The Nāṣirī Generations 149.2
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 149.2
- Language
- English
149.2.1
The chronicler states that, during these seven days, the air, from the blackness of the smoke, continued as black as night; and those nights, from the flames raging in the burning city, were lighted up as light as day. During these seven days, likewise, rapine, plunder, and massacre were carried on with the utmost pertinacity and vindictiveness. All the men that were found were killed, and the women and children were made captive. 'Ala-ud-Din commanded that the whole of the [remains of the] Mahmudi Sultans should be exhumed from their graves and burnt, except those of Sultan Mahmud, the Ghazi, Sultan Mas’ud, and Sultan Ibrahim; and, during the whole of these seven days, ’Ala-ud-Din gave himself up to wine and carousal within the palaces of the Sultans of Ghaznin. During this time he gave directions so that the tomb of Sultan Saif-ud-Din, Suri, and the mausoleum of the Malik-ul-Jibal [Kutb-ud-Din, Muhammad], were sought out, and coffins prepared; and caused preparations to be made for putting his whole army into mourning. When the eighth night came round, and the city had become entirely desolated and consumed, and its inhabitants massacred, Sultan ’Ala-ud-Din, on that night, improvised several strophes eulogistic of himself, and gave them to the minstrels, with directions to sing them accompanied by their changs and chighanahs before him; and the lines, which are appropriate, are as follows:—
149.2.2
“The world knoweth that I of the universe am king. The lamp of the family of the ’Abbasis am I. ’Ala-ud-Din, Husain, son of Husain, am I, Whose house’s sovereignty be ever enduring! When on the bright bay steed of my dominion I sit, One, to me, will be both the heavens and the earth. Death sports around the point of my spear: Hope follows [as goad] the dust of my troops. I should roam the world through, like unto Sikandar: I should in every city another sovereign place. I was determined on this, that of the vagabonds of Ghaznin I would set a river of blood running like unto the Nil. But they are maudlin old dotards and infants, And my blooming fortune maketh intercession for them. For their own sakes I have granted them their lives, That the granting of their lives may of mine be the bond.”
149.2.3
He then commanded, saying, "I have spared the remainder of the people of Ghaznin," and he arose from the assembly, and went to the hot-bath; and, on the eighth day of these proceedings, he got up at day-dawn, and, accompanied by the whole of the troops of Ghur, and the Maliks [chiefs], came to the mausoleum of his brothers. He then donned mourning garments, together with his whole army, and, for [another] seven nights and days, he remained at the mausoleum observing funeral ceremonies. During this period the whole Kur'an was read through several times, and alms were there distributed; and the coffins of his brothers were placed on biers, and he ['Ala-ud-Din] marched from Ghaznin towards the districts of Dawar and Bust. On reaching the city of Bust, he entirely destroyed the palaces and other edifices of the Mahmudi dynasty, the like of which were not to be found in the regions of the world; and the whole territory, which appertained to the Mahmudi sovereigns, he directed should be ravaged and desolated.
149.2.4
He returned to Ghur, and, by his command, the corpses of his brothers were deposited by the side of their ancestors. He had ordered that several Sayyids of Ghaznin should be seized, according to the law of retaliation, in the place of Sayyid Majd-ud-Din, Musawi, who was Sultan Suri's Wazir, and who, along with Sultan Suri, they had hung up from one of the arches [of the bridge?] of Ghaznin, and they were brought before the Sultan. Bags were filled with the earth of Ghaznin, and placed upon their backs and [they were] brought along with him to Firuz-koh, the capital; and, on reaching that city, the Sayyids were put to death, and their blood was mixed with the earth which had been brought from Ghaznin, and from it several towers were erected on the hills of Firuz-koh, which towers, moreover, were still remaining up to this present time. The Almighty pardon him! After he had wreaked such vengeance as this, and returned to the capital again, ’Ala-ud-Din desired to devote himself to pleasure and revelry; and he gathered around him minstrels and boon companions, betook himself to conviviality and carousal, and improvised lines which he directed the minstrels to sing, and accompany on their harps and violins. These are the lines:
149.2.5
“I am [he] in whose justice the world hath exultation, And I am [he] through whose munificence the treasury sustaineth injustice. The finger of his hand, to his teeth, the enemy placeth, When, to the string of the bow, I the thimble apply.” y, but, at the same time, an absurd typographical error has been noticed in note page 357, Polo has been substituted for Polo. When my bay steed leap’d a square within the ranks, The adversary no longer knew ball from square. When, out of hatred towards me, Bahram Shah bent the bow, I pluck’d, with my lance, the quiver from his waist. The support of my foe, although they were all Raes [and] Ranahs, I reduced, with my mace, to atoms, both Rae’s and Ranah’s head. To draw forth vengeance by the sword, I have indeed taught The sovereigns of the time, and the kings of the age. Ah, ravishing Minstrel! since I am released from war, Sing that strain indeed, and that melody enkindle. When fortune hath been grasp’d, it is not right to renounce The singers’ melody, nor the fire-worshippers’ pure wine.” Trustworthy persons have related after this wise, that, when Sultan ’Ala-ud-Din ascended the throne of Firuzkoh, he ordered his nephews, Ghiyas-ud-Din, Muhammad-i-Sam, and Mu’izz-ud-Din, Muhammad-i-Sam, sons of Sultan Baha-ud-Din, Muhammad Sam, to be imprisoned, and they were confined in the fortress of Wajiristan, and an allowance was fixed for their support.
149.2.6
He [’Ala-ud-Din] also began to show a contumacious spirit towards Sultan Sanjar, and manifested open hostility towards him. What the Sultans of Ghur had stipulated for, and which used to reach the Sanjari Court every year, such as arms and armour, rarities, and offerings, ’Ala-ud-Din withheld; and matters reached such a pass, that Sultan Sanjar assembled a numerous army, and determined to march into the territory of Ghur. Sultan 'Ala-ud-Din collected the forces of Ghur, and advanced to meet the Sultan as far as the limits of the town of Nab, between Firuz-koh and Hirat, in the valley of the Hariw-ar-Rud. There is water there, and a delightful and extensive plain, which they call Sih-goshah-i-Nab; and at that place an engagement took place between the two armies. Sultan ’Ala-ud-Din, a day before the battle was fought, had directed so that the ground in rear of the forces of Ghur had been entirely laid under water; and he had caused it to be proclaimed that the ground in the rear had become quite flooded, and that whoever should attempt to fly to the rear would get into the mud, and stick there.
149.2.7
When the battle was arranged, and the two armies came in contact, a body of about 6000 Ghazz, Turk, and Khalj horse, which was stationed on the right of the army of Ghur, deserted, and went over to Sultan Sanjar, and submitted to him, and the troops of Ghur were defeated and overthrown. The whole of the Amirs and warriors, and distinguished men of the Ghurian army, got entangled in that swampy ground and morass. Some of them obtained martyrdom, and some were made captive, and Sultan ’Ala-ud-Din himself was taken prisoner. Sultan Sanjar commanded that he should be put in confinement, and they brought gyves of iron to place on his legs. He urged that it was requisite they should make a representation [from him] to the Sultan, saying: — “Do unto me as I intended to have done unto thee, for I obtained gyves of gold, in order that, thereby, reverence for thy sovereignty might be so much the more preserved.” When this request was made known, those identical gyves were called for, and, when they were obtained, those very same gyves were placed upon ’Ala-ud-Din’s legs, and they mounted him upon a camel, and Sultan Sanjar returned [to his own territory].
149.2.8
As the report of ’Ala-ud-Din’s wittiness of temperament, and quickness of intellect, was much talked about at that period, and had become famous, and Sultan Sanjar had heard a great deal about it, either the next day, or a few days after, he sent for him, treated him with honour, and set him at liberty [from his gyves]. A salver of precious gems had been placed near the masnad of the imperial throne, and that was bestowed upon ’Ala-ud-Din, who arose and made his obeisance, and spoke these lines, befitting the circumstance. The following is the quatrain: — ‘‘In the rank of battle the Shah took me, but did not kill, Notwithstanding, of a verity, I was full worthy of being slain. A casket of precious gems he bestow’d upon me : In such wise his mercy [was], and his bounty such.”