Muntakhab al-tawarikh 4.3

4.3

Amongst the remarkable incidents of the year 962, during the war between Sikandar and Ibrahim, was the explosion in the fort of Agra, of which the following is a brief account. When the army of 'Adali Khan had left Agra, Ghazi Khan Sur sent his own officers with a garrison to protect the property, to keep the fort in a state of preparation, and to lay in provisions, for which purpose they had to examine the several storerooms and workshops. By chance, early one morning, as they were going their rounds with a lamp, a spark fell into a room filled with gunpowder. In the twinkling of an eye it ignited, and rising up to heaven, the earth quaked, so that the inhabitants of the city thought that the Day of Judgment had come, and prayed devoutly when they were roused thus suddenly from their slumbers. Planks, enormous stones and columns were sent flying several kos to the other side of the Jumna, many people were destroyed, and the limbs of men and of animals were blown away, full ten or twelve miles. As the name of the citadel of Agra was originally called Badalgarh, the date, 962, was found in the words Atash-i Badalgadh — "The fire of Badal."