The Nāṣirī Generations 170.3
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 170.3
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170.3.1
According to the Zain-ul-Ma’asir, quoted by Firishtah immediately after the above, “Sultan Mu'izz-ud-Din, having become faint from the effects of the wound, fell from his horse. This not being noticed [in the mêlée], no one came to his aid. Night intervened, and, when one watch of the night had passed, a party of his Turkish slaves came to seek him, and went into the battle-field and began searching among the slain. The Sultan [who appears to have revived], recognizing the voices of his faithful slaves, acquainted them with his situation. His slaves gave thanks for his safety, and, taking him on their shoulders, in turns, proceeded along throughout the night, and by day-dawn reached their own people.” This battle is said to have taken place in the fifteenth year of the reign of Rae Pithora, and the Hindu writers state that this was the seventh time the Sultan had invaded Hind, in all of which he had been defeated!
170.3.2
“The Malik-ul-Haji, Ziya-ud-Din [subsequently ’Ala-ud-Din], Muhammad, the Sultan’s niece’s husband, was present in this battle. See page 393, Ghuri youths, and other distinguished men, had noticed the Sultan, along with that lion-like Khalji, had recognized him, and had gathered round him, and broke spears and made a litter and a stretcher, and had borne him to that halting-place. The people [now] became composed, and once more, through [the safety of] his life, the true faith acquired vigour, and the dispersed army, on the strength of the safety of the life of that Sultan-i-Ghazi, again came together, and retired, and turned their faces towards the Musalman dominions. The Kazi of Tulak was left [in charge of] the fortress of Tabarhindah, and Rae Pithora appeared before the walls of that stronghold, and fighting commenced. For a period of thirteen months and a little over the place was defended.
170.3.3
The following year the Sultan-i-Ghazi assembled the troops of Islam, and commenced his march towards Hindustan, to avenge the [disaster of the] previous year The author heard from a trustworthy person, a distinguished man of the highland district of Tulak, whom they used to style by the title of Mu’in-ud-Din, Ushi, who said : I was in that army along with the Sultan-i-Ghazi, and the number of cavalry composing the army of Islam that year was one hundred and twenty thousand arrayed himself before him, said, ‘O King, we trust to thy conduct and wisdom ; but as yet thy design has been a subject of much dispute and speculation among us.’ Mahommed replied, ‘Know, old man, that since the time of my defeat in Hindostan, notwithstanding external appearances, I have never slumbered in ease, or waked but in sorrow and anxiety. I have therefore determined, with this army, to recover my lost honour from those idolaters, or die in the noble attempt,’ ” &c. ‘O King, we trust in thy conduct and wisdom ; but as yet thy design has been subject of much speculation among us.’ Mahomed Ghoory replied, ‘Know, old man, that since the time of my defeat in Hindustan, notwithstanding external appearances, I have never slumbered in ease, or waked but in sorrow and anxiety. I have therefore determined, with this army, to recover my lost honour from those idolaters, or die in the attempt,” &c. Here, again, Elphinstone has been deceived, and, quoting Briggs, further disseminates a wrong translation.
170.3.4
Marshman says [vol. i. p. 44] that [Shahab] stated this in one of his letters ; but, unfortunately, Firishtah himself says nothing of the kind ! His words are : — “When his [the Sultan’s] standards, the emblems of victory, reached the Peshawar territory, one of the Pirs [a holy man, a saint] of Ghur, who was [sufficiently] bold, bowing his forehead to the ground [only Pirs are not wont to do so], represented [saying], ‘It is not understood at all whither the Sultan goeth, nor what his object is.’ Sultan Shihab-ud-Din replied : ‘O such an one [فلان] I know for certain that, from the time I have been defeated by the Rajahs of Hind, I have abstained from my wife’s bed [I do not give the literal words to this part of the sentence, but it tends to show that he had but one wife, and his having but one child appears to prove it], and have not changed the clothes on my body; and, having passed this year in grief, sorrow, and sadness, I have not permitted the Amirs of Ghur, of the Khalj, and of Khurasan, who, notwithstanding their ancient servitude, abandoned me in the battle and fled, to present themselves in my presence, nor have I seen their faces during this period. Now, placing dependence on the goodness of God, I am proceeding towards the country of Hind ;
170.3.5
and I have no expectation of the services of those old [ancient] Amirs, who, from their cradles to this time, have been nourished by the favours of this [my] family.’ The Pir, hearing this statement, kissed the ground of service, and said, ‘Victory and success attend the followers at the sovereign’s stirrup,’ ” &c. This is rather different to the statements above. in defensive armour. When the Sultan-i-Ghazi with such-like organization and such a force arrived near unto Rae Kolah Pithora, he had gained possession of the fortress of Tabarhindah by capitulation, and had pitched his camp in the neighbourhood of Tarain. The Sultan [now] made disposition of his forces. The centre division of the army, the baggage, the standards and banners, his canopy of state, and the elephants, were left several miles in the rear. He marshalled his ranks, and was advancing leisurely. The light-armed and unincumbered horsemen he had directed should be divided into four divisions, and had appointed them to act against the infidels on four sides ; and the Sultan had commanded, saying : "It is necessary that, on the right and left, and front and rear, 10,000 mounted archers should keep the infidel host in play ;
170.3.6
and, when their elephants, horsemen, and foot advance to the attack, you are to face about and keep the distance of a horse’s course in front of them." The Musalman troops acted according to these instructions, and, having exhausted and wearied the unbelievers, Almighty God gave the victory to Islam, and the infidel host was overthrown. Rae Pithora, who was riding an elephant, dismounted and got upon a horse and fled [from the field], until, in the neighbourhood of [the] Sursuti, he was taken prisoner, and they despatched him to hell ; and Gobind Rae of Dihli was slain in the engagement. The Sultan recognized his head through those two teeth which had been broken. The seat of government, Ajmir, with the whole of the Siwalikh [territory], such as Hansi, Sursuti, and other tracts, were subjugated. These events took place, and this victory was achieved, in the year 588 H.; and the Sultan placed Malik Kutb-ud-Din, I-bak, in the fort of Kuhram, and returned [home again]. Malik Kutb-ud-Din advanced from Kuhram to Mirath, and took that city and fortress, and, in the following year, he possessed himself of the capital city, Dihli. In this same year likewise — 589 H. — he [Kutb-ud-Din] took the fort of Kol. In the year 590 H., the Sultan [again] marched from Ghaznin and advanced towards Kinnauj and Banaras, and, in the vicinity of Chandwar, he overthrew Rae Jai-Chand and by that victory three hundred and odd elephants fell into his hands.
170.3.7
Under the shadow of the ascendancy and auspices of that victorious and just monarch, victory was conferred upon his slave, the Malik-i-Karim [the Beneficent Malik], Kutb-ud-Din, I-bak, so that he continued to subdue the territory of Hindustan and parts adjacent, namely, the state of Nahrwalah, and Thankir, the fort of Gwaliyur, and Buda’un, the whole of which he took, the dates of every one of which will, please God, be subsequently recorded in the [account of the] Kutbi victories.
170.3.8
When the august Sultan, Ghiyas-ud-Din, Muhammad, son of [Baha-ud-Din] Sam, departed this life in the city of Hirat, the victorious Sultan, Mu'izz-ud-Din, Muhammad, son of Sam, was on the frontiers of Tus, and Sarakhs, of Khurasan, and, with the purpose of performing the mourning ceremonies for his brother, he came to Badghais of Hirat. Having performed the mourning rites, he nominated different Maliks to the several fiefs of the kingdom of Ghur. He gave the city of Bust, and the districts of Farah and Isfizar to his late brother’s son, Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, Mahmud, son of Ghiyas-ud-Din, Muhammad-i-Sam, and to Malik Ziya-ud-Din, the Pearl of Ghur, who was uncle’s son of both the Sultans, and the son-in-law of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, Muhammad-i-Sam, the territory of Ghur and Garmsir, namely, the throne of Firuz-koh, and the town and territory of Dawar and also presented him with two elephants. To Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Alb-[Arsalan]-i-Ghazi, son of Kazil Arsalan, Saljuki, who was the son of a sister of the two Sultans, Sultan Mu’izz-ud-Din gave the city of Hirat [and its dependencies], after which he returned again to Ghaznin, and brought along with him to that city some of the Amirs and Maliks of Ghur to serve under him, and commenced his preparations for an expedition against Khwarazm.