The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.40

v3.c20.40

After this victory, the last exploit of a most laborious and adventurous campaign, Mahmūd returned to Ghaznī, and the booty was counted. It is impossible to reconcile the conflicting accounts of the enormous quantity of treasure taken, but the plunder included over 380 elephants and 53,000 human captives. Of these poor wretches many were sold to foreign merchants, so that Indian slaves became plentiful in Transoxiana, ‘Irāq and Khurāsān, ‘and the fair, the dark, and rich and the poor were commingled in one common servitude.’