Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 79.3.1

79.3.1

Mahmood Shah, in order to celebrate his escape from this danger, held a magnificent festival during forty days, and went in solemn procession through the city, the streets of which were handsomely ornamented for the occasion. Regarding the royal tower as auspicious, he caused a splendid building to be erected on it, wherein he afterwards spent most of his time in a continued round of licentiousness. He totally neglected the affairs of his government, leaving them entirely to the direction of his favourites. Musicians and dancers flocked to his court from Lahore, Dehly, Persia, and Khorassan; as also story-tellers, reciters of the Shah Nama, and other agents of pleasure. The people, following the example of the Prince, attended to nothing but dissipation: reverend sages pawned their very garments at the wine-cellars, and holy teachers, quitting their colleges, retired to taverns, and presided over the wine-flask. The governors of provinces, seeing the court thus abandoned, acted independently, so that the royal officers only who entered into their views were permitted to retain their posts, and those who refused to connive at their encroachments were expelled. The consequence of this state of affairs became in a short time apparent; for excepting the province of Tulingana, and the districts adjacent to Ahmudabad Bidur, no parts of the kingdom in reality remained in the King's possession.