The Memoirs of Bābur 933.6.1

933.6.1

(_c. Military movements._) (_March 17th, 1527_) On Saturday the 13th day of the second Jumāda of the date 933, a day blessed by the words, _God hath blessed your Saturday_, the army of Islām was encamped near the village of Kānwa, a dependency of Bīāna, hard by a hill which was 2 _kurohs_ (4 m.) from the enemies of the Faith. When those accursed infidel foes of Muḥammad's religion heard the reverberation of the armies of Islām, they arrayed their ill-starred forces and moved forward with one heart, relying on their mountain-like, demon-shaped elephants, as had relied the Lords of the Elephant[2056] who went to overthrow the sanctuary (_ka`ba_) of Islām. "Having these elephants, the wretched Hindus Became proud, like the Lords of the Elephant; Yet were they odious and vile as is the evening of death, Blacker[2057] than night, outnumbering the stars, All such as fire is[2058] but their heads upraised In hate, as rises its smoke in the azure sky, Ant-like they come from right and from left, Thousands and thousands of horse and foot."