The History of Shēr Shāh (Tārīkh-i Shērshāhī) 3.21.6

3.21.6

* * * First, I will root out that accursed infidel Maldeo, for that he was the servant of the ruler of Nagor and Ajmir, who placed the greatest confidence in him. The evil-minded and ungrateful infidel slew his master, and by violence and oppression possessed himself of those kingdoms." The chiefs and nobles assented, and it was so settled. In the year 950 a.h. (1543-4 a.d.), the king ordered that his conquering forces, beyond all calculation or numeration, should, under the shadow of his victorious standards, march towards the country of Nagor, Ajmir, and Judhpur. I have heard from the mouth of the respectably descended Shaikh Muhammad, and of the Khan-'azam, and of Muzaffar Khan, that in this campaign Sher Shah had so great an army with him that the best calculators, in spite of all reflection and thought and calculation, were at a loss to number and reckon them, and we often ascended the tops of eminences that the length and breadth of the army might appear to us ; but so exceeding was its magnitude, that its whole length and breadth were never visible together ; and we asked old men of great age, whether they had ever seen or heard of so great an army, but they replied they had not. When Sher Shah marched from the capital of Agra, and arrived at Fathpur Sikri, he ordered that each division of the army should march together in order of battle, and should throw up an earthen entrenchment at every halting-ground.