Riyaz al-salatin 26.4

26.4

At present, though compared with the past, it is dilapidated and in ruin, still it is famous for its learning. The astrologers of that place, who were known over the world for their proficiency in astrology and soothsayings, unitedly at the time of delivery, informed Lakhmania's mother, that at this hour, an unlucky child would be born, who would bring about bad luck and misfortune, and that if it be born after two hours, it would succeed to the throne. This heroine ordered that both her legs should be bound together, and she should be suspended with her head downwards; and after two hours she came down, and the child was brought forth at the auspicious moment, but its mother died. Rajah Lakhmania for eighty years occupied the throne. In justice, he had no equal, and in liberality he had no match. It is said that his gifts amounted to no less than one hundred thousand. Towards the end of his life, when the perfection of the period of his sovereignty approached decay, the astrologers of that place said to Rajah Lakhmania: "From our knowledge of astrology, we have come to know, that shortly your sovereignty would come to an end, and that your religion would cease to be current in this kingdom." Rai Lakhmania, not regarding this prediction as truthful, put the cotton of neglect and ignorance in his ear, but many of the elite of that city secretly moved away to different places.