Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 42.11.6

42.11.6

At last it became equally impossible to move backwards or forwards from the spot where it was jammed in; nor could the Emperor move in his own throne, nor any man from his place; and yet the throng seemed to increase, and it pressed so hard as to render respiration difficult. The Emperor, after pausing awhile, called for a number of lofty elephants, which carry the Imperial streamers and insignia, and had gone forwards; he also commanded the elephants destined for the Imperial person, and he directed that they should be brought together, and made to force a passage by forming several ranks. The order being executed, numbers of people were under-trodden by the elephants, or wounded by the horses, grown unruly; the rest fled to their homes, and expecting nothing from the Emperor's compassion, submitted to their fate, and paid the tax. All this mercilessness, and all this hardness of heart proved of little avail, and for very little purpose. His obstinate wars in Decan necessarily slackened the stiffness of the law. Nor did those very bloody battles, and very laborious expeditions of his, produce any very great advantage to the Empire; for no man will attribute to the Emperor the battles fought, and the conquests made, in Decan, in Bengal, and in Asham, by those immortal Lieutenants of his, the heroes of the age, all Commanders equally intrepid and prudent;