Taj al-maʾathir 23: The Return of Muhammad Ghori from Khwarizm and his War the Gakhhurs.
Táju-l Ma-ásir (extracts) 23
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The Return of Muhammad Ghori from Khwarizm and his War the Gakhhurs.
23.1
When the sublime standards were returning in the year 600 H. (1203 A.D.) from the capital of Khwarizm, the army of Khita (God's curse on it!) made an attack upon them, while on their march within the borders of Andkhud, in numbers exceeding the stars of heaven and the particles of the earth, and the great king, wounded and defeated, fled from the field of hatred towards Ghazna." "Aibak Bák, one of the most confidential servants of the State, an officer of high rank in the army, who had been brought up in the royal court, fled from the field of battle, and carried away the impression that by heavenly visitation, the blessed person of the king had met with a misfortune and been slain. He fled with the speed of the wind to Multan, and, on his arrival, went immediately to Amír Dád Hasan, the lord of a standard, and deceitfully persuaded him that he had come for the purpose of imparting to him a royal command, which could only be communicated to him in private, and should not be publicly divulged." When the private conference was accorded to him, he took the opportunity of assassinating the governor, and so got possession of the fort of Multan. "For a long time the truth of the matter was not revealed, and a report was spread to the effect that the governor had been imprisoned by the royal commands.
23.2
After some delay, the various servants and officers of the Province became aware of what had really happened, and the intelligence of the true circumstances was spread throughout the far and near countries of Hind and Sind. Upon this, the tribe of Kokars (Gakkhurs) (God annihilate them!) said that from any one who had the least knowledge and sense, it could not be concealed that if the sacred person of the Sultán had been alive, the like of these transactions could never have been done by Aibak Bák, and that therefore the great king had exchanged his throne of empire for one of dust, and had departed from the house of mortality to the world of holiness. In consequence of these impressions, seditious thoughts entered the brains of the Hindus, and the madness of independence and dominion affected the heads of Bakan and Sarkí, the chiefs of the Kokars, who thrust their heads out of the collar of obedience, and opened their hands for the destruction of villages and the plunder of cattle, and kindled the flames of turbulence and sedition between the waters of the Sodra and the Jelam, by the aid of a crowd of the dependants of Satan." "When their ravages had exceeded all bounds, Bahau-d din Muhammad, governor of Sangwan, with his brothers, who held lands (akta') within the borders of Multan, accompanied by many of the chief people of the city, marched out against them, determined to repress the violence of those accursed rebels and enemies of the State and religion;
23.3
but many of them were captured or slain by the exertions of the army of the infidels, in number like the drops of rain or leaves of the forest. Their power consequently increased day by day, and a general named Sulaiman was obliged to fly before the superior numbers of the enemy." When these circumstances were reported to Muhammad Ghori, he determined on proceeding to the scene of action, and sent on the Amir Hajib, Siraju-d din Abu Bakr, one of his confidential servants, to inform Kutbu-d din of his intentions. In consequence of which, Kutbu-d din advanced to meet his Majesty, at the opening of the cold season. "At every stage intelligence reached him from the royal camp, urging his advance, and informing him that the blood-thirsty sword would be sheathed, and the camp would halt, and that no measures would be taken to exterminate the infidels, until he had passed the river (Chinab) which intervened between his and the royal camp."
23.4
"Near the river of Sodra, Kutbu-d din killed four fierce tigers, at the roaring of which the heart was appalled," and on the day after crossing that river, he joined the camp of the king on the bank of the Jelam, and was received with royal kindness. "They mounted their horses and swam them like fish across the Jelam," "and on the bank of the river entered on their plans for the approaching action, and arranged all the preparations for fight, after joining together in consultation." Kutbu-d din suggested that it was not right for the king to expose his person against such enemies, and suggested that the command of the Musulman army should be entrusted to himself alone; but the persuasion of his general seem to have had no effect upon the resolution of the Sultan. — Description of the battle near the ford of the Jelam, the waves of which were filled with blood, and in which "the armies of infidelity and true faith commingled together like waves of the sea, and contended with each other like night and day, or light and darkness." Shamsu-d din was also engaged in this fight. — Extravaganzas upon spears and other weapons, and upon war-horses.
23.5
The Kokars were completely defeated, and, "in that country there remained not an inhabitant to light a fire." "Much spoil in slaves and weapons, beyond all enumeration, fell into the possession of the victors." One of the sons of the Kokar Rai, the chief instigator of these hostilities, rushed into the river with "a detachment of his Satanical followers, and fled with one horse from the field of battle to a fort on the hill of Jud, and having escaped the sword, threw into it the last breathings of a dying man." The next day, Muhammad Sam advanced towards the hill of Jud, when the action was renewed, which ended in the capture of the fortress, "and the Hindus like a torrent descended from the top of the hill to the bottom." "The Rai of the hill of Jud, putting on the robes of a Brahman, presented himself like a slave, and kissed the face of the earth before the Sultan," by whom he was admitted to pardon. Immense booty was taken in the fort. The Sultan then advanced to Lahore, accompanied by Kutbu-d din and the chief officers of State, and on Kutbu-d din's taking his audience of leave, before his return to Dehli, he received a dress of honour and an affectionate farewell.