Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 12.23.10

12.23.10

The holy man hearing that the Afghan's body had been severed from his head, and would be committed to the earth, after having been rolled through the city, fastened to an elephant's foot, said that he was sorry for it; for according to his dream, his body was first to be cut in two, and then only buried. These words having been reported to the Governor, he ordered the body to be cut in two, and one part to be hung at the western gate, and the other at the eastern; and this order having been executed, after a deal of time his members became offensive, and having been let down, each part was buried where it had been hanging. Morteza-qhan, who whilst others were yet fighting, had quitted the field with numbers that followed him, probably had remembered the Poet's saying: "Better to live merry with a living friend, than to be weeping over the body of a dead one." He thought so himself, and made the best of his way out of that scene of slaughter, after which he took shelter in the mountains; but Yassa-qhan, brother to Mustapha-qhan's consort, was taken prisoner, and after a few days' confinement, was dismissed with a present of wearing apparel, and some money to bear his expenses to his home.