The Nāṣirī Generations 192.3
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 192.3
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192.3.1
The author of this book, and writer of these pages, gained the presence of the sublime Court of that monarch of the orthodox, on the first day that the royal camp was pitched before the walls of the fort of Uchchah; and, having found favour in his sacred sight, when the royal camp moved back again from before the walls of Uchchah, the author was directed to deliver discourses within the enclosure of the sublime tents; and, in association with the victorious retinue of that beneficent sovereign, he arrived at the city of Dihli in the month of Ramazan, 625 H. At this time, emissaries from the Khalifah's Court, bearing honours rich and ample, had reached the limits of Nag-awr; and, on Monday, the 22nd of the month of Rabi'-ul-Awwal, 626 H., they reached the Capital. The city was decorated [for the occasion] and this sovereign, and the Maliks, his sons—may they rest in peace!—and other Maliks, his suite, and Slaves likewise, were honoured through this act of policy [on the part] of the Khalifah's Court.
192.3.2
After so much festivity and rejoicing, in the month of Jamadi-ul-Awwal, of the before-mentioned year [626 H.] information arrived of the decease of the august Malik, Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah, [the eldest son of Sultan Shams-ud-Din] ; and Balka Malik-i-Husam-ud-Din, 'Iwaz, the Khalj, rebelled in the territory of Lakhanawati. Sultan Shams-ud-Din led the contingents of Hindustan into that country ; and, in the year 628 H., that rebel was secured. The Sultan conferred the throne of Lakhanawati upon Malik ’Ala-ud-Din, Jani, — on whom be peace! — and, in the month of Rajab of the same year, he returned again to the illustrious capital, Dihli. In the year 629 H., the Sultan came to the determination of undertaking the reduction of the fort of Gwaliyur; and, when the pavilion of his dominion was set up at the foot of that stronghold, Mangal Diw the accursed, the son of the accursed Mai Diw, commenced hostilities. The Sultan continued before that fortress for a period of eleven months; and the writer of these words, in the month of Sha’ban of the same year, set out from Dihli, and turned his face towards the threshold of sovereignty, and attained that felicity. The author, at certain stated periods, was commanded to deliver discourses at the private pavilion. Three times in each week discourses were fixed; and, when the month of Ramazan came round, a discourse used to be delivered daily.
192.3.3
During the whole ten days of Zi-Hijjah, and ten days of Muharram, discourses were delivered daily; but, during the other months, those same three stated periods were observed weekly, so that ninety-five times congregations were convened at the entrance of the sublime pavilion. On both days of the respective festivals, Fitr and Uzha, in three different places, the prayers, prescribed for the festivals, were said, in which number of places, on the greater festival of Uzha, this servant of the state, who is Minhaj-i-Saraj, was commanded to read the Khutbah for the Uzha festival, and the appointed prayers, at a spot opposite the northern face of the fortress of Gwaliyur, on which side the town is; and he was honoured with the presentation of a valuable dress of honour.
192.3.4
The fortress was kept under investment, until Tuesday, the 26th of the month Safar, 630 H., when the stronghold of Gwaliyur was acquired. During the night, the accursed Mangal Diw evacuated the fort and fled; and about seven hundred Gabrs were directed to be brought to public execution before the entrance of the sublime pavilion. After that, Amirs and eminent men were appointed [to different offices]. To the Majd-ul-Umra, Ziya-ud-Din, Junaidi, the Sultan gave the office of Amir-i-Dad, the Sipah-Salar [Commander of Troops], Rashid-ud-Din, ’Ali, was directed to assume the office of Seneschal, and the Maulana, the writer of this book, Minhaj-i-Saraj, was nominated to the offices of Kazi, Khatib, and Imam, and appointed to preside over all matters of the law, and a rich dress of honour, and an ample present, were conferred upon him. May the Most High God become the sustainer of the purified soul and fragrant body of that victorious, beneficent, and just sovereign, and patron of the enlightened! On the 2nd of the month, Rabi’-ul-Akhir, of this same year, the Sultan withdrew from before the fortress of Gwaliyur, and placed the camp at about the distance of a league from the foot of the walls in the direction of Dihli, the capital; and, at that halting ground, the imperial naubat five times daily was assumed.
192.3.5
After he returned to the capital, in the year 632 H., the Sultan led the hosts of Islam towards Malwah, and took the fortress and town [or city] of Bhilsan, and demolished the idol-temple which took three hundred years in building, and which, in altitude, was about one hundred ells. From thence he advanced to Ujjain-Nagari, and destroyed the idol-temple of Maha-kal Diw. The effigy of Bikramajit who was sovereign of Ujjain-Nagari, and from whose reign to the present time one thousand, three hundred, and sixteen years have elapsed, and from whose reign they date the Hindu-i era, together with other effigies besides his, which were formed of molten brass, together with the stone [idol] of Maha-kal, were carried away to Dihli, the capital. In the year 633 H., the Sultan led the forces of Hindustan towards Banian [or Banyan], and, during that march, weakness subdued his blessed person ; and, when, through bodily affliction, he came back from thence, on Wednesday, the first of the month, Sha’ban, early in the forenoon, the time chosen by the Astrologers, seated in a covered litter he entered the capital of his kingdom, the illustrious city of Dihli. After nineteen days, his illness having increased, on Monday, the 20th of Sha'ban, in the year 633 H., he was removed from the abode of mortality to the everlasting mansion. His reign extended to a period of twenty-six years. God enlighten his understanding !