تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.3.4

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.