South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c15.s5: The Victory That Ghiyath-Eddin Won Over the Infidel Which is One of the Greatest Successes of Islam
South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c15.s5
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The Victory That Ghiyath-Eddin Won Over the Infidel Which is One of the Greatest Successes of Islam
c15.s5.1
In the neighbourhood of his territory was an infidel sovereign named Belal Deo (Baḷḷāḷa Dēva), who was one of the principal Hindu Kings. His army exceeded hundred thousand men, and he had besides, twenty thousand Mussalmans formed of criminals and slaves. This monarch thought it expedient to go against the Coromandel Coast where the Mussalman army numbered but six thousand soldiers, the half of whom were excellent troops and the remainder were worth absolutely nothing. The Muhammadans fought a battle with him near the town of Cobban (Koppam); he routed them, and they retired to Moutrah (Madura) the capital of the country. The infidel sovereign encamped near Cobban (Koppam) which is one of the grandest and strongest places that the Mussalmans possess. He laid siege to it for ten months, and at the end of this time, the garrison had provisions only for fourteen days. Belal Deo (Baḷḷāḷa Dēva) sent a proposal to the besieged to retire with safe-conduct, and to abandon the town to him; but they replied, ‘we must refer this question to our Sultan.’ He then promised them a truce, which was to last for fourteen days, and wrote to Sultan Ghiyath-eddin (Ghiyazu-d-din) telling him how they were situated. The prince read their letter to the people the following Friday. The faithful wept and said: ‘We will sacrifice our lives to God. If the idolater takes that town, he will next lay siege to us: we prefer to die by the sword.’ They then undertook to expose themselves to death, and set out marching the next day, placing their turbans on the neck of their horses, which showed that they were seeking death. The bravest and most courageous of them, 300 in number were posted to the vanguard; the right wing was under Seif-eddin Behadur (Seifu-d-din Bahadur), the hero, who was a pious and brave lawyer; and the left wing was under, Almelic Mohamed ‘assilahdar’ (armiger). The Sultan remained in the centre with three thousand men, and the rear-guard was formed by the remaining 3,000 under the command of Assad-eddin Keikhosrew Alfaricy. In this order the Mussalmans set out, at the siesta hour, towards the infidel camp. Their horses were sent out to graze. They fell upon the encampment; the infidels, imagining the assailants were but robbers, went in disorder to meet them and fought with them. In the midst of all this, the Sultan Ghiyath-eddin arrived, and the Hindus sustained the worst of all defeats. Their king tried to mount his horse although he was eighty years of age. Nasir-eddin (Nasiru-d-din) nephew and successor of the Sultan overtook the old man and wanted to kill him, for he did not know who he was. But one of his slaves said: ‘He is the Hindu King.’ He then took him a prisoner to his uncle who treated him with apparent consideration and promised to release him. But when he had extorted from him his wealth, elephants and horses and all his property, he had him killed and flayed; his skin was stuffed with straw and hung up on the wall of Moutrah (Madura) where I saw it suspended.
c15.s5.2
But let us return to our point. I left the camp and went to the grand and beautiful town of Faṭṭan, on the seashore. It has an admirable harbour with a wooden pavilion raised on stout posts. Leading to this pavilion is a pathway made of planks covered over with a roof. When an enemy arrives, all the ships in port are fastened to this pavilion; foot soldiers and archers go up there and the assailant has no means of hurting any one. This town contains a beautiful mosque built of stone where you find many grapes and excellent pomegranates. There I met the pious Sheik Mohammad Annciçaboury, one of those fakirs with hair hanging over his shoulders, whose spirit is troubled. He was accompanied by a lion tamed by him; the animal eats with the fakirs and lies down beside them. The Sheik had with him about thirty fakirs, one of whom had a gazelle that lived in the same place as the lion and the latter did it no harm. I tarried in the town of Fattan.
c15.s5.3
In the meantime, a Yogee had prepared for the Sultan Ghiyath-eddin some pills amongst the ingredients of which were iron filings. The Sultan took a larger dose of them than was necessary for him and fell ill. In this state he reached Fattan; I went out to meet him and offered him a present. When he had settled down in the town, he sent for the admiral Khodjah Sorour and said to him: ‘Attend to nothing besides those vessels that are to go to the Maldives.’ He wanted to return to me the price of the present I had made him. I refused, but repented of it afterwards, for Ghiyath-eddin (Ghiyazu-d-din) died and I got nothing. The Sultan remained for half a month at Fattan, then he left for his capital; I remained yet a fortnight longer and then set out for his residence, which is Madura, a grand town with wide roads. The first prince who made that town his capital was my father-in-law the Sultan Sheriff Djelal-eddin Ahsan Shah (Jalalu-d-din Ahsan Shah), who modelled it on Delhi and built it carefully.
c15.s5.4
When I arrived at Madura, there was a contagious disease prevalent there which killed people in a short time. Those who were attacked succumbed in two or three days. If their end was delayed, it was only until the fourth day. On leaving my dwelling, I saw people either sick or dead. In this town I bought a young slave who, I was assured, was healthy; but she died the following day. A woman, whose husband had been one of the viziers of the Sultan Ahsan Shah (Ahsan-Shah) came to me one day with her son aged eight years, a child full of spirit, and I gave both her and her son some money. They were both healthy and strong; but the next day the mother returned to ask a shroud for her son, for he died suddenly. In the Sultan’s audience hall, at the time of his death, there were certain women servants brought to boil rice for the people. These women got ill and were thrown on the earth, exposed to the sun’s rays.
c15.s5.5
When Ghiyath-eddin (Ghiyazu-d-din) entered Madura, he found his mother, his wife and son a prey to the disease. He remained three days in the town, then he went to a river, one parasang away, on the shore of which stands an infidel temple. I went to see him on a Thursday, and he ordered me to stay with the Khadi (Kazi). When tents had been pitched for me, I saw people hurrying along, pushing one against the other. One of them said, ‘the Sultan is dead;’ the other was sure that it was his son that was dead. We found out the truth and knew that the son was dead. He was the Sultan’s only son; his death was one of the causes that made the father’s malady worse and killed him. The following Thursday the Sultan's mother died.