التاريخ اليميني 34.4

34.4

The Sultan then set about renewing equipment and gear, completing provisions and supplies, and summoning the leading ghāzīs from the borders of the lands, until, when the equipment and the numbers were complete, and the necklace vied with its sisters in its unique pearl, and people had gathered like autumn cloud-wisps, spread out from every side and urged and mustered from every quarter, and spring came with its pleasant noontide rest and the mild coolness of morning and evening, he sought God's guidance about departing, and marched like the green sea lashed by whirlwinds, like a decree the fates do not avoid. The wild beasts of the earth became captive and the birds of the sky subdued; had the earth had feeling, it would have groaned from the weight of iron and the heavy tread. He drove the heroes on lean, long-necked steeds, and sent ahead of him guides to find the way through the depths of those lands, where neither does the sun rise over them, nor do the stars move straight or retrograde among them. He drove the mounts for two months between rivers of unfathomed depths and far-apart banks, and through deserts in whose expanses herds of gazelles lose their way and in whose sandy wastes flocks of sparrows are bewildered, until, when he neared his goal, he arrayed the horse in squadrons, sorted them into bands, ranged them in troops, and divided them into vanguards and detachments. He set his brother the Amīr Naṣr ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn on the right wing with the armoured warriors among the commanders and the defenders among the picked men; Arslān al-Jādhib on the left wing with the bold, manly warriors and the seasoned stallions; and he put Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ṭāʾī over the vanguard with the firebrands of the Arabs, men who never leave the saddle, sons of keen swords. In the centre he placed Altūntāsh the Chamberlain and the rest of his intimates and household slaves, men who, when they lined up, were towering mountains, and when they advanced, gushing torrents. The enemy of God, the king of Hind, got word of them, and in the suddenness of his alarm he fled to the Thakkurs around him and the leading men of his armies and his helpers, and took refuge in a mountain defile narrow of entrance, rough to penetrate, hard to climb and scale, seeking protection by holding back from open combat and guarding himself against the blow of war. He blocked the mouth between the two mountains with his elephants, which onlookers took for sprouting hills and fixed mountains. He sent the call to arms through the borders of his kingdom, rousing anyone who could carry a stone, let alone one who could string a bow or leave a mark with the sword. He drew out the delay so that he might meet [the Sultan's army] with ample strength and complete equipment, or drive God's friends to slacken out of excessive weariness or to turn away from distress of heart; and he did not know that God stands behind the believers, and that God weakens the scheming of the infidels.