The Book of Akbar 328.3.5

328.3.5

And in truth fortune had favoured Hēmū in a way which the rulers of India had not attained to in those former days, viz, in the multitude of tried soldiers; the number of able officers, the plenitude of artillery, which had nothing like it except in Turkey, and the number of powerful elephants, any one of which was enough to throw an army into confusion. Maulānā Sharafu-d-dīn ‘Alī Yazdī, in his account in the Zafarnāma of the fights of H.M. Sāhib Qirānī (Tīmūr) which took place in India, speaks of the warriors of India and of the greatness of its rulers, and boasts that 120 war-elephants came into the possession of the imperial servants in that great war. To those that know history and are of sound brain, the condition of the ruler of that time as compared with Hēmū is clear. On that latter instructive occasion, of which a small account has been given, 1,500 elephants were captured. The rest of the equipments may be conjectured from this. But how shall the amount of the ruler’s own treasures, etc., be counted? The plain of victory was the same fortunate spot as that where H.M. Geti Sitani Firdaus Makani contended with Sultan Ibrahim and raised the victorious standards, as has already been briefly related in its proper place. On the same exultant day which showed by God’s help so great a victory, Sikandar Khan Uzbeg was sent with a body of troops to pursue the fugitives and to protect the city of Delhi from the rabble.