التاريخ اليميني 46.17-19

46.17

وسار من بعد قدما يروم قنوج، وقد اشتق الفأل [223 أ] له من تصحيفه (فتوحا) ، وعده صنعا من الله ممنوحا. وخلف وراءه معظم العسكر تطميعا لراجيبال ملكها في الثبات لخفة الزحام، وتقبيحا له قبل اللقاء صورة الانهزام، إذ كان أمراء الهند على غلب رقابها، وقوة أسبابها وأصحابها، أطواعا لراي قنوج، اعتزازا بمكانه، واغترارا بفخامة شأنه. ولم يعبر على قلعة من قلاع تلك الرباع إلا وضعها بالأرض، وعرض أهلها على الإسلام أو السيف ، وحاز من السبايا والنهاب، والنعم الرغاب ، ما يعجز أنامل الحساب.

Then he pressed onward, making for Qanauj, having drawn an omen [223 a] for himself from its misreading as "futūḥ" (conquests), and counting it a favour granted by God. He left the bulk of the army behind him, to tempt Rājaypāl, its king, to stand firm because of the lightness of the press, and to make the prospect of flight seem shameful to him before the encounter; for the amīrs of Hind, for all the stoutness of their necks and the strength of their resources and followers, were obedient to the Rāy of Qanauj, glorying in his station and beguiled by the grandeur of his standing. He passed no fortress among the fortresses of those regions without levelling it to the ground and offering its people Islam or the sword, and he took captives, plunder and desirable riches beyond what the fingers of reckoning could count.

and of this collection of idols there were (specially) two, on one of which a jacinth was arranged, such a one that if the Sultan had seen it exposed in the Bazar, he would have considered as underpriced at fifty thousand dinars, and would have bought it with great eagerness. And upon the other idol there was a sapphire (hyacinth) of one solid piece, of azure water, of the value of four hundredweights of fine miskals {five weights of a dram and a-half) each, and from the two feet of an idol they obtained the weight of 400,400 miskals of gold. And the idols of silver were a hundred times more, so that it occupied those who estimated their standard weight a long time in weighing them. They devastated (all that city) and passed therefrom towards Kanuj, and the Sultan took an augury thereon from the Koran, and left behind much of his army, in order that, perchance, Haipal (or Jaipal) Rajah of Hind, when he saw the small number of his chieftains, might return, and consider it disgraceful to pall in resolution, before first engaging in battle or conflict, for he was the chief of the princes of India, and all submitted their necks in obedience to him (bowed their heads) and acknowledged his high rank, and great power and dignity. And, throughout all the extent of this expedition, at whatever region he arrived and whatever fortress the Sultan saw, he took possession of it, and devastated it, plundering and taking captives.

46.18

ووصل ثامن شعبان إلى قنوج، وقد فارقها راجيبال حين سمع بإقدامه، فراق من لا يرى الهزيمة عنه عارا، ولا يعتد الفضيحة بها شنارا. وعبر السلطان الماء المسمى گنگ ، وهو الذي يتواصف الهنود قدره وشرفه، ويرون من عين الخلد في السماء مفترقه. إن أحرق منهم ميت ذروه فيه بعظامه، وظنوه طهرة لآثامه. وربما أتاه الناسك من بعيد فغرق نفسه فيه، يرى أن ذلك ينجيه، وهو في العاجل يرديه، وفي الآجل يصليه ويخزيه، ثم لا يميته ولا يحييه.

On the eighth of Shaʿbān he reached Qanauj, which Rājaypāl had abandoned on hearing of his advance—the abandonment of one who sees no disgrace in flight and counts no infamy in it as shame. The Sultan crossed the water called the Gang, whose worth and nobility the Hindus extol, and whose source they believe to be the spring of eternity in heaven. If one of them dies and is burned, they scatter [his ashes] with his bones in it, and think it a purification for his sins. Sometimes an ascetic comes to it from afar and drowns himself in it, believing that this will save him, whereas in this world it destroys him, and in the next it will roast him in fire and disgrace him, and then neither let him die nor live.

Thus, on the eighth of Shaaban, they arrived at Kanuj, where a mountain rose before them, and the army passed the Ganges. This water possesses glory and great dignity with the chiefs of India. They know it to be a spring of the springs of eternity, and when they wash their dead they purify them in this water, and are persuaded that it is the means of clearing all their accounts, and of cleansing from all sins and evil inclinations. And from far distant roads Brahmins come, and wash in this water, thinking it a cause of salvation and of obtaining a higher heavenly rank. The Sultan then opposed the fortresses of Kanuj; and he beheld seven castles, placed upon the margin of the water of the Ganges. Nearly ten thousand temples were built in these forts, and these dotard and lying idolaters declared that the date of the commencement of those fabrics was two or three hundred thousand years, and from this confident belief derived pride and pretension. Their trust in them was continually recurring, under all circumstances, for they were desirous to deposit money therein, and in time of need made processions around them, humbly imploring aid. The greater number of the people had deserted their homes, from terror at the Sultan, but some remained. The Sultan in one day took all those fortresses and plundered them, and thence turned to the fortress of Manaj, called the Brahmins' Castle.

46.19

وتتبع السلطان [223 ب] قلاع قنوج فإذا هي سبع موضوعة على الماء المذكور، كالبحر المسجور. وفيها قريب من عشرة آلاف بيت للأصنام ، يزعم المشركون أنها متوارثة منذ مائتي ألف سنة إلى ثلاثمائة ألف سنة، كذبا وزورا، وقولا موزورا، وعدولا عن سنن الهدى وكفورا. وبحسب قدمتها كانت عبادتهم لها، وإجهاشهم بالدعوات إليها. وقد شرد عنها أكثر أهلها خيفة الأيم واليتم، وحلول النكير بآلهتهم الصم البكم، فمن بين ناج أغاثه نجاؤه، وثاو أباده ثواؤه ، ولم ينجه من سيوف الحق أرضه ولا سماؤه، ففتحها كلها في يوم واحد، ثم أباحها لأهل عسكره يتناهبونها طلقا حلالا، ويتناوبونها وقما وإذلالا.

The Sultan [223 b] then went through the fortresses of Qanauj, and they proved to be seven, set on the said water like the swollen sea. In them were nearly ten thousand idol-temples, which the polytheists claim have been handed down for two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand years—a lie and a falsehood, a sinful saying, a departure from the paths of guidance and an act of unbelief. According to their antiquity was their worship of them and their tearful pleading with them in prayer. Most of their people had fled from them for fear of widowhood and orphanhood and of the punishment that would befall their deaf and dumb gods; so some escaped, rescued by their flight, and some stayed, destroyed by their staying, neither their earth nor their heaven saving them from the swords of truth. He conquered them all in a single day, then gave them over to the men of his army to plunder freely and lawfully, and to take turns subduing and humbling them.