[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) › 12.49 # تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.49 English (machine translation) 12.49 - **Language:** English ### [12.49.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.12.49.1) Among the gravest things held against the Sultan was his expulsion of the people of Dihlī from it. The reason was that they used to write notes containing abuse and insult of him, seal them, and write on them: "By the head of Khwand ʿĀlam, no one but he shall read it!" and throw them into the council hall at night. When he opened them he found abuse and insult of him in them. So he resolved to lay Dihlī waste. He bought from all its inhabitants their houses and dwellings and paid them the price, and ordered them to move from it to Dawlat Ābād. They refused, so his crier proclaimed that no one was to remain there after three days. Most of them moved, and some hid in the houses. He ordered a search for whoever remained there, and his slaves found in its lanes two men, one crippled and the other blind. They were brought, and he ordered the cripple to be flung from a mangonel, and ordered the blind man to be dragged from Dihlī to Dawlat Ābād, a journey of forty days. He was torn to pieces on the way, and only his leg arrived! When he had done this, all its people left, abandoning their baggage and goods, and the city remained empty and in ruins. Someone I trust told me: "One night the Sultan climbed onto the roof of his palace and looked out over Dihlī, where there was neither fire, nor smoke, nor lamp, and he said: 'Now my heart is content and my mind is at rest!'" Then he wrote to the people of the provinces to move to Dihlī to repopulate it. Their own lands were ruined, yet Dihlī was not repopulated because of its vastness and immensity, for it is one of the greatest cities in the world. So we found it when we entered it: empty, with only a little habitation. ### [12.49.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.12.49.2) We have related many of this Sultan's noble deeds and also of what was held against him; let us now relate some of the events and incidents that occurred in his days. ## Linked texts (1) - [تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta.12.49.1) — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.12.49](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.12.49) · Pramāṇa