[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate) › [Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri) › [Tabakat-i-Nasiri](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty) › 187.2 # The Nāṣirī Generations 187.2 Tabakat-i-Nasiri 187.2 - **Language:** English ### [187.2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.1) When they became assured of these peculiarities, most of the Brahmans and inhabitants of that place left, and retired into the province of Sanknat, the cities and towns of Bang, and towards Kamrud; but to begin to abandon his country was not agreeable to Rae Lakhmaniah. The following year after that, Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar caused a force to be prepared, pressed on from Bihar, and suddenly appeared before the city of Nudiah, in such wise that no more than eighteen horsemen could keep up with him, and the other troops followed after him. On reaching the gate of the city, Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar did not molest any one, and proceeded onwards steadily and sedately, in such manner that the people of the place imagined that mayhap his party were merchants and had brought horses for sale, and did not imagine that it was Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar, until he reached the entrance to the palace of Rae Lakhmaniah, when he drew his sword, and commenced an onslaught on the unbelievers. ### [187.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.2) At this time Rae Lakhmaniah was seated at the head of his table, and dishes of gold and silver, full of victuals, were placed according to his accustomed routine, when a cry arose from the gateway of the Rae’s palace and the interior of the city. By the time he became certain what was the state of affairs, Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar had dashed forwards through the gateway into the palace, and had put several persons to the sword. The Rae fled bare-footed by the back part of his palace; and the whole of his treasures, his wives, and \[other\] females, his domestics and servants, his particular attendants, were taken, and the Musalmans captured a number of elephants, and such a vast amount of booty fell to their lot, as cannot be recorded. When the whole of Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar’s army arrived, and the city and round about had been taken possession of, he there took up his quarters; and Rae Lakhmaniah got away towards Sankanat and Bang, and there the period of his reign shortly afterwards came to a termination. His descendants, up to this time, are rulers in the country of Bang. ### [187.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.3) After Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar possessed himself of that territory \[Rae Lakhmaniah's\], he left the city of Nudiah in desolation, and the place which is \[now\] Lakhanawati he made the seat of government. He brought the different parts of that territory under his sway, and instituted therein, in every part, the reading of the Khutbah, and the coining of money and, through his praiseworthy endeavours, and those of his Amirs, masjids, colleges, and monasteries \[for Darweshes\], were founded in those parts. Of the booty and wealth \[taken\] he despatched a large portion to the presence of Sultan Kutb-ud-Din, I-bak. After some years had passed away, and he had ascertained the state of the different mountain tracts of Turkistan and Tibbat to the eastward of Lakhanawati, the ambition of seizing the country of Turkistan and Tibbat began to torment his brain ; and he had an army got ready, and about 10,000 horse were organized. In the different parts of those mountains which lie between Tibbat and the country of Lakhanawati are three races of people, one called the Kunch, the second the Mej \[Meg\], and the third the Tiharu ; and all have Turk countenances. They have a different idiom too, between the language of Hind and Turk. One of the chiefs of the tribes of Kunch and Mej, whom they were wont to call 'Ali, the Mej, fell into the hands of Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar, the Khalj, and, at his hand also, the former adopted the Muhammadan faith. ### [187.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.4) He agreed to conduct Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar into those hills, and act as guide ; and he brought the latter to a place where there is a city, the name of which is Burdhan \[kot\]. They relate, after this manner, that, in ancient times, Shah Gushtasib returned from the country of Chin, and came towards Kamrud, and, by that route, got into Hindustan, and founded that city \[Burdhan-kot\]. A river flows in front of that place, of vast magnitude, the name of which is Beg-mati; and, when it enters the country of Hindustan, they style it, in the Hindui dialect, Samund \[ocean\] ; and, in magnitude, breadth, and depth, it is three times more than the river Gang. ### [187.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.5) To the banks of this river Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar came; and ’Ali, the Mej, joined the army of Islam ; and, for a period of ten days, he took the army up the river among the mountains, until he brought it to a place where, from remote times, they had built a bridge of hewn stone, and consisting of upwards of twenty arches. After the army of Islam passed over that bridge, he \[Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar\] installed here, at the head of the bridge, two of his own Amirs, one a Turk slave, and the other a Khalj, with troops, in order to guard it until his return. When Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar, with the whole of the rest of his forces, passed over that bridge; and, when the Rae of Kamrud became aware of the passage \[over the bridge\] by the conquering troops, he despatched trustworthy persons \[saying\]: "It is not proper, at this time, to march into the country of Tibbat, and it is necessary to return, and to make ample preparations, when, in the coming year, I, who am the Rae of Kamrud, agree that I will embody my own forces, and will precede the Muhammadan troops, and will cause that territory to be acquired." Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar did not, in any way, accept this counsel, and he turned his face towards the mountains of Tibbat. ### [187.2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.6) One night, in the year 642 H., the author was sojourning, as a guest, at the dwelling of the Mu'tamad-ud-Daulah, a trusted vassal of Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar, at a place, in the territory of Lakhanawati, between Diw-kot and Bekanwah, at which place his host was residing, and heard from him the whole of this account. He related on this wise, that, after passing that river, for a period of fifteen days, the troops wended their way, stages and journeys, through defiles and passes, ascending and descending among lofty mountains. On the sixteenth day the open country of Tibbat was reached. The whole of that tract was under cultivation, garnished with tribes of people and populous villages. They reached a place where there was a fort of great strength, and the Musalman army commenced plundering the country around. The people of that fort and town and the parts adjacent advanced to repel the Muhammadan army, and they came to a battle. From daybreak to the time of evening prayer a fierce encounter was carried on, and a great number of the Musalman army were killed and wounded. The whole of the defensive arms of that host were of pieces of the spear bambu, namely, their cuirasses and body armour, shields and helmets, which were all slips of it, crudely fastened and stitched, overlapping \[each other\]; and all the people were Turks, archers, and \[furnished with\] long bows. ### [187.2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.7) When night came, and the Musalman force encamped, a number \[of the enemy\], who had been made prisoners, were brought forward, and they \[the Musalmans\] made inquiry of them. They stated on this wise, that, five leagues’ distance from that place, there was a city which they called Kar-battan \[or Kar-pattan, or Karar-pattan\], and \[that\] in that place would be about 50,000 valiant Turk horsemen, archers; and that, immediately upon the arrival of the Musalman cavalry before the fort, messengers with a complaint had gone off to the city to give information, and that, at dawn next morning, those horsemen would arrive. The author, when he was in the territory of Lakhanawati, made inquiry respecting that \[before\] mentioned city. It is a city of great size, and the whole of its walls are of hewn stone, and \[its inhabitants\] are an assemblage of Brahmans and Nunis, and that city is under the authority of their Mihtar \[chief or lord\], and they hold the pagan faith; and every day, at daybreak, in the cattle-market of that city, about one thousand five hundred horses are sold; and all the tangahan horses which reach the Lakhanawati country they bring from that place. The route by which they come is the Mahamha-i \[or Mahanmha-i\] Darah \[Pass\] and this road in that country is well known; for example, from the territory of Kamrud to that of Tirhut are thirty-five mountain passes, by which they bring the tangahan horses into the territory of Lakhanawati. ### [187.2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2.8) In short, when Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar found out the nature of that tract — the Musalman troops being fatigued and knocked up by the march, and a large number having been martyred and disabled on the first day — he held consultation with his Amirs. They came to the conclusion that it was necessary to retreat, in order that, next year, after making ample arrangements, they might return again into that country. When they retreated, throughout the whole route, not a blade of grass nor a stick of firewood remained, as they \[the inhabitants\] had set fire to the whole of it, and burnt it; and all the inhabitants of those defiles and passes had moved off from the line of route. During these fifteen days not a pound of food nor a blade of grass did the cattle and horses obtain; and all \[the men\] were killing their horses and eating them, until they issued from the mountains into the country of Kamrud, and reached the head of that bridge. They found two arches of the bridge destroyed on this account, that enmity had arisen between both those Amirs \[left to guard it\], and, in their discord, they had neglected to secure the bridge and protect the road, and had gone off, and the Hindus of the Kamrud country had come and destroyed the bridge. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.187.2) · Pramāṇa