[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Foreign](https://indike.org/pramana/inf) › [Islamic world](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl) › [Arabic](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar) › [Travel and sea narratives](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla) › [تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt) › 10 # تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 10 English (machine translation) 10 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [10.0](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.0) — 6 parts - [10.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1) — 7 parts - [10.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2) — 8 parts - [10.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.3) — 4 parts - [10.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.4) — 5 parts - [10.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.5) — 5 parts - [10.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.6) — 5 parts - [10.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.7) — 4 parts - [10.8](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8) — 9 parts - [10.9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9) — 12 parts - [10.10](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10) — 11 parts - [10.11](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.11) — 3 parts - [10.12](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12) — 12 parts - [10.13](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.13) — 4 parts - [10.14](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.14) — 4 parts - [10.15](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.15) — 9 parts - [10.16](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.16) — 4 parts - [10.17](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.17) — 1 part - [10.18](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.18) — 1 part - [10.19](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.19) — 3 parts - [10.20](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.20) — 2 parts ### [10.0.p1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.0.p1) Arrival at Panj Āb; from Panj Āb to Sīwasitān; the city of Sīwasitān; from Sīwasitān to Multān; from Multān to Abūhar; agriculture in Hind; from Abūhar to Ajūdahan; from Ajūdahan to Dihlī ### [10.0.p2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.0.p2) In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. May God bless our lord and master Muḥammad, his family and his Companions. ### [10.0.p3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.0.p3) Introduction ### [10.0.p4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.0.p4) The shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Lawātī al-Ṭanjī, known as Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, may God have mercy on him, said: ### [10.0.p5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.0.p5) On the first day of God's month of Muḥarram, the opening of the year seven hundred and thirty-four, we reached the valley of Sind known as Panj Āb, which means "the five waters". This river is one of the greatest rivers in the world. It floods in the hot season, and the people of that country sow their crops on its flood, as the people of Egypt do with the flood of the Nile. This river is the first point of the territory of the exalted Sultan Muḥammad Shāh, King of Hind and Sind. When we reached this river, the intelligence officers assigned to that duty came to us and wrote a report about us to Quṭb al-Mulk, the amīr of the city of Multān. At that time the amīr of the amīrs of Sind was a mamlūk of the Sultan named Sartīz, who is the ʿarḍ al-mamālik (muster-master), before whom the Sultan's troops are reviewed. His name means "sharp-headed", for sar, with the undotted s vowelled with a and the r without a vowel, means "head", and tīz, with a dotted t, a long ī and z, means "sharp". At the time of our arrival he was in the city of Sīwasitān in Sind, which is a journey of ### [10.0.p6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.0.p6) ten days from Multān. Between the land of Sind and the Sultan's capital, the city of Dihlī, is a journey of fifty days, yet when the informants write to the Sultan from the land of Sind, the letter reaches him in five days by means of the post. ### [10.1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1.1) The post in the land of Hind is of two kinds. The horse post they call al-wulāq, with u after the w and ending in q; it consists of horses belonging to the Sultan stationed every four miles. As for the foot post, there are three stages to each mile, which they call al-dāwa, with an undotted d and w; the dāwa is a third of a mile, and the mile among them is called the kurūh, with u after the k and the r. The arrangement is that every third of a mile there is an inhabited village, outside which are three pavilions where men sit ready to move, their waists girded. Each of them has a whip two cubits long with copper bells at its top. When the courier leaves the city, he takes the letter in the upper part of one hand and the whip with the bells in the other, and sets out running with all his might. When the men in the pavilions hear the sound of the bells they make ready for him, and when he reaches them one of them takes the letter from his hand and runs off with all his strength, shaking the whip, until he reaches the next dāwa. They go on in this way until the letter reaches its destination. ### [10.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1.2) This post is faster than the horse post. Sometimes they carry by this post fruits from Khurāsān that are prized as rarities in Hind; they put them on platters and run with them until they reach the Sultan. In the same way they also carry the chief criminals: they place the man on a bed, lift it above their heads, and run with him. Likewise they carry water for the Sultan to drink when he is at Dawlat Ābād, bringing it from the river Gang, to which the Hindus go on pilgrimage. ### [10.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1.3) It is a journey of forty days from there. When the informants write to the Sultan about someone arriving in his country, they make the letter comprehensive and go into great detail, informing him that a man has come whose appearance is thus and whose dress is thus, and they record the number of his companions, slaves, servants and animals, and his manner of conduct in moving and resting, and all his doings, leaving out nothing of all this. When the newcomer reaches the city of Multān, which is the capital of the land of ### [10.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1.4) Sind, he stays there until the Sultan's order is issued concerning his coming on and the hospitality to be given him. A person is honoured only according to what appears of his actions, conduct and ambition, since no one there knows his lineage or his forebears. ### [10.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1.5) It is the custom of the King of Hind, Sultan Abū al-Mujāhid Muḥammad Shāh, to honour foreigners, to show them affection, and to single them out for governorships and high ranks. Most of his intimates, chamberlains, viziers, qāḍīs and relatives by marriage are foreigners. He issued an order that foreigners in his country be called the aʿizza (honoured ones), and this became a proper name for them. Everyone coming to this king must bring a gift to present to him, offering it as a means of access to him, and the Sultan rewards him for it many times over. Much will be said later about the gifts of foreigners to him. ### [10.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1.6) When people became accustomed to this from him, the merchants in the lands of Sind and Hind began to lend thousands of dinars to everyone coming to the Sultan, and to equip him with whatever he wished to present to him or to use for himself, such as riding animals, camels and goods. They serve him with their wealth and their persons and stand before him like retainers. When he reaches the Sultan, the Sultan gives him a generous gift, and he pays off their debts and settles what is owed them. So their trade flourished and their profits grew, and this became a settled custom for them. ### [10.1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.1.7) When I reached the land of Sind I followed that course and bought from the merchants horses, camels, mamlūks and other things. In the city of Ghazna I bought from an Iraqi merchant from Takrīt, known as Muḥammad al-Dūrī, about thirty horses and a camel carrying a load of arrows, for that is among the things presented to the Sultan. The merchant went to Khurāsān, then returned to Hind, and there he collected his money from me. He made a great profit because of me and became one of the great merchants. I met him in the city of Aleppo many years later, when the infidels had robbed me of what I had, and I received no kindness from him. ### [10.2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.1) When we had crossed the river of Sind known as Panj Āb, we entered a reed thicket to follow the road, since it ran through the middle of it, and a rhinoceros came out at us. Its appearance is that of a black animal, huge in bulk, with a large head, ### [10.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.2) out of all proportion \[to its body\], and for this reason it is proverbial, and people say: "The rhinoceros: a head without a body." It is smaller than the elephant, but its head is many times larger than the elephant's head. It has a single horn between its eyes, about three cubits long and about a span broad. When it came out at us, one of the horsemen got in its way; it struck the horse he was riding with its horn, pierced its thigh and threw it down, then went back into the thicket, and we could not get at it! I saw the rhinoceros a second time on this road after the afternoon prayer, grazing on the plants of the ground; when we made for it, it fled from us. I saw it yet another time when we were with the King of Hind: we entered a reed thicket, the Sultan rode on an elephant and we rode elephants with him, and the foot-soldiers and horsemen went in, roused it and killed it, and carried its head off to the camp. ### [10.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.3) We travelled two days from the river of Sind and reached the city of Janānī — its name is spelt with a over the j and the first n and i under the second — a large, fine city on the bank of the river of Sind, with handsome markets. Its inhabitants are a people called the Sāmira, who settled it long ago; their forefathers established themselves there when it was conquered in the days of al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf, as the historians have recorded concerning the conquest of Sind. The shaykh, imam, learned scholar who acts on his learning, ascetic and devout Rukn al-Dīn, son of the shaykh, jurist and righteous man Shams al-Dīn, son of the shaykh, imam, devout and ascetic Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyāʾ al-Qurashī — he is one of the three whom the shaykh, the righteous saint Burhān al-Dīn al-Aʿraj, told me in the city of Alexandria I would meet on my travels, and I did meet them, praise be to God — told me that his remote ancestor was called Muḥammad b. Qāsim al-Qurashī, that he took part in the conquest of Sind in the army that al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf sent for that purpose during his governorship of Iraq, and that he settled there and his descendants multiplied. ### [10.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.4) This people known as the Sāmira do not eat with anyone, nor does anyone watch them while they eat, and they do not marry with anyone outside themselves, nor does anyone marry into them. At this time they had an amīr named Wunār, with u on the w and a on the n, and we shall relate his story. ### [10.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.5) Then we travelled from the city of Janānī until we reached the city of Sīwasitān — its name is spelt with i under the first, unpointed s, a long ī, w with a, s with i, the dotted t, and ending in n. It is a large city, and outside it are desert and sands; there are no trees there except the umm ghaylān acacia, and nothing is grown along its river except melons. Their food is sorghum and peas, which they call mushunk — with m and dotted sh both with u, and n without vowel — and from it they make bread. It has plenty of fish and buffalo milk. Its people eat the saqanqūr, a small creature resembling the umm jubayn, which the Maghribis call ḥunayshat al-janna, except that it has no tail. I saw them digging in the sand and taking it out, slitting its belly, throwing away what is in it and stuffing it with turmeric, which they call zard shūba, meaning "yellow wood"; with them it takes the place of saffron. When I saw that little creature and them eating it, I found it disgusting and did not eat it! We entered this city in the fiercest heat of summer, and its heat is intense: my companions would sit naked, each putting a cloth around his waist and a cloth soaked in water over his shoulders, and only a short time would pass before that cloth dried, and he would wet it again, and so on continually. ### [10.2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.6) In this city I met its preacher, known as al-Shaybānī, and he showed me the letter of the Commander of the Faithful, the Caliph ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, may God be pleased with him, to his remote ancestor, appointing him to the preachership of this city; they have inherited it from that time until now. The text of the letter is: "This is what the servant of God, the Commander of the Faithful ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, has ordered for So-and-so" ### [10.2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.7) and its date is the year ninety-nine; and on it is written in the hand of the Commander of the Faithful ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz: "Praise be to God alone" — according to what the said preacher told me. ### [10.2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.2.8) I also met there the aged shaykh Muḥammad al-Baghdādī, who lives in the hospice over the tomb of the righteous shaykh ʿUthmān al-Marandī. He said that his age was over one hundred and forty years, and that he had been present at the killing of al-Mustaʿṣim bi-llāh, the last of the caliphs of the ʿAbbāsids, may God be pleased with them, when the infidel Hūlāwun son of Tankīz the Tatar killed him. Despite his great age this shaykh is sturdy of body and walks about on his own feet. ### [10.3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.3.1) In this city lived the amīr Wunār the Sāmirī, already mentioned, and the amīr Qayṣar al-Rūmī, both in the Sultan's service, and with them about one thousand eight hundred horsemen. There also lived there an infidel of the Hindus named Ratan — with a on the r, a on the dotted t, and n — who was skilled in accounting and writing. He came to the King of Hind with one of the amīrs, and the Sultan approved of him, named him ʿAẓīm al-Sind, appointed him governor of that country, granted him Sīwasitān and its districts as a fief, and gave him the marks of rank, namely drums and standards, as he gives to the great amīrs. ### [10.3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.3.2) When he arrived in that country, Wunār, Qayṣar and others took it hard that the infidel had been set above them, and they agreed to kill him. Some days after his arrival they advised him to go out to the environs of the city to look into its affairs, and he went out with them. When night fell they raised an uproar in the camp and claimed that a lion had attacked it; they made for the infidel's tent, killed him, and returned to the city, and seized the money of ### [10.3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.3.3) the Sultan that was there, which amounted to twelve lakhs — a lakh being one hundred thousand dinars, the lakh being equivalent to ten thousand dinars of Indian gold, and the Indian dinar being equivalent to two and a half dinars of Maghribi gold. They set the said Wunār over themselves and named him Malik Fīrūz, and he divided the money among the troops. Then he feared for himself, being far from his tribe, and the rest of the troops set Qayṣar al-Rūmī over themselves. ### [10.3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.3.4) News of them reached ʿImād al-Mulk Sartīz, the Sultan's mamlūk, who was at that time amīr of the amīrs of Sind and resided at Multān. He gathered the troops and made ready by land and on the river of Sind; between Multān and Sīwasitān is ten days. Qayṣar came out against him and battle was joined, and Qayṣar and those with him were routed in the most shameful defeat and fortified themselves in the city. He besieged them, set up mangonels against them, and the siege grew severe, so they asked for a guarantee of safety forty days after he had encamped against them. He granted them safety, but when they came down to him he betrayed them, seized their wealth and ordered them to be killed. Every day he would behead some of them, cut others in half at the waist, and flay others, stuff their skins with straw and hang them on the city wall, so that most of the wall had those skins hung upon it, terrifying whoever looked at them. He collected their heads in the middle of the city, and they were like a mound there! I stayed in that city just after this event, in a large madrasa there, and used to sleep on its roof; when I woke in the night I would see those hanging skins and be filled with revulsion at them. I could not bear to stay in the madrasa, so I moved away from it. The learned, excellent and just jurist ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk al-Khurāsānī, known as Faṣīḥ al-Dīn, formerly qāḍī of Harāt, had come to the King of Hind, who appointed him over the city of Lāharī and its districts in the land of Sind. He had taken part in this campaign with ʿImād al-Mulk Sartīz with the troops under him, and I resolved to travel with him to the city of Lāharī. He had fifteen vessels with which he had come on the river of Sind, carrying his baggage, and I travelled with him. ### [10.4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.4.1) Among his vessels the jurist ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk had one known as the ahwara (with a over the hamza and the hā', the wāw unvowelled, and a over the rā'); it is a kind of ṭarīda as we have in our country, except that it is broader and shorter. ### [10.4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.4.2) Over half of it is a wooden cabin reached by steps, and on top of it is a seat prepared for the amīr to sit on; his companions sit before him and the mamlūks stand to the right and left, while the oarsmen, about forty of them, row. Accompanying this ahwara are four vessels, to its right and left: two of them carry the amīr's insignia of rank, that is, the standards, drums, trumpets, horns and ṣurnāyāt (which are shawms), and the other two carry the musicians. The drums and trumpets play by turns and the singers sing by turns, and they continue so from the beginning of the day until the time of the midday meal. ### [10.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.4.3) When it is time for the midday meal the vessels draw together and are joined to one another, gangplanks are laid between them, and the musicians come to the amīr's ahwara and sing until he has finished eating; then they eat, and when the meal is over they return to their vessel and set off again in their order until nightfall. At night the camp is pitched on the bank of the river, the amīr goes to his tents, the banquet is spread, and most of the troops attend the meal. When they have prayed the last evening prayer, the night-watchmen keep watch through the night in shifts; when the men of a shift have completed their turn, a crier among them calls out in a loud voice: "O Khwand Malik, so many hours of the night have passed." Then the men of the next shift keep watch, and when they have finished their crier also calls out, announcing how many hours have passed. At dawn the trumpets and drums are sounded, the dawn prayer is performed and food is brought; when the meal is over they set off. If the amīr wishes to go by river he embarks in the order we have described; if he wishes to travel by land, the drums and trumpets are sounded, his chamberlains go ahead, followed by the footmen in front of him. Ahead of the chamberlains are six horsemen, three of them with drums slung round their necks and three with shawms; when they approach a village or some rising ground they sound those drums and shawms, and then the drums and trumpets of the troops are sounded. To the right and left of the chamberlains are the singers, who sing by turns. When it is time for the midday meal they halt. ### [10.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.4.4) I travelled with ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk for five days, and we reached the seat of his governorship, the city of Lāharī. ### [10.4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.4.5) Its name is spelt with a over the hā' and i under the rā'. It is a fine city on the coast of the great sea, and there the river of Sind flows into the sea, so that two seas meet there. It has a great harbour to which come the people of Yemen, the people of Fārs and others, and for that reason its revenues are great and its wealth abundant. The amīr ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk told me that the revenue of this city is sixty lakhs a year (we have already stated the value of the lakh), and of this the amīr receives nim dah yak, meaning one twentieth. On this basis the Sultan grants territories to his officials: they take one twentieth of it for themselves. ### [10.5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.5.1) One day I rode with ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk and we came to a plain seven miles from the city, known as Tārnā. There I saw countless stones shaped like human beings and animals; many of them were worn and their forms effaced, so that only the shape of a head or a foot or some other part remained. Among the stones were also shapes of grains: wheat, chickpeas, beans and lentils. There were remains of a city wall and the walls of houses. Then we saw the outline of a house containing a room of hewn stone, in the middle of which was a platform of hewn stones, as though it were a single stone, bearing the figure of a man, except that his head was elongated, his mouth was on one side of his face, and his hands were behind his back like a man bound. ### [10.5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.5.2) There were waters there with a terrible stench, and writing in Hindi on some of the walls. ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk told me that the historians claim that in this place there was a great city whose people were given to corruption, so they were turned into stone! Their king is the one on the platform in the house we mentioned, which to this day is called the King's House, and the writing in Hindi on some of the walls there records the date of the destruction of the people of that city, which was about a thousand years ago. ### [10.5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.5.3) I stayed in this city with ʿAlāʾ al-Mulk for five days; then he provided me generously with provisions and I left him for the city of Bakār (with a over the single-dotted bā'). It is a fine city, cut through by a channel from the river of Sind, and in the middle of that channel is a fine hospice providing food for travellers coming and going, built by Kushlū Khān during his governorship of the land of Sind; he will be mentioned later. ### [10.5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.5.4) In this city I met the jurist and imām Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Ḥanafī; I met its qāḍī, named Abū Ḥanīfa; and I met the devout and ascetic shaykh Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī, who was one of those of great age: he told me that he was over one hundred and twenty years old. ### [10.5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.5.5) Then I travelled from the city of Bakār and reached the city of Ūjah — its name is spelled with u after the hamza and a after the j. It is a large city on the river of Sind, with fine markets and good buildings. Its amīr at that time was the excellent malik, the sharīf Jalāl al-Dīn al-Kījī, one of the brave and generous; he died in this city after a fall from his horse. ### [10.6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.6.1) A friendship grew up between me and this malik, the sharīf Jalāl al-Dīn, and companionship and affection became firm between us. We met again at the capital, Dihlī, and when the Sultan travelled to Dawlat Ābād, as we shall relate, and ordered me to stay at the capital, Jalāl al-Dīn said to me, "You will need a great deal of money, and the Sultan's absence will be long, so take my village and draw its revenue until I return." I did so, and drew from it about five thousand dinars. May God reward him with His finest reward. ### [10.6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.6.2) In the city of Ūjah I met the devout and ascetic shaykh, the sharīf Quṭb al-Dīn Ḥaydar al-ʿAlawī, who invested me with the khirqa. He is one of the great saints, and the garment he invested me with stayed with me until the Hindu infidels robbed me at sea. ### [10.6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.6.3) Then I travelled from the city of Ūjah to the city of Multān — its name is spelled with u after the m and a t with dots above. It is the chief city of the land of Sind and the residence of its amīr of amīrs. On the road to it, ten miles from it, is the river known as Khusraw Ābād, one of the great rivers, which can only be crossed by boat. There the goods of those crossing are searched most thoroughly and their baggage inspected. Their custom at the time we arrived was to take a quarter of everything the merchants brought and to levy a duty of seven dinars on every horse. Two years after our arrival in Hind the Sultan abolished those duties and ordered that nothing be taken from the people except the zakāt and the tithe, when he gave his allegiance to the caliph Abū al-ʿAbbās the ʿAbbāsid. ### [10.6.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.6.4) When we set about crossing this river and the baggage was being inspected, the inspection of my baggage weighed heavily on me, because there was nothing of value in it, yet in people's eyes it appeared large, and I disliked having it looked into. By the kindness of God Most High, one of the senior officers arrived on behalf of Quṭb al-Mulk, the lord of Multān, and ordered that I not be subjected to any search or inspection, and so it was. I praised God for the kindnesses He had prepared for me. ### [10.6.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.6.5) We spent that night on the bank of the river, and the next morning the malik of the post came to us. His name was Dihqān, a native of Samarqand; it is he who writes to the Sultan with the news of that city and its district, what happens in it and who arrives there. I made his acquaintance and went in his company to the amīr of Multān. ### [10.7.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.7.1) The amīr of Multān is Quṭb al-Mulk, one of the great and excellent amīrs. When I came before him he rose to me, shook my hand and seated me beside him. I presented him with a mamlūk, a horse and some raisins and almonds, which is among the greatest gifts given to them, because it does not grow in their country but is brought from Khurāsān. ### [10.7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.7.2) This amīr sat on a large dais spread with carpets, and near him was the qāḍī, named Sālār, and the preacher, whose name I do not remember. To his right and left were the commanders of the troops, the men-at-arms stood at his head, and the troops were reviewed before him. ### [10.7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.7.3) There were many bows there, and when someone came who wished to be enrolled in the army as an archer, he was given one of those bows to draw. They vary in strength, and his pay is set according to how far he draws. Whoever wishes to be enrolled as a horseman: there is a target-drum set up, and he gallops his horse and strikes it with his lance. There is also a ring hanging from a low wall; he gallops his horse until he comes level with it, and if he lifts it off with his lance, that counts as good among them. Whoever wishes to be enrolled as a mounted archer: there is a ball placed on the ground, and he gallops his horse and shoots at it. His pay is set according to the accuracy he shows in this. ### [10.7.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.7.4) When we came before this amīr and greeted him as we have described, he ordered that we be lodged in a house outside the city belonging to the disciples of the devout shaykh Rukn al-Dīn, who was mentioned earlier. Their custom is not to give hospitality to anyone until the Sultan's order comes to host him. ### [10.8.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.1) Among them was Khudhāwandzāda Qawām al-Dīn, qāḍī of Tirmidh, who came with his family and children; later his brothers ʿImād al-Dīn, Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn and Burhān al-Dīn joined him there. Among them was Mubārak Shāh, one of the notables of Samarqand; among them Aran Bughā, one of the notables of Bukhārā; among them Malikzāda, son of Khudhāwandzāda's sister; and among them Badr al-Dīn al-Faṣṣāl. Each of these had his companions, servants and followers with him. ### [10.8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.2) When two months had passed since our arrival in Multān, one of the Sultan's chamberlains, Shams al-Dīn al-Būshanjī, arrived together with Malik Muḥammad al-Harawī the kotwal. The Sultan had sent them to receive Khudhāwandzāda, and with them came three eunuchs sent by al-Makhdūma Jahān, the Sultan's mother, to receive the wife of the said Khudhāwandzāda. They brought robes of honour for the two of them and their children, and provisions to equip the delegations that had arrived. They all came to me and asked me, "Why have you come?" I told them that I had come to stay in the service of Khwand ʿĀlam — that is the Sultan, and this is what he is called in his country. ### [10.8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.3) He had ordered that no one coming from Khurāsān be allowed to enter the land of Hind unless it was with the intention of staying. When I informed them that I had come to stay, they summoned the qāḍī and the notaries and drew up a contract binding me and those of my companions who wished to stay; some of them refused. ### [10.8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.4) We prepared for the journey to the capital; between Multān and it is a forty days' march through continuous settled country. The chamberlain and the colleague sent with him brought out what was needed for the hospitality of Qawām al-Dīn, and they took from Multān about twenty cooks. The chamberlain would go ahead by night to each halting place and prepare the food and other things, so that by the time Khudhāwandzāda arrived the food was ready. Each of the delegations we have mentioned camped separately with its tents and companions; sometimes they attended the meal prepared for Khudhāwandzāda, but I attended it only once. ### [10.8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.5) The arrangement of that meal is as follows. They set out bread — their bread is thin flatbread (ruqāq), resembling jarādīq loaves — and they cut the roast meat into large pieces, such that a sheep makes four or six pieces, and they put a piece before each man. They set out round cakes made with ghee, resembling the mushrak bread of our country, and in the middle of them they put the soap-like ṣābūniyya sweet, and they cover each of these cakes with a loaf of sweetmeat which they call khishtī, meaning "brick-like", made of flour, sugar and ghee. Then they set out meat cooked with ghee, onions and green ginger in Chinese dishes. Then they set out something they call sambūsak, which is minced meat cooked with almonds, walnuts, pistachios, onions and spices, placed inside a thin wafer fried in ghee; they put five or four pieces of this before each person. Then they set out rice cooked with ghee with chicken on top of it, then they set out luqaymāt al-qāḍī, which they call al-hāshimī, then they set out al-qāhiriyya. ### [10.8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.6) The chamberlain stands at the banquet before the meal and makes obeisance in the direction where the Sultan is, and all those present make obeisance with him; obeisance among them is lowering the head as in the bowing of prayer. When they have done this they sit down ### [10.8.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.7) to eat. Cups of gold, silver and glass are brought, filled with sugar-water, that is, julep dissolved in water; they call this the sharba, and they drink it before the meal. Then the chamberlain says "In the name of God", and at that they begin to eat. When they have eaten, jugs of fuqqāʿ \[barley-beer\] are brought, and when they have drunk it, betel and areca nut are brought, which have been mentioned before. When they have taken the betel and areca nut, the chamberlain says "In the name of God", and they rise, make obeisance as they did at first, and depart. ### [10.8.8](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.8) We travelled from the city of Multān, with them carrying on this arrangement as we have set it down, until we reached the land of Hind. The first town we entered was the city of Abūhar, with a over the h, which is the first of those Indian lands: small, pleasant, densely populated, with rivers and trees. ### [10.8.9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.8.9) There are none of the trees of our country there except the lote-tree (nabq) (36), but with them it is of great size, its fruit being the size of a gall-nut and very sweet. They have many trees of which none is found in our country or anywhere else! ### [10.9.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.1) Among them is the ʿanba, with a over the ʿ, no vowel on the n and a over the single-dotted b. It is a tree resembling the bitter-orange tree except that it is larger in size and has more leaves, and its shade is the most abundant of shades, but it is heavy, so that whoever sleeps under it falls ill. Its fruit is the size of a large pear. When it is green, before it is fully ripe, they take what has fallen of it, put salt on it and pickle it as limes and lemons are pickled in our country. In the same way they also pickle ### [10.9.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.2) green ginger and clusters of pepper, and they eat these with food, taking a little of these salted things after every mouthful. When the ʿanba ripens in the autumn season its fruits turn yellow and they eat them like apples; some cut it with a knife and some suck it. It is sweet, its sweetness mingled with a little sourness. It has a large stone, which they plant and trees grow from it, just as the stones of bitter oranges and the like are planted. ### [10.9.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.3) Among them are the shakī and the barkī, with a over the dotted sh and i under the k, and a over the single-dotted b and i under the k as well. They are tall trees with leaves like walnut leaves, and their fruit grows out of the base of the tree: what touches the ground is the barkī, whose sweetness is greater and taste finer, and what is above that is the shakī. Its fruit resembles large gourds, and its rind resembles cowhide. When it turns yellow in the autumn season they cut it off and split it open, and inside each fruit there are a hundred or two hundred or somewhere in between of pods resembling cucumbers, with a yellow membrane between each pod and the next. Each pod has a stone resembling a large bean, and when that stone is roasted or cooked its taste is like the taste of beans, for \[beans\] are not found there. They store these stones in red earth and they keep until the following year. This shakī and barkī is the best fruit in the land of Hind. ### [10.9.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.4) Among them is the tendū, with a over the two-dotted t, no vowel on the n and u on the d. It is the fruit of the ebony tree; its fruits are the size and colour of apricots, and very sweet. ### [10.9.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.5) Among them is the jamūn, with u on the hard j. Its trees are tall, and its fruit resembles the olive; it is black in colour and has a single stone like the olive. ### [10.9.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.6) Among them is the sweet orange, which is plentiful with them, while the sour orange is rare. There is a third kind between sweet and sour, whose fruit is the size of a lime; it is very good, and I used to love eating it! ### [10.9.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.7) Among them is the mahwā, with a over the m and the w. Its trees are tall, and its leaves are like walnut leaves except that they have some red and yellow in them. Its fruit is like a small pear and very sweet, and at the top of each fruit there is a small hollow berry the size of a grape, whose taste is like the taste of grapes, except that eating too much of it causes a headache. ### [10.9.8](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.8) It is a marvel that these berries, when dried in the sun, taste like figs, and I used to eat them in place of figs, since these are not found in the land of Hind. They call this berry angūr, with a over the hamza, no vowel on the n, u on the hard k, then w and r; its meaning in their language is "grapes". ### [10.9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.9) Grapes are very rare in the land of Hind and are found there only in places at the capital Dihlī and in the land of \[…\]. ### [10.9.10](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.10) It bears fruit twice a year, and from the stones of this fruit they make oil which they use for lamps. ### [10.9.11](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.11) Among their fruits is a fruit they call kasīrā, with a over the k, i under the undotted s, a long ī and r. They dig the ground for it; it is very sweet and resembles the chestnut. ### [10.9.12](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.9.12) Among the fruits of our country found in the land of Hind is the pomegranate, which bears fruit twice a year; I saw it in the islands of Dhībat al-Mahal never ceasing to bear fruit. They call it anār, with a over the hamza and the n, and I think this is the origin of the name jullanār \[pomegranate blossom\], for gul in Persian is "flower" and anār is "pomegranate". ### [10.10.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.1) The people of Hind sow twice a year. When the rain falls among them in the hot season they sow the autumn crop and harvest it sixty days after sowing. Among these autumn grains they have kudhrū, with u on the k, no vowel on the dotted dh, u on the r and then w; it is a kind of millet, and this kudhrū is the most abundant of their grains. Among them is qāl, with q, which resembles anlī \[…\]. ### [10.10.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.2) Among them is shāmākh, with shīn and dotted khāʾ, which has a smaller grain than qāl. This shāmākh often grows without being sown, and it is the food of the pious, the scrupulous, the poor and the destitute. They go out ### [10.10.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.3) to gather what has grown of it without sowing: each of them holds a large basket in his left hand and in his right a whip with which he strikes the plants, and \[the grain\] falls into the basket. In this way they gather enough of it to live on for the whole year. ### [10.10.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.4) The grain of this shāmākh is very small. When it has been gathered it is put in the sun and then pounded in wooden mortars, so that its husk flies off and its kernel remains, white. They make from it a porridge which they cook with buffalo milk, and it is tastier than bread made from it. I used to eat it often in the land of Hind and liked it. Among them is māsh, which is a kind of vetch. ### [10.10.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.5) Among them is munj, with ḍamma on the mīm, then nūn and jīm, which is a kind of māsh except that its grains are elongated and its colour a clear green. They cook munj with rice and eat it with ghee, and they call it kishrī, with kāf, dotted shīn and rāʾ. They break their fast on it every day, and among them it is like ḥarīra in the Maghrib. Among them is lūbiyā, which is a kind of bean. ### [10.10.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.6) Among them is mūt, with ḍamma on the mīm, which is like the kudhrū mentioned above except that its grains are yellower. It is used among them as fodder for animals, and animals grow fat from eating it. ### [10.10.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.7) Barley among them has no strength, and so the fodder of animals is this mūt or chickpeas, which they crush, soak in water and feed to the animals. In place of green fodder they feed them the leaves of māsh, after the animal has been given ghee to drink for ten days, three or four raṭls each night, and it is not ridden during those days. After that they feed it māsh leaves, as we have said, for a month or so. ### [10.10.8](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.8) These grains we have mentioned are the autumn crops. When they have harvested them, sixty days after sowing, they sow the spring crops, namely wheat, barley, chickpeas and lentils, and these are sown in the same ground in which the autumn crops had been sown, for their land is generous and its soil good. ### [10.10.9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.9) As for rice, they sow it three times a year, and it is one of their most abundant grains. They also sow sesame and sugar cane together with the autumn crops mentioned above. ### [10.10.10](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.10) Let us return to what we were about. I say: we travelled from the city of Abūhar through a desert a day's journey across, on whose edges are impregnable mountains inhabited by the infidels of Hind, who sometimes rob on the road. Most of the people of the land of Hind are infidels. Some of them are subjects under the protection of the Muslims; they live in villages and have over them a Muslim governor appointed by the ʿāmil or the official in whose iqṭāʿ the village lies. ### [10.10.11](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.10.11) Others of them are rebels and fighters who hold out in the mountains and rob on the roads. ### [10.11.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.11.1) When we intended to set out from the city of Abūhar, the people left it at the beginning of the day, but I stayed there until midday with a group of my companions. Then we set out, twenty-two horsemen, some of them Arabs and some non-Arabs. In that desert eighty infidel footmen and two horsemen came out against us. My companions were men of courage and worth, and we fought them fiercely. We killed one of their two horsemen and took his horse as booty, and we killed about twelve of their footmen. An arrow struck me and a second arrow struck my horse, but God granted safety from it, for their arrows have no strength. A horse belonging to one of our companions was wounded; we gave him the infidel's horse in its place and slaughtered his wounded horse, and the Turks among our companions ate it. We carried those heads to the fort of Abū Bakhar and hung them on its wall. We reached the said fort of Abū Bakhar at midnight; its name is spelled with fatḥa on the bāʾ, sukūn on the kāf, fatḥa on the hāʾ, and ending in rāʾ. ### [10.11.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.11.2) We travelled on from it and after two days reached the city of Ajūdahan, its name spelled with fatḥa on the hamza, ḍamma on the jīm, fatḥa on the undotted dāl and on the hāʾ, and ending in nūn. It is a small city belonging to the pious shaykh Farīd al-Dīn al-Badhāwanī, whom the pious shaykh and saint Burhān al-Dīn al-Aʿraj in Alexandria had told me I would meet; and I did meet him, praise be to God. He is the shaykh of the king of Hind, who granted him this city. ### [10.11.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.11.3) This shaykh is afflicted with obsessive scruples, God preserve us: he does not shake hands with anyone nor go near him, and if his garment touches anyone's garment he washes it! I entered his hospice, met him and conveyed to him the greeting of Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn; he was astonished and said: 'I am unworthy of that.' I met his two excellent sons: Muʿizz al-Dīn, the elder, who took over the office of shaykh after his father died, and ʿAlam al-Dīn. I visited the tomb of his grandfather, the pious quṭb Farīd al-Dīn al-Badhāwanī, named after the city of Badhāwun in the land of Sanbal, spelled with fatḥa on the bāʾ and the dotted dhāl, ḍamma on the wāw, and ending in nūn. When I wished to leave this city, ʿAlam al-Dīn said to me: 'You must see my father.' So I saw him; he was on the top of a roof of his, wearing white clothes and a turban with a hanging end that leaned to one side. He prayed for me and sent me sugar and sugar candy. ### [10.12.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.1) When I left this shaykh, I saw people hurrying from our camp, some of our companions among them. I asked them: 'What is the news?' They told me that an infidel of Hind had died and a fire had been kindled to burn him, and that his wife would burn herself with him. When the two had burned, my companions came back and told me that she had embraced the dead man until she was burned with him. Afterwards in those lands I used to see an infidel woman of Hind, adorned and mounted, followed by people both Muslim and infidel, with drums and trumpets before her and the Brahmans, who are the notables of Hind, with her. If this took place in the sultan's territory, they asked the sultan's permission to burn her; he gave them permission, and they burned her. ### [10.12.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.2) Then it happened some time later that I was in a town, most of whose inhabitants were infidels, called Amjarī, whose amīr was a Muslim of the Sāmira of Sind, and near it were rebel infidels. One day they cut the road, and the Muslim amīr went out to fight them, and his subjects, Muslims and infidels, went out with him. A fierce battle took place between them in which seven of the infidel subjects died, and three of them had three wives, who agreed to burn themselves. Among them the burning of a woman after her husband is a recommended act, not an obligatory one; but when a woman burns herself after her husband, her household gains honour by it and is credited with fidelity, whereas one who does not burn herself puts on coarse clothes and lives with her family wretched and despised for her lack of fidelity; yet she is not compelled to burn herself. When the three women we mentioned had pledged to burn themselves, they spent three days beforehand in singing, merriment, eating and drinking, as though bidding farewell to the world, and women came to them from every quarter. On the morning of the fourth day each of them was brought a horse, and she mounted it, adorned and perfumed, holding in her right hand a coconut which she played with and in her left a mirror in which she looked at her face. The Brahmans surrounded her, her relatives were with her, and before her were drums, trumpets and horns. Every one of the infidels would say to her: 'Give my greetings to my father, or my brother, or my mother, or my friend!' and she would say 'Yes,' and laugh at them. I rode with my companions to see how they went about the burning. We went with them about three miles and came to a dark place with much water and many trees, its shade dense, and among its trees were four domed shrines, in each of which was an idol of stone. Between the shrines was a water tank over which the shade was thick and the trees crowded, so that the sun did not pass through them, and it was as though that place were a spot of Hell — God preserve us from it! When we reached those shrines, they went down into ### [10.12.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.3) the tank and plunged into it, stripped off the clothes and ornaments they had on and gave them away as alms. Each of them was brought an unsewn garment of coarse cotton, and she tied part of it around her waist and part over her head and shoulders. The fires had been lit near that tank in a low-lying spot, and rawghan kunjut, that is, sesame oil, had been poured on them, which increased their blaze. There were about fifteen men there holding bundles of thin firewood, and with them about ten holding large logs, and the drummers and trumpeters stood waiting for the woman to come. The fire had been screened off by a sheet held by the men in their hands, so that the sight of it should not frighten her. I saw one of them, when she reached that sheet, pull it violently from the men's hands and say to them: ### [10.12.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.4) 'Mārā mī tarsānī az āṭash? Man mī dānam ū āṭash āst, rahā kunī mārā,' laughing as she said it. The meaning of these words is: 'Do you frighten me with fire? I know that it is a burning fire!' Then she joined her hands above her head in obeisance to the fire and threw herself into it. At that the drums, horns and trumpets were sounded, the men threw the firewood in their hands onto her, and the others put those logs on top of her so that she could not move. The voices rose and the clamour grew. When I saw this I nearly fell from my horse, had not my companions quickly brought me water; they washed my face and I went away. The people of Hind likewise practise drowning: many of them drown themselves in the river Gang, which is the place to which they go on pilgrimage and into which the ashes of those who are burned are thrown; they say it is from Paradise. When one of them comes to drown himself he says to those present: 'Do not think that I drown myself for some worldly matter or for lack of wealth; my purpose is only to draw near to Kusāy' — Kusāy, with u after the k and with unpointed s, is the name of God, mighty and glorious, in their language. Then he drowns himself, and when he is dead they take him out, burn him and throw his ashes into the aforesaid river. ### [10.12.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.5) Let us return to our former account. We travelled from the town of Ajūdahan and, after a journey of four days from it, reached the town of Sarastī. Its name is spelt with two s's with a, between them an r without vowel, then a ### [10.12.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.6) t with two dots with i, and y. It is a large town with much rice, and its rice is good and is carried from it to the capital Dihlī. It yields a very large revenue; the chamberlain Shams al-Dīn al-Būshanjī told me its amount, but I have forgotten it. ### [10.12.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.7) Then we travelled from it to the town of Hānsī — its name is spelt with a after unpointed ḥ, then alif, n without vowel, unpointed s with i, and y. It is one of the finest, best built and most populous of towns, and it has a mighty wall whose builder, they say, was one of the great infidel sultans called Tūra — with u after the dotted t and a after the r — about whom they have stories and tales. From this town come Kamāl al-Dīn Ṣadr al-Jahān, chief qāḍī of Hind, and his brother Quṭlū Khān, the Sultan's tutor, and their two brothers Niẓām al-Dīn and Shams al-Dīn, who devoted himself to God and lived near the sanctuary at Mecca until he died. ### [10.12.8](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.8) Then we travelled from Hānsī and after two days reached Masʿūd Ābād, which is ten miles from the capital Dihlī, and we stayed there three days. Hānsī and Masʿūd Ābād both belong to the exalted malik Hūshanj — with u after the h, a after the dotted sh, n without vowel, and then j — son of Malik Kamāl Gurg, with two hard k's, the first with u, which means 'the wolf'; he will be mentioned later. ### [10.12.9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.9) The Sultan of Hind, whose capital we were making for, was absent from it in the region of the city of Qanūj, which is ten days from the capital Dihlī. In the capital were his mother, called al-Makhdūma Jahān — jahān is the word for 'the world' — and also his vizier Khwāja Jahān, named Aḥmad b. Iyās, a Rūmī by origin. The vizier sent his men to meet us, and appointed to receive each of us someone of his own rank. Among those he appointed to receive me were Shaykh al-Basṭāmī, al-Sharīf al-Māzandarānī, who is the chamberlain of foreigners, and the jurist ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Multānī, known as Qunnara, with u after the q and a doubled n with a. He wrote to the Sultan with news of us and sent the letter by al-dāwa, which is the foot post, as we have described. It reached the Sultan, and the reply came to him during those three days that we stayed at Masʿūd Ābād. ### [10.12.10](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.10) After those days the qāḍīs, the jurists, the shaykhs and some of the amīrs came out to meet us — they call amīrs "maliks", so that where the people of Egypt and elsewhere say "amīr" they say "malik" — and Shaykh Ẓahīr al-Dīn al-Zanjānī, who holds high rank with the Sultan, came out to meet us. ### [10.12.11](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.11) Then we set out from Masʿūd Ābād and halted near a village called Pālam (with Persian p and a after the l), which belongs to the noble sayyid Nāṣir al-Dīn Muṭahhar al-Awharī, one of the Sultan's boon companions and one of those who enjoy his complete favour. ### [10.12.12](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.12.12) On the following day we reached the capital Dihlī, the metropolis of the land of Hind — its name is vocalised with i after the d, no vowel on the h, and i after the l. It is a city of great importance, vast, combining beauty and strength, and it is surrounded by a wall whose equal is not known anywhere in the world. It is the greatest city of Hind, indeed of all the cities of Islam in the East. ### [10.13.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.13.1) The city of Dihlī covers a wide area and is densely built up, and it now consists of four neighbouring, contiguous cities. ### [10.13.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.13.2) The first is the one called by this name, Dihlī, which is the old city, built by the infidels; its conquest was in the year 584. ### [10.13.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.13.3) The second is called Sīrī (with i after the s and the r and a long ī between them), and is also called Dār al-Khilāfa; it is the one the Sultan gave to Ghiyāth al-Dīn, grandson of the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mustanṣir, when he came to him. Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn and his son Quṭb al-Dīn used to reside there; we shall mention them. ### [10.13.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.13.4) The third is called Tughluq Ābād, after its builder Sultan Tughluq, father of the Sultan of Hind to whom we came. The reason he built it was that one day he was standing before Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn and said to him, "O Khūnd ʿĀlam, a city ought to be built here." The Sultan said to him mockingly, "When you are sultan, build it." And it was God's decree that he became sultan, so he built it and named it after himself! The fourth is called Jahān Panāh and is reserved as the residence of Sultan Muḥammad Shāh, the present king of Hind to whom we came. It was he who built it. He had wanted to enclose these four cities within a single wall, and built part of it but abandoned building the rest because of the enormous cost of building it. ### [10.14.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.14.1) The wall surrounding the city of Dihlī has no equal. The thickness of its wall is eleven cubits, and in it are chambers in which the night-watchmen and the gatekeepers live, and there are storehouses for food, which they call anbārs, storehouses for munitions, and storehouses for mangonels and ballistas. Grain keeps in them for a long time without spoiling or being attacked by blight. I saw rice being brought out of one of those storehouses; its colour had turned black, but its taste was good. I also saw kodrū being brought out of them. All of that had been stored by Sultan Balaban ninety years before. Horsemen and foot soldiers walk inside the wall from one end of the city to the other, and it has windows opening towards the city through which light enters. The lower part of this wall is built of stone and the upper part of brick, and its towers are many and close together. ### [10.14.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.14.2) This city has twenty-eight gates; they call a gate darwāza. Among them are the Darwāza ### [10.14.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.14.3) of Badhāwun, which is the largest; the Darwāza of Mandawī, where the grain market is; the Darwāza of Gul (with u after the g), which is where the gardens are; the Darwāza of Shāh, the name of a man; the Darwāza of Pālam, the name of a village we have already mentioned; the Darwāza of Najīb, the name of a man; the Darwāza of Kamāl, likewise; the Darwāza of Ghazna, named after the city of Ghazna on the border of Khurāsān, outside which are the muṣallā for the festival and some cemeteries; and the Darwāza of al-Bajālṣa (with a after the b, the j and the ṣ). ### [10.14.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.14.4) Outside this darwāza are the cemeteries of Dihlī. It is a fine cemetery in which they build domes, and every grave must have a miḥrāb even if it has no dome. They plant flowering trees in it, such as gul shanbah, raybūl, nasrīn and others, and flowers there never cease in any season. ### [10.15.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.15.1) The congregational mosque of Dihlī covers a wide area. Its walls, roof and paving are all of white stone, most exquisitely carved and most skilfully joined with lead, and there is no wood in it at all. It has thirteen domes of stone, its minbar is also of stone, and it has four courtyards. In the middle of the mosque is the awesome pillar of which no one knows what metal it is made. ### [10.15.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10.15.2) One of their learned men told me that it is called haft jūsh (with a after the h, no vowel on the f, then t, j with u, and ending in sh), meaning "seven metals", and that it is composed of them. A portion of this pillar the length of a forefinger has been polished, and the polished part has a great lustre. Iron makes no mark on it. Its height is thirty cubits. We wound a turban around it, and the part of it that encircled its circumference was eight cubits. _First 101 of 141 passages. [Read on](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10)_ ## Linked texts (1) - [تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta.10.0.p1) — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.10) · Pramāṇa