تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.31.6

13.31.6

His custom when he rides out is that the amīrs ride in troops, each amīr with his troop, his banners, his drums, his trumpets and his ṣurnāys; they call this the marātib. No one rides in front of the Sultan except the chamberlains, the musicians, the drummers who carry small drums slung on them and those who play the ṣurnāys. On the Sultan's right are about fifteen men and on his left the same number, among them the chief qāḍīs, the vizier, some of the great amīrs and some of the aʿizza (honoured ones); I was among those on his right. Before him go the footmen and the guides, and behind him his banners, which are of gilded silk, and the drums on camels; behind these his mamlūks and the people of his household, and behind them the amīrs and all the people. No one knows where the halt will be; when the Sultan passes a place where he would like to halt, he orders a halt. No one's enclosure is pitched until his enclosure has been pitched; then those in charge of the halt come and assign each person to his quarters. Meanwhile the Sultan halts by a river or among trees, and there are set before him the meat of sheep, fattened chickens, cranes and other kinds of game. The sons of the kings come, each with a spit in his hand, light a fire and roast these. A small enclosure is brought and pitched for the Sultan, and the close companions with him sit outside it; the food is brought and he summons whomever he wishes to eat with him. On one of those days, while inside the enclosure, he asked who was outside it. Al-Sayyid Nāṣir al-Dīn Muṭahhar al-Awharī, one of his boon companions, said to him: "So-and-so the Maghribī is there, and he is troubled." He said: "Why?" He said: "Because of the debt he owes; his creditors are pressing for payment. Khwand ʿĀlam had ordered the vizier to give it to him, but he set out on his journey before that. Would our master order the creditors to wait until the vizier arrives, or order that they be paid?" Present at this was Malik Dawlat Shāh, whom the Sultan addressed as "uncle"; he said: "O Khwand ʿĀlam! Every day he speaks to me in Arabic and I do not know what he says. O my lord Nāṣir al-Dīn, what is it?" — wanting him to repeat those words. He said: "He is speaking about the debt he owes." The Sultan said: "When we enter the royal residence, you go, O ūmār" — meaning "O uncle" — "to the treasury and give him that money." Khudhāwandzāda was present and said: "O Khwand ʿĀlam, he spends a great deal; I saw him in our country at the court of Sultan Ṭarmashīrīn."