تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.5
English (machine translation) 13.5
- Language
- English
13.5.1
The Sultan had appointed the sharīf Jalāl al-Dīn Aḥsan Shāh as amīr over the land of al-Maʿbar, which is six months' journey from Dihlī. He rebelled, claimed the kingship for himself, killed the Sultan's deputies and officials, and struck dīnārs and dirhams in his own name. On one face of the dīnār he had inscribed: "Descendant of Ṭā Hā and Yā Sīn, father of the poor and the destitute, Jalāl al-Dunyā wa-l-Dīn," and on the other face: "He who trusts in the support of the Merciful, Aḥsan Shāh the Sultan."
13.5.2
When the Sultan heard of his revolt he set out intending to fight him. He halted at a place called Kushk Zar, meaning 'the Palace of Gold', and stayed there eight days to settle people's affairs. During those days the nephew of the vizier Khwāja Jahān, his sister's son, was brought in together with four or three of the amīrs, shackled and fettered. The Sultan had sent this vizier ahead with his vanguard, and he had reached the city of Ẓahār, which is twenty-four
13.5.3
[days' journey] from Dihlī, and stayed there some days. His nephew was a brave warrior, and he conspired with the amīrs who were brought in to kill his uncle and flee with the treasuries and wealth in his keeping to the sharīf who had risen in the land of al-Maʿbar. They resolved to assassinate the vizier when he went out to the Friday prayer, but one of those they had let into their plot, named al-Malik Nuṣra the chamberlain, informed on them to the vizier, and told him that the sign of what they intended was that they were wearing coats of mail under their clothes. The vizier sent for them, found them so, and sent them to the Sultan.
13.5.4
I was in the Sultan's presence when they arrived, and I saw one of them, a tall bearded man, trembling and reciting the Sūrat Yā Sīn. He gave orders concerning them and they were thrown to the elephants trained to kill people, and he ordered the vizier's nephew to be sent back to his uncle for him to kill him; we shall relate that.
13.5.5
Those elephants that kill people have their tusks sheathed in sharpened irons like ploughshares, with edges like knives. The elephant-driver rides on the elephant, and when a man is thrown before it, it wraps its trunk around him and tosses him into the air, then catches him on its two tusks, after which it throws him down before it, places its foot on his chest, and does with him whatever the driver commands, according to what the Sultan has ordered. If he orders him to be cut to pieces, the elephant cuts him to pieces with those irons; if he orders him to be left, it leaves him lying there, and he is flayed. That is what was done with these men! I came out of the Sultan's palace after the sunset prayer and saw the dogs eating their flesh, and their skins had been stuffed with straw — God preserve us! When the Sultan made ready for this expedition he ordered me to remain in the capital, as we shall relate, and he went on his journey until he reached Dawlat Ābād; then the amīr Hulājūn rebelled in his territory … that. The vizier Khwāja Jahān had also remained in the capital to muster troops and assemble armies.
Linked texts (1)
- تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic