تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 6.5.5

6.5.5

A person in whom I have confidence told me that the sultan mounted one night to the roof of his palace and looked out over Delhi, where there was neither fire nor smoke nor lamp, and said “Now my mind is tranquil and my wrath appeased.” Afterwards he wrote to the inhabitants of the other cities commanding them to move to Delhi to repopulate it. The result was only to ruin their cities and leave Delhi still unpopulated, because of its immensity, for it is one of the greatest cities in the world. It was in this state that we found it on our arrival, empty and unpopulated, save for a few inhabitants. Let us return now to that which concerns us, and relate how we arrived first at the capital and our fortunes until we left his service. We reached Delhi during the sultan’s absence, and proceeded to the palace, where, after passing the first, second, and third doors, the principal naqib introduced us into a spacious audience-hall. Here we found the wazir awaiting us. On passing through the third door the great hall called Hazar Uslun, where the sultan holds his public audiences, met our eyes. Thereupon the wazir made obeisance until his head nearly touched the ground, and we too made obeisance by inclining the body and touching the ground with our fingers, in the direction of the sultan’s throne. When we had performed this ceremony the naqibs cried in a loud voice Bismillah, and we all retired.