Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 25.11.3

25.11.3

On observing that the Moghul and Persian Officers in his army, were perpetually fighting amongst themselves, he sent for them, and represented to them in a moderate tone of voice, and in a friendly manner, "That as he had procured them from afar, and they had cost him already an immense sum of money, they ought to reserve themselves for his service, instead of killing and slaughtering each other as they did every day; he added, that as they were strangers in this country, they ought to live upon good terms with the Indians, and by all means upon terms of tenderness and love with their own countrymen." But this friendly reprimand had no effect; and they went on in their usual way, above all, making no account of the Indians, and endlessly quarrelling and fighting amongst themselves, and against the others. Two or three times he repeated his reprimand, and two or three times he repeated it in vain. At last he grew tired, and one day he ordered two or three of those disobedient officers, to be seized and made fast to an elephant's feet, where they were trampled to death. From that day they returned to order and obedience; and having tucked up the hem of obedience into the sash of zeal and submission, they are now brought under a strict discipline, and are at all times ready for immediate action. To defray such expenses, he has got possession of immense treasures, amassed from ancient times by the Princes of Decan for several ages past;