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تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 11

English (machine translation) 11

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Contents

11.0.p1

Description of the city of Dihlī; the saints and holy men of Dihlī; Sultan Shams al-Dīn Lalmish (Iletmish) and his sons; Sultana Raḍiyya, daughter of Shams al-Dīn ...

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Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn Balban and his grandson; Sultan Khusraw Khān Nāṣir al-Dīn; Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn Tughluq.

11.1.1

The jurist, imam and most learned scholar, the chief qāḍī of Hind and Sind, Kamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. al-Burhān al-Ghaznawī, entitled Ṣadr al-Jahān, told me that the city of Dihlī was conquered from the hands of the infidels in the year five hundred and eighty-four; I myself read this written on the miḥrāb of its great congregational mosque. He also told me that it was conquered by the amīr Quṭb al-Dīn Aybak — his name is spelt with a over the hamza, the yāʾ, last letter of the alphabet, unvowelled, and a over the single-dotted bāʾ — who bore the title Sipāh Sālār, meaning commander of the armies. He was one of the mamlūks of the exalted Sultan Shihāb al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Sām al-Ghūrī, king of Ghazna and Khurāsān, who had seized the kingdom of Ibrāhīm, son of the warrior Sultan Maḥmūd b. Sabuktigīn, who began the conquest of Hind.

11.1.2

The said Sultan Shihāb al-Dīn had sent the amīr Quṭb al-Dīn with a great army, and God granted him the conquest of the city of Lāhūr, where he settled and his standing grew great. He was slandered to the sultan, and the sultan's companions suggested to him that he

11.1.3

wished to rule Hind by himself, and that he had rebelled and turned against him. This news reached Quṭb al-Dīn, who hastened in person, arrived at Ghazna by night and went in to the sultan, without those who had denounced him knowing of it. Next day the sultan sat on his throne and seated Aybak beneath the throne so that he could not be seen. The boon companions and intimates who had slandered him came, and when they had settled in their seats the sultan asked them about Aybak. They told him that he had rebelled and turned against him, and said: 'We have established for certain that he has claimed the kingship for himself.' The sultan struck his throne with his foot, clapped his hands and said: 'Aybak!' He replied: 'At your service!' and came out before them. They were dumbfounded and hastened to kiss the ground. The sultan said to them: 'I have forgiven you this slip, but beware of speaking again against Aybak.' He ordered him to return to the land of Hind; he returned there and conquered the city of Dihlī and other places, and Islam has remained established there to this day. Quṭb al-Dīn stayed there until he died.

11.2.1

His name is spelt with a over the first lām, the second unvowelled, i under the mīm, and a dotted shīn. He was the first to rule the kingdom in the city of Dihlī independently. Before becoming king he was a mamlūk of the amīr Quṭb al-Dīn Aybak, commander of his army and his deputy. When Quṭb al-Dīn Aybak died he seized sole power and made the people swear allegiance. The jurists came to him, led by the chief qāḍī of the time, Wajīh al-Dīn al-Kāsānī; they went in to him and sat before him, the qāḍī sitting beside him as was customary. The sultan understood what they wished to speak to him about, so he lifted the edge of the carpet he was sitting on and brought out for them a deed of his manumission. The qāḍī and the jurists read it and all swore allegiance to him, and he ruled independently. His reign lasted twenty years; he was just, pious and virtuous.

11.2.2

Among his noble deeds was that he was zealous in redressing wrongs and giving justice to the wronged. He ordered every wronged person to wear a coloured garment — all the people of Hind wear white — so whenever he sat to receive the people or rode out and saw someone in a coloured garment, he looked into his case and gave him justice against the one who had wronged him. Then he found this insufficient and said: 'Some people suffer wrongs at night, and I want to give them justice quickly.' So at the gate of his palace he placed two lions

11.2.3

carved from marble, set on two towers there, with iron chains around their necks from which hung a large bell. The wronged person would come at night and ring the bell; the sultan would hear it, look into his case at once and give him justice. When Sultan Shams al-Dīn died he left three sons — Rukn al-Dīn, who succeeded him, Muʿizz al-Dīn and Nāṣir al-Dīn — and a daughter named Raḍiyya, full sister of Muʿizz al-Dīn among them. Rukn al-Dīn succeeded him, as we have mentioned.

11.3.1

When allegiance was sworn to Rukn al-Dīn after his father's death, he began his rule by attacking his brother Muʿizz al-Dīn and killing him. Raḍiyya, his full sister, condemned this, and he wanted to kill her. One Friday, when Rukn al-Dīn went out to prayer, Raḍiyya climbed onto the roof of the old palace next to the great congregational mosque, called Dawlat Khāna, wearing the garments of the wronged. She showed herself to the people and spoke to them from the roof, saying: 'My brother has killed his brother, and he wants to kill me too.' She reminded them of her father's days, his good deeds and his kindness to them. At that they rose against Sultan Rukn al-Dīn while he was in the mosque, seized him and brought him to her. She said to them: 'The killer is to be killed.' So they killed him in retaliation for his brother. Their brother Nāṣir al-Dīn was young, so the people agreed to make Raḍiyya ruler.

11.4.1

When Rukn al-Dīn had been killed, the troops agreed to make his sister Raḍiyya ruler; they gave her the kingship and she ruled independently for four years. She rode with bow, quiver and bow-case as men ride, and did not veil her face.

11.4.2

Then she was suspected with an Abyssinian slave of hers, so the people agreed to depose her and marry her off. She was deposed and married to one of her relatives, and her brother Nāṣir al-Dīn took the kingship.

11.5.1

When Raḍiyya was deposed, her younger brother Nāṣir al-Dīn took power and ruled independently for a time. Then Raḍiyya and her husband rebelled against him; they rode out with their mamlūks and the mischief-makers who followed them and prepared to fight him. Nāṣir al-Dīn came out with his mamlūk and deputy Ghiyāth al-Dīn Balban, who ruled after him. Battle was joined, Raḍiyya's army was routed and she fled alone. Hunger overtook her and exhaustion wore her out, so she went up to a ploughman she saw ploughing the land and asked him for something to eat. He gave her a crust of bread; she ate it and sleep overcame her. She was in men's dress, but when she slept the ploughman looked at her and saw under her clothes a jewelled tunic, and knew she was a woman. He killed her, stripped her, drove off her horse and buried her in his field. He took some of her clothes and went to the market to sell them. The market people grew suspicious of him and brought him to the shiḥna, that is the governor, who beat him; he confessed to killing her and showed them where she was buried. They exhumed her, washed and shrouded her, and she was buried there, and a dome was built over her. Her tomb is now visited and people seek blessing from it; it is on the bank of the great river known as the river Jūn, one parasang from the city.

11.5.2

After her, Nāṣir al-Dīn ruled alone, and his rule remained secure for twenty years. He was a righteous king;

11.5.3

he used to make copies of the Noble Book and sell them, living on what they fetched! The qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn showed me a copy of the Qurʾān in his hand, exact and finely written. Then his deputy Ghiyāth al-Dīn Balban killed him and reigned after him. This Balban has a curious story, which we shall relate.

11.6.1

His name is spelled with two single-dotted bāʾs with a lām between them, all with fatḥa, and ending in nūn. When Balban killed his master Sultan Nāṣir al-Dīn, he ruled alone after him for twenty years, having before that been his deputy for another twenty years. He was one of the best of sultans, just, forbearing

11.6.2

and virtuous. Among his noble deeds was that he built a house and named it the House of Safety. Any debtor who entered it had his debt paid; anyone who entered it in fear was made safe; anyone who entered it having killed someone, the kin of the slain man were satisfied on his behalf; and any offender who entered it, whoever was pursuing him was likewise satisfied. He was buried in that house when he died, and I visited his tomb.

11.7.1

It is related that one of the faqīrs in Bukhārā saw this Balban there—he was short, insignificant and ugly—and said to him:

11.7.2

"Turkak!"—a word expressing contempt. He answered, "At your service, khwand!" His words pleased him, and he said to him:

11.7.3

"Buy me some of these pomegranates," pointing to pomegranates being sold in the market. He said, "Yes," and took out a few small coins, all he had, and bought him some of those pomegranates. When the faqīr took them, he said to him, "We have granted you the kingdom of Hind." Balban kissed his own hand and said, "I accept and am content!" And that settled in his mind.

11.7.4

It happened that Sultan Shams al-Dīn Lalmish sent a merchant to buy mamlūks for him in Samarqand,

11.7.5

Bukhārā and Tirmidh. He bought a hundred mamlūks, Balban among them. When he brought the mamlūks before the sultan, he was pleased with all of them except Balban, because of the ugliness we mentioned, and said, "I will not accept this one." Balban said to him, "O khwand of the world, for whom did you buy these mamlūks?" He laughed at him and said, "I bought them for myself." He said, "Then buy me for God, mighty and exalted!" He said, "Yes," accepted him and placed him among the mamlūks, but he was held in low esteem and put among the water-carriers. Those versed in the science of the stars used to say to Sultan Shams al-Dīn: "One of your mamlūks will take the kingdom from your son's hand and seize it." They kept telling him this, but he paid no attention to their words because of his righteousness and justice, until they mentioned it to the senior khātūn, the mother of his children. She mentioned it to him, and it affected him. He sent for the astrologers and said, "Would you recognise the mamlūk who will take my son's kingdom if you saw him?" They said, "Yes, we have a sign by which we know him." The sultan ordered a muster of his mamlūks and sat for it. They were paraded before him rank by rank while the astrologers looked at them, saying, "We have not seen him yet." Noon came, and the water-carriers said to one another, "We are hungry; let us collect some dirhams and send one of us to the market to buy us something to eat." They collected the dirhams and sent Balban with them, since there was none among them more lowly than he. He did not find what they wanted in the market, so he went on to another market and was delayed. The water-carriers' turn in the muster came while he had not yet returned, so they put his waterskin and vessel on a boy's shoulders and presented him as Balban. When his name was called, the boy passed before them, the muster ended, and the astrologers did not see the figure they sought. Balban came after the muster was over, God wishing to carry out His decree. Then his excellence became evident, and he was made chief of the water-carriers, then joined the soldiers, then the amīrs.

11.7.6

Then Sultan Nāṣir al-Dīn married his daughter before he became king, and when he became king he made him his deputy for twenty years; then Balban killed him and seized his kingdom for another twenty years, as was mentioned above! Sultan Balban had two sons. One was al-Khān al-Shahīd, his heir apparent, who was his father's governor in the land of Sind, residing in the city of Multān; he was killed in a war with the Tatars and left two sons, Kay Qubād and Kay Khusraw. Sultan Balban's second son was called Nāṣir al-Dīn and was his father's governor in the lands of Lakhnawtī

11.7.7

and Banjāla. When al-Khān al-Shahīd fell as a martyr, Sultan Balban gave the succession to his son Kay Khusraw, passing over his own son Nāṣir al-Dīn. Nāṣir al-Dīn also had a son living in the capital Dihlī with his grandfather Ghiyāth al-Dīn, called Muʿizz al-Dīn; it was he who became king after his grandfather, in a remarkable story we shall relate, while his father was still alive, as we mentioned.

11.8.1

When Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn died at night, his son Nāṣir al-Dīn being away in the lands of Lakhnawtī, having given the succession to his martyred son's son Kay Khusraw as we have told, the Malik al-Umarāʾ, deputy of Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn, was an enemy of Kay Khusraw, and he contrived a ruse against him that succeeded. He wrote an oath of allegiance on which he forged the signatures of the great amīrs, stating that they had sworn allegiance to Muʿizz al-Dīn, grandson of Sultan Balban. He went in to Kay Khusraw as though advising him and said, "The amīrs have sworn allegiance to your cousin, and I fear for you from them." Kay Khusraw said, "What is to be done?" He said, "Save yourself by fleeing to the land of Sind." He said, "How can I get out when the gates are shut?" He said, "The keys are in my hand, and I will open for you." He thanked him for this and kissed his hand, and he said to him:

11.8.2

"Mount now." So he mounted with his intimates and mamlūks; he opened the gate for him, let him out and shut it behind him. Then he asked admission to Muʿizz al-Dīn and swore allegiance to him. He said, "How can this be for me when the succession belongs to my cousin?" He informed him of the ruse he had contrived against him and of his expulsion, and he thanked him for it. He took him to the royal palace and sent for the amīrs and the notables, who swore allegiance to him by night; in the morning all the people swore allegiance to him, and the kingdom was secure for him.

11.8.3

His father was alive in the lands of Banjāla and al-Laknawtī, and when the news reached him he said: "I am the heir to the kingdom; how can my son take the kingship and rule it alone while I am still alive?" So he set out with his armies for the capital Dihlī, and his son likewise set out with his armies to defend it against him. They met at the city of Karā, which lies on the bank of the river Gang to which the Hindus make pilgrimage. Nāṣir al-Dīn encamped on its bank on the Karā side, and his son Sultan Muʿizz al-Dīn encamped on the other side, with the river between them, and they resolved to fight. Then God Most High willed to spare the blood of the Muslims, and He put into the heart of Nāṣir al-Dīn compassion for his son, and he said: "If my son is king, that is an honour for me, and I have more reason than anyone to wish for it." And He put into the heart of Sultan Muʿizz al-Dīn humility towards his father.

11.8.4

So each of them boarded a boat alone, apart from his armies, and they met in the middle of the river. The sultan kissed his father's foot and asked his pardon, and his father said to him: "I have given you my kingdom and appointed you over it," and swore allegiance to him. He wished to return to his own lands, but his son said to him: "You must come to my country." So he went with him to Dihlī and entered the palace, and his father seated him on the royal throne and stood before him. That meeting between them on the river was called "the meeting of the two auspicious stars," because of the bloodshed it spared, their giving the kingdom to one another, and their refraining from strife; and the poets composed much about it. Nāṣir al-Dīn returned to his lands and died there some years later, leaving descendants there, among them Ghiyāth al-Dīn Bahādur, whom Sultan Tughluq took captive and whom his son Muḥammad released after his death. The kingdom remained firmly with Muʿizz al-Dīn for four years after that, which were like festivals. I saw some who had lived through them describe their prosperity, the cheapness of prices, and the generosity and liberality of Muʿizz al-Dīn. It was he who built the minaret in the northern court of the congregational mosque of Dihlī, which has no equal in the land.

11.8.5

Some of the people of Hind told me that Muʿizz al-Dīn indulged much in women and drink, so that he was struck by an illness whose cure defeated the physicians, and one side of his body withered. His deputy Jalāl al-Dīn Fīrūz Shāh al-Khaljī — with a on the dotted khāʾ, the lām and the jīm — rose against him.

11.9.1

When Sultan Muʿizz al-Dīn was afflicted, as we have mentioned, with the withering of one side of his body, his deputy Jalāl al-Dīn rebelled against him [— as we have mentioned, with the withering of one side of his body, his deputy Jalāl al-Dīn rebelled against him —] and went out to the outskirts of the city and took position on a hill there beside a dome known as the Dome of al-Jayshānī. Muʿizz al-Dīn sent the amīrs to fight him, but each one he sent swore allegiance to Jalāl al-Dīn and joined his following. Then he entered the city and besieged him in the palace for three days.

11.9.2

Someone who witnessed this told me that Sultan Muʿizz al-Dīn suffered hunger during those days and could find nothing to eat, so one of the sharīfs among his neighbours sent him enough to keep him alive. The palace was then entered against him and he was killed, and after him there ruled

11.9.3

Jalāl al-Dīn. He was forbearing and virtuous, and his forbearance led to his being killed, as we shall relate. The kingdom remained firmly his for some years, and he built the palace known by his name, which is the one Sultan Muḥammad gave to his brother-in-law the amīr Ghadā b. Muhannā when he married him to his sister, as will be mentioned. Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn had a son named Rukn al-Dīn and a nephew named ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, whom he married to his daughter and appointed governor of the city of Karā and Mānakbūr and their districts. This is among the most fertile lands of Hind, abounding in wheat, rice and sugar, and fine cloths are made there and brought from there to Dihlī; the distance between them is eighteen days' journey.

11.9.4

ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn's wife used to mistreat him, and he kept complaining of her to his uncle Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn until estrangement arose between them on her account. ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn was spirited, brave, victorious and triumphant, and the love of kingship was fixed in his soul, but he had no wealth except what he gained by his sword from the spoils of the infidels. It happened that he once went raiding in the land of al-Duwayqīr, which is also called the land of al-Katka — we shall describe it — and which is the capital of the lands of al-Mālwa and al-Marhata. Its sultan was the greatest of the sultans of the infidels. During that raid a mount of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn's stumbled against a stone, and he heard a ringing sound from it; he ordered digging there and found beneath it a great treasure,

11.9.5

which he distributed among his companions. He reached al-Duwayqīr, and its sultan submitted to him in obedience and gave him possession of the city without a battle, and presented him with great gifts. He then returned to the city of Karā, but sent his uncle nothing of the spoils. People incited his uncle against him, and he summoned him, but he refused to come to him. Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn said: "I will go to him myself and bring him, for he is as my son." So he set out with his troops and pressed on stage after stage until he encamped on the bank at the city of Karā, where Sultan Muʿizz al-Dīn had encamped when he went out to meet his father Nāṣir al-Dīn. He took to the river in order to reach his nephew, and his nephew likewise boarded a second boat, intending to assassinate him, and said to his companions: "When I embrace him, kill him." When they met in the middle of the river, his nephew embraced him, and his companions killed him as he had instructed them, and he took possession of his kingdom and his troops.

11.10.1

When he had killed his uncle he took sole possession of the kingdom. Most of his uncle's troops fled to him, while some returned to Dihlī and rallied around Rukn al-Dīn. He went out to repel him, but they all fled to Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, and Rukn al-Dīn fled to Sind. ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn entered the royal residence and the rule remained firmly his for twenty years. He was among the best of sultans, and the people of Hind praise him greatly. He used to look into the affairs of his subjects in person and ask about their prices, and he had the muḥtasib — whom they call the raʾīs — brought before him every day for that purpose. It is related that one day he asked him the reason for the dearness of meat, and he told him it was because of the heavy dues levied on cattle at the toll stations. He ordered these abolished, had the merchants summoned and gave them money, saying to them: "Buy cattle and sheep with this and sell them; the proceeds will go to the treasury, and you shall have a fee for selling them." They did so, and he did likewise with the cloths brought from Dawlat Ābād.

11.10.2

Whenever the price of grain rose, he would open the storehouses and sell grain until the price fell. It is related that the price rose on one occasion, so he ordered grain to be sold at a price he fixed, but people refused to sell at that price, so he ordered that

11.10.3

no one should sell grain other than the grain of the storehouse, and he sold to the people for six months. The hoarders then feared that their grain would be spoiled by weevils, and they asked to be permitted to sell; he permitted them on condition that they sold it for less than the first price at which they had refused to sell it.

11.10.4

He would not ride out for the Friday prayer, nor for a festival, nor on any other occasion. The reason for this was that he had a nephew called Sulaymān Shāh, whom he loved and honoured. One day he rode out to hunt with him, and [the nephew] secretly resolved to do to him what he himself had done to his uncle Jalāl al-Dīn, namely to murder him. When he dismounted for the midday meal, [the nephew] shot him with an arrow and knocked him down; one of his slaves covered him with a shield, and his nephew came to finish him off, but the slaves told him: "He is already dead," and he believed them. He rode off and entered the palace, going in to the women's quarters. Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn recovered from his swoon, mounted, and the troops gathered around him. His nephew fled, but was overtaken and brought to him, and he killed him. After that he would not ride out.

11.10.5

His sons were Khiḍr Khān, Shādī Khān, Abū Bakr Khān, Mubārak Khān — who is Quṭb al-Dīn, who came to rule — and Shihāb al-Dīn. Quṭb al-Dīn was slighted by him, of small fortune and little favour. He gave all his brothers the marks of rank, namely banners and drums, but gave him nothing. One day he said to him: "I must give you the same as I have given your brothers," and he replied: "It is God who will give to me!" These words alarmed his father, and he was frightened of him.

11.10.6

Then the sultan was struck by the illness of which he died. His wife, the mother of his son Khiḍr Khān, who was called Māh Ḥaqq — māh means "moon" in their language — had a brother called Sanjar, and she made a pact with her brother to make her son Khiḍr Khān king. Malik Nāʾib, the greatest of the sultan's amīrs, learned of this; he was

11.10.7

called al-Alfī because the sultan had bought him for a thousand tanka, which is two thousand five hundred dinars of the Maghrib. He informed the sultan of what they had agreed upon, and [the sultan] said to his intimates: "When Sanjar comes in to me, I shall give him a robe; when he puts it on, seize him by the sleeves, throw him to the ground and cut his throat." When he came in to him they did so and killed him! Khiḍr Khān was away at a place called Sandabat, a day's journey from Dihlī; he had gone to visit martyrs buried there, in fulfilment of a vow he had made to walk that distance on foot and pray for his father's recovery. When he heard that his father had killed his maternal uncle, he grieved for him intensely and tore the front of his garment, which is a custom of the people of Hind when someone dear to them dies. His father learned of what he had done and disliked it; when he came in to him he rebuked and reproached him, ordered that his hands and feet be fettered, handed him over to the aforementioned Malik Nāʾib, and ordered him to take him to the fortress of Kālyūr — its spelling is with the knotted kāf with a, the lām with i, the yāʾ with u, and finally a rāʾ; it is also called Kiyālīr, with an additional second yāʾ. It is an isolated fortress among the Hindu infidels, impregnable, ten days' journey from Dihlī, and I myself lived in it for a time. When he brought him to this fortress, he handed him over to the kutwāl, who is the commander of the fortress, and to the mufradūn, who are the guards, and said to them: "Do not say, 'This is the sultan's son,' and treat him with honour; he is his worst enemy, so guard him as an enemy is guarded!" Then the sultan's illness grew worse, and he said to Malik Nāʾib: "Send someone to bring my son Khiḍr Khān so that I may make him heir apparent." He said to him: "Yes," but kept putting it off, and whenever he asked him about it he would say, "He is about to arrive," until the sultan died, may God have mercy on him.

11.11.1

When Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn died, Malik Nāʾib seated his youngest son Shihāb al-Dīn on the throne

11.11.2

of the kingdom, and the people swore allegiance to him, but Malik Nāʾib dominated him. He blinded Abū Bakr Khān and Shādī Khān and sent them to Kālyūr, and ordered that their brother Khiḍr Khān, imprisoned there, be blinded too; they were imprisoned, and Quṭb al-Dīn was imprisoned as well, but he did not blind him. Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn had two mamlūks among his intimates, one called Bashīr and the other Mubashshir. The senior khātūn, the wife of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn and daughter of Sultan Muʿizz al-Dīn, sent for them, reminded them of the favours of their master, and said: "This fellow Nāʾib Malik has done to my sons what you know, and he wants to kill Quṭb al-Dīn." They said to her: "You will see what we do." It was their custom to spend the night with Nāʾib Malik and to go in to him armed. They went in to him that night while he was in a wooden chamber covered with woollen cloth, which they call the khurmaqa, in which he slept during the rainy season on the roof of the palace. It happened that he took the sword from the hand of one of them, turned it over and handed it back to him, and the mamlūk struck him with it; his companion struck a second blow, and they cut off his head and brought it to Quṭb al-Dīn's prison, threw it before him and let him out. He went in to his brother Shihāb al-Dīn and remained before him for some days as if he were his deputy, then resolved to depose him, and deposed him.

11.12.1

Quṭb al-Dīn deposed his brother Shihāb al-Dīn, cut off his finger and sent him to Kālyūr, where he was imprisoned with his brothers, and the kingdom was firmly established for Quṭb al-Dīn. After that he went out from the capital Dihlī to Dawlat Ābād, which is forty days' journey from it. The road between them is lined with trees, willows and others, so that one walking along it seems to be in a garden. In every mile of it there are three dāwas, that is, the post, whose arrangement we have described, and in every dāwa there is everything the traveller needs, so that it is as if he were walking through a market for the forty days' journey. In the same way the road continues to the lands of Tiling and Maʿbar, six months' journey, and at every halting-place there is a palace

11.12.2

for the sultan and a hospice for those coming and going, so that the poor man need not carry provisions on that road! When Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn set out on this expedition, some of the amīrs agreed to rebel against him and to set up the son of his brother Khiḍr Khān, the imprisoned one; the boy was about ten years old and was with the sultan. News of this reached the sultan, so he took this nephew of his, seized him by the legs and dashed his head against the stones until his brains were scattered, and he sent one of the amīrs, called Malik Shāh, to Kālyūr, where the boy's father and uncles were, and ordered him to kill them all! The qāḍī Zayn al-Dīn Mubārak, qāḍī of this fortress, told me: "Malik Shāh came to us in the forenoon of a day when I was with Khiḍr Khān in his prison. When he heard of his arrival he was afraid and changed colour. The amīr came in to him, and he said to him, 'What have you come for?' He said, 'On the business of Khwand ʿĀlam.' He said to him, 'Is my life safe?' He said, 'Yes,' and went out from him. He summoned the kotwāl, who is the commander of the fortress, and the mufradūn, who are the zimāmiyyūn, three hundred men, and sent for me and for the notaries, and produced the sultan's order. They read it, then went to Shihāb al-Dīn the deposed and struck off his head, and he was steadfast and not fearful. Then they struck off the heads of Abū Bakr Khān and Shādī Khān. When they came to strike off the head of Khiḍr Khān he was terrified and distraught; his mother was with him, so they shut the door on her and killed him. They dragged them all into a pit without shrouding or washing." Years later they were taken out and buried in the tombs of their fathers. Khiḍr Khān's mother lived on for a time, and I saw her in Mecca in the year [seven hundred and] twenty-eight.

11.12.3

This fortress of Kālyūr stands on top of a lofty height, as if carved from the rock, with no mountain facing it. Inside it are water cisterns and about twenty wells, with walls around them joined to the fortress, on which mangonels and ballistas are set up. One climbs to the fortress by a wide road which the elephant and the horse can ascend. At the gate of the fortress is the figure of an elephant carved from stone, with the figure of an elephant-driver on it; when a person sees it from afar he does not doubt that it is a real elephant. Below the fortress is a fine city, built entirely of dressed white stone, its mosques and its houses alike, with no wood in it except the doors; so too the royal palace there, and the domes and audience halls.

11.12.4

Most of its tradespeople are infidels, and in it are six hundred horsemen of the sultan's army who are constantly engaged in holy war, since it lies among the infidels.

11.12.5

When Quṭb al-Dīn had killed his brothers and held the kingdom alone, with no one left to contest it with him or rebel against him, God Most High sent against him his own favourite, the greatest of his amīrs and the highest in rank with him, Nāṣir al-Dīn Khusraw Khān, who fell upon him, killed him and took his kingdom for himself. But his time in the kingship was not long, for God likewise sent against him one who deposed and then killed him, namely Sultan Tughluq, as all this will be fully explained and set down hereafter, if God Most High wills.

11.13.1

Khusraw Khān was one of the greatest amīrs of Quṭb al-Dīn; he was brave and handsome, and he had conquered the land of Jandīrī and the land of Maʿbar, which are among the most fertile lands of Hind, six months' journey from Dihlī. Quṭb al-Dīn loved him intensely and favoured him, and this brought about his death at his hands. Quṭb al-Dīn had a tutor called Qāḍī Khān Ṣadr al-Jahān, who was the greatest of his amīrs and the kalīt-dār, that is, the keeper of the keys of the palace. His custom was to spend every night at the sultan's gate together with the men of the watch, who are a thousand men who keep the night watch in turns every four nights. They stand in two rows between the gates of the palace, each with his weapons before him, so that no one enters except between their two rows. When the night is over, the men of the day watch come.

11.13.2

The men of the watch have amīrs and secretaries who go round among them and record who is absent and who is present. The sultan's tutor Qāḍī Khān disliked the doings of Khusraw Khān and was troubled by what he saw of his favouring the Hindu infidels and his inclination towards them, for he was of their origin. He kept putting this to the sultan, but he would not listen to him and would say to him, 'Leave him to do as he wishes,' because of what God had decreed of his being killed at his hands. One day Khusraw Khān said to the sultan, 'A group of Hindus wish to become Muslims.' It is their custom in that country that when a Hindu wishes to embrace Islam

11.13.3

he is brought in to the sultan, who clothes him in a fine robe and gives him a necklace and bracelets of gold according to his rank. The sultan said to him, 'Bring them to me!' He said, 'They are ashamed to come in to you by day because of their relatives and the people of their religion.' He said to him, 'Bring them to me by night!' So Khusraw Khān gathered a group of the bravest and most prominent Hindus, among them his brother Khān-i Khānān. It was the hot season, and the sultan was sleeping on the roof of the palace, with no one with him at that time but a few pages. When they had passed through the four gates, fully armed, and reached the fifth gate, where Qāḍī Khān was, he found their business suspicious, sensed evil and prevented them from entering, saying, 'I must hear permission for their entry from Khwand ʿĀlam himself, and then they may enter.' When he prevented them from entering they fell upon him and killed him, and the uproar rose at the gate. The sultan said, 'What is this?'

11.13.4

Khusraw Khān said, 'It is the Hindus who have come to become Muslims, and Qāḍī Khān has prevented them from entering.' The uproar grew, and the sultan became afraid and rose, wishing to go into the palace; but its door was shut, with the pages inside. He knocked on the door, and Khusraw Khān seized him from behind. The sultan was stronger than he and threw him down, and the Hindus came in. Khusraw Khān said to them, 'Here he is on top of me, kill him!' So they killed him, cut off his head and threw it from the palace roof into its courtyard.

11.13.5

Khusraw Khān at once sent for the amīrs and maliks, who did not know what had happened; and as each party came in they found him on the royal throne and swore allegiance to him. When morning came he proclaimed his accession and wrote the marāsim, that is, the decrees, to all the provinces, and sent each amīr a robe of honour. They all obeyed him and submitted, except Tughluq Shāh, father of Sultan Muḥammad Shāh, who was then amīr at Dībālpūr in the land of Sind. When Khusraw Khān's robe of honour reached him he threw it on the ground and sat on it. He [Khusraw Khān] sent his brother Khān-i Khānān against him, and he routed him; then in the end he killed him, as we shall explain in the account of Tughluq.

11.13.6

When Khusraw Khān became king he favoured the Hindus and openly did reprehensible things, among them forbidding the slaughter of cows

11.13.7

after the custom of the infidels of Hind, for they do not permit them to be slaughtered, and among them the penalty for one who slaughters one is to be sewn into its hide and burned! They venerate cows and drink their urine for blessing and as a cure when they are ill, and they smear their houses and walls with their dung. This was among the things that made Khusraw Khān hateful to the Muslims and turned them from him towards Tughluq, so that his rule did not last long, nor did the days of his reign extend, as we shall relate.

11.14.1

His name is vocalised with u after the dotted t, a quiescent dotted gh, u after the l, and ending in q. The shaykh, the imām, the pious, learned, practising and devout Rukn al-Dīn, son of the pious shaykh Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh, son of the saint, the imām, the learned and devout Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyāʾ al-Qurashī al-Multānī, told me in his hospice there that Sultan Tughluq was one of the Turks known as the Qarawna (with a after the q and the r, a quiescent w and a after the n), who dwell in the mountains between the land of Sind and the land of the Turks. He was of humble condition, and came to the land of Sind in the service of a certain merchant, being his kalwānī; the kalwānī (with u after the hard k) is a horse-herd. This was in the days of Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, and the amīr of Sind at that time was his brother Ulū Khān (with u after the hamza and the l). Tughluq served him and attached himself to him, and he enrolled him among the bayāda (with i after the single-dotted b and a after the y), that is, the foot-soldiers. Then his excellence became evident and he was entered among the horsemen; then he was one of the lesser amīrs, and Ulū Khān made him master of his horse; afterwards he was one of the great amīrs and was called al-Malik al-Ghāzī.

11.14.2

I saw written on the maqṣūra of the congregational mosque at Multān, which he had ordered built: "I fought the Tatars twenty-nine times and defeated them, and therefore I was named al-Malik al-Ghāzī."

11.14.3

When Quṭb al-Dīn came to power he appointed him over the city of Dibāl Pūr and its district (with i after the undotted d and a after the single-dotted b), and made his son, who is now the sultan of Hind, master of his horse. He was called Jawna, with a after the j

11.14.4

and the n, and when he became king he took the name Muḥammad Shāh. Then, when Quṭb al-Dīn was killed and Khusraw Khān came to power, he kept him as master of the horse. When Tughluq resolved to rebel he had three hundred of his companions on whom he relied in battle, and he wrote to Kishlū Khān, who was then at Multān—between it and Dibāl Pūr is three days—asking him to rise in his support, reminding him of Quṭb al-Dīn's favours and urging him to seek vengeance for him.

11.14.5

Kishlū Khān's son was in Dihlī, so he wrote to Tughluq: "If my son were with me I would help you in what you intend." Tughluq wrote to his son Muḥammad Shāh informing him of what he had resolved and ordering him to flee to him, bringing with him the son of Kishlū Khān. His son planned a stratagem against Khusraw Khān, and it succeeded as he wished. He said to him: "The horses have grown fat and heavy and they need yarāq," that is, training down, and he gave him permission to train them. Every day he would ride out with his companions and exercise them for an hour, two hours or three, and he continued up to four hours, until one day he stayed away until noon, which is their mealtime. The sultan ordered men to ride in search of him, but no news of him was found; he had joined his father and taken Kishlū Khān's son with him. Thereupon Tughluq openly rebelled and gathered troops, and Kishlū Khān came out with him with his companions. The sultan sent his brother Khān Khānān to fight them, and they routed him utterly; his army deserted to them, Khān Khānān returned to his brother, his companions were killed, and his treasuries and wealth were taken.

11.14.6

Tughluq made for the capital Dihlī, and Khusraw Khān came out against him with his troops and encamped outside Dihlī at a place known as Āṣiyā Abād, which means 'windmill'. He ordered the treasuries opened and gave out money by the bagful, neither weighed nor counted. Battle was joined between him and Tughluq, and the Hindus fought most fiercely; Tughluq's troops were routed, his camp was plundered, and he was left alone with his three hundred veteran companions. He said to them: "Where can we flee? Wherever we are caught we will be killed." Khusraw Khān's troops were busy plundering and dispersed from him, and only a few remained with him. Tughluq and his companions made for his position. The sultan there is recognised by the parasol raised over his head, which in Egypt is called 'the dome and the bird' and is raised there on festivals; but in Hind and China

11.14.7

it never leaves the sultan, whether travelling or at home. When Tughluq and his companions made for him, the fighting grew hot between them and the Hindus; the sultan's companions were routed and no one remained with him. He fled, dismounted from his horse, threw off his clothes and weapons, kept only a single shirt, let his hair hang loose between his shoulders as the faqīrs of Hind do, and entered a garden there. The people rallied to Tughluq, and he made for the city; the kotwāl brought him the keys, and he entered the palace and lodged in one part of it. He said to Kishlū Khān: "You shall be sultan." Kishlū Khān said: "No, you shall be sultan," and they disputed. Kishlū Khān said to him: "If you refuse to be sultan, then your son shall rule." He disliked this, and so accepted, sat on the royal throne, and the elite and common people swore allegiance to him. After three days hunger pressed hard on Khusraw Khān, hiding in the garden; he came out and wandered about it, found the caretaker and asked him for food, but he had none. So he gave him his ring and said: "Go and pawn it for food." When he took the ring to the market, the people were suspicious of him and brought him to the shiḥna, that is, the magistrate, who took him in to Sultan Tughluq, and he told him who had given him the ring. He sent his son Muḥammad to fetch him; he seized him and brought him riding on a tattū (with two two-dotted t's, the first with a and the second with u), that is, a pack-pony. When he stood before him he said: "I am hungry, bring me food." He ordered him given sherbet, then food, then beer, then betel. When he had eaten he stood up and said:

11.14.8

"Tughluq, deal with me as kings do, and do not disgrace me!" He said: "You shall have that," and ordered him beheaded. This was in the very place where he had killed Quṭb al-Dīn, and his head and body were thrown from the top of the roof, as he had done with Quṭb al-Dīn's head. After that he ordered him washed and shrouded, and he was buried in his tomb. The kingdom remained firmly in Tughluq's hands for four years, and he was just and virtuous.

11.15.1

When Tughluq had settled in the seat of kingship, he sent his son Muḥammad to conquer the land of Tiling — its spelling is with kasra on the dotted tāʾ and the lām, sukūn on the nūn, and a hard kāf — which lies three months' journey from the city of Dihlī. He sent with him a great army that included the leading amīrs, such as Malik Tamūr, with fatḥa on the dotted tāʾ and ḍamma on the mīm, ending in rāʾ; Malik Tigīn, with kasra on the dotted tāʾ and the kāf, ending in nūn; Malik Kāfūr the muhrdār, with ḍamma on the mīm; Malik Bayram, with the single-dotted bāʾ with fatḥa, the yāʾ (the last letter of the alphabet), and the rāʾ with fatḥa; and others. When he reached the land of Tiling he wished to rebel. He had a boon companion, one of the jurist-poets, known as ʿUbayd, and he ordered him to spread among the people that Sultan Tughluq had died, thinking that the people would hasten to swear allegiance to him

11.15.2

once they heard it. But when he spread this among the people, the amīrs rejected it; each of them beat his drum and rose in revolt, so that not one remained with him. They wanted to kill him, but Malik Tamūr prevented them and stood in his defence, and he fled to his father with ten horsemen whom he called yārān-i muwāfiq, meaning "the agreeable companions". His father gave him money and troops and ordered him to return to Tiling, and he returned there. His father learned what he had intended, and he put the jurist ʿUbayd to death. He gave orders concerning Malik Kāfūr the muhrdār: a stake with a sharpened point was planted in the ground for him and driven into his neck until its tip came out of his side, with his head downward, and he was left in that state. The remaining amīrs fled to Sultan Shams al-Dīn, son of Sultan Nāṣir al-Dīn, son of Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn Balban, and settled with him.

11.16.1

The fugitive amīrs stayed with Sultan Shams al-Dīn. Then Shams al-Dīn died and designated his son Shihāb al-Dīn as successor, who took his father's seat. Then his younger brother Ghiyāth al-Dīn Bahādur Būra — which in the Indian language means "the black" — overpowered him, seized the kingdom, and killed his brother Qutlū Khān and the rest of his brothers. Shihāb al-Dīn and Nāṣir al-Dīn fled from them to Tughluq, who set out in person with them to fight their brother, leaving his son Muḥammad as his deputy over his kingdom. He hastened to the land of Lakhnawtī, conquered it, captured its sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn Bahādur, and brought him as a captive to his capital.

11.16.2

In the city of Dihlī there was the saint Niẓām al-Dīn al-Badhāwunī, and Muḥammad Shāh, the sultan's son, kept visiting him, honouring his servants and asking for his prayers. The shaykh used to be seized by ecstatic states that overcame him, and

11.16.3

the sultan's son said to his servants: "When the shaykh is in the state that overcomes him, let me know." When the state took hold of him they informed him, and he went in to him. When the shaykh saw him, he said: "We have granted you the kingdom." Then the shaykh died during the sultan's absence, and his son Muḥammad carried his bier on his shoulder. This reached his father, who disapproved of it and threatened him. Certain things about him had already aroused his suspicion, and he resented his buying so many mamlūks, his lavish gifts and his winning over people's hearts, so his anger against him grew. He also heard that the astrologers claimed he would not enter the city of Dihlī after that expedition, and he threatened them! When he returned from his expedition and drew near the capital, he ordered his son to build him a palace — they call it a kushk, with ḍamma on the kāf and a dotted shīn with sukūn — beside a stream there called Afghānpūr. He built it in three days, making most of it of wood, raised above the ground on wooden pillars, and constructed it with an engineering design supervised by the Malik Zāda, known afterwards as Khwāja Jahān, whose name was Aḥmad b. Iyās, the chief vizier of Sultan Muḥammad, who was then superintendent of buildings. The device they had contrived in it was that whenever elephants trod on one side of it, the palace would collapse and fall.

11.16.4

The sultan alighted at the palace and fed the people, and they dispersed. His son asked his permission to parade the elephants before him in their adornments, and he gave him permission.

11.16.5

Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn told me that he was with the sultan that day, and with them was the sultan's favourite son Maḥmūd. Then Muḥammad, the sultan's son, came and said to the shaykh: "Khwand! It is the time of the afternoon prayer; go down and pray!" The shaykh told me: "So I went down, and the elephants were brought from one side, as they had planned. When they trod on it, the kushk fell upon the sultan and his son Maḥmūd." The shaykh said: "I heard the uproar and went back without having prayed, and found the kushk had fallen." His son ordered axes and spades to be brought to dig for him, but signalled for delay, so they were not brought until the sun had set. Then they dug and found the sultan bent over his son to shield him from death! Some claimed he was brought out dead, and others claimed he was brought out alive and then finished off. He was carried by night to the tomb he had built outside the city named after him, Tughluq Ābād, and buried there.

11.16.6

We have already mentioned the reason for his building this city. In it were Tughluq's treasuries and palaces, and in it is the great palace whose tiles he had gilded, so that when the sun rose they gave off a great light and a glitter that prevented the eye from gazing at them for long. He stored great wealth there.

11.16.7

It is said that he built a cistern and poured molten gold into it so that it became a single block, and his son Muḥammad Shāh spent all of it when he came to power. Because of the engineering of the vizier Khwāja Jahān, as we have described, in building the kushk that fell on Tughluq, he enjoyed favour with his son Muḥammad Shāh and preference with him, so that no one approached him in rank with him or attained his standing with him, whether among the viziers or others.

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