تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.15.2

12.15.2

called maqāṣirī, its nails and plates made of gold, with a great ruby fixed at its top. He bestowed on Nāṣir al-Dīn an ʿAbbāsid robe, black, gilded and studded with jewels, and a turban to match, and the pulpit was set up for him inside the enclosure, which is the afrāj. The sultan sat on his throne with his intimates to his right and left, and the qāḍīs, jurists and amīrs took their seats. He delivered an eloquent sermon, preaching and exhorting, though there was nothing of much worth in what he did! But his good fortune served him! When he came down from the pulpit the sultan rose to him, embraced him and mounted him on an elephant, and ordered all present to walk before him—I was among them—to an enclosure pitched for him opposite the sultan's enclosure, all of coloured silk, its canopy of silk, and its tent likewise. He sat down and we sat with him.