The Nāṣirī Generations 244.9
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 244.9
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244.9.1
After two days, the royal cavalcade [again] proceeded out of the city to the plain at the Rani’s Reservoir, with the intention of making an example of infidels, and command was given for the elephants, of mountain-like form and reaching to the sky, of demon-like aspect, and wind-like speed — so that you might say they were the delegates of destiny and the soldiers of the angel of death — to be brought for the purpose of inflicting condign punishment upon the infidels. The relentless Turks, of the profession of Mars, drew their well-tempered, fire-flashing, swords from the scabbards of power, and then the sublime order was issued so that they commenced to execute [the rebels]. After that, some of those rebels they cast at the feet of the elephants, and made the heads of Hindus, under the heavy hands and feet of those mountain-like figures, the grain in the orifice of the grinding mill of death; and, by the keen swords of the ruthless Turks, and the life-ravishing executioners, every two of these Hindus were made four, and, by scavengers, with knives, such that, at the gashes of them, a demon would be horror-stricken, a hundred and odd rebels were flayed from head to foot, and at the hand of their skinners, they quaffed, in the goblet of their own heads, the Sharbat of death. Command was given so that they stuffed the whole of their skins with straw, and suspended them over every gate-way of the city.
244.9.2
In short, an example of retribution was made such as the plain at the Rani’s Reservoir, and the open space before the gate of Dihli never remembered the like of, and the ear of no hearer ever heard a tale so terrible as that. Such like religious warfare and victory over the infidels, and such amount of booty was acquired, and such efforts were brought about through the power of the Ulugh Khani good fortune. May the Most High God preserve the Sultan of Sultans, NASIR-UD-DUNYA WA UD-DIN, Mahmud Shah, on the throne of sovereignty, and adorn the exalted seat of Ulugh Khan-i-A'zam with permanency and stability! Having achieved such deeds, Ulugh Khan-i-A'zam represented before the sublime throne, that it was right that the Khurasan emissaries should be conducted to the capital, and attain the honour of kissing the royal hand. On the command being issued, on Wednesday, the 8th of the month of Rabi’-ul-Akhir, 658 H., the august retinue [of the Sultan] moved to the Kushk-i-Sabz [the Green Castle], and Ulugh Khan-i-A'zam gave orders, so that the Sahib, the Diwan-i-’Ariz-i-Mamalik [the Head of the Department of the Muster-master of the Kingdom] marshalled in order the men bearing arms from the different parts around and in the vicinity of the capital. About 200,000 footmen, well armed, came to Dihli, and they drew up, in battle array, about 50,000 horse, fully equipped with defensive armour, and with banners [displayed];
244.9.3
and of the populace of the city—the higher, middle, and lower classes—so many men bearing arms, both on horseback and on foot went forth, that, from the Shahr-i-Nau [new city] of Gilukhari to within the city where was the Royal Kasr, twenty lines of men, one behind the other—like the avenue of a pleasure-garden with the branches entwined—placed shoulder to shoulder, stood row after row. Truly you might say—It is the last great day, the time of the general resurrection, the hour of perturbation, the rendering of account of good and evil—through the experience, energy, control, and lieutenancy of Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam — God perpetuate his good fortune! The arrangement of the lines, the assignment of the place of every one of the Amirs, Maliks, Grandees, and Sadrs, with their followings and dependants, the disposition of the standards and banners, the donning of arms, the preservation of every one’s rank, which Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam directed, he himself saw to, by moving from one end of the lines to the other, placing every one in the place which had been assigned to him. That concourse of people presented such a tremendous appearance, that the ear of the heavens, at the din of the tymbals and kettle-drums, the cries of the trumpeting elephants, the neighings of the prancing horses, and the vociferations of the people, became deaf, and the eye of the malicious and envious blind.
244.9.4
When the Turkistan emissaries mounted and set out from the Shahr-i-Nau [of Gilu-khari], and their sight fell upon that concourse, their fright was such from the awe inspired by that immense concourse and the warlike apparatus, that the danger was lest the bird of their souls should take wing from their bodies. It is most likely — indeed it is the fact — that, at the time of the charge of the trumpeting elephants, some of those emissaries got thrown from their horses and fell to the ground. May the Most High God avert the evil eye from this kingdom and realm, capital and army, and the Maliks of the dynasty!
244.9.5
When the emissaries reached the city gate, by the royal command, and the approval of Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam, all the Maliks observed the custom of going to receive them, and, in doing honour to the emissaries’ party, observed [towards them] the usages of respect, and with due reverence conducted them to the Kasr-i-Sabz [the Green Castle] and before the exalted throne of sovereignty. On that day, the Castle of Sovereignty was adorned with various kinds of carpets and cushions, and a variety of princely articles of luxury and convenience, both of gold and silver, and round about the royal throne two canopies, one red and the other black, adorned with jewels of great price, were extended. The golden throne ornamented with the masnad [seat] of empire, and the series of illustrious Maliks, great Amirs, distinguished Sadrs, eminent personages, the handsome young Turk slaves with golden girdles, and the champions in pomp and pride ranged around, made the assembly halls studded with gems, and saloons burnished with gold, seem like unto the garden of bliss, and the eighth heaven, so that the [following] lines having become applicable to the occasion, and having been pronounced before the exalted throne by one of the sons of this suppliant, from his composition, are here introduced. [These lines are a mere repetition of the same fulsome epithets and exaggerated figures as are found in the preceding and following prose, and are scarcely worth insertion here.]
244.9.6
Thou mightest with truth say that that assembly was as a heaven full of stars, or like a firmament teeming with planets. The sovereign of the universe on the throne appeared as a sun from the fourth heaven, with Ulugh Khan-i-A'zam in attendance as a shining moon, kneeling upon the knees of veneration and reverence, the Maliks in rows like unto revolving planets, and the Turks in their gold and gem-studded girdles like unto stars innumerable. In short, all this arrangement, and preparation, and [these] different matters, were carried out with the approval, and wise counsel, and sagacious conception of Ulugh Khan-i-A'zam, for, although the Sultan of Sultans, in conformity with the Prophet's sayings, accords to him the position of a father, nevertheless he is more obedient and submissive than a thousand newly-purchased slaves. So the emissaries, after their reception, were conducted, after receiving various marks of favour, and different benefits were conferred upon them, to the assigned place prepared for their residence. It is necessary at this place to mention what was the motive of the arrival of these emissaries from the country of Khurasan, and from Hula’u [Hulaku] Khan, the Mughal, and how it fell out.
244.9.7
The facts of the matter are these, that Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Muhammad, son of Malik Hasan the Karlugh—The Almighty’s mercy be upon him!—perhaps, entertained a strong inclination to cause a pearl from the oyster shell of his family to be transferred to the string of marriage to Shah, the son of Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam, in order that, through that union, he [Nasir-ud-Din, Muhammad] might display his glory over the Maliks of the time and the great rulers of the world, and that that connexion might be a means of strength to him, and a source of security. On this subject he wrote secretly and confidentially, to one of the servants of the household of Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam, and endeavoured to obtain an inkling as to the possibility of the [proposed] connexion, and intimated that he himself would, under this veil, submit the matter for the august consideration of Ulugh Khan-i-A’zam, by way of sincerity and duty. As Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Muhammad, son of Hasan the Karlugh, was one of the illustrious Maliks of his day, it became necessary, on the part of Ulugh Khan, to give an answer on the subject, and his consent to the connexion. He, accordingly, directed one of the middle rank among his retinue to bear the answer to this request, and that bearer, a Khalj, they used to style by the name of the Hajib-i-Ajall [the most worthy Chamberlain], Jamal-ud-Din, ’Ali.
244.9.8
On this Khalj being nominated to this important matter, he obtained from the royal revenue department an order for a number of captives, on account of unavoidable necessaries, and the expenses of the road, and to enable him to get over his journey. When he set out upon the road, at the different stations and stages, the toll-collectors, on the way, continued to demand of him and expect payment of the established tolls and fixed cesses, and the Hajib, ’Ali, continued, in this manner, to repudiate them [saying] : “I am an agent [and therefore exempt].”