التاريخ اليميني 46.19

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.

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.