The Nāṣirī Generations 170.3.4

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 ;