The Nāṣirī Generations 266: ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTURE OF THE FORTS OF KAL-YUN AND FIWAR.

Tabakat-i-Nasiri 266

Language: English

ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTURE OF THE FORTS OF KAL-YUN AND FIWAR.

266.1

After the Mughal troops had effected the capture of Hirat and desolated the city, they divided into two divisions. One of these marched into Sistan, and at its head was the Juzbi, Sa’di, and other great Nu-ins ; and the other force appeared at the foot [of the walls] of the hisar of Kal-yun, and the troops took up their position round about that fortress. It is a fortification excessively strong, the like of which, in strength of construction, there is nowhere to be found, either in loftiness and sublimity, or in stability and solidity ; and in the KITAB-I-MASALIK WA MAMALIK [The Book of Roads and Kingdoms], which the masters learned in science have compiled, this fortress is mentioned in these words : “ The strongest fortress in the world, and the fairest, is Kal-yun.” It is such a fortress that whosoever would go from the foot of [the walls of] the city of Hirat to the foot of the walls of that fort, it behoveth him to proceed twenty farsangs [leagues] in an upward direction to a considerable altitude, until he reaches the base of the rock upon which that fortification stands ; and, that point having been reached, it is necessary to proceed another league upwards in order to reach the foot of the rock on the summit of which the ramparts of the fort stand. The height of that rock is about a thousand cubits, and the face of it is like a wall, so that it is impossible for any living thing to mount it, with the exception of reptiles of the earth ;

266.2

and on the top of the rock is the plateau of four leagues or more [in area ?]. In the fortress are seven wells which they have excavated in the solid rock, and in each of these is so much perennial water that, however much of it is expended, it does not diminish ; and, in the middle of the fortress, is an extensive plain. The sons of Abu-Bikr who were the champions of Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, two brothers, two heroes of renown, and, in themselves, two huge elephants of war — were the seneschals of that fortress. Trustworthy persons have related that both the brothers, in stature, were so tall that, when they used to accompany Sultan Muhammad Khwarazm Shah [on horseback], in procession, with their hands placed on his stirrup, their heads rose a head higher than that of the Sultan ; and the two brothers were famed for their valour and high spirit, and they were the Amirs [governors] of the fortress. During these events the Ikhtiyar-ul-Mulk, Daulat Yar, the Tughra-i, who was one of the rulers in the Khwarazm-Shahi empire, had also entered the fortress of Kal-yun.

266.3

At the time when the infidel horsemen reached the base of the fortress, there were in Kal-yun a great number of men and much war material. Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, had [previously] beleaguered and pressed hard this fortress and that of Fiwar, which is opposite to it, for a period of ten or eleven years before he obtained possession of them. Kal-yun had [since] been thoroughly provided with men and arms, and stores and provisions. When the Mughal troops began the attack upon it, the holy warriors and tried men within descended from the fortress and commenced holy war upon them, and despatched numbers of Mughals to hell. Day and night they engaged in fighting with and resisting the infidels. The intrepidity of the garrison of the fortress reached such a pitch that it was impossible for the Mughal force to obtain sleep at night out of dread of them, and so these infidels completely enclosed the entire fortress round with a circular wall, in which they placed two gates, facing the fortress, with walls before them, and men were told off to keep watch at night. A trustworthy person related that a fox had remained at the foot of the rock on which the fortress of Kal-yun stands, within the circumvallation of the Mughals, and, for a period of seven months, that fox had no way by which he might get out, so strictly did the Mughal troops guard this wall.

266.4

When one year of the investment of the fortress passed away, the Juzbi, Sa’di, with a Mughal army, from before the gate of Sistan, came into Khurasan, and arrived at the base of the fortress of Kal-yun; and, a second time, was the place closely invested.

266.5

A pestilent disease overcame the defenders of the fortress, and the greater part of the people died, through the provisions with which the fortress was supplied, which consisted of a large quantity of dried flesh and pistachios — for the pistachios of Khurasan mostly come from around about Kal-yun — and, from constantly eating dried flesh, pistachios, and clarified butter, the people of the fortress used to fall sick, and their heads and feet used to swell, and death would result. After the garrison had held out against this investment for a period of sixteen months, not more than fifty persons remained alive, and of these twenty were suffering from swollen feet, and thirty were strong and healthy. One of this band left the fortress and went over to the Mughal force, and made known the state of the garrison, and of the fortress of Kal-yun; and, when the Mughal troops ascertained for certain the state in which the people of the place were, the infidels donned their arms and turned their faces towards it. The garrison, resigning themselves to martyrdom, threw everything of value within the fortress, consisting of gold and silver, and valuable clothes, and whatever was of worth, into the wells, and then filled them up with large stones from the fortress; and all else that remained they burnt. They then threw open the gateway of the fortress, drew their swords, and threw themselves upon the infidel Mughals, and attained the felicity of martyrdom.

266.6

When the fortress of Kal-yun was taken, a body of the Mughal forces which had been at the foot of the walls of the fort of Wal of Tulistan, namely Tulan, the Juzbi, and Arsalan Khan of Kaialik, with those Mughal troops, by command of the Chingiz Khan, marched to the foot of the fortress of Fiwar of Kadas. This fortress of Fiwar in strength, solidity, and impregnability, is still stronger than the fortress of Kal-yun, and the fact of its strength may be held certain in that ten men can defend it. Between Fiwar and Kal-yun is a distance of about ten farsangs [leagues], in such wise that both fortresses are in sight of each other. If strange horsemen should reach the base of the fortress of Kal-yun in the day, the people would make a smoke, and, at night, they would light a fire; and the garrison of Fiwar used [thus] to know of it: and if such should reach the fortress of Fiwar the same would be done to make it known to Kal-yun.

266.7

For a period of ten months that the Juzbi, Tulan, and Arsalan Khan of Kaialik, lay before the fortress of Fiwar, on account of the great scarcity of provisions, their forces had become reduced to great straits. They now brought from the stores of the fortress of Kal-yun what was necessary for their subsistence, so that, for a short time [longer], they were able to continue before the stronghold. A person from the fort of Fiwar [now] came into the force of the Juzbi, Tulan, and gave information of the state of the place, that [nearly] the whole of the garrison were dead, and that, throughout the whole fortress, there were not more than seven men alive, and out of them four or five were sick. Then the infidels armed themselves, and captured the place, and martyred those seven persons — God reward them! These events happened in the latter part of the year 619 H., and this was the affair, as has been [just] related, of those two strongholds, than which there were no stronger forts in all Khurasan and Ghur.