تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.3
English (machine translation) 12.3
- Language
- English
12.3.1
The palace of the sultan at Dihlī is called Dār Sarā, with a over the s and the r. It has many gates. At the first gate there is a body of men assigned to it, and there sit the players of trumpets, horns and pipes (ṣurnāy); when a great amīr comes they sound them and call out as they play: "So-and-so has come! So-and-so has come!" It is likewise at the second and third gates. Outside the first gate are platforms on which the executioners sit, they being those who kill people; for their custom is that whenever the sultan orders someone to be killed, he is killed at the gate of the audience hall, and remains there for three days. Between the first and second gates is a large vestibule with platforms built along both its sides, on which sit the men on duty from among the gatekeepers.
12.3.2
At the second gate sit the doorkeepers assigned to it, and between it and the third gate is a large platform on which sits the chief of the naqībs. Before him is a golden mace which he holds in his hand, and on his head is a jewelled golden cap (kulāh) topped with peacock feathers. The naqībs stand before him, each with a gilded cap (shāshiya) on his head, a belt around his waist, and in his hand a whip with a handle of gold or silver. This second gate leads into a large, spacious audience hall in which the people sit.
12.3.3
At the third gate are platforms on which the clerks of the gate sit. It is one of their customs that no one enters by this gate except one whom the sultan has designated for it, and for each person he designates a number of his companions and people who enter with him. Of everyone who comes to this gate, the clerks write down that so-and-so came in the first hour, or the second, or whichever of the following hours up to the end of the day, and the sultan reads this after the late evening prayer. They also write down everything that happens at the gate, and he has appointed some of the sons of maliks to convey all that they write to the sultan.
12.3.4
Another of their customs is that whoever is absent from the sultan's palace for three days or more, with or without excuse, may not afterwards enter this gate except with the sultan's permission. If he has an excuse, such as illness or the like, he presents a gift suitable for him to offer to the sultan; and so too those arriving from journeys: the jurist presents a copy of the Qurʾān, a book or the like; the faqīr presents a prayer mat, a rosary, a tooth-stick and similar things; and the amīrs and those like them present horses, camels and weapons. This third gate leads into the vast audience hall with its broad expanse called Hazār Usṭūn, with a over the h and the z, then alif and r, which means "a thousand columns". These are painted wooden columns bearing a wooden ceiling carved with the most exquisite carving, under which the people sit, and in this audience hall the sultan holds his public sitting.
Linked texts (1)
- تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic