The Rashīdī History 237.1

237.1

When the Khan set out for Yarkand, I took leave of him, and in the first ten days of Zulhijja of the year 939, after keeping the feast of the Sacrifice in Maryul, I set out to destroy the idol-temple of Ursang. After marching for twenty days in that part of Tibet, we found no signs of infidels, except a few fortresses. These were so strongly situated and fortified, that they could only have been taken with great difficulty, and the gain was not worth the pain. Leaving behind Iskandar Sultan, my brother Abdullah Mirza and my cousin Mahmud Mirza, together with the heavy baggage and the tired beasts of burden, I took the strongest and freshest of the horses with me, and started in all haste. On the first of Safar we reached a place called Barmang. Here we found some of the Champa people of Tibet, whom we plundered; nearly 300,000 sheep fell to the lot of our victorious army, besides prisoners, horses and goods, in proportion. For the completion of our desires, and the satisfaction of our necessities, we halted in a suitable pasture land, to rest and refresh our horses; by this means we afforded Iskandar Sultan, Abdullah Mirza and Mahmud Mirza, time to overtake and rejoin us. But while I had hastened forward, they had followed leisurely, and on the first of Moharram 940, they had approached one of the above-mentioned fortresses, which was called Kardun.