Taj al-maʾathir 19: The Capture of Gwalior.

19

When the affairs of this tract was settled, the royal army marched, in the year 592 H., (1196 A.D.) "towards Gálewár (Gwaliar), and invested that fort, which is the pearl of the necklace of the castles of Hind, the summit of which the nimble-footed wind from below cannot reach, and on the bastion of which the rapid clouds have never cast their shade, and which the swift imagination has never surmounted, and at the height of which the celestial sphere is dazzled." — Description of swords and other military weapons. — "In compliance with the divine injunction of holy war, they drew out the bloodthirsty sword before the faces of the enemies of religion. That sword was coloured of cærulean blue, which from its blazing lustre resembled a hundred thousand Venuses and Pleiades, and it was a well-tempered horse-shoe of fire, which with its wound exhibited the peculiarity of lightning and thunder; and in the perfect weapon the extreme of sharpness lay hid, like (poison in) the fangs of a serpent; and (the water of the blade) looked like ants creeping on the surface of a diamond;" and so forth.
"Rai Solankh Pal who had raised the standard of infidelity, and perdition, and prided himself on his countless army and elephants, and who expanded the fist of oppression from the hiding place of deceit, and who had lighted the flame of turbulence and rebellion, and who had fixed the root of sedition and enmity firm in his heart, and in the courtyard of whose breast the shrub of tyranny and commotion had shot forth its branches, when he saw the power and majesty of the army of Islam," he became alarmed and dispirited. "Wherever he looked, he saw the road of flight blocked up." He therefore "sued for pardon, and placed the ring of servitude in his ear," and agreed to pay tribute, and sent ten elephants as a peace offering, in which he was graciously admitted to protection, and was allowed to retain his fort. "When the neighbouring country was freed from the enemies of religion, and the Rai of Hind became enrolled amongst the number of servants and friends," the Sultán prepared to return to Ghazna, and Kutbu-d din, after his departure, returned to Dehli, where festivities were celebrated on his arrival.—Praise of wine-bibbing and cup-bearers.