حبیب السیر 13: The Conquest of Somnát.
Habíbu-s Siyar of Khondamír (extracts) 13
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The Conquest of Somnát.
13.1
When Mahmud returned victorious from this expedition to the royal residence of Ghaznin, he built a general mosque and a college, and endowed them with pious legacies. Some years after these events, Sultán Mahmud, of praiseworthy virtues, formed the design of taking Somnát, and of slaying the detestable idolaters. On the 10th of Sha'bán, 416 H. (1025-6 A.D.), he marched towards Multán with 30,000 cavalry, in addition to a multitude of men, who also bent their steps thither for their own pleasure, and for the obtaining the reward of warring against infidels. Having arrived at that city in the middle of Ramazán, he resolved to travel the rest of the distance by the way of the desert. The soldiers were obliged to carry water and forage for many days, and in addition the Sultán loaded 20,000 camels with water and provisions, so that the troops might not by any means become diminished in number. Having passed that bloodthirsty desert, they saw on the edge of it several forts filled with fighting men, and abounding with instruments of war, but the omnipotent God struck fear into the hearts of the infidels, so that they delivered the forts over without striking a blow. Sultán Mahmud went from that place towards Nahrwála, and he killed and plundered the inhabitants of every city on the road at which he arrived, until, in the month of Zi-l ka'da of the above year, he arrived at Somnat.
13.2
Historians agree that Somnat is the name of a certain idol, which the Hindus believe in as the greatest of idols, but we learn the contrary of this from Shaikh Faridu-d din 'Attar, in that passage where he says: "The army of Mahmud obtained in Somnat that idol whose name was Lat." According to historians, Somnat was placed in an idol-temple upon the shore of the sea. The ignorant Hindus, when smitten with fear, assemble in this temple, and on those nights more than 100,000 men come into it. From the extremities of kingdoms, they bring offerings to that temple, and 10,000 cultivated villages are set apart for the expenses of the keepers thereof. So many exquisite jewels were found there, that a tenth part thereof could not be contained entirely in the treasury of any king. Two thousand Brahmans were always occupied in prayer round about the temple. A gold chain, weighing 200 mans, on which bells were fixed, hung from a corner of that temple, and they rang them at appointed hours, so that by the noise thereof the Brahmans might know the time for prayer. Three hundred musicians and 500 dancing slave girls were the servants of that temple, and all the necessaries of life were provided for them from the offerings and bequests for pious usages.
13.3
The river Ganges is a river situated to the east of Kanauj, and the Hindus are opinion that the water of this river springs from the fountain of Paradise; having burned their dead, they throw the ashes into the stream, and this practice they hold as purifying them from their sins. In short, when Mahmud encamped at Somnat, he saw a large fort on the shore of the sea, and the waves reached up to the earth underneath that castle. Many men having come upon the top of the rampart, looked down upon the Musulmans, and imagined that their false god would kill that multitude that very night. "The next day, when this world, full of pride, Obtained light from the stream of the sun; The Turk of the day displaying his golden shield, Cut off with his sword the head of the Hindu night." The army of Ghaznin, full of bravery, having gone to the foot of the fort, brought down the Hindus from the tops of the ramparts with the points of eye-destroying arrows, and having placed scaling-ladders, they began to ascend with loud cries of Allah-u Akbar (i.e., God is greatest). The Hindus offered resistance, and on that day, from the time that the sun entered upon the fort of the turquoise-coloured sky, until the time that the stars of the bed-chambers of Heaven were conspicuous, did the battle rage between both parties. When the darkness of night prevented the light of the eye from seeing the bodies of men, the army of the faithful returned to their quarters.
13.4
The next day, having returned to the strife, and having finished bringing into play the weapons of warfare, they vanquished the Hindus. Those ignorant men ran in crowds to the idol temple, embraced Somnat, and came out again to fight until they were killed. Fifty thousand infidels were killed round about the temple, and the rest who escaped from the sword embarked in ships and fled away. Sultan Mahmud, having entered into the idol temple, beheld an excessively long and broad room, insomuch that fifty-six pillars had been made to support the roof Somnat was an idol cut out of stone, whose height was five yards, of which three yards were visible, and two yards were concealed in the ground. Yaminu-d daula having broken that idol with his own hand, ordered that they should pack up pieces of the stone, take them to Ghaznin, and throw them on the threshold of the Jami' Masjid. The sum which the treasury of the Sultan Mahmud obtained from the idol-temple of Somnat was more than twenty thousand thousand dinars, inasmuch as those pillars were all adorned with precious jewels. Sultan Mahmud, after this glorious victory, reduced a fort in which the governor of Nahrwala had taken refuge,