty;100a it got in between the arrow and its (iron) point and separated them from one another; it also whispered something in the ‘ears’ of the bows and untwisted their strings.100b But the clever and masterful (Imperial) archers were not afraid of the cloud of Bahman or of the rain-drops; their arrows flew like lightning, for they were of the nature of the wind. Some aquatic animals of that land crept like snakes into every hole and crevice, while the bodies of others were pierced by the sharp arrows even as water gets into a snake-hole. The Hindū rāwats came forth riding in troops but were laid low before the Turkish horse. A deluge of water and blood flowed forward to plead for mercy before the Caliph’s army. Or you might say, that owing to the extreme happiness of infidel souls, the beverage of blood was so delicious, that every time the cloud rained water over it, the ferocious earth drank it up with the greatest pleasure. In spite of the great intoxicating power of this wine the sāqī poured her clear liquid out of the flagon of the sky to increase its intoxication further. Out of this wine and beverage Death had distilled her first delicious draught. Next you saw bones on the earth.
From Bīrdhūl the army advanced in search of Bīr across a path so completely covered by water that you could not distinguish the road from a well. Torrents of rain fell from above. But the horsemen guided their horses as pilots guide their ships, and sailing through the storm like Noah’s ark, they reached a village where the Hindū army lay encamped like bubbles on the surface of water. But as soon as a breeze from the majestic sword of the Turks blew towards them, they broke and dispersed and seemed to sink into the ground, even as a rain drop disappears in sandy soil.100c At midnight, when the moon and the stars had been hidden by the clouds and the morning was still far off, some swift-footed scouts reported that the Rāī, having lost all consciousness of head and foot, had fled to the city of Kandūr. The victorious army hurried after him and soon reached the place. The Hindūs, who relying on the strength of their ‘head’, had lost their ‘feet’ before this time, now lost their ‘head’ also. They ran about ‘headless’, searching for their lost ‘head’; and in this search they also lost the heads they had. The ‘head-throwing’ Turks found no traces of the lost man anywhere, though they cut off a number of heads under the suspicion that they were his, and again and again drew circles round the places where they expected him to be. Finally, the Hindū-faced night withdrew and the morning dawned.101a When the elephantine cloud had disappeared, one hundred and twenty101b cloud-like elephants were captured at the place and on the backs of the elephants were treasures, such as do not drop from the backs of the clouds and are not to be found in the bowels of the hills. The spoils were entrusted to the officers of the Treasury. Many elephant-bodied rāwats, who like the tusks of elephants had never withdrawn from the battle-field, now crept into their houses like the elephant’s eye from fear of the terrific Turkish storm; but they were, nevertheless, dragged out of their corners and thrown under the feet of the elephants. It seemed that, smeared with the blood of those ‘possessors of the elephants’, the elephants of that land became like ‘birds in flocks’ and carried to the elephantine clouds the words of thankfulness to the Lord of Ka’ba.101c
101d Though a deluge of blood was made to flow in the Kharābābād of Kandūr with the Hindī sword, that could have cut a boat into two, yet no trace of the desired fish was found. The Mussalmāns thought he had gone towards Jāt Kūta. ‘We will go and throw out our fishing line there’, they determined, ‘May be he will fall into our hands!’ So without waiting to rest or recuperate, they started quicker than the rain that falls from above. But it was discovered for certain from people coming from that direction that Bīr had not been anywhere near that bīrāna. He had washed his hands off the sea as well, for the sea, in spite of its stability, had fled from that flowing river and dived to the bottom of the earth. 102a The forest to which Bīr had fled was so thick, that there was no place in it for an ant to put its feet; and if imagination had entered it, it would have lost its way and never found it out again. As it was ascertained that the Rāī had penetrated into the forest even as a needle pierces through silk, that his companions had gone with him like the thread following the needle, and that the end of the thread was not now to be found, the Malik, who, if he heard of so much as the picture of an elephant on silk cloth, would have run his sharp scissors towards it in the darkest night, did not consider it worth while wasting his arrows against the hillside for such a matter of detail as capturing the small party of the Rāī. It was impossible to find them. The Mussalmāns drew away their skirts from the thorny forest and returned to Kandūr, so that with their staffs they may explore the hills of that region in search of more elephants.
102b When in the morning the elephantine clouds had gathered round that golden idol, the sun, news was brought that in the city of Barmatpur there was a golden temple, and that the Rāī’s elephants had collected round it even as clouds collect round the sun. The army started like a storm to move those clouds and arrived there at midnight. Two hundred and fifty elephants, who roared like thunder, were captured before dawn by the fleet-footed horsemen, just as the waves of the sea are raised in a continuous succession by the wind.102c Next, the Muslim Sah-kash came with a body of holy warriors to destroy the golden temple in which the idols were kept. They saw a building, old and strong as the infidelity of Satan, and enchanting like the allurements of worldly life. You might say that it was the Paradise of Shaddād, which after being lost, those hellites had found, or that it was the golden Lankā of Rām, that Rāī having collected the golden heads of the idols and left them till the time of Solomon came, or else, that they had been left for Bīr, but Bīr (well) having become dry, these idols fell down.103a In truth, the towering edifice testified to the fact that the earth is the infidel’s paradise. It rose from the earth, a structure of gold scratching the eyes of the stars and piercing the people of the sun. Its summit reached the claws of the Lion; its golden foundations went deep into the earth; you would have thought the Twelve Fish had been consolidated into one. Its roofs and walls were inlaid with sparkling rubies and emeralds, and after gazing at them, red and yellow spots came before the spectator’s eye.103b The sight of gold was cooling to the sight. The green colour of the emerald would have given prestige to a kingly crown; for it looked like a young parrot flown from its egg in the moon. The jewelled figure of the idol looked like a bubble on the surface of the sun, and gazing at it would have weakened the eye. God be praised that all these gems have been brought to the Treasury of the ‘Shadow of God’!
103c The foundations of this golden temple, which was the holy place of the Hindūs, were dug up with the greatest care. The ‘Glorifiers of God’ broke the infidel building, so that ‘spiritual birds’ came down like pigeons from the air. The ‘ears’ of the wall were opened by the sound of the spade. At its call the sword also raised its ‘head’ from the scabbard; and the ‘heads’ of the Brahmans and idol-worshippers came dancing from their necks to their feet at the flashes of the sword. 103d The golden bricks rolled down and brought with them the plaster of sandal-wood; the yellow gold became red with blood, and the white sandal turned scarlet. The sword flashed where jewels had once been sparkling; where mire used to be created by rose-water and musk, there was now a mud of blood and dirt; the stench of blood was emitted by ground once fragrant with musk; the saffron-coloured doors and walls assumed the colour of bronze. And by this smell the men of Faith were intoxicated and the men of Infidelity ruined. 103e The stone idols, called ‘Ling-i-Mahādeo,’ which had been for a long time established at that place—quibus, mulieres infidelium pudenda sua affricant,104a—these, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islām had not attempted to break.104b The Mussalmāns destroyed all the lingas. Deo Narāīn fell down, and the other gods, who had fixed their seats there, raised their feet and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached the fort of Lankā; and in that affright the lingas themselves would have fled, had they any legs to stand on. And long-lived Satan, who in that temple had induced the sons of Adam to bow down before the lingas of the Deos, fled to Sarandīp in such despair that he reached Adam’s Foot (qadam-i-Adam) and lowered his head before it.104c See how far Islām has succeeded, when even Satan bows his head before Adam.104d The foundations of the temple, which were mines of gold, were dug up, and its jewelled walls, which were mines of precious stones, pulled down. The spades and shovels were sharpened at the heart of the rubies; the pick-axe, shaped like the key, opened the door of victory over the building; and the mattock went into the inlaid wall and brought out the pearls. Wherever there was any treasure in that desolated building, the ground was sifted in a sieve and the treasure discovered. No part of gold remained with the gabrs except its dust, no jewels except the ‘principle’ of fire. When the gold and jewels had been entrusted to the Imperial officers, the successful army moved back to the (central) camp, with its treasures and elephants.
104e On Sunday, the 11th Zill Qa’d, the men of the victorious army arrived before the august canopy and rubbed their mud-smeared foreheads on the ground. The temples of Bīrdhūl had raised their heads to the drum of the sky and their foundations went down to water-depth; but now their foundations were dug up so thoroughly that below every foundation a well (bīr)104f was excavated reaching down to the Fish and the sparkling treasures, which like ducks had been roosting in every corner of the building, were drawn out of the centre of the earth. So much dust was raised from these Hindū houses that the ‘heart’ of Saturn became a well of dust. Two days later the towering canopy started from here; on Thursday, the 15th Zil Qa’d, it arrived at the city of Kim;105a five days later it reached the city of Mathrā, the dwelling place of the brother of the Rāī, Sundar Pāndyā. The city of the great Saturnian, who had a colossal palace, was found as empty as the constellation of Mars. The Rāī had fled along with the Rānīs and only two or three elephants had been left in the temple of Jagannath. In spite of all search for the lost Arrow (Mercury) and the Great Bear, only these two or three clouds (elephants) could be seen. The Malik was so inflamed with anger that he set fire to the temple of Jagannath.
From here the Malik ordered the elephants to be taken to the main camp, and in contradiction to the proverb, that ‘one hill does not go to another’, these elephants were taken to the other elephants. When the ‘Arīẓ counted them at the muster, the line of elephants was three farsangs long, and from farsang to farsang the ground was rubbed and beaten under their feet. Five hundred and twelve elephants, who would have torn ‘the wall of the (First) Alexander’ like a rampart of paper, were brought into the roll of captives by the powerful orders of the Second Alexander. Gigantic bodies they had, and if their feet made no noise when they walked, yet the earth groaned and cried, ‘Surely the violence of the hour is a grievous thing’.105b
Praise of the elephants, with trunks like dragons, under whose feet the hills grew soft as wax.105c They were like hills, so high that the vermilion on their foreheads gave a red lining to the clouds, or else like clouds so much above the ground that water took a long time in falling from their backs. Their bodies were so large that the wind striking their backs was unable to reach their tails; and the Creator of ether had hidden ‘fire’ in them just as lightning is hidden in the clouds. The driver sat on their necks with his goad like the spur of a mountain. But while other clouds rain water and cause vegetables to grow, these clouds drank water and ate vegetables; while other hills contain precious stones and are permanently fixed, these hills contained no treasures and were always on the move. Everyone present wondered at their shape—a sleep hill and a man guiding it. The driver sat on its neck like an angel directing a cloud, and the box on its back looked like a ship floating on the sea. When it was moving, you would have thought it a mighty wave in the ocean; when standing, it looked like the main tower of a fort, adorned with a trunk in place of the munjaniq. And if the waves of the sea are moved by the force of the winds, the elephants, when angry, moved the wind in waves; if the tower of the fort is surmounted by a wooden defence, this tower was adorned by a box of jewels. You might liken it to a dome on four columns, which crushes the infidels by its weight, or to a hill on four rocks, which causes the heretics to slip down its ‘nose’ … In spite of its weight, it moved gently like the wind; in spite of its movement, it seemed to stand still.
Praise of horses whose onslaught on the field of battle destroyed the stone-stables of Time.— 106a When the elephants had retired to their officers, the muster of the horses was taken. The Imperial Arīẓ counted them one by one; they were five thousand in number. There were ‘Yamāni’ and ‘Shāni’ horses, all going to their stables with alluring steps. The ‘marine’ horse could float like a bubble on water. They were swift as lightning; their qualities were those of the rose; their origin was from the wind and yet they yielded softly to the bridle. A man could never attain to their swiftness except in imagination. Their breath was like the morning breeze blowing over the Narcissus; their ears grew like lilies. Everyone of them was an Ahraman, who in the rapidity of his movement, left his shadow behind. Sometimes it would stand in the air; at other times (its swiftness) lay dormant like fire in stone. Its figure captivated the eye and was never again forgotten. It galloped rapidly over uneven paths and could see a needle in the darkness of the night; it finished its journey as quickly as a thread gets into the eye of a needle. When the horses, with such fine figure and qualities, had been reviewed, they were all assigned to the royal stables and enlisted in the service of the Emperor, so that in the Imperial battles another wall came along (with the wall of the elephants). May the whole globe, and even the nine heavens, remain under the Emperor’s rule!
Praise of the treasures of land and sea, worthy of the exalted Solomon.— 106b If a description of the boxes of jewels were attempted, there is no breast in which it could be contained, nor any heart that could appreciate its value. There were five hundred mans of precious stones, and every piece was equal in size to the disc of the (sinking) sun. The diamonds were of such a colour that the sun will have to stare hard for ages before the like of them is made in the factories of the rocks. The pearls glistened so brilliantly that the brow of the clouds will have to perspire for years before such pearls again reach the treasury of the sea. For generations the mines will have to drink blood in the stream of the sun before rubies such as these are produced. The emeralds were of a water so fine, that if the blue sky broke itself into fragments, none of its fragments would equal them. Every diamond sparkled brightly; it seemed as if it was a drop fallen from the sun. As to the other stones, their lustre eludes description just as water escapes out of a small vessel.
107a Through the favour of the Lord of men and jins, and assisted by the sincere motives of the Imam and the Caliph of the age, the orthodox (sunnī) victors had now piously compelled all false houses of worship to bow their heads on the prayer-carpet of the ground and had broken all stone idols like the stony hearts of their worshippers. How clean the breasts of those who broke with the greatest severity these contaminated stones, which Satan had raised like a wall before himself! The hearts of the Mussalmans were now quite satisfied with the breaking of false gods. The elephants, who had gone rubbing their noses against the ground to the thresholds of the temples, now considered the ruby velvet on their backs as their pilgrims’ dress for visiting the capital of Islam, and were ready to bow their heads in obedience to the Emperor of the Seven Climes. The treasure, which was the mainstay and the Ka’ba of those evil men, was collected for the Imperial court. The ceremonies of holy war, which are obligatory duties, had been performed in obedience to the orders of the ‘Commander of the Faithful’. The Malik-i Ghāzī and the holy warriors of the victorious army bowed their heads in thankfulness—‘Victory is only from Allah, the Mighty and the Wise’—and bathed the ground with their perspiration and tears. And in their prayer for the increased power of the Caliphate, they raised their hands so high, as to reach the Treasury of Acceptance.
Return of the victorious army to the Imperial Court of Land and Sea.— 107b On Sunday night the company of stars prepared to return to the Imperial Capital. The breaking up of the camp filled all hearts with a deep joy.107c Next morning, Sunday, the 4th Ẓil Ḥijjah, 710 A.H. the numerous troops, accompanied by their elephants and loaded with their heavy treasure, began their march for the capital. Victory in all her glory led the van, planning further conquests; success accompanied them in all things, and the favour of God protected them. Yes! God will protect the army that protects the world. Young and old rejoiced on account of the favour from Allāh. The noise of ‘Huzza! Huz!’ rose from the infidels—‘They are nothing but as cattle; nay, they are straying further off from the path.’ As the desire to kiss the ground of the Court had overpowered the men of the army, they cheerfully underwent the hardships of the journey. They passed rapidly and without weariness over the mountains, the thought of which makes one feel tired, and crossed, with the indifference of a somnambulist, deep valleys, the dream of which would cause a man to jump up in his sleep. Thorns, the very memory of which pricks one like a spear, appeared to them soft like the hair of their own bodies. They swam through rivers, the thought of which drowns one’s imagination in a sea of wonder, and passed rapidly through hot wind and rain and hail, which was sometimes gentle and sometimes severe, till they finally reached the ‘Shadow of God’, and were protected from sunshine and heat, pain and sorrow. Indeed, they thanked God for the blessings of peace and for the privilege of being able to see the Head of the State.
108a On Monday, the 14th Jamādius Ṯānī, 711 A.H. the exalted Sun (Sultan) held a public durbar in the Golden Palace.108b The ‘Shadow of God’ sat under the canopy, and the rays of his face drove away the evil eye, as if with a baton. The dormant fortunes of men awakened; it seemed that the black shadow of his canopy had lined their sleepy eyes with antimony. His baton struck its light on the head of blood-shedding Mars; his sword cast its scabbard-strap in the neck of the sun. The sky, for all its fearless tyranny, was overpowered by the lustre of the spears, and Time, in spite of its overbearing strength, felt afraid of the fearful bow. The Maliks in innumerable rows rubbed their waists together like so many rubies and diamonds.108c White and brown horses stood in magnificent files, stamping the ground with their feet and turning it into gold. The earth seemed full of (small) hillocks after the great Maliks had rubbed their foreheads upon it, while the prostration of the Tīkadār Rāīs gave it the colour of saffron. The cry of Bismillāh came to the ears of the angels and reminded them of their bowing before Adam; the sound of Hadākallāh fell on Satan’s ears, compelling him to bow down to Adam’s descendants.109a The wind of Imperial favour blew so generously as to take away the power of self-restraint from the wishes of men; yet such was the awe of His Imperial Majesty, that but for the anchor-loads on their backs, the elephants would have fled away. When the right and left wing of the Imperial Court had assembled, the sky recited the ‘Ayatal Kursi’109b and the four angels read the four Quls109c at the four columns. The Emperor’s servant, the Sah-Kash, who had performed more services than can be described, was introduced along with other Maliks and great men who had survived the campaign in which they had so often risked their lives. He bowed the broad forehead of his fortune before the throne and placed his obedient face on the carpet of the Court. The cry of Bismillah rose so high, that Divine favour descended down it from the sky as down a strong rope. Then the review of the spoils began. The ground was covered by the large bodies of the elephants and faultless gems. While the jewels were on the backs of the animals, they indicated that the ‘essence of things’ was finer than the ‘eye’; but when they were scattered at the feet of men and horses, it was proved that the eye was superior to the jewels. All men, who were adorned with two eyes, just as the eye is adorned with two ‘jewels’, wondered at the sight of elephants and jewels. Every gigantic elephant had a female, and the female also had a gigantic stature. The body of the elephant was strong and large; there was a great distance between its head and feet, and the distance between its trunk and tail was greater still; nor could you see the whole of its back and breast except in three views (from three different points). The forgiving Emperor thanked the merciful God, who gives and takes away life, for the acquisition of those valuables; and the circumference of the sky was not extensive enough to contain his gratitude. And it will not be strange, if, in return for his thankfulness, all the creatures of the broad world are conquered by his sword, for gratitude to God is the condition of all great success.
A few words of apology for the innumerable mistakes and defects of this book.110a— By the favour of the Creator this ‘book of victories’ ornamented with the great deeds of Abūl Muẓaffar Muḥammad Shah Sultān, has been brought to an end. It is a specimen of Khusrau’s prose. May this account of some of the victories of this conqueror wander all over the world through the realm of day and night till the Day of Resurrection! My reason for making the book short, and contenting myself with the description of a few victories only, is this: Since the Imperial orders are being issued for the conquest of the whole globe, there is no doubt that victory will carry these commands to every part of the world from east to west. It was easier for me (under the circumstances) to adorn my book with a few gems only to illustrate these victories. So from necessity, I have described a part of the Emperor’s virtues and a few of his conquests; and in words that may fully and correctly express my meaning, I have written a few pages. Nor did I wish that verses in any language, other than Persian and Arabic, should blacken the lip of my pen and the pages of my book. It is certain that the few sentences I have composed are more meaningless than the two-lettered words that are taught to children; that the pages of my book are more weakly joined together than pieces of paper, which it is attempted to stick together with the water of the mouth; and that the ideas I have expressed, though in my opinion fine as hair, are (in reality) no better than a letter written with a hair sticking to the point of the pen. But since I have appealed to Divine assistance in the composition of this book, I hope my inventions will find acceptance in the Sultān’s eyes.
Prayers to God for the acceptance of this book (by the Sultān) and for his forgiveness.110b— May God who has cast the light of guidance on the hearts of the Mussalmāns, procure this description of political events, which is founded on the ‘Opening Chapter’ and verses in support of the Muslim Faith, a good fortune before the last ‘Commander of the Faithful’, Muhammad, on whose forehead shines the verse, ‘Surely we have made you a ruler in the land’. If my pen in its wanderings has ever passed beyond the bounds of respect, and in its ignorance and forgetfulness has said anything not worthy of the Royal Protector of the Faith, may the Lord send this verse from His Book to the Sultan’s inspired heart—‘and those who restrain their anger and pardon men’—so that in his mercy to all men, he may spare my life also. If there is anything defective in my composition, on which men of wit and learning can place their fingers, send me a ray of Thy favour, so that these defects may remain concealed. Lest from the obvious or hidden meaning of my words any conclusion is drawn against the ‘Mother of Books’, I finish my treatise with the sentence—‘There is no God but Allāh, and Muhammad is His Prophet’. And my last prayer is: ‘Make me die a Mussalmān and join me with the good.’ ‘O Lord! Send Thy blessings on Thy creature and Thy messenger, the unlettered Prophet, and on his Family and his Companions, the innocent and the pure, out of Thy mercy, Thou who art the most Merciful of all.’
Allusions to sea and rain.
↩Minister of War. The office was then held by Hizhabruddīn Zafar Khān.
↩Apparently Anhilwāra, the capital of Gujrāt, is meant. It is now known as Pattan.
↩Khān-i Aẓam and Ulugẖ Khān both mean the first Khān of the Kingdom. It was equivalent to the later title of ‘Khān-i Khānān’.
↩Allusions to circle and centre.
↩Obviously referring to the custom of Mussalmāns praying at Hindū shrines. Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, it seems, used to visit Somnāth on their way. It was a great seaport and the place from which the pilgrims embarked on their voyage. Somnāth had been destroyed by Maḥmūd, but like many other temples it had been rebuilt.
↩Allusions to Qibla (Mecca) and Abraham. The holy Mecca was built by the Prophet Abraham.
↩The Qurān, chapter xxi, sec. 5.
↩A famous well in Mecca; Hagar’s well.
↩‘In the beginning of the third year of ‘Alāuddīn’s reign, Ulugẖ Khān and Nusrat Khān marched to Gujarāt with their amīrs, sar-lashkars, and a large army. The whole of Gujrat, including Nahrwala, was plundered. Karan, the Rāī of Gujrāt, fled to Rām Deo at Deogīr, while his wives, daughters, treasures and elephants fell into the hands of the Muslim army. The whole of Gujrāt was conquered. They also sent to Delhī an idol, which the Brahmans had called Somnāth after the destruction of Nāth by Sulṭān Maḥmūd, for the people to tread on. Nusrat Khān then proceeded to Cambay and took plenty of precious stones and valuables from the Khwājas (Muslim merchants) of Cambay, who were very rich. Kāfūr Hazārdinārī, who later on became the Malik Naīb and infatuated ‘Alāuddīn, was forcibly seized from his Khwāja and brought to the Sulṭān.’ (Barnī).
While the army was returning from Gujrāt, a serious mutiny broke out, which Khusrau refrains from mentioning. It is, however, described by Barnī. ‘When Ulugẖ Khān and Nusrat Khān were returning from Gujrāt with their spoils,’ he continues, ‘they resorted to great severity and to kicks and blows to find out what spoils had fallen into the hands of the men and in demanding the fifth part, which was the share of the state. Their demands were extortionate; they would not accept the returns made by the men but wanted more. By compelling the men to drink salt water, and by various kinds of coercion, they wished to take away from them all the gold, silver, jewels and other valuables they had. These tortures drove the men to desperation. There were a number of ‘New Muslim’ Amīrs and horsemen in the army who collected together, about two or three thousand in number, and raised a revolt. They killed Nusrat Khān’s brother, Malik Aizzuddin, who was the Amīr-i-hajib of Ulugẖ Khān and then proceeded tumultuously to Ulugẖ Khān’s tent. Ulugẖ Khān cleverly came out of his tent unrecognized and escaped to Nusrat Khān’s tent. A nephew (sister’s son) of Sulṭān ‘Alāuddīn was sleeping in Ulugẖ Khān’s tent and the mutineers slew him under the impression that he was Ulugẖ Khān. The disturbance spread through the whole army and there was a grave danger that the spoils (of Gujrāt) would be lost. But as ‘Alāuddīn’s power was destined to increase, even such a disturbance was soon quelled. The horse and foot of the army gathered before Nusrat Khān’s tent, the ‘New Muslim’ Amīrs and horsemen were dispersed, and their ringleaders, who had instigated the revolt, fled for refuge to the rais and other rebellious (chiefs). Further inquiry into the spoils was given up, and Nusrat Khān and Ulugẖ Khān reached Delhī with the spoils, treasures, elephants and slaves they had obtained in the plunder of Gujrāt.
‘When news of the “New Muslim” revolt reached Delhī, Sulṭān ‘Alāuddīn, from the cruelty that was ingrained in his nature, ordered the wives and children of all the rebels, high and low, to be captured and imprisoned. Now was begun the practice of punishing women and children for the misdeeds of men, which had not till then been known in Delhī. But a more horrid act of tyranny was committed by Nusrat Khān, the author of many acts of violence in the City. In revenge for his brother’s death, he dishonoured and disgraced the wives of those who had struck his brother with their axes; he gave them to sweepers to be used as prostitutes and ordered their suckling children to be broken to pieces on their heads. His actions filled people with horror and dismay. A shiver went through the hearts of men.’
A short sketch of the conquest is also found in the Dawal Rānī. ‘When the territory of Sind, the mountains and the sea, had become obedient to him, the Sulṭān’s exalted judgment decided that the Rāī of Gujrāt should also come within his power. He sent Ulugẖ Khān to scatter the dust of that province to the winds and to defeat the Rāī with his superior wisdom. Like lions (the Mussalmāns) shed the blood of the gabrs by the side of the river and the sea; and the temple of Somnāth was overthrown with so much force that the earth trembled like the ocean.’ (Dawal Rānī).
The fortunes (or misfortunes) of Rāï Karan’s wife, Kamala Devī and his daughter, Dīval Devī, are described by Amīr Khusrau in his Dawal Rānī and are summarized in prose by Ferishta. The story is too long for citation in a foot-note. (See my monograph on Amir Khusrau, chapter ii, Messrs. Taraporevala, Bombay).
To Khusrau’s regard for the memory of Sulṭān Jalāluddīn and his reluctance to refer to anything not morally creditable to ‘Alāuddīn, we may attribute his omission of the conquest of Multān by Ulugẖ Khān and Zafar Khān. Arkali Khān, the eldest son of Sulṭān Jalāluddīn, was governor of Multan when his father was assassinated at Karra. Sulṭān Jalāluddīn’s wife, the Malka-i Jahan, instead of calling Arkali Khān, hastened to place her youngest son, Ruknuddin Ibrahim, on the throne. Her action was probably due to the expectation that she would be all in all with a minor on the throne, whereas Arkali Khān had a will of his own. But when ‘Alāuddīn advanced towards Delhī, the Malka-i Jahan found herself too weak to make a stand and most of her officers deserted to the enemy. She frantically appealed to Arkali Khān, but he had been deeply wounded by his mother’s behaviour and refused to stir. Finally when ‘Alāuddīn encamped opposite to Delhī, the Malka-i Jahan and Sulṭān Ruknuddin fled to Multān. ‘The first project, which ‘Alāuddīn entertained after his accession to the throne, was the removal of the late Sulṭān’s sons. Ulugẖ Khān and Zafar Khān were sent to Multān with many Maliks and Amīrs and an army of thirty or forty thousand horse. After they had besieged Multān for a month or two, the Kotwal and the citizens of Multān turned away from Sulṭān Jalāluddīn’s sons and some of their Amīrs joined the besiegers. Jalāluddīn’s sons asked for peace through the mediation of Shaikhul Islam Shaikh Ruknuddīn; after it had been promised and the terms settled, they came out (of the city) with the Shaikhul Islām and all their Maliks and Amīrs. Ulugẖ Khān treated them with honour and quartered them near his own tent. He sent a message of victory to Delhī, where it was read from the pulpits and then despatched to the provinces. Qubbahs (cupolas) were constructed in the City and drums beaten in joy. ‘Alāuddīn’s power over Hindūstān was now established and he had no enemy or rival to fear.’
‘Ulugẖ Khān and Zafar Khān, who had the sons of Sulṭān Jalāluddīn (both of whom had once possessed the canopy) together with all their Maliks and Amīrs in their hands, now started for Delhī. On the way they met Nusrat Khān, who had been sent to them. The two sons of Sulṭān Jalāluddīn Ulugẖu, a son-in-law of the late Sulṭān, and Malik Ahmad Chap, the ex-Naib-i Amir-i Ḥajib, were all blinded. Their harems were separated from them and their wealth, goods, slaves and slave-girls, in fact, all they possessed, were seized by Nusrat Khān, who imprisoned the sons of Sulṭān Jalāluddīn in the fort of Hansi and put the sons of Arkali to death. He brought their harems, together with the Malka-i Jahan and Ahmad Chap to Delhī and kept them as prisoners in his own house.’ (Barnī, Persian Text, pp. 249-50).
↩Allusions to the sun and planets.
↩The signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricornus.
↩Allusions to ‘manjaniq.’
↩Allusions to stars.
↩A number of ‘New Muslims’, i.e. Monogols converted to Islām, had rebelled when the army of Delhī was returning from Gujrāt and sought refuge at Rantambhor. They were among its staunchest defenders.
↩The following appears to be the sense of the sentences of which a literal translation is given above. ‘When ‘Alāuddīn began to pile up his sand-bags on the western side of the fort, the martial Hindūs (who though Saturnians were the Men of Mars as well) and their “New Muslim” comrades collected together in the three western towers of the fort, which looked like “the heaven full of stars”. From here they threw fire on the besiegers who were constructing a pāsheb at the foot of the fort and at the same time shot their arrows (Mercury) also. But the arrows they shot (so Amīr Khusrau imagines) wandered into the fire they had thrown and were consequently burnt.
↩Allusions to manjanīq (catapult). ‘Irâda, manjanīqs and magẖarabīs were various machines for shooting stones at the fort walls and were largely used in siege operations. The central piece, it seems, was a large wooden beam moving upon a pivot; the strongest men of the army were made to pull one side of the beam so that the other side moved forward and hit the stone like a cricket bat. The stones were chiselled into a round or oblong shape of the size of a football on the average. I succeeded in discovering a fairly large number of these manjanīq-stones at Chitor.
↩Allusions to seasons of the New Year.
↩i. e. after the New Year’s festival, ‘Alāuddīn distributed gold to his troops and pressed on the siege with greater vigour.
↩Allusions to fort and mosque.
↩‘Next the Sultān planned another expedition to win elephants and treasures. Ulugẖ Khān went to Jhāīn and moved towards the fort of Rantambhor. The army invested the fort as the sea invests the land. The Emperor also went after him and the august pavilion was pitched up on the hill. The fort itself was as high and exalted as the family of the Rāī, Hamīr Deo, who, though a descendant of Rāī Pithaura, exceeded his ancestor in pride. He had rāīs, rāwats, rāṇas and an army beyond computation; there were well caparisoned elephants, thousands of horses swift as the wind and footmen without limit. The fort of Rantambhor, which is two weeks’ march from Delhī, was encircled by a wall three farsangs in length. The Sulṭān attacked the fort as ‘Alī had attacked Khaibar. The magẖrabīs began to strike the fort from east and west with such force that at every stroke one of the towers threw its hat on the ground; because the stones were sent by the Emperor, the fort kissed the ground as soon as they touched it. The Sulṭān was firm in his determination and reduced the fort in a month or two. As the fort was struck by stone after stone in succession, the path which had been attempted for thirty years was cleared, and through the pious resolve of the Sulṭān, the desire of an age was fulfilled in a month. When this “land of infidelity” became the “land of Islām,” the Sulṭān assigned the palace and the fort of Rantambhor to Ulugẖ Khān while he himself returned to the capital.’ (Dawal Rānī). There are three mistakes in this short description: the time was considerably longer than is asserted, the fort was reduced not by magẖrabī strokes but through the arduous process of the pāshīb, and the affair was anything but the easy walk-over a reader of Amīr Khusrau would imagine.
Barnī’s description gives an idea of the difficulties that faced ‘Alāuddīn at Rantambhor: ‘The first expedition of the Sulṭān was against Rantambhor, which was (comparatively) nearer to Delhī and had been seized by Hamīr Deo, grandson of Rāī Pithaura of Delhī. Ulugẖ Khān, who held the territory of Bīāna, was sent against the fort and Nusrat Khān, who was governor of Karra that year, was ordered to march to his assistance with the army of Karra and the other provinces of Hindūstān. Ulugẖ Khān and Nusrat Khān captured Jhāīn and laid siege to Rantambhor. But one day Nusrat Khān, who had gone too near the fort in order to direct the construction of the pāshīb and the raising of the gargaj, was struck by a stone shot from a magẖrabī in the fort and died after two or three days. When the news was brought to ‘Alāuddīn, he came out of the city in royal splendour and started for Rantambhor. (At Tilpat, however, ‘Alāuddīn’s nephew, Akat Khān, tried to assassinate him and the plot just missed success.) After this event the Sulṭān marched by continuous stages to Rantambhor and fixed his camp there. The siege, which had been commenced before his arrival, was now pushed on with greater vigour. Ropes were brought from every side and woven into sacks, which were distributed to the army, to be filled with earth and thrown into the ditch. The pāshīb was constructed and the gargaj was raised. The besieged destroyed the pāshīb with their magẖrabī-stones and threw fire from their ramparts, while the besiegers established themselves over the territory of Jhāīn till Dhār. (At this juncture the Sulṭān’s nephews ‘Umar and Mangū revolted at Badāūn and Oudh while a freedman, Ḥājī Maula, raised a rebellion in Delhī.) News of the tumult and disturbance at Delhī was brought to ‘Alāuddīn but he had made a princely resolve to conquer Rantambhor and refused to stir from his place. The large army investing the fort was weary and sick of the siege—it was mid-summer—but from fear of ‘Alāuddīn’s punishment no horse or foot could either return from the army to Delhī or desert it and fly away to some other place. Repeated rebellions had aroused ‘Alāuddīn from his sleep and he strove hard to reduce the fort. After much bloodshed and a hard struggle, Rantambhor was at last captured, and Hamīr Deo and the “New Muslims”, who had fled to him after the Gujrāt rebellion, were put to death. The Sulṭān assigned Rantambhor and its territory to Ulugẖ Khān and returned to Delhī.’ (Tārīkh-i Fīrozī).
Ferishta adds a few details to Barnī’s account. ‘After Nusrat Khān’s death, Hamīr Deo came out of the fort with two hundred thousand horse and foot and offered battle.’ Ulugẖ Khān raised the siege and withdrew to Jhāīn, from where he wrote of the state of affairs to the Emperor. After the siege had dragged on for one year—or, according to another statement, for three years—the Emperor collected a large army from all sides and distributed bags to them. Every man filled his bag with sand and threw it into the ditch, called ‘ran,’ till an ascent to the wall being formed, the besieged were overpowered and the fort captured. Hamīr Deo fell along with his tribe. Most of the rebels, led by Moḥammad Shah, who had fled to Rantambhor from Jalore, fell in the siege. Mīr Moḥammad Shah himself was lying wounded. When the Sulṭān’s eye fell on him, he asked him out of kindness: ‘If I have your wounds attended to and rescue you from this dangerous condition, how will you behave towards me in future?’ ‘If I regain my health,’ the other replied, ‘I will put you to death and raise the son of Hamīr Deo to the throne.’ Stung to fury, the Sulṭān ordered him to be cast under the elephant’s feet, but soon after, remembering Moḥammad Shah’s courage and loyalty, he ordered the dead man to be decently buried. Further, ‘Alāuddīn put to death those who had deserted the aforesaid Rāja—the Rāja’s wazir Ranmal, etc. ‘Such has been their behaviour towards their own master,’ he said. ‘How can they be loyal to me?’
↩Allusions to eyes.
↩Antimony (surma) is extensively used in India, partly as a medicine, and partly as a toilet for the eyes. Surma is put on the eyelids with a large blunt needle; the Imperial army used its spears instead to cure the dim sight of Rāīs. Surma is generally kept in small phials of wood or ivory.
↩The whole of this passage is based on allusions to the eye. This was naturally suggested by the title of ‘Aīnul Mulk Multānī (the eye of the state), who was the first governor of Mālwa. The Ḥājib-i-Khās or Imperial Chamberlain was one of the greatest officers of the Court.
↩‘Chāksū’ is a grain, resembling a lentil, from which a remedy for the eyes is prepared. The Imperial army being commanded by ‘Aīnul Mulk, it was necessary for the Rāī to be like a grain of Chāksū so that he may be ground into powder for the ‘Eye of the State’.
↩i.e. his son.
↩The word ‘Deo’ means ‘god’ in Sanskrit and ‘demon’ or ‘giant’ in Persian. Khusrau is very fond of playing upon its two meanings.
↩‘Chashm bandī’; apparently an allusion to the still prevalent belief that through the force of magic the eyes of the audience can be made to see things which do not really exist.
↩An allusion to the Platonic Doctrine of Ideas.
↩‘Next the Emperor resolved to conquer the countries of the southern rāīs. There was a warlike wazīr, named Kūkā, who had more influence in Mālwa than the Rāī himself. He had forty thousand horsemen and foot beyond all computation. But ten thousand (horsemen) sent thither from the capital shattered Kūkā’s army. The heads of the slain reached the Sulṭān in quick succession; new flags were put on the Imperial banner. He who does not come to pay obedience to the Emperor on his “feet”, is compelled to come on his “head”! Away from Mahlik Deo, who had remained on his mountain, the Hindūs were slain and captured in large numbers. But as the Sulṭān had determined that the light of Islām was to fully illuminate those parts, he motioned to ‘Aīnul Mulk with his brows that he was to betake himself to Mālwa with speed. With the foresight he had, ‘Aīnul Mulk obeyed the order with the pupils of his eyes, and started for Mālwa with his troops, who surrounded him as the eyelashes encircle the eyes. Though General ‘Aīnul Mulk was a man of letters, he had also a reputation in the army for the strength of his dagger-thrusts. Supported by the good fortune of the Emperor, ‘Aīnul Mulk first cut down the rāīs of the place and then for a time gave grass and water to his horses round the fort of Māndū. Cutting the thorns of the ground with his dagger, he battered at the fort with iron. But it was a strange fort, farsangs in circumference and high enough to touch the mirror of the sky. ‘Aīnul Mulk tried to find a path, but it was hard to find one that would lead them to the towers that rose as high as the moon. But an opening having been suddenly discovered, the army rushed to it from both sides of the fort. The Rāī was captured and slain near the Sār, and news of the victory was sent to the Emperor, who assigned the conquered territory to ‘Aīnul Mulk.’ (Dawal Rānī).
‘‘Aīnul Mulk Multānī, one of the great maliks, was despatched with a large army to conquer the territories of Mālwa, Ujjain, Chanderī and Jālore. When ‘Aīnul Mulk reached Mālwa, Kūkā, the raja (?) of the place, came out to meet him with forty thousand Rājput horse and a hundred thousand foot. A fierce battle took place between the two armies, and ‘Aīnul Mulk was victorious. Having conquered Ujjain, Māndū, Dhāranagrī and Chanderī on the 10th Jamadiul Awwal, he sent a message of victory to the Emperor. In Delhī for seven days and nights drums were beaten in joy, and sugar was loaded in carts and distributed to the citizens. Katar Deo, ruler of the Jalore fort, was frightened at the conquest of Mālwa. He obtained a safe-conduct through the intermediation of ‘Aīnul Mulk, presented himself before the Emperor and was enrolled among the allies.’ (Ferishta).
↩The Gambheri and the Berach. A map of Chitor has been published by the Survey Department of the Government of India.
↩Meaning that though the assault sword in hand had failed, it still lay in ‘Alāuddīn’s power to knock down the fort with his magẖrabīs. But he refrained from the step owing to a spiritual message that the building would turn Muslim later. Its destruction, therefore, would have been highly impolitic. Further, the stones of the fort, being true Mussalmāns like all inanimate objects, kept close together as all Mussalmāns should. They knew the future but kept the secret to themselves, lest the Rājputs in disgust should pull down their treacherous fort.
↩Referring to a well-known story of the Qurān, chap. xxvii, sec. 2. Hudhud is the bird that brings the news of Balquis, queen of Seba, to Solomon. The famous Padminī is apparently responsible for the allusions to Solomon’s Seba.
↩Allusions to colours.
↩The village headmen, who among the Rajputs were also officers of the army.
↩Allusions to the 10th of Muḥarram more pleasant than the ‘Id. ‘Alāuddīn, Khusrau has said before, entered the fort of Chitor on the 11th of Muḥarram. Here it is stated that the army started for Delhī after the 10th of Muḥarram. There is really no inconsistency between the two statements, the 10th of Muḥarram having been introduced merely for the sake of allusions in the paragraph.
↩‘Then he marched against Chitor in state and reduced it in a single expedition. There, also, was a Rāī with a large army, who, to speak the truth, was the most exalted of all Hindū rulers. But the Emperor did not waste much time; the fort was reduced in two months with such effect that Saturn became anxious about the safety of his own constellation. It was named Khiẓrābād and presented to Khiẓr Khān. Chitor, the paradise of the Hindūs, is a wonderful fort and has springs and meadows on every side.’ (Dawal Rānī).
‘Sulṭān ‘Alāuddīn came out of the city with his army and marched to Chitor, which he invested and captured in a short time and then returned to Delhī.’ (Barnī).
The story set afloat by Colonel James Tod will not bear a critical examination. The following is Ferishta’s account of the famous Padminī and the later history of Chitor:—
‘In the meantime Ratan Sen, Rāja of Chitor, had obtained his deliverance in a most unusual way. The details of the incident are these. After the Rāja had been in jail for some time, it came to the Emperor’s ears that among the Rāja’s women (zanān) there was one, Padminī—a woman of fine stature, with dark eyes and moon-like face, and adorned with all the accomplishments of a beauty. The Emperor sent the Rāja a message that his release would depend on his presenting her (to the Sulṭān). The Rāja consented and sent messengers to call his family, who had taken refuge in inaccessible hill-tracts, so that the Emperor’s chosen may be picked out of them. But the Rāja’s Rājput relatives were shocked at the message. They reproached him severely and wished to mix a little poison in some food and send it to him; he would take it and withdraw into the world of the dead without becoming notorious for his dishonour. The Rāja’s daughter, however, who was famous for her intelligence among her tribe and kindred, disliked this proposal. “I have thought of a plan,” she said, “by which my father’s life will be saved and yet his honour will not be lost. It is this. Despatch a large number of litters full of warriors with a body of horse and foot to Delhī and at the same time publish the news, that in obedience to the Emperor’s order, the Rāja’s women are coming to him. On reaching the suburbs, they are to enter the city at night and take the road to the Rāja’s prison-house. On reaching there all the Rājputs are to draw their swords, overpower anyone who stands in their way and enter the prison; then seating my father on a swift-footed horse, they are to take the way to their homes with speed.” The counsellors approved of the plan and acted upon it. A body of devoted warriors sat in the litters and came to Delhī. When a part of the night had passed, they entered the city. “We have brought Padminī and all the relatives of the Rāja,” they cried. On nearing the prison, the Rājputs drew their swords, rushed out of their litters and quickly cut the guards to pieces; then they broke the Rāja’s chains, mounted him on a horse and struggled out of the city like a bird out of its cage. Joined, next, by a body of Rājputs, who had been waiting for them, they took the way to their homes. The Emperor’s horsemen pursued them on their journey and overtook them at several places; many Rājputs were slain in the skirmishes, but the Rāja, somehow or other, with great difficulty reached the hills, where his family was living. Rescued from the Emperor’s torturing claws through the fortunate plan of his accomplished daughter, the Rāja began to plunder the territory round the Chitor Fort. ‘Alāuddīn, however, in accordance with the demands of political expediency, took the fort from Khiẓr Khān and bestowed it on the Rāja’s sister’s son, Karīz Rāī, who was in the Emperor’s service and had given many proofs of his loyalty. In a short time Kharīz Rāī strengthened himself wonderfully in the place; all the Rājputs were pleased with his government and joined him. He remained firmly loyal till the Emperor’s death. Every year he came with presents from his land to kiss the threshold of the great conqueror, and was honoured with the gift of a horse and a special robe, after which he returned to his home. Whenever the Sulṭān’s army went on an expedition, he appeared obediently with five thousand horse and ten thousand foot and exposed his life to many dangers.’
↩Allusions to horses.
↩A play on the word Deogir, which may mean the place of a demon or of a god.
↩The famous Malik Kāfūr Hazārdīnāri. He held the office of Malik Nāib or ‘Regent of the State’.
↩Malik Kāfūr, so called because he had, till then, led three expeditions to the Deccan.
↩Allusions to the sword.
↩Allusions to mirrors.
↩The authorities for the second conquest of Deogir are given in Appendix A along with the authorities on the other Deccan invasions.
↩Allusions to wild beasts.
↩Allusions to birds.
↩A fabulous bird of the Shāhnāmah.
↩Allusions to wild beasts.
↩i.e. the Sulṭān.
↩A sort of vetch. Being enemies of the Emperor, they had to be soft as māsh and consequently the Imperial author proceeds to grind them between two magẖrabī stones to provide the right kind of dinner-bread for an Imperial army.
↩Allusion to birds.
↩A plain or platform in Delhī.
↩‘Next the Emperor started with his army for Siwāna. There, too, was a strong-armed Rāī, named Satal Deo, whose “stone” had broken the balance of other Rāīs. He was powerful like Ahrman and all the rawats bowed to his authority. In his fort of stone, which was stronger than iron, there were many gabrs with hearts of steel. They had used their daggers and dispossessed other rāīs of their blankets. The Imperial army had been investing the fort for five or six years without being able to injure half-a-brick of the edifice. But in a single move, the Emperor took his army to Siwāna like a deluge, and Satal Deo, in spite of his elephantine stature, was sent to sleep like an elephant through the vigilance of the Emperor.’ (Dawal Rānī).
‘While the Malik Nāīb was in the Deccan, the Emperor marched against the fort of Siwāna, which is to the south of Delhī. The army of Delhī had been besieging it for some years without achieving anything. ‘Alāuddīn encircled the fort and reduced the besieged to straits. Satal Deo, the Rāja of Siwāna, humbly sent a silver effigy of himself with golden cords round its neck, a hundred elephants, and other valuable presents to the Emperor and asked for his pardon. The Emperor took this in good humour, but said that it would do no good till Satal Deo came in person. The Rāja perforce came out of the fort and paid his respects to the Emperor. ‘Alāuddīn took possession of all that the fort contained, even the knives and needles. Such articles as were of use to the government were assigned to the royal factories; the rest were given over in payment of their salaries to the troops and camp-followers. The territory was divided among the amīrs. The empty fort was handed back to the Rāja.
‘About the same time the fort of Jālore was also conquered. It is said that Kanīr Deo, Rāja of Jālore, came to pay his homage to the Emperor at Delhī. “There is no zamindar in Hindūstān to-day strong enough to challenge my troops,” ‘Alāuddīn declared on one occasion when Kanīr Deo was present in the majlis. “If I challenge and do not prevail,” Kanīr blurted out in his excessive ignorance and folly, “I will know how to die.” The Emperor was annoyed at these words, but said nothing, and permitted Kanīr Deo to return to his territory. When some two or three months had passed, the Emperor determined to show his strength. He ordered a slave-girl, named Gul-i Bihisht, to march against Jālore and reduce it by force. Gul-i Bihisht reached her destination, besieged the fort and displayed such wonderful courage that it never occurred to Kanīr Deo to come out and offer battle. The besieged were reduced to straits and the fort was about to fall when Gul-i Bihisht suddenly fell ill and died. Her son, Shāhīn, took the army in hand and tried to overpower the besieged like his mother. But Kanīr Deo now saw that the Emperor’s anger was inevitable and determined to make a desperate struggle. He collected all his men, came out of the fort and gave battle. As chance would have it, Shāhīn and Kanīr Deo came face to face and Shāhīn was killed. The other amīrs, unable to continue the struggle, retreated a few stages. ‘Alāuddīn was furious at the news and sent Kamāluddīn to lead the enterprise with a new army. Kamāluddīn showed great activity and courage. He reduced the fort, slew Kanīr Deo with his sons and followers and seized his treasure. When the message of victory reached Delhī, drums were beaten in joy.’ (Ferishta).
Ferishta is mistaken in stating that Satal Deo was deprived of his wealth and allowed to live in his fort. Khusrau definitely states in both his works that Satal Deo was slain. Ferishta’s mistake is due to the fact that he applies to Satal Deo the verses in which Khusrau has described the fate of the Rāī of Arangal.
↩Allusions to stars and the sky.
↩Nausherwān was the famous Persian Emperor in whose reign the Arabian Prophet was born; Buzurchmehr was his wise wazīr. The reference is to ‘Alāuddīn and his ‘nāīb’ or ‘regent’, Malik Kāfūr.
↩Allusions to uneven roads.
↩‘Binās may be read as Bambās. The Kunwārī is the Kuhari of the maps, and the Niyas (Binās) and Bashuji (Bhoji) must be the rivers now known as the Sind and Betwa.’—(Elliot).
↩Allusions to the stars.
↩i.e. the Malik Nāīb Kāfūr Hazārdīnārī. He was the Regent of the Empire and Commander-in-Chief of the invading army. The author finds every kind of laudatory title for him. He is often referred to as the ‘Sah-Kash’, winner of three campaigns and sometimes simply as ‘the Malik’. He is not to be confused with Sirājuddīn, generally known as Khwāja Hājī, who accompanied the expeditionary force as ‘Arīz-i Mumālik’ or Minister of War.
↩Allusions to quadrupeds.
↩Allusions to prayers for victory.
↩Rajab is known as the month of God while Sha‘bān, the month which comes after it, is known as the month of the Prophet.
↩Allusions to rivers and streams.
↩Allusions to the story of Solomon.
↩Allusions to hills and desert.
↩Allusions to musical instruments.
↩Allusions to thunder, lightning and rain.
↩Allusions to war.
↩Allusions to the sword.
↩Elliot says Bijānagar.
↩A doab is a piece of land between two rivers. Yashar may be read as Bishnahr or Yashahr. Bujī is Baruji in Elliot’s manuscript.
↩Allusions to creeping creatures.
↩On which the cow stands holding the earth on her horns.
↩Allusions to fire.
↩i.e. after being scolded (oiled) with the tongue and threatened with death, Anānīr had the fort restored to him on promise of obedience, so that ‘the flame of insurrection might subside.’ It was not a part of ‘Alāuddīn’s programme to establish his government over the conquered territory and, consequently, the legitimate successor of the late muqaddam had to be found, so that the required promise of obedience may be taken from him.
↩Allusions to trees and branches.
↩Allusions to instruments of war.
↩Allusions to sun and cloud.
↩Allusions to forts.
↩Allusions to stars and sky.
↩Allusions to Sha’bān and Barāt.
↩Allusions to the army.
↩A tumān is a body of ten thousand men. According to this calculation the besieging army was over a hundred thousand.
↩Allusions to carpentry.
↩Allusions to the instruments of war.
↩i.e., when the night was far advanced.
↩Allusions to water animals.
↩Allusions to iron instruments.
↩Allusions to ‘Mīr Hājib’ and ‘chaugān’.
↩Allusions to Munjanīq.
↩Allusions to structures for reducing forts.
↩Allusions to sieges.
↩Allusions to the month of Ramaẓān.
↩Or the ‘grand night’, being the night on which the Quran was first revealed
↩Allusions to ladders.
↩i.e. to perform their ablution, which, as stated by the following sentence, is the Mussalmān’s armour. The army first said its morning prayer; the attack did not commence till the sun was ‘a spear high.’
↩The Fourth Caliph, Hazrat ‘Alī, who conquered the forts of Khaibar in Arabia.
↩Allusions to attack on the fort.
↩Meaning, as the following sentences suggest, that the footmen took possession of one wing of the fort and retained it in spite of all counter-attacks.
↩‘An early eastern use of Huzza! huzza! The same exclamations occur in the Miftāḥul Futūḥ.’—(Elliot.)
↩Allusions to instruments of war.
↩Allusions to fort and ditch.
↩Allusions to treasures. Buried treasures, it is believed, are guarded by snakes.
↩The Rāī desired to retain at least a part of his treasure.
↩Allusions to precious stones.
↩Or, literally, ‘the nephews of showers, the sisters of raindrops, the orphans of pearls and the livers of mines.’
↩Allusions to stables.
↩The text says Kohī (mountain-horse or country-breed) and bahri (sea-horse or imported breed). As the latter variety was Arabian, its main feature was fleetness of foot.
↩Various countries in medieval days were famous for different weapons; Persia for its bows, Tartary for its lance and India for its sword. Reference to the Indian or Hindī sword is often found in Persian literature.
↩Allusions to elephants.
↩Allusions to weights and balances.
↩A curious quibble of which it is difficult to find the exact significance. Laddar Deo seems to have meant that if either his life or the whole of his property was taken away, the balance would be upset. If they took away his life, ‘the scale holding my wealth would sink to the ground’—perhaps a veiled threat that in the last extremity he would subject his jewels to the hammer. What he desired was that the victor should leave him some part of his wealth, and take instead of it a portion of his prestige by subjecting him to a yearly tribute. When equals are taken from equals the remainders are equal; and Laddar Deo, left with a part of his prestige and a part of his wealth, would straight-away attack the other Rāīs and pay the Imperial tribute out of their pockets.
↩Allusions to jewels and treasures.
↩Both Ferishta and Barnī state that ‘Alāuddīn had ordered the Malik Nāīb not to take any extreme measures against Laddar Deo and to remain content with seizing his treasures.
↩The soft words of the ambassadors brought self-possession to the Rāī as closing the mouth of a vessel brings ‘self-possession’ to the mercury it contains.
↩Allusions to stars.
↩The canopy was the symbol of Imperial authority, and people bowed before it even when the Emperor was not personally present.
↩Allusions to elephants. I have not translated literally this paragraph which has no historical significance.
↩Allusions to jewels.
↩Allusions to horses.
↩Allusions to philosophy that confound the understanding.
↩Khwāja Ḥājī’s meaning is obvious. If the Rāī had failed to send any valuables, which by the agreement he was bound to, the ambassadors would be held responsible for the default, provided they were cognisant of it. As the Imperial army could not enter the fort, the only method of getting the agreement enforced was by superfluous threats. For the rest, Amīr Khusrau’s ornamentation may be ignored; such logical language would not be used even in the inter-university negotiations of to-day; and the Rāī’s ambassadors, with their eloquent Hindī, could not have used the logical terms put into their mouths.
↩The Persian word ‘jauhar’, which in common parlance means a precious stone, also means ‘substance’ in Arabian logic; the sense in which ‘jauhar’ is used by Muslim scholars is the same in which ‘substance’, as distinguished from ‘accident’ is used by Western writers. Amīr Khusrau, in this paragraph, constantly plays on the two meanings of ‘jauhar’.
↩This is the famous Koh-i-Nūr, which according to many later writers (including Khafi Khān) was brought by ‘Alāuddīn’s army from the Deccan. ‘Though logicians’, to put the ambassadors’ words in a different form, ‘declare that there is no such thing as a “unique substance”, except the Divine Being, yet the Koh-i-Nūr diamond has no peer and stands in a class by itself. You cannot find a diamond to match it in the whole world.’
↩That is, no one had overpowered the Rāī and divided up his treasure before and he imagined that it was one and indivisible like ‘substance’. But the Imperial sword proved that it could cut and divide everything.
↩Apparently of threats. The ‘terms’ really used by Khwāja Ḥājī were not to be found in the ancient logic of Aristotle.
↩He promised to pay 10,000,000,000—ten thousand millions only(?). The figure seems to be purely suppositious. But we are here dealing not with the revenues but the heirlooms of states.
↩i.e. Khwāja Ḥājī, the ‘Arīẓ-i-Mumālik.
↩Keeper of the Army Roll.
↩Which is the shape of a horse-shoe.
↩Allusions to Holy Mecca.
↩All four are hills famous in Muslim traditions.
↩A famous governor of Persia, whose cousin Moḥammad bin Qāsim invaded Sindh.
↩Allusions to conquest and victory.
↩The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
↩A city in the Island of Ormuza.
↩The Qurān, Chap. vii, sec. 22 and Chap. lxi, sec. 2.
↩Allusions to heavy loads.
↩The elephants.
↩Allusions to stars.
↩or Natgal.
↩‘Allusions to the Shah Namah.’
↩Rakhsh was Rustum’s horse and Godurz was his son. The biographies of the heroes of the Shah Namah, whose names occur in this paragraph, need not be detailed here.
↩Allusions to uneven roads.
↩Kai Kaus, a famous emperor of Persia, attempted to fly to the sky on a throne carried by birds, but when the birds were tired, he fell down and died.
↩The fabulous bird of the Shah Namah who nursed Zal, father of Rustam.
↩Clear and sparkling allusions to water.
↩i.e. the trunks of the elephants.
↩Allusions to the ‘Day of Resurrection’. The quotations in the paragraph are from the Quranic description of the Day of Resurrection.
↩Allusions to wind and water.
↩Probably the Tapti is meant.
↩Allusions to health and illness.
↩i.e. spears.
↩Allusions to counsel and advice.
↩i.e. the army of Delhi.
↩Allusions to trees.
↩Allusions to goods and merchandise.
↩Dalvi, besides being a proper name, means ‘a bucket’; Bīr means ‘well’; Samandar (in Hindi) means the ‘sea’. The reader should be prepared to meet many plays on the three words; for, at the very beginning, Paras Deo Dalvī wishes to draw the whole of Dhūr Samandar into a single bucket.
↩Allusions to the army and to heavenly assistance.
↩Here follow a number of quotations from the Quran, which I have omitted.
↩Allusions to water.
↩Meaning the ‘town of destruction’; the title seems to have been given to it for no reason save that of rhyming it with Aīmanābād, ‘the city of safety’. Paras Deo was an ally of the empire. ‘Dwara Samudra was the capital of the Bellala rajas, and Vira Narasinha was the name of the prince who was overthrown in this invasion. See Wilson’s Mackenzie Collection, Int. p. cxiii; Buchanan’s Mysore, iii, pp. 391, 474, ‘Thomas, Prinsep’s Useful Tables, p. 276’ (Elliot).
↩Literally meaning the ‘breast.’
↩A play on the words, ‘goi’ meaning ‘ball’ and ‘dawari’ meaning ??pretence,’ ‘claim’.
↩‘No doubt the present Sina and Bhima, but the position of Godavari is transposed.’ (Elliot).
↩‘Dalvi is probably meant for an inhabitant of Taluva, the modern Canera.’ (Elliot).
↩‘This should signify Bir (Vira), the Raja of Dwarasamudra, and Vira, the Raja of Pandya; but there was evidently a confusion in the mind of the writer as to the persons and places, as seen in this passage. In another place he says “the fort which is called Bir and Dhur-samundar”. Wassaf calls the Pandya Raja “Tira Pandi”, and makes a pun on this name, calling him “tira-bakht”, showing that he did not know his real name.’ (Elliot).
↩‘There is great punning here about wells (bīr) and buckets (dalvī) which it is impossible to render into English so as to make it comprehensible.’ (Elliot).
↩Allusions to the sky.
↩Two stars near the pole of the Lesser Bear.
↩Allusions to fruits, fresh and ripe.
↩Allusions to uneven paths.
↩So I interpret the author’s words—‘soft-mouthed creatures with hard hoofs, soft-moving creatures that endured much hardship and kind-hearted creatures that strove hard.’
↩Allusions to the fort.
↩A play on the word ‘samandar’ which means both ‘sea’ and ‘salamandar.’
↩Allusions to water animals.
↩In Persian as well as Hindustani, the word ‘thorn’ (Khar or Kanta) is used for the thin pointed bones of a fish.
↩Allusions to fire, like the garden of Abraham.
↩Whenever the Rāī was prepared to submit, his advisers incited him to continue the struggle. ‘It would be impossible to re-establish the prestige of their kingdom after the shock of a humiliating peace. Their power rested on the fact that their kingdom was indigenous and as old as slamandar. True, the probability was that the imperial troops would win, specially when the main army came up. But, after all, death comes sooner or later, and would it not be better to die with honour?’ The Rāī did not agree. ‘To be cremated after death was one thing; to be burnt to death while living was another. Nor was there any good in throwing oil over fire. Continued struggle would mean greater ruin.’ He would, therefore, make peace.
↩Intoxicating allusions to wine.
↩i.e. the towers of the fort.
↩Allusions to Islam and infidelity.
↩One of the companions of the Arabian Prophet, whose memory has been most tenderly cherished by the Mussalmans, is the Prophet’s muazzin, Hazrat Bilal. It was inevitable that Amir Khusrau should play upon the name, which the Hindu Rai shared with the Muslim muazzin.
↩Allusions to hair.
↩Meaning ‘curly locks’; there is an inevitable play on the name.
↩Allusions to demons and fairies.
↩An illustration of the author’s figures of speech. Balak Deo is said to have been equal to a hundred thousand demons simply because his name could be twisted to mean a ‘hundred-thousand.’
↩Allusions to wisdom and judgment.
↩‘There is no God but Allah.’
↩Allusions suitable and straight as the arrow.
↩Allusions to bow and string.
↩Allusions to elephants.
↩The shrub, lawsonia inermis, used by Indian women for dyeing their hands and feet It is called menhdi in Hindustani
↩Allusions to horses.
↩Name of the Emperor Khusrau’s horse.
↩I have slightly compressed Khusrau’s florid description.
↩Allusions to things sublime.
↩i.e. Sunday.
↩Allusions to camels.
↩‘Bactrian camels’, or, in the alternative, ‘locusts’.
↩Allusions to hills and passes.
↩Elliot says ‘Sarmali’.
↩‘After traversing the passes, they arrived at night on the banks of the river Kanobari, and bivouacked on the sands.’ (Elliot). I do not find the name Kanobari in my MS. at this place.
↩The Quran, chap. xxv, sect. 3.
↩Allusions to the sword.
↩Does not signify forced conversion but battle, in which the head first stands up and then falls before the arched sword.
↩It was necessary for the Hindus to be cowards (namard) so that the author may be able to compare them with Mardi (manliness), the name of their town.
↩Allusions to well and water.
↩Punning on the word bīr (well) is the very essence of this paragraph.
↩The custom of using sand for drying ink by sprinkling it over the written page is still common in India
↩Allusions to the betel-leaf.
↩The pun from Bīr and well changes to Bīr and bīrah (betel-leaf), the latter being written in Persian in the same way as Bīr.
↩Allusions to the stars.
↩Allusions to saddle and bridle.
↩The Qurān, chap. v, sect. 8.
↩Allusions to Islam and infidelity.
↩Allusions to the cloud, showering pearls.
↩Or, in the alternative, ‘and sometimes showed the sword the way to Abyssinia from Hind’.
↩Or, ‘and drew them away from their strings’.
↩Allusions to being lost.
↩Allusions to elephants and their burdens.
↩Elliot reads ‘one hundred and eight’, which, without the dots, would be written in the same way as one hundred and twenty. His account of the campaign is very incorrect and confused at this place.
↩The reference is to the memorable invasion of Mecca by Abraha, the Christian Viceroy of the King of Abyssinia at Yemen (510 A.D.). ‘Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the possessor of the elephant? Did he not cause their war to end in confusion, and send down (to prey) upon them birds in flocks, casting them against hard stones like straw eaten up’. (The Qurān, chap. cv).
↩Allusions to fish and water.
↩Allusions to forest.
↩Allusions to elephants and clouds.
↩Allusions to Islam and infidelity.
↩Allusions to the high sky. The reference here seems to be to a well-known proverb that ‘the earth is the paradise of infidels and the hell of true believers.’
↩Referring to the well-known phenomenon that after seeing a strong colour the eye sees its complementary colour for some time.
↩Allusions to Ka’ba and idol-temples.
↩Allusions to gold and jewels.
↩Allusions to idol-worshippers.
↩‘Allusive to a practice, which it is unnecessary to particularise more closely, which is still said to be much observed among the Khatris, and which Hindus in general repudiate, attributing it at the same time to the Saraogis’. (Elliot), vol. iii, p. 91.
↩This sentence is taken from Elliot.
↩Ceylon is said to have been the place of Adam’s descent. The refusal to bow down before Adam was the cause of Satan’s fall.
↩Allusions to precious stones and gold.
↩Allusions to the luminaries of the sky.
↩Bīr, well, and dhul, drum.
↩‘Kham’ in Elliot.
↩The Quran, chap xxii, sect. 1.
↩Allusions to elephants.
↩Allusions to horses.
↩Allusions to jewels.
↩Allusions to prayer and worship.
↩Allusion to heavenly bodies.
↩Allusion to army and troops.
↩Allusions to the royal court.
↩Apparently meaning the Siri Palace, where, according to Barni, the Malik Naib presented the spoils to the Sultan on various occasions.
↩Alluding to the white and red waist-bands of the courtiers.
↩As we learn from Ibn-i Batuta, the official cry of the hajibs was Bismillah (in the name of Allah) whenever a Mussalman was granted audience; but when a Hindu was introduced, they cried ‘Hadakallah’ (May Allah lead thee aright!).
↩A verse of the Quran known by that name.
↩The four quls are the last four chapters of the Quran.
↩Allusions to the ‘Diwan-i Insha’ (Secretariat).
↩Allusions to the ‘Quran.’
↩