The Nāṣirī Generations 45.7

45.7

When Sultan Mahmud ascended the throne of sovereignty, his illustrious deeds became manifest unto all mankind within the pale of Islam, when he converted so many thousands [!] of idol-temples into masjids, and captured so many of the cities of Hindustan, and overthrew and subdued its Raes. Jai-pal, who was the greatest of the Raes of Hind, he made captive, and kept him [a prisoner] at Man-Yazid, in Khurasan, and commanded that he might be ransomed for the sum of eighty dirams. He led an army to Nahrwalah of Gujarat, and brought away Manat, the idol, from Somnath, and had it broken into four parts, one of which was cast before the entrance of the great masjid at Ghaznin, the second before the gateway of the Sultan’s palace, and the third and fourth were sent to Makkah and Madinah respectively. Concerning this victorious expedition the poet ’Un§uri composed a Ka§idah, or poem, two couplets of which are here inserted : — “ When the potent sovereign made the expedition to Somnath, He made the working of miracles his occupation. He staked the Chess of dominion with a thousand kings ; Each king he check-mated, in a separate game.” Out of the different occasions in which the Sultan’s greatness showed itself pre-eminent, one occurred during this expedition. When he retired from Somnath, and desired to lead back the army of Islam by way of the desert to Sindh and Mansurah, out of Gujarat, he directed that guides should be procured.